for lanie...? about dog food

[BlueMoose]

lanie, I saw on the thread about mixers that you make your own dog food. That's what I bought my Epicurian for (mostly)...to mix the dough for dog biscuits. I sell them in my local area. I'm now wanting to make regular food for my own dog, and was wondering how you make yours. I've been reading about how bad the dry dog foods are http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif . I have a lot of ideas and recipes, but was just wondering how you prepare yours.

TIA, Chrisi

It looks like you have goldens from your e-mail address. I'm a devoted fan! My parents have a golden, and I have a big black lab cross. He eats like a horse! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[RunnerKim]

Hi BlueMoose,

I'm not Lanie, but I do have a golden that I don't feed kibble! I've chosen to follow what is either called a natural diet (based on wolves) or Bones and Raw Food diet. Not much prep, cooking, baking, etc. involved at all. I do mix up a big batch of what I call meatballs and freeze in servings for my cats, but for my golden it's easier to just put the food in her bowl as she's not nearly as picky about what she eats. (with the cats I have to mix the small amount of pulverized veggies in with the meat and egg mixture). Have you read Dr. Pitcairn's book or Dr. Billinghurt's Give a Dog a Bone? I found both very helpful when trying to figure out how I wanted to feed my pets. I'm happy to share details if you're interested - been feeding this way about 3.5 years now and am thrilled with the results.

What fun you must have with your dog cookie business! I bet your pup especially enjoys your efforts!

Kim

[BlueMoose]

RunnerKim,
I do have the Pitcairn book. It seems to be a good one. Basically I feed Casey what we eat, with some modifications, because I try to make pretty healthy meals. But I think I'm going to mix up a big batch of "stew" pretty soon & freeze some of it.
For your cats, do you feed raw meat? what kind of meat do you find works best for them?
TIA...Chrisi

[lanie]

Sorry Bluemoose - I have only just this minute come across your post - so sorry. I have been making ECF 'Essex Cottage Food' since January and it is just fabulous. I add to this either ground beef, chicken, lamb, - for me usually ground chicken, then 1 whole sweet potatoe, green beans or broccoli, 2 apples, 1 egg, alfalfa, oil - they also get salmon oil, and glucosamine chondroitin. This is an amazing food - I think my dogs eat better than we do! If you want more info let me know - that is all I use the mixer for - and what a job it does - I make a couple of batches a week - I love making it - sometimes in lasagna pans transferred to ziploc containers (1 holds a meal for both of my dogs) or texas muffin tins - holds one cup which is what they get each meal - their coats are absolutely gorgeous and they are very slim. It looks and smells like a good pate in oven/fridge! My dogs are NUTS about this food - if you go to their site there are tons of testimonials, did the BARF diet for a while, but didn't agree and lots of controversy. Let me know.

[lanie]

BlueMoose - check this site out
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/Petfood.html

[RunnerKim]

Yes, I feed the cats pretty much the same as I feed my golden - so both raw meat and meaty bones. The cats are a bit pickier though and really don't care for ground beef at all. I go with ground meat so that I can mix in other stuff with it. The mainstay is ground turkey and occaisonally I'll grind up some pork for them and they really like that (but it's more work and more expensive). For meaty bones they mostly get chicken wings - just about the right size for them. They either get wings or "meatballs" for their meal. The meatballs include egg, a little pulverized veggies, flaxseed oil, vit. c, kelp/alfalfa mixture. Additionally during the week they'll get small pieces of liver, heart (very important for the taurine) and occaisonally other organs - gizzards mostly. Pretty much the same thing I give my golden, although she gets both meaty bones and meat/veggies in one meal.

I originally started my pup on Pitcairn's kibble supplements (along with high quality kibble) - but I wasn't happy feeding any kibble and it was a pain mixing various batches of food up. Philospophically I agreed with feeding a "natural" diet and one of the bonuses was that it was easier to prepare. Another big bonus is I haven't seen any other large dog owners cleaning up after their pet with a small baggie!

Kim

[BlueMoose]

Thanks to both of you for your feedback! I like the muffin tin idea. I'm just afraid that my DH will be jealous if I start cooking meals for the dog. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif I know he is already jealous of the biscuits!

Thanks.
Chrisi