Homemade Dog Food

Warning: this recipe isn't for everyone. It's only recommended for the sweetest-smartest-best dogs in the whole world. Only the ones that deserve nothing but the best!

Of course I'm exaggerating - a bit. I developed this recipe out of sheer frustration, you see, without getting too descriptive - my dogs have, ah shall we say - very sensitive stomachs. So finally after about 2 1/2 years of trying dog food after dog food, everything sort of, ah - irritated them.

The first few times I served this to them - I had to retrain them not to jump on me or the counter to get to it! A big change in dogs that would sometimes skip 3 or 4 meals in a row.

Through an excruciating process of elimination experiment (and of course some world class googling)we discovered that they are grain-sensitive. Most dog foods contain some source of grain because it is a cheap filler and bonds the dry food together. Unfortunately grain - one of the major ingredients in dog food has no nutritional value for dogs, and is never eaten by wolves in the wild.

There are a few grain-free options available through the larger petstores, Wellness Core Ocean is the one we chose to supplement our doggie-casserole. It's a great option - they love the taste, and the fatty white-fish formula makes their coats oh-so-soft, they even shed less!

I make a large batch once a week - it all goes in a big stew pot, and simmers for a bit, it's that easy!

6lbs ground turkey (ground Chicken can also be used)
4lbs of sweet potatoes (most stores sell pre-cut and pre-skinned bagged versions)
4lbs of food processed carrots (I buy bagged, shredded)Food processing is a must - dogs cannot break down the cellulose in the veggies on their own.
1/4 cup soy sauce (for flavor!)

Throw the ground turkey and sweet potatoes in a large stew pot. Add 1/4 cup of low-sodium soy-sauce, enough hot water to fill about 1/2 of the pot and bring to a boil. Boil vigorously for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

After it has cooled, I divide the stew into 4 Ziploc containers and add equal parts of the processed carrots to each container. Not cooking the carrots allows them to retain all of the vitamins and benefits that are cooked out in commercial dog food.

My 50lb, very active dogs get about 1 scoop of casserole mixed with 1 cup of dry dog food (Wellness Core Ocean) 2 times a day each plus 1TBLSP of their vitamins - it's no secret that most of our food was grown in land that has long been stripped of it's nutrients by overfarming. This supplement assures me that they're getting all of the trace minerals and vitamins they need.