As some of you know, during our stay in Bali we adopted a Bali dog, Kacang (means peanut in Bahasa) at about 10-11 weeks. From day 1 we have been making her home cooked meals, which is pretty typical in Bali, feeding dogs left-overs or boiled rice and chicken. It was a really big thing for me as a cook to make my own dog’s food, I just didn’t like the thought of only feeding her kibble.
So I did a lot of research into what dogs can eat and now we have a good number of dog friendly recipes to keep our little Kacang happy. We always cook these meals in big batches then portion them out according to how much to feed her. Sadly, there isn’t much information on exact amounts of homemade food or specific nutritionally balanced standards to feed your dog, but the most important thing you can do is monitor their weight, behavior and overall health and if there is anything out of wack see your vet. After monitoring our growing puppy’s weight and behavior it brought us to a ratio of 60% protein, 20% carbohydrate, and 20% vegetables. We do go heavier on the proteins often as it is should take up the majority of their nutrition. Here are some ingredients that we found to be very good for dogs and why! If you’re curious about the price comparison on this recipe, check out the breakdown here.
Lean Ground Beef: Great source of protein for dogs and also provides essential fatty acids like omega 6. Choose a leaner ground beef of 90% to avoid adding unnecessary calories.
Chicken Liver: High in protein and super rich in nutrients, liver is a great source of protein to add to your dogs meals. Use in small quantities as it is high in fat but also vitamin A, which helps with digestion as well as being very good for their coat, skin, muscles and vision.
Eggs: Another great source of protein and Vitamin A, eggs are a great treat to give to your fur buddy as well. Don’t forget the egg shells are one of those secret ingredients that work magic with your dog’s diet. It’s an awesome source of calcium which your dog needs a ton of for strong bones and teeth. So the next time you make eggs for yourself, save those egg shells to crush and mix in their food.
Brown Rice: Full of natural fiber, brown rice aids in a dog’s digestion and many commercial dog food contain brown rice.
Carrots: Carrots on their own can be a great chew snack and can improve your dogs dental health! Adding it to their meals is also a great source of Vitamin A, Potassium, and fiber. Its low calorie are great for obese dogs as well.
Green Beans: We like to add a little green beans from variety. They’re a good source of vitamin C, dietary fiber, folate, vitamin K.
Coconut Oil: Usually used for cooking, it can improve skin and digestions, up your dog’s energy level and also reduce allergic reactions.
Kacang’s Beef and Rice Meal
Materials
- 1 large pot
- 1 sturdy cooking utensil like a spoon or wooden spatula
Ingredients
- 6 lbs Lean 90/10 Ground Beef
- 1 lb Brown Rice – cooked (I like to cook this separate in a rice cooker, it makes life easier)
- 9 oz Chicken Liver Pieces – chopped
- 3 eggs with shell, 6oz of additional eggshell
- 12 oz Carrots – small dice
- 7 oz Green Beans – chopped
- 1 oz Coconut Oil
Guide:
- Heat your big pot to medium high heat and melt your coconut oil.
- Add in all the ground beef and liver and cook.
- When meat is about 90% done add in eggs with shell.
- Pro Tip: – a lot of recipes say to dry it then grind it up in a grinder and we think that’s pretty extra, add it to the mix then stir and go at it vigorously to mix it in. The rest of the time cooking your dogs meal keep in mind to just break up any shells you see that aren’t broken up. During our cooking process we do pretty well to crush them super small to where our dog won’t be getting cut from the shell.
- Add carrots and all vegetables to the mix and let it cook until soft.
- When vegetables are done, take off heat and mix in brown rice and let it cool before portioning.
- Alternately, you can add your uncooked rice the same time as the eggs and let them cook and steam covered before adding the rest.
Check out the price breakdown of this recipe here.
Tools Used To Make This Dish*
- Duxtop Portable Induction Cooktop
- Cutting Board: Boos Block Edge Grain
- Cuisinart Stainless Steel Pans
*I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Hi…perhaps you can help me. My lab is overweight …39kg and i need to put him on a diet….how can I work out the calories he needs?
Hi Lucy, we’re no experts, so we really recommend talking to your vet and figuring out the best plan for your lab. Likely, the plan will be to slowly change his diet in addition to getting him more active. Assuming you’re not giving him extra treats or food already, the easiest way would be to use a weight-loss oriented kibble as the main feed. If you’re making his food, that will take a lot more planning. You’ll want to lessen any extra fats or swap them for healthier fats (like instead of chicken fat, use coconut oil). You could also lessen the quantity you’re giving him slowly over time, so for the first week, just take out a spoonful or .5g less. Then the next week, again less a spoonful or .5g. Add more activities to his day. We were always told that there’s no exact science to dog nutrition, so the best you can do is keep an eye on his weight and energy level and stop the changes when he gets to a healthy place. Don’t do anything too drastic and just build on small changes. Best of luck!
We have plenty of eggs but do not want to use meat or liver. Can extra eggs be used instead? How about adding brewers yeast and or a vitamin supplement to compensate for the lack of meat.
Hi Keith! Thanks for your questions. We’re no experts so we recommend you discuss specifics with your vet first. Subbing a few eggs for liver is probably fine, but its not recommended to make eggs your main protein source as its higher in fats. We’ve read that lots of folks will use vitamin supplements in their dog foods, but we’ve never used them for Kacang. Can’t speak to the brewers yeast either. We prefer to use whole foods and keep things simple when making her food and pairing homecooked meals with some kibble helps us feel like she’s not missing out too much on anything important and any huge negatives will be, well, negated. So far, this has seemed to work really well for her. Sorry to not be of more help!