Making Your Own Cat and Dog Food

Dr. Michael Fox's Homemade 'Natural'
Dietary Supplement for Dogs

2 cups uncooked whole grain rice (or barley, rolled oats, or pasta noodles)
Pinch of salt
1 T. vegetable oil (flax seed oil* or safflower oil)
1 T. wheat germ
1 T. cider vinegar
1 t. brewer's yeast
1 t. calcium carbonate/citrate/ or lactate
1 t. dried kelp
1 lb. lean hamburger, or ground lamb, mutton, or one whole chicken or half of a small turkey.

Combine all above ingredients. Add water to cover ingredients, simmer, stir, and add more water as needed until cooked. De-bone chicken parts and do not feed cooked bones since they can splinter and cause internal injury. The recipe should be thick to be molded into patties (add oat bran or meal to help thicken). Mix well into the stew while it is still very hot, a cup full of raw, grated carrots, sweet potato or yam. Serve 1 cup full of this recipe for a 30 lb. dog with the rest of his/her rations, and freeze the rest into patties and store in the freezer. Serve thawed, or frozen to gnaw on outdoors in hot weather.

For variation, you can use cottage cheese, plus well-cooked lentils, chick peas (garbanzo beans), lima beans or other pulses, or a dozen eggs as meat alternatives. Don’t forget, lightly cooked, or if organically certified, raw calf and beef liver, heart and kidneys are good sources of animal protein and other essential nutrients. All pet food ingredients, ideally, should be organically certified. (Note: some dogs are allergic or hypersensitive to some foods, especially soy, beef, eggs, wheat and dairy products.).

T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon

* Add flax seed oil after the cooked food has cooled down to room temperature. *** Also give the dog a daily multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplement, such as Pfizer’s Pet Tabs, or a good quality human ‘one –a day’ supplement equivalent, crushed up in the food, calculating one half of the human daily dose for a 50 lb dog.

For dogs under 30 lb, and for over-weight and less active dogs, use 1 cup of uncooked rice in the recipe.

--THE ABOVE RECIPE CAN ALSO BE FED AS A COMPLETE MEAL RATHER THAN AS A SUPPLEMENT.---MIX INCREASING AMOUNTS OF YOUR DOG’S NEW FOOD WITH DECREASING AMOUNTS OF THE OLD FOOD OVER A 7-DAY PERIOD TO ENABLE ADAPTIATION AND AVOID POSSIBLE DIGESTIVE UPSET.--- IT IS ADVISABLE TO VARY THE BASIC INGREDIENTS TO PROVIDE VARIETY AND TO AVOID POSSIBLE NUTRITIONAL IMBALANCES, AND TO MONITOR THE ANIMAL'S BODY CONDITION SO AS TO AVOID EITHER OVER-FEEDING OR UNDER-FEEDING, BASED ON THE AVERAGE DOG CONSUMING ONE CUPFULL OF THE FOOD TWICE DAILY PER 30 POUNDS BODY WEIGHT.

--NOTE: DIFFERENT ANIMALS HAVE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT NUTRITIONAL NEEDS ACCORDING TO AGE, TEMPERAMENT, AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH STATUS.*** Large dogs require less food per pound body weight, so adjust according to appetite and weight gain, and especially if deep-chested and prone to bloat, give 3-4 smaller meals per day.***

Keep teeth clean by getting dogs, especially toy breeds, used to a daily brushing. The best and safest natural tooth-cleaner is a raw, scalded (to kill off bacteria) 3-4 inch piece of beef shank/soup/marrow bone.

Home-prepared foods for our animal companions, ideally with organic ingredients that were locally produced, are important because you then know what your animal is being fed if a food-related health problem such as an allergy to a particular ingredient or digestive upset were to arise. With most processed commercial pet foods containing all kinds of human food-industry by-products and ingredients considered unfit/unsafe for human consumption, many of questionable nutritional value after repeated processing, you just don’t know. Aside from coloring agents that may cause problems other than saliva-staining of animals’ faces, and paws, most commercial pet foods contain artificial preservatives like BHA that is linked with cancer of the bladder and stomach; BHT that may cause cancer of the bladder and thyroid gland; and Ethoxyquin, one of Monsanto’s many allegedly harmful products that renderers (meat and poultry processors) add to the fat/tallow that is put into pet foods to prevent rancidity. Ethoxyquin is a recognized hazardous chemical, a highly toxic pesticide. Most pet food manufacturers have recently phased out using BHA and BHT and now use ‘mixed tocopherols’ (a claimed source or form of vitamin E), citric acid, beta-carotene and Rosemary extract as preservatives.

For more information on holistic dog care, see my book The Healing Touch for Dogs. New Market Press, NY, and for health related food industry concerns that affect us all, see my book Eating With Conscience: The Bioethics of Food, New Sage Press, Troutdale, OR

My latest book on dogs is entitled DOG BODY, DOG MIND: EXPLORING CANINE CONSCIOUSNESS AND TOTAL WELL-BEING, published by The Lyons Press.

Dr. Michael Fox's Homemade 'Natural'
Dietary Supplement for Cats

1/2 cup of peas, chick peas or lentils
Pinch of salt
1 T. vegetable oil (flax seed oil* or safflower oil)
1 T. wheat germ
1 T. cider vinegar
1 T. chopped canned clams in juice
1 t. nutritional yeast*
1 t. dried kelp*
1 t. calcium lactate/citrate/ or carbonate supplement*
1 whole chicken cut in pieces,
or 1 lb. hamburger (not too lean), or ground lamb, or turkey.

1 cup chopped chicken hearts and gizzards.

Combine all above ingredients. Add water to cover all ingredients, simmer and stir, and add more water as needed until cooked and thickened. Stew should be thickened enough to be molded into medium-sized or muffin-size patties (add a little oat meal or bran to thicken if needed). Also, add an egg or cup of cottage cheese. Immediately after cooking and cooling, de-bone and discard bones (cats should not be given cooked bones to eat since they can splinter and cause internal damage). This stew can be served as: 1/2 cup full for a cat with the rest of his/her rations. Freeze the rest of the stew as patties, or in muffin trays, and thaw out as needed. Serve one patty to a cat about three times per week with regular rations.

For variation, substitute 1 pound lightly cooked boneless fish, or mix equal parts of ground or chopped pieces of calf heart, kidney and liver. (NOTE: some cats are allergic to fish, corn, and also to beef and dairy products).

· * These items are available in health food stores. Ideally, all ingredients should be Organically Certified.

· NOTE: Add flax seed oil after the cooked food has cooled to room temperature.

**** In addition, give 4-6 DROPS of fish oil once a day.****

A daily multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplement is also advisable, and one that also supplies essential amino acids and is recommended by feline vets is called Platinum Performance Feline Wellness. At a pinch, crush up one human a ‘one-a day’ complete multi-vitamin. & mineral supplement and put light sprinkling (about one-tenth or less)

On the cat’s food at one of the daily feedings.

T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon

--THE ABOVE RECIPE CAN ALSO BE FED AS A COMPLETE MEAL RATHER THAN AS A SUPPLEMENT.--MIX INCREASING AMOUNTS OF YOUR CAT’S NEW FOOD WITH DECREASING AMOUNTS OF THE OLD FOOD OVER A 7-DAY PERIOD TO AVOID POSSIBLE DIGESTIVE UPSET.--- IT IS ADVISABLE TO VARY THE BASIC INGREDIENTS TO PROVIDE VARIETY AND TO AVOID POSSIBLE NUTRITIONAL IMBALANCES, AND TO MONITOR THE ANIMAL'S BODY CONDITION SO AS TO AVOID EITHER OVER-FEEDING OR UNDER-FEEDING, BASED ON THE AVERAGE CAT CONSUMING ONE THIRD OF A CUPFULL THREE OR FOUR TIMES A DAY.

--NOTE: DIFFERENT ANIMALS HAVE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT NUTRITIONAL NEEDS ACCORDING TO AGE, TEMPERAMENT, AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH STATUS).

Keep teeth clean by giving a scalded (to kill bacteria) raw chicken wing tip with skin on it for your cat to chew every 3-4 days, or thin strips of scalded raw beef heart or shank meat—the tougher the better! Avoid addictive and potentially harmful dry foods that do little to keep teeth clean.

For more information on holistic cat care, see my books The Healing Touch for Cats published by New Market Press, NY. and for food industry concerns that affect us all, see my book, Eating With Conscience: The Bioethics of Food. New Sage Press, Troutdale, OR.

My latest book on cats entitled CAT BODY CAT MIND: EXPLORING FELINE CONSCIOUSNESS AND TOTAL WELL-BEING will shortly be published by The Lyons Press.

Dr. Michael W. Fox