Brinkley has been on a homemade dog food diet for about eight weeks. I figured I would give an update on how it's been going because the dog food posts are some of the most viewed by visitors.
I've tried four or five different recipes to create the bulk of his food. The easiest and cheapest recipe is chicken based. Chicken seems to be cheaper per pound in my neck of the woods, which works out well for Brink because he loves his chicken.
Chicken Homemade Dog Food Recipe
4 large chicken breasts
2.5 cups white rice (about 5 cups cooked)
3 large crowns of broccoli
1 bag of baby carrots or the equivalent in green beans
1 can of pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
I cook the chicken in a crock pot all day long with about 1/2 cup water. When I get home, I steam the rice. And then I steam the veggies. I mash the veggies once they are all steamed so that his system has a better chance of sucking out any nutrients from the veggies. Once everything is cooked/steamed/mashed, I mix everything together with the can of pumpkin.
I separate his food into 2 cup servings. Depending on how much the veggies mush down, the recipe makes about 20-24 cups, to make 10-12 servings, which translates to 5-6 days worth of food for Mr. Miles. This recipe fills the biggest bowl that I own so I can't really double or triple it very easily without having to dirty every dish in the house. If I find a commercial size tub for mixing or something similar, I will make bigger batches so I can stock the freezer too.
I've also made the same recipe with 3-5lbs of beef or turkey in place of the shredded chicken. Two things I've noticed about the beef and turkey is that it makes it seem like he's getting mostly rice and I don't think it satisfies him for very long. The shredded chicken seems to be Brink's favorite.
I've also used quinoa in place of rice and sweet potato in place of pumpkin or veggies. I did make a batch of beef mixture with brown rice and that turned out to be a big flop because not only was it mostly rice but it turned out Brink's system doesn't break down and process brown rice. Whole rice would come out the other end, which made for a very disgusting week of picking up dog poop.
Brinkley seems pretty content with his menu. He's enjoyed snacks of string cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, and hard boiled eggs. He has definitely lost some weight. I don't have to press into his skin in order to feel his ribs. He has a bit of an hour glass shape around the hips now. According to charts like the one below, Brinkley looks normal to me. I haven't weighed him recently but I bet he's lost 5-10lbs.
Now that he's lost some weight, he gets consistent afternoon snacks, or mini-meals. I'd say he's getting between 900-1100 calories a day. He also gets his Glycoflex III tablet in the morning. And he also gets a multi-vitamin with each 2 cup meal. He gobbles them right up.
The effects of the homemade diet have been very noticeable to Brent and I. Brinkley's consistent ear infection/brown smelly crud has become
almost non-existent. He had one small flair up during the first month and one recent flair up. This usually happens as a result of too much regular kibble in his treat soccer ball or some other treat food. These two flair-ups were only in one ear and were
very minor compared to his constant nastiness that we fought endlessly when he was on a kibble diet. He doesn't scratch his ears nearly as much as he used to and his ears don't smell any more!!
I know I mentioned the effects of the Gycloflex before but I think the real food diet has helped with his fluidity and energy level just as much as the Glycoflex. Brent thinks Brink is more energetic and alert than he used to be. He doesn't really favor his hind leg hardly at all and he's got a bit of pep in his step that wasn't there before.
If I remember to, I'll try to stop at the Vet's office this upcoming weekend to weigh Brink. I want to ask about getting some blood work done to see if anything is out of whack with the new diet. In all of the reading I've been doing, it seems to be mentioned frequently as a good idea to make sure the homemade diet is properly balanced and not negatively impacting something over the long term.
I also have a whole stack of recipes to try so Brink's diet can be a bit more diverse than the few variations I've come up with so far. Even though it takes some work, I think the switch was well worth it. I'll report on whatever the Vet has to say the next time we see her!
