Hello!

Recently I've been looking into doing a homemade diet for our dogs. What actually sparked my interest was reading about a BC that lived to 27 on a diet of rice, lentils, and organic vegetables. I'm not sure if his long life was related to his diet or if he was simply very lucky, but since then I've been looking into homemade meals and have seen different people praise the rice+lentil+vegetable diet. Many also dislike this diet due to the lack of meat.

I'm looking into doing a homemade meal because from what I've read, it is not only usually cheaper, but also healthier than any processed dog food. Can anyone give me some helpful insight, recipes, etc? Meat or no meat, I would just like my dogs to receive the nutrients they need and for them to live long, healthy lives.

Jessica,

I personally feel meat is a necessity to most dogs. I have read studies on rice for dogs some for, some against. With that being said, I feed my girl a variety of food, because she is grain intolerant, specifically corn, I try and stay away from all grains. She's a fussy eater as well, get's bored with her food quickly. In fact after feeding Taste of the Wild for 2 months, I'm going to look for a different grain free kibble, I only feed about a cup and a half of kibble daily, the last 2 weeks I'm guessing she's eating half to three quarters cup, so I am throwing out more than she will eat. I use kibble as a "make sure I'm giving all her nutrients", because she is so fussy. Most days I give her 4-8 ounces of hamburger or turkey burger, I do cook that and mix with her kibble, but she will pick the meat mostly. Then I rotate greek yogurt, pumpkin, eggs, in addition to everything else. She will get a couple of grain free biscuits in the morning since she does not like eating early. Lastly she gets a raw meaty bone, she is getting picky there too so what used to be daily is now every other day. I throw in liver and deboned cooked chicken every so often. If I make a steak for my husband and I, I will share my meat, some fat and of course bone all raw, those days I will not feed her hamburger/turkey burger. My way is not the best, but it has been a nightmare to feed her. Beef is her thing, and I feel most dogs, and cats for that matter need meat in their diet. Think, what would they eat in the wild?

I do trust myself over dog food makers, and many people here feed raw, or grain free kibble. I know many people feed rice when doggies tummies are upset. To make an example of feeding meat, my cat is 14 years old, she suffers from acid reflux, has had it most of her life, today she is probably healthier than when she was 4, simply by giving her meat, mainly cooked, in addition to a little kibble and a little bit of soft, her teeth are getting bad, but only problem she has. Miya started off with kibble only and would throw up almost daily it seemed, once I made meat as the main ingredient and grain free kibble as an addition she no longer gets sick, and with adding the other items, her poop has firmed up as well.

It certainly is a choice, there are many threads in the raw feed section I would suggest you read to get more ideas than mine. I know as a teenager we had a gsd who lived to be 12-14 years(I went off to college so timing is fuzzy ) and my mother fed him kibble mixed with cooked hamburger, his deterioration of health was due to HD and not by feeding him meat.

I wish you luck and feel free to ask me more questions, I'm also hoping others will give you more ideas on what they feed.
Renee