Nutrition I cook for my dogs. The history of how and why this began is at the bottom of the page. (Puppies are on kibble only, so that the transition into their new home will be smooth.) My opinions on nutrition are based on my experiences and the books I have read. I believe that nutrition has a direct and long lasting impact on the health of all beings whether they are human, canine, avian, or whatever. If you don't want to cook for your dogs, I completely understand. Everyone has to do what they have time for, what fits in their lives, and what they think is the best for their dog. I love to cook, and I feel I can give them better quality meals than what is in dog food, and I enjoy it. My dogs get one home cooked meal in the morning and dry kibble in the evening. Surprisingly the home cooked meal does not ruin their appetite for dry kibble. Actually I think the opposite is true. They aren't tired of the same old thing day after day and always dig right into the evening kibble. I do think that a poorly done home cooked diet is worse than straight kibble. Meals: Most meals are about half meat, half grain, with veges and fruit added to that. All of the books I have read mention the importance of a balanced calcium/phosphorous additive. I use a Pet-Cal tablet. I also add a Nu-Vet vitamin mineral supplement to cover anything I've missed. I also add fish oil to this for an extra shiny coat. This all sounds harder than it is. I usually make a big pot of something that lasts for about 4 days. Then each morning I scoop up breakfast and serve. The above breakfast is cooked hamburger, wild rice, mixed veges, and I had a little leftover applesauce that I threw in. Usual meats are chicken, beef, ground turkey, pork, tuna, salmon, eggs, any other meat. I cook all meats because the Frenchies get diarrhea from raw meats. Veges and fruits can be frozen veges, canned veges, canned pumpkin, a little V8, any veges leftover from family meals, applesauce, a little banana. Grains are usually wild rice, brown rice, oatmeal, or wheat bread. Typical recipes: Tuna, wheat bread, canned green beans. Chicken, pumpkin, oatmeal. Ground turkey, cooked brown rice, frozen carrots & peas. They love a meatloaf of a ground meat (beef or turkey), eggs, oatmeal, a vege baked in the oven for 45 mins. History of how the insanity began: I call it insanity because people think you are nuts to feed anything other than kibble and to spend time cooking for the K9s. My opinions about this have evolved because of various events and experiences. The beginning of this happened when I had to euthanize an 8-year-old Boston Terrier that I loved dearly. In her last few years she developed an eye condition that needed surgery. When reading about her condition the literature said it is often caused by a lack of a certain mineral. A year later this dog developed a heart condition and when reading the literature it cited that a cause can be lack of this same mineral that can cause the eye condition. I was shocked. I had always fed her one of the top brands and only the top brands of food, no table scraps. That's what they tell you is best for your dog, right? Four years later we decided to get a Standard Poodle. This gal was the one who introduced the idea of a home cooked diet for dogs. I read the book she recommended and began cooking for the poodle. I have since read a few other books and tried their recipes and different meat/grain/vege proportions. I have ended up with a blend of those books and what seems to work well for my three different breeds of dogs (Frenchie, Standard Poodle, Vizsla). When visiting a nursing home one Christmas with the Standard Poodle, the residents would remember their dogs and remark that their beloved dog lived to be 18 or 20, some very long life. When asked what they fed their dog, it was usally "table scraps." I have heard it said that we've ruined our dogs through breeding but I wonder if we haven't ruined them through commercial dog food....just my opinion. Books: Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD & Susan Hubble-Pitcairn Dogs, Diet, and Disease by Caroline Levin, RN The Nature of Animal Healing by Martin Goldstein, DVM Canine Nutrition & Breed Specific Diets by William Cusick