Doing Dog Food Differently

Most dog owners never consider giving their dog home made dog food.  While many will feed their dog leftovers,  they never make the connection that their dog could live off of regular food, probably to a much healthier end result.  I've met many dog owners that won't allow their dogs to eat anything but approved dog food or treats, usually to reduce begging but sometimes because they honestly believe it's the healthiest option for their animal.  In reality, the foods are limited and dogs do best on a diverse, ever changing diet.  Consider how dogs and wolves eat in the wild, it's generally different each time.

Growing up, I had direct experience with one dog, a black labrador retriever.  He was fed dog food and had constant issues with food reactions.  It never occurred to my aunt, who the dog belonged to, to feed him home made dog food.  She spent a decent amount of money on gluten free dog foods, all the while he suffered from chronic skin problems and chronic ear infections.  His body was a state of inflammation for the majority of his life.  As I was not his owner, I didn't really consider the connection between his health issues and his food. 

It wasn't until I ended up with Smokey Dog, my old blue nose pit that passed away a few years ago pretty suddenly,  did I learn the link between food and health for dogs.  I assumed dog food was designed to have what they needed. It made sense that when you suddenly took them off of dog food, they would get sick.  I didn't realize that was due to the fact that they eat one thing, and only one thing.  

When you diversify your dog's diet, you make him much more able to adjust to different food, as that's how you feed. The dog is able to eat anything, save for onions, chocolate, garlic and a few other foods.  A note to make here, is that onions are toxic to dogs in the raw form, and can cause problems in the cooked form.  Feeding dogs leftovers with some onion cooked into it is okay, but never give your dog raw onion pieces. Chocolate in high concentrations can cause heart attacks in dogs, which is why you should avoid that too.  I do give my dogs very small amounts of chocolate here and there to help prepare them for if they ever happen to get into a large amount of it.  This is actually beneficial as they are more tolerant of the stimulant effects of chocolate.  Doing this makes them less likely to have a heart attack in the event they say, eat 3 pieces of chocolate cake as a puppy like Rebel Dog did. 

We ended up on a home made diet mostly out of necessity.  We wanted our dog to be on high quality food only, which was expensive.  We did the math on how much it costs to just feed the dog home made food, generally involving at least a little leftovers.  Dogs are a great way to get rid of food or leftovers that you don't want to eat.  If something's a bit too bland for you in flavor, generally it's just fine for a dog.  Dogs have evolved with humans for a long time, generally subsisting off of their trash. 

Within a few days of a home made diet we noticed a distinct difference in Smokey's appearance.  She was gaining healthy weight and muscle, her coat was soft and shiny.  After awhile, it became clear that it was the better way to go.  She was able to adjust to any food we gave her, often being raw vegetables from the garden and rice.  She never had health issues, other than worms at times.  She never really had bowel problems and realistically was a healthy dog for most of the time we had her. Her death was sudden and pretty terrible, we honestly still don't know what happened there, but we do suspect foul play. 

When we got Rebel Dog, we received a lot of criticism for how we did just about everything, and his food was no exception. They touted that dog food with occasional leftovers was the best way to go about things. In his whole life, Rebel has only had one bag of dog food and it was when we were crossing the border and traveling through Mexico.  We didn't know what our money situation was going to be in Mexico and we wanted a easy to travel food that doesn't go bad.  Once the bag was empty, it was back to the home made stuff.  

Above are some of the ingredients to Rebel's Dog food, the base here being oats(17 pesos a kilo at Walmart).  Sometimes I use rice(11 pesos a kilo), and I've used puffed amaranth in a pinch.  If I have leftover pitas, they can serve that role too, although we try to keep the bread to a minimum.  I've used boiled potatoes(18 pesos a kilo) and mashed potatoes too, which they love.  Leftover beans are a common addition to dog food, although they can cause digestive problems in too high of concentrations, just like in people.  They're incredibly fibrous in nature.  Raw eggs(1-2 pesos per egg, for the ones I use) are a common sight, they have more of the nutrients in the raw form, and I think dogs honestly prefer them that way.  Leftovers from the most recent meal are given almost daily, which he loves.  It's hard for him, with me being a chef.  The house always smells delicious and it's not always for him. 

When we have the money, we buy the cheap cuts of chicken and other meats, generally the stuff that you don't want to consume.  Shown above are some chicken hearts and livers, and chicken pieces with bone.  We feed these things raw, as the bones are dangerous for dogs to eat once cooked.  They tend to shatter into glass like pieces which can cause internal bleeding.  Raw bones crumble differently, into a manageable size.  Something to consider is that dogs eat animals in the wild, bones are part of that.  Bones are the one thing that Rebel actually stops to chew when eating, generally he just sucks it all up in a few bites. They provide good vitamins and minerals, and when the dog breaks them up they expose the raw marrow which is essentially a super food in itself.

I generally soak his oats, bread or amaranth in water, just to the level of the oats.  It only takes a few minutes and makes it easier for him to digest.  I've seen dogs inhale dog food, drink water, then immediately throw it all up because the dog food expanded.  When we fed Rebel that bag of store bought food, we soaked it every time with water before hand. 

I just crack the egg into the bowl with the oats, right on top.  I used to mix it in, but I found the dogs don't give a shit if you mix their food or not.  They inhale it regardless.  I use brown eggs, cause I look them best. 

I add a few of the pieces with chicken bones in them, raw. 

I add a few of the pieces of what I assume are chicken hearts and livers.  They seem loaded with nutrients, and since I feed them to him raw he gets a lot more of those nutrients.  

This is a well rounded version of my dog food.  I prefer to add either butter or bacon fat when I can, which keeps his coat soft and shiny.  I let this soak for about 10 minutes until the oats absorb the water and then it's time to eat. 

As you can see, Rebel is ready and waiting for his dog oatmeal.  

I've had direct experience with feeding dogs a homemade diet for years at this point, with several dogs as examples of the quality. Not only do dogs enjoy the diversity and the thrill of eating people food every day, it benefits their health directly and quickly.  For this reason my dogs do not have skin problems, any chronic infections, nor are they underweight.  They have really soft and shiny fur and they're both getting to healthy weight.  Rebel took a little while to come back from when he was sick recently, but he's starting to thicken up and even grow bigger.  Tequila is a completely different dog than when we got her,  I'll share her story soon.  I recommend anyone try my dog diet on their dog and see the change in their health.