George Michael Eats: Homemade Dog Food

I recently learned that dogs that eat more whole foods and fresh foods live years longer. I love my dog so much and now that he's 12 years old and considered a senior dog, I worry about maintaining his health and happiness more and more. So, lately, I've been making him fresh food. He still has kibble for breakfast (I feel like the crunchy texture is good for keeping his teeth clean) but for dinner, he has a luxe homemade meal.

Ingredients:
30% protein (chicken livers, chicken gizzards & hearts, beef liver, ground turkey, salmon)
30% vegetables (carrots, celery, peas, zucchini, cucumber, spinach, kale, sweet potato, green beans, parsley, radish, cabbage)
20% grains (brown rice, quinoa, oats, barley, whole wheat pasta)
10% dairy (yogurt, cottage cheese)
5% fruit (blueberries, apple, pear, banana)
5% supplements (coconut oil, flaxseed, chia seed, peanut butter)

I make a slightly different batch of food each time depending on what vegetables look good or what protein is available in the store. And I'm not that strict about measuring but I eyeball the percentages I gave above and make sure there's a good mix of everything. The protein is cooked and ground up in a food processor to aid in making a more homogenous dog food.

My goal is to have a variety of vegetables so that the resulting mix is colorful and vibrant. That's how I want my meals to be (because I liken the rainbow of colors to a balanced meal) so I feel like my dog deserves the same.

As you can see, the mixes change from week to week. I usually end up making enough for a couple of containers and some end up in the freezer (labeled with the date and the type of protein) for future consumption.

The Wegmans near me sells seafood scraps, which they label as being great for stock, but the salmon scraps are awesome for GM.

I've been reusing these chicken liver containers for storing the food. I score it into four portions with a knife before it goes in the fridge or freezer. This makes portioning GM's meals much easier.

He loves this food so much, he gets overly excited whenever I walk over to his dish mat to pick up his bowl.

He always ends up loudly and aggressively digging into his meals and it makes me so happy. I think this fresh food has done wonders for his digestive health. He's always been a pretty mellow dog with good energy so I hope this food continues to keep him healthy and resilient.

xoxo.