I never thought of myself as being one of those people who cooked for their dogs. Heck, I don’t even like cooking for people (though I do it almost every night).
So what has changed my attitude towards making my dogs’ food? Two very picky Yorkies with one having severe allergies.
My chihuhuas Lucy and Lucas will eat pretty much anything you put in front of them. My Yorkies are very picky and when they do like something, they may like it for a few days and then turn their noses up at it.
So we have some variety. I have several different kinds of meals that I feed them and we switch those every few days. The other foods I feed them aren’t homemade, but they are high-quality home-delivered food. Even though the home-delivered food is more expensive than many of the dog foods found in stores, they don’t aggravate Ziggy’s allergies and I feel better about giving all the dogs human-grade food. Also since I don’t feed it to them every day, it’ lasts longer than it would if they ate it daily.
So the way it works is I will do 2 days of the food I make, then I will do a day or two of home-delivered food, then another day or two of my food, and so on. This way they will always eat what I give them.
So you are probably thinking, get on with it, get to the recipe. Okay, here you go:
Cathy’s Dog Food Recipe for Picky Dogs
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
- 1-2 Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 bag frozen mixed veggies, prepared according to directions
- 1 cup brown rice, cook according to directions ( I often switch this out for cubed sweet potatoes, quinoa, or sometimes pumpkin)
- 1 can of tuna
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 to 1 cup Beef bone broth
- Dog Vitamins (I use these. If these are out of stock, I have also used these vitamins)
Instructions:
- Cook up your ground beef or turkey in olive or coconut oil.
- While the meat is cooking, prepare your rice (or sweet potatoes) and mixed veggies.
- When the meat is almost done, add the eggs and scramble them with the meat until cooked through.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and cool in the fridge.
- Transfer to a sealed container.
- I feed my dogs 1/3 cup of this at mealtimes. I will often add a small amount (about 1/8 cup) of dry food to give them something crunchy to eat with it.
- You can store this in the fridge for up to a week and you can also freeze it.
Homemade Dog Food Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
- 1-2 Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 bag frozen mixed veggies, prepared according to directions
- 1 cup brown rice, cook according to directions ( I often switch this out for cubed sweet potatoes and sometimes pumpkin)
- 1 can tuna
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 to 1 cup Beef bone broth
- Powdered Dog Vitamins
Instructions
1-Cook up your ground beef or turkey in olive or coconut oil.
2-While the meat is cooking, prepare your rice (or sweet potatoes) and mixed veggies.
3-When the meat is almost done, add the eggs and scramble them with the meat until cooked through.
4-Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and cool in the fridge.
5-Transfer to a sealed container.
Notes
I feed my dogs 1/3 cup of this at mealtimes. I will often add a small amount (about 1/8 cup) of dry food to give them something crunchy to eat with it.
You can store this in the fridge for up to a week and you can also freeze it.
So is the extra work worth it to me to make their food? Yes! It doesn’t take long to make it. Maybe 20 minutes. And I control what is in their food.
Ziggy’s allergies are under control now and both Yorkies will eat this food as long as I vary it every couple of days with something different. Of course, Lucas and Lucy love the homemade food too and they would be fine with having it every night.
If you are interested in the other foods the dogs eat here is the list. I have written articles about them and will add the links to those if you are interested:
My vet has checked over my recipe and approved it. The only suggestion he had was to add some dog vitamins which I did.
Let me know if you try it and if your dog likes it. And feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.
Cathy Bendzunas
Pet Blogger
What dog videos are best and can u buy them on amazon.?
What kind of dog videos are you talking about Paulie?
Thank you! We made this today for our picky Chi and she licked the bowl clean!
I’m so glad!
HOw much do you feed your chihuahua? I would like to try this but need to know how much to give him. He weighs 9 lbs abd 1 Year old
I feed my 10 pound dog about 1/2 cup per meal. The 3 smaller dogs (6-7 pounds) get 1/3 cup at each meal.
@Cathy Bendzunas, Thank you for your quick response. Can I ask how many scoops of the Life Extension do you add to each batch?
I add about 1/3 cup but I’m not sure if that’s enough. If I add more than that though, the dogs won’t eat it so I figure 1/3 cup is better than nothing.
To tell you the truth Laura, I’m not sure. I have never measured it. It’s enough to feed 4 dogs for about a week if that helps at all.
@Cathy Bendzunas, one last question. How many cups does this recipe make? Thank you so much
@Cathy Bendzunas,
Just clarifying… Do you feed your dogs two or three meals a day?
2 meals but breakfast is a dry food so the homemade food is for their dinners.
I have a 10 pound chi and have been feeding her a high quality dog food since I got her. I feed her 1 cup. However in spring and summer she has allergies and I think hot spots. I just got her last summer and tried everything and even expensive shots at the vet that did not work. I am going to make her homemade dog food and maybe a couple of days a week give her the dry dog food. I have been giving her blueberries, sweet potatoes and salmon lately.
Let us know how it works out Julie. One point, is the dog food made from chicken? Some dogs have allergies to chicken because of all the hormones and chemicals they givee them.
One last question and I won’t bother you anymore. How many cups does this recipe make in total?
Thank you so much for your help
I really love this, my dog is 5 months old (Chi/Terri mix 4lbs) and I was just wondering how much I should feed her if I make this.
Thank you so much!
I would feed her twice a day and 1/3 to 1/2 cup per meal.
@Cathy Bendzunas, How many meals are you supposed to feed a dog?
Twice a day is the norm. Although I feed the homemade food in the evening. I feed them a freeze dried food in the morning. But that’s just me. There’s no reason why you couldn’t feed this recipe for both meals.
What do you do with the bone broth?
Is the tuna for a separate meal? I seem to have missed what was done with those items, sorry. This sounds good & I look forward to trying it for my super picky meal critic. Many thanks..
You just mix them all together including the tuna and bone broth.
Back with another question: I seem to have also missed where & when the yogurt joins the mix! I don’t want to be adding dairy to a warm dish if not supposed to do so.. rather be safe than sorry. I appreciate your patience with my questions; looking forward to hearing from you. Again, many thanks.
It doesn’t really matter. I just add all those ingredients in a bowl while cooking up the turkey (or ground beef) and eggs. Then I add the cooked stuff to the bowl. It doesn’t matter what order you put them in, they just all need to be in the same bowl and combined together.
Thank you. I’m going to store to try this. My chihuahua is very picky. I’ve been cooking for her but I thoughtit’s too much beef. And no vit.
Can I also use chicken, or pork?
I was frying ground beef, green beans, carrots, and sweet potato’s. Didn’t seem healthy.
Sure you can use chicken or pork. Let me know how your dog likes it.
How often do you feed your chi.
Twice a day. Young puppies may need 3 times a day to keep their blood sugar level.
I make a nice pot of food and freeze 2 days worth in each freezer bag. I use a pack of chicken thighs(usually 6 in pack I get) cook with water in pressure cooker to make bone broth as well. Remove thighs to cool and strip from bone. Add a couple tblsp of olive oil, 2 reg size bags of peas and carrots. One can of French style green beans. 1 bag of frozen cube sweet potatoes, 1 cup brown rice and 1 cup of lentils. This makes 9-10 days worth meals 1/2 c morning and evening. I put 3 days in my sealed container in fridge to start and bag up the rest in 2 day supply approx 2 cups in freezer bags. And freeze to be used after the initial 3 day supply is fed. Since using this recipe my 12 yo senior chihuahua dances like a young pup at mealtimes. I started out doing this after grocery store dog food caused allergies and some mail delivery food was expensive and used broccoli a lot which made her real gassy. She is a lot happier with Mom cooking. It looks and smells like chicken stew.
I love your recipe Cheryl. I’m terrified of pressure cookers so I would have to find an alternate way to cook it. As a teen I saw our pressure cooker blow up in the kitchen. I was in the other room but if I had been in there I would have been badly burned.
Would it be okay if I share your recipe on the newsletter?
My 3 babies liked the first homemade dog food I gave them. I altered the recipe a bit putting blueberries, sweet potato, green beans instead of the mixed vegetables and used half turkey half pork. They picked the bowls clean!
Sounds yummy! I’m glad your fur babies liked it.
Hi Cathy, my chihuahua mix dog is about 13 pounds. How many meals of 1/3 cup should she get a day?
Thank you for the recipe. She really likes it.
Is she overweight or at the right weight for her build? If she’s ocerweight, 2 meals of 1/3 cup a day. If she isn’t overweight, you xan up it to 1/2 cup twice a day.
Hello Cathy,
My chihuahua mix is 13 pounds. How do I determine how many times I feed her? I read you feed yours 1/3 cup, twice a day.
She loves the recipe. Thank you!
I’m glad she loves it! Twice a day is fine for an adult Chihuahua.
Hi Cathy, thank you so much for the great advice and tips. I have my chi and 5 sausages on this diet. They love it!
May I ask, what multivitamin would you recommend? Are you still using the same that you previously recommended ? All my babies (6) are seniors.
I would love your recommendations.
Thank you so much xxx
I’m so glad your dogs like the food!
Yes, I’m still giving them the same vitamins I link to in the article. It’s reasonably priced and easy to mix into their food.
How many vitamins do you add
It’s powdwewd vitamins and I just add a few teaspoons of it to their food. I’m sure there’s a better way but I figure they are getting plenty of vitamins already in the food, so I don’t need to be exact.
Omg. You are NEVER supposed to feed your dog tuna. Pollock, cod, halibut or tilapia only. Salmon too but different quantities as it is good for their Imega 3s.
My vet checked over the recipe and was fine with it.And just checking on Google it says small dogs can have up to 1/2 can a week. I use 1 can in a recipe that lasts for about 8 days for 4 dogs so that’s a lot less than 1/2 can per dog.
Love your emails , They are so informative and delightful. Your furbabies are beautiful. Thank you for your recipes.
Thank you so much Irene!