Canine Diabetes alleviation..How to make your own dog food..

[KLMARB]

Here's a follow-up to my previous thread about how I alleviated my new dog's diabetes.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=151714923


It's really simple. I used to do everything by hand for each meal. It was easy, using a cleaver for chopping. Now, I make larger amounts and freeze until needed.

Here's what I do:

Ingredients:
10lb. Chicken hindquarters. I steam these lightly. If steamed in the microwave it takes around six minutes per batch. Next time I'll use a large pot and steam the 10lbs. all at once. This is to firm up the protein for easier chopping. Since the bones are part of the mix, its important to understand that the bones remain uncooked, this prevents them from becoming brittle.

5lbs. Beef fat. Purchased from my locals store's meat department. I cut this into large chunks, if necessary.

2lbs. Chicken livers. I cook these in the microwave. Cooking is probably not necessary. Certainly not for the dog.

Methods:
The prep is easy. I use a large, flat tray (think kitty litter) and put a smaller plastic cutting board inside of it. I then place the chicken pieces in one at a time and break up the bones with a hammer/meat hammer. The tray keeps the bone chips from flying all around the kitchen. I pull off the skin first and set it aside. If you're chopping by hand, leave the skin on. This was the major "prep" step.

At this time, you can simply cut up the chicken a little more, combine the ingredients in the 2/3 chicken, 1/3 fat ratio for an individual meal. Add liver to equal approx. 10-20% of the mix and feed right to your dog. How small you chop the ingredients is up to you, usually determined by your size of dog.

This is how I prepare larger quantities, since I have a larger dog and feed him one pound at a time, twice per day.

With the prepared ingredients, I use a small electric meat grinder. I use the coarse chopping plate with larger holes, my plate has eight. If I had a plate with just four, I'd use that. My grinder's auger screw is metal, so if you buy one, I suggest you look for that feature, since it handles the bones better. The bones need to be broken up well, so they're easy to grind/chop. If your grinder clogs, remove the screw ring, turn it on briefly and the clog will spin out. Reassemble and continue.

I simply grind all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. I add the skin last, after coarsely chopping it by hand. I then give it a good mixing, using a large plastic or wooden spoon. It all fits into four gallon sized ziplock bags. At mealtime I use an ice cream scooper, three larger scoops come out to be right at a pound. You can also use this for treats. It makes a nice "doggie meatball".

It's that simple. For me, that amount gives me more than eight days of dog food. I'll probably go to double batches, since its so easy and I have the freezer space..

If you don't want to chop yourself or buy a grinder, ask your meat department manager if he would grind 10lbs. of chicken with 5lbs. of fat for you. Make it a point to him to do your grind at the end of the day, for next day pick-up. That prevents him from contaminating his machine with raw chicken that would cause an extra cleaning. His large grinder/chopper should be able to handle the chicken bones with no problem. You can add the liver in yourself before freezing. This works out to be be less than $14.00 per batch. A small price to pay for adding many additional years to your dog's life..

For additional treats, I use chicken gizzards, hoofs and pig's ears. No carb-based treats, except for the odd table scrap...