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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on October 8, 2010 at 11:45am

I recommend asking your vet. They often have great books on home prepared diets. This is the one my vet uses:

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Prepared-Dog-Cat-Diets-Alternative/dp/08...

I say ask your vet because the GOOD books written by knowledgeable sources who aren't part of a fad and looking to just make a quick buck are VERY expensive. Your vet is usually willing to make copies of the pages of diets that would fit your dogs needs. Each health issue is addressed by a specific home made diet to help with that issue. Also, many teaching hospitals or bigger vets can send your dog's case to a nutritionist to have them put together a home cooked diet that is suitable. Many diets people feed these days (especially RAW) are not recommended by 9.5/10 vets and many other diets (like chicken and rice) aren't complete diets and don't provide all the minerals and nutrients needed. For something as important as your dogs health I wouldn't just do a google search I'd ask an expert. You can cause SERIOUS problems if you try to just throw something together on your own.

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Corkern on October 8, 2010 at 1:37pm

So my puppy has a genetic disorder called Dermatomyositis. It affects the skin mostly, sometimes the muscles in more serious cases. We are hoping she grows out of it (the vet told us its seems to be a mild case and growing out of the disease is likely, though she will always be a carrier). Remedies include vitamin E supplements and reduced exposure to direct sun. I went a step further and made some a little immune booster/skin conditioner food (I call it Mush) It took a total of 30 min to prepare, cook, and store a month's worth of food. Here is my recipe:

4 large carrots (vitamin C and E)
2 large sweet potatoes (vitamin C and flavor)
2 corn on the cobs (cooked with previous nights dinner, then scraped kernels off) (vitamin C and good for skin)
1 steam in the bag green beans (vitamin C)
1 cup cooked oatmeal (for skin)
1 tsp Flaxseed oil
1 cup puppy kibble
Low Sodium Chicken broth (however much you want)

Steamed green beans in bag (no seasonings). Sauteed chopped yam and carrots in chicken broth. Combined everything in blender (Due to quantity, made 3 batches in blender). Then poured in pancake size patties on cookie sheet and froze in freezer (again in batches), then packed in Ziplock bag and stored in freezer. Pulled out one each evening to thaw overnight in fridge for next day's meal. She ate one for dinner each day for two weeks, then one every other day for dinner. She loved it. It is a really good immune booster and has some good stuff to condition her skin from the inside out.

This method is WAY cheaper than any supplements I could have bought and very convenient for me. For a normal diet, I would have added brown rice instead of oatmeal and plain, cooked chicken pieces. For an every day diet, I would reduce number of carrots and omitted corn since too much vitamin C can give puppy the runs. I spent a total of $10 on all of these ingredients and 30 minutes of my time for a month's supply of meals.

For skin: I also blended 4 cups dry uncooked oatmeal (not the instant kind) and saved it in the pantry to mix in with her bath once in a while. This is the SAME thing as colloidal oatmeal and since I can control the amount I put in her bath, I think it works better. Blending it makes it powdery so it dissolves in the bath and goes down the drain nicely.

Have you tried the Blue Buffalo food? It really improved the condition of Leia's skin and coat. I checked online and with my vet before giving my puppy any of these "people foods" Normally, my dog does not eat a homemade diet, but since there is no real method of treating her disease, this gave me something to do that felt like I was contributing to helping her get well. I believe this mush along with the vitamin E and Blue Buffalo food has significantly improved her health and especially her skin. She loves the oatmeal baths too, and so do my hands!

Hope this helps, sorry you got the extended version of this reply!

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