Rain's Kitchen and Garden!: Home Cooked Pet Food

Charlie, Jack and Marlene by the lake early in the morning!

Hi Everyone :)

I promised I would keep you all updated about how things are going with the pets and their new home cooked diet. This is a LONG post and chock-full of information. I don't expect all of my friends to get through the whole thing but anyone who may be interested in switching their pets to a home cooked diet might benefit from this post. If this subject isn't your cup of tea, that's okay! :) I'll be back to my usual blogging and visiting all of you friends very soon! :) xxx

In short: It's going really well!!

#1: They LOVE it...I'm the best fur-mommy ever, just ask them! ;)

#2: We are weening Oscar the cat off his allergy meds a little at a time and so far, he's doing very well, no symptoms! Yahoo!

#3: Our nervous nelly of a husky, Marlene - her digestion has improved so much, we're so pleased about that.

#4: No mystery ingredients!! Though I feel like my hands smell of chicken liver and pork constantly gah! ;)

#5: I haven't spent any more money on ingredients than I have on kibble in the past. I expect that some months, depending on the prices, it will be more and some months it will be less. I just ordered a pressure canner and when the budget allows, we'll be buying lots of supplies to can when they are on sale! :) So exciting...

Research: I can't begin to tell you how many hours I spent researching home cooked, raw and kibble diets for dogs and cats. There is A LOT of information out there, but finding credible sources was a little more difficult. I suggest reading a book written by a holistic or even an enlightened veterinarian who isn't just trying to push the expensive kibble on you. There are many YouTube channels out there too from credible sources (like vets). But really...if you come across a person who has been feeding their pets a home cooked diet for YEARS...and the pets are healthy? That's a good enough source for me!

This blog post is divided into FIVE main parts:

Part One: Supplementation
Part Two: The Food
Part Three: The Amounts We Feed
Part Four: The Cost - our cost in our area of Canada
Part Five: The Recipes

I also have a section that lists all of my sources. So AWAY WE GO!!! :)

Little Marlene

Now's the time for this:

*Disclaimer: I'm adding this paragraph because I've had some, let's say, ~~rude, pushy, know-it-all~~ stern advice given to me in the past regarding my pets and it's never appreciated so PUHLEEZE...any armchair "experts" out there who think they know better than me? You have the right to your opinion, but keep it to yourself okay? Thanks! But I am very open to all friendly advice, suggestions and comments! Please let me know what you do for your own pets if you like. We can all learn from each other!*

Part One: Supplementation

Calcium: Our pets need calcium and they may not get enough in a home cooked diet so supplementation is necessary to balance the phosphorus and keep them in good health (strong bones and teeth, primary body functions such as blood coagulation, muscle contraction, and nerve function...). Because our pets don't eat bones, we have opted for egg shells. Dried and ground up egg shells provide them with a good level of calcium. We never run out of egg shells!

Multi-vitamin: We're none of us perfect...so just to make sure they get all of the vitamins, minerals and amino acids they need, we give them a kelp multi-vitamin powder supplement. It's not too expensive and for us, it's more like insurance to make sure they are healthy.

Glucosamine: This isn't vital for their diets, but I wanted to mention it. Marlene and Jack are getting older so we give them a glucosamine supplement daily. We've really seen a big difference in Marlene's legs...remember Bambi? Marlene was doing that, my gosh, her legs would just give out on her...and she had a lot of trouble just a month ago climbing the stairs, now she bounces off them like she's wearing springs on her paws! This stuff really works well. For Jack, it's prevention considering the weirdness that happened to him over the winter...still shaking my head over that one. If you need to kill time, I wrote about that in three posts (Post 1, Post 2, Post 3).

Pro-Biotic Powder: Just for Marlene because of her poor digestion - we've been supplementing her diet with this for years...maybe one day we can cut it out completely. The other dogs get some homemade yogurt each day but Marlene needs a little boost.

Cranberry: Our poor Marlene came to us with a host of problems. She had crystals in her bladder which led to frequent urinary tract infections. Since we've been giving her a cranberry pill daily, she's had no issues. I also did research on what foods could make her condition worse, and the only thing I came up with was that too much spinach could exacerbate the crystal problem, so we just won't use that in their food.

A note: Marlene was prescribed the Royal Canine Urinary Formula Kibble. This quote is from the Royal Canine website: "Increased sodium chloride content encourages consumption of water"...in this kibble. Eegad.

Coconut Oil: We all know the benefits of coconut oil for us humans and I wanted to make sure it was okay for the pets too. I read an article by the American Kennel Club that stated the many benefits of coconut oil for dogs...they had me at "eliminates doggy odour" lol...but it's also very good for the coat and the skin. I found the same information out there for cats, and a bonus is that it helps with hairballs. The only downside is that if you feed them too much, it could result in diarrhea. So, we don't overdo it.

Part Two: The Food

Meat

This is the first time I've ever fed cats a home cooked diet. From all of my research, I came to the decision that the cats need 90-95% of their diet to be meat, so that's what I'm following.

The dogs...well it varies depending on what expert you refer to.

Spencer and Winston, my late great Pugs - miss those boys!

I used to have 2 pugs and their diet consisted of 30% meat with an egg each day. I switched them to a home cooked diet when my little fella Winston was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Failure. I was told he likely had about 6 months to live. He was nine years old when diagnosed. With my home cooked diet and a good pro-biotic, he lived another SIX years and his Stage 4 downgraded to a Stage 2. My other pug Spencer lived to the age of 19. So for me, the proof is in my own experience, the diet I cooked for them worked to keep them as healthy as they could be.

Why Kibble Scares Me: My pug Winston had been eating the kibble that was recalled in 2007, the Melamine contaminant recall where melamine was found in the vegetable protein sources that were imported from China.

Definition of Melamine: A white crystalline compound made by heating cyanamide and used in making plastics.

Tens of thousands of dogs, cats and farm animals developed and/or died of organ failure due to this poisoning (**these are statistics I found on the FDA website). It was never proven that this was the cause of my Winston's kidney failure, but what a coincidence... More reason to avoid kibble...we just don't know what's really in it. There are horror stories out there that I will not share, but they are disturbing.

So...what meat do they get? Whatever is on sale is what they get. Anything under $3 a pound is what I buy and so far it's been a mix of chicken and pork. I slow cook the meat after taking the skin and fat off. With the broth, I cook the brown rice (thanks Joyce!) so that nothing goes to waste. The cats also get a wee bit of chicken liver in their meat ration (too much liver can cause Vitamin A toxicity).

Cat Days of Summer

Brown rice

This is a good source of energy and fiber for them. It also contains some protein and they just love it. As I mentioned, I cook it in the bone broth and they get so many good things from that. If you want to read an article on the benefits of bone broth, I'll add a link in my sources section. We should all be drinking it!

Vegetables

There is a long list of vegetables (and fruits!) that the pets can eat. Again, there is a lot of conflicting information out there, so I took my source from my books. We feed the dogs sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green and yellow beans, peas and carrots. Again, whatever is on sale and in season is what I'm going for so this list may change. Eventually I would like to grow enough vegetables to feed them year round so I don't have to buy them anymore.

As for the cats, they really don't need vegetables as they are true carnivores. Any vitamin, mineral or amino acid they may be lacking in their diet will be fulfilled by the Kelp supplement that we give them. Plus...I TRIED...they do NOT like veggies, finicky felines.

Eggs

These are SO good for your pets, as long as they are cooked! I poach the eggs each morning for the dogs. So far, the cats aren't getting any but that again, may change.

Keep those egg shells! Rinse, dry and bake for about 20 minutes at 300F. Then grind them up into a powder for that calcium supplement.

Part Three: The Amounts We Feed

Dogs (1/3 meat, 1/3 brown rice, 1/3 veggies + extras and supplements):

Charlie (65 pounds)...she weighed 90 pounds last winter...big girl was a little overweight. Her ideal weight is 65 pounds so we are feeding her accordingly. She gets a generous 3 cups of mixed food a day.

Marlene (55 pounds)...she gets a level 3 cups of food a day.

Jack (25 pounds)...he gets a level 1 1/2 cups of food a day.

Charlie and Marlene get 1/2 tsp of egg shell and Kelp each day. Jack gets 1/4 tsp of egg shell and Kelp each day. They all get a little homemade yogurt and a small 1/8 tsp of coconut oil. Charlie gets a whole egg. Jack gets a half. (Plus all of the other supplements)

Oscar the Cat

Cats (90% meat and organ meat, 10% brown rice + supplements):

Dana, Leo and Oscar all weigh about the same. Most cats between 10-15 pounds will eat between 4-6 ounces of food per day.

Leo eats 1/2 cup of food per day. Dana and Oscar eat a generous 1/3 cup of food per day. Oscar gets some fish broth on his food because he's so darn picky. That gets him eating his entire portion!

We feed them twice a day. All of these amounts are based on their activity levels too which is L for LAZY. :)

It's difficult to find information on how much to feed each critter. It's case by case depending on their weight and activity level.

We will weigh them monthly to make sure we are not over or under feeding them. We will be watching them and adjusting the amounts accordingly if needed.

Part Four: The Cost - our cost in our area in Canada
(our budget for kibble/meds was $290 a month for the 6 pets - not including the Glucosamine, Pro-Biotic Powder, Cranberry pills and Coconut Oil)

Here is August's example:

Pork roasts ($2.99/pound) - 56 pounds $168

Chicken thighs (skin on , bone-in) ($1.88/pound) - 25 pounds $47

Chicken liver - 2 pounds $12

Eggs - 4 dozen $8

Veggies - 25 pounds $23

Brown Rice - 11 pounds $12

Kelp Supplement - $28

Total: $298.00

NOTE: I bought too much rice for one month...I may need more veggies though...I have more meat than I needed for the month of August so some of this cost will roll over into September. But basically (for now) I need about 70 pounds of meat each month for all of the pets. The meat is the big cost. And we are lucky enough to have access to a year-round market with very reasonably priced fresh vegetables.

Jack: The Apple of My Eye

I know how expensive this can be for people, especially those who have big dogs (Dianna!)...and all we can do is our best for them. Up until recently, we were kind of drowning in vet bills. Every few weeks it seems we had to call or go to the vet, it was getting to be way too much. And by the way? In March we were told that Jack would never be able to climb stairs again...JACK IS VIBRANT and bolting up and down the stairs like a puppy...trusting the vets blindly is not ever a good idea. It's the same with doctors. WE know our own bodies, we know our own pets. I'm not knocking modern medicine, but sometimes the fine line between profits and pet care is messed up.

Another Scary Kibble Bit: Taurine is an essential amino acid found in animal protein that is VITAL for the cat's health. In the 1970's many cats were dying of heart failure or going blind. After years, this was traced back to the deficiency of taurine in commercially-made regular and premium cat foods. Now, many companies manufacture taurine chemically to add to the cat food. Instead of using REAL meat protein, they can fill up the food with soy, corn, starches and chemicals as long as they add that taurine, they can label the pet food "complete nutrition".

We personally believe that health starts with what you eat. We are happy and proud, knowing that our pets are getting the best food we can afford to feed them. We hope that they continue to thrive and remain healthy and happy! After all, they are our fur-kids. :)

Part Five: The Recipes

Dog Food

I cook every three days or so. These ingredients make enough dog food for 3 1/2 days:

6 1/2 pounds meat (fat/skin trimmed)

9 cups cooked brown rice

9 cups mixed veggies (washed chopped, peels left on)

I slow cook the meat, remove any bones then use the broth to make the rice. I steam the veggies and use my hand blender to mush them up for better digestion. I have three containers in the fridge (meat, rice, veggies), enough for about 3 days of food, then I cook some more.

Leo and Dana on MY (former) porch love seat!

Cat Food

I cook every three days for the cats too. These ingredients make enough cat food for 3 days:

2.2 pounds meat (fat/skin trimmed)

1/4 cup chicken liver

1 cup cooked brown rice

I slow cook the meat, remove any bones and use the broth to make the rice. I mix the meat and rice together and add 2 1/4 tsp of egg shells, 1/4 tsp coconut oil and a large tsp of Kelp. This stays in the fridge and is good for about 3 days.

If you read all of this BRAVO AND THANK YOU! :) I hope the information I've shared is helpful! If you have any questions, ask me!!! :) Just remember I'm not any type of nutritional expert...just a gal wanting to do her best for her fur-kids. :) On my side bar under "Other Posts and Pages", I'll make sure to add a link to this post so it's easy to find.