I am finding this debate fascinating, and will be really interested to know how Harvey gets on with the home cooked stuff, and what you eventually narrow it down to VB.

I didn't know that about green beans, and if in the future I decide to go the home cooked route then those will definitely be added.

That is a good tip about the sweet potato, the rice binding to it, will remember that. When i feel back to myself again I will take a supermarket trip and stock up on a few things

Did you ever feed ordinary potatos?

Today Harvey got potato, chicken and veg for his tea which is what we got, had to feed Katie first separately on her renal diet. She was no amused.

That is a good tip about the sweet potato, the rice binding to it, will remember that. When i feel back to myself again I will take a supermarket trip and stock up on a few things

Did you ever feed ordinary potatos?

Today Harvey got potato, chicken and veg for his tea which is what we got, had to feed Katie first separately on her renal diet. She was not amused.

Well this is day 2 off dry kibble and Harvey is definitely not as itchy, still has pink coloured skin in places but overall he seems a good bit better.

Katie, bless her is begining to rebel at his getting nicer food than her boring renal diet

Hi, I fed my dogs on home cooked food for about 6 months before I went on one meal of orijen and wainwrights wet tray and one meal of raw. The problems I found were as I wasnt feeding raw bones at this time they weren't getting the right balance of calcium and phosphorus so I used to add a tea spoon of crushed dried egg shell. I also added a teaspoon of brewers yeast and a multiple vitamin. They did seem to do well on this but did worry that they weren't getting all the right vitamins and so on. Hope it works well for you but would probably read up on it and make sure you don't need to add anything else to it . Should think its better for them than some commercial food though.

Hi - thanks for the info. Initially its more like an elimination diet to try & find out what he is intolerant to. Raw didnt suit our dogs, they had recurrent hotspots. He would still get raw chicken wings & raw whole eggs intermittently. Its trying to get the balance correct along with what suits. It was very disappointing when Orijen didnt agree

I have done but not much and new potatoes are better than old potatoes to digest (it's the amylose thing again there is more of it in new ones)
I prefer sweet potato against common potato it's an easier veg to digest it has more amylose for digestion higher vitamin content and is an anti-inflammatory veg.
It's a good veg. to give for settling upset digestive systems.
I have mixed common potato and sweet potato together but only after cooking because common potato needs a longer cooking time than sweet potato.
I believe green beans are excellent.
I don't feed a lot of veg but I always have some green beans in the freezer for when I do.

My worry with home cooked diets is getting the balance right. I don't worry about that with raw (I did at the beginning but I am comfortable with it now), because it is a species appropriate diet.

Cooking can destroy and/or alter the proteins, minerals and vitamins etc, so dogs can be getting more of some nutrients, and less of others.

Some people will give supplements, but when you can't be sure exactly what nutrients they are losing out on and how much they are losing, it can be hard to replace them again... and it could result in the dog missing some nutrients, and then gaining too much of other nutrients, causing an imbalance.

IMO it can be very complicated, and difficult to be sure they are getting a good balance. JMO

That is something I would worry about a bit too.
I'm finding this interesting too. Right now with Loui not being right I am trying hard to think about his diet etc and actually I remember he did have a bout of his cysts with a raw lamb mince that he DID NOT have when feeding COOKED lamb.

I'm wondering if it is something in cooked red meats that is present or not present due to cooking that makes the difference for him

Tupacs; have you ever heard of anyone who did part cooked (at home) and part raw? if so did they need a supplement? How did their dogs keep? Just wondered with your job etc...or this cooked/non-cooked red meat thing?

I am wondering if this is something to try with Loui; raw except for red meat meals.
(seems trial and error is the only way for this boy too )

VB; I think if you have found a way to feed your dog that suits him there cant be any harm cooking for him whilst you research further etc Poor katie though, can see why she may not be too amused about it!

Poor Loui, he is another one isn't he who may have problems that are food related.

I hope that Tupacs replies to your query, but I was also thinking about having a word with Jimmi's vet to see what he recommends with the home cooked route. I know that when I took him off the Wafcol pdq, the vet said that it wouldn't do any harm to feed him white fish and potato for a few days........at the time I was in such a muddle that I didn't think to ask about long term home diets (he was rather busy anyway that night) but I am sure that each of our vets - knowing the individual dogs and their specific problems - might be the starting point for all of this.