My Philosophy and Recipes for Homemade Dog Food

I am actually pretty laid back about what I will feed my dogs in some ways or at least the way it sounds to others until you really think about it. 

Road Kill

I am 100% not out there picking up smashed raccoons and skunks off the side of the road. But many states allow for the salvaging of road kill (you may need to report it or fill out a form). When a deer, elk, moose, turkey, or bear is recently hit, many people will salvage them for themselves or for animals. We have done it ourselves when we hit a nice buck and only damaged a small portion of the meat. Let me tell you right now, my dogs would be darned happy with the smashed raccoon, I have seen them try to eat them before, but you can’t get a better quality meat than fresh venison for dog food. We keep an old freezer in the shed, and if we come across “dog food meat”, that’s where it goes. Don’t feel overwhelmed if you don’t know how to butcher, you literally just need chunks, the dogs don’t care if they get a perfectly cut filet minion. 

This needs to be cooked due to worm risk.

Organ Meats

These can be purchased at the store or even from butchers. We usually get ours from butchering ourselves and when we do send our animals out, we request the organs back. We use this sparingly because, for example, there is only on liver or one heart per animal. But they are also packed with nutrients. So we grind (hand or electric grinders can be used) or small chop the organs and put a little in each meal, or if I am bulk-producing dog food, I will mix it in with the rest.

Milk and Eggs

We have a milk cow and a ton of chickens. So there is always extra to go around. For dog food. They aren’t getting the fresh product. They are getting the milk that has soured (totally fine with raw milk, probably fine with pasteurized as long as it hasn’t molded). We also make a soured milk called clabber that is essentially a protein packed yogurt. With eggs, I will give them raw eggs or cooked eggs. If I am scrambling up some older eggs for the dogs, I will smash up the shells and cook those right in. They are great calcium.

Filler veggies

We have all heard the horror stories of using corn and wheat as fillers in dog food. Those are not my go-to’s, but I have used them before. We had a huge bag of whole wheat flour get weavels in it. I was not interested in wasting that much quality flour. I split it up between the dogs, chickens, and pigs. They don’t care about weavels, it’s just more protein and I have watched my dogs eat house flies for sport. Generally, though, my fillers are older potatoes, shriveled carrots, stale bags of dried peas or beans or whatever I have left over in the refrigerator.  We will always cook these items. They can have so many different fruits and vegetables that are great for them like blueberries, sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, and so much more! If you aren’t sure, just google it.

Leftovers

As mentioned before, our diet is pretty clean, so our leftovers are pretty clean as well. As long as our leftovers haven’t molded, I will happily feed them to dogs! Keep things out of the landfill and save money on commercial dog food. 

Freezer-burned or Thawed Meat

Clean out your freezer, offer to clean out a friends, or watch online for someone that had a freezer thaw and is offering up “dog food” meat. The thing is, we are always told not to thaw out meat and then refreeze it for our consumption. Dogs are not the same. Their stomachs can handle what we can’t and honestly, that rule is more of a suggestion for quality or risk of pathogen growth if it was left out for a long time. Consider grinding or small chopping for easier digestion.

Keep the protein on the property

This is one of my favorite mottos in choosing how to handle things on our homestead. We will always do our best to keep any and all protein on the property. Sometimes, this choice can look a little extreme, but trust me, it’s a better way of life. As an example, we catch mice in a life trap and then feed them to the chickens. We have great egg production! If we have a chicken, piglet, calf, or anything die of an injury and we know it is not contaminated, I will always feed that as dog food. There is no reason to waste that protein. It has been sad before when we lose a whole litter of piglets from the mom rolling over them. But that can also be 100 lbs of meat and quality organs for my dogs. The key is not to serve them whole. This teaches the dogs that piglets are food and that is never good on the farm. With livestock guardians, this can actually be traumatizing for them. Also, if you crack an egg while doing farm chores, I bet there is a dog ready and willing to handle that for you.