Homemade Pet Foods

[Old Fashioned]

Yes, I know they can eat alot of things we can't or won't and I have given some pretty rough stuff, but had never considered moldy foods. Sam had done something similar, by digging up the chicken feathers & carcasses I had buried out there

[patriceinil]

Just be careful feeding anything that hasn’t been cooked and started rotting. A guy on another site lost his LGD last year when it dug up and ate the leftover scraps from a deer that was processed. The camp next door dumped the scraps and the dog died after eating the rotting remains.

[Farmfresh]

Most everything has been cooked unless it is a freezer burnt hunk of something.

I am of the opinion that animals will not eat poisonous food unless they are very hungry. Cattle, horses, sheep, dogs and other animals WILL eat bad stuff if they have little else to eat. The cow that ran out of grass will eat the hemlock. The LGD that is underfed or lacking protein in his diet WILL eat a too rotten deer. Baby animals are the ones that you have to watch more because they haven't figured things out yet and tend to take a bite of this or that and sometimes that bite is enough to poison them.

Our dogs have free choice dry dog food in their dish at all times. So I know they are not hungry. If they choose to eat beef stew with a fuzz layer on top, then I trust their judgement.

A last thing I want to say about LGD is that too many people underfeed them. Sometimes they put out food and the sheep or goats that they are supposed to be guarding eat the food instead of the dog. Greg Judy has a lot to say about that subject and why he feeds his LGD the way he does. You also hear stories of the LGD that "turns on the sheep". Same deal there often. Hungry dog or dog defending his food bowl. LGD's are remarkable valuable animals and they are tough. They lead hard lives compared to most dogs. It takes a really hard working and aware dog owner to make that life as easy as possible for them. Without that those dogs often lead difficult and even lonely lives.

[patriceinil]

Unfortunately his LGD was still a puppy and I think lacked adequate supervision when she wandered off and ate the deer guts that killed her.

[Old Fashioned]

This is what I've done so far with that whole turkey........


Cut the meatiest pieces from the carcass, like the breasts, thigh meat and shoulder part of the wings that connect to the body (in the silver bowl) I'm using part of one breast for tonights supper along with the gravy packet. The rest will be raw packed and canned for us.......the pan in the back has the skin and fat to render for cooking and the resulting crispies for dog treats.......there wasn't much of the giblets so that will be cooked separately and will be the dogs 'after supper snack'

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In the big pot is the bones/carcass that still has alot of meat, including on the drumsticks that I hate having to deal with especially raw because of the pin bones. Once it's cooked for awhile and met is done, I'll pull it out to cool, then get to picking the meat. I also tossed in some saved chicken bones & carcasses from the freezer, some are raw and some from picking thru our leftovers. All the meat pickings will become dog food, bones will get tossed and the broth will be canned for us.........here's also the skin & fat cooking as well as the giblets. That broth will be poured on their food tonight.

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This is my dog food cabinet. Each shelf holds 21 quarts and to keep it rotated, I always grab from the top right shelf (right to left) that is the oldest and bottom shelf has the newest. Periodically as it empties, I'll move the jars up and over to keep the same system going.......which I will need to do that once the turkey is done to make room for it. In there is mostly chicken or pork and a few beef all mixed with fruits & veggies and NO carbs/grains or starches just because their dry kibble has way too much already.

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Even with that cabinet filled I am shifting my focus to keep it filled by only using from it as a last resort if possible. I go to the stores often enough to usually find something cheap to add to their food for a few days at a time and/or from our leftovers that I can't or won't use for us. I can usually find a pkg of hot dogs that I'll cut up and stir in their kibble and that lasts 2 days.....if I can keep #2 from eating them first. Or I'll grab a pkg of liverwurst that can go for 2 or 3 days. Or sometimes I can find either beef or chicken livers, or a piece of beef heart cheap that I'll cook and add. Doing that, keeps me from using the cabinet food so that it's there if/WHEN the dry kibble isn't available anymore IYKWIM.........of course there are times when I can't find those cheap proteins to use and have to use the canned and that's when I'm glad it's there.


Of course if we ran out of dry kibble and couldn't get anymore, then I'd have to rely on the cabinet and our leftovers for their only source of food, it would also include a carb/grain/starch and maybe some egg (most of the rest is already in the jars)........and IF we ran out of that too....then I'll be cooking for 5 instead of 3 on a daily basis until that was gone too and I had to change my name to Old Mother Hubbard. Hopefully, I'd be able to figure out another solution to keep us all fed long before that happened.



Also another option I have been rolling around is to make a 'baked cookie' to feed them. It would include most of their protein, carb/grain, fruit/veg components baked into a cookie form that you feed them one of those for their meal and could be shelf stable and take up less space. Only component missing is animal fat......which could be added at time of feeding if you have any rendered meat fat, like bacon grease, or chicken or turkey fat. Not alot is needed, maybe 1 or 2 Tablespoons would do the trick, depending on size of the dog.

[Farmfresh]

Very organized and nice. My dogs are not so lucky.

[patriceinil]

Wow OF, you really have things figured out for feeding the dogs long term. I’m just cooking for Percy for several days at a time and now working on a week at a time to cut back on the workload.

[Old Fashioned]

Farm.......your dogs are very well cared for and as you've said before, they do get lots of leftovers and whatnot, so IMO they are just as "lucky". Although I do think you spoil your sheep just a bit


Patrice......the stuff canned will be more for emergencies or backup. I have been and will be doing more like you are doing now for their day to day meals.....when and if I can find cheap meat I'll cook it along with veggies to provide their topper to their dry food. Depending on how much I can get at any time, that may do for a day or a week. Last time at my store, when I complained about the rising prices I did find 4 pkgs of ground pork in the markdown for less than $1 each (the rest of the markdowns were more than I was willing to pay. $3.99lb is my limit for beef) I cooked up the ground pork and added veggies and put it in the fridge and have been feeding from that for several days.



At the moment, the boys have a total of 5 bags (44 or 48lbs each) of the Purina Dog Chow, plus the remainder of open bags that may total about half of a big bag so 22-24lbs. The dogs go thru 1 bag EACH in about 4 to 6 weeks, so that's nearly 3 months of dry food. Plus I have picked up another 3 or 4 bags (different brands and sizes, but still large bags) that I've found on markdown/clearance that I keep on hand in case of emergency that would feed them both for another month or two.


Then there's the cat that will only eat the dry kibble, I have 2 big bags of unopened food stashed for her, about 20lbs each I think (biggest bag of cat food I can find). Plus a big tub that holds 1 or more bags, that I feed her from.....when the tub is empty, I open another bag and dump it in. All of it should feed her for 4 to 6 months, maybe longer. IDK, I haven't really tracked her food consumption, I just know 1 bag lasts her a long time. She usually gets Purina One 'Tender Selects Blend" chicken, though I also have a bag of IAM's chicken to mix with the other. She gets a little better quality of food, just because she's so picky and I can't improve it any with real food, like I can for the dogs.

[Farmfresh]

My mom (the crazy lady) always said that she kept a fresh 50# bag of Purina Dog Chow as HER emergency rations. She would say, "in a pinch with a little warm water on top, it should fulfill all of our nutrient requirements and 50# could hold us a while at least."

[Old Fashioned]

My mom (the crazy lady) always said that she kept a fresh 50# bag of Purina Dog Chow as HER emergency rations. She would say, "in a pinch with a little warm water on top, it should fulfill all of our nutrient requirements and 50# could hold us a while at least."

For the dogs??? Or the people??????? Hopefully she meant the dogs, cause eeeeewwww