DIY Homemade Dog Food
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Keep your dog healthy and fit with this easy peasy homemade recipe – it’s cheaper than store-bought and chockfull of fresh veggies!
I never thought I would be one of those dog owners who made homemade human food for their pups. Not in a million years.
But when Butters recently fell sick with an upset stomach, our vet advised us to feed him a bland diet – chicken and rice without any kind of seasoning. So that’s what we did – we poached a chicken, shredded it in a food processor, and mixed in some white rice and fed him this bland diet for 3 days.
That’s when I started to do some research on homemade dog food, and I have been so amazed as to how many different kinds of vegetables dogs can have. And with the help of Balance IT, you can create so many different recipes for your pup!
Now the best part about making homemade dog food – just like making anything at home – is that you know exactly what is going into the dog bowl, and not any of that questionable gelatinous gunk from the canned food.
But it’s important to note that dogs have different nutrient requirements than humans for their proportional body size, such as:
- High-quality protein (meat, seafood, dairy or eggs)
- Fat (meat or oil)
- Carbohydrates (grains or vegetables)
- Calcium (dairy)
- Essential fatty acids (egg yolks or oatmeal)
Now this recipe here has a balance of 50% protein, 25% veggies and 25% grains, but the ratios can easily be adjusted to suit your pup’s breed and/or needs.
Once you’ve made your batch, you can divide them up into single servings, note the date, and freeze it. When ready to serve, you can defrost it in the fridge overnight and nuke it for 15-30 seconds. That’s it! Now who knew that making dog food would be this easy?
DIY Homemade Dog Food
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups brown rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 pounds ground turkey
- 3 cups baby spinach, chopped
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 1 zucchini, shredded
- ½ cup peas, canned or frozen
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 3 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add ground turkey and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the turkey as it cooks.
- Stir in spinach, carrots, zucchini, peas and brown rice until the spinach has wilted and the mixture is heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
- Let cool completely.
Did you make this recipe?
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Do you have calorie and nutrition info.?
I have a 72 pound lab hound mix. He eats 3 times a day. How much of this dog food should I give him per serving?
My my girl who is a very picky eater simply loves it! Great recipe!!
How long does this keep in the freezer? Is it OK to make more than a weeks’ worth or is that not recommended? TIA
I have three small dogs. About three years ago my 14 year old poodle was showing her age, changed to this diet and she is like a puppy again. She runs on her daily walk. The other two have only had this diet under my roof and love it. I have passed this recipe on to anyone visiting my dogs.
How much of this dog food should I give my 10lb cockapoo? (She absolutely loves it by the way!)
Our Jack russels scratch all thr time when eating dogfood with chicken/poultry in it. We now want to start feeding them homemade food, since 95‰ of the Dogfood available in SA, has chicken in it. We don’t know whether it’s the poultry itself or all the hormones etc, that’s injected into our meats. Should I just replace the turkey in this recipe with beef/lamb?
Ask your vets if your dogs have special requirements or diets. My dog has GERD but eating boiled chicken and rice seems to work. However I’ve never made all the other ingredients in making his food at home. He eats watered mushed down dog food with boiled chicken. But I do want to try and make this for him.
This is a home run, my dog absolutely loves this.
I didn’t make it however, it seems suitable for human consumption. what is the average price per serving. for a Belgium Malioniis?
In case someone wants nutrition info:
398 calories per serving
Total fat 13.8 g
Sat fat 4.2 g
Cholesterol 120 mg
Sodium 169 mg
Total carbs 29.1 g
Fiber 2.8 g
Sugar 0.2 g
Protein 35.1 g
What is the serving size?
Unless the serving size is indicated, the nutritional value is of no use.
All 3 of my very picky dogs INHALED this!!
Thank you for sharing!
My dog is almost ten and she’s a lab-pit that weight roughly 55lb. She had pancreatitis About a month ago and I’ve started making her food. I have been making her chicken. Any other good meats that are low in cost that I can use as well? Senior dog food is expensive so I’m trying to make things as affordable as possible.
My dogs spit out carrots
I use sweet potatos
What is serving size for dogs, weight, etc. please please advise
Thank you.been trying to find the best recipe and you hit on it.
I have a 11 year old chiweenie and she is picky but what’s the recommended amount to feed her
Thanks
do some research on your own dog, dont be lazy and ask someone else to do it
Be nice George
Your dog should be eating around 3% of its body weight. But if you are still unsure please speak with your vet
Could try feeding them same amount of food they are already eating
Super.. i like home made recipies for dogs. Feel like very healthy giving a dog a home made recepie instead of packed or dry food. Can we have a Vegetarian Recipie for feeding a dog as daily food
dogs are not vegetarians. dont push your views onto your animal
Sometimes it is not about someone’s views. My dog cannot process meat proteins. He gets diarrhea if he eats meat. He has to have a vegetarian diet.
Sadly my dog is a vegetarian. She is highly allergic to meat proteins. I know of several dogs who are so please don’t say someone is pushing their views when it can surely be a medical issues.
My parents dog can not digest protein. It could kill her. Some dogs have to be whether we (or them) like it or not.
Looks so appetising. My dog has a bad allergy against grains, cereal, pasta and brewers yeast, what can I substitute these with?
Perhaps lentils? I know they often cause gas, but there are ways you can reduce that if you Google it.
Hello, my dog has protein allergies can this be substituted for tofu?
Yes tofu. Think it says that in the balance it calculator
How many cups a day would I give my 55 lb golden retriever and 80 lb laborador retriever? Do you have a guide to go by?
Looks great!
2-3 cups a day is what I feed my 55lb dog.
3 cups on super active days.
I made this for my 10 pound, 9 month old Shih Tzus. Do you have a recommended serving size for them?
Frances just wondering if your Shih tzus have a skin allergy? My baby girl is awful with scratching and ears bothering her. I don’t want to give Apoquel.