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  • Cooking For Your Dog?

    Cooking For your Pet?

    My friend has an elderly dog, Jasper, who was just diagnosed with diabetes. He's a sweet dog and my friend and her family adores him. I do too. Since he's been diagnosed my friend has been talking to me about not feeding him store bought dog food. She wants to cook for him. She tried to do it a while ago after there was that poisoning scare in commercial dog food. But now that he is diabetic she's really sure that her cooking for him is best.

    I know how hard it is to cook for a human diabetic, and I think that cooking for a dog who is ill might be harder. She also has a family to cook for at the same time. I really don't know much about dogs and I've told her to talk to her vet before she does anything.

    Does anymore here cook for their pet who have diabetes?

  • #2
    My mother works for a couple that has a diabetic cat and they actually make the cats food and treats I am not sure what diet the cat is on but I have seen the treat and they look like any other cats food but the cooked it.

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    • #3
      Homemade dog food

      A couple years ago I decided to try making my dogs food as he has food allergies. Well I thought I was doing a good thing having researched it and all..........until I noticed his ravenous appetite and white gums!!!! Thats when I went back to commercial foods. Since that time my dog has been diagnosed with diabetes. I dont know if I caused it with the homemade food or if he would have gotten it anyways. My point is that making your own dog food can hurt your pet unless one makes absolutely sure they also provide all the necessary vitamins, nutrients, etc. I have also spent alot of time researching pet foods and there are a lot of good pet foods out there if you learn how to read ingredient labels. Generally the best pet foods are not the ones you can just go pick up at your nearest box store.

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      • #4
        Cooking for your pet

        I totally agree. It is wonderful if you can cook for your pet. However, it is critical that you know what you are doing. There is a lot involved. Many holistic petstores are selling freeze dried foods and raw food. Raw food need extra precautions but look into freeze dried - it may be safer. Or speak to a holistic vet who can recommend a very high quality food that will be sure to have all the necessary ingredients/vitamins and minerals for the health of your pet.

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        • #5
          I use to cook for my dog but recently switched over to store bought food again.

          My dog Bender was diagnosed with diabetes back in 2007. It has been a very frustrating battle with food since then. Some thing that has even stumped my Vet.

          I had Bender on Hills Science Diet Adult. Good food but bad for diabetics.

          My vet recommended Hills Science Diet W/D. Which was better dropped his blood sugar from 500s to 300s right off the bat. It costs a lot ($60/30lbs). But it wasn't enough and his diabetes slow got worse to manage. Eventually he was getting 37 units of Vetsulin on a u100 needle twice a day. Way too much.

          I looked at other commercial brands but didn't find any thing better, cheaper, and readily available. So I started cooking his food.

          I did a lot of research because what is good for humans isn't always good for dogs. Such as Garlic and onions. Very bad for Dogs! Raw meat is also a no no!

          I ended up after a few months of tweaking feeding Bender this...

          I would make a 40-45 day amount each time.
          Per batch which would give me about 10-12 days worth
          48oz/3lbs of cooked chicken breast (no bone) - about 4lbs of raw chicken
          64oz of brown rice
          4oz of oats
          16oz of carrots
          64oz of broccoli
          30oz of black beans
          32oz of green beans
          1 hard boiled egg per meal
          12 scrambled eggs
          1oz of oil
          1 calcium and vitamin tablet a day (Pettabs)

          That should equal out to 3.2-3.5 cups per meal.
          Cook the chicken on the grill or broil it in the oven.
          The rest if fresh/frozen, I only use canned Black beans.

          I would food process every thing so it would be cut up into about rice to small pea sized pieces.

          I would package each meal in a container and freeze it. I bought a chest freezer.

          Making a 45 day batch of food would take about 8 hours between cooking the chicken, mixing it, packing it, and clean up. It would also fill my 7cu ft freezer.


          My vet was ok with the food. But we were never sure if this was the best recipe for Bender. And after a few months I noticed weight lose. Plus he wasn't digesting every thing.

          The amount of insulin I was giving Bender dropped to 22 units. Then switched him over to ReliOn N which is the same price as Vetsulin. And he dropped down to 11 units.

          But the cost was starting to get around $80-90. Even with buying every thing where ever it was the cheapest but still quality.

          For that price I knew I could find a high quality food I wouldn't have to mess with.

          Making food is a lot of work and planning. You have to make sure you have food on hand at all times. You have to be consistent. I'd make the 45 day supply but I'd never have less than a weeks worth of made up food just in case some thing happened and I can't make food. I'd at least have a week to make another 45 day supply.


          After 10 months of making Bender's food I decided to look up commercial foods again.


          Basically any major commercial brand regular dog food isn't going to be good for your diabetic dog. They use a lot of fillers like corn and rice which have a lot of sugar.

          I look at specialty brands and specific formula types. Out of all the ones I looked at it came down to two kinds.

          Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight
          Blue Buffalo Chicken & Brown Rice Adult Dog Food

          Both were really good food but I went with Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight (chicken) because it had better ingredients for a diabetic dog and it was all natural with natural preservatives.

          Bender has been on the food for about a month now. His sugar is slightly higher than on a home made food diet but well within normal range (100-200). And he is still getting only 11 units.


          With home made food the worst part is making sure your dog gets the best nutrition, the preparation and consistency.

          I would seriously look at some of the higher end dog foods. For what you will spend on fresh food and the time an effort you can find some awesome good dog food.

          Best of Luck.

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          • #6
            Dog vs Cat food for diabetes

            Lucky Bender! Have you considered raw food? or at least speaking with a holistic vet about possibilities?

            As far as catfood vs dogfood.....I've had cats in my life (and only enjoy dogs from afar!) but cats can eat protein and no grains but dogs can't. I believe they need the grains. A diabetic diet for cats may be a bit simpler since there are many foods, Natural Balance is the one I use, that has limited ingredients: Duck and Pea (for example). The peas would be the only carb in the diet.

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            • #7
              Bender would get raw veggies and fruit but NEVER EVER raw meat. I'm not fond of the raw meat diet. Too many bacteria and parasite issues that can cause problems.


              I'm not sure what dogs require vs cats. I do know cats need taurine. Dogs produce it on their own but cats don't. If they don't get enough of it they can have heart problems and/or go blind.

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              • #8
                Cooking for your pet is such a big committment especially if its diabetic. I recently changed my dog Callahans food to Canidea lamb and rice. There was such a drastic drop in his glucose levels.......he went from being in the 300-400's down to between 100-200 daily now. All I can say is there must have been alot of "junk" in the other food. Canidae makes hypo allergenic food for dogs with allergies but it seems to helps his diabetes too. He continues to recieve 22 Units of Humulin everyday twice a day and his over all health and coat is looking good. Oh yea......Red Dogs Rule!!

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