Anyone who knows me knows that I'm deeply invested in pet nutrition, specifically nutrition for dogs and cats. I wasn't always so careful about choosing dog food though, or even reading ingredient labels of dog food. When I was a newer vet tech, all I needed was to know what kibble the vet's I worked for recommended, and that's what I bought. Sadly it took me a few years to realize I needed to be a better guardian for my little Pepe and become pickier about what I fueled his little body with.
I won't name the food, but the kibble I fed Pepe contained the top 5 ingredients: brewer's rice, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, corn, and wheat gluten. Because I didn't know better, I never questioned these ingredients. At some point I started to put puzzle pieces together and realized my carnivore needed more carne, more meat! The simply anatomy of the dog's and cat's jaw shows that their bottom jaw does not swing side to side, only the open/close motion. Animals that are meant to eat fibrous plant material have lower jaws that swing side to side. Picture a cow chewing cud. Even humans have bottom jaws that swing, since plants are meant to make a considerable part of our diet. But canids and felids do not have this jaw motion, which should be a very strong indicator that plant material is not meant to make up a majority of their diet. Additionally, read about the major difference in the saliva of dogs and cats vs. herbivores and omnivores. It makes you think....
Now, I am no veterinarian but after years of working in animal hospitals, you start to see connections between chronically ill pets and the poorly rated pet foods they eat. I started doing my homework on a better food to feed Pepe and I decided on Fromm's Four Star line. The top 5 ingredients of one of their 4 star foods: duck, duck meal, pearled barley, sweet potatoes and brown rice. Already a large improvement from the corn and wheat Pepe's previous food was made of. I started rotating bags, giving Pepe different proteins, to offer him variety and keep him from getting bored. One of the quickest changes I saw was his #2 in the yard - now that he was eating better ingredients that could get absorbed better, his #2's were much smaller and much less stinkier! What pet owner doesn't love that!?
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| We purchased this 7 cu ft freezer solely for dog food ingredients. We also have a 14 cu ft freezer for our food, storage for my treat ingredients, as well as the dog's prepared meals (container picture at the bottom). |
When I was working at my hydrotherapy pool in the Chicago suburbs, I started Pepe on a raw diet for the first time. My boss was also a distributor of some commercially made raw food, so I was able to try it at cost. I started bringing home 6lb bags of Northwest Naturals - a commercially made raw food that comes in nuggets, so it was very easy (and still affordable) for my 12lb Pepe. I instantly became the world's best mom in Pepe's eyes. Because he was the only dog for many years, he never felt the urge to gobble up his kibble. There were no other dogs eyeing his food, so he often picked at it. Now, he was excited about meal time! I remember taking out 5 or 6 nuggets to thaw in the fridge for the next meal, depending on Pepe's activity level. (We did tons of walking and running back then, and I altered his meal size based on activity level - something that helps overfeeding and maintaining weight).
But a major life event happened and Pepe and I were getting ready to chase our dreams and move cross country to Tucson! This is when we went back to kibble for a number of years. I still wanted to feed the best I could afford and I didn't have the freezer space in my new apartment. Zoey also suddenly became a member of the family, just 2 months after I moved to Tucson. So after some researching on ingredients and companies, I started feeding foods like Orijen and Taste of the Wild. I was now feeding strictly grain-free foods.
Fast forward a few more years to living in Hereford and a third dog named Sarge. It was now 2014 and I really wanted to get back to feeding a raw diet. Our raw options in Cochise Country are extremely limited - buying commercially made foods wasn't going to happen. No one carried the variety I wanted and having food shipped to my door was way out of the budget. So I decided to start making my own! There are ample resources out there to homemade dog food - whether you're doing a homemade cooked diet with fruits and veggies, a raw diet with fruits and veggies, or a strictly raw meat diet... The resources are out there to help you start the journey. The most important thing is to do your homework and really understand what is involved. I firmly believe that an unbalanced homemade diet is worse than a bag of Ol' Roy. You can't feed solely chicken breast and expect your dog to be healthy.
I joined some raw feeding groups, locally and nationally to start getting an idea of where to get my products from. I bought freezers (we have 21 cubic feet of freezer space in the garage now) so that I could stock up when prices are good - this is critical to keeping things affordable! I bought a small kitchen scale to weigh out food, freezable reditainers for storing prepared food, and thanks to a large raw group (22k members), printed out feeding charts for each dog as a quick reference when I make their food.
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| Vacuum sealed 1 lb packages of a deer/elk blend. Bought through a raw feeding coop. |
I've now been making my own dog food for a year now! Bones are an every day part of their diet too! Pepe and Zoey get bones like chicken necks and chicken feet and Sarge gets turkey necks and chicken thighs. Bones are always raw and uncooked and choosing the proper sized item for the size of your animal is essential. They eat liver and kidney which are full of vitamins and minerals. And the proteins they eat on a monthly basis include: chicken, pork, turkey, smelt, beef, elk/venison, mackerel, green lipped mussels, chicken and duck eggs (from our birds) , and home raised duck. Yes, our duck flock is solely to help feed our dogs. I won't go into detail, but feel free to ask me about it in person.
Feeding a raw diet isn't for everyone and I don't encourage anyone to do it without ample understanding and research. I do still feed kibble one day a week, just to keep their bodies used to it. Primarily for the event of an emergency and needing to feed them on the go, or for when we go on vacation and I don't want to burden someone with feeding a diet that requires supervision. (I always stay in the kitchen and wait for the dogs to finish eating). I also make a blend of raw fruits and steamed veggies that I puree together in a blender, freeze in ice cube trays and add to their dinners. Not all fruits and veggies are created equal so I have a list of what foods to use and what foods not to use for these veggie cubes.
All of the meat I feed is from the grocery store, besides our eggs & ducks, and the elk/venison which is made specifically for animals and contains about 10-15% ground bone. Now would you believe that my cost of feeding a homemade diet is the same cost as feeding a premium kibble! As long as you know how to shop and plan, it can be really affordable!
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| This is what a day's worth of dog food looks like for us, without the veggies cubes and eggs (both stored separately). |
One thing I instantly noticed about feeding a raw diet is once again, their #2. Because their bodies can use so much more of their nutrients, compared to kibble, very little is expelled out. In fact, I can't even smell it! The only time their yard gets stinky is when they're back on kibble and it knocks me off my feet. Their #2's also literally disintegrate after a few days. No more picking up dog poop (unless it's from a kibble day), because it really does turn to dust! Another major change is their drinking habits. Because they're eating food full of water content, they end up drinking much less water throughout the day. There's no real benefit to this, but it was eye opening to understand the difference of what their bodies are doing with their food. Imagine if all you ate everyday, was crackers. Your body would be insanely thirsty every day too.
- Freeze dried/dehydrated food
- Homecooked food
- Chubs
- Raw food: homemade vs. commerical
- Companies that formulate diets for you
