As I’ve mentioned before, I make most of my dogs’ food at home in my own kitchen. It’s quite an undertaking, having good food on hand for two meals a day for two hungry dogs, but it’s totally worth it.
When I prepare my dogs’ food at home, I know exactly what’s in the food, and I love the peace of mind of knowing my mutts are eating wholesome, healthy food.
Another reason I cook for my dogs is the fact that Miss Nike, my Pit Bull mix, has so many allergies. We haven’t been able to figure out exactly which foods affect her, but I know the things I make from scratch don’t seem to bother her.
Once you make the decision to start cooking for your dog, it’s time to start thinking about what you’ll feed her. A few of the things I’ve incorporated into my dogs’ diets are:
- Skinless, boneless chicken breast (which my husband is kind enough to cook on the grill!);
- Lean ground beef;
- Lean ground turkey;
- Eggs, usually scrambled but honestly, the dogs will eat them in any form;
- Cooked brown rice and oatmeal;
- Sweet potatoes;
- Bananas, blueberries, and apples;
- Raw and cooked carrots, green beans, and celery;
- Cooked spinach;
- Cheese, milk, and plain yogurt;
- Peanut butter.
Note: Some foods to avoid include grapes and raisins, onions, garlic, corn, and chocolate.
The obvious challenge of cooking at home for your dog if you don’t happen to be a dog nutritionist – which I’m not – is making sure she’s getting everything she needs for a healthy, balanced diet.
Clearly, what your pet needs is determined by her age, weight, and activity level, among other things. There’s no one better to guide you than your veterinarian, so I strongly advise talking to him about your decision to cook for your dog before you start.
Of course, I understand that not everyone has the option of cooking at home for their dogs, and that’s okay. There are a few wonderful commercial dog food brands I recommend with complete confidence, like Hill’s. Hill’s makes Science Diet, Ideal Balance, and Prescription Diet (all of which my dogs and cat have eaten at one time or another).
(Hill’s also offers a plethora of information about pet care, nutrition, diseases, and more. They can answer a question as simple as “How often should I feed my dog”, or more complicated ones regarding issues like hip dysplasia in dogs and hyperthyroidism in cats.)
As always, I encourage you to do your research and read labels so you know exactly what you’re feeding your pet, and never feed your pet food or treats made outside the United States.
Do you cook for your dog (or cat)?
I’d love for you to share some recipes and tips with me in comments below, or visit our Facebook page and join the conversation!
Phil McDonnell says
June 12, 2013 at 7:47 amI have been cooking for my two for quite a while now and have to say they don’t like regular dog food anymore… Well they like it but their systems don’t, every time I feed them canned dog food, let’s just say it’s not nice around here…
I have two little ones a Pug and a Peek, they both eat twice a day and I cook them their food twice a week.
I basically make them boiled skinless/boneless chicken thighs with sliced up carrots and either white or brown rice. I just let the carrots and chicken boil then simmer for about an hour or more depending and then add the rice when I can cut the chicken easily.
I haven’t really changed up the recipe, I did do turkey once and they weren’t to happy with it. I did substitute chicken gizzards and hearts once and they loved it! I don’t do beef because for some reason the Peek gets the runs from it.
Next I want to try making biscuits for them…
Christina Berry says
June 12, 2013 at 10:56 pmLet me know how the biscuits turn out, Phil. If they turn out good for you, they might be next on my list, too!
SUGAR: Golden Woofs says
June 12, 2013 at 8:39 amYes it is. Mom cooks/makes me treats all the time with Lots of Golden LOVE. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
Christina Berry says
June 12, 2013 at 10:53 pmYou’ve got a good mom, Sugar! 🙂
Elaine Whalen says
June 12, 2013 at 9:23 amI too am taking on cooking and feeding my 2 dogs – one new pit bull pup being delivered tomorrow
Christina Berry says
June 12, 2013 at 10:52 pmGood luck with your new endeavor, and with your new edition! 🙂
Bren says
June 12, 2013 at 11:01 amI cook for my boy but recently we’ve started adding Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw back into his diet. It’s so hard to get him to eat veggies that I have to find ways of sneaking it in. His kibble has some plus the Instinct so we’re in good shape. My vet is good to push Science Diet on us but I’m not a fan and Titan won’t tolerate it…allergies, ya know.
Thanks for sharing those ideas with us. I never thought of eggs being good. Might have to try it. 🙂
Christina Berry says
June 12, 2013 at 10:51 pmBren, I try to limit the number of eggs I give my dogs each week. Usually they’ll have them for breakfast twice, and for Nike, that consists of 2 eggs with each meal. Scrambling them is simple – I just spray a little cooking spray in a bowl, beat the eggs, and then microwave for about a minute and a half. The hardest part is dealing with the wimpering while they wait on the food to cool enough to eat! )
Maggie says
June 19, 2013 at 5:43 amI’ve been cooking for Maggie for the last 5 years. It started when she would not eat canned dog food as a puppy. (go figure, she’s a beagle) Our vet suggested that a simple homemade meal might be the answer. After that when we were in Hong Kong, getting good quality dog food was either massively expensive or not available. So I started researching and reading and now its second nature to cook for her. I have a few recipes on my site if you’d like to see!
Kimberly, The Fur Mom says
June 20, 2013 at 8:57 amGreat post. We feed our dogs raw and I love that they are doing so well on their new diet. It was nice speaking to Hills at BlogPaws and it’ll be interesting to see if the changes they’ve made to their food are beneficial. I go back and forth when it comes to dry kibble and think that some companies are doing their best to provide quality food, others have seen the light and are coming around too, while the rest aren’t so quick to make real changes.
Despite which category any of these brands fall into, it’s nice to see a movement towards better food
Dan Pinder says
July 5, 2013 at 3:36 pmWhen cooking for Lucy, I have found that probiotics are great. Yogurt (plain) or goat yogurt is awesome. I always check for added sugars or fake sugars before adding this to her diet.
I also like to add some coconut oil and sometimes grind up some chia seeds too. I was told that whole chia seeds will not be digested by a dog.
Jazzi says
April 13, 2016 at 7:51 amI loooooove this article!!!! And I completely agree; making homemade dog food is tedious but very much worth it! My pit, Mandi, has bad allergies that show up well on her white face and paws. She used to scratch a LOT and was always red when we got her but, thanks to some research and people like you, I’ve managed to get her on a good homemade food/treat diet that she loves and that loves her back.
I make her food 50/50. Half protein, half everything else. I’ve chosen to go with baked swai and canned salmon as her main protein source. (I know a lot of people use chicken or switch it up but I just stick with what I know she likes.) The other half is a blended mix of collard greens, apples, carrots, blueberries, broccoli, strawberries, sweet potatoes, cooked plain oatmeal, boiled eggs (shells and all) and plain yogurt.
I fed her each fruit and veggie one at a time to get a better understanding of what she likes and dislikes as far as flavor is concerned. Try to let her likes be more prominent. Moving on…
For her treats, I mix canned pumpkin, canned salmon or tuna (whichever I have on hand), whole eggs, peanut butter and flour into a cookie like dough and bake them until they reach desired firmness. A cookie cutter can be used to make the biscuits “fancy” but she eats it no matter what it looks like.
As I mentioned earlier, allergies are an obstacle for us as well. I’ve found that a simple blend of olive oil and apple cider vinegar significantly reduced her scratching and shedding. I mixed some in a bottle and spray her with it. It stinks to the high heavens so I’d recommend doing it outside should you try it. Other than the smell, it works WONDERS for us! I also add olive oil and apple cider vinegar to her food and treats.
mark st. germain says
September 27, 2016 at 3:32 amI have a 3 year old, 50-60 lb. Pitbull/Boxer mix named Brutus. I was consistently feeding him “Hills Ideal Balance” dog food for a year until they discontinued making that brand of food and I really would like to find a cheaper alternative to feeding him dry store bought dog food. A $50, 28-30 lb. bag of dry dog food, feeding him the recommend amount according to his weight usually lasts him about 2 weeks. Would it be cheaper to make him food at home? If so what would be a good recipe for his breed, age and lifestyle? He is very hyper, playful, and active. He also has issues with most dry dog food that results to giving him awful “GAS”. I want to make sure he gets all of the nutrients he needs to keep him active and healthy. If anyone has any good recipes that would best work for him I would love to hear any of your suggestions. He eats just about anything, So I have no doubts he will enjoy eating what ever recipe I do decide to make for him. Lately I’ve been making him regular white rice and mixing in some leftover meats and vegetables I have around the house (usually chicken either fresh or canned, or canned tuna fish). I’ve been giving him just about 3/4 of a bowl, just eyeballing what I assume is a fair amount when its comes to homemade food. Again my biggest concern is his health. If it is easier you could email me any recipes you think I should give a try along with the measured amount of food to give to him daily according to his weight (preferably by cup) at
“markstgermain3060@gmail.com”
Thank you for taking your time to read my post. I will continue to check up on this websites posts. I am looking forward to reading all of your suggestions of either dry dog food or recipes.
Christina says
September 30, 2016 at 2:24 pmHi Mark, and thanks for your comment! I know commercial dog food can be expensive, especially for a large dog. It can be cheaper to make food at home, but it’s important to remember that you need to use good quality ingredients. I use a lot of fresh carrots, sweet potatoes, lean beef, and chicken. My dogs also like white rice, but I feed this in moderation because it’s really more of a filler than anything else. Plain yogurt is also good, but again, I give it in moderation because some dogs are lactose-intolerant.
When feeding your dog leftovers from your own meals, just remember that dogs don’t need all the seasonings we use. For instance, I never give my dogs anything I have salted or added any spices to.
As for how much, that’s the tricky part. I don’t know of a good way to “measure” real food for dogs. Instead, I try to time how long my dogs eat. For example, I feel that if they are eating good, healthy ingredients, it should take them 2-4 minutes to eat their entire meal. This is obviously not an exact science, but it works for us and my dogs never seem to be overly hungry or overweight.
I share a lot of recipes for pet foods and treats, and you can find most of them here: http://www.thelazypitbull.com/category/pet-nutrition/
Mimosa's mom says
May 14, 2017 at 6:54 pmMy husband & I feed our 15 yr old cairn ( a sweet,sweet rescue) boiled,boneless, skinless, chicken breast, baked sweet potato, steamed green beans. Mimosa (wonderful people @ Colonel Potter named her) was very sick last summer (vestibular) & after many attempts to feed her something she would eat & not make her tummy upset, she settled on that menu. We tried white rice (she would pick chicken out) & yogurt (she really didnt like that)& a couple of other misses, but finally, she really took to the chicken,sweet potatos & green beans,al dente.She’s doing so well now, she just had her teeth cleaned,& 2 teeth pulled. She acts & looks like she’s 7! She’s clearly the love of our lives! After seeing the difference in home prepared dog food, compared to commercially prepared dog food, I would always choose home made.The effort is so worth it!
Mark says
July 20, 2017 at 7:43 pmI started making my dog’s food at home a few years ago when my old girl was diagnosed with cancer. They gave her 6 months and instead she lasted 18 with NO CHEMO! Totally saw a difference when I switched her off of commercial food.