Home prepared diet recipe example
For a 15kg adult dog
Home prepared recipe for a dog
(optimal weight 15kg, with no special activity)
This recipe is designed for a 15kg adult dog (between 12 months and 8 years old).
If you’re dog is over 8 years old, then check the recipe for a 15kg senior.
For a puppy (15kg adult weight), less than 12 months old, then check the recipe for a puppy.
Ingredients: amount and details
- Meat
BEEF lean human grade MEAT (boneless steak or 5%fat mince, weight raw, then slightly cook, poach OR pan with no fat for 5 minutes)
250 grams
12,5 ml
- Oil
CANOLA OIL or SOYBEAN OIL (Do not cook or heat. Keep the bottle in the fridge)
20 ml
- Vegetables
GREEN BEANS (Weight raw. Steam or boil ; cook until soft (mashable) and cut in 5mm pieces)
270 grams
- Carbohydrates
WHITE RICE (weight dry, cook twice the label time) or SWEET POTATOES / POTATOES (skinless, boiled in water, must be cooked enough to be easily mashed)
50 grams
200 grams
Adjust the amount of food delivered daily, but keep the same proportions of all ingredients listed here, in order to keep the diet balanced.
Homemade diet: easy preparation, storage and distribution
1- Weigh all ingredients raw, or as mentionned in the recipe
2- Chop and cook vegetables and meat/fish
If using canned vegetables, only strained and rinse.
If used fresh or frozen vegetables, cook them in salted boiling water, until mashable. Add the meat/fish filet for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
3- Prepare the mixture
First, mix the small ingredients, then add the cooked ones.
Mix the Vit’i5 powder + Canola or Soybean Oil + Salt/Wheat bran if any in the recipe.
Add cooked vegetables and meat/fish. Mix all ingredients until the mixture is homogenous.
4- Storage, preservation & feeding
If any in the recipe, cooked carbohydrates, such as oat flakes or rice or potato, must not be frozen/thamw : cook them on the day of distribution, and add to the freshly made or defrost mixture.
- Prepared and distributed the same day?
Cook the carbohydrates with the vegetables, This mixture can be used for the day.
The portion left for the other meals of the day can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours. - Prepared for later?
The mixture can be frozen in daily portions. It can be frozen for up to 4 weeks.
Each portion can be thaw in the fridge the day before the day of distribution.
The carbohydrate must be cooked on the day of distribution and mixed with the thawed portion of food.
This mixture can be used for the day. The portion left for the other meals of the day can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours.
5- Split the daily amount in 2-3 meals
Give the first meal freshly prepared, or a meal from the fridge.
Do not fry pan, microwave oven or oven heat: you can heat a meal by mixing with a bit of warm water.
– The recipe for one day can be prepared as described, and distributed in 2 days instead of 1. The half for the next day shall be stored in the fridge.
– Give half the amounf of Petfood normally recommended for one day for your dog.
In case you feed your dog Half-Half, for instance kibble or canned petfood in the morning, and Homemade (this recipe) in the evening, use Vit’i5 Half-Half instead of the Vit’i5 Orange in the home prepared recipe, at the same amount.
If you have more specific questions, or in case of health issue, ask a certified nutritionist for special recipes.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
This recipe is balanced and formulated by a veterinary nutrition specialist for a heathy pet. It is offered for personal use only.
Copyright 2024 @DrGeraldineBLANCHARD, European Specialist in Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition
Tailored recipes are also available on our website.
Warning
Avoid changing ingredients without a proper advice.
Changing an ingredient for another in a recipe may affect the overall composition and balance: for instance, for the same amount, providing a fatter meat/fish will bring more calories from fat (energy) and may increase body weight by increasing fat mass. Also, different vegetables may bring different amount of calories (energy).
Nutritional information
WHY SUCH INGREDIENTS?
This recipe for a home prepared diet for a dog contains
Animal Protein Source
Meat, muscle meat, and fish filet are a source of animal protein, and provide protein and all amino acids necessary in the diet of dogs
You can cook meat of fish in order to reach 70°C for a few minutes, as food safety requires to avoid contamination problems (such as bacteria, parasites…).
Different meats and fish filets differ by their composition in water, protein and fat, and energy. So they are not all the same and substitution of one by another must be guided.
Also, some pets find some tastes more interesting/palatable/attractive than others.
Do not replace without considering the composition or asking to your vet or assess the body weight of your pet weekly..
Mineral vitamin supplement
Vit’i5 is a veterinary nutrition specialist formulated mineral and vitamin supplement for homemade diet. It provides the micronutrients that are lacking of in the routine dietary components.
Vit’i5 has to be added to a diet with fish or meat component. It has been designed in 3 products. It may be adapted depending on age and condition, and with the amount of meat/fish, however it is not seasonal or optional.
If the diet is half homemade and half commercial, give Vit’i5 Half-Half instead of any Vit’i5 recommended in the homemade recipe.
Warning:
Do not heat or cook Vit’i5, in order to preserve vitamins
Do not give Vit’i5 if your dog of cat eats only a complete pet food either dry or wet.
Treat
Fruits may represent a treat of a part of the vegetables in a home prepared recipe for a dog. Dogs can eat them raw.
One may offer as treats. Only offer juicy FRUITS such as apple, peach, watermelon, strawberry, peach. (Do not offer banana or dry fruit as a TREAT.)
If doing so, stick to the following equivalence: 50 grams of FRESH FRUIT may subsitute 100 grams of CARROT.
Also, DO NOT REPLACE more than half of the vegetables with fruits as part of fiber source.
For example, in a recipe with 200grams of vegetables, there should not be more than 100 grams (half of 200 grams) of vegetables replaced by fruits. Thus so 100/2 = 50 grams of FRUIT such as fresh APPLE in this recipe.
Essential fatty acids
Canola oil, or soybean oil, is a source of essential fatty acids, omega 6 (linoleic acid) and omega 3 (linolenic acid).
Don’t heat or cook it, to preserve the fatty acids
Caps of fish oil may be added to bring also long chain omega 3 fatty acids EPA & DHA, but this does not replace the canola or soybean oil. The fatty acids are different.
Fiber source
Vegetables are a beneficial source of fiber.
Give all vegetables cooked, either boiled, or steamed enough to become smooth form, or strained if canned.
Zucchini is a special vegetable that can be given cooked, but can also be cut and frozen raw, and, once defrost, included in the diet without cooking.
Carrots may be replaced by broccoli, green beans, skinless pumpkin or butternut with the same weight basis. These vegetables must be cooked enough to be easily cut or mashed.
Last, to offer a bigger amount of vegetables, 100 grams of carrots or equivalent may be replaced by 150 grams of zucchini, tomato, mushroom, asparagus, endives, all cooked well enough to be easily cut or mashed.
Complex carbohydrates (source of energy from Starch)
Starch is a complex carbohydrates, which requires digestion to be a good source of energy.
Make sure to boil carbohydrates, such as rice or peeled potatoes, TWICE the time it should be for people. Indeed, this maximises the digestibility of the starch by pets.
Once cooked, DO NOT freeze the carbohydrates, as freezing-defrosting process decreases the digestibility of the starch, and could induce digestive issue such as diarrhoea and bloating.
In a home prepared recipe for a dog, a part of Carbs can also be replaced by other carbs or by treats, to provide an equivalent amount of calories.
Equivalent to 10 grams of raw (dry) white RICE:
– 10 grams of PASTA or OAT FLAKES, cooked
– 40 grams of POTATO or SWEET POTATO, cooked
– 10 grams of any BISCUIT designed for dogs
– 5ml (1 spoon) of peanut butter
– 10 grams of Cheese, such as cheddar CHEESE
– 40 grams of Cottage cheese (4%Fat)
– 50 grams of Pure Plain 4%Fat Natural YOGURT (such as Greek or Plain organic yogurt without additional flavours or ingredients)
All the recipes for a dog
All the recipes for pets
Check our recipes main page to browse all of our home made recipes for cats and dogs of all sizes and ages!
