This is my very first diary. I have lurked for a couple of years, felt impelled to comment a couple of times. The diary about Blue Buffalo has inspired me to give this a try.
Our story begins with an Australian Shepherd, Anna. She was about two years old when she began to itch and more than a little. Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa half the night and most of the day. We had many consults with our vet and tried numerous packaged dog food options. Lamb and rice seemed to work until the stench started. (Ever read Flying Dutch by Tom Holt? Like that.) It wasn't just her farts, it was her breath, and even her skin stank. Her fur was greasy. One eliminated. The options 20 years ago were few and far between. Herring and potato worked but she wouldn't eat it after the first couple of meals. I thought it was pretty gross, too, and I didn't have to taste it to know that.
We moved and our new vet was a naturopathic vet. I am so not into woo - but she had good reasons when recommending a raw food diet. She had some frozen that she made up herself and we tried it and it worked. Yay! No more stench, no more itching, just healthy, calm dog. Eventually, we started making up our own in consultation with the vet. Even bought a restaurant quality "Buffalo chopper" (used to make salsa, e.g., in many restaurants). Now it is routine, less expensive than commercial dog food, and I know exactly what my dogs are eating.
Disclaimer - we are not veterinarians. We have had vets who supported the diet and vets who weren't sure about it. One vet was prone to argue until our old dog survived four years longer than the vet thought he would on our raw food as opposed to the canned stuff he wanted to sell us.
Further discussion and recipe below the fold.
What we found out about commercial food:
(1) They can change the ingredients but don't have to change the package for another six months. So that means a food that was compatible with your dog or cat may apparently suddenly become incompatible. We had that happen to us. Poor dog about turned inside out trying to scratch everywhere.
(2) "By-products" of what ever variety usually means floor sweepings. Feathers, beaks, claws, whatever is not put in human food and is on the floor is swept up and set aside for pet food. Since the pet food is heated when it is processed, contamination is not as big of an issue as nutritional content. Feathers don't have much nutrition and your dog or cat is not capable of subsisting on a diet of primarily feathers.
(3) Some commercial foods are very good. They use real nutritional ingredients, they use trocopherol vitamin e as a preservative, you can read the ingredients and you know what they are, and they don't use by-products. You may argue about the necessity of vitamin e in a healthy diet, but it is a human quality food preservative.
Think about a "natural" diet for a canid. Wolves, coyotes, dogs all have similar diets. They are not obligate carnivores, and they do not eat only meat when they make a kill. Small rodents (who are strictly herbivores) are swallowed whole, skin, intestines, feet, head and all. Larger game such as deer have the intestines and stomach eaten first, followed by the meat. In no case do the canids cook their food - unless by chance it was struck by lightening or was in a fire. They just haven't figured out the rubbing together sticks to get a spark. And I have watched my dogs suck ripe berries off the vines - blackberries, raspberries, yum!
What is in the intestines of herbivores? Grasses, grains, the browse of bush and tree leaves and small branches, and gut bacteria. But it is not raw by that time, it is partially digested by the bacteria. Our goal was to replicate that diet as close as possible without actually hunting deer out of season. Also, purchasing venison is rather out of our budget.
Getting to the recipe. Very little is organic - there is that budget issue again. Some people do purchase all organic food for their pets, more power to them.
One 22 oz package of rice farina cereal, cooked according to package directions. Oats also works, but we try to avoid wheat or corn as many dogs are allergic to those. This can be skipped, there is some disagreement as to whether any grain at all is okay. But remember that deer - well cooked grains should be fine.
1 32oz bag frozen green beans
1 32oz bag frozen peas
1 32oz bag spinach (chopped or not, or two 16oz bags)
1 8oz container plain non-fat yogurt with live cultures (likely organic)
1/4 cup freshly ground flax seeds (or pre-ground but it is less expensive to grind your own)
2lb fresh carrots
2-3lb apples
4-6 bananas
1 medium large (about a pound) red garnet yam (sweet potato, yam, different names in different localities - get the one that is darkest red) or a can of pumpkin
1/2 cup acidophiles - the liquid stuff is least expensive around here
1/2 cup brewer's yeast
1/2 cup cider vinegar (unfiltered)
1/4 cup ground kelp or similar (dulse, spirulina) for minerals
1/2 cup olive oil
Canned fish - mackerel or sardines, for additional good oils.
1 16oz bag frozen blueberries
We don't do tomatoes as some of the dogs have had itching in response to them in the diet. No onions, no grapes, no garlic, no citrus (many dogs hate citrus), or other exotic-to-dogs food. If your pet likes pickles, fine as a treat, but I wouldn't make them a regular part of the diet. Other fruit is okay - remove the large pits and seeds. Other veggies are okay though cabbage and broccoli may give them gas.
Since we use the Buffalo chopper, this goes really fast. Turn it on, add ingredients slowly until you have a smooth paste. No need to peel, finely chop, or defrost. Pack this veggie mix into freezer containers. This fills about 6-8 1/2 gallon containers. Keep one out for dinner and immediately freeze the rest. Quantity varies as the size of the fresh fruit and vegetables varies. This about 25-30 meals for one 50-ish pound dog.
But! you say. I get it. Not everyone has three Aussies and a Border Collie to feed, not everyone has a chopper (they ain't cheap and they are pretty large), not everyone has freezer space, not everyone has time or wants to bother. Cut the recipe in half or thirds and use your blender or food processor. Also, it is fine to split the diet up. Maybe one meal mostly veggies, another mostly fruit, meat the third and so on. We share with a friend who contributes ingredients for our dogs in exchange for the use of the chopper. At the very least, read the ingredients in the commercial foods and look for real food.
This is not all, of course. Our 50-60ish pound dogs get 1/4 to 1/2 cup of this mix and a person-size piece of raw chicken twice a day depending on age and activity level. If raw totally freaks you out, boiled will soften the bones. Never fried or baked bones, that makes them brittle. Remember that canid? I've watched my dogs hunt and eat moles and rabbits. Raw bones and all down the hatch without subsequent problems. If you limit the number of bones they get during the day, it isn't going to cause them problems. Chop the larger leg bones in half to begin with until you are sure they are chewing them up. If the crunching gets to you, that chopper can reduce a whole chicken with bones to a nice paste and you won't have to listen to any crunching. The bones provide necessary calcium - if you don't provide bones, your dogs will need supplements. Save egg shells and bake dry in the oven. Grind them up and add a spoonful to each meal. Do not use raw eggs. Use standard safe practices - keep the chicken frozen until you need it, keep it refrigerated between meals, scrub the counters, cutting boards and knives after use, and don't store the chicken in the same container as the veggies mix. If your pet is allergic to chicken, you have lots of other options. Raw beef bones are fine, just take them away when the dog chews them sharp. I haven't fed them pork, ever. No raw fish, though I know they will eat it if they can get it. Lamb, venison, elk, and so on are fine, but I can't afford them and I don't hunt. Turkey is fine, but turkey leg bones are extremely brittle, so we stick with giving the dogs the necks and backs.
Review with your vet. They may push the commercial food they sell at their office. Realize they have a vested interest in selling that food but also realize your pet may have special dietary requirements that would be difficult to duplicate with a home made food.
Twenty years of experience and we do rescue, so we have had a lot of different dogs on this diet. The first response may be a rather surprised, what? But they soon adjust. The vet says ours are the healthiest she sees in her practice and the correct weight. If you search online, you can get a lot of recipes and a lot of opinions. Hug your fur face and do the best you can for them.