Hi i am interested in trying a home cooked diet for my 1 year old Golden. I have been looking at recipes by Dr Strombeck. His book is viewable for free on his website here www.dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/

I have however had trouble getting hold of the KAL bone meal used in the recipes. Does anyone here cook for there dog? If so do you have any advice?

thanks

In a way I cook for my dogs- minus the cooking part lol
When you cook it you destroy all the good in the food.
I feed mine nothing but a raw diet- for breakfast they had beef chunks &
for supper they will be eating chicken legs & liver.

I have made sweet potato chips for them which they loved :-)
Frozen yogurt treats- want to try yogurt & peanut butter next time & freeze that.

>When you cook it you destroy all the good in the food.

Erm ... I've eaten cooked food all my life and there's plenty of nourishment in it ...

Yes - but you are a human . . . and your gut, starting from your mouth, is very different from a dog's. 

Goldieman is there a reason why you want to cook the food rather than feed raw?

But if something is destroyed it has gone, completely and totally, not just in certain situations.

> i am interested in trying a home cooked diet

Do you mean home cooked or just home prepared ie not a commercially available kibble?  Can you say why you are looking at this type of diet for your dog - are there medical issues you wish to help?  For instance I feed a raw diet to mine and I'm certain it helps my allergic dog...

I'm fairly sure you can get bone meal from an agricultural supplier but I understand that it's a tricky one to balance and easy to overfeed.  You could try ground eggshell for calcium though.  I'd need to check but I think it's one teaspoon of ground shell per lb of raw meat.

If you are comfortable with raw feeding then it's far easier to get the bone ratio right if you feed meaty bones.  The dogs get the benefit of a jaw workout and teeth clean too :)  There are plenty of raw feeders on this forum so let us know and we can can give you a list of good reading for research

Took my little dog to the vet for booster vacc this week and she commented on how good his teeth were for an 8 year old toy breed.  It´s all thanks to his raw diet and meaty bones.  Before I converted his teeth were awful.

>But if something is destroyed it has gone, completely and totally, not just in certain situations.<

For dogs they need to eat it raw to get the full benefit out of it :) Us humans need to cook it or we get sick lol

> Us humans need to cook it or we get sick lol

Cook what? We eat lots of food raw, including meat.  It is true prolonged heating can destroy some vitamins but there is plenty of nutritional value left all the same and vitamins can be maintained by light cooking or, or course, eating raw.  This is exactly the same what ever species of animal you are :)

>Us humans need to cook it or we get sick lol

Not naturally, though; our species wasn't created with control of fire - it's something we developed, and dogs were domesticating alongside us at the same time. We are actually capable of eating raw food (including raw meat, the ways chimps do when they hunt and kill monkeys) without getting ill.

>Not naturally, though; our species wasn't created with control of fire - it's something we developed, and dogs were domesticating alongside us at the same time. We are actually capable of eating raw food (including raw meat, the ways chimps do when they hunt and kill monkeys) without getting ill. <

It sure would make life easier cause I hate cooking lmao :-) Eeew couldn't even think of eating it raw yuck- is it Eskimo's that still eat raw like seal, whale blubber ect & the blood?
lots of places still do- believe in Africa I think blood straight from the cow.

Steak Tartare is raw finely minced steak :-)   

Raw fish in Sushi - yum!    And of course in Sashimi, and Bansashi (raw horsemeat, but they do know it's horsemeat ;-) )

My only worry is that I'll ingest a worm cyst and end up fighting the dogs for the Panacur :-)

She doesnt have any medical issues. I just want an alternative to commercial food. Raw is not possible in my house, my mum wouldn't allow it for one. Home cooked has always appealed to me, I found a calcium/phosphorus supplement called Beaphar bone builder, it is made from milk, i was thinking it as an alternative to bone meal.

Dill --- lol lol !

I am a raw feeder and have no knowledge of how to go about a cooked diet for dogs sorry. I wondered if you haveconsidered something like natuural instinct ? available online and some of the people here use it . Raw yes but comes in convenient packages that you wont have to fiddle with chunks of meat ?
Maybe you may then be able to convert Mum over time. I can think of someone else on here that had the same problem and now Mum has seen raw in action is a firm beliver and doesnt worry about safety for human or dog with reasonable hygeine its fine. I am guessing that this is one of Mums worries
If you use cooked the dog wont have the benefit of bone as you cant give cooked bone> I dont know how you get round that bit. As bone is needed not just for nutrient but to clean teeth and develop musles through chewing.
As I said I have no knowledge of cooked so it could be that there are ways round this and it is my ognorance that is unsure and the fact that it is opposed to the theory behind raw feeding

I am also thinking how much time a cooked diet would be and then you must have to freeze to make it practical unless you are cooking daily for the dog so you will need freezer space just like raw

I think Kymythy Shultze includes home cooking in her feeding regime. I read one of her books a while ago and thought it was useful. She has a website with a few recipes on it, and you should be able to buy her books if you want.

I would love the reading list please. I feed my wee beardie Natural Instinct tubs and their frozen playbones but would have no clue where to begin if I were to DIY it. If I were to feed raw to all 3 dogs I couldn't possibly afford NI for them all so I would need to find something more cost effective. Thanks. Gill

Gill

If you're interested in some background reading, have a look at books by Ian Billinghurst, Tom Lonsdale and Kymythy Schultze... I like these three authors for good common sense advice and each offers a fairly well rounded perspective on the notion of raw feeding

Incidentally I buy pet mince from TPMS and mix several types together to get a decent balance of bone, offal and meat.  Chicken mince is v high in bone, and their economy mince has added offal, to which I add tripe, minced beef or lamb and some extra liver  I also feed some bony meals such as turkey neck or chicken wings two or three times a week.  I find that this, as my base menu, works well for cost and convenience.  Pet mince can always be refrozen too so if necessary you can portion it out after mixing and bung it back in the freezer.  A good option if you only have one dog or when the weather is warm and not much room in the fridge!

Goldieman when we had an Irish Setter 40 years ago one of the supplements the breeder told us to add to her food was called Stress which was a powder and came in a tin. From memory I think that was bone meal I'm wondering do they still make it?

Hi Goldieman, I don't know where you are situated but have you checked on the "Wolftucker website" for raw ready made meals ? or email and ask "Brian" what and where you should get a good quality calcium to mix into your rations.
I have fed raw on and off for 40 years (depending on supply) I use raw meaty bones 2 to 3 times a week for calcium; pig, lamb and chicken bones. Raw fruit and vegetables they love and they also love to browse around the fields for their own choice of grasses and herbs.
I never cook for them but I see no reason why not ! it's just that some of the goodness is cooked out but if not over cooked it should be fine.
Far more healthy than man made processed dry kibble !!
Have fun. :)

My boys will eat raw chicken carcases, and raw meaty bones as long as the bones doñt have too much meat on but every thing else I have to cook. They just will not eat raw meat of any sort but to me this is still far better than feeding any commercial dog food. Here in Spain it is also an expensive way to feed as every thing that would be waste in the UK is packaged for human consumption and I mean every thing even lights !!!