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When I started making dog food, it took forever. I was over thinking everything. But I wanted to get it right so I kept learning and today, making dog food is easy.
I no longer focus on balance per meal, instead, I balance over time which allows me more flexibility. If I'm running low on an ingredient, I don't panic because my dogs' raw meals will be out of balance. Instead, I add something else and adjust their diet later in the week or the following week.
Need an example?
I like to add an organ blend by GreenTripe.com to my dogs' diet – super easy, I don't have to worry about tracking down a variety of offal, and it stores well. So, for a couple of weeks, until I got my order in, my dogs ate an organ blend with pork heart, liver and kidneys – that's it. To me, that's not enough offal; I prefer to add a more varied organ blend with pancreas, spleen, and organs that count as meat (lung, heart, and green tripe). But eating this diet for a couple of weeks didn't cause any irreparable damage to my dogs and I got them back on track when my GreenTripe.com order came in.
So here goes…please feel free to ask questions in the comments.
Easy Raw Dog Food Recipe
Duck and Sardines
I feed duck a lot. It's a cooling protein and I have a “hot” dog and a dog with cancer in the house and their diet now includes plenty of duck and rabbit.
Ground duck wings, 20 lbs
Duck is a regular in my dogs' diet because it's a cooling protein. This is better for dogs with allergies, inflammation, or an inflammatory disease. I used to ground whole duck wings for my dogs. But I'm no longer able to source a whole duck wings (drumettes are going to the restaurant industry). So I now grind duck necks because they have more meat (not much more).
When I'm not able to source duck wings or necks, then I will use whole quail.
Can of sardines
I used to have amazing sources for sardines, but that changed now my dogs primarily enjoy canned sardines which I stock up on at Walmart and Costco. When I can, I buy a case of one of the fish recipes by Northwest Naturals or a small case of frozen mackerel. I also feed oysters and squid for Omega 3 fatty acids.
My dogs weigh between 60-70 lbs and I add a can of sardines to each dog's bowl, once daily, when preparing a meal.
DIY Veggie Mix
I add vegetables to my dogs' raw meals for fiber, antioxidants, and a few additional nutrients. I prioritize gut health with my dogs and feeding vegetables helps to build a healthy gut microbiome. I can also sneak supplements in my veggie mix, like green lipped mussel powder, golden paste, or spirulina/chlorella.
My veggie mix DOES NOT balance my dogs' meal.
How to Balance this Meal
While I don't have an issue feeding this meal to my dogs, this isn't something that I'd to a puppy that needs all their nutrients daily to support their rapid growth. If I were trying to feed a nutritious diet, I would mix the proteins with a base mix.
I use Dr. Harvey's Paradigm base mix. I hydrate one cup of the base mix and combine it with eight quarts of an 80/10/10-ish blend.
Supplements for DIY Raw Feeding
When it comes to supplementation, I believe in supplementing based on health issues rather than to balance a diet. I used to buy so many pills and powders only to learn that most of them could be added cheaply by feeding whole foods. Like sardines instead of fish oil and kefir instead of a digestive supplement.
So, today, each of my dogs get a unique set of supplements based on their health history and loads of research. But they all get the following:
- WINPRO Hip and Joint Supplement
- FullBucket Digestive Supplement (when they need additional support)
- Rx Vitamins Hepato Support (liver support)
- Animal Essentials Herbal Green Alternative
- Mushroom Complex
- golden paste (DIY)
Sourcing for Raw Meat for My Dogs
I purchase everything for my dogs through a local raw food co-op.
- Shop Through a Raw Food Co-Op to Save on Raw Dog Food
- How to Start a Raw Food Co-Op (I Think)
- 4 Examples of Craigslists Ads for Raw Feeders
- 21 Ways to Save Money on Raw Dog Food
