Homemade dog food recipes for senior dogs and those with medical issues aren't as difficult to make as I thought they would be. If you use my tips it doesn't even take that much time! Just a note - I am not a vet. This recipe was given to me by my vet to feed to my dog that has kidney failure. It is meant to be low protein. You should not feed this (or any new food) to your dog without talking to your vet first.
If you are following the Restless Chipotle Facebook page you already know that we had a serious issue with Cuddles, our pit bull (yes... Cuddles. If you have a pit you understand why that name, I'm sure).
We aren't sure how it happened but he got a bacterial infection and his kidneys began to shut down. He spent a week in doggie ICU -- refusing to eat.
When he got home he refused the special low-protein dog food and he just got thinner and thinner. It was time for some homemade dog food recipes!
I finally started making a dog food gruel that he would eat and he began to make a comeback.
It was a long, hard road! When I took him in for his check up and talked to the vet she gave me a recipe that she approved of. You see, although we have always fed our dogs premium dog food the protein was way too high for Cuddles now.
My vet explained that even our older dogs who were healthy should have less protein than before. She said dog food recipes for Cuddles had to be under 20 grams of protein but under 10 was better.
This recipe has 6.9% protein and Cuddles loves it. In fact, our older dog does, too. He is playing and jumping around like a puppy.
The other two (yes, we have four -- 2 yorkies that moved in when my husband and I got married and my old dog which is a long haired chihuaha mix-up, and then Cuddles) like the food as well so I mix it in with their dog food.
Cuddles is a rescue dog - both of my dogs are.
We found him under our porch one day. When my son coaxed him out we saw that his chest and shoulders were basically shredded. He had been used as a bait dog -- thrown in with pit bulls being trained to fight.
I am horrified to say that there is a lot of that in my area. Anyway, my son had been wanting a pit bull and praying for one -- who am I to argue with God?
We found him on a Saturday so of course there were no vets open. I wasn't sure if he wasn't going to need his leg amputated it was so bad.
Shreds of flesh and muscle infested with maggots. I had my husband and son hold him so I could clean the wounds with cotton swabs and a copious amount of peroxide.
I was nervous because here I was digging into this dog's wounds and he was a big dog with big teeth -- even if he was skinny.
That dog never even snapped at me. He looked it me with those big eyes and pushed at my hand with his nose. That was all. I
cleaned those wounds a couple times a day all weekend long and then to my vet.They kept him overnight, put him out, scrubbed a couple of pounds of mud and dried blood off of him, then fixed him up.
Tip
When you make homemade dog food recipes for senior dogs, and those with kidney failure, it's important to use the fattiest, cheapest ground beef you can find. You want more fat and less protein.
Totally the opposite of what I do when I'm making meatballs for us, for example.
I get a big chub pack and cook all of it up at once with the eggs that go in the recipe. Then I divide in in portions and freeze it. When I need another batch of food I thaw it and add the rest of the ingredients. So easy!
The recipe calls for boiled eggs but I crack raw eggs into the nearly cooked ground beef and then cover the pan until everything is cooked and the yolks are cooked through. Then I chop them into the ground beef.
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It's very important that you use a kitchen scale to make this and to serve it. It must be done by weight.
This is similar to the kitchen scale I use and it works really well.
Escali Glass Digital Kitchen Scale is thin and accurate plus easy to clean. Just remember to put your dogs bowl on the scale and zero the scale out before measuring in the food.
Measure everything very accurately and be sure not to make any substitutions or changes. The food should be refrigerated in an airtight container and eaten within three or four days.
Also - get a good canine multivitamin like (another affiliate link) Pet MD Multivitamin plus Minerals. This is extremely important because your food will not be enriched like the commercial foods are.
Update
I am sad to update this to say that Cuddles succumbed to his kidney disease but he lasted longer than the vet thought he would. His kidneys were just very weak.
We miss him terribly but within a few months two more pitties were at our kitchen door, starved and abused. We just couldn't resist Toby and Bisous.
Homemade Dog Food Recipes for Senior Dogs
Print Rate RecipeIngredients
- ¼ pound ground beef, (do not use lean)
- 2 cups cooked white rice, (no salt)
- 1 hard cooked egg, , peeled and chopped
- 3 slices white bread, , crumbled
- 1 teaspoon calcium carbonate, (blend a bottle of calcium carbonate in the blender until it's a powder then keep in a resealable plastic bag)
Instructions
- Cook the beef until it is cooked through.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix it well.
- Feed twice a day.
- Be sure to give your dog a vitamin supplement.
Notes
5 pounds feed ¼ pound
10 pounds feed ½ pound
20 pounds feed 1 pound
40 pounds feed 1 ½ pounds
60 pounds feed 2 pounds
80 pounds feed 2 ½ pounds
100 pounds feed 3 pounds
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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Barry Pasco says
I'm not a scientist and am confused how ground beef and hard boiled egg are a part of a low protien diet.
Now that I've began to look I'm amazed at the amount of protien in some of the treats I've fed my dogs.
Also some food items give a percentage while others list the amount of grams of protien. Is there a way to convert grams to %age?
Marye Audet says
It's not that they are low protein in and of themselves but mixed with the other ingredients the entire serving is lower in protein than ALL dry food and pretty much all canned foods too. Dogs need some protein... even when their kidneys are bad.
Loretta says
My vet gave me the same recipe. Should I add parsley cucumber or celery ? for veggies? This may help in giving some more moisture too.
Marye Audet says
Parsley would probably be a great idea! Be sure to check with your vet.
Eddy coggin says
Do you drain the fat off the meat??
Marye Audet says
Nope. I leave it all in there.
kelly says
nice site. sad story that ended wonderfully. I love pits. but I have rat terrier & jackhuahua. never met a dog I didnt love!
im bookmarking your site. lots of great info and its got a good vibe goin. thanks again
ps hug cuddles for me and say hi from az from mimi milo and me ???
Marye Audet says
🙂 thank you. Sadly, that was written over a year ago and Cuddles succumbed to the kidney failure in September.
Christina says
First of all you sound like an amazing mom for saving cuddles from what he had to go through. I have a 15 year old chihuahua and she is in the early stages of kidney failure. When I took her in for blood work in April a lot of her levels were high. The vet then put her on royal canin renal diet she soon stopped eating that so they switched her to hills k/d diet she ate that for a few days and stopped eating that as well. She went a day and a half without eating, So I took her in to see the vet because I was worried that something was wrong with her but I knew she was hungry. They ran blood test and all her levels were back to normal. The vet finally said to give her a homemade meal. Today is the first day I cooked this meal for my baby and she loved it, I pray to God she continues to eat this. I also pray that her levels stay normal with this homemade meal.
What brand of calcium do you use?
Sorry for the long post I hope I hear back from you soon!
Marye Audet says
Thanks Christina. I just use regular calcium from Walgreens. I am sorry to say that last week Cuddles went in to renal failure again and we couldn't pull him out of it and had to put him down.
Christina says
I am so so sorry to hear. Just know you gave him a better life, and he knows how much you and your family love him and cared for him.
How many mg of calcium did you buy 500mg or 600mg?
I just hope this recipe helps my baby girl because she can not stand the prescription food and I don't blame her.
Thanks for replying
Christina says
Hi again Marye, my dog has been on this diet since Monday but she is having diarrhea since then. Is this to be expected since there tummies aren't used to it?
Marye Audet says
Christina - talk to your vet. I think that's the safest thing to do.
Florence Cimino says
Did you do the subq fluids for him, it's vital in bringing down his values. They get very ill from it, though it is treatable. It looks as though they are going to die from it, but in reality it just upsets their tummies so badly it keeps them from wanting to eat along with vomiting. We had 2 dogs with this horrible disease, my husband administered the fluids himself and my 18 1/2 year old Chihuahuas values were off the charts. He went into a state of euphoria it was so bad. Well with continued fluids and kidney support vitamins his values went down to normal. He was amazing, he actually passed in 2012 on Xmas day in my arms and not from kidney failure. Thank you for the recipe, my 13 year old Chihuahua has just had her blood done and she's in the beginning stages of kidney disease... 30% of the kidneys are affected. I'm grateful for catching this early on, only due to getting her blood work every six months to check her organs because they age much quicker and these diseases are not usually caught until their at 70%. So I find early detection is the way to go. Keeping this illness at bay as much as possible.
Marye Audet says
yes we tried everything. I miss him a lot. :/
grace ulrey says
Thank you so much for this recipe and so sorry to hear about cuddles. my dog maddy is a 8 year old lab with no medical isues period exept now weve discovered she has a kidneystone. We discovered it too late she was already in kidney failure and with speacial pills, speacial dog food, and a bill of over 600 bucks we went home with a happy little girl but then she got worse at almost a month after the vet appoinment and when the vet look at her test results she was still in kidney failure which was common with labs but not ones who were only 8. the vet said no matter what we could do there ould be only 6 months at the most of life. she wont eat her dog food and lost a lot of weight so shes been on a steady diet of pizza crust and marshmellows and anything else fatty with no protein.
im going to be making this more and maybe adding stuff too it that she loves.
whats so funny abput dogs they just know the perfect way and time too die , my grandmas dog koda who was the best dog ever got diegnosed with diabetes in 2012 and last month he got very sick and passed away so with a crushed grandmother and grandfather who arodor maddy and 2 days after koda died and me telling my retierd nurse of a grandmother about her symtoms we too her to the vet. after listening to the vet tell me about maddy i was heart broken. i could only imajine what you went through with cuddles.
God Bless You and Your Family!
Marye Audet says
Awww.. Grace I am sorry. It is a hard thing to go through.