My Springer Spaniel, Poot the Auction Hound, named so as he would often follow me around at auctions while I called bids, showed up with a plethora of allergies when he reached maturity. I am told that this adult onset of K-9 allergies is not uncommon. While he has some of the same allergies in common with his owner, like cats, grass & ragweed, he also has a few that are more unusual.
Poot is allergic to the fillers used in both dry & canned dog chows. Not only troublesome, but downright diabolical. Just detecting these allergies was a long a rather expensive process. Upon discovering the allergies, I of course immediately had him neutered. Luckily we had not at yet bred him, so at least the allergy wasn't passed on. This breed in particular should be held out of breeding until they are truly mature as these maladies usually do not show themselves until full maturity.
Of course the vet has a high priced, hypo allergenic chow, available only from them at a truly insulting price. $80.00 for a 20 lb sac is not uncommon. I don't know about you, but $4.00 a lb dog food wasn't in my future and putting the dog down seemed somewhat unreasonable. He was young and in otherwise good health and of course, he had bonded with me and was my constant companion.
I had a very expensive male cat once that had a similar issue with ash fillers from cat foods blocking his urethra. We fed that cat "home cooking" a few years until the condition was finally resolved by surgery. Unfortunately there is no surgical solution for Poot. After reading a few labels on hypo allergic chow and some other " fancy" - designer chows, I decided to give making my own dog food a shot. This is what I came up with.
1st, you need to get your hands on a good pressure cooker. I already had a high quality 5 liter model so that was a non -issue. A top quality, 5 liter Kuhn Ricon will run you about $180.00. There is also a larger model available. With a 5 liter, I need to make Poot chow about every 5 days.
Have on hand the following materials:
2 quarts of water
1 lb ground turkey
2 lb rice
4 oz barley
6 oz lentils
2 lbs frozen mixed vegetables
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil/bacon dripping or other fat.
1/2 dozen medium or small eggs
Directions are as follows: To the 2 quarts of water, add the 1 lb of ground turkey. Mix this well to break up the turkey. Bring gently to a boil over medium heat stirring occasionally. Due to the thickness of the bottom of a pressure cooker, the contents may burn easily if too high a heat is used.
While the turkey and water is coming to a boil - weigh the rice, barley and lentil into a common bowl or container. Add to pot stir thoroughly once water and turkey have come to a gentle boil -and apply the pressure cooker's lid.
Over medium heat, bring the cooker to the second ring on its pressure stem and remove from heat. Allow cooker to sit until completely cool. This can be a few hours or left over night.
In a separate pot, cover the 2 lbs of frozen mixed vegetables with water and bring to a boil cooking until tender; drain and set aside.
Once pressure cooker has cooled, empty contents into a large bowl or container for mixing. Add the cooked vegetables, the eggs and pour over the oil/fat, mixing well. I use the cover of a large Tupperware cake plate for mixing. My wife likes to mix it by hand while I use a large wooded fork.
This will yield about 4 1/2 well packed quarts of chow. Keep refrigerated. Recycled quart soup containers from the Chinese take out work fine for storage.
Purchasing tips: Most ingredients can be found at your local warehouse clubs or larger grocery chains. 50 lb bags of rice at cost less than $15.00, or less than 30 cents a lb., and you can eat it too. Investment in good quality large storage containers is a must.
The barley & lentils range about $1.00 a lb a larger grocery chains. Both are great sources fro complex carbs & protein. The frozen vegetables come in 5 lbs bag at just under $1.00 a lbs, and are included mostly for fiber and bulk.
The oil really helped his coat and raised the calorie content as did the raw egg. I have found Carolina brand ground turkey in 1 lbs plastic tubes really fit the bill. My local butcher carries it frozen for about $1.85 a lb.
At the end of the day, this cost about $5.00 a batch and a little time. Poot eats 1 quart, more than 2 lbs a day, at about a buck a day. While I keep a bag of the hypo allergenic chow on hand in the event that we are unable to get a batch made up, the cost of the vet exclusive chow and Poot's improved condition are strong motivators to stay a batch ahead.
Poot is now an elderly gentleman, 12 1/2 human years old and no longer accompanies me to auctions, preferring to snooze on the back porch. He still has some bad seasons from his other allergies that we need to treat, but the food allergy has not been an issue since I began feeding him this chow.
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