Have You Wanted To Make Your Dog's Food

My dog’s blood work noted a lot of internal inflammation, even though he's taking anti-inflammatories. But he needs something else. The only option left is to make his food.

My dog had a food consult a few years ago. At the time, I never followed through with changing his food because he had so much going on. I wanted to wait until we exhausted all other options before committing to making his food.

The food consultation provided us with a recipe. We could make the food, and buy the supplements to add to the recipe. The problem was that the supplement cost ~$125 per month. Once you added the other ingredients, it would cost $300 per month to make my dog's food. That seemed too expensive!

After discussing with our holistic vet, she told me about BalanceIt.com. I used their autobalancer to input the ingredients of our recipe. The program converted the recipe to a large batch of food. And I bought the BalanceIt.com supplements and added the specified amount to the recipe. This created a much more affordable recipe at half the cost.

It took a few tries to get into a good rhythm when making the food. The first batch took me at least 2 hours to prepare. Now it takes me about an hour to make a few weeks of food.

Our recipe contains the following:

• Grassfed Beef - grassfed doesn’t cause an inflammatory response in the body
  Sweet Potatoes - excellent source of fiber and vitamins
• Vegetarian Omega-3 - great anti-inflammatory and supports brain function (if your dog isn’t allergic to fish oil, that is also a great source of Omega-3)
• Sunflower Oil - source of linoleic acid the supports healthy skin/coat and brain function
• Celery - excellent source of fiber, folate, potassium, manganese, and vitamins A, C, and K
• Spinach - source of vitamins A, B, C, and K. It also contains iron, antioxidants, beta-carotene, and fiber, which stimulate the digestive tract.
• Broccoli - great source of vitamins K and C, as well as being anti-inflammatory
• Cranberries - excellent for immune system and supports brain/kidney health
  Canned Pumpkin - source of fiber, iron, and potassium, as well as vitamins A, C, and E
• Blueberries - great for antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins C and K
• Balance It ® Canine Supplement

When making the food, cook the beef in the Instant Pot until half-cooked (some pink). Break up the beef into smaller pieces using a wooden spoon.

Add to the pot (along with the beef), the following:

• celery (diced)
• spinach
• broccoli
• cranberries
• blueberries

Cook for about 4 minutes.  

While the beef and other ingredients are cooking, prepare the sweet potatoes. Add shredded sweet potatoes in a skillet with water, and cook on med-high heat. This can take several minutes, and it won’t all fit into the Instant Pot unless making a smaller batch.

When cooking is complete, drain the grease from the beef mixture. Add the sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin, vegetarian Omega-3, and sunflower oil. Mix and store in the freezer until needed. Store smaller portions in the refrigerator but use within 3 days.

Do not add the Balance It ® canine supplement until you are ready to serve. Heating above 165F can kill vitamins/supplements.  

I like to heat up the refrigerated food by using warm water (~165F) poured over the food and mix. Then add the supplement and mix again. Serve to your dog and see how much they love their home-cooked meal.  

Making your dog’s food doesn’t have to be complicated. Using the BalanceIt.com website makes your own recipe is simple. Get creative making your own recipe or ask your vet to help you with the right combination. Your dog will love it!