cooking my own food?

[emma-louise]

from my other thread you might know that im having a few probs with my little man that may be down to the food hes on im trying to find a good food to give him but theres some shocking food out there! (and a big thanks for pointing it out to me! i would of carried on feeding it as it was recomended buy the vets other wise!)

now im thinking about trying cooking all my own food for jack but i dont know where to start i know its not as simple as putting a chicken in the over and bang its done, so how can i make sure that im getting the right balance for jack? really im just begging for a recipe to try for him

does any one else cook all there own food? is it cheeper? easy? complicated??? etc
i dont really care about the cost or time as long as my little man is getting the best but a idea of what its going to take would be a great heads up

[Mattie]

I found this Yahoo group very good for helping me with Tommy's homecooked food http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePossibleCanine/ It is well worth joining just for the information in the files. I do have some saved things from when I was a member, if you pm me your email address I will send them to you.

[emmabeth]

Also consider raw food, or even a variety, some raw some cooked...

I think raw is easier to manage, but then i have a lot of storage which is a big thing with raw food (cheaper to buy in bulk if you can freeze a lot).

That said with one dog it shouldnt be a huge issue.

Raw suits many dogs very well and I do think its a little easier to get a good diet that way, but (as Mattie knows), raw wont suit every dog...so read up on both!

Just google 'barf dog food' and 'raw feeding' as well as home cooked dog food.

Theres plenty of books around as well and you might be able to request some at the library. Because i feed raw ive mostly used Ian Billingshursts books, mattie will know the cooked diet ones (i cant remember, sunday evening brain freeze)!

Em

[emma-louise]

wow!

theres so much info to take in! slowly getting there tho!
its def some thing i want to do now tho as the difference in jack now ive changed his food is so great i want to keep it going!!

thanks for the hints will let you know how i get on when i eventually get my headf round it all!!