[heelary01]

I have made dog food ever since my dogs were puppies - 4 years now! They are very healthy and have never had any problems. You can also add it to their kibble. They love it! My dogs are large breed so they get 2 cups in the a.m. and p.m."

Ingredients

6 cups water
1 pound ground turkey
2 cups brown rice
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 (16 ounce) package frozen broccoli, carrots and cauliflower combination

Directions

Place the water, ground turkey, rice, and rosemary into a large Dutch oven. Stir until the ground turkey is broken up and evenly distributed throughout the mixture; bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the frozen vegetables, and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Refrigerate until using.

 

[Kathyy]

I am glad your dogs are doing well on this food!

All of your ingredients are good ones, safe for most dogs to eat. Rosemary can be a trigger for epileptic seizure prone dogs and doesn't have much place in food other than its great flavor. Strange to me, most herbs and spices are fine for dogs - nutmeg and rosemary are the ones I know to avoid. Onion is dangerous and garlic isn't a great thing to feed constantly either.

Dogs have a much higher requirement for calcium, zinc, iron and some B vitamins than humans do so adding a bit of calcium to the food would be a good idea, just 1/2-1 tsp of powdered egg shell per pound of meat will do - put the egg in the food as well. Feeding lots of meat and a little liver is a good way to get the zinc, iron and B vitamins into them, just about an ounce per pound of meat is enough.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/recipe/2537558/2
Okay Max doesn't get much food for his size, only about 600 calories for his 38 pounds but this food is quite low in protein and fat. I would double the meat and cut the rice in half, using more veggies if you like. And turkey is fine stuff but beef is even better - higher in protein, iron and zinc. Try substituting lean hamburger for some of the turkey. Go slowly with any of my suggestions, just change one thing at a time by 10-20%.

Sorry that the dogs don't get it warm. Do they get to help clean up the dirty pot? That was my dogs' favorite part of home cooked food! Max misses it now he only gets raw food.

 

[Willowy]

It's not very balanced--not much calcium! As a topper for kibble it sounds yummy, but it's not a complete diet. If you want to homecook for your dogs, do a lot of research to make sure you're balancing their meals. Otherwise they'll end up with deficiencies eventually.