22 replies to this topic

[tri]

Anyone have any recipes? We have decided to not feed them dog food because of cost and treats unless it is dried meat made in Canada/U.S.A due to dangers of it being toxic to dogs. Currently giving them dried fruit we dry at home. Anyone have any recipes for like dog bones or food for them?

[narya]

Are you looking to feed a b.a.r.f. or a prey model diet? What breed(s) are you dealing with? What are the ages and current body weights involved?

I've fed both b.a.r.f. and prey model before and honestly prefered my results with b.a.r.f. Prey model also just took up so much freezer space it was sort of ... stupid. Presently I'm feeding Orijen and love it whole heartedly. It also doesn't take up my whole freezer, but that's all beside the point. The reason I stopped feeding 100% raw (besides my space issue) was that I just couldn't keep my show dogs in a nice weight. That's very much not the norm for most people, it was just because I was dealing with sight hounds. Any other type of dog should pretty much be a weight control dream on raw.

I also don't feed 'treats', I just remove part of the dog's food portion per day and use that for treats. (Though I don't have very food motivated dogs, as a rule of thumb. Thanks sight hounds!)

(Obviously I'm new around these parts, but I do have loads of dog experience. I've handled show dogs for years and currently have a Whippet and a rescue feral-Whippet-thing.)

Edited by narya, 03 October 2012 - 06:41 PM.

[Waser Lave]

Dried fruit? I would imagine making your own dog food and treats would actually end up costing more than a decent formulated dried dog food.

[tri]

Dried fruit? I would imagine making your own dog food and treats would actually end up costing more than a decent formulated dried dog food.

We dry our own in a dehydrator that costed on $40 and the fruit are not that expensive Only for treats though and they are only two small dogs and so far we are making chicken and rice for their supper which is quite cheap. We freeze portions in ice cube trays.

[Waser Lave]

We dry our own in a dehydrator that costed on $40 and the fruit are not that expensive Only for treats though and they are only two small dogs and so far we are making chicken and rice for their supper which is quite cheap. We freeze portions in ice cube trays.

Make sure not to include grapes or raisins though because they can be toxic to dogs.

[tri]

Make sure not to include grapes or raisins though because they can be toxic to dogs.

Yes. My mom know basically all the toxic foods to dogs. XD

[tri]

Whatever happened to feeding dogs tripe? What's with all this fancy-schmancy stuff nowadays...

Stomachs of animals. All the fancy stuff is the same. It is like feeding your dog chicken and veggies except less healthy.

[Syntax]

I avoid feeding my dog chicken or rice, mainly cause it wrecks havoc on his skin. He developed this allergy only quite recently. You might want to feed your dogs food that are less likely to cause skin rashes; fish is okay, I believe. Red meat is a no.

[tri]

I avoid feeding my dog chicken or rice, mainly cause it wrecks havoc on his skin. He developed this allergy only quite recently. You might want to feed your dogs food that are less likely to cause skin rashes; fish is okay, I believe. Red meat is a no.

Fish is expensive. They love sea food but it is only a treat if we do get it for them. They seem to like the rice and chicken way better then the dog food and they say dog food is made or of dead animals too.

[Syntax]

I guess it's natural to like human food more? I used to feed him plain rice (it's how I think he got the allergy) and he loved it more than his kibbles as well. Other stuff I used to feed him for meals included dried strips of honeyed meat. My mum has the recipe, I'll ask her for it. It's dried chicken/beef/fish sweetened with honey.

[Waser Lave]

Fish is expensive. They love sea food but it is only a treat if we do get it for them. They seem to like the rice and chicken way better then the dog food and they say dog food is made or of dead animals too.

In the UK dog meat also has to be legally fit for human consumption so we don't have that worry.

[tri]

I guess it's natural to like human food more? I used to feed him plain rice (it's how I think he got the allergy) and he loved it more than his kibbles as well. Other stuff I used to feed him for meals included dried strips of honeyed meat. My mum has the recipe, I'll ask her for it. It's dried chicken/beef/fish sweetened with honey.

That would be great. Thanks.

[Syntax]

She recommends it with chicken over beef/fish, cause they're easier to prepare. You need a food dryer. Buy chicken fillet, marinate it in honey and leave it in the dryer for a day. Check on it every few hours. The texture should be tough, but not so tough that you can't peel it into pieces with your fingers. The ratio of honey to chicken is up to you, but she makes it a little thicker cause my dog likes sweet stuff.

[Cript]

We have two lhasa apsos who refuse to eat dry food so we make something that contains Boneless Chicken Breasts, White Rice, Rice Milk, Eggs, Squash, Carrots, Peas, and I'm pretty sure that's everything. They absolutely love it.

[tri]

Thanks you both. We have been experimenting with the dried fruit and they seem to both like pineapple out of the can dried and we may try not to fry the fruit out of all its juice next time because they seem to have a hard time chewing it.

[Cyo]

I just feed my dogs leftovers and bread (I don't live in the US so the bread here doesn't taste like candy), both are perfectly vigorous and bushy-tailed. This isn't indochina, why the fuck should I feed rice to my dogs?

[luvsmyncis]

This isn't indochina, why the fuck should I feed rice to my dogs?

You should feed a Korean to your dog. That would be the ultimate payback.

[Cyo]

You should feed a Korean to your dog. That would be the ultimate payback.

I don't get it. No Korean has done any harm to me that I know of.

[tri]

I just feed my dogs leftovers and bread (I don't live in the US so the bread here doesn't taste like candy), both are perfectly vigorous and bushy-tailed. This isn't indochina, why the fuck should I feed rice to my dogs?

Bread has lots of starch which is not the best for dogs. Well rice is good for them and they like it and it is cheap so why not. I could go out and buy fish and gourmet steaks but I sadly do not have the money to do that.

[Satine]

Bread has lots of starch which is not the best for dogs. Well rice is good for them and they like it and it is cheap so why not. I could go out and buy fish and gourmet steaks but I sadly do not have the money to do that.

Came by this topic, I know it's old but this is a subject I can't shut up about.

You can give your dogs rice and you can give them chicken. Just make sure that's not the only thing they get.
By the way, rice does no harm, also it does no good. Rice is a filler just like grains in "normal" dog food.
I have my Akita Inu on a barf diet, which is cheaper then a proper "normal" dog food like Orijen.

[Dot]

Over here in the Netherlands the barf diet is very very expensive. The local butcher expects fortunes for a bit of meat and bone and I live too far from a city for home delivered frozen barf products.

 

Should I ever win the lottery (not that I actually play it) I'd put my retriever on the barf diet because that carefully formulated dog food or kibbles? Mostly grains which actually aren't that good for dogs in large amounts as it isn't fully digested and it stays in the stomach and intestines much longer than is healthy. It also contributes to the rise in dogs with allergies.

 

Also, if something says it contains 20 percent chicken, then only 5 percent of the so-called chicken has to be meat and the part that is called meat need only have 2 percent meat, the other 98 can be fat, gristle, and muscle. The other 15 percent of what is called chicken can be ground up feathers and beaks and legs etc. The exact percentages depend on your country, but this is what it was in the Netherlands according to a publication of a few years ago.

 

As for rice, it is digested for a longer time than healthy, but doesn't take as long as grains. It does need to be rinsed thoroughly before you cook it as rice contains arsenic. For us wholegrain rice is the healthier option, for dogs it's better to go for white rice if you really must feed them rice as the arsenic is present in the soil in which the rice is cultivated and most of the arsenic will be concentrated in the husk (not sure if that is the right word here) and it's also in the dust or powder left on the rice/in the tin/box/etc. Some will still remain in the ricegrains themselves. We're talking about tiny tiny amounts here but you can become ill from it if you just pour it in the pan and cook it without rinsing. Even after rinsing some remains. And since dogs reach the poison saturation point quicker than we humans do it is something to be careful of.

 

To answer the original question, drying your own meats is indeed one of the best ways to get started. Boiled eggs are very nutritious too, I give my retriever 4 or 5 eggs a week. Just make sure to reduce their meal portion a little whenever you give them an egg. If you want to give them vegetables, they can have small amounts of plant fibers as they would get that if they ate their prey's stomach contents in the wild. Just make sure to check which vegetables are safe, for example, little to no starch is preferred, so potatoes and similar root vegetables are no good.

Fish can be cheap too and makes a good alternative from time to time. Wild is better than farmed, but again, limit the amounts you give them and spread it out over longer periods as fish contain mercury. Yay for pollution.