So Matt and I have slowly changed the girl's diets in the past few months and finally seemed to have settled on a grain free raw diet with fruits and veggies. Saturday we went shopping for their food and made two weeks worth of meals. We chopped green beans, snap peas, celery, carrots, potatos, and apples and mixed them between morning and evening meals into small baggies. To that we add raw chicken, eggs, fish oils and/or salmon, brewers yeast with garlic (as flea and tick control), alfalfa sprouts, and kelp. We also have banana to use as treats or added to their breakfast. Summer is currently getting ham for breakfast and raw chicken wings at night to help her gain some weight. She keeps growing and we can't seem to get weight on her! We hope she's stopped growing taller and will now start to fill out.
We were inspired by the Honest Kitchens amazing dog food products as well as Sojos; both of which are all-natural, raw, dehydrated meals. However we could not afford to feed these products to our dogs so we decided to make our own. And yes, it's actually cheaper to feed raw. Well, it does depend on what meat you feed. We currently feed chicken but will start adding variety in the next few months.
 |
| Ice cubes are delicious but not nutritious. |
It's been going really well so far, but we still can't seem to get weight on Summer. Suggestions???
I want to do raw SO bad. I know Madden would benefit but I hate to say it-- she is a foster and her food is donated, I don't have a budget to feed her raw. I think I will seriously consider it soon for my pups but that would mean fish probably which is not as cheap. Hades is almost for sure allergic to chicken and Bray might be too. (In addition to be intolerant of several other proteins!)
ReplyDeleteI will have Hades and Braylon send five pounds each Summer's way. ;)
Wow what dedication! I don't even eat that well myself. You have some lucky dogs. But I don't have any suggestions for increasing weight. I don't know if butter is good for dogs but that might increase calories.
ReplyDeleteYou are AMAZING! We feed Stella & Chewy's raw beef. Three weeks into the beef and she's got a skin infection and is still chewing the paws. We have three weeks to go before switching her to another protein source (chicken and lamb are already out). If it's cheaper to make it yourself, I would love to do that but for the lack of freezer space!
ReplyDeleteI don't have any ideas about getting weight on Summer. My best friend has the same problem with her dog, Bubba. He eats and eats and can't put on any weight. Lily doesn't have that problem in the least!
What lucky dogs you have!!
That is amazing. Your dogs eat healthier than I do. One question, though: I thought dogs couldn't eat garlic?
ReplyDeleteWe did a lot of research after first reading about feeding brewers yeast pills with garlic in them because I had been told the same thing.
DeleteAs many know onions are toxic to dogs in large amounts because they contain thiosulphate which is toxic to dogs and will cause what is called Heinz-body anemia. Garlic also has this compound in it but it is much higher in onions. Many vets agree that small amounts of garlic are okay and even beneficial for dogs. I read somewhere that a small amount would be an entire clove of garlic. However there is much less than that in the small pills we use for flea control. Some vets use small amounts of garlic to help dogs with cancer!
I was just about to say that too! I wish my diet was this healthy!! Very impressive :) Schultz likes our leftover broccoli from dinner lol
ReplyDelete