Homemade Dog Food

Over the years, we have had many faithful, long-living dogs: Bailey 16 years, Tom passed just last summer at 17years; and Daisy a rescue who was approximately 12 ?. We did feed them kibble and kitchen scraps until about 7 years ago when I developed a soy allergy and around the same time noticed Daisy was obsessively licking her paws, and digging her ears. The vet determined it was yeast overgrowth which led me on a long rabbit hole about homemade dog food, raw feeding and what really IS in commercial dog food (spoiler: it’s much the same as the broken human food system and in some ways much worse).

Marion Nestle has written several books on the subject, including one that absolutely blew my mind with the highly unregulated, billion dollar pet food industry, “Feed Your Pet Right”. Essentially, most commercial kibble is the equivalent of feeding your dog fruit-loops every day.

I have been making our dog food with our homegrown butchering scraps, and locally caught fish for not much more effort or cost than it would take to get commercial kibble. The ratios are pretty simple : 1/3 meat or fish with fat , 1/3 rice, and 1/3 vegetables. Also there are add ins.

Meat or Fish with fat- I am constantly on the lookout for people giving away locally caught fish. I freeze it until I need to make a big batch. We use our butchering scraps for meat, or wild game. I will cook some, or use raw. Beef short ribs are great to use raw. I also save and freeze our hearts and livers to mix in with the meat. Too much organ meat is not good for them but is wonderful as an add in, very nutritionally dense. We had one dog who preferred cooked meat to raw, so I just got in the habit of cooking it. I know people who get bear meat and pressure can it just to use as dog food.

Rice-I buy organic rice in bulk and cook up extra whenever we have rice weekly. If I don’t need it, I just freeze it until I am ready to make a big batch. Here’s a special tip: I cook my rice in bone broth or stock. It adds collagen for healthy coats and skin, is great for their microbiome and contains lots of minerals.

Vegetables-I use mostly what’s in season, and what I have abundance of. Again I just cook extra when I cook our meals, and set it aside. I will use raw too. This time of year shredded carrots, sweet potato, winter squash and pumpkin puree are great to use. Peas are another favourite of Winnie’s. I don’t use turnip, onions, beans, kale, corn* or cabbage

Add in’s- I add in scrambled eggs, lard, tallow, blueberries, raw milk yogurt ** and nutritional yeast (helps repel fleas)

I will make large batches and freeze in 1 1/2 cup servings for our 45lb Australian Shepard. She also gets raw or dehydrated chicken feet and bones to gnaw on regularly, especially through the winter.

There are probably a hundred more different ways of making homemade dog food. The kids often joke that our dogs eat better than most people and this saddens me sometimes. I don’t want people to think I’m being frou-frou or wasteful of food in feeding our dogs good, nutrient dense real food. This is what works for us, our lifestyle as a farm, and the health of our dogs. Just as with people, every dog’s digestion system will be different.

Love Jenn xx

*there are numerous studies showing corn to be of concern for digestion in dog food. Studies to the contrary are often funded by corn grower alliances in response to consumer’s health concerns and increased sales Grain Free dog food (source: www. food politics.com)

**pasturized milk products are not recommended for dogs