Homemade Dog Food

For the last few weeks my dogs have been enjoying my version of homemade dog food. My inspiration to start making it for them was my friend Shari and her gorgeous dog Ben:



Ben is HUGE, yet buff. His fur is shiny and soft, his eyes are bright. He is sexy. So after watching him devour the homemade food that Shari makes for him, I decided to give it a try for my freak dogs. (Speaking of freak dogs, interesting to see the comments on my post about my Gypsy's crazy fear of hiccups.)

I considered taking pictures of each step of the process, but it's actually kind of gross. And the smell is pretty nasty too. I suppose that's why the dogs like it so much.

So based off of Shari's recipe and some that I found online, my basic recipe is:

• 5 lbs of ground beef (80/20, browned and drained.)
• 3 lbs of chicken livers (Cooked in a pot with just enough water to cover them, then mashed well with a potato masher. Definitely the most disgusting part.)
• 4 or 5 eggs (Shells included, blended in a blender then cooked in with half of the ground beef when it's nearly done.)
• Big bag of frozen mixed veggies (Cooked with a little water, then mashed well.)
• Brown rice

Once it's all cooked and mixed together well it looks pretty much like any other wet dog food:


To serve it we mix in a bit of bone meal, some water to moisten it, and then a few squirts of salmon oil over the top. I do intend to check with my vet soon to make sure she approves, but I think she will. They get 2 meals a day, breakfast and dinner. As fast as they devour it, it's amazing that they haven't choked yet. As soon as one of them empties their bowl, they immediately go to the other's to make sure nothing was left behind.

One of the goals of this is to get a few pounds off of 13 year old Gypsy. She's developed a fairly significant limp on her left front leg and besides possibly her arthritis, the vet has no idea why. Other than that, she's pretty healthy for an old lady. But she definitely could stand to drop some weight. I haven't weighed her since we started, but I think she might have lost a pound or two. This despite the fact that she is so fat and happy after she eats that the next few hours are spent passed out cold.


I should also mention that this has been made MUCH easier thanks to my Mom, who does the actual feeding of the girls every day. And the multiple walks she takes them on each day also are contributing to the bounce they both seem to have in their step lately.