# Homemade Dog Food



## RangersMom (Aug 7, 2015)

I am curious for thoughts and opinions on the following recipe. I've been researching raw and homemade diets because of Ranger's severe food allergies and came across this. What are your thoughts? 

Chicken and Rice Dog Food Recipe - Homemade Dog Food


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Sounds like they're trying to sell the supplements.

Dogs have no nutritional need for grains like rice. 
They do not need to have their chicken cooked (though if you do give them cooked chicken, this site is correct that the bones should be removed. Raw chicken with bones is fine.)
The eggs are fine, but that's a lot of them in one batch.

Just my thoughts.

Disclosure: I'm a PMR (Prey-model Raw) feeder. I feed meat, ground organs, and occasional tripe. I do sometimes put salmon oil on their food. I don't feed any other supplements or vitamins, and no grains of any kind. (I'm not as picky about treats, so I'm sure my dogs get minimal grains in the occasional dog biscuit or training treats, but even those I try to avoid grains if I can.)

--Q


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I am a great believer that feeding a range of different foods is better than relying on supplements - and safer too. There is a bit of a question mark over rice at the moment, given the high levels of arsenic and other nasties found in it - not enough to be dangerous as an occasional meal, but perhaps enough to be careful about including it as a regular, major ingredient.

Are you planning an exclusion diet, or just reckoning to use ingredients that you know Ranger is not allergic to? I feed a home prepared diet based upon chicken, beef, lamb, eggs and oily fish. The minced meat I get contains 10% ground bone and 10% offal. Before I found a good supplier of meat prepared for dogs I bought the offal (liver, kidney etc) separately, and used ground eggshell as the calcium source. I add mixed vegetables at the rate of about 200 grammes veg to 1 kilo of meat, or 1:5 by weight. Each week the dogs get several meals of raw chicken wings or raw tripe, a can of sardines between them, and usually one or two meals of scrambled eggs - the rest of the meals are the meat mix. I don't add any carbohydrate as my dogs are small and don't need the extra calories. It sounds complicated, but once you have worked out your dog's needs and what they can and cannot eat (no turkey for Sophy!) it quickly becomes second nature. I cook up big batches and freeze meal size portions - the days I forget to defrost a meal are when they get eggs or sardines!

I have found DogAware.com: Diet & Health Info for Man's Best Friend very helpful when it comes to home made diets.


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## RangersMom (Aug 7, 2015)

Thank you both for responding! I just don't know where to start is my problem and that recipe looked easy. But the rice was not sitting well with me! And the supplement seemed over the top. I think Ranger's problem is the rice and/or wheat that is already in his kibble. Instead of moving up to a higher quality kibble, I thought I would research a home made or raw diet.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Take a look at DogAware in the link above - loads of helpful information on both home made and raw diets.


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## RangersMom (Aug 7, 2015)

Thank you! I sure will!


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

I agree. It looks like that website's primary intent is to sell the supplements. But they are right about one thing--that is a deficient diet, and who knows if the supplements actually correct the deficiencies.

I fed raw for over a year. I had the diet evaluated by an expert, who said it was deficient in iodine and...something else, maybe manganese...so he advised me to add kelp powder and oat bran. I also added fish oil. Basically, it was 80% protein sources (at least 70% meat, plus 10% eggs, dairy, sardines), 10% bone, and 10% organs. I gave a couple tablespoons of chopped raw veggies and fruit with each meal, more for fiber than nutrition.


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