Cooked Food Diet for a Dog

Cooking your own dog food can be an excellent option if you have a finicky dog, a dog with specific food requirements (in the case of allergies or illness) or even if you are particular about the quality and freshness of the food your dog eats. If prepared properly, using a variety of ingredients and essential nutrients, your dog can flourish on a home-cooked diet. Speak to your veterinarian about feeding your dog home-prepared foods and what should and should not be included in your dog's diet.

  1. Guidelines

    • There are a few things to keep in mind anytime you prepare a home-cooked diet for your dog. First, include a variety of different foods in their diet other than simply meat and grains. Make sure to feed different types of meats, grains and vegetables. Meat and animal products should make up at least half of a dog's diet. Dogs' meals should be balanced, offering complete nutrition throughout the course of a day or week, rather than a full shot of the day's nutrition at every single meal. Finally, dogs need calcium. Adult dogs require 800 to 1000mg of calcium per pound of food eaten each day. Calcium supplements should be provided to your dog with each meal, but consult your veterinarian regarding what supplement to use and how much is necessary.

    Food to Include

    • Meats to use in your dog's diet include beef, chicken, fish, pork, turkey, lamb, rabbit, venison and even organ meat such as liver, hearts and kidneys. Eggs can be fed cooked or raw, depending on how your dog likes them. Eggshells can be rinsed, dried and ground into a calcium powder you can add to your dog's meals 1/2 tsp. at a time. Dairy products including yogurt, kefir and cottage cheese add calcium and protein to a dog's diet. Feed vegetables such as dark leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, celery, green beans, peas, carrots and potatoes. Good grains to add to a dog's diet include brown rice, quinoa, millet, oatmeal, bulgar and barley.

    Preparing the Meal

    • Cooking for dogs can be done ahead of time or just before each meal. Meats can be fed raw or cooked, depending on how you prefer to do it. Vegetables can be fed raw or lightly steamed, again a matter of preference. Grains, however should always be cooked before feeding them to dogs, as uncooked grains make for difficult digestion. Recipes for homemade dog food are available in books, or on the Internet. A link to some home-cooked dog food recipes is listed under the Resources section in this article.

    How Much to Feed

    • Without that handy instruction label on the back of the can, it may be tricky to determine how much food to feed your dog at any given time. Dogs typically need to eat between two to three percent of their body weight in food each day. That means for a 100 lb. dog, you would feed two lbs. of food daily. Once you have determined how much food your dog needs in a day, divide that amount of food by the number of meals your dog usually eats. That figure is how much food you need to feed your dog at each meal.

    Warnings

    • An improperly balanced diet lacking all the essential nutrition your dog needs can be harmful to your dog and damage its health. Make sure to do your homework and add the necessary components to your dog's diet to ensure proper nutrition. If you feel that you cannot provide certain nutrients, have your veterinarian recommend dietary supplements you can use. Also, never feed a dog chocolate/candy, raisins, alcohol or onions as these foods are toxic to dogs.