Only Home Cooked Meals

by Jeremy
(Lancaster PA)

We have a beautiful little Shih Tzu girl named Sophie. We started her on Blue Buffalo at 8 weeks old.

My wife and I already had a trip planned so we snuck her into our resort room when she was 10 weeks old. We couldn't leave her home or at a sitter at that age.

For our anniversary, we had a very expensive meal, which Sophie also enjoyed, Osso Buco (veal shanks) and the bone. Since that day, she refused the Blue Buffalo.

We immediately started feeding her low fat content raw burger which is her absolute favorite, home cooked chicken, never breaded, chicken livers, gizzards, hearts, beef hearts, which she loves. We cook her fresh green beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, spinach and potatoes.

Everything is steamed and unseasoned. She now eats 4.5 ounces twice a day. We have a small scale to weigh each portion to the gram and every meal has the same meat/veggie/starch ratio.

Sophie is now 5 months old and her health is superb. When we first brought her home, her nose was always runny, she snored loudly, her eyes gooped dark and thick, and she had a hard time going potty.

Now, her sinuses are clear, her fecal is better and non smelly, and her eyes only water normally and is light colored and more liquid than thick. Some say the raw is bad, some praise it, but she is happy, loved and healthy, and we won't change a thing about her diet.

She was the runt of the litter but now you would never know. She is not overweight at all and although to some blue buffalo may be the best dog food, nothing beats a good home cooked meal. If you have the time, which takes us about 4 hours to pack 3 weeks worth of meals, which we must warm up before she will eat it. After all, don't you warm up your meals?

Home Cooked Meals

by Aloha
(Honolulu, Hawaii)

We started with Beneful Dog Food for our dog. Then over time, he started to lose interest and hardly ate, which worried us.

We thought he could have been sick.

Then we started to prepare home-cooked food for our Shih Tzu, thinking we could give him tastier, yet still healthy, food.

He loves it but we are now concerned that just because he loves it does not mean the food choices we make are the best for health.

The advice and suggestions from other dog owners are many and vary so greatly that we're afraid we might be following the wrong suggestions.

It's scary to rely solely on other people's comments. But what choice do we have? I want to get him back on kibbles again with a little home-cooked food mixed in. Will the "wisest" and most successful Shih Tzu owners out there help us?

Our Shih Tzu is 9.4 lbs and 14 months old.

Which is the most well-balanced and most nutritious brand and type of kibbles should we feed him?
Is he a puppy or adult?
How much food per feeding?
How many times a day?

Thank you so much!