Canine Nutrition

Homemade Diets for Dogs

Wow, if you’re searching for a topic that evokes passion and debate in the dog world, look no further: homemade diets for dogs! One dog food camp recommends only feeding kibble while another camp demands feeding a raw diet–so many opinions and gray areas. So, hopefully, I can help point you in the right direction.

Caveat: This article is meant to provide additional information for pet parents seeking research on homemade diets for dogs.

Raw vs. Cooked Diets

Here’s the deal: this is your decision and obviously your goal is to create the most nutritious food for your dog so I’ll skip the debate on choosing raw or cooked diets. Either option is an excellent choice, as you’re feeding fresh wholesome foods.

For dogs, and us, it’s all about variation and balanced nutrition. Personally, I mix it up. My dogs eat a raw meal in the morning, and their supper is cooked protein with raw pulped vegetables mixed with yogurt, raw honey and other good stuff. Plus, a few times a week, they enjoy food-stuffed Kongs with kibble and canned food. My goal is to introduce different types of food, and hence variation.

RELATED: Healthy Dog Treats

Novel Protein

One bit of information I learned while working with a veterinary nutritionist, who was formulating a balanced diet for my dog, is to keep one novel protein in case of allergies.

Food allergies develop when dogs are exposed to specific ingredients over and over again so I choose not to feed my dogs lamb or duck. If they should develop food allergies (let’s hope that never happens!), I know they’ve never eaten lamb or duck before so I can create a limited ingredient diet using those proteins.

A Balanced Diet is Vital

Yes, it’s that important. So many cooked and raw dog diets are missing critical vitamins and minerals.

Let’s take a step back. Many people compare our diets to dog diets.  We don’t eat a bag of balanced kibble everyday. We eat healthy foods. I agree to a point. Dogs grow at a faster rate, especially large dog breeds, than children, so dogs may need additional nutrients than humans. Just keep that in the back of your mind.

Yes, you can feed a daily balanced diet or balance it over a week period. Now, balancing a dog’s diet depends on your dog’s specific needs, such as weight, body mass, age, chronic illness and other specific needs. Then, gather and calculate protein and carbohydrate (let’s say chicken and rice) nutritional values and compare them to your dog’s specific nutritional requirements. Now, you’ll need to add vitamins and minerals to supplement the gap between chicken and rice nutritional values and your dog’s recommended nutritional requirements.

Did I lose you? It can be so confusing. Check out “Balancing Your Dog’s Diet” article to obtain your dog’s required nutritional needs and find balanced recipes and experts, which can do the hard work for you. Personally, I partnered with an expert on balancing my dog’s diet and it was worth every penny!

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