Since the recent dog food scare I have been feeding my Papillon homemade dog food.

This consist of basically the same food we eat.

..Rice( wheat )

..meat or fish or chicken

..Veggies, all kinds except corn. She doesn't do well with corn for some reason

..Fruit

As we do in our house, every night is good home cooking. I give her an egg in the morning once in awhile. Since I have been feeding her this diet, she has more energy, looks better and seems happier.

With the present dog food scandal I have started making my own dog food using:

6 Cups White Rice

4 Cups Mixed Veg.

8 Cups Lean Ground Beef

1 Multivitamine

She eats 2 Cups of this mixture a day.

She also gets Milk Bone cookies as snacks.

On the television news I keep hearing that you have to be very carefull that your dog gets all the nutrients it needs.

This mixture is fairly easy to make as is but I wonder if anyone can give me any tips on improving her food.

P.S. These ingredients are the same foods I eat.

I don't currently own a dog but have always been "owned" by either a cat or a dog. I decided many years ago that there was absolutely NO excuse for feeding any animal that canned food that smells just awful when you open it. My current pet cat, Kitsumi, eats her kitty kibble (and I don't mean the prescription variety recently in the news) and Gerber baby food chicken with an occasional treat of tuna plus the usual cat treats commercially available.

Since most pet owners consider their "friends" as a part of their family, isn't it worth the extra cost to be sure they are not eating tainted food. If you can not afford to feed a pet properly then I am not hesitant to say....you shouldn't own one!

Quinoa amaranth and flax seed cooked til tender. Steak, bison, or tilapia cooked medium rare and veggies like chopped up cooked til tender enough. Kale, peas, lentils, turnip greens carrots. No oils or occasionally cooked with a little drop of olive oil or coconut oil a dash of squeezed lemon juice or apple cider vinager to the veggies and meat while cooking. Never feed food hot; cool or room temp is best. Stay away from onion and grape products of all kinds to much calcium or too many bones might cause kidney stones. garlic very little very rarely or not at all if pet is prone to indigestion or acid tummy. My dog hates sweet potatoes and potatoes but will eat pasta or brown rice on occasion. A bit of activia yogurt or pinapple cottage cheese  occ. treat. If on mthly. worm preventative.

   At Sea World, why do they feed fish to Shamu the killer whale and to the dolphins...? Because it's their NATURAL DIET...!

  People still don't get it....dogs & cats need to eat a diet that mimic what they would eat in the wild...PERIOD...END OF STORY!!!
  
   If your vet or anyone else says something different, RUN, don't walk away from them.
   Dogs & cats are carnivores, plain & simple...THEY NEED MEAT!!!
   If your vet or anyone else says something different, RUN, don't walk away from them.
   Dogs & cats are carnivores, plain & simple...THEY NEED MEAT!!!

   Cats are OBLIGATE CARNIVORES, meaning they need meat to survive. The don't EVEN have the enzymes & amino acids in their bodies to digest or convert carbohydrates to energy (they get 100% of their energy from MEAT!!!), so anything but meat in their diet is not only useless but detrimental to their health!!!

   The dog family is a group of intelligent, carnivorous mammals that includes domestic dogs and their relatives, coyotes, wolves, foxes, jackals, dholes, raccoon dogs, and bush dogs.
   They're known scientifically as Canidae, and its members are commonly called canids.
   When's the last time you saw any of the above on the Animal or National Geographic channel ignore mice, deer, antelope, moose, zebra, wildebeest, etc. and run across the Serengeti for kibble, corn, wheat or soybean in the farmer's field???.

   If they did that, they'd die....yet those are the main ingredients in many of the pet foods sold at grocery/chain stores!!!
 
   Cats & dogs have been around in one form or another for 55 million years eating nothing but meat, and now pets are dying because owners are buying crap (dangerous) food from grocery & chain stores which will eventually kill their pets...!

   It's only been in the last 20 years that our animal companions have been dying by the truck-load from kidney failure & urinary problems...THAT COULD BE AVOIDED BY A NATURAL DIET or a diet that mimics one!!!

   I was told by a vet years ago that dry food (not wet) was the best for their teeth and health in general, with Science Diet & Iams being good choices.
   After a couple of minutes of research, I've found out that NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!
   I lost two animal companions from cancer & kidney failure feeding them that crap!!!

   Feeding dry food will eventually kill your pets from kidney failure, because they're ALWAYS dehydrated. In the wild, canines & felines get 70%-80% of their water requirement from the kill...!
   They have to drink up to 6X their usual water needs to make up for not eating a wet food diet if they're being fed dry food because of the ignorance or laziness of their owners...!  
   ABSOLUTELY NO GRAIN should be in their food...corn is almost always present in grocery store or chain stores because it's so cheap. Pets are usually HIGHLY allergic to it & it's HIGHLY indigestible (like in humans...look in the toilet bowl the day after you've had some!!!).

   Dry pet food and the following ingredients should be AVOIDED at ALL COSTS: corn, corn meal, corn gluten, soy products, wheat products, chicken by-products, rice, meat meal, dry egg product, un-natural & potentially carcinegous preservatives such as BHT/BHA & ethoxyquin (the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture for toxicology information lists ethoxyquin in their Farm Chemical Hand-Book as a PESTICIDE, in the same group as Agent Orange!!!)

   Unfortunately, most dog food (especially dry) has between 50% - 65% carbohydrates... these vegetables & grains are only cheap fillers with good marketing being used by pet food cos. because they're so cheap compared to much more expensive meats!!!).
   Don't fall for cos. or vets saying that vegetables & rice are good for dogs because they're digestible....they're just CHEAP fillers taking the place of more expensive meat!!!

   I feed my animal companions some raw ground-up beef & chicken (ALL HUMAN GRADE).
   I also give them 1/3 of a can of INNOVA EVO daily, which is the best cat & dog food out there next to raw. It's cost-efficient as pets will eat less because it's full of nutrients with NO fillers and they also have less and smaller stools.
   It's 100% grain-free, almost carbohydrate-free, high protein and doesn't contain any of the harmful ingedients (listed above) that are present in grocery/chain store pet food (www.naturapet.com). It also contains the vitamins & amino acids needed.

   My animal companions have never looked or felt better, they're NEVER sick and they've never, ever had to go to a vet except for one vaccination when they were born (stay away from vets that want to over-vaccinate your pets. They don't need it & studies are now coming out saying that it could kill your pet ...!!!).

   Even my vet sells pet food such as Science Diet & Dr. Hills Prescription that contain most of the ingredients I listed above that are potentially detrimental to the health of cats & dogs.

   I couldn't believe a so-called prescription pet food containing corn products, chicken by-products and BHT/BHA...!!!
  
   It's not only the poisons that are recently showing up that are KILLING our animal companions....it's the cheap, non-human grade ingredients that are present in grocery/chain stores that are incredibly harmful to our pets and will eventually make then suffer terribly...!!!

   THE BEST ADVICE...BUY WET FOOD & READ THE LABELS...!!!

   SHAME ON YOU IF YOU'RE BUYING PET FOOD AT A GROCERY/CHAIN STORE!!!

   YOU WOULDN'T FEED YOUR CHILDREN NON HUMAN-GRADE FOOD, WOULD YOU???

   EDUCATE YOURSELF & SPREAD THE WORD, PEOPLE...YOU'D DO IT FOR YOUR CHILDREN, WOULDN'T YOU...???:

http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html
http://www.blakkatz.com/dryfood.html
http://www.homevet.com/petcare/feedingyourcat.html

When you state "human grade" ground meat and chicken, I can only assume you are utilizing ORGANIC goods from a highly reputable source!

I HAVE 5 LITTLE DOGS ALL WEIGHING TOGETHER ABOUT 20 POUNDS.  EVEN THOUGH I HAVE ALWAYS FED THEM THE BEST ORGANIC DOG FOOD, PURE WATER, ETC, MY ONE YORKIE WAS DIAGNOSED LAST WEEK WITH KIDNEY FAILURE.  THE VET GAVE ME A DRY PRESCRIPTION DOG FOOD FOR HER. BUT I FEEL THAT NO LIVING THING COULD EVER RECOVER FROM ANYTHING HIGHLY PROCESSED.  SO, I GOT REALLY GOOD RECIPES ON THE DOG KIDNEY HEALTH WEBSITES, I HAVE BEEN MAKING EVERYTHING FROM FRESH, IF POSSIBLE THIS TIME OF YEAR, ORGANIC PEOPLE FOODS, DOING SOME DETOXING WITH HER, AND SOME OTHER THERAPIES.  IN ONE WEEK OF DOING THIS, SHE SEEMS MUCH IMPROVED AND IS ROMPING WITH HER PACK AGAIN.  I AM NOW CONVINCED THAT I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO ANYTHING BUT HOME MADE ORGANICS FOR MY DARLING FURBABIES. I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG SHE WILL HAVE WITH THE KIDNEY THING, BUT MY NEW HOLISTIC VET IS VERY OPTIMISTIC AND SO AM I.