Does anyone give their dog(s) a purely home cooked diet?

If so, would you be kind enough to give me an idea of the meals you make?

Just asking because one tray of Wainwrights wet food a day is not enough for Dexter; if I increase the number of trays he gets, the cost of the food gets quite a bit higher and alas I'm on a bit of a tight budget right now.

So I'm looking into doing more home cooked meals for him and would greatly welcome any advice or tips

I do give him some 'home cooked' food, but it's really basic stuff. e.g. brown rice and a tin of sardines mixed together.

Many thanks indeed!

I do! My dogs are fed a 100% kibble free "home cooked" diet. Basically you can feed your dog on any poultry and giblets, meat including lean pork as well as the offal. Fish I normally buy mackeral or tinned sardines. Eggs, cottage cheese and plain yoghourt.

Because I have a Shar-Pei who needs a grain free diet I give her potatoes or another root vegetable rather than rice or pasta, but you should have no problem with a lab. (My parents always fed our labs home cooked). Vegetables ... carrots, peas, beans, pumpkin and any leafy green veggies such as spinach. Fruit as well .. apples, bananas etc ... I cook them with the veggies.

Meat and poultry I'll either boil or roast ... I use the broth to cook the veggies. Fresh or frozen fish and scrambled eggs I cook in the microwave. I normally give the dogs a mix of say .. chicken, gizzards, pork heart and liver + a variety of veggies or fish, eggs and cottage cheese +. veggies.

My two also get raw chicken feet or a turkey neck or a pigs trotter or a bone as a snack mid morning. Providing you remember no onions, tomatoes or cooked bone you can feed your dog most of the things you eat yourself.

Hope that helps!

Thanks so much - that's a big help

I like your idea of cooking the fruit with the veg, I will try that, as Dex won't eat raw fruit!

Thanks once again

Yes -me! I have fed home-cooked for about a couple of years now I guess.

Here is a picture of a meal in my lovely Cherry's special dish-

They are fed either home-cooked turkey/chicken or fish or lamb plus wholemeal pasta or rice plus veggies and hard-boiled egg plus natural yogurt.

They also get a few dog biscuits a day and a dental or joint chew and a carrot or apple and some satsuma or banana.

It is just as cheap or cheaper than the quality dog-food they have sometimes (Barking Heads) as I get whatever meat or fish is going cheap in Sainsbury's or wherever we shop, and freeze it. Last week they had Rainbow trout and I had to make sure Jamie had one too!

I got a book written by a vet called "Home-cooked diets for dogs and cats" so I know how much and what I should be feeding them.

It is a bit more tricky now I have Izzy and not Cherry as Cherry and Parker were fed the same amount but Izzy is smaller than Cherry so has to be fed less.

It must be nice as sometimes Jamie smells what is cooking in the slow cooker and says "I'm having what the dogs are having"! Izzy's former owner thinks this is really funny.

PS-the one thing I would NEVER EVER buy again is lamb's kidneys (or any sort of kidneys come to that). I bought 4 trays quarter price and cooked one a day in the slow-cooker. The smell was vile-when I came home from work I thought one of the dogs had been sick

I was gagging when I had to take the lid off the slow-cooker and dish them out. YUK!

Kerryowner .... I have to agree .. kidney's cooked on their own do smell awful, but i've found they hardly smell when you cook one or two together with other meat.

Loved the pic of the bowl of food! I have to puree the veggies otherwise Miss Tibbie will pick them all out and place them in neat piles around her bowl ... last night she found a tiny piece of potato OMG! Mum trying to poison her again!

Mine NEVER get dog biscuits, commercially made treats, or sweetcorn, and are rarely given pasta or rice because Shar-Pei are very prone to skin irritatons and allergies. My Pei's now 2 years old and to date I've had no problems and I'm certain it's due to being given home cooked.

In winter when I cook on my wood burning Aga type stove I buy half a pigs head for about 50p and slowcook it in the oven. Smell delicious and gives enough meat for at least three meals and when it's cooked I cut the skin into strips and malke the girls crackling treats by popping them back in the cooling oven.

Don't you think it'd be boring to go back to just opening a bag of biscuits or a tin?

Many thanks KERRYOWNER - that meal looks fab

Last night Dex had wholemeal pasta and cottage cheese - he licked the bowl clean, so far so good

QUESTION for you and CHLOE'S MUM: do either of you give added supplements, for instance calcium?

Hi TabithaJ

I can't remember my parents giving our labs any supplements in particular except for the odd multivitamin pill. A lot depends on the breed, my Pei for example needs to be given a much larger dosage of glucosamine than most other breeds. What you could do is to do an online search for whic supplements are recommended for Labs.

I add Salmonpet salmon oil to their food a couple of times a week ... it's much better than Cod liver Oil. I also add ArthriAid Omega which is good for joints. Try looking on www.viovets.co.uk where you'll find the info for on both.

An easy way to give calcium is by saving your egg shells. Wash and dry them then grind in a coffee grinder and add to the food. Another good source of calcum are raw bones providing they're small enough for the dog to crunch ... if you follow what I mean? They're also a good for keeping a dog's teeth clean.

Hi Tabitha,

The only "supplements" I give are those joint ones as Parker is nearly 10 and Izzy 9. They are not currently suffering any joint problems at all but they both do agility so I think it is a good thing to give them.
Glad Dexter enjoyed his cottage cheese and pasta!

maybe cos they were cooked for hours? They usually only need to be boiled for a few minutes for a dog, they would be cooked through, or otherwise cooked with other ingredients (such as steak for example)

or you could feed them raw but frozen with their meal?




I'm just wondering if you guys feed supplements?
Also, if no cooked or raw bone is fed, how do you provide the same minerals etc in those proportions?

just wondering as I feed raw...
Edit; and what would a weeks meals look like in general for the dogs?

a lb of mince from a raw supplier (which includes bone) costs between 30-odd pence and 55p I think, but I can't see cooking meals being any cheaper