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jellyfish1981
Oct 24, 2009, 10:12 PM
I have a cute little pekingese dog. I don't like to give him any store bought dog food. His diet consists of minced chicken/fish/lamb along with carrots and squash or peas or zucchini etc along with brown rice. He hates milk or yogurt so I don't give him any of that. Aside from this I give him 3 tablets of cod liver oil during each week and he loves raw fruits and vegetables so he snacks on those. Is this diet sufficient? Am I missing out on some essential nutrients?

KISS
Oct 24, 2009, 10:20 PM
You failed to mention whether cooked or raw. Hope it's raw.

How about raw eggs?

jellyfish1981
Oct 24, 2009, 10:38 PM
You failed to mention whether or not cooked or raw. Hope it's raw.

How about raw eggs?

I don't give him raw food as I tried a couple of times and he threw up. But every week twice a week I do give him a raw egg that I mix with his food

shazamataz
Oct 24, 2009, 11:26 PM
You have to be pretty careful with home made foods.

What you are feeding does sound pretty good though.
I experimented with home-made foods for a while due to one of my dogs having bad reactions to preservatives.

My recipe was: (these are only rough measurements)

1 packet of spaghetti (broken up)
500g mince (chicken, lamb, kangaroo or possum)
2 Chicken livers
1 potato grated
1 carrot grated
Handful of green beans
Instant Gravy mix for flavour.

I cooked up the spaghetti first then added the other ingredients.
The result was a fairly watery mix so I then added 2 cups of All Natural dry food and let it soak up the water for about half an hour.
Then divided up into containers and put in the fridge.

I personally added the dry food at the end just to make sure they were getting everything they needed. (Yes, I worry too much)
Being an all natural food it didn't cause any problems with his allergies either.

2 hours of making that wonderful recipe and they turned their nose up at it and refused to eat it :rolleyes:

jellyfish1981
Oct 25, 2009, 01:17 AM
You have to be pretty careful with home made foods.

What you are feeding does sound pretty good though.
I experimented with home-made foods for a while due to one of my dogs having bad reactions to preservatives.

My recipe was: (these are only rough measurements)

1 packet of spaghetti (broken up)
500g mince (chicken, lamb, kangaroo or possum)
2 Chicken livers
1 potato grated
1 carrot grated
Handful of green beans
Instant Gravy mix for flavour.

I cooked up the spaghetti first then added the other ingredients.
The result was a fairly watery mix so I then added 2 cups of All Natural dry food and let it soak up the water for about half an hour.
Then divided up into containers and put in the fridge.

I personally added the dry food at the end just to make sure they were getting everything they needed. (Yes, I worry too much)
Being an all natural food it didn't cause any problems with his allergies either.

2 hours of making that wonderful recipe and they turned their nose up at it and refused to eat it :rolleyes:

LOL!

Yes I know what you mean. I tried initially to cook my dog's food for the whole week and then pack it into smaller portions and freeze it. He always ate it the first two days then then refused to eat it anymore. Went without eating for whole two days when I gave in and gave him something else to eat. So now I cook his food fresh everyday. He likes it fresh

shazamataz
Oct 25, 2009, 01:50 AM
Yep!
I bought take-away food containers so I could divide it up into nights... didn't work :rolleyes:
Luckily my mums dogs loved it so I gave it to her.

I have now found a canned and dry food that doesn't irritate his skin and he loves it so I'm just sticking with that.

If you don't mind me asking why did you choose the fresh food over pre-packaged food?
Just the possible health benefits or another reason?

jellyfish1981
Oct 25, 2009, 02:07 AM
Yep!
I bought take-away food containers so I could divide it up into nights... didn't work :rolleyes:
Luckily my mums dogs loved it so I gave it to her.

I have now found a canned and dry food that doesn't irritate his skin and he loves it so I'm just sticking with that.

If you don't mind me asking why did you choose the fresh food over pre-packaged food?
Just the possible health benefits or another reason?

I live in india so the pet food sold here is only pedigree, eukanuba and royal canine. These brands are becoming popular here but I read some pretty nasty stuff about these. So I am trying to give him a balanced diet using fresh ingredients available. And I do feel that if the fresh meal is balanced its better than giving my dog food with preservatives in it.

shazamataz
Oct 25, 2009, 02:17 AM
Ahhh yes I have heard that India doesn't have a wide range of products.
Yes I do agree that it is healthier and you have the bonus of knowing exactly what you are feeding them.

I also give mine a raw chicken neck before bed time every night to keep their teeth healthy.

An alternative to the cod liver oil is also sardines in oil. We buy them here just whole fish (minus the heads) in tins and they get half a tin each once or twice a week, they absolutely love them.

jellyfish1981
Oct 25, 2009, 12:32 PM
Sardines in oil is a great tip. Am sure he is going to love that. Are there any other nutrients that I should definitely try and give my dog? I don't give him any vitamins or anything. And am too scared to give him bones as he once almost choked after eating cottage cheese (which is soft). The problem is that when he is very excited about something to eat he just tries to swallow it.
Thanks a ton

shazamataz
Oct 25, 2009, 04:52 PM
Yes I know what you mean about the bones, I'm lucky in that mine always crunch theirs before swallowing, for some dogs bones just aren't an option.

Is there anywhere you can buy denta bones, or even just biscuit bones?

Just ones like this:
http://media.supereco.com/media/2009/01/24/320w/dog-biscuit.jpg

There are some great recipes for home made ones on this site (or just Google it) as well if you cannot buy them ;)

It might not seem important now but you will regret now giving anything crunchy in a few years when you have to have her teeth scaled ;)

I wouldn't go adding any vitamins, most of the time you can end up doing more harm than good. As long as you have different colored veggies (ie: carrot, beans, peas etc) and meat (alternate between white and red meat) you should be fine.