Homemade Dog Food Recipes for a Healthy and Happy Pup

If you want easy homemade dog food recipes to make your pups healthy and happy, hear this – tasty and healthy foods aren’t about ingredients only.

Your puppies need precise nutrient ratios of protein, carbs, fats, vitamins especially calcium and phosphorus, and calories for healthy growth.

There are a must-include ingredients you should include in your homemade dog food recipes, and if they aren’t there, make sure you add dietary supplements to balance things up.

 

Classic Chicken + Rice + Veg

Boil your shredded chicken breast for a few minutes separately, cook your white or brown rice for a little time, then, add small vegetables such as carrots, green beans, and canned pumpkin, and cook everything together.

Now, add your cooked chicken breast to the water, and stir everything together.

When you want to serve your puppy, add 1 tsp of fish oil per serving meal for docosahexaenoic acid.

This recipe has high-quality lean protein, and it should be up to 40% of the meal while the rice (digestible carbs) should be 20% to support growth and sensitive stomachs.

Vegetables are a good source of fibre, and should constitute 40% of the meal. The canned pumpkin helps make the stool firm.

If you like, you can add multivitamins and calcium supplements to it, and adjust meal portions and calories based on your puppy’s size.

Ground Turkey + Sweet Potato + Spinach

Lean ground turkey is often included in canned wet dog foods, and you can replicate this.

Get your lean turkey cooked, prepare mashed roasted sweet potato, and cook a few cups of quinoa or brown rice.

Wash your fresh spinach, and steam it for a few minutes (only a small amount is needed. You can chop it before steaming or after it.

Add everything together and stir properly. You can make this a soup for easy consumption for your pups.

Turkey is lean and highly digestible so often recommended for dogs. Sweet potato and spinach add beta-carotene, complex carbs, and micronutrients respectively.

To offer a balanced homemade food, you can add 1/4 tsp eggshell powder per ~2 cups of food to substitute for bone meal.

 

Beef + Pumpkin + Peas

Beef is a common protein source in most homemade recipes.

For this recipe, get lean beef with low fat and grind it, add canned or mashed pumpkin, frozen peas, and already cooked barley all together.

Drain excess fat from the lean ground beef if there’s visibly more fat, you don’t want to upset your dog’s gut and risk pancreatitis.

Add calcium powder, ground bone meal or calcium supplement and fish oil for Omega-3 fatty acids.

Beef supplies iron and B vitamins for rapid growth; pumpkin supports digestion, calcium for bone development, and omega-3 supports a shiny coat and brain development.

 

Salmon fish + Potato + Broccoli

You need either baked or flaked boneless salmon for this recipe. Make sure you remove all the bones.

Get your potatoes cooked, chop your fresh broccoli and steam it separately.

Mash the potatoes, add other ingredients, and 1 teaspoon of fish oil, and stir properly.

Salmon fish is an important protein source in ready-made dog foods, rich in DHA, and supports brain and vision development.

The fish should be human-grade, not more than 30% of the diet.

 

Chicken Hearts + Brown Rice + Mixed Veg

An easy homemade dog food recipe for small dogs and pups is a mix of chicken hearts or lean organ mix, brown rice, carrots, and green beans.

It has a similar preparation to the ones mentioned earlier.

Once it’s served, add 1 tablespoon of plain yoghurt on top for easy digestion.

Organ meats provide essential vitamins that muscle meat lacks; and the addition of yoghurt helps improve the gut flora.

However, organ meat should not be offered to puppies every day, and should not exceed 10% of a serving of food to avoid excess vitamin A.

I prefer chicken hearts due to its high-value, and palatable protein that puppies need. For adult dogs, I use lamb or cow kidney.

 

Ground Lamb + Oats + Pumpkin

Cooked lean ground lamb, cooked rolled oats, mashed pumpkin, and steamed zucchini are a good choice for puppies if they have chicken or beef sensitivities or are picky eaters.

Oats are also a gentle carb and fibre source for dogs.

Since lamb has high fat content, you should cook it separately, and drain the excess fat before adding all the ingredients together.

 

Turkey + White Fish + Rice

Cook ground turkey and brown rice with flaky white fish cod, and add your vegetables such as peas and carrots.

This makes a delicious, easily digestible, and low-fat diet for your darling puppies.

 

Cottage Cheese + Egg + Veg Mash

Get a small amount of low-fat cottage cheese, with fully cooked scrambled eggs, steamed cauliflower, and cooked millet.

 

Lentil + Chicken + Kale

Get fresh lentils, wash them properly, and get it fully cook them, and set them aside. Chop your kale into small bits, and steam it for a few minutes and set aside.

Cook your shredded chicken with brown rice, and add your vegetables (lentils and kale) to it.

Combining animal protein and plant protein is a good idea for puppies. It adds enough fibre and amino acids.

You just have to introduce it slowly since legumes can increase gas in small dogs.

 

Rabbit or Game Meat + Sweet Potato + Veggies

Lean rabbit meat or venison for protein, add roasted sweet potato, green beans, and cooked millet to it.

Novel proteins prevent food allergies and are used for allergy-prone dogs.

Lean game meats are packed with nutrition so it’s a good addition.

 

Bone Broth-Rich Stew Topper

Bone broth with no onion or other spices, simmered, and strained thoroughly can be mixed over any meal with soft-cooked leafy veggies as a low-sodium diet.

Bone broth extracts collagen, and minerals, improves palatability, and serves as a good topper to increase calories and hydration in dogs.

Don’t cook fresh bones for a few hours and give them to your pups. It should be cooked for an extended period and strained completely to keep the sodium content low.

 

DIY Puppy Meatballs

You need ground lean beef or turkey for this diet, and also cook your quinoa separately.

Grate your carrot, chop your spinach, and crack 1 egg into it.

Add everything together with the meat source, then add half a teaspoon of kelp or dog multivitamin, portion it and bake it into meatballs.

It’s a convenient pre-portioned meal for puppies and helps avoid overfeeding. It’s also good for meal prep and handy if you’re travelling with your dog.

 

Conclusion

Homemade dog food recipes are good, low-cost, and easy to make, but they can’t offer balanced nutrition in most cases.

If you’re not careful, your dog can suffer from nutrient imbalance and overload at the same time.

Should you not try homemade recipes? Nope, don’t get confused, most dog parents use a base recipe and vet-recommended supplements.

This is better than trying to perfect a homemade recipe from raw foods.

You should add puppy multivitamin with correct A/D/E balance, eggshell powder calcium citrate, or formulated supplement in Vet-recommended amounts to prevent bone problems.

Avoid cooked bones, onions, garlic, much salt, chocolate, and xylitol in your recipes as they’re not healthy for dogs.

Pick one of the diets mentioned above, calculate your puppy’s daily calorie needs for its weight and age, and offer it slowly and take note of its reaction, stool changes, and weight.