Commercial food? Homemade? Or maybe both!

[TheosMom]

my fellow Bully parents- I am new to the site and apologize if this has previously been discussed and is becoming redundant. I really love the idea of making homemade food for my 11 month old Theo but I'm worried he will not get all the nutrition he needs and/or not the right amounts. I have started my research here and appreciate any advice on switching to homemade. Theo is currently eating Orijen and has a loose stools issue that seems to be getting worse. We switched him from the Eukanuba the breeder gave him around 4-5 months ago. The vet said he would get use to it but he isn't. I understand now (after research) Orijen is a very rich food and many dogs of all breeds have this issue. Would I be able to cut the meal amount of Orijen in half and mix in my own homemade food? Or do one feed homemade and one dry food? Or should I give up the dry food completely!
I am also undecided on cooked or raw! I have much research to do before I start the process. Hopefully some of you can clue me in. Also, I have ordered a few books on the subject so hopefully I will be able to add knowledge by the end of this!

Thanks, Nicole

 

[2BullyMama]

i have tagged a few members that can give some advice.... best of luck.

 

[brutus77]

Hi, welcome to EBN. Home cooking is tough because as you stated, making sure Theo gets all correct amounts of nutrients could be tricky. I feed one of boys The Honest Kitchen. It is a prepared dehydrated raw food. I use the duck protein because he has severe allergies and he has never been healthier. Ear infections have disappeared, vomiting has stopped and no more interdigital cysts. I would recommend this food highly.

 

[nycbullymama]

This is a toughie. If you home cook, I believe you can mix it with the kibble but @calibaker can give you more info.

For raw, you shouldn't use it with cooked or kibble. You would also need to decide if you want to do it yourself, or buy it pre-packaged.

You should check out the home cooking, and raw forums here to get a better idea of how they work.

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/home-cooking-and-recipes-for-english-bulldogs/
http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/raw-feeding-for-english-bulldogs/

 

[bullmama]

[MENTION=14468]TheosMom[/MENTION]

I do home cook and mix kibble with it, and to make sure I was giving enough nutrients I started giving NuVet Plus (that is how I got started on my Nuvet kick), a lot of the time I was home cooking full time so I was like you being concerned that it would be a problem.

Sometimes I would mix half kibble, half home cooked

Sometimes I fed kibble for breakfast and home cooked for dinner

Some days all kibble, some days all home cooked.

Never seemed to cause any stomach woes, but I did also use jasmine or brown rice and boiled hamburger which helps bind the stool and is the staple of the bland diet. So since you are having a poo issue that may be exactly what type of base to use for your baby.