Healthy Homemade Dog Food that your dog will love!
As a dog lover is there anything more heart warming than seeing your dog enjoying a meal? Or devouring his favourite treat and wagging his happy tail at the same time?
Yet most of us go for the easiest way of feeding our furry friends with good quality kibble and their favourite cookies or treats. It is way easier and super convenient, nothing wrong with that.
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But after seeing so many pictures of dog owners, on my Instagram, feeding their pets on different ways, my husband and I started talking about it. Maybe it was time for a change. Time for home made healthy dog food, fresh dog food.
Meet our 3 Huskies here.
Pleasing your furry friends with fresh home made dog food will be a pleasure
Searching for ideas wasn’t difficult at ll. Our goal was to go as organic as possible, super healthy and most important, very yummy, so our dogs would really enjoy. I even found this service that delivers fresh healthy dog food for you, in case you’re not too worried with the cost.
Talking to other dog owners I heard a lot about some super healthy options to top kibble with raw but the price for larger dogs can be an issue and there is a lot of controversy about it.
We considered their different tastes and particular health issues. For example, Turbo, our oldest has sensitive stomach and Stella needs glucosamine on her food to prevent ostheoporosis, since she had her back knees surgically repaired when she was 9 months old.
Related: 10 ways to show how much you love your dog
Homemade dog food basics
We came up with a recipe that was a big success in the first batch. We introduced it slowly, mixed with the kibble. Our goal was to eventually replace the kibble completely but decided against it. We always add 1/4 or 1/3 portion of kibble with every meal. We don’t want to take them completely out of it, in case we are unable to prepare the food for some reason.
Even using organic (when possible) ingredients, the cost of their food was decreased by half, including the cost of the kibble that they still eat. 50% cheaper!
Preparation time for home made dog food
It takes a good hour of preparation with the 2 of us doing it, plus 30 min to pack and freeze everything. We are now cooking for 2 weeks at a time but we have 2 large dogs, so you can do the math for your dog. Related: Benefits of owning two dogs
It is so worthy to see how happy they get!
The added benefits were soon to be found. Clean bowls after each meal. Turbo’s stomach issues gone for good and perfect poops! And as I have mentioned before, the cost cut off by half, in our case.
Healthy Homemade Dog Food (with organic rice and veggies)
Ingredients:
6 pounds lean ground beef or skinless chicken
4 cups grated carrots
3 cups grated spinach (green beans or peas are a good substitute)
6 apples chopped with the skin
5 cups of organic brown rice, raw
10 cups of water with a pinch of salt
8 eggs, whisked
Preparation:
Chop all veggies and apples in the processor.
Brown the beef if you really want to release more flavour. Or you can skip it and just mix everything together. I can swear our dogs liked the batch where we browned the beef better! If you do so, you can also drain the beef fat to decrease the fat content, before adding the other ingredients. We do this when we use regular ground beef.
In a large pot combine all the ingredients, bring to a boil and cook in low heat for approximately 1 and a half hour.
Let it cool and pack in medium freezer plastic bags. Larger packages will not last in the fridge for too long.
You can experiment with different types of proteins. We were so keen on making it as healthy as possible and we tried adding chicken liver to the second batch. Big mistake. Huskies are not food oriented and they both turned their noses to the strong flavor of the liver and we gave away the whole batch.
Related: 21 Reasons why you will love owning a Husky
Fish is a big hit with them but it is also more expensive, so we rotate proteins with the odd fish batch.
If you are a dog lover, this is something you will really enjoy doing!
Thanks for this idea Raquel! My little dog will be sixteen in the summer and has been ill recently. I haven’t been able to get him to eat anything other than eggs and porridge (I went through a lot of different options before finding out he’d try them!) but he’s still not eating much. I’m definitely going to give this a try!
Hi Tara, what a blessing to be have spent 16 years of your life with your dog! I just wish one of ours would live that long. So happy I could help you with ideas for your friend. Wishing him and you, all the best!
Graeme A.
Have been preparing similar for 20 years. I pre cook the minced beef or chicken in a small amount of olive oil and mix with cooked rice and while hot I add the raw vegetables ( carrots and greens)plus a pinch of salt. I use very little liquid and drain off excess as I don’t want sloppy food. Also both gods get a teaspoon of emu oil daily. This ensures that they get omega 3, 6 and 9 and ensure joint and bone health and reduces vet costs. Older is 14 and acts like a 2 year old.
What a great recipe! Emu oil is a great addition to their healthy food. 14 years old dog, what a blessing!
How much to feed daily?
It depends on the size of your dog. For our Huskies, 2 cups a day is enough.
Does it have the vitamins they need?
Yuo, pretty much.Our 3 dogs are always healthy. I change the protein every month, since they get tired of it. Spoiled :). I’m also adding frozen pumpkin to the food batch at the end (it cooks very fast).