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Can my dogs eat only homemade food? What supplements do they need?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Female | spayed | 3 years and 5 months old | 63 lbs

We have stopped using canned dog food and now make a fresh mixture of peas, beans, carrots and sweet potatoes mixed with ground turkey, beef OR chicken. We would like to stop feeding them dry food all together. Can we do this and if so should we give them a doggie vitamin? we have a 3yr GS, 8yr GSP and 10 yr lab mix. thank you

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Rebecca, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 10th, 2017

It's great that you want to cook for your pups, but it can be very difficult to create a balanced diet at home. If you want to feed a strictly homemade diet I strongly recommend consulting a veterinary nutritionist to help formulate the diet. Or use a service such as Balance It to formulate a Balanced diet. Typically you may need a supplement but a general multivitamin may not cover deficiencies of a homemade diet. If you use a ration balancer you can know what may need to be supplemented. https://secure.balanceit.com/recipegenerator_ver4/index.php

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    Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on June 20th, 2018

    I really like this website - they have veterinary nutritionists on staff and can help formulate a balanced recipe based on the ingredients that you choose. They sell a ready made supplement that you can add to your ingredients. Be sure that you don't stray from the original recipe - small variations like substituting turkey for chicken can result in nutritional deficiencies. https://secure.balanceit.com/

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