Food!

When Hazel first came to me I was told she had a sensitive stomach and also knowing that she was prone to allergies/itchy skin, I was paranoid about what to feed her. During her "foster period" I had her on Canidae limited ingredient salmon. It had 8 ingredients in it and she did well on it. I mixed this with some canned food, (usually Taste of the Wild), or some Honest Kitchen dehydrated food. I am an ingredient Nazi, let it be known. In my own life, I try to do my best to eat whole foods (though would be lying if I did not admit I am a donut/pizza junky once a week), and decided I wanted to do the same for Hazel. I have struggled with this decision in the past with my other pup, Haley. I wanted to home cook for her and did for awhile until I had an ethical battle within due to me being a vegetarian and not wanting to support the meat market. I found myself buying more meat than I ever had before, my "rule" in our household was if hubby wanted meat, he had to buy and prepare it himself..I wanted no part of it. I homecooked for Haley for only a short while before I could not take it anymore. I stopped with the meat, and wait for it...tried to make her a vegetarian as well. Doh. Lesson learned. I know some dogs are on a veggie diet for one reason or another, but it wasn't for my girl. Nope..not one bit. I went back to feeding the highest quality kibble and canned food. I lost my girl to cancer, and I often wonder if I could have prevented it with a wholesome diet. I truly believe that wholesome food is nature's medicine and I didn't want to have to wonder about this again, so I have taken the plunge.I have to be honest, the old feelings cropped up again. The only way I would feel a little "ok" with buying meat is if I bought it from a local source where the animals were treated humanely, but I have yet to find a source that isn't $8 a pound. I wish money were no object, but it is. While I have found few companies who sell raw dog food pre-made, or the meat/organs already ground, so far, it's been most cost effective to just buy my meat at Sam's Club. (Equivalent to a Costco). Hazel was on a fish diet, so I was concerned about her having a reaction to different proteins. My first batch of food was made with turkey as the primary source, and next, I tried chicken. While some who cook for their dogs like to make big batches as once and freeze, I prefer to make enough for just a few days. I used to cook the ginourmous batches at one time, but I found that much more labor intensive. I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen. Instead, I currently pop a few chicken thighs in the oven with diced sweet potato and let them cook together. When that's close to being done, I saute some mixed greens in coconut oil. Once everything is cooked, I put it in my Blendtec which is SO much easier than dragging out my food processor. (Another reason why I prefer small batches).

I add a little water to help blend well

The finished product..I know, it doesn't look pretty!

Hazel really loves her meals and we're still experimenting. I was really confused as to what amount to feed her. I started out feeding the same amount I feed kibble/canned food. 3 full cups/day, divided into two meals. This *seemed* ok initially, but then she acted like she was starving to death, so I have upped it a little. Our last batch that she just finished up this morning was chicken, quinoa, sweet potato, kale, spinach, and chard. She gets raw bones only once a week so to make sure she gets enough calcium, I grind up cooked egg shells and mix them with the food as well. Tonight I am going to hard boil some eggs, and then throw them in the blender shells and all to mix with the meat source. It has been fun experimenting, and so far, she has had no ill reactions. When I researched home cooked diets, many articles were promoting "must have" supplements to mix in the meals, but for now, my thinking is that she will get what she needs from food sources, not more artifical ingredients. I hope I am not naive in my thinking, however a good friend who has been home cooking for over a decade, shares my view and she has had great success. Her dogs are living incredibly long, heatlhy lives! The only supplement that Hazel currently gets is a fish oil.

I thought home cooking would be much more expensive, but compared to high quality kibble which can range from $45-60 a bag, in addition to canned food with is $2-3 a can, this also makes economical sense as well. The only thing I really need to buy is the meat, and eveything else is always on hand. I hope this continues to work for our family. This is a new blog and I know I have very few readers, but would be interested to hear what diets have worked for your dogs. I am a complete dog food nerd. I don't know why I have this obsession, but I am always walking down the aisles in our pet food stores and reading ingredient labels. Please tell me I'm not alone! ;)