Fluffie’s Food
Jake and I currently feed our little, five pound, purebred Yorkshire Terrier, Fluffie, an anti-inflammatory diet using food made according to the recipe below because she has the beginning stages of arthritis, and I want to keep the inflammation in her joints as minimal as possible. After researching pet nutrition, specifically for Yorkies and other little dogs, I designed the food myself and have been feeding Fluffie this food for nine months! Check the recipe below to see what I feed Fluffie daily that has improved her digestion, arthritis, fur and skin quality, and mood!
What makes homemade food better?
Why feed Fluffie my homemade anti-inflammatory food instead of a store-bought and possibly veterinarian recommended brand?
Pet food is becoming a hot topic in the eco-friendly, natural lifestyle, and this is mostly because many commercial pet foods have poor quality control, inappropriate nutrition for pets, and are tied to multiple, alarming cases of pet illnesses and deaths. Jake and I first became aware of the dangers of pet food after watching the documentary called “Pet Fooled,” and I am ashamed to say that, before watching this documentary, I had never even considered the quality of the food we were feeding our pets.
Pet food from the superstore is the right thing to be feeding pets, right? No, in fact, the standard brands can be some of the worst options, even the brands with “good” ingredients and labels!
In addition, pet food production has very few regulations concerning packaging claims and hardly any quality control, and this is concerning because many diseases, parasites, toxins, and by-products easily make it into the pet food, which means our pets are consuming these contaminated foods. It is no wonder that many pets suffer from various diseases and parasites when they should not have otherwise been exposed!
Another issue with the pet food industry is the lack of actual nutritional benefit from the food. Many of the ingredients are fillers, grains, sugars, very poor quality meat– none of which are beneficial or healthy for our pets to be eating! Cats and dogs need quality, high fat meat, good omega 3’s, lot of vitamins, and certain proteins like, taurine, that are missing from many commercial pet food. Although dogs will not benefit from standard per food because of the low quality, cats, in particular, suffer from the standard kibble because standard cat kibble is mostly made from carbohydrates. Shockingly, cats do not have the enzyme, amylase, that digests carbohydrates! The standard kibble most cats are eating is nutritionally useless to a poor kitty.
Keep Learning!
When Jake and I learned all this information about the pet food industry, I immediately began researching how to feed my pets good, healthy, nutritious food, and this anti-inflammatory dog food recipe was created! It is no wonder that so many pets are ill and live short lives if they are eating such unhealthy, toxic foods.
However, I do not blame the pet owners! How can I when I was doing exactly the same thing less than a year ago? People need to be made more aware of the hazards of the pet food industry and they need to be instructed about raw, homemade pet food. It is super easy to make, and you can customize the food specifically for your pet, just like I did in the anti-inflammatory food for Fluffie!
If you are interested in more information on this topic, please check out the documentary I mentioned above and keep looking into more information– it will greatly benefit your pet!
I would love to see your thoughts on this post, so please comment or ask any questions! In addition, if you were inspired to put a picture on Instagram because of this post, tag me at #shalomhomestead!
Best wishes and shalom, friends!
- 2 lbs beef chuck, high fat, ground
- 4 cups or 2 (15oz) cans of sweet potato puree, unsweetened
- ½ cup oat flour
- 6 oz. frozen chopped spinach
- 6 oz. frozen broccoli, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger root
- ½ cup water
- 2 Tbsp wild caught salmon oil
- 4 capsules 400mg vitamin E
- 5 B-Complex 50mg capsules
- 1 tsp iodized low sodium salt
- 2 Tbsp dried parsley
- 4 Tbsp bonemeal
- 2 tsp hemp oil
- If the beef chuck is not ground, grind the beef before mixing with the other ingredients.
- Next, in a small skillet, cook the chopped spinach and broccoli, freshly grated ginger, and water until the water cooks out of the skillet. The greens should be soft and fragrant.
- After the greens are done, set aside the skillet to cool. The greens should be room temperature before they are mixed into the other ingredients because the heat could damage the vitamin powders being added to the food.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix very well. There should not be any clumps of meat, green, vitamins, etc.
- Once the dog food is completely mixed, carefully spoon the food into 1 oz. per cube ice cube trays until all the food is in the ice cube trays, about sixty 1 oz. cubes.
- Freeze the food overnight or until it is completely frozen, remove from the ice cube trays, and store in the freezer.
This is really useful, thanks.
You’re welcome! I am so glad this post is useful, Noble!
I am so glad this post is useful, Noble!
Helpful if you’re Chef Boy-ar-Dee !
Are you kidding? God bless you for
loving your dog that much but that’s
way too complicated…
Some people do love their dog that much! To each his own. Have a great day!
I would do anything to improve the life of my dogs and have them live longer. Thank you
Do you thaw out a certain amount at a time? How many cubes do you use per serving? Where do you get the vitamins to add? I have a little Yorkie too! Thanks!
Hi, Nina! Yes, I got myself in the habit of getting the next cubes out to thaw as I prepped the already thawed cubes. For example, I feed my Yorkie twice a day, and in the morning, I place dinner cubes in the fridge to thaw, and at dinner time, I place breakfast cubes in the fridge to thaw. I purchased all my vitamins from Amazon.com from the brand “NOW Foods.” The serving size depends upon how active your Yorkie is and their age, and the best way to figure it out is to see at what serving portion does your fur baby start to “plump up” and then to decrease the serving a little so that your Yorkie maintains weight. For my Yorkie, I feed one cube in the morning and one cube in the evening. However, if she played super hard that day or I noticed she is losing a bit of weight from cold or other circumstances, every so often, I give her two cubes at a meal. Hope this makes sense! Always happy to help!
So if I’m understanding this recipe properly you’re not actually cooking the meat – correct?
Thanks!
Tricia, yes, that is correct! I leave the meat raw, but if you prefer to handle cooked meat or think your dog prefers to eat cooked meat, by all means cook it!
Yes, Tricia, that is correct! I leave the meat raw, but if you prefer to handle cooked meat or think your dog prefers to eat cooked meat, by all means cook it!
what is the amount of food per body weight should be given to a 60 pound dog
Thank you for your question! My little, 5 pound Yorkie eats 1 oz twice a day. The recipe makes 60 oz of food, which is almost four pounds. I would estimate that your 60lb dog would need 12x more food than my little dog, based off the size increase from 5lbs to 60lbs. This would be about 12oz of food twice per day. However, I want to give a full disclosure that I have not tried to use this recipe to feed a larger dog as mine is so tiny. If you are interested in this subject, I would be happy to recommend resources to you and even help you to create a custom recipe for your dog! Best wishes to you!
Hi! I have an 85lb dog. Would love any resources you have to share!!
This is an amazing book, and I learned a bunch from it! This recipe here on my blog is for a tiny 5lb dog, so I would recommend using this book to get a recipe for a much larger dog! Hope it goes well!
https://www.amazon.com/Feed-Your-Best-Friend-Better/dp/1449409938/ref=sr_1_3?crid=24Z6GHQAC3BAX&dchild=1&keywords=homemade+pet+food&qid=1614034861&s=books&sprefix=homemade+pet+food%2Caps%2C178&sr=1-3
Thank God I found you ! I cant find any vet to help me feed my dog. One vet said to keep dog on same food after heart murmer was.detected. one vet told me just to feel any food without peas, lentils or potatoes of any kind. Cardiologist should have out a little more info. Noone helped me.with vitamins or supplements.
I’m so glad you found this recipe too! Keep me updated on how your sweet fur baby does with this food!
Hi,
I never leave comments, but coming across a vegan site that promotes eating animals I felt I really need to say something. If I understand correctly you are using beef here for your ‘pure-bred’ dog (I won’t go into the ethics on that but….look into reproductive exploitation of breeding and how many shelter dogs die to ‘create’ a pure-bred puppy).
But how is beef vegan? Finding the name ‘vegan herbalist living’ misleading considering the recipe includes the use of animals. Please consider looking into vegan alternatives also for your companion animal to reduce other animal suffering in the world, especially as a vegan.
Hi, Linda, thank you for your thoughts! I actually have an entire post explaining why I chose to feed my pets this way even though I follow a plant-based diet myself. However, since the creation of my blog, the tagline does not align with me anymore, and I am in the process of changing my blog’s name to a plant-based description instead of “vegan.” So, again, I appreciate your thoughts! Well wishes to you in this time.
My Maltese is only 7 yoa but has Poly Arthritis and a very sensitive tummy. He cannot tolerate Turkey and chicken only in the form of jerky or dehydrated breast no dark meat at all. I have learned thru trial & error and research about the poor quality of commercial dog foods and the extremely bad recommendations made by Veterinarians, probably the worst choices. I am anxious to try this recipe and I pray it works and that Extremely Finicky will eat it. I almost lost him last weekend so I am desperate to find the right food for him. Any additional information or advice you can give me would be very much appreciated.
Hi, Mickey! I so sorry to hear that about your Maltese! First, I am not a vet, so I can only share my personal experience with you and I ask that you research my suggestions for yourself. Please let me know how he does with this recipe! If your little one can’t handle meat well, perhaps it is time to look into a vegan dog diet of fruits, veggies, wholesome grains etc? V-dog is a really great brand option, or you can Google “vegan dog food recipes.” Lots of great recipe ideas come up!
I have two Yorkie’s, Bear And Bella. I am guilty of feeding them table food as I always worried they would still be hungry. I am going to make your recipe and feed them this and hope they like it. I have looked for nutritional food recipes. Thank you, I have found one from you
Wonderful! Let me know how Bella and Bear like the recipe!
Was wondering to change food for my yorkie, but after reading your post think that will do it myself:)Thanks for tips!
Fantastic! I hope your Yorkie loves the recipe!
I have a 70lb dog who I would love help makinga custom recipe
I only have experience making this recipe for my tiny 5lb dog, so I would recommend using this book to find a recipe for a much larger dog! It has a bunch of really great recipes and info.
https://www.amazon.com/Feed-Your-Best-Friend-Better/dp/1449409938/ref=sr_1_3?crid=24Z6GHQAC3BAX&dchild=1&keywords=homemade+pet+food&qid=1614034861&s=books&sprefix=homemade+pet+food%2Caps%2C178&sr=1-3
Don’t feed bone meal. A quick research into the production of bone meal will inevitably result in you looking for alternatives. Raw meaty bones are the best option to give your dog. If you want to increase the calcium in your dog’s food then dried, crushed eggshell is an excellent source. For a Yorkie I would recommend raw chicken or duck feet for him to chew on, they can also be fed frozen. These are an excellent source of bone, chondroitin and glucosamine which are hugely beneficial for arthritic dogs and they make the perfect teeth cleaners.
I had no idea about the bone meal. Thank you so much for this info! I am always learning how to care for my pets better. I am happy this comment will be available for readers to see this info too!
What per cent age beef fat? Would this be a good recipe for my one year old Yorkie?
This would be an awesome recipe for your Yorkie! My Yorkie loves it. Ground chuck beef has the highest percentage fat in my grocery store, 10-15% fat, but just choose the percentage available to you!