Home made Natural Dog Food with Bone Broth Tips and Recipes

 

I was making Ruby and Pearl their food this morning, so I thought I'd share what I use and how I make it.  This recipe uses bone broth, but I have made many batches of this food with no meat.  Or I use ground turkey at times.  This batch is a full crockpot and will last for about 3 days, feeding 2 dogs, 2 times a day.  Sometimes Lily the kitty will eat some too.  But the cats like the bone broth by itself.

 

First step is to make the bone broth.  I make a big batch whenever we have any bones around.  I don't eat much meat, but Mike does, so I try to use the bones so nothing goes to waste.  This batch was a whole chicken with most of the meat taken off.  I stick it in a crock pot and fill it with water and about 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar.  I use Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar with the mother in it!  The apple cider helps to bring out all the calcium and minerals in the bones.  I use the high setting for 30 minutes or so.  Then I change it to low heat and let it simmer for anywhere between 12 and 24 hours.  By the time it is done, you can actually squish the bones in your fingers.  And then the bones are edible for the dogs.  Chicken bones are the only thing that does this easily.  If you use beef, the bones have to be taken out of the broth.  Please do not feed chicken bones to dogs without cooking them until they are smushy.  Chicken bones can lodge in their throats or splinter and cut the dogs stomach.  This can kill a dog, so please make sure these bones are completely disintegrated before feeding to your dog.  Check every single one.  If you are not sure, discard bones and just use the broth for flavoring the dog food.

 

One of the bones after simmering for 12 or more hours.



The same bones squished in my fingers.
 That's how you know it's ready.

I will do another blog on the benefits of bone broth for humans as well as animals, but for right now...  We'll stick to the dogs.

Chicken Bone Broth

After the bone broth is done, I take about 2/3rds of the broth out and put it in containers to freeze for later batches.

Ready for the freezer to make food later.

The next step is to go out and pick my vegetables, herbs and whatever else is going to go in the mix.  This is July, so I'm using what's available to me now.  I have an abundance of yellow beans right now, so I'll use lots of those.  Ruby will even eat these raw if I break them up into small pieces for her.  These get chopped up and added to the pot.

Yellow Wax Beans

Next is Amaranth.  Amaranth volunteers itself in my garden now.  I haven't had to plant it for years.  The leaves are great to add to stir fries and soups.  You can also eat the seeds.  And the plants are beautiful in the garden.

Red Amaranth

Dandelion is very important here.  I use every part of the dandelion.  Flowers, leaves, stems, roots.  They have such great benefits.  Great for the liver.  Today I'm just using the leaves.

Dandelion

Squash flowers.  I have an abundance of these pretty little edible delicacies right now.  Nothing is too good for Ruby & Pearl! 

Squash Blossoms

Turnip greens.  I grow turnips for the greens.  I love the roots too, but the greens are highly nutritious, and they keep growing as long as you keep the root in the ground.  Last year, I left them in the ground all winter and I had turnips for the dogs food until spring when I wanted to replant that area.  They stay just fine under the snow until you dig them up.  And in early spring, the greens just start growing again right out of the root.

Turnip Greens

Next is the basil.  Dogs seem to love the flavor of basil, anise and fennel, which are all a little bit licorice like flavors.  I nip off the tops for cooking throughout the summer.  This keeps them from going to seed, which will stop the leaves from growing.  It makes the plants nice and bushy too.  I grow lemon basil too to dry for tea, but the dogs do not like the lemony flavor as much.

Genovese Basil

I also add some turmeric, a few cloves of garlic, wild rice, some steel cut oats, and water to cover.  Mix it up a bit and turn the crock pot on low.  If you don't have a crock pot, just use a stock pot and simmer until rice is tender.  Everything else should be cooked by that time.  Usually I leave it on while I'm at the shop and it's ready for dinner time.  Let it cool down.  Dogs cannot handle hot food.

Everything in the crock pot!

 Ingredients and cooking time will be different depending on how much is in the pot, what ingredients you use, and the size of the vessel.  Just make it like you would a thick soup or stew. 

 

Each time I make the dog's food, I use different ingredients.  Sometimes I clean out the fridge or freezer and use those things in the food.  The more variations you use, the better your chance that the dogs will get all the vitamins and minerals they need.  In the fall, I'll use lots of apples and other stuff from the garden.  There are a few things to steer clear of when making your dog's food.  Here is a list of the things to never give your dog because it will make them sick or worse.

Spicy ingredients

Grapes and raisins

Chocolate

Bones

Avocados

Nuts

Onions

Sugar or any sweetener

Salt

Citrus

Coconut products

Coffee

Apple seeds

Yeast dough and bread

I'm also adding Dairy to this list because it can cause allergic stomach upsets because of the lactose. 

 

Here is a list of items I didn't already use today, but that are safe for dogs and I use them in food regularly. 

 

Carrots, potatoes, blueberries, beets, all greens, corn, ground turkey, wild or brown rice, chick peas and beans, barley, tomatoes, eggs, squash of any kind, oregano, thyme, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, anise seeds.  This is not an exhaustive list, but it will give you some ideas. 

 

I do keep dry dog food on hand if I'm away doing a craft show, or if I get busy and don't have time to make food.  But I always buy a high quality holistic food that is grain free.  Rule of thumb, if it's from the grocery store, it probably isn't good quality.  A pet store, tractor supply or a feed store usually carries better dog food brands.  But read the label!  If you see corn, wheat or soy in any form in the ingredients list, do not buy it!  These things cause skin allergies, are indigestible and are loaded with pesticides!

Ruby having the first bowl.  Pearl was camera shy this morning!  Ruby is 14 years old.  Look how shiny her coat is! It's from eating this healthy stuff!

 As with any of my posts, if you have questions, please leave it in the comments and I'll try to answer as soon as I can.

 

Thank you for reading.  I hope you enjoyed my post today.  Have a wonderful day!