Over the last year or two, I have periodically made a few batches of homemade dog and cat food, but my husband and I have fallen back into our old habit of commercially prepared pet food. But since the year is coming to an end, I'm trying to decide what my New Year's resolution will be. Committing myself to preparing more homemade dog and cat food is one of the largest contenders.
I suppose I've been thinking so much about this lately because of my strange little kitten. A few weeks ago I had roasted up some winter squash that I grew, and my kitten went bonkers, begging for bites of it. And then, the other day I roasted up some sweet potatoes and was curious to find out if the cat likes sweet potatoes. Once again, the cat went nuts for it. He devoured it like it was a slab of juicy turkey (which I also fed him on Thanksgiving).
Anyway, this cat's strange food habits got me thinking once again about pet food and whether or not I should try to make more of an effort. There's many reasons that I think it is a good a idea, but here is a few thoughts for you to ponder:
Expense: Have you stopped to consider the price of dog and cat food recently? Sheesh! Bagged dog and cat food averages around $1.00/pound. And canned pet food is similarly priced, but the price includes the cost of watery gravy.
Waste: if your cat or dog eats mainly wet food, you know how quickly those cans pile up!
Ingredients: In her book Food Pets Die For, Ann Martin exposes what the ingredients truly are in pet food. I'm not sure I want to go in detail here, but I will tell you that what she uncovered was pretty disgusting. You are welcome to check out my book review for more information.
Preparing homemade pet food seems so daunting and obscure. But its really not that difficult. There's tons of recipes all over the internet, but I'm not much of a recipe follower.
According to the above-mentioned book, dog recipes should consist of roughly 1/3 protein, 1/3 carbohydrates (rice, oats, bread, beans, etc.), 1/3 fruits and vegetables (finely chopped or ground), and a tablespoon or so of oil each day. For cats, she says the general guide is 2/3 meat and 1/3 grain, vegetables, or fruit. She adds vitamin E and C, which you can purchase in pet supply stores and follow directions on the label (or consult her book). She grinds her food up so that the cats and dogs don't pick out the good parts and leave the rest. She also has many recipes in her book.
She did mention that some dogs do have allergies to eggs. I have read elsewhere that salmon is also allergenic to some dogs.
This is a great time for me to prepare some homemade dog and cat food, as I have so many leftovers still from Thanksgiving. I'm just going to freeze extra portions to use for later dates.
So what do you think? Have you ever prepared your own pet food? Do you follow any strict recipes or do you just wing it?
By the way, I am giving away a copy of Michael Pollan's Food Rules on my blog. Stop by and leave me a comment for a chance to win a copy.
19 comments:
Cats are by nature carnivores, dogs are too. Just like people they would be better going back to their natural diets.
Catching mice and stuff for the cats.
My cat loves livers, I get raw chicken livers for her often.
I believe dogs do well eating table scraps.
Buying mice and such is possible but cost prohibitive for most of us. However feeding your cats bits of raw chicken and such is probably possible and not so expensive.
If you are doing this for your animals health, reverting to what nature wanted them to eat is the best.
If you are doing this to save money then your probably on the right path.
Hi
I have considered this, but I am not sure how I would store the food. Can you discuss how this works? Just in the fridge? Some in the freezer which gets taken out in the morning?
I had a cat with weird tastes once. She'd turn up her nose at tuna and devour corn and tomatoes. I also had to protect my aloe plant from her. She was the strangest cat I ever had.
My dogs eat a raw, meat-based diet, that is optimally a 80-10-10 split between meat, edible bones and organs (mostly liver).
Dogs do not need grains (they are indeed carnivores, not omnivores), but mine do get fruit and veggies as snacks - they love carrots straight out of the garden :)
How ironic! Just last night I blogged about the homemade food recipe we feed our dogs. We usually make a months worth at once and freeze individual portions. Our dogs love it, and we've noticed their energy and health has improved. I'm always doing research to make sure they get the right mix of amino acids and vitamins. It's nice to see other people who are concerned about pet food ingredients; thanks for sharing!
(I've linked my name to our post, too.)
I've read about making our own dog food (we have an Odis - jack russel/pointer mix) and for me it has been a question of time. I'll have to check out the book review and do a bit more digging.
thank you for the reminder!
I'm not sure about I feel about feeding a carnivore a vegan diet, or even one with a large amount of grains. I also find it a bit interesting that Anette considers (via her blog post) animal by-products to be "gross" when that word simply means scraps, organs, and other edible tissues that are produced by cutting other pieces of meat from the carcasses. There is nothing inherently wrong about animal by-products. Anette, would you (ignoring your vegan preferences) say that a chicken stock is gross when it too is comprised of animal byproducts?
I feed my dogs/cats according to the BARF principles - meat, organs, edible bones and tissues, with some kibbles to snack on and treats if they're good. I do not buy this from grocery stores - I buy it from a meat dealer in giant bags of frozen chunks. Not only is the cost on average 50% less than the cheapest kibble per weight, it's healthier for them as per their carnivore nature, their stools are far less conspicuous and smaller versus eating kibble/canned processed foods.
I have to agree with K. I used to feed our animals raw, but have fallen back on (super premium) commercial just because we don't have the freezer space right now. After the first of the year, we're going to get another freezer so we can get back to it.
Cats are OBLIGATE carnivores meaning that they cannot derive any nutrition from plant sources and should therefore not be fed grains, fruits or vegetables. Also, you're not clear on whether you are cooking their food, but if you do you really need to add supplements back to it because heat destroys a lot of them, particularly taurine, which cats cannot live without.
Dogs are carnivores as well, but they are more opportunistic and can derive a little nutrition from plant materials. However, it should not be a large part of their diet - and certainly not 60% of it.
It's incredibly important to do your research before feeding dogs and cats (and any other animal for that matter) a homemade diet. And always follow recipes. Cats in particular are very sensitive to nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, the phosphorus:calcium ratio, etc. From what you describe of this book, the recipes sound just as dangerous as some commercial food.
If you're interested in learning more about homemade foods, try the Whole Health for Happy Dogs/Cats series. I find their recipes are much more balanced and healthy.
Dogs only have allergies to eggs if they are fed a large amount of them. It's also important not to feed raw egg whites to animals because it can bind up biotin and make it unavailable. Raw yolks are fine however. Salmon is not necessarily allergenic, but raw, it can be toxic - so don't go there.
I've lost several pets to diseases caused by poor diets so I've done TONS of research on it and I'm kind of a freak about it.
If you feel overwhelmed by making your own then you should look into good brands of commercial food such as Wellness, Nature's Instinct, Taste of the Wild, Dogswell, and Pinnacle. Always read labels and make sure they don't contain any grains and that the first three ingredients for dry are animal based. For wet it should be more than the first 4 ingredients with.
As a side note, cats should never have more than 50% of their diet be dry food or else they will be chronically dehydrated which can lead to renal failure and diabetes.
Hi everyone, thanks for all the great comments!
We've got lots of mice and some voles and some other sort of rodent around here, but the cats don't eat them. I guess they're just too used to their diet.
I've stored small batches in the refrigerator with some batches in the freezer.
llene, maybe your cat and my cat are related.
K, can you define edible bones? I've read that chicken bones, raw, are ok. I'm still squeamish about giving them to the dogs. What about other animal bones?
Mrs. J, thanks for the recipe.
Meagan, I've read about BARF, but cannot remember what it stands for. Can you remind me? Also, when you say edible tissues, what are you referring to?
The squash family is beneficial to cats and dogs to keep fiber in the diet. It is used for cats who get mega colon, and constipation and for dogs also. Pumpkin is very good also. So add to food, as it keeps colons happy. My cats and dogs love squash and pumpkin both, my vets recommend it for diets.
Enjoy your posts and blog.
We've had our dogs on the raw food diet for more than a year. It really is quite easy. We get most of our meat for free from a local custom butcher shop. It is the scraps that they would otherwise throw away. Sure, some of it we throw away but there is lots of good stuff in there, too. Right now they are feasting on the leftovers of a deer. We also sometimes get freezer burnt meat off of our local freecycle. Also we live on a farm so when we have an animal butchered, they get everything we don't eat except the hide/feathers and intestines (mostly because they would stink too much). They eat hooves, chickens heads/feet and kidneys, livers, hearts, etc. The base of their meal is a handfull of oatmeal with a handfull of dried nettle sometimes with grated carrot or squash or whatever other vegetable that is free or cheap and we have on hand. Then sometimes supplemented by vitamin E, ginger or garlic. We soak that in cool water for half an hour and then throw the raw meat on top. Once you are in the habit, this whole procedure takes only a few minutes.
I worry about not having the right nutrient/mineral balance if I made my own - that they'd get ill because of something I wasn't providing. Our cats are old now - 12 and 14 - so they can't catch their own food to supplement the diet if we are missing anything -- well, not unless a silly mouse happens to really really slowly wander across the sofa.
Having said that though, we lost one of the team earlier this year to a thrombosis and one of the causes of that is an inadequate amount of taurine in their diets - and he'd eaten a supposed a nutritionally complete & balanced meal his whole life. So perhaps I should have a little more faith in myself learning and doing it right, rather than blind faith in the pet food industry!
Raw bones - well, it depends on the dog :)
Chicken (and other poultry/small bird) bones are 100% edible when raw. In fact, chicken makes up a large portion of what my dogs eat, because it tends to be the cheapest and easies bone-in meal. I do know people feed ostrich/emu, but it's WAY too expensive around here to feed, so I have no experience with those bones.
Beef and pork bones are edible by some dogs, and not for others - it depends on the size of the dog, mostly. The consensus is to stay away from weight-bearing bones from large mammals (e.g. beef), simply because the bones are too dense, and cause tooth fractures. Back, rib and shoulder bones from beef, pork, venison, etc. are edible for some dogs. I personally stay away from "steak" type bones as well, since they are sharp!
Basically, if you give your dog a bone (with lots of meat on it), and they eat the bones, then it's edible. If they strip the meat, and chew on the bones without really eating it, then it is probably too hard for them.
For me, I tend to feed chicken with bone, and all other meats without (I have fairly small dogs!).
Let me know if you have any other questions :)
Interesting that you should post this now, because I was just about to start a quest to find a recipe. I have been saving the livers, gizzards and hearts from the chickens we got from the CSA this year and I have a big enough bunch frozen that I need to use them.
I am hoping to grind them together with a few other ingredients and then pressure can them as an occasional treat for my cat who eats mostly commercial dry food.
Brilliant!
There's a fantastic book called Grrrrowlicious: food for hungry dogs (see http://www.grrrr.com.au/dogfood/) - we got it for our boxer who has the strangest appetite and eats everything from shiitake mushrooms to chilli plants and he loves everything we cook out of it! We do use canned food more than we should, but we are *trying* to make him more food and be better owners
As for natural food for the cats, we try and give them fresh chicken (raw) or roo mince.
Great post!
I make treats for our dogs but not much of their food. I like that I know what's in the treats and look forward to learning more about what to feed them in the future. I think some of it is finding the courage to ask the butcher! One butcher does sell raw food, they love it, but it smells horrible and is expensive.
denimflyz, thanks for encouraging me to give them squash! I hope to grow a whole lot of it next year.
Andrea, well you are lucky to get the scraps that are mostly thrown away. Our butcher already makes and sells their dog food, which isn $1.50/pound. Not bad for quality, but I'd rather try to make it myself if possible.
Louisa, I worry about giving my dogs the right amount too. I guess that is why they aren't on a completely homegrown diet... they still get commercial food. I hope someday to have enough time to make it all myself.
K, so all chicken bones, when raw, are edible for dogs? But not when cooked, right?
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