Sonny Disposition
Active Member
Way off topic, I know. I took a cue from Kurt and made some DIY dogfood. Awhile back, my oldest son decided that it was more healthful for the dog--and cheaper--to make homemade dogfood. So of course, he went off to a semester abroad in London, and left behind a pack each of frozen chicken gizzards and a sheep heart and kidney in the freezer. I was shuffling stuff around in the freezer last weekend and got tired of the packages of frozen organs sliding around, so I decided I'd mix up a batch of dog food and get rid of them.
When I talked to him on one of his periodic calls home, my son explained to me that the basic idea was one third cup meat, one third cup brown rice, and one third cup of vegetables.
The Web sites I googled explained that although dogs are carnivores, they've been domesticated for so long that they need more vegetables in their diets than wolves do. But wolves, too, aren't entirely carnivores, and pick off fruits and berries when they can get them. And get a lot of greens from eating the intestines of large herbivores.
So I spread the gizzards and what not on a cookie sheet and baked them for a half hour, then put them in the food processor and blended them with some steamed brown rice and steamed carrots and green beans.
The last time we gave her DIY dogfood, she seemed to get hungry a lot sooner than she did on the prepared dog food.
So I've been mixing the homemade about 50/50 with the store bought stuff. She seems to do better on the mixture than she does on either alone. She eats, and then settles down, rather than pestering us and trying to look cute so we'll break down and give her something, like she usually does after we feed her.
She's been fussy about the store bought stuff lately, too. After reading the label, I see that they put some unusual stuff in it, actually. Bone meal I can understand; but why they put corn syrup and sugar in dog food, I'll never know.
Anybody else do DIY dog food?
When I talked to him on one of his periodic calls home, my son explained to me that the basic idea was one third cup meat, one third cup brown rice, and one third cup of vegetables.
The Web sites I googled explained that although dogs are carnivores, they've been domesticated for so long that they need more vegetables in their diets than wolves do. But wolves, too, aren't entirely carnivores, and pick off fruits and berries when they can get them. And get a lot of greens from eating the intestines of large herbivores.
So I spread the gizzards and what not on a cookie sheet and baked them for a half hour, then put them in the food processor and blended them with some steamed brown rice and steamed carrots and green beans.
The last time we gave her DIY dogfood, she seemed to get hungry a lot sooner than she did on the prepared dog food.
So I've been mixing the homemade about 50/50 with the store bought stuff. She seems to do better on the mixture than she does on either alone. She eats, and then settles down, rather than pestering us and trying to look cute so we'll break down and give her something, like she usually does after we feed her.
She's been fussy about the store bought stuff lately, too. After reading the label, I see that they put some unusual stuff in it, actually. Bone meal I can understand; but why they put corn syrup and sugar in dog food, I'll never know.
Anybody else do DIY dog food?