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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Don’t you have to add certain supplements? Vitamins? Calcium? Fish oil? Probiotics?
Maria, I add supplements/vitamins as directed by our vet and nutritionist but this really should be answered by your veterinarian as this can vary by breed/weight.
My dog has pancreatitis and the vet suggested we feed him a bland low fat homemade diet in addition to his low fat dry food as his appetite is hit or miss. One day he will eat 2 cups of food the next if my husband hand feeds him he will eat half his food. He’s lost 3lbs which doesn’t sound like much until I say he’s a pomeranian, he’s a big pom but you can now feel all his ribs. The vet gave me a list of foods I’m allowed to give him but I’m looking to see if I can find some recipes for him.
I’m really hoping this encourages him to eat as we had to put in a feeding tube and we would really like to get it out.
My dog too was recently diagnosed with pancreatitis from eating too many table scraps. I have always cooked his meals but I only boil them now. I give him boiled chicken with white rice, pasta and I only add the following vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, broccoli and cottage cheese), I was told to over boil everything for easy digestion, he loves his food and never leaves anything in his bowl. He also likes dry food so I give him Royal Canin Gastrointestinal low fat prescription diet which agrees with him and loves it. No more health issues.
We started using this recipe back in February and the dogs love it. We have noticed that they dropped weight and body mass very quickly. They were never overweight to begin with. One of our 16″ tall dogs was 17lbs when we started and is now 14lbs. This is after feeding 1 cup twice a day, we are upping him to three feedings a day. With four (4) dogs this is becoming extremely cost prohibitive. The recipe is costing us $25 for a 2 day supply, at this rate it will cost us over $300 a month. Is anyone else having this issue?
Concerned in Connecticut
I would be curious to know the answer to this as well. This is really the way to go to keep our dogs healthy but we also have 3 dogs (not small ones). We want to the best for them…… We do garden so that will help, however What IS everyone spending a month for their dogs homemade food? I know it depends on size of dog, but i’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts.
Chungah! Awesome recipe! I made this for my pup the other night and he loved it
Aw, nothing better than a happy pup! Thank you.
How much does a single batch make (how many cups?) Thank you ☺
About 8 cups.
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This article is a good one indeed because with so many commercial options available sometimes, we forget to give our dogs the homemade options of food. I personally like to give my pet baby homemade food. Great share and I will definitely try the recipe you have given. Cheers.
It is good you are pointing people towards Balanceit for home made diets. It is essential that pet diets are balanced with all the vitamins and minerals they need. I have a small version of “Balanceit” in Australia with free balanced recipes – see https://www.vetlicious.com/choose-protein. Thanks Steve.
When food is nuked all the nutrients and minerals vanish, please do not nuke for your best pals, they will be getting no nourishment for their health when food is nuked. Also I was reading about a cat eating tuna from a can above, and tuna from a can is too acidic for cats, a friend of mine had to pay tonnes of money for a UTI operation because her cat was eating tuna from a can, that’s what the Vet told her. For UTI problems for cats organic cranberry juice works, for dogs, just use cranberry extract with D-mannose for a few nights.
How many cups does this make
About 8 cups.
I just made my first batch and the dogs are loving it! I have a 30 (+) lb Corgi and a 70lb Wirehaired Griffon and I am trying to figure out how much to feed them. I feel like they are both a little overweight at this point. I have seen people mention amounts of food in lbs but I measure their food in cups. Any thoughts? Thanks!
DO NOT USE Brown Rice or Dairy in dog food EVER! It disrupts their digestion system. Dogs digestion is much quicker then in humans. Using whole grains and dairy can make your dog sick. Use white rice instead.
Hi! I just dropped by to say that I linked from my site to here. I know that it’ll become useful for my future readers. BTW, here’s the link >> Side Hustle Ideas for Dog Lovers
Hope this is you who published this:
http://godstrongwomen.com/life-saving-homemade-dog-food-view-recipe/
It is actually not but thank you so much for letting me know! I have reached out to them to have them remove the post immediately.
Is there a cookbook with dog food recipes?
Not at this time – but hopefully soon! 🙂
How long can it keep in the fridge ….and freezer?
It should keep for at least 2-3 days in the fridge (they are also freezer-friendly in individual servings) but as always, please use your best judgment.
This recipe is fantastic! My very sweet, 12-year old chihuahuas HATE ‘dog food’ and I don’t blame them! This recipe makes us both feel good. They feel like they are getting a ‘treat’ and I feel so much better about serving this to them rather than some gross canned food. Thanks so much!
Hi Chungah! I made a big pot of this dog food last week and my dog is STILL licking the bowl CLEAN after each meal 🙂 He loves it and it makes me so happy to cook something special for him. I substituted the brown rice for white rice (after reading about how it was easier for their tummies to digest) and right now I am halting the serving with his dry dog food to ween him off 🙂 But I wanted to pop in to tell you how much Felix LOVES his new food.
Thank you!
Can I replace zucchini with cucumber? If not, what can I replace it with?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, we cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications. And with this specific recipe, consult your vet if you are not sure.
Do you feed this as dog meal every day or you have other recipes to rotate? (another then easy crockpot). If you have other, can I ask how many recipe variety you feed?
Do you use supplements? how much and what supplement you use for your dog?
Of course in the end I still consult my vet, but I want to know about yours if possible or if can’t its ok.
Anyway, we both have corgi <3
Sry I think I lost in translation, already found most of the answer in your comment and after couple re-read your page 😀