Lets talk comercial processed dog food

I have decided to switch my chocolate lab girl off of commercial processed dog food to homemade food. My previous Black lab girl died of stomach cancer at the young age of 7. I truly believe it may have been processed food related. I don't eat processed foods myself and this has turned my health around in a big way.

I am mixing the below with her commercial kibble slowly transitioning her over as to not upset her digestive system.

I can tell you she absolutely loves it and eats it like she hasn't had food in seven days.

If you see any tweaking, I am open to ideas to improve.

The recipe. 3 cups a day. she is 55lbs.

Homemade dog food.

6lbs Ground meat, chicken/turkey/beef or venison if I have it / 2cups water

1-pack beef liver

12 oz frozen pees

12 oz frozen green beans

7- oz frozen spinach

7 -oz pumpkin puree

sprinckle tumeric/black pepper

4 - carrots

2 - sweet potato

1-cup rice

1-pack blue berries

5 teaspoon calcium powder made from eggs

Cook meat instapot 25min.

Cook veggies instapot 15min.

cheers!

I switched my lab over to a raw diet and it made a big difference in the dogs energy levels, as if it was 2-3 years younger. I also froze the raw meat for a week or two to help kill nematodes, with the warmer trending weather I have noticed an uptick in nematodes in chicken. Cooking is the best way to kill them but apparently it changes the bone structure of the chicken bones and can cause damage when eaten due to sharp edges.

The colder and the longer the meat remains frozen the more nematodes will be killed. Defrost in water prior to feeding.

I put my buddy down in may this year he was just over 13 years old, physically strong up until his final weeks. He was on raw dog food for most of his life, basically raw beef scrapes ground down from a slaughterhouse/butcher. Also once a week raw chicken carcass, lots of times let over from our table potatoes, carrots bits and pieces of cooked meat and chicken.

Healthy all his life, only at the vet for annual shots for rabies and tick control.

Active dog that ran 6 kilometers about four to five times a week.

In the three years of his life I put him on dried dog kibble as raw was difficult to obtain. But he was always healthier on raw and I would recommend it to anyone, unfortunately buying it outside the home is expensive so home cooked would be needed. The money saved on vet bills for most dog on raw as opposed to commercial processed foods definitely the raw wins everyday.

The easiest test is to put down a bowl of commercial food and a bowl of raw/home made food and your dog will tell you right away what he wants by his nose.

What food were you feeding the previous lab?


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my 1st lab was 11.5yr when i had to put him down. he got sick after he took off in the bush for 6hrs. which he had never done before. he ate dry food all his life and never visited a vet other than for annual shots. my current lab is almost 5 and very healthy and never been to vet and she is on dry food as well. i think this is a personal choice. as far as liking one over the other, she is a lab so likes anything put in front of her.

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Originally Posted by Ashes1

What food were you feeding the previous lab?


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My black lab that passed at 7 was on lifetime dog food. They should rename it to short/lifetime. :(

Have a Walker Coon Hound Rotti cross. He is 13 now and still runs like a maniac but does not have the same stamina anymore and is a little bit deaf (kinda like me LOL). My son found him when he was +/- 8 weeks old in a cardboard box in a ditch close to Huntsville. Never been sick a day in his life. Only ever been to the vet for shots. Lived on dry his whole life but been getting some bacon and eggs every Sunday for the last few years and got a "%^& ton of turkey, turkey skin, the giblets and the neck this past weekend. Expect he has another year or two left in him.

I've always tried to avoid as much processed kibble as is possible with the three black Labs I've owned. I nuisance trap, so I have an endless supply of beaver meat to supplement the diet with. You won't find a better form of protein to feed your dog. I cut the back legs and loin strips off the beaver, then freeze in the chest freezer. About 40 mins in a simmering in a big steel pot and the meat then just falls off the bone. I cut this up with game shears and freeze in about 4lb bags. The Black Pig Dog gets a half dozen cubes of beaver meat, mixed with any vegetable scraps, and maybe 1/4 cup of high quality kibble. We'll buy cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli on sale just for the dog. We have a big garden so the pig free grazes as well. You have to watch though as they'll strip a twenty foot row of green beans then head over to the snow peas! At least a pound of horse s%$t usually gets inhaled for dessert, as well as grounder apples under the trees. I also grind all my deer scraps after butchering and this gets boiled and fed to the dog as well. Use common sense - NEVER feed raw visceral parts from cervids to dogs (especially lung material - eg. danger of Echinococcus tapeworm that will kill you), raw or rare bear meat is a no-no as well (Trichinella). Be careful how much protein you feed your dog. A straight meat diet will tax the kidneys and can be a major problem especially for older dogs as their kidney function declines.

I have never considered home made or raw. I'd be worried about not hitting proper nutrient levels (personally). I feed inukshuk and I love it, it's an energy powerhouse for a dog that's hunting multiple times a week. I am sure your hunch about cancer linked to processed food is probably accurate just like how our human food is poisoning us here in North America and riddling us with cancer, obesity and diabetes.

My Chocolate lab girl is now on 100% home-made food and doing very well.

Her stool is now normal and not massive like it was on kibble.
Her energy level is through the roof.
Coat is nice and shiny.
When its feeding time she literally loses her mind. lol
Weight is staying in check. I will adjust portions if she gains or loses too much.

So far so good.

I make a batch weekly and am finding it super easy and affordable. If I can find a way to fill my last archery tag, I will use the meat exclusively to feed her for many months. Fingers crossed! :)