Homemade Dog Food with Chicken, Beef Mince and Veggies.
Lately I have been making Bella, homemade dog food with chicken thighs and Veggies and I have also added in a recipe of beef mince and Veggies and she is really enjoying the meals and loving life at the moment! The reason behind me doing this starts of with a holiday back in October, where Freddy and I went away for a couple of weeks and left her at home with my Daughter Rosie (now 30! can you believe it!). Whilst we were away, Bella caught an infection and was extremely ill, only to be taken to the vets and put on a strict diet of plain Chicken and rice and probiotic drinks!...slowly she got better and by the time we got home she was well again.
I tried giving her her usual food, but all she did was turn her nose up! But when I gave her Plain boiled chicken and rice she loved it! So I started looking into what was healthy for her to eat and how to cook foods that she could enjoy. There is so much information on the internet and so many recipes out there, but I have just stuck to basic recipes, making them up as I go along.
This recipe I just threw together one day, but have had to make it over and over again as it seems to be a combination that she really enjoys.
Recipe 1
Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potato and Veggies
INGREDIENTS
8 Chicken Thighs
2 Sweet Potatos
2 Small Potatos
2 Handfuls of Peas
2 Handfuls of Runner Beans
2 Handfuls of Macaroni
Spray Olive Oil
(4 sprays for each serving. Helps with their bones and coat)
METHOD
Boil the chicken thighs in a saucepan of water for about 20 minutes or until they are cooked through thoroughly. Set them aside to cool for a while and retain some of the water for a gravy.
Wash and peel the potatos and sweet potatos and cook those in a pan of boiling water (no salt).
At this point you could add in the other veggies and the macaroni (see below! what a mess lol!), depending on the size of the pan you have. If you cook them all together the macaroni will take on their flavours, but if you prefer you can cook them all separately!
Once they are all cooked, it's just a case of cutting or shreading the chicken thighs up into small pieces (I add one thigh to a microwave/freezer proof plastic container) and mashing in the Potatos with the juice from the Chicken and then mashing in all the other ingredients to a consitancy, of what you recognise as dog food. I mash in the sweet potatos next and then I cut up the macaroni and veggies (see top picture) and add those in, sometimes I also put in carrots, but Bella has a rather clever way of eating everything up and flicking all the carrots to one side! lol! If I mash these, though, she doesn't know they are there! It's a bit like getting children to eat their veggies, you have got to try and hide them in their food lol!
And Viola...
You can bulk the servings up with some plain rice, if you want to be a bit more economical or if you have a larger dog. Bella is a Cavachon so probably would be in the medium size dog catergory. I also stir in about 4-5 sprays of olive oil to each portion, this is extreemely good for dogs as it helps maintain good bones and coat.
Recipe 2
Bella's Mince and Spagetti
INGREDIENTS
400g Lean Minced Beef or left overs
1 Portion of Spagetti
3 - 4 Sprigs of Brocolli
Spray Olive Oil
(4-5 sprays for each serving. Helps with their bones and coat)
Plain Rice to bulk up.
METHOD
Cook mince, broccolli and spagetti and mix all the ingredients together, chopping into small palatable pieces.
Add equal portions into plastic containers and add 4-5 sprays of spray olive oil. Stir.
Add other veggies if wanted according to your dogs taste.
Because the fat content is quite high in minced beef, i would definitely bulk this meal up with cooked plain rice...I do this when I am serving it to her. I buy the cheapest microwaveable rice brand and add the rice to the meal with some water and then cook it for 30 seconds in the microwave...
She loves it and I feel like I am giving the absolute best I can afford to her! Okay so making you're own can be a little expensive, but even if you just use left over cuts of meat and buy the cheapest mixed vegetable combo! Rice and Pasta can be so cheap as well! As long you are using the right ingredients, it can all be done according to your budget...it's sure worth a try? don't you think?
...And just to let you know folks!
At the start of the year I was told by Bella's new groomer to always give your dog bottled water!...as tap water has lots of impurities in it, that can mess with your dogs health! Well since giving her only bottled water, all of her brown stains around her eyes and mouth have disappeared! she has gone from looking like this...
Also The Vet and the Groomer have told me that her health and coat have improved considerably since her new diet! Bella will be 11 in January and is in such good health at the moment. No one believes me when I tell them that she is 11!
I hope you find this information useful as I feel us doggy people should share information like this with each other.
Do you have any helpful tips that you can bring to the conversation? Please comment below if you have :) x
Hope you are all keeping well my lovelies xx
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