I think I’m ready to switch my dogs from a raw BARF diet ( Chicken, finely ground chicken bone, beef liver, whole egg, cultured kefir, seasonal vegetables selected from broccoli, celery, spinach, carrot, ground flax seed, bok choy, dried alfalfa leaf powder, beef kidney, beef heart, unbleached beef tripe, apple, pear, grapefruit, orange, dried kelp powder, garlic, capsicum) to a vegan diet.
BUT I’ve got a some criteria.
1. It has to be a home made recipe since I don’t like feeding processed foods or feeding grains to dogs since it’s unnatural for them to eat grains).
2. As above no grains.

Now if anyone has a recipe on how to make a wholesome vegan dog food I’d be very interested since previous attempts have caused my dogs to lose too much weight and when I’ve got rescues they can’ afford to lose weight.

Thank you.

I am going to be starting my huskies on a partial raw diet, and will be making it myself. I am buying my meat grinder Friday, and I already have the recipe I will start with. I am just looking for any tips or advice from those of you already making your own. What is your dog’s favorite, things you add in, etc.. Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions !
Added: I will not buy raw. I am going to be making it on my own for quality control reasons and because I have one with allergies.
Added:
Yep, gizzards and all. I am buying a commercial grinder, so i will be grindong the whole bird. I will also be feeding to my cats, and the heart is loaded with taurine, so I am doing the whole bird. I am also doing a venison batch.
Added: mechanic- One of my guys is very allergic to wheat. The only grains i am using are oatmeal and quinoa.
Added:froesaken- during transition they will be on a high protein/meat kibble. Also, grindong the whole bird guaratees optimal nutrition. if you read the back of a package, or talk to a manufacturer, they all grind the whole bird. DHA comes from the brain, Taurine from the heart, etc. And in the wild they eat all internal organs plus neck and bones. (dometicated dogs also don’t run 30 miles to catch and kill their prey, therefore you cannot compare nutritional requrements.)
Added: i will be using oatmeal and quinoa as grain for binders and to aid in digestion. Also, my dogs get plenty of natural ches and get their teeth brushed, so it is not a concern. And I’m looking for tips because it is new to me, but trust me when I say, I know what dogs can and cannot have.
Also, once you cook meat, you lose about 70% of the meat protein. Second, once you cook veggies, they lose almost all of their nutritional value.
PLEASE: If you are not giving advice on recipes, etc. I don;t want it. I am looking for tips, not someone to talk me out of it. Thanks.

What is the purpose of soaking nuts and grains. What kind of grains are you allowed to eat. What about roasted nuts, are they roasted at degrees higher than 118. Can I eat frozen berries. Lastly do you need to eat a 100 percent raw diet, or is it a percentage.

Ok i just asked a question about raw dog food diet for my boerboel and i got some rly good answers. But i also own a 3yr old golden retriever who weighs 80lbs that i would like to switch onto this raw food diet. So when you guys were sayin 2-3% of my dog’s ideal body weight what does that mean? and where would i buy organ meat and bone meat? thank you :)
Also i do know that dogs don’t need veggies and grains really and i am going to feed them based on a prey-model diet

I’m starting a raw food diet…
alll i have raw is
Bananas
Blueberries
green bell peppers
tomatoes
sliced cucumbers
lettuce

I all read tried smoothie and salad
thanks for the help
<3333
i cant have bread
dressing or anything cooked
that why its called raw this is what i can have:
Fresh fruits and vegetables
Nuts
Seeds
Beans
Grains
Legumes
Dried fruit
Seaweed
Unprocessed organic or natural foods
Freshly juiced fruit and vegetables
Purified water
Young coconut milk
At least 75% of food consumed should not be heated over 116 degrees F.

i have a 9month old GSD and i wanted to put him on raw foods, but its just way too confusing for me. He weighs over 60lbs now, so how do i know how much to give him? does anyone have any recipes with exact measurements that i can use? (instead of 80% veggies, and 10% meat, 10% grains, as some people like to put it…. i want ozs, lbs, cups ect)
any helps would be great:) thanks
i feed him Canidea, and im pretty happy with it. But dogs have been eating raw food since the dawn off time, and i figure its probably the best thing for him at this point
thanks for the answers:) i’ll look into the group. for the person who asked about the specific breed food, im not sure either. :)

Does anyone have salad recipes that are high in nutrition, hitting all the recommendations for healthy eating? I used to have one bookmarked, but the article was taken down.

I think it was built around the revised food pyramid; it included raisins to help with the fruit requirement, almonds and tuna for fish/nuts requirement, some chunks of cheese for the dairy needs, an olive oil based dressing, and spinach, red and green peppers, and other lettuce for the bulk.

I’m not finding much online – there are salads with healthy traits, but none that cover all the nutritional bases. Does anyone have salad recipes that address all your nutritional needs (aside from the breads/grains requirements)?
I’m not looking to ‘detox’ or diet, just want a recipe that provides everything a body needs . .

The city I live in has hard water. From the latest report 2008 the average is ‘very hard’ at 160ppm (around 9.3 grains per gallon). There looks to be a lot of calcium and magnesium in the water, and it is treated with chlorine apparently. The average pH of tap water is also 7.9.

I haven’t done an official pH test yet myself, but my tap water has a yellow tint in large quantities. I have a filtered dispenser pitcher for drinking and cooking.

My question- will using my tap water detrimentally affect my Roma and Sweet 100 tomato (or my Spicy Globe basil) plants? Should I use filtered water or just treat the tap water somehow before hand? My thought is that the Ca and Mg would actually benefit my plants, but the alkaline pH worries me (should it?) I planted them in Miracle-Gro potting mix last week and it’s "fertilizer analysis" is 0.21-0.7-0.14

To the plant’s credit- they seem to be doing fine, one is particularly happy and has grown at least half in size (Roma last week 4in, today about 6in!) I’ve pinched off the few flowers that’ve appeared and will continue to do so until the plants are at least 18" They get filtered sun from sunrise and full sun from 10AMish to sunset. (Is that TOO much? it’s at least 10hrs). If it helps, I live in Los Angeles, CA (yup I’m planning on getting a shade for them come July).

Any opinions on the water or anything else is very much appreciated. I’m a worrynut, so sue me :)

I have 5 cats but it is only 3 I am worried about. 5 year old male with a history of urinary blockages controlled with Hills Prescription Diet c/d. 13 year old male in mild kidney failure. He has had 2 flare ups requiring us to give subcuteaneous fluids but is fine currently. 9 month old male adopted 2 months ago who had severe coccidia infection when we brought him home. After two days he started leaking diarrhea all the time. We did several weeks of prednisone and flaggyl which have cleared up the coccidia. After resolving the coccidia he still had leakage and a mucusy discharge so vet suspected IBS and put him on Hills Prescription Diet d/d which is a rabbit and pea based food. We haven’t had any leakage in a couple of weeks now so she said to stay on this food.

I looked into the raw food diet before but my vet recommended against it for fear of salmonella, etc. I still would like to give it a try but would love to hear from others using a raw diet with ill cats.
I should have been more specific as to the treatment of the coccidia. He tested positive for coccidia which was treated with Albon(?sp) and Prednisone. We did three rounds of this with no improvement. At that point the vet said that it could be IBS and put him on Flaggyl for two weeks and the HIlls food. Her explanation for the IBS was that he was allergic to the protein source (chicken) and that the HIlls uses rabbit. I thought this to be odd just because it seemed more logical to me that it was the corn and other grains that would be the problem since cats are carnivores. She said that it is normally not the case. I asked her about the raw diets I have seen (Feline Futures, Feline Instincts, and one off the catnutrition.com site). Her opion was that it wasn’t safe due to the risk of salmonella, etc. I thank those who have responed and would love to hear from more raw feeders.

I mean are dogs carnivores I asked a pet store owner whats better he said Well one has grains one doesnt. do dogs do better with grains. cuz i dont get the raw food diet. dont they need more then just chicken why does every dog food have grains then cuz which is better

About three months ago, I began transitioning to the raw food diet. At first, I was strictly raw… I just kinda threw myself in there, and managed to upold it for about a month. Since then, I’ve kinda fallen off the wagon, though.

My biggest problem was being hungry all the time. At first, I was dealing just fine… It seems, though, that my body will plateau and fluctuate by 3 or 4 pounds (this is in general, not in the raw transition) and as soon as I start to dip below that, I feel insatiably hungry until I load up on food and go back up to my "regular" weight. I hit that plateau about two weeks after going raw, and managed to stay raw- although overindulging- for another few weeks before starting to re-suppliment my diet with cooked grains, ect.

I have had problems in the past with eating disorders. When I hit these plateaus and become ravenous all the time, I get very depressed. When I can keep my food intake steady, I manage ok, but when I start pigging out and eating everything in sight, I tend to "crash" and eat more because of these problems with food that I’ve had in the past.

The main reason that I started putting cooked food back into my diet was protein… I felt that a big reason that I was hungry all the time was because I was lacking it. (Has anyone heard about the Blood Type Diet? About a week ago I was doing some reading, and came across information on it… If the theories that it presents are correct, then as an O- protein should be a major part of my diet…)

Does anyone have any suggestions for moving past this initial phase of detox and getting back in the raw swing? I started taking a greens suppliment, to make sure that I was getting enough. I know that nuts have a good amount of protein, but sometimes they make me sick.

Are there any side-effects that I should expect from this detoxing phase, and anything that I can do to ease the transition?

I just got a 7 week old kitten and started him on the regular cat chow. But after visiting a pet food store was persuaded into trying a Raw food diet simular the the BARF diet. He seems to like it but I am conserned about feeding my kitten raw meat! They told me at the pet store that grains were bad for cats because they weren't able to diggest them. I'm very confused can anyone shed some light?