Q's about home cooking and discussion on whys etc. of cooked, raw and pre-packed

Following on from another thread I was getting curious, this one is for; people who do, have done, or even don't home-cook for their dogs.

what do you think the benefits of home-cooking for your dog are over feeding them a raw diet or a pre-packaged one? (any other diet, what's the pros over other ways...)

Also, how do you go about formulating your recipes? i.e. what is the criteria your looking for when deciding what to feed etc. (or what do you look for in kibble etc)

What do you think the general pro's and con's are to feeding a dog solely on a home prepared and cooked diet? (or whatever other diet you feed)

What do you feed them for breakfast? ( no I'm not joking! Do you feed them something held back from the night before, cook something for breakfast and so on..)

This is not a thread to bash one method over the other etc. It is a discussion thread if you want it to be though, so is not only for pro or anti; cooked/raw/pre-packaged 'feeders'. If you are going to put specific views or opinions on this thread either about a specific canine diet or a specific group of owners (I.e. "raw feeders" etc) then please explain why, so that people can understand each other and stay adult about it

Basically my idea is that people can say what they feel is best and why, what isn't and why etc but that people can agree to disagree and have a discussion rather than three separate camps...

what do you think the benefits of home-cooking for your dog are over feeding them a raw diet or a pre-packaged one? (any other diet, what's the pros over other ways...)
i feed raw, because i think its the healthiest option for my dogs. daphni has a really bad allergy to the kibble she was on, after trying different brands, adding things in she still wouldnt eat properly.
so i switched to raw and havent looked back, they both eat all their meals, and bounce when they see thie bowls coming. so theyre happy and im happy

Also, how do you go about formulating your recipes? i.e. what is the criteria your looking for when deciding what to feed etc. (or what do you look for in kibble etc)
i dont formulate so to speak. they have 3 bone meals a week, usually chicken wing or a rib, 2 fish meals a week (sardines mackeral or pilchard) and two offal meals. the others are mince meal or tripe.

What do you think the general pro's and con's are to feeding a dog solely on a home prepared and cooked diet? (or whatever other diet you feed)
pros-dogs love it and eat all their food, no more fussy dogs. fresh food and i know exactly what they are getting. cheaper to feed than what i was feeding before.

cons-takes up more room (freezer space) can take a bit longer to prepare than throw a few biscuits in a bowl, but once you get used to it i find it just the same.

What do you feed them for breakfast?
they usually have a mince meal or tripe meal in a morning, in case i have to go out. (wont leave them eating bones unsupervised) on a sunday they get scrambled eggs for breakfast

Thanks Clo, I'd say I have similar reasons to yourself for feeding raw and I agree that storage/being able to have the freezer space is probably the only con really.

I feed a lot of his meals frozen anyway so defrosting isn't really an issue and he seems to like his food frozen too. DAF minces usually need to be defrosted though due to the shape/packaging to be able to feed them, but I dont really see it as a con, just goes from freezer to tub to fridge the night before.

As for formulating, it allows me to cut out certain stuff from his diet, which is particular to him. So again, like you I know what he is eating and he does well on it.

So far he has maintained the best condition on a diet of raw meat and bones with less reactions.

what do you think the benefits of home-cooking for your dog are over feeding them a raw diet or a pre-packaged one? (any other diet, what's the pros over other ways...)

I think the benefits of home cooking are mainly you know exactly what you are feeding them eliminating chemicals and unnatural preservatives. I used to home cook but now feed raw which I find even better as I still know exactly what I am feeding and feel I am not destroying vitamins and nutrients as much. One of my dogs became so skinny and fussy when feeding kibble and never seemed to enjoy her meals. Now she loves them and I have to watch her waist line. Also, how do you go about formulating your recipes? i.e. what is the criteria your looking for when deciding what to feed etc. (or what do you look for in kibble
etc)
I just try to get a good balance of variety so my dogs don't get bored and a good variety of different meats, fruit, veg and bones tohope they get a good balance of nutrients and vitamins.

What do you think the general pro's and con's are to feeding a dog solely on a home prepared and cooked diet? (or whatever other diet you feed)

Pros at the moment are Finding a good supply of bones and cheaper meat but once found will no longer be a problem. Also lot more space needed in freezer as compared to a bag of kibble which you could put anywhere.


What do you feed them for breakfast? ( no I'm not joking! Do you feed them something held back from the night before, cook something for breakfast
and so on..)
I feed a commercial diet usually for breakfast, a handful of orijen (the only kibble one of my dogs will eat and half a wainwrights tray. They used to have things like chicken casserole, beef stew or scrambled eggs and bits of bacon.

This is not a thread to bash one method over the other etc. It is a discussion thread if you want it to be though, so is not only for pro or anti; cooked/raw/pre-packaged 'feeders'. If you are going to put specific views or opinions on this thread either about a specific canine diet or a specific group of owners (I.e. "raw feeders" etc) then please explain why, so that people can understand each other and stay adult about it

Basically my idea is that people can say what they feel is best and why, what isn't and why etc but that people can agree to disagree and have a discussion rather than three separate camps...[/QUOTE]

O.K ... I'll have a go at answering your questions!

First of all .. I have a Shar-Pei who needs to be fed a grain free diet and commercial foods were out as suitable brands are difficult to find in this country.

I opted for a 100% home cooked grain free diet rather than a raw one because having fed dogs that way for many years I knew what I was doing and had been happy with the results and the deciding factor was that recent studies have shown a home cooked diet is highly beneficial to Pei. (won't go into details).

When working out what to feed, I think on a weekly basis, so any inbalance in one meal is compensated for in another. As well as the nutritional value of meat/poultry/fish and veg I consider the texture and flavour and work out a menu accordingly.

Pro's and cons of home cooking ... takes time, thought and effort because you don't simply sling meat & veggies in a pot and cook them to death! You prepare it and cook it as carefully as you would when you have guests for dinner! Wherever possible everything my dogs eat is pasture fed or organically grown and they aren't given human leftovers or scraps. Apart from having two healthy dogs the other benefit is I'm fitter than I've ever been because I grow all my own veggies!

My girls are given their main meal around 5pm but in the morning they have breakfast of either raw chicken wings, necks or feet or a raw pig's trotter or a meaty pork rib bone ... a smaller amount for my Tibbie and a larger one for my Pei!

I could go into a lot more detail especially about working out a balanced diet, preparation and cooking ... but for the moment I'll leave it at that.

Sorry not to good on my iPad. Think I made a bit of a mess of that.

I forgot to add they also get eggs, cottage or goat's cheese, kefir, or yoghourt as well as a selection of fruit.

I don't think my dogs' diet is necessarily "best" but it suits my dogs and they are fit and healthy animals in their older years. I tried raw feeding but it didn't suit.

Q:What do you think the benefits of home-cooking for your dog are over feeding them a raw diet or a pre-packaged one?


Dexter has one tray of Wainwrights wet daily and also one home cooked meal. The benefits are that on this regime he doesn't seem to have the recurring ear infections/problems that plagued him for many months.

Also, with the home cooked meal, it makes life easier for me as he usually has the same thing I am having so I know precisely what goes into it. It also means he has some variety in his diet. Sometimes instead of a cooked meal he does have raw meat, but when I tried an entirely raw regime it didn't suit him.


Q:Also, how do you go about formulating your recipes? i.e. what is the criteria your looking for when deciding what to feed etc. (or what do you look for in kibble etc)


In the home cooked meal: I try to include vegetables; Dex won't touch raw veg so in the home cooked meal I include various types of veg and he seems to love it. I use brown rice or wholewheat pasta OR wheat-free pasta, all of which he seems to tolerate well.

Along with those he has fish or meat or cottage cheese.

When choosing a commercial food (the Wainwrights wet) I looked for something with NO artificial preservatives, and with a high meat content.



Q:What do you think the general pro's and con's are to feeding a dog solely on a home prepared and cooked diet? (or whatever other diet you feed)

The pros are:
- I know he's getting healthy food, with a good mix of meat and veg so hopefully plenty of nutrients etc that he wouldn't get from a purely raw regime for instance because he won't eat raw veg and he's also not overly interested in raw bones, surprisingly.

- another pro is that alas I am on a budget and by feeding one home cooked meal a day I can still afford the Wainwrights wet tray; if I was giving him more than one tray a day it would bump the price up too much for me at present. He's 35kg and quite active and one tray daily is just not enough for him.

- he gets plenty of variety.


Q:What do you feed them for breakfast?

For breakfast Dexter has one third of a tray of Wainwrights wet food, and then a few crusts of my toast, which is wholewheat bread. Occasionally as a treat he will have a tiny bit of peanut butter on the crusts.

M'boi my Pei's not overly interested in bones either ... in fact at one time she wouldn't touch them.

I now do what another Pei owner suggested and zap them in the microwave for 30 seconds just to warm them up a little ... if I don't she'll bring them into the kitchen and stand by the microwave ... hint hint!