Hey Everyone... I just recently found this forum & I'm hoping maybe someone out there might be able to give me some advice & answer some questions I have about cooking food for my dog Josie
I adopted my dog Josie 6 years ago. She's a pit / sharpei mix who's currently 8 years old. About 3 years ago she started to get allergies. After years of being unsuccessful with 2 different vets I recently brought her to see a dermatologist when things flared up really bad. It's hard to believe but less than a month into treatment & she's almost 100% back to normal.
Just before I went to see the dermatologist I noticed her eating slowed down. I wasn't too worried at first because Josie always seemed to self regulate her eating. Sometimes she would eat everything. sometimes a little, sometimes nothing. This was normal & her weight was never an issue. I became a little concerned when I started giving her the meds & noticed she still wasn't eating. She also showed a little weight loss, nothing major but she was down a couple lbs. I spoke to the dermatologist & she doesn't believe the allergies are food related so I decided to try making food for her to see if I could get her to eat. It seems to be working & she's now eating the entire bowl every time I feed her.
I started off making her boiled skinless chicken breasts (no seasoning) & brown rice. I use boil in bag rice & add no sodium beef broth to the water it's boiled in for taste. I did some research to find out what vegetables, fruits, vitamins, etc I should be adding to the meal. I started to add boiled pureed carrots to the mix as well as some salmon oil. A week or so ago I went out & purchased a couple different Gerber organic baby foods so I could try some vegetables & fruits with Josie's food to see what she likes. I picked up green bean, sweet potato & a blend of banana, strawberry & apple. I mixed equal parts of all those with the carrot puree & I'm adding 3 heaping tablespoons of that mixture to her food. I was also thinking of adding yogurt (with at least 7 live cultures I think I read on here) to that mix. I just started to add 1 hardboiled egg with eggshell per week to her food. I'm also doing some research into adding a multi vitamin to the mix.
Here's where I finally get to all my questions....
- Should I be baking the chicken instead of boiling it?
- How much of my baby food vegetable & fruit mixture should be adding to the mix? I currently add 2-3 heaping tablespoons.
- Should I not be adding the fruit in every time?
- Am I wasting my time with baby food or cooking vegetables & should I just start pureeing raw vegetables instead? If I do go that route any recommendations on how much I should be adding to the food?
- Should I include yogurt in all of Josie's meals. If so is 1 tablespoon enough or too much?
- Should I be adding more than 1 hardboiled egg per week to her diet?
I'd love to hear what you folks have to say. If you have any suggestions or ideas you want to share I'm all ears. Now that I'm making dog food I just want to be sure Josie is getting what she needs.
Thanks!!!
Mike
I adopted my dog Josie 6 years ago. She's a pit / sharpei mix who's currently 8 years old. About 3 years ago she started to get allergies. After years of being unsuccessful with 2 different vets I recently brought her to see a dermatologist when things flared up really bad. It's hard to believe but less than a month into treatment & she's almost 100% back to normal.
Just before I went to see the dermatologist I noticed her eating slowed down. I wasn't too worried at first because Josie always seemed to self regulate her eating. Sometimes she would eat everything. sometimes a little, sometimes nothing. This was normal & her weight was never an issue. I became a little concerned when I started giving her the meds & noticed she still wasn't eating. She also showed a little weight loss, nothing major but she was down a couple lbs. I spoke to the dermatologist & she doesn't believe the allergies are food related so I decided to try making food for her to see if I could get her to eat. It seems to be working & she's now eating the entire bowl every time I feed her.
I started off making her boiled skinless chicken breasts (no seasoning) & brown rice. I use boil in bag rice & add no sodium beef broth to the water it's boiled in for taste. I did some research to find out what vegetables, fruits, vitamins, etc I should be adding to the meal. I started to add boiled pureed carrots to the mix as well as some salmon oil. A week or so ago I went out & purchased a couple different Gerber organic baby foods so I could try some vegetables & fruits with Josie's food to see what she likes. I picked up green bean, sweet potato & a blend of banana, strawberry & apple. I mixed equal parts of all those with the carrot puree & I'm adding 3 heaping tablespoons of that mixture to her food. I was also thinking of adding yogurt (with at least 7 live cultures I think I read on here) to that mix. I just started to add 1 hardboiled egg with eggshell per week to her food. I'm also doing some research into adding a multi vitamin to the mix.
Here's where I finally get to all my questions....
- Should I be baking the chicken instead of boiling it?
- How much of my baby food vegetable & fruit mixture should be adding to the mix? I currently add 2-3 heaping tablespoons.
- Should I not be adding the fruit in every time?
- Am I wasting my time with baby food or cooking vegetables & should I just start pureeing raw vegetables instead? If I do go that route any recommendations on how much I should be adding to the food?
- Should I include yogurt in all of Josie's meals. If so is 1 tablespoon enough or too much?
- Should I be adding more than 1 hardboiled egg per week to her diet?
I'd love to hear what you folks have to say. If you have any suggestions or ideas you want to share I'm all ears. Now that I'm making dog food I just want to be sure Josie is getting what she needs.
Thanks!!!
Mike
