Home made food for dogs?

[SHADOW_THE_STAFF]

I've been reading up on all the links that explain the differences between what counts as good dog food and bad dog food. After spending a day looking for dog food for shadow that I thought was acceptable, I considered feeding her on a raw/home cooked diet. But I dont know where to start. All the products I see in the pet store (my nearest is 35 miles) seem full of junk and not as much meat as I think they should have. I've now bought some I think are acceptable, but can I suppliment with home cooked or raw meat/food? Or will this be bad for her, as I know when you change dog foods, you have to wean them off the old stuff slowly. Will giving her raw or homecooked food once in a while upset her stomach?
I fed shadow some boiled chicken breast yesterday, I was using it as a treat to train her, I also gave her some cheese, Not a lot, It was like half a hand full of cheese and half a handfull of chicken, probably less than that. (I finally figured out that shadow doesnt respond to training if I use her normal food as a treat, which I should have figured out ages ago, duh!). About 1/2 hours later, she threw up, I could see the chicken wasnt digested. Now I dont know if this was because I fed her the chicken, or cos it's been really warm over her, and she'd been running round playin. What do you think? Also because it was really hot, I had some frozen chicken stock/broth in the freezer, I gave her a little cube of that, she loved it! Licked it for ages!. Could that have upset her stomach? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Adrienne]

Cooked chicken is a lot harder to digest then raw chicken. Cooking any food destroys natural enzymes and makes the food less nutritious. A good variety of raw fed meat and meat on bone is the perfect food for our dogs, just like nature intended

I reccomend doing some research into raw versus cooked foods for your pup.

 

[Mordy]

i know many people believe that cooked foods are harder to digest, but that isn't really the case. you do have some structural changes from the cooking process, but they work just as much in favor of digestibility as against, for example by partially breaking down protein structure.

in the above case i think it was a case of "too much all at once", combined with high temperatures and exercise.

foods don't get digested in just half an hour, so even if the chicken had been raw, it's highly unlikely that it would have been digested much more.

 

[oriondw]

We feed 50% cooked food and 50% dry food. Working out great.

 

[Renee750il]

Mordy's right . . . as usual Most likely just a combination of heat, exercise, excitement and too many treats.

 

[Roxie_Doxie]

Salmonella

Because my dog doesn't eat her dry kibble, I'm looking into feeding her a diet which consists of raw meats and veggies. But, because the meat is going to be raw, is theer a chance of it containing Salmonella?

 

[beagle_lovergirl]

Because my dog doesn't eat her dry kibble, I'm looking into feeding her a diet which consists of raw meats and veggies. But, because the meat is going to be raw, is theer a chance of it containing Salmonella?

I'm not sure but I think there's something you can put in it to kill the bacteria, it's grapeseed extract I think

 

[Mordy]

there's a much higher risk of you yourself getting salmonella if you don't keep everything clean while preparing the food than your dog getting infected. dogs evolved as scavengers who also eat rotting carcasses, so their digestive tract is well adapted to handling bacteria.

the only situation where i'd be concerned is in an animal with a compromised immune system.

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

I am very careful when handling raw meat for the girls. I make sure I have plastic gloves on when I hand it to them, so afterwards I can throw all the germs away. After raw meat has been in a bowl, I fill it with hot soapy water and let it soak overnight, and if the girls were inside eating their meat and decided to eat it on the floor instead of in the bowl, I mop up the area.