Homemade Dog Food in Tangent

So recently I have decided to add one more task to my plate. Under our roof I have 1 gloriously spoiled husband, 2 crazy daughters, 2 amazing dogs, 2 unique turkeys, 21 amusing chickens, and 5 ducks who complete my soul…there is a wild rabbit who frequently comes to see what good tidbits the birds are getting. I have nicknamed him David. Because my 4 year old says he reminds her of the Doctor for some bizarre reason known only to herself (she is madly in love with David Tenant).

Anywho, I am the keeper of all the creatures great and small. It is my daily task to keep all of these critters (humans included lol) happy and cared for. Our newest addition is our 2nd dog. Her name is River (a nod to both Firefly & Dr. Who after my fave characters in both shows). She is a Saint Bernard-Great Pyrenees puppy mix. She is on track to be a 29 inch (at the shoulder) tall and 130 lbs dog. With the giant breed dog their lifetimes are considerably shorter than a small breed dog. Diet and lifestyle play a huge role in giving their lifespan the longest possible. After extensive research how to give her the best possible option…I have come to the conclusion that homemade dog food is our best bet. Why not! I already am busy enough why not add cooking real meals for the dogs too. The perk to this is I can cook a week in advance and freeze it. SCORE! Seems expensive? Mmm shop around…mmmm…ah ha! Low cost, tight budget grocery store by our house sells super low cost fruit, veggies, and off the wall meats that are cheap. Perfect! No matter where you go you can buy a week’s worth bag of rice for a dollar so that is all good. The cottage cheese is the most expensive but the protein calcium benefits of it make it an inevitable purchase. In the end after some calculation the cost of a decent dry dog food evens out to the homecooked.

Granted, preparation for the dry is Hell of a lot faster. Scoop, pour, done.

We are going on day 6 of this experiment of homecooked dinner. By day 3 both our Doberman (Harley) and River were dancing with anticipation when the mixing bowl came out to mix together all the precooked ingredients. Its too soon to tell a difference if any health benefits, but their happiness & excitement to ditch the dry food is obvious. It makes the added craziness of cooking for them worth it. Harley has never been too excited about food. She was always a take it or leave it type. Not even with snacks. Its made it hard to keep her at a good weight and with Dobies that is hard enough with their builds. But with this new cooking method she has really gotten excited about her meals.

The first day of prep was crazy and stressful and the mess after was huge. I imagine with small dogs this would be easier because the portion size is different. But by day 6, I am loving it for them. I’m going to keep track and pay attention of their progress to make sure it is really is benefiting them. Over all, I am pretty happy with it.