Caraline

With the recent dog food recalls in the USA & Canada there have been an increasing number of posts from people who are considering changing their dogs to home prepared meals. Most express apprehension about what & how much to feed. As I recently switched my dogs from eating primarily kibble to home prepared, I understand their concerns. Though I am by no means an expert on canine nutrition, and am awaiting the arrival of some books on the subject, I have been feeding my dogs home prepared now for a couple of months, and my confidence is growing by the day.

So I thought that I would start posting up here in my blog, what my dogs are eating on a given day. This is not meant as an authoritative comment on what people should be feeding their dogs. Rather it is my journey upon the quest to provide my dogs with wholesome, healthy home prepared meals. If by sharing this journey with other members of the forum, someone else & their dogs can benefit, then my blogging efforts will be worth every single keystroke.

Before I write up what’s for dinner tonight, I’d just like to get a few things out of the way. A disclaimer of sorts:

1 I am not a food expert, nor do I have any qualifications regarding canine health & diet;
2 Please educate yourself and don’t take my word for it.. Buy or borrow at least 3 books on the subject of home prepared foods, preferably from authors with differing views. It pays to see all sides of the coin, which just quietly, has more than 2 surfaces;
3 My dogs do not to my knowledge have any allergies or food intolerances. Yours might!;
4 Here in Australia, few share the same fears about feeding a raw diet as is held in several countries of the Northern Hemisphere. This in part has to do with Australia’s high standard of food handling (human foods only), the rest is perhaps cultural; who knows? The choice of some of us to feed raw is not based upon lack of awareness of the existence of salmonella, e-coli et al, but rather in spite of it. As a matter of interest, Australia has quite a large Lebanese community and some of the Lebanese’ most prized dishes contain raw meat. Having said all of that, I do not feed my dogs pet quality foods. All ingredients are purchased from human shops and are sold with the intention of feeding humans, not dogs, hence in my opinion, a greatly reduced risk of nasties;
5 In general, most Australians are comfortable feeding their dogs appropriate raw meaty bones & recreational bones. As above, our choices are not based upon ignorance. Trust me when I tell you, we have all heard the horror stories about splintered bones, punctured intestines, impaction, broken teeth etc. I do however, steer clear of bones that are notorious for splintering and try to stick to the softer, less brittle bones.
6 I am not anti kibble or anti other commercial foods. I just don't want to feed it to my dogs on a regular basis. In fact it is my intention to always have a small bag of kibble in the pantry for emergencies. I respect everyone's right to choose commercial, raw, cooked or other alternatives.

Whew! With that out of the way, here is what is on my dog’s menu for the day:

Morning:
Whole boiled egg (egg shells saved for later)
Full cream milk (for the puppy only)

Treats:
Sliced fresh apple
Tiny piece of chicken loaf (reward for not crying at the vets during vaccination) *

Dinner:
Stew comprising
Lamb, Broccoli, Yellow Squash, Potato, Sweet potato, rosemary, dill, egg shell (finely powdered), very small amount of flax seed oil. The ratios are 1 part protein, 1 part starchy veg, 1 part other veg.

Dessert:
Apple

* Everyone gets a treat when one dog earns it for being good & brave.