With the recent recall in pet food, most dog owners are doing just that – making dog food on their own! Though most experts will argue that there is nothing better than a homemade diet for your pet dog, it is best you do this temporarily until and unless you consult with you local vet, as most dogs have certain nutritional requirements. If there are going to be any dietary changes, then it should be done very slowly so as to avoid digestive upsets. Ingredients and recipes should be rotated to make sure there is nutritional variety in your pups diet.

Never feed your pet dog bones, especially if the bones are cooked. Fragments of the bone can break loose and get lodged in the dog’s digestive tract. Wild dogs and stray dogs who eat bones can do so because they also tend to consume a lot of hide and hair, which act as a ‘padding’ for the bone fragments and help them pass through without getting lodged anywhere. Other dangerous foods to avoid are avocados, macadamia nuts, raisins, garlic, chocolate, mushrooms, grapes and onions.

Dog Food Recipes: Doggy Hamburgers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of hamburger meat (stir fried in a tablespoon of canola oil).
• 1 boiled and chopped eggs.
• ½ a cup of cooked oatmeal.
• 1 jar of baby food green beans.
• 1 jar of baby food carrots.
• 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese.

Mix all these ingredients well and serve at room temperature. You could also add a good puppy mineral/multivitamin supplement for good measure. Make sure you store the unused portions in an airtight container in the fridge and throw away any remains after three days.

Doggy Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of boiled and chopped chicken.
• ½ a cup of brown rice, cooked.
• ½ a cup of mixed vegetables, boiled.
• Three to four tablespoons of chicken broth, unsalted

(Point to be noted: Salmon can be substituted occasionally for broiled poultry, but chicken broth has to be omitted.)

Stir the contents together and serve the mixture at room temperature.

Basic Dog Food Recipe
This recipe combines rice with meat and veggies for a well-balanced dog food.

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce of ground beef, preferably hormone and antibiotic free.
• 2 cups of brown rice, cooked.
• 1 ounce of mixed vegetables.
• 1 or 2 ounces of plain yogurt.

Fry the ground beef in a frying pan till it turns brown and then set the dish aside. Steam the vegetables until they are soft and tender. Remove the veggies from the steamer and allow it to cool slightly. Add the veggies to the beaker of a food processor and pulse them till they are chopped coarsely. Mix these chopped vegetables with the ground beef and rice.

Multi-Grain Kibble

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of whole-wheat flour.
• One and a half cups of unbleached, all-purpose flour.
• ½ a cup of soy flour.
• 1 cup of corn meal.
• 1 cup of dry powdered, non-fat milk.
• 1 cup of rolled oats.
• ½ a cup of wheat germ.
• 1 tablespoon of salt.
• ½ a cup of brewers yeast.
• 1 egg.
• 3 cups of water.
• 5 tablespoons of corn oil.

Heat the oven to about 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix the corn oil and egg. Stir water into all the dry ingredients and add the egg mixture and mix all the contents well. The batter should be thin. Pour the batter on baking sheets and spread it evenly like you would for a pizza base. Bake the sheets for about 45 minutes.

Cool this kibble and then break it into smaller pieces. Store the pieces in an airtight container and refrigerate.