Home Prepared Diets for Dogs & Cats
by Susan Moss, All The Best Pet Care                         View PDF

Increase Your Companion’s Health and Longevity
Incorporating fresh whole foods into your pet’s diet will result in a longer, healthier life. Nature did not intend dogs and cats to sustain life on little brown pellets! Despite all we know about the importance of fresh foods for human nutrition, most people feed highly processed pet foods. These foods are cooked at high temperatures and are designed to sit on a shelf for a year or more.

The rise of commercial pet foods in the last forty years has paralleled the sharp decline in the health and lifespan of dogs and cats. Most commercial pet foods have little real meat or vital fatty acids. hey contain food industry leftovers, low-quality plant-based proteins from corn, soy and wheat, animal by-products, meat meals from diseased animals, cereal fillers, preservatives and artificial ingredients. Premium foods have far better ingredients, like human grade meats, and use gentler cooking methods, but they too, are missing much of the “liveness” of whole raw foods.

Many veterinarians recommend home prepared pet food as a curative diet. Switching to fresh foods can clear up many chronic degenerative conditions including: arthritis, allergies, runny eyes, infected ears, fleas, weight problems, digestive problems, skin and coat problems, dental decay, feline urinary problems and hairballs. When the body’s nutritional needs are met, it is better able to heal and repair itself without further medical intervention.

Carnivores Need Meat
Pet food companies have turned our companions into grain eaters because grains are a cheap, available food source. Dogs and cats were designed to digest meat. They need fresh meat, preferably raw, to supply the proper amino acids, enzymes and other essential nutrients. The quality and quantity of meat protein in home-prepared diets is better than in dry pet foods. Human quality, USDA approved meat should be a minimum standard for dogs and cats.

Is Raw Meat Safe? Dogs and cats are not generally affected by bacterial contaminations because they have highly acidic digestive juices and a shorter digestive cycle, which prevents harmful bacteria from establishing or growing. Dogs, particularly, evolved as scavengers and garbage eaters, consuming spoiled food and half-rotted carcasses that contained millions of bacteria. If an animal is severely immuno-compromised, however, you can gently cook the meat portion of the food before mixing with the other ingredients. Add a pinch of digestive enzymes just before serving to compensate for the cooking.

Raw Meaty Bones - Part of A Healthy Diet
Dogs and cats evolved eating the bones of their prey, and raw bones are still the best source of calcium, phosphorus and other minerals. Chewing on raw bones keeps teeth clean, flossed and free of tartar, often eliminating the need for dental cleanings. Unlike cooked bones, which can splinter and cause problems, raw bones are pliable and break off safely.

For dogs, hard beef or buffalo bones supply recreation, exercise and that great marrow in the middle. Remove bones after a day or so when stripped clean. They may be given often, even every day, but you will probably want to alternate them with more nutritious poultry bones.

Meaty poultry bones, like backs, necks or wings with the skin, meat and other good stuff intact can be fed whole, hacked up with a cleaver or ground up for both dogs and cats. Meaty chicken parts are probably the best nutritional package available as a base for canine and feline diets. All The Best Pet Care carries affordable, easy to use, prepackaged ground chicken backs and ground turkey necks.

WHOLE CHICKEN PARTS CONTAIN:

• BACKS AND NECKS: BONE FOR CALCIUM AND OTHER MINERALS
• SKIN AND FAT: CHICKEN IS A SUPERIOR SOURCE OF ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS
• MEAT: PROTEIN AND AMINO ACIDS
• BONE MARROW: BLOOD-FORMING ELEMENTS, COPPER, IRON, AND ZINC
• CARTILAGE AND GRISTLE: CONNECTIVE TISSUES CONTAIN GLUCOSAMINE, A NUTRIENT THAT PREVENTS ARTHRITIS
• ORGANS: KIDNEYS ATTACHED TO BACKBONE CONTRIBUTE PROTEIN, VITAMINS A, B, C, FATTY ACIDS, AND ZINC

A typical dog might consume a turkey neck or a few chicken wings in place of a meal. For cats and small dogs, chicken or turkey necks should be hacked into smaller pieces, with an inch or two given at a time

Calcium - An All-Important Mineral
Failing to include sufficient calcium is one of the most overlooked issues in home prepared diets. Adding the bonemeal that the recipe calls for is essential. Solid Gold makes a high quality edible, human grade bonemeal supplement expressly for this purpose.

Two other options for including calcium include:
• using ground poultry parts with bone included (such as ROAR ground chicken backs and ROAR ground turkey necks) in place of meat in the recipe
• feeding whole meaty bones such as turkey necks or chicken parts several times a week

Organ Meats
Organs contain many nutrients not found in muscle meat: wild predators will eat the organs of their prey first. Since organs comprise 1/6 to 1/4 of a prey animal’s body, try to use a similar proportion of liver, gizzard, heart or other organs. Kidney and tripe are good but stinky. Mix a bit in each meal, or feed an organ meal once or twice a week.

Each Meal Does Not Have To Be Balanced
Carnivores are by necessity opportunists, and in the wild their diets would vary widely in content, amount and frequency. Unlike modern pet diets, each bite is not complete, identical or balanced.

Nature has made animals very adaptable and flexible in the face of an uncertain food supply, and the body can store most nutrients until needed.

Grains - A Variety of Opinions
No aspect of natural feeding has had more difference of opinion than the topic of grains. Grains are optional - there is no minimum carbohydrate requirement for dogs or cats. Many animals are grain sensitive, leading to allergy symptoms and digestive problems, and would do better on a grain-free regimen. Some grain sensitivities, however, have been found to be caused by storage mites, similar to dust mites that contaminate grains kept in storage too long. Better pet foods made with “human consumable” ingredients will not contain mite-infested grain. Even problem-free animals should not have too much grain -- less than 50% of a dog’s diet, and only 10 to 25% of a cat’s diet.

Vegetables -- Antioxidant Superfoods
A big change in your animal’s feeding regimen will be the addition of ground raw vegetables. You don’t have to include them every day, but try to add them more often than not. They contribute a wealth of cleansing, healing, nourishing and living nutrients, part of nature’s magic. Green vegetables and sprouts detoxify, cleanse and enliven. Orange vegetables sweeten food and add cancer-fighting beta-carotene. Small amounts can create a powerful effect.

Almost any vegetable is okay in moderation except raw onions and raw white potatoes. Raw garlic in small amounts is wonderful and very appealing to dogs, but not very appealing to cats. I use one clove per large dog per meal.

Grinding vegetables is the best way to release their goodness, as dogs and cats lack the enzyme, cellulase, to break down the cellulose cell walls on their own. Sojos Europa dehydrated vegetable and supplement mix is the ultimate in convenience- simply add water and ground meat for an easy, healthy meal.

The Short Cuts:If you can’t make fresh food yourself, here are some ready-made frozen meals:

• Farmore – Beef, chicken, and buffalo complete diets for dogs. Each formula is 70-75% meat and bones with the remainder being vegetables and small amounts of whole grains (the chicken diet is grain free.) Farmore also offers buffalo knuckle and marrow bones for recreational chewing.
• Natural Pet Pantry - Fresh local ground and whole meats and ground vegetables. Options include complete diets (“Stew in the Raw” in buffalo, chicken, duck and turkey for dogs and Pantry Cat Food in chicken and turkey), ground meats (duck necks, chicken backs and necks with organ meat, buffalo and beef with tripe for cats and dogs), cooked stews (buffalo, chicken and turkey for dogs), and whole chicken wings, chicken necks and duck necks.
• Nature’s Variety - Convenient, complete, and natural. Each raw frozen diet is 95% meat and 5% fruits and vegetables. They contain meat, organs, raw ground bone, fruits, vegetables, seed sprouts, chelated trace minerals, honey, whole eggs, apple cider vinegar, cold pressed oils and natural fruit and herbal extracts.
• Pepperdogz & Peppercatz - Canine meals are made from free range chicken, turkey or buffalo combined with ground organic vegetables and lots of good supplements. Feline meals are made from free range chicken or turkey with ground organic vegetable and lots of good supplements. These formulas were developed by Dr. Jackie Obando, a holistic veterinarian on Mercer Island.
• R.O.A.R. “Human Quality Food for Animals” - Lots of bones, both whole and ground. USDA beef knuckle and marrow bones, USDA buffalo bones, USDA ground and whole turkey necks and USDA ground chicken backs.

For Dog & Cat Food Recipes Download PDF

How Much to Feed:
For both dogs and cats, a good rule of thumb is to feed 2 - 3% of body weight per day.

There are approximately 2 cups to a pound of meat or other wet food.
• A 50 lb dog will eat one to one-and-one-half pounds of food, or 2 to 3 cups
• A cat will eat anywhere from 3 oz to 8 oz per day, averaging around 4 oz, or 1/2 cup

To start out, serve a little more than you think they’ll need, and remove the uneaten portion after 20 minutes or when they walk away. Animals will not overeat on this type of diet! Because it is not carbohydrate-laden or junk food, they will not be driven to eat more than their nutritional requirements dictate. It may take awhile for their natural feedback system to begin to regulate appetite correctly, but it will come. Until then, they may be compensating for long-standing deficiencies, so don’t try to reduce overweight dogs or cats. Just let them eat.

How to Introduce the New Diet
Slowly. A little at a time, mixed in with or alongside the regular food. This will avoid digestive upsets and help your pet accept something new. After all, if a dog or cat has been eating processed food for a long time, the digestive system needs time to adjust.

Using Bribe Foods to Switch Diets in Cats

Most cats are resistant to change, and we have discovered a few helpful techniques for switching them over.
• Tuna water, canned salmon, or a pinch of Cat-Man-Doo (shaved bonito flakes) added to the new food will increase acceptance.
• Try smearing your cat’s favorite canned food over the top of her new food.
• Add the new food a teaspoon at a time to the old food until the switch is complete.

What About Occasional Non-Meat Meals for Dogs?

Non-meat meals can offer a greater variety of foods.
• Cottage cheese or yogurt - alone or with ground vegetables
• Eggs - raw or lightly cooked
• Fish and veggies using canned salmon, sardines or tuna
• An occasional bowl of oatmeal with butter and a spoon of honey, or even potatoes.

Recommended Reading:
Give Your Dog A Bone, Ian Billinghurst DVM
Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet, Kymythy Schultze
Raw Dog Food: Make It Easy For You and Your Dog!, Carina Beth MacDonald
See Spot Live Longer, Steve Brown & Beth Taylor
Switching to Raw: A Fresh Food Diet That Makes Sense for Dogs, Susan K. Johnson
The BARF Diet, Ian Billinghurst DVM
The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat, Juliette de Bairacli Levy
The New Natural Cat, Anitra Frazier
The Whole Dog Journal

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