# How much home cooked food?



## lrkellly (Jan 6, 2012)

Hi all,

Wondering if you can suggest how much home cooked food to give a 13 lb mini? Food includes ground chicken including bone, veggies and rice (thanks pdwohio).

Should the portion be the same as a kibble portion, more, or less? How do I know?

Thanks !!



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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

You need to calculate your dog's caloric needs and the calorie content of the meal. When you do this enough times you will start to get a "feel" for how much to feed and won't need to do the math.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

You can do an exact assessment based upon nutritional and calorific values, how active your dog is, and current weight - or you can use the rule of thumb of 2 - 3% of body weight, and adjust up or down as necessary. So a starting point would be 2.5% of 13 pounds, or around 5 - 6 ounces. Because the food contains more moisture than kibble, you will probably find you are feeding what looks like more. Vegetables tend to have so few calories that they don't really count, unless they are starchy.

Don't forget variety, and the importance of offal! Excellent advice here: DogAware.com Articles: Homemade Cooked Diets for Dogs


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## caroline429 (Mar 5, 2012)

lrkellly said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Wondering if you can suggest how much home cooked food to give a 13 lb mini? Food includes ground chicken including bone, veggies and rice (thanks pdwohio).
> 
> Should the portion be the same as a kibble portion, more, or less? How do I know?


The portion will definitely be bigger. Kibble has most of the moisture removed, fresh food still contains it so has a lot more bulk. When Cali was eating kibble, she got 1 cup a day which weighed about 4 ounces. Her homemade diet weighs in at 11 ounces of food per day. This doesn't mean you would triple the amount of food though because, as already mentioned, it is about the calories in the food, not the weight of the food. 

If you are currently feeding kibble, look at the calorie count on the bag (usually given per cup) and figure out how many calories your dog is eating per day. The calories for kibble are usually listed as "kcal of metabolizable energy". This isn't exactly the same type of measurement as the calorie counts you'll find in a calorie chart, but it will give you a starting point. Match the calories in your homemade food to what your dog was getting in the kibble. 

A really good resource for looking up calories and nutrients in food is the USDA nutrient lists Foods List Another good one is Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com These lists won't give you the calorie count of ground chicken with bone because that's not something people eat. If this is a commercial product, I would expect the manufacturer should be able to give you a calorie count. 

When you first start feeding a homemade diet, it is important to weigh your dog regularly to make sure he/she's not gaining or losing. If this happens, adjust the amount of food 'til you get your dog to the weight you want.


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