# Homecooked for adult and puppy standards



## Christina_ (Mar 20, 2017)

I have a 4 year old standard and a 5 month old standard. They've always eaten kibble, but I had leftover ground beef last night that I mixed with brown rice and vegetables for them, and I never saw either of them so happy about food. Neither has any sensitivities or food issues, they just don't care about food. I've searched this forum but am still wondering: Is there a website with easy, properly balanced dog food recipes? I tried BalanceIT, but I don't totally understand. Also, is it safe to home cook for a puppy or should I wait until she's older to do this on a regular basis?


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I have found www.dogaware.com very helpful for advice on home cooking - comprehensive, well researched and kept up to date.


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

The Hilary's Blend website has tons of free recipes, most are pretty easy.
Bear in mind that you should add a vitamin/mineral supplement if you feed cooked food.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I home cook for my older minipoo because she’s allergic to lentils which are in almost every commercial dog food. It’s a lot of work and I can’t take a break just because I’m feeling lazy or going on vacation etc. I will continue to do so for her life to keep her healthy. I batch prepare and freeze her food. 

I have a puppy who appears to be able to eat anything. I do feed him puppy food. I want to be assured I’m feeding him all the nutrients a growing puppy needs. I don’t know enough about nutrition to judge if my home cooked meal is appropriate. I’m not sure if I will home cook for him; I may because he wants to eat my older dogs food. My older dog wants to eat his ..... it may be easier to have them eat the same, once the puppy has reached adulthood. I will double my workload...groan. 

There are lots of “recipes “ on line but you need to be sure it’s a complete and appropriate diet for your dog. If you feed only muscle from things like chicken breast or ground beef, then you need an added source for calcium and phosphorus and other nutrients etc that are in bone and organs like heart 

One thing to consider, are your dogs at a healthy weight? Maybe they are eating enough and by you adding additional home cooked food they will become overweight? The goal is a healthy dog.

Dog Food Reviews and Ratings | Dog Food Advisor is a good resource if you want to consider switching to another commercially prepared food.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

I have been considering purchasing the formulation sheet from here, which is developed by animal nutritionists. 

Raw Fed and Nerdy Formulation Sheet - Raw Fed and Nerdy 

It focuses on raw, but also allows you to check the nutrition of a home cooked recipe against 3 different nutrition standards, and adjust to get ratios right. 

I keep telling myself Annie is FINE on her kibble but I admit I would enjoy cooking for her, and with her food sensitivities, finding kibbles she can tolerate or recipes online that are nutritionally balanced and don't have any of her trigger foods is a challenge. 

They have a puppy specific formulation sheet which I would definitely use if trying to home cook for a puppy, and I think they offer custom made recipes if you don't want to fiddle with creating one yourself.


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## Michigan Gal (Jun 4, 2019)

I feed raw. It is much simpler than cooking and I think is better for the dog. But, you must add organ meat and some people have a problem with that.


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