Due to my peanut/nut allergy, I didn’t eat much processed food growing up. That taste for real food has grown into a love of creating healthy, wholesome meals for Garrett and I. A few months ago we started thinking about how we were so conscious of what we ate, but we never really thought about what our dog, Whiskey, was eating.
Since I adopted Whiskey in 2009, I’ve always bought him top-of-the-line gluten-free dry dog food, as recommended by the rescue he was from. After doing a little bit of research, I was surprised to read about how even some of the most reputable, expensive brands are still putting not-so-great ingredients into their food.
Since then, I’ve been making him homemade dog food for about 50% of his meals. It’s hard to beat the convenience of dry food when we’re on the road or visiting family and friends. I also think that there are some benefits to eating dry food for the health of his teeth and digestive tract.
Even if we can’t do it all the time, I feel better knowing that we’re giving him healthy whole foods as an alternative for some of his meals. He gets ridiculously excited as soon as he sees his stew being set down. How could you not want to cook for someone who appreciates it, right?
As with any diet changes, please consult your veterinarian before switching your dog’s food. Whiskey is only 11 lbs, so he doesn’t eat very much food, making this cost effective for us, but it may not be for everyone.
If I can buy the meat on sale, a batch will cost about $3 and lasts for 5-6 days. We feed him at breakfast and dinner, but usually leave him half a scoop of dry food in his bowl while we’re at work for a “snack”. He’ll usually graze on that between meals. We always leave him plenty of fresh water too!
I like to change up his stew all the time, depending on what fresh meat and produce we get, but here is a rough guide of what ratios I put into it. You can easily double/triple this for a larger batch.
