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Permalink Reply by Lindsey Corkern on July 5, 2012 at 2:24pm

So this post is about to show you just how neurotic I can be, but here goes!

When my corgi was a puppy, she developed an auto immune disease that affected her skin and muscles.  There is no effective treatment for it.  Long story short, I felt like I had no control over the situation and wanted to do something about it.  I came up with a healthy recipe that incorporated everything good for my dog's skin, muscles, and immune system.  Needless to say, her issue cleared up - could have been the food, could have been coincidence. I made this recipe, put in the blender, and then froze individual servings in a muffin pan.  Then popped them out, put them in a freezer bag, and froze the next batch.  This made 60 1/4 cup meals.  It lasted almost a month for us.

Here is the recipe:

1-2 plain, cooked chicken breasts chopped

1 cup cooked brown rice - no salt

1/4 cup Plain, nonfat organic yogurt

1 lb green beans (sauteed in chkn broth first)

1 large sweet potato (also sauteed in chkn broth first)

2 large carrots (sauteed)

1 apple, cored and chopped

1/2 cup chkn broth (low fat, low sodium)

2/3 cup dry kibble

2 tbsp flaxseed oil

1 tbsp vitamin E oil

My dog is 2 years old now and still really loves all the ingredients in this food.  I still make this recipe - maybe once a year now.  I freeze it in ice cube trays instead of muffin tins and then put them in Kongs for a yummy treat.  My vet said that it sounded like a great way to give my dog concentrated amounts of the good stuff they need with little of what they don't need - salt, fat and preservatives.  My vet also said I was a little crazy which I'll admit to :) Hope you find this helpful.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on July 5, 2012 at 10:48pm

love the idea of freezing the food in ice cube trays! I may try this as a health snack. I think the main thing about this recipe is that you do include kibble which will help balance the diet. If you don't want to add any kibble and want just home cooked a good idea would be to look into something like this:

https://secure.balanceit.com/

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on July 6, 2012 at 8:43am

I haven't tried this yet but I picked up a sample of SOJOS (grainfree-fruit and veggie mix) You add meat to it. I have not read anything other than the package and have not looked it up but you could check this out.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on July 6, 2012 at 12:12pm

Honest Kitchen also makes a dehydrated meal that you add meat to. It is pretty cheap (something like $25-$30) and includes the "balanced" portion of the diet and you just add in whatever meat you want. It sounds similar to the SOJOS idea.

The only big DON'T I can recommend is just making your own recipe and calling it good. Many homemade diets are lacking in essential nutrients and can lead to health problems if fed long term. Even nutritionists who are proponents of raw diets agree that a poorly made raw or cooked diet is the worst thing you can feed your dog. Ask your vet if they have any recipe books for homemade diets. My vet has an excellent homemade cookbook with lots of good, balanced recipe ideas, or you can ask your closest veterinary teaching hospital to formulate a diet just for your pet. This is a case where the internet can do some major harm to your dog's health if you just take joe shmoes advice on the best homemade diet. I've seen diets posted as being nutritionally balanced that were basically chicken, rice, and some veggies.....this is NOT a balanced diet. Involve your vet or a veterinary nutritionist in your decision so you know you are doing what is best for your dog.

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