Our Dog Food Recipe

Hey all!  Jasper here!  So a while back my mom saw a movie called Pet Fooled and freaked out because a lot of conventional dog food apparently isn't very good for me and my canine pals.  Honestly I don't really care what the reason was, all I know is she started cooking food for me and it is AWESOME.  Here's what she does:
She buys this stuff at Trader Joe's:
  • 1/2 pound of organic carrots
  • 2 small organic potatoes
  • 2 small organic sweet potatoes
  • 1 package of organic peas (she uses half)
  • 1 package of organic blueberries (she uses half of this too)
Sometimes she cuts all those veggies up and sometimes she uses a food processor - honestly it seems like they take the same amount of time so it's a toss up.
Then she adds 3 pounds of meat - it tends to be ground turkey and chicken thighs but sometimes it's ground beef and once it was fish (the house stunk after that one) - I don't really care which ones it is - I like them all!
Then she throws the ground turkey (she used 2 pounds in this recipe) along with all the stuff she cut up + those peas and blueberries into a pot.  She tried it in a crock pot but a regular pot seemed to work fine and take way less time.  
Then she gets fancy water from some huge silver thing she spent a million dollars on (Berkey) and covers the stuff in the pot with water.  She stirs it too - sometimes with her hands which looks fun but she never lets me do it.  
Next she brings it to a boil and then lets it simmer until the meat is cooked and the potatoes are soft which takes about an hour.
The other pound of meat in this batch was chicken thighs and if she's using those she's decided that it's easier to just put them in the oven and cook them that way (35 minutes at 350).  Then she cuts it up and adds it to everything else once it's in there.
Delish!!  She tends to put it in some Pyrex to help it cool down which drives me NUTS!  Just feed me already!
Then she puts in these little containers (she seems to be buying a lot of Burrata from Trader Joe's as that's what these all are) and then she sticks them in the freezer and pulls them down as she needs to.
Because she wants me to chew hard food she does half and half - her food + food from Pet Wants.  She adds some other stuff to it too - Mad About Organics Oral Care Food Additive for my pearly whites and Pet Cake Supplement from Abaco Neem (she went to the farm!) which is good for gross stuff like worms.
It's the best!  One batch makes her about 3 week's worth of food.  Get into it - I woof this stuff down (see what I did there?) in no time flat - your dog will love it!  And it's apparently way cheaper than buying it from the services who make it for you so that just means more money for toys for me so I'm here for it.
Always talk to your vet if you're thinking of changing up your pet's diet because apparently that's important.  

2 comments


  • Erin's Faces

    I love that Ann!! I’ve only been doing it for the last few years but it really isn’t hard and it lasts for so long. I’ll look that book up – thank you! That’s a good resource as it’s hard to know where to start :)!


  • Ann Arvia

    I’ve been cooking for Lola for about 5 years or so. There’s some great recipes in “Feed Your Best Friend Better” by Rick Woodford. Lola used to get ear infections every 8-10 weeks; 1st thing the veterinary acupuncturist said was, “How do you feel about cooking for her?” Now she has maybe 1-2 a year usually in the humid days of summer. Such a turn around! Our lucky pups!


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