Raw Diet Recipe Guide 2014

My version of "Raw Food" (We try to keep protein at about 30%)
I have 50 lbs of dogs combined. 2% of their body weight per day is 1 lb per day of food (for the pack)

Here's a guide for one making food session:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken
1.5 lb organ meats (chicken livers; chicken gizzards, lamb veal or pork kidneys; lamb heart),
6 raw eggs
equal volume to the meat of shredded vegetables - generally a mixture of cooked sweet potato, brocolli, green beans, and or carrots or canned pumpkin (unsweetened). We like to add some frozen peas - they make the food look festive.
some fruit -   apple or a couple of bananas.

1 cup of flax seed ground
1/2 head garlic smashed
2 cups steel cut oats cooked

1 cup Healthy Powder from Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats - nutritional yeast,lecithin granules,kelp powder,bone meal,vitamin C

Portion the mixture into containers and freeze immediately. I've found that the 32 oz containers work well and will feed my pack for 2 days. This way we don't have thawed raw meat sitting in the fridge for more than 2 days at a time.

Juicing for me and the pups

We were lucky to "inherit" a juicer from my former employeer Black and Decker who owns Juiceman courtesy of the user test group. When we make food on Saturday's, we juice the vegetables and fruits, drink the juice and put the pulp into the dog food. This provides a fine shread that works well. Beet juice does a good job of making all dog food look like bright red beef. Not sure the dogs see any difference but it works for us humans.

Doggie Cookies

Here's a gluten free dog biscuit recipe that we're trying out today. Thanks to
http://www.dog-nutrition-naturally.com/dog-treat-recipes.html
Gluten Free Dog Biscuit Recipe

- 1 Lb ground meat ( lamb, beef, chicken, turkey ) Lamb and beef tend to be higher in fat. Chicken and turkey might be a better choice for an overweight dog. - 1 large sweet potato ( cooked and mashed ) - 1 large egg - 1/4 tsp garlic powder ( not garlic salt )or one large clove pressed - 5 tbsp. large flake rolled oats ( organic if possible ) or 4 tbsp. ground flax seed meal

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mixing up very well.
Lightly grease a cookie sheet with olive oil. ( very slightly )
Dump ingredients on cookie sheet and spread evenly and flatly to the sides of pan. This should be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
Bake for one hour at 350 degrees.
Remove pan from oven and use your cookie cutter at this time, if you want. If you don't have a cookie cutter, just score the 'cookie dough 'with a knife or pizza cutter, into squares.
Put back into the oven and bake for another hour at 250 degrees.
This will dry these healthy dog treats out. Keep an eye on your oven. The time could be more or less, depending on how hot your oven runs.
These dog treats should be fairly dry and a little crispy, but not burned.

Kitty Krack

Another kitty convert to Kitty Krack - Cheddar, my bosses cat. Cheddar wasn't eating at all and was very thin. He began eating once the Kitty Krack was sprinkled on his food.
Kitty Krack
1 cup Nutritional yeast (we like Kal brand)
1/2 cup lecithin granules
20 ground up Garden of Life Perfect Food Super Green Formula tablets
(or other kelp type product or 1/8 cup dried neem leaves)
2T bone meal
500 milligrams vitamin C

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon per day on kitty's dry or wet food and watch their appetite return.

Happy Faces

Slowly Converting Friends

Our good friend Schylar had surgery a couple of weeks ago. When I spoke to his owner he told me he was force feeding him. I took over a couple of containers of raw food for him. We heard that he defended his food from the other pups. Dogs like this stuff!

Three Chins in a Bucket

November Diet

Since tomorrow is halloween and later this month is Thanksgiving, I decided to add pumpkin puree to today's food batch.
I'm trying to stick to 30% meat
Lamb Hearts (6 hearts)
Ground Turkey (2 lbs)
Chicken Liver (2 containers)
Lamb Liver - one package

Water  - enough to cover the meat

2 cans Pumpkin Puree
4 Carrots
1 giant Sweet Potato
6 small beets

1 large avocado
2 apples
1 pear
2 bananas

1c steel cut oats
1c frozen neem leaves
Healthy Powder

Miles Davis

Meet little Miles Davis. When he came to us a bit over a year ago he was anticipated to only weigh 4lb fully grown. He's now almost 8lbs. I attribute this to his raw food diet.

I've recently begun adding more oatmeal to the dog's diet. I want to keep the protein levels around 25%. My breakdown is 25% protein, 25% cereal (oatmeal and flax), 10% moisture, 35% vegetables and fruit, 5% healthy powder.
In the vegetables, I'm also adding some need leaves that were picked fresh, chopped and frozen. I'm lucky to have a neem tree in my yard.

Dr Pitcairn

My introduction to HandMade Dog Food was through Dr. Pitcairn. I highly recommend his book Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. One of my favorite recipes from this book is Healthy Powder which uses nutritional or brewer's yeast, lecithin granules, kelp powder  and Vitimin C. My cat has become finicky and "required" that this mixture be sprinkled on her food. I gave a bottle to a coworker and he said that his dog would wait until she got powder before eating her food.

This book will give you recipes for dog food and useful information about dog nutrition.

What I feed my dogs

My version of "Raw Food"
I have 50 lbs of dogs combined. 2% of their body weight per day is 1 lb per day of food.
Here's a guide for one making food session:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken
1.5 lb organ meats (chicken livers; lamb veal or pork kidneys; lamb heart),
6 raw eggs
equal volume to the meat of shredded vegetables - generally a mixture of sweet potato, brocolli, green beans, and or carrots or canned pumpkin (unsweetened).
some fruit - an apple or a couple of bananas.

1 cup of flax seed ground
1/2 head garlic
16oz plain/fat free yougurt


1 cup Healthy Powder from Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats - nutritional yeast,lecithin granules,kelp powder,bone meal,vitamin C

I'm beginning to add some grain back to their diets as Stella, my pug has gotten too thin. I put steel cut oats through the food processor to break up the grains some and add about a cup and a half to the above mixture which is put through the food processor. I stand firm by my Cuisinart food processor. A $30 food processor from a big box store will not be able to handle the meat - I've tested one and it failed. If you don't have a food processor, partially frozen meat is easy to chop.

I portion the mixture into containers and freeze immediately. I've found that the 32 oz yougrt containers work well and will feed my pack for 2 days. This way we don't have raw meat sitting in the fridge for more than 2 days at a time.

This is what works for me - each person has their own opinion of what works for them. I suggest reading Dr. Pitcairn's book as he has many good recipes and is a great source of information.

Healthy Powder works even for dogs on commercial kibble.

We Bow for Beef

Veronica, our oldest dog particularly likes beef and pork. I developed this recipe to suit her tastes. I was worried at first about adding broccoli as it might give the pups gas but that has not been the case. I use canned pumpkin for this recipe when fresh is not available. This photo shows Veronica's "thumbprint heart" perfectly.

Suzy's Special

A mainstay of my puppies diet is "Suzy's Special". This recipe uses boneless, skinless chicken breast along with chicken livers as the main protein source. My goal is to give the pups the nutrients that they need.

Welcome to New Dog Diet

A few months ago I decided to switch dog foods. At the big box pet stores, I found that I was being coached by $7.95/hour employees who were selling what store owners had coached them to sell. So I visited a local store who sells raw food along with quality dry products. I purchased a small container of raw food and pulled out my "Dr Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats". When I purchased the book years ago, I saw no need and had no interest in making food for my dogs. I also had overweight, unhealthy dogs.

I liked the idea of the raw food and as I researched, I decided that I could make something for my dogs that would give me control over what they ate and provide them with what they need to be healthy. That began our "New Dog Diet". Six months later, we're still feeding raw and I have a pack of leaner, healthier pups who eagerly await their meals.

I have shared my food with a couple of neighbors and decided today to create a label. I purchased the website NewDogDiet.com and with for now I'm sending the website to this blog. Maybe later I'll actually build a website and go the other way!

Amy