Cooking For My Chowdren

Topics, guidelines and tips for feeding Chow Chows.

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Tovya
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Cooking For My Chowdren

Post by Tovya »

I myself am very health conscious and eat a very healthy diet with no red meat, no overly processed foods and I use organic products as much as possible. Now that I have two wonderful chowdren I've been thinking about weaning them off the bagged kibbles (although I buy the best quality possible) and cooking for them fresh everyday. I'm thinking that I could feed them a lot of what I eat - whole grains (mostly rice) and lean organic poultry, seafood and veggies. I'm looking for some guidance and recipes if anyone else here does this. I've been giving them a supplement called Dino-Vite which includes brewer's yeast, kelp, live cultures and digestive enzymes. I'm wondering if this would be a good all-around supplement along with the fresh-cooked foods or if I would also have to give them a vitamin supplement.
Any guidance or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Tovya
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chris
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Post by chris »

KIWANI... where are ya... Imput please.... :-)


I bet it would be good for them, dogs and wolves and what not that live in the wild eat.. well.. anything..
The only thing I would be concearned about is the vitamines they need. You might have to put some into their food? Im not an expert.. and i never did it but it sounds like a good idea. :D
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Post by Rogansmommy »

You should research BARF diets on the internet. The most tricky thing about it is to make sure that their meals are balanced. Rogan and Nina eat a modified BARF diet (meaning 4 days a week they get raw and three they get kibble mixed with other yummy things). It has to be tailored to each dog very specifically, based on health, etc...
Michele

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Post by chris »

BARF ??? Did you say... BARF??? :shock: :-8 (I don't know.. sounds a little pukey to me.. ) :wink:
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Tovya
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Post by Tovya »

BARF is "Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods". :) My understanding is that the thinking with BARF is that dogs should be fed mostly raw meat and veggies which is how they would find them in the wild.

That being said, I don't think I would be able to do all of the raw meat involved since I don't eat cow, pig or lamb myself. I would rather find a way of feeding them cooked poultry, seafood and eggs along with grains and veggies.
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Post by Rogansmommy »

I know people who exclusively feed poultry and seafood for their protein in BARF. Nina is exclusively on organically grown chicken and venison because we don't want to burn too many protein bridges with her at the same time.

It could be done - you just need to make sure that it's balanced.
Michele

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Post by Tovya »

I just looked at another BARF site and I'm thinking that I might do one or two days a week with raw poultry, fish and eggs. The other days I'll cook. Luckily I know a lot of people who hunt and fish and are always trying to give away their excess catches. Can the meat be frozen or does it have to be absolutely fresh? When I was at Whole Foods Market last week I think I recall seeing raw dog and cat foods packaged in plastic tubes in the refrigerated section. I can't remember what brand that was. :?:
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Post by Rogansmommy »

It can be frozen. I buy from both the butcher and the pet store in bulk - it's cheaper that way. We have a deep freeze that we use to store the meat until we need it.
Michele

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Post by Juniper »

Just some info on raw vs. fresh cooked vs. canned & kibble: Basically from best to worst.

Check out “Pottenger’s Cats”- a study of 22 generations of cats and their offspring. Study proves that once a genetic line is bred on cooked fresh foods or canned/kibble it never recovers to full vibrant health. Features of the animal become faulty in offspring: loss of jawline, decreased immune system function, etc. However, there is hope. He found that when you switched an animal to an all natural raw diet, their natural diet, the immune system’s function increased. However, they still could not produce truly healthy kittens again, just semi-healthy.

We all have genetically unhealthy chows if you take this study to heart. I would like to know if BARF breeders really truly had an initial genetically healthy chow.

The dog, cat, animals in general, have short intestines meant for meat consumption w/no putrefaction, not like us humans with 15 foot intestines where the meat can putrefy if you don’t have a healthy intestinal tract- that’s why a lot of people become vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians or reduce their consumption to fish/poultry/veggies, etc. Personally, I see nothing wrong with eating organic meat. I was a strict vegetarian for 27 years – four of which were raw food only. Then I added poultry and fish. I was never as strong or healthy as I am now at 57 eating meat 1x per week but still an avid veggie eater and not ingesting medications any disease. Basically, moderation is the key. However, if you don’t do food combining this also becomes a problem in one’s health and wreaks havoc with one’s digestive enzyme production. I believe this is so for our pets as well.

There is some misconception that dogs can become semi-vegetarians and maintain their health and protein level w/vitamins, minerals, etc. If one depends on vitamins & minerals to fill in the blanks it’s a very complicated process that can only truly be done properly by nutritionists or one that has done a lot of study on the synergistic combination of vitamins, minerals, etc. Most want the one or two pills to handle it- that’s not going to happen. Plus, vitamins & minerals never truly fill in the blanks.

Brewers yeast is a by-product from the beer brewing industry unless you get that which is grown for human consumption- saccharomyces verisiae.

The best diet for a dog would be organic raw meat, poultry, some fish & slightly steamed and pulverized organic vegetables (to mimic the intestinal or stomach contents of live prey). Maybe only once/per month – organic organ meats, if you can find them. The meat should be kept whole for tearing and chewing which would give time for the digestive enzymes in their stomach to prepare for the food coming down. The larger the piece of meat is the better. It would depend on your chow’s capacity for swallowing- one wouldn’t want them to choke.

As far as combining rice, carrots, potatoes with meat, poultry, fish - I’m not exactly in favor of this since starches and proteins eaten together actually upset the production of enzymes. The starch being the stronger enzyme would be produced in larger quantity and the digestion of the meat would suffer. Plus starches aren't really meant for animal's digestive tracts.

Note: If it’s not Wild Caught Sockeye Salmon that you’re eating you’re ingesting a lot of mercury, and fresh caught fish also has a lot of mercury. Farm raised salmon is pretty devoid of nutrients compared to wild since you are depending on humans to know what a salmon should eat. But then, we can only do the best we can with what nature and the markets have to offer after polluting our environment so.

No plastic food bowls, storage containers, etc. (contains cancer producing estrogens, harbors bacteria), no aluminum, Teflon, non-stick cookware (causes arthritis), human grade vitamins and minerals, distilled or filtered water [buy a distiller or filter your own – through a drip system only. Store machines filter too quickly and are worthless.] (The minerals contained in water are non-absorbable by the human body and create arthritis as we age-controversial topic for sure). The ingestion of raw egg white destroys the B vitamin Biotin, however the saccharomyces verisiae if given with it will offset this loss.

So that’s some of my knowledge that I will impart.

The BARF diet sounds good but it does not state it's organic and I haven't checked out their vitamin supplementation- it's probably not human grade.

Good luck on your venture and decision towards keeping health for you and your chow. Balance is the key. Health is always a good choice and I commend you for taking the time for yourself and those you love.
Jennifer & Sheena
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Post by willowchow »

I did homecook for awhile and still go back to it sometimes.

I've got a great dog cookbook called Better Food for Dogs. The recipes are easy and use ingredients you'd probably have on hand or use anyway. They give charts so you can figure what supplements you need. It sounds complicated but it really wasn't.

The one thing you do need if you're using boneless meat is a calcium supplement. You an use bone meal or save your egg shells and grind them up. It's 1/2 tsp per lb of meat.

I rotate lots of different vitamins but one favorite that sticks out in my mind is Call of the Wild from Wysong. It's basically made to supplement homecooked and/or raw diets.
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Post by Victory »

I use Pitcairn's book as the guide for what I feed my chows for a number of years. And now there is a new edition out; Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats
Available at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157954 ... F8&s=books

What I like about this book is that it gives good basic info, such as: a dog needs this % protein, this % fat and this % carbohydrates in their diet, a cat needs...

Some simple recipies that you can alter to fit your own beliefs and life style with suggestions for substitues.

I normally use ground beef and ground turkey, make a stew with peas or green beans, carrots, squash, some garlic and serve it over over cooked rice. (I've found that the dogs do better when the grain products whether rice, pasta or other cereals are over cooked slightly compared to what you'd eat yourself. In other words, normall it's 1 cup of uncooked rice to 2 cups of water, for my dogs I add half a cup of water more) I do this because dogs don't chew their food, especially things like rice and so if the grains aren't already broken down some they may digest them proberly.

Add eggs, yogurt, vitamins and minerals and essential oils as you feel is warranted. Human grade is best.

The two chows I had who were on this diet the longest, MingToy lived to be almost 15, and LiChi was nearly 12, (he didn't have cancer!)

Totally Organic is best of course, but let's be real it's expensive, so top quality human is also okay. Of course this is also a matter of where you live. Here in the US, 4-D animals, (dead, dying, disabled, diseased) are not allowed into human food consumption, but are used for animal food. But this isn't true for all countries.

I highly recommend this book as it's stood the test of time and is a great IMHO introduction to holistic care for your pet. (Although I also advocate proper regular vet care as well) Most vets have no problems I've found with feeding home cooked meals. As long as the meals are proper nutritionally, and well balanced for the speicies. (you can't feed a dog and cat the same diet, the two have different nutritional needs)
Victory, Darkwind, (our angel), Firesong, and Dreamdancer
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Post by Juniper »

I volunteered my services to Dr. John E. Craige, a holistic, acupuncturist and homeopathic Vet in L.A., CA, in the late 80's until September '94 when he died. He was also my personal Vet to my cats. He and Dr. Pitcairn were friends and their philosophies were similar. Dr. Pitcairn's book is very informative and helpful.

The only opinion we both, Dr. Craige and I, did not believe in was the use of rice and grains on a daily or regular basis in the diet of animals, or humans for that matter. Grains cause inflammatory responses in the system which prevent healing. That's where the philosophy of the BARF diet makes a lot of sense.

The more improvements one makes in their chows or their own diet, to a closer all natural healthful diet, is better than just eating overcooked kibble or canned food.

Much health to all and their chows.
Jennifer & Sheena
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