High Protein Homemade Crock Pot Dog Food Recipe

Slow Cooker Cooking for Fur-Babies!

If you consider your furbaby is part of your family, feeding them well is part of your mission.  Many of the premium dog foods are excellent and we feed them, but adding a little extra for nutrition and “spoils” is always fun.  Thus, crock pot dog food is something that’s usually cooked and added to our regular purchased foods.

There are lots of calculations and considerations that go into feeding just homemade dog food.  I never have personally.  Not because I didn’t want to, simply because up ’til the last few years, we’ve been feeding 4 to 6 large dogs, for the last couple decades.  To feed that many pounds of dog homemade dog food would take a crockpot going 4 days a week.  So we opted to feed half commercial top-shelf and half homemade.

My Reasons for Making Slow Cooker Dog Food: Casey, Clyde, Connor, Jackson & Chance

Sadly, I only have one fur-baby remaining.  Her name is Casey.  She’s a 15-year-old Aussie with lots and lots of allergies.  She’s been through multiple surgeries, survived cancer and a horrible bout with sarcoptic mange as a puppy.  Those allergies are why my poor girl will never grow hair around her eyes.  She’s also mostly blind.  That’s why her eyes reflect so badly.  But she took the picture for me so I was happy :)

After everything she’s been through, I’m just glad she’s still around.  And I want to keep her that way as long as possible.  So she gets half top shelf dog food, half homemade crock pot dog food, a daily multivitamin, and supplements to help with her allergies and joints.

Should You Use Vitamins & Supplements?

Our dogs have also received supplements for years.  Both a daily vitamin and joint supplements as they age.  Casey gets vitamins that help with her allergies too.  There are an amazing array of dog vitamins and supplements you can use to help you furbaby.  It’s always worth looking into.If you decide to feed your pup straight homemade dog food, either using this crock pot dog food recipe or any other, please give them a daily supplement to go with it.  There are lots of vitamins and trace minerals all dogs need.  Those vary by age, weight and activity level too.  It is possible to get all the nutrients your dog needs in his homemade dog food, but it’s difficult and time-consuming.  Adding a daily multivitamin can greatly increase your pup’s life expectancy and ease a lot of worry for you too.

If you decide to feed your pup straight homemade dog food, either using this crock pot dog food recipe or any other, a supplemental multivitamin becomes all the more important.  There are lots of vitamins and trace minerals all dogs need.  Those vary by age, weight and activity level too.  It is possible to get all the nutrients your dog needs in his homemade dog food, but it’s difficult and time-consuming.  Adding a daily multivitamin can greatly increase your pup’s life expectancy and ease a lot of worry for you too.

Homemade Dog Food Calorie Calculations

Calculating for caloric needs, vitamins, nutrient ratios, and blah, blah…it all gets rather intense and complicated.  I google “basic dog requirements for homemade dog food” years ago when one of my other fur-babies was diagnosed with cancer.  Sadly, his cancer was too progressed and we weren’t able to save him.  I did learn a lot about feeding dogs with ailments in the process, though.

Sorry it’s blurry, I don’t have rights to modify it :(

I researched.  And researched.  And researched some more.  This chart from OSU.edu is a basic calorie requirement graph.  It’s decently easy to understand compared to a lot of others I found.  Basically, as you dog is more active, he needs more calories (that includes pregnant, lactating and working dogs double and triple).  As their weight and/or size increases, their caloric needs too.

This chart doesn’t discuss what you should be feeding though.  Dog’s need “x” amount of protein.  “X” depends again on activity, age, etc.

Almost all the sites I researched say 25 to 28% protein at a minimum.  Some say half your protein should be from meat and the other from another source like yogurt or eggs.  Some sites reference no grains, others say it’s mandatory.

If your dog is obese, breeding or ill, there are many more factors and dietary requirements to be considered as well.  OSU recommends using this calculator by Balance IT to find an optimal mix.

And their calculator is awesome too!  I just LOVE it.  BUT don’t always have time to use it so here’s a quick run-down.  Basically, and I DO mean basic…normal, healthy dogs need:

• 30 to 40% Protein
• 18 to 24% Fat
• Vitamins & Minerals
• Omega Fatty Acids

I’m not guessing about those figures.  It took a lot of research.  But, I’m also not a certified for anything with dogs.  I’ve just been raising and loving them for a couple decades and I’m passionate about the subject.

Again, if your dog isn’t healthy, has skin allergies (like my Casey), doesn’t have much energy or is needing to lose weight…those are all factors to consider.  The calculator at Balance IT covers those conditions and lots of others too.

High Iron Crock Pot Dog Food Recipe

This is the first of MANY crock pot dog food recipes I have.  I’ll add more to the list as I’m able.  This one is super high in iron and every critter, that includes the cat, that’s eaten it LOVES it!  It isn’t made for the cat, though.

Cats do not need grains.  Their nutritional needs are a LOT different than dogs (You can check that out using that same calculator I mentioned above).

This cat just happens to steal food from the mostly blind dog when she isn’t looking.

Word of Warning

One quick word of warning.  This crock pot dog food…or any cooked homemade dog food… looks absolutely nasty once it’s cooked.  It just looks plain gross!

As long as you can get past the icky looking results…be happy!  This stuff is great for your pup.  Again, it’s high iron.  The only meat source for this recipe is beef liver.  Dogs should not be fed this all the time.  It’s really too much iron for an everyday meal.  BUT it’s great if your pup is under the weather and needs an extra boost.

You probably won’t need all the recipe.  Just freeze it in quantity size baggies and get some out when you do.  They can have this particular recipe a couple times a week even if they aren’t ill, just not all the time.

High Iron Crock Pot Dog Food Ingredients

You’ll need:

• 2 pounds beef liver
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups broccoli
• 2 cups carrots
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 4 eggs

Crockpot Dog Food Directions

Toss in the meat, veggies and rice.  Cover and cook it all day or overnight.

Fyi…the liver stinks a bit cooking but it’s soooo worth how excited they are to smell it and know its for them :)

Here’s How It Looks After 8 Hours of Cooking…

And After You Stir It Up…Not Much Better But You Know It Isn’t Burnt :)

Serving & Freezing Your Homemade Crock Pot Dog Food

Now you can proceed a couple different ways.  You can add the eggs, oil and yogurt now or you can wait and add them when you’re ready to serve it.

You can freeze it all mixed up and ready to serve.  It will separate a bit a look odd.  But your pup isn’t going to care.  It doesn’t mess with the nutritional value either.  So freeze it if you like, it really doesn’t matter.

High Iron Crock Pot Dog Food Nutritional Breakdown

Figuring out how much of your creation to feed your critters is pretty easy.

1. Check out the chart above by OSU.edu for your dog’s caloric needs
2. Visit Calorie Count, input your ingredients and hit analyze.  Then adjust your number of serving to match the chart.

Do you make homemade dog food for your fur babies?  Want to share your recipe?  Shout out on the Facebook page and let us know.  And enjoy, ’cause this is another recipe that’ll rock your crock!

Print

Crock Pot Dog Food

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

8 hrs

Total Time

8 hrs 10 mins

 

You can add the yogurt, coconut oil and eggs at any time after cooking. They will look a bit odd if you freeze them, as the eggs and yogurt will seperate. It will not effect the taste or nutritional value. Reference appropriate website links and charts within Crock Pot Dog Food to check for correct quantities.

Author: SlowCookerKitchen.com

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef liver
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups broccoli
• 2 cups carrots
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 4 eggs

Instructions

1. Spray or oil the crockpot insert
2. Add the meat, vegetables and water to the crockpot
3. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours
4. Add the remaining ingredients before serving