Why I started making homemade dog food

As many of you know, I’m a little obsessed with my dogs…all four of them! Three of them are still pups (under 4 years old) and while they are young and healthy it seems like they can eat just about anything. Then there is the 13-year-old hound dog, who has been increasingly more and more picky about what he eats. He’s allergic to beef, eggs and barley, and he’s had a bout or two of pancreatitis in the past so I have to keep his fat intake low, which is highly unfortunate for him since he is totally addicted to cheese. This guy knows what the cheese drawer in our fridge sounds like and will appear out of nowhere anytime its opened. I’ve tried a bunch of different brands and formulas of dry dog food, and he refuses to eat more than a few bites of any of them. He was noticeably losing weight and so I felt my hand was forced. I boiled some of our chicken, chopped up some vegetables, cooked some rice in the broth from the chicken, mixed it all together and let it cool. He watched me cook, his big hound nose sniffing the air with skeptical anticipation. As soon as I offered him a bowl and watched him devour the contents it was clear this was the answer. I had to start cooking for my dogs.

This wasn’t the first time I had considered this option. I want to feed all of of my dogs the very best food possible so they will be around for a long, long time. I had done some research. I had talked to veterinarians, dog trainers and breeders, and they all had some great advice - mainly about what to look for in a good quality dry dog food. But when I scanned the ingredient lists of dry dog food labels it was hard to decipher what made one any better than another. Sure, some may use limited ingredients or include beneficial supplements, but in the end they all have one thing in common - they are all processed. One of the primary goals of our farm is to provide real, whole foods to our community, so why would I not want the same for my dogs?

For one thing, my dogs eat a lot. Three of them are over 50 lbs, and they all get a ton of exercise, so I’m talking up to 6 cups per big dog per day of high protein kibble, plus another 2 cups for the little beagle. Meeting their needs isn’t cheap now, but a homemade diet will definitely cost more. Even though we’re producing some great protein here on the farm, that meat is carefully raised with my human customers in mind and I need to meet my obligations to them first. I save the less-than-perfect cuts to feed my family, which doesn’t leave much left over for the dogs. We’ll need to scale up slightly to accommodate their needs, and I’ll need to delegate time to prepare it all. This isn’t a small undertaking.

I also know that a lot of research has gone into cramming a nutritionally complete diet into those kibbles, and that the main criticism with homemade dog diets is that its difficult to ensure all their essential nutrient requirements are met. This is actually what worried me the most. There are some pretty good vitamin and mineral powders you can buy as food additives, but I worry about how much of that stuff is actually absorbed by their fast moving digestive tracts. Then I thought about a practical human approach to a healthy diet - balance high quality proteins with seasonal produce and some unrefined carbs. It turns out that most of the homemade dog food recipes I’ve looked up seem to echo this approach. As long as I’m keeping their macro nutrient needs in the proper ratios (protein:carbs:fat) and including a variety of fresh fruits and veggies, I’m pretty confident we’ll be on the right track. I also keep an extremely close eye on my pups (I told you I was obsessed), so if anything is amiss I’ll likely notice it and we will adjust as needed.

This is new territory for us all, so for now I’m mixing the new homemade food with their regular kibble. I’m making as big a batch of their food as I can store, which only last 4-5 days as is, so I’m going to have to figure out some logistics before I can transition them completely. For now I feel good about my efforts, and I think the dogs appreciate it too!

Have any of you tried cooking for your dogs? What worked for you and what pitfalls should I avoid? I’d love to hear about your experiences!