Homecooking for dog recipes & books

Hi everyone! I really want to start home cooking for my mastiff at present he has James Wellbeloved kibble and boiled chicken rice, ground meat, or fish as a kibble topping, I want to buy a book about home cooking preferably UK versions but cant decide which one as there are so many available and would love some opinions or shared recipes if possible. thanks so much in advance

I`m wondering why you want to cook his food.
Would it not be better to simply feed him meat etc if you don`t want to feed processed food? I don`t think cooking his food adds any nutrients to it - quite the opposite.
And remember dogs don`t digest carbs, don`t need flavourings or colourings and certainly shouldn`t have sugar.
IMO the more you `process` what he would normally eat - e.g. whatever he manages to catch or scavenge - the more you`re moving away from what he should be eating.

why dont you try raw feeding rather than cooking it all?

its still the same process, just easier for you in the fact you dont have to prepare anything!

i make my own treats which i bake, but other than that my dogs have raw meat and vegetables

Hi thanks for the replies he wont eat raw for some reason, the nurse at my vets suggested kibble topping which at present we do he has either james wellbeloved or Harringtons dry with cooked chicken, fish, heart and liver ect he loves it I may continue to kibble top!

I actually like the idea of home-cooked food for pets, because you get a lot of the benefits of RAW natural food without the negatives.

FloydsMum, which books have you looked at?

When Rocky had cancer I tried him on meat, veg and then one of the following as the base - potato or rice.

I found that when he was on the rice it 'fed' the cancer, as it continued to grow - but the potato slowed the growth to almost as much as when he was on raw. However on Raw he just didn't enjoy his food and would often have what I would guess was a tummy upset (it also gave him the runs).

I tried him on non-grain species-appropriate type dried foods too, but they also seemed to feed the cancer.

Hope that's of some help Tanya.

You can get lots of recipes by just googling.

Remember that vital vitamins are destroyed in cooking, so keep the actual cooking time to a minimum?

Thank you Claire and Daisy I really need to get clued up about this, since kibble topping my alfs coat looks shinier he seems happy and his poops are healthy, he loves meal times now but I want nothing but the best for him so I want to learn all I can! the raw was also upsetting my Alfies tum, I havent read any books yet but lots of articles and web pages I am lost as to which book to choose, someone on here suggested a book but it was in the £100 range so was a tad bit expensive for me,

£100 for a book? That seems awfully expensive

Agree with Claire about not over-cooking food. Lightly boiling or steaming (or raw) veg is better. Obviously things like potato will need to be throughly cooked tho.

I have got the Lilys kitchen cookbook for dogs... lots of treat/biccie reciepes in there!! and for complete food too.