Homemade Puppy Food Help!

Hi,
I feed my two miniature goldendoodle puppies, who are 7 and 9 lbs, a homemade food mixed with their Royal Canin mini puppy. The homemade food is-
1/4 cup apples
1/4 cup carrots
1/4 cup sweet potato
1/4 cup sweet red pepper
1/4 cup celery
1 tsp sweet peas
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 large chicken breast, about 1/4 lb
1 cup ground turkey
1 1/4 cups brown rice

So they get about 1/2 cup of that mixed with 1/2 a cup of Royal Canin twice a day and then 1/4 a cup of homemade as an afternoon "snack". They also get carrots, sweet peppers, apples, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries frozen and given to them multiple times a day. What else should I do to ensure their health? Any other things I should add to the food?

Don't give royal canin just up the quantity of the fresh ingredients. The occasional non splinter raw bone is good too.

I was worried about calcium content though, will they still be ok?

Be very very careful about the amount of calcium, up to around 16/18 weeks puppies cannot dispose of excess calcium anyway and it creates spurs on the skeleton, something to be aware of. I raw feed, and my puppies are all weaned onto raw, minced chicken/turkey with the bone in is fine. Not going to mention the name of the product but its 'protein derivative' is actually from bird feathers. A commercial food that uses such poor quality fillers will not supply your puppies needs, should be steered clear of in my opinion. My puppies also get large bones to chew on and take the meat off, and a bit later on they have chicken wings, thighs and drumsticks.

Hi Willowsailor!

Can I come over for dinner? Your puppy food sounds delicious. With those ingredients, I don't think you need the Royal Canin at all. The chicken and turkey will supply all the protein they need, and if you need a little extra, toss in an egg or two, or some nice fish-- the omega 3 oils in oily fish like sardines, pilchards, herring, and salmon are very good for growing bones and joints, and if you get little fish like pilchards and sardines in tins-- cheap as muck, usually, and very tasty-- you can serve them with the bones in. They're so small and soft they present no hazard and are a natural, easy source of calcium. Try not to get them in brine, though, as it's salty. Spring water is best, but if it's a choice between brine and olive oil, pick olive oil, but pour most of the oil away unless you have a weird fetish for cleaning up mucky poops.

Do follow TawneyWolf's advice on the calcium, though! Quite right: too much is too much for a growing puppy. Good nutrition is extremely important and the best source of it is from real food such as you're already making for your pups. Other good vegetable sources of calcium and other nutrients are dark green vegetables like kale, broccoli, bok choi, and mustard greens; beans are also a good source but they can produce truly amazing fartage. On the plus side, many dogs find beans irrefusably delicious! If you're making them up from dry (which I would recommend, as it's possible for you to put in only how much salt you want, it's cheaper, and it's soooo much easier to carry a bag of dry beans home from the shop than 14 tins) bear in mind that kidney beans (great sources of iron) and pintos need to be flash-boiled twice, rinsed in between boilings with a complete water change, before cooking. This will destroy a mild toxin that is in the skin of the beans. It won't kill you-- but it might give a pretty bad bellyache.

Good luck switching them on to any kind of dry food later on, if that's what you want to do. With food this nice, I wouldn't want to switch!