How much?
Q: How much homemade dog food should I feed my dog?
A: Start off with the same portion of food you are currently feeding. Adjust the portion up or down depending on your dog’s weight loss or gain.
Fasting?
Q: Do I have to fast my dog before switching to a homemade dog food?
A: I highly recommend following the 24 hour fast outlined in the introductory method. This will greatly minimize the chance of your dog having digestive upset, vomiting and diarrhea all over your house, YUCK!
Dogs are gorgers and fasters by design so the fast is not hard for them. That said, you may find it easier to clean up vomit and diarrhea than ignore a little whining and begging for a day. To each his own:)
Rice?
Q: Can I feed brown rice instead of white rice, isn’t brown rice more nutritious?
A: Dogs have a short digestive tract and have a difficult time digesting brown rice so much passes right through. White rice is easier for dogs to digest.
Q: Can I substitute cooked potatoes for the rice because I have heard white rice can have some arsenic in it?
A: Yes, this is fine.
Q: If dogs are carnivores why do you add the cooked rice to the dog food recipes?
A: Dogs are carnivores and do great on a meaty bone based dog food. I add the rice or potatoes to help the transition to a homemade dog food easier for the dog digestion and the owners wallet. You can eliminate the rice or potatoes out of any of these recipes if you like.
Puppy Food?
Q: Do you have a dog food recipe for puppies?
A: I believe it is best to feed a highly nutritious food to your dog for their entire life. All the recipes on this site are great for puppies and adults. So pick the dog food recipe that fits best with your time and budget and get started. Your pooch will love you for it!
Kidney Problems?
Q: My dog has kidney problems which dog food recipe do you recommend?
A: Dog food with a high moisture content will help flush out kidneys, this is a good thing. All the dog food recipes on this site have a high moisture content.
Q: Do high protein levels cause kidney disease?
A: This is a myth that is still widely promoted. Read a quick article here to get some insight.
Health Problems?
Q: My dog has___________, which dog food recipe do you recommend?
A: Every day I receive many, many, many questions from dog owners about specific dog illnesses and they are very hard to answer. To be honest many go unanswered. While I have worked with animal nutrition full time for about 20 years I am still not a veterinarian and not licensed to answer medical questions.
That said, I strongly believe many of the illnesses that plague many modern dogs are misdiagnosed and are actually nutritional deficiency diseases. So, I think the best place to start is always a healthy homemade dog food and all dogs will benefit from a highly nutritious meal.
Diabetes?
Q: My dog has just been diagnosed with diabetes can I feed him one of these dog food recipes?
A: Diabetes is a serious illness and often require insulin shots. Click here for a detailed article on diabetes and your options to maintain your dogs good health.
Supplements?
Q: Do I have to use the supplements in the dog food recipe?
A: Yes, it is best to use the supplements I suggest. They contain many delicate nutrients and your dog will thrive when the dog food recipes are fed with the supplements.
Q: Can I use another supplement?
A: Yes, you can do whatever you want but “your results may vary”. I have fed these recipes with these supplements for years and so have thousands of others with awesome results.
Eggs?
Q: Do I have to use the crushed egg shells in the dog food recipes?
A: The eggs shells are in the dog food recipes to supply calcium and are important for that reason. Egg shell are a highly absorbable form of calcium and good to use. Some people are concerned about the sharp jagged sides and don’t want to feed them to their dogs. This is understandable. If this describes you you can blend the eggs in the blender are add calcium with Fidocal, a highly absorbable fine powdered calcium supplement for dogs.
Q: I see you hard-boil the eggs can I just feed them raw?
A: I hard-boil the eggs because the egg whites have an enzyme that binds with a B vitamin. It is questionable how big of a problem this would be for a dog but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I don’t think there would be any problem switching between the two, raw or cooked.
Raw vs. Cooked?
Q: Which is better to feed my dog, raw or cooked?
A: I personally feel raw dog food is best but the cooked dog food recipes on this site are super! Ultimately, you have to choose a dog food recipe that suites your lifestyle and budget. What good is any dog food recipe if it is to costly, time consuming or difficult to make?
Q: What about the bacteria on the raw food, will it make my dog sick?
A: Dogs have powerful stomach acids that help them not get sick from bacteria laden foods. Dogs are scavengers by design so it makes sense they can eat germy food and not get sick. If germs on food made dogs sick they would be dropping like flies every garbage day.
Q: Can I or my family members get sick from the raw dog food?
A: Yes, it is possible. If you or any of your family members is very young, old or has a compromised immune system you can succumb to the bacteria on raw dog food. Keep in mind the meat ingredients are all items you would purchase at the grocery store. So, wash up afterwards and you should be fine. If you have concerns by all means feed one of the cooked dog food recipes.
Is it OK if I boil the chicken instead of baking? I use the liquid to add moisture. Do you drain any of the fat when you de-bone? Also, should I be using a mixture of different proteins like chicken AND beef? I have been primarily using chicken and occasionally fish.
Ester,
The chicken and rice dog food recipe on this site is very moist. I think boiling the chicken will take it over the top. You can mix proteins, this is fine.
Six months ago our Bullmastiff starting having some health problems and I was reseaching online and found your website. I started the raw food diet and supplements. All I can say is Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He improved rapidly and now is a picture of health. All due to the raw food diet and supplements. I would never go back to kibbles! Thanks again for starting this website. My husband was skeptical but he is a believer now too. We just wanted the best for our pet. I wanted to let your readers know, that this is not hard, and once you see the results, so totally worth the switch. Thank you,
Judy and Roady
Judy,
All good news!
Okay this may be the dumbest question you have ever had. My dog absolutely refuses to eat any kibble. He loves him some table food, which I highly frown upon. I would really love to be feeding him home made food fit for a dog and I am going to try the raw recipe you have on here… So here is the “dumb” question. I have always heard feeding your dog raw meat can make them mean and aggressive. This is the only reason I am second guessing the raw diet. Can this happen? can feeding my dog raw meat cause him to be aggressive or mean in the future?
Lindsey,
I had this asked before but no raw meat will not make a dog more aggressive.
Because my 7 year old golden retriever has mege esophagus, he has to be fed smaller “meatballs”. Do any of your recipes lend themselves better to being made into meatballs ? I am not opposed to raw but was leaning towards cooked recipes.
Thank you .
Lisa
Lisa,
Actually, I think they all would be fine.
Ed,
I am very interested in trying out the raw food diet for my dog, but he is allergic to egg. What would you recommend to replace the egg in your recipes?
Thank you!
Jocelynn,
To replace the calcium from the egg shells add fidocal calcium supplement.
Hi Ed, I have a 7 yrs. old female shih tzu, been nuteur at a younger age. She is very picky, she loves the food “fresh deli” I bought at dog food store, it has veg, meat and rice in it too, but cost too much. So I make chicken soup for myself but I shred the chicken breast and mix in with his dry small bite dog food , sometimes she ate it. But she really loves the fresh chicken breast right after I took out of the pot, shred them up, she will eat it all but the problem is she will have ligquidy stool. What can I do? Now I found you on your web, I will give it a try to do the homemade dog food, see how she likes it. I gave her vitamins as she was growing up, I stopped giving her vitamins, but her vet recommend to buy at pet store give her vit A and B, what is your take? She weight 9.5 pounds, a purebreed shih tzu with AKC papers, her name is Camille.
Pricilla,
Try feeding Camille the chicken and rice dog food recipe, it is nutritious and tasty.
Can I use ground venison (Sitka Deer) in place of ground beef for the dog food recipe?
Sure!
Hi Ed. I just started feeding my two cockapoos the raw dog food receipe. They are both loving the food, the puppy (5mo) is doing fine with it but the 7yr old has runny stools and throwing up. What should we do?
Robin,
Fast your dog for 24 hours and reintroduce the recipe slowly as suggested in the recipe section.
My Boston terrier has been on the yeast starvation diet for almost 3 weeks. She is miserable with open sores now, and she stinks! Poor baby! Itching like crazy! Has been having accidents in the house and just feels terrible!!!! How long will this go on? I feel so bad for her! Hope it resolves soon. I heard it gets worse before it gets better…..but how much worse will it get?????
Susie,
It sounds like you Boston is detoxing and this process can last a few weeks. You can also add a teaspoon of Bragg’s apple cider vinegar to her daily meal, this will help with her detoxing. Also you can try some Dogosuds essential oil shampoo, this will help with her itching skin throughout the process.
My mixed breed (designer dog) is 12 years old, weighs about 70 pounds, about 10 lbs over weight. She has fatty deposits or tumors? in several places on her body. Her new vet recently recommended that she have NO table food. She instructed me to purchase dogfood that listed the first ingredient as a MEAT, and to never feed food that listed corn as the first ingredient. In looking at your website I think your cooked recipes look great….like table food for me….never mind the dog!!! I plan to re-order dinovite….she doesn’t like it, but maybe she will eat it if she has the yummy hamburger and rice mixed in! What is so bad about corn?
Debbie,
The bad thing about corn is usually the quantity in the dog food. Some dog foods are made up mostly of corn and this is not good for a dog because they do better on meat based diets.
Hi Ed,
One of my dog nearly died after using a Pro Plan product that we have been using for years.
We noticed that they had changed the bag design and added some new kind of fiber to the ingredients. My Lab mix got deathly ill and could not eat for days.
After reading how many Dogs are dying from cheaply made Chinese and USA products, and how sick our dog was, we decided to look into homemade dog food.
I noticed that in your chicken recipe you use 10 lbs of legs and thighs. Im thinking that might yield around 2.5 lbs of meat. So what I was wondering is, if your opposed to using Chicken breast meat.
I can buy 5 lbs of breast at Sams for $9.00 and could cook 2 batches for the 32 cup recipe.
Im retired and looking for the least expensive way to produce your recipe, Im also going to buy the Dinovite and superomega and rice in bulk.
Thanks for your help
MarkD
Mark,
I like using the chicken legs and thighs because they have lots of cartilage along with the meat. I also feed the bones, ground up or in the bone stock.
Hi Ed,
I would like to begin trying this with my two boxers. One has a history of bladder stones and is on a RX dog food from vet. The other dog has just been diagnosed with hip displasia. I have heard that feeding them this way could assist with the hip displasia. What are your thoughts on feeding them this diet considering both of their conditions? Thanks so much!
Jayne,
My view is that any homemade, nutritious dog food recipe is better than kibble.
Hi I am a new Siberian Husky owner. My husband and I have started getting him off the kibble that was recommended to us when we bought the dog, I am making him a chicken, rice, and vegetable mix. He is getting half and half right now and will be be switched to all homemade very soon. I was interested to read that he doesn’t really need the veggies. Is that correct?
Can you recommend the best supplement to feed a husky? He is living with a retired couple. So most of his exercise is walking. Thanks Love you website.
Brenda,
You are right veggies for dogs have limited value unless steamed, pureed and made to simulate predigested matter. I would use the dinovite powder it has many delicate nutrients and a highly absorbable form of zinc. Some Huskeys have a higher requirement for zinc.
I have a 3 year old long hair chihuahua. I have had him since he was 5 months old. He weighs between 11 and 13 pounds. Yes, he is a big one. When we first brought him to the vet, she told us to feed him kibble. He had very hard stool. So then she told me to mix a little bit of wet food to his kibble. This info from her have never changed. My dog is a very picky eater. And you are right, they are gorgers and fasters. I got tired of throwing away food. So, I started mixing our food with his kibble. He loves it. He will wait out eating until I fix him “people” food. So now I am looking at your site to make my own dog food. If I change to no kibble won’t his stool become very loose? I am confused at all the info out there.
Thanks
Natalie,
I don’t recommend mixing kibble and homemade dog food because it often leads to digestive upset.
Hi Ed, Love your website. We’ll be getting our first dog as adults after being cat-only household for 23 years. So I’m trying to learn as much as I can about dog health and food. What is your thought about feeding dogs on raw milk yogurt or raw milk kefir (we make them both)? Wondering if that would be good for digestive health?? Thank you for your great information.
Julie,
Raw milk is fine and dogs love it when it goes sour and separates.
As an alternative to beef, when using the cooked version, I pressure cook whole fryers (or slightly larger) until bones crumble (usually about an 1 1/2 to 2 hours). Cool down and run all solids thru Cuisinart with a bit of the broth to help the machine. It gives them all the bones, etc. Freeze and/or refringerate in portions. I use the rest of the broth diluted with a bit of water to cook the rice and I add quinoa to the rice as well. Plus fish oil as a supplement. But am going to start adding the whole egg w/shell for the calcium.
Hi. Thank you for all of this information. It is a wonderful resource. Here comes a my dog has____, question…My 6 year old german shepherd has lymphoma. Do you have any recipes for her?
Thanks in advance!
Bill,
All these recipes are highly nutritious and I can’t imagine could do any harm.
GREAT website, thank you so much for all this info. I stumbled upon the raw food diets completely by accident when my dog was sick and couldn’t keep anything else down… raw meat was the only thing he could tolerate so I am starting him on your recipe today. I do have a question though, if you don’t mind: I’ve read that bone meal is necessary in a dog’s diet. What does it do? Do the Dinovite and/or Lickochops supplements supply the same nutrients, or do the egg shells take the place of it?
I have a 12 year old golden retriever who is slowing down but is a very happy, mostly healthy dog (he has some arthritis, and fatty tumors) but he has recently become hard to feed. At his age I’ll try anything to give him the best senior years he can have. Thanks so much!
Patti,
The bone meal would be added for the calcium but the eggs shells add the calcium. The Lickochops or Supromega add needed omega fatty acids and the Dinovite adds a whole bunch of delicate nutrients.
Thank you so much for your time! What a wonderful service you are providing for dogs and their owners!
I have a 9 yr. male schnauzer who weighs 25 lbs. He just had 13 teeth pulled and vet said blood fats were elevated, but would check them again in a month. I felt so bad! We did not realize canned dog food was bad for him until I found your sight. I immediately ordered the dinovite and lickochops.
I have 2 questions.
Which of your dog food recipes would you recommend?
How much coconut oil should I give him daily?
Kris,
Feed the easy cooked or raw dog food recipes because of his teeth being pulled. One tablespoon of coconut oil per day is fine.
Hi, may i know how do you heat up the frozen dog food for each feeding?
Add water and heat up over the stove again? or just add hot water?
Thanks!
Christine,
I either let it thaw naturally or defrost it in the microwave. I keep the unfed portion in the refrigerator and feed it to my dogs cold.
I have a 6 month labradoodle that I am thinking about switching to raw diet as he has had digestive problems for 6 weeks. I read on one of the Dynovite comments about it causing hyper-activity. I could not stand him any more hyper! Is this common?
Jan,
Dinovite does not cause hyperactivity it just helps dogs get nutrients they need and stay healthy. If healthy, for your dog, is active then that is normal. I guess you could have him unhealthy and sleepy but that’s no good.
Thank you for all your hard work on this website.
I have a 9 yr old schnauzer, 25# that just had 13 teeth pulled. His blood fats are elevated. He’s been on canned dog food. Now that we’ve been enlightened by your wonderful website, we will feed him a raw diet. I’ve ordered the dinovite and lickochops. Two questions…
1. would the raw chicken/rice/egg diet be best?
2. how much coconut oil do I give daily?
Kris,
Considering how many teeth were pulled I would feed the easy raw dog food recipe or grind the raw chicken and bones. A tablespoon of coconut oil per day is fine.
Hi! what a wonderful website! My question is this: We currently feed our bulldog Orijen dry food and I am considering switching to raw, but one reason aside from the health benefit is the cost of this dry food which is very high. I am concerned that the cost of the raw diet would be VERY high! We have a local meat processing facility one concession over from us and I am wondering if instead of feeding pure ground beef and chicken (which is very expensive), can I supplement a with large percentage of scrap animal pieces and some organ tissue? I think I could purchase very cheaply some of the product that wouldn’t necessarily go on grocery store shelves. If you think it would be OK then what parts do you suggest? In the wild a dog would eat almost everything, yes? thank you.
Amber,
This is hard to answer because the scrap will vary greatly. Usually it is 70-80% fat. Chicken legs are 68 cents per pound.
Hi Ed,
I wrote the other day about my pit bull, Goldie, having diarrhea after a month on the starvtion diet. Thinking back, I believe it may have been a large dieoff of yeast in her system that may have caused it. I wash her every other day because she gets those mosquito-like bumps and is extremely itchy and licks a lot. ( I’ve tried some extremely unpleasant smelling shampoos in my quest to get my baby comfortable. I was pleasantly surprised when my husband said he actually likes the smell of your essential shampoo!) I understand that’s the yeast coming out. She had an extremely bad episode with bumps everywhere, almost overnight and of course she was licking everywhere. That’s when the diarrhea started. I hate meds and that’s why I panicked and wrote you. My husband pushed the envelope and I finally gave antidiarrheal meds. At this point I’m glad I listened. One dose later and she’s back to normal. Goldie totally loves the homemade diet. She had gotten to the point of not really enjoying eating. She’s was in bad shape when we started this. Constantly chewing her tail, back, face and especially ears, to the point of bleeding – scabs and bumpy bald spots all over her. She looked like a fought dog. It was killing me! When she started getting bumps on eyelids and lips, I started to panic. I needed help, fast! And found your site. Yea! The yeast starvation diet was our last ditch effort, and difficult with friends questioning the safety of raw meat. It made total sense to me, though. We are into our second month and I feel certain we are on the right track. Thank you so much for all your work!
Marilyn
All good news!
Dear Ed,
We are now into the beginning of month three, on the Dinovite and raw meat diet you suggest, and the itching is much less a problem, not entirely gone, just crops up now and then in mornings mostly…sometimes Yogi snorts a little and seems to gag…like we do when something goes down the wrong pipe…I am wondering if this could be stomach mucus trying to come up…along with the hair he does lick…I have seen this before in my other terrier, but it is happening now to Yogi and I did find some vomitus the day it started, (he had just about eaten it all back!) All else is fine, and he is eating and loving his carnivore diet, I just wondered if I should see it as part of the yeast cleansing….as he rarely throws up…
Thanks for your input,
Carole and Yogi
Carole,
Dogs are easy vomiters I rarely stress about it.
Hi Ed – I am an experienced homemade dog food maker. Our first dog, a mixed breed named Holly, lived for 15 healthy years on only homecooked food. Our new dog, Molly, is an 8 year old Portuguese Water Dog and, b/c our lives got busier with children and work, had been on a high-quality kibble…until she got struvite stones and a bladder infection. She has been on a prescription diet since Oct. 2012 and the problem has resolved. We still give her cranberry supplements daily. But now, from my research, I am leery of keeping her on this very, very, very expensive food — and she does not like it much anymore. We are considering home cooking again.
Do you have any advice on the best ingredients to help prevent the formation of the struvite crystals and bladder problems?
Laurie,
Any of these dog food recipe are fine, raw being the best. Here is a good article that thoroughly explains the topic, click here to view.
we have a dachsund. He is @8yrs.old he has been having diareah on and off his entire life. we have taken him to the vet many times, to no avail!! we are now trying a more “pure” kibble..however the problem is worse. What to do ? the stool is bloody and has been for life! help..we have tried everything to our knowledge. genie
Genie,
Try one of the dog food recipes on this site and see how he does.
Ed,
My dog has severe allergies to the point where we were being sent to an allergy vet for the shot testing I was informed of your site and printed off your cooked food recipes and I ordered the Dinovite and the Lickochops. I also ordered the Super Omega tube for “itchy dogs”. My question is should I just use the Super Omega tube in place of the Lick O chops or do I use both every time?
Christine,
You can feed either/or or half of each.
Hi Ed!
I am so impressed with your site. I am ordering the supplements,
but while I am waiting for them, have ground up some hard-boiled eggs with shells and
added that to some cooked white rice, which will be added to the chicken cooking now!
I just adopted 2 Pekingese dogs – age 3 and 4 – and want to get them started off right!
(They came from the Rescue/Shelter with Science Diet , which I topped off with Kibbles ‘n Bits… all of which sat in the floor, collecting dust… so I started cooking for them almost immediately.) Thanks so much for the info and access to the supplements!
I have 7 dogs all when fully grown will be around 60 lbs. would it be cheaper to feed homemade food. And how much would I have to make a month?
Thanks for your help and advise,
Monica
Monica,
Seven 60 pound dogs are not going to be cheap to feed, no matter what you feed. I would suggest the chicken and rice dog food recipe and/or also buying the meat grinder. The meat grinder will grind chicken bones and all. Chicken is the most economical meat to feed. You can substitute it for the beef in the recipes.
My 4yr old labradoodle always hated dog food. After reading your site, I decided to start making my own food. I started out gradually making the beef,rice, and egg dog food, baked. I also bought the dinovite. About two weeks after feeding it to him I noticed him starting to lick his paws and getting a hot spot on his chest. My dog has never has skin problems. My dog really loves the food. Which ingredient do u think he is allergic to. I took the egg out first, to see if he would stop. Also, his skin is red in spots. He never did that either. It has been about a week and he seems a little better. I also stopped putting the dinovite in it also. Could he be allergic to something in that. I would really appreciate your opinion.
Debbie,
It doesn’t sound like an allergy to me but a yeast issue. He could be having a yeast die off, a sort of detox, and this can cause what you are seeing. Try feeding the yeast starvation dog food recipe and see how he does. Keep in mind, with yeast infections, often symptoms get worse before they get better.
How many & what kind of potatoes are recommended when substiting it for the white rice? Thanks.
Terri,
You can use white or sweet and use 5 to 10 cups cooked.
Thank you Ed! I will begin this food regiment this weekend for my little dog. I have a few measurements questions though.
For example, for a 10 lb dog you have:
10 lb. dog – 1/2 cup raw dog food daily + 1/2 tsp Lickochops + 1/2 tbs Dinovite.
For the math part, how do you conclude the whole 8 oz tube of Lickochops to 1/2 tsp? And for the Dinovite? For example, if you want to add everything in all at once instead of teaspoon / tablespoon at a time.
For example, my little senior (going on 15 yrs.) 5 lb dog will have 1/4 cup raw dog food daily + 1/4 tsp Lickochops + 1/4 tbs Dinovite. How much is this for the Lickochops tube and Dinovite when added all at once to the raw dog food mixture?
Thanks again,
Terri F.
Terri,
The recipes on this site make between 30-48 cups of food. The suggested serving on the supplements is 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup of food. The tubes contain about 47 teaspoons.
Just found ya’ll. I already ordered from Dinovite and hoped the stuff would come today (probably will), but I wanted to make my own food. I have a question that harkens back from yesteryear when this idea wasn’t so popular (food wasn’t so contaminated, either!) The old suggestion was to use just the egg yolks (raw) plus the shells (raw). The dogs shouldn’t have raw whites because it ties up protein, but the raw yolks and shells were regarded as better than cooked. Old hat?
Thanks!
Kathleen
Kathleen,
The egg whites have an enzyme that binds with a B vitamin, so I recommend cooking the whites. You can feed the egg yolks raw.
Hi Ed- my dog is loving the raw food recipe – minus the rice as she is fat – (she also has allergies and just had bladder stone surgery and is almost always on antibiotics so I suspect yeast is a factor in her itching too) so I use the hamburger, eggs, chicken broth to help with blending the eggs and a few slices of fried crumbled bacon – we are just going to order the supplements but have a question. You have different sizes of Dinovite based on the dogs size .. however, is there a difference in it if I want to just buy the large size so I am not having to order as often? Also, I know bacon, even well rendered by slow cooking to get most of the fat out, is fattening but will it hurt the recipe? I am getting a new GSD in 2 weeks and plan on putting it on the raw food diet (with the rice to make it not as expensive) and if my 3 cats will eat it, I will put them on it too. Do the cats have to fast too? I know you get a lot of emails so I am going to order the Dinovite for her size but as soon as I hear from you I will order the large size if it’s all the same ingredient wise. Thanks a million. We are not wealthy, far from it but our companion animals are very important to us and we are quite willing to cut out on treats for us to make sure they are eating the best food possible. Maggie
Maggie,
The Dinovite powder is the same no matter what size package. I would fast your cats too and feed them the recipes without rice.
Hi Ed,
Thanks for the recipes, they’re super easy. Curious, why use Supromega fish oil for the cooked chicken recipe and the Lickochops for the cooked ground beef recipe?
Barb,
Because the chicken recipe already has chicken fat so no more is required.
Hi Ed,
I found a Yorkie about 1 1/2 yrs ago, he is around 13-15 yrs old ,he was very sick, after alot of tests we found he had canine renal disease,heart murmer and he is on a perscription low protein food, do you have any recipes for a low protein diet? I started cooking for my other 3 dogs and they love it, I did buy a dietary supplement from Flora at my health food store for dogs, after i am done with it i’m going to buy your supplements, I’m also going to try your meat loaf recipe, I’m still a bit wary about the raw food, could i feed them both the cooked and raw diet?
Thank You
Lisa,
I’m not a fan of low protein dog foods. Any of these recipes are fine for both dogs just start off slow and follow the introduction method presented.
Hi Ed,
So glad I stumbled across your site! I have been battling an underweight Boxer male (Jack is 5 years old now and fluctuates between 40 and 42 pounds) and at the same time have a perfectly normal female, Allie, now 7 at 68 pounds. One vet in Florida and now another second vet in California have both run a full diagnostic on him. All Labs, parasites, etc to the total tune of over $3K (my husband finally cut me off) and no discernible illness or issues. However, he is like an emaciated, bony skeleton. He’s happy, active and we have a morning routine of visiting the dog park everyday. I’ve tried EVERYTHING to fatten him up. Evo, Avo, Blue Buffalo, Grain Free, PetFresh, Merrick, you name it, I have tried. Currently I moved to the new Blue Kibble just released. But then, once again I went on a vigil of research and first found the Dog Food Advisor website which led me to Raw Food reviews which then led me down a path of researching Stella and Chewy, Darwin etc…. Which then led me to you. I am absolutely willing to “prepare” a Raw diet for my Boxers providing I have proper guidance on ratios etc. I want to switch both Boxers to Raw but ideally, I want to make a daily meal for Jack to specifically increase his weight. I understand Organ Meat is a great place to start. I can talk to my local butcher about a standard order. Eggs, with shells, an Oil, and then what else? And what about veggies and fruits? Pumpkin? Avocado? I need a fattening Raw Recipe for Jack and a standard recipe for Allie as I don’t want her to bulk up in the process. Any suggestions are seriously welcomed! Thanks, Steph Martin
Steph,
Try starting with the easy raw dog food recipe, you con substitute the Dinovite powder for the liquid. Mix it as a batch and let it sit a little bit at room temperature to allow the enzymes in Dinovite to active, then freeze or refrigerate. See how your dog does on this recipe and then go from there.