The secret to homecooking a plant-based diet, is to make sure that everything is well cooked and blended. Dogs have shorter digestive tracts than we do and they do not chew their food like we do – some owners describe their dogs as ‘hoovering’ their food! For this reason, by blending everything, it ensures that your dog can get the maximum nutrition from the food.

It is possible to bake most of our recipes which is better for fussier dogs as it gives them something to bite into and it makes the food tastier. See the video below that shows the baking stage –

The Just be Kind supplement must not be added to the cooking or even the hot food as this destroys the valuable vitamins.

Always add the supplement at the end along with the oil and fresh herbs to make a ‘nutrient rich icing’ that you either mix into the cooled cooked food, or add it as a topping or as a filler if making ‘sandwiches’ with the baked food. We advise batch cooking to make it easy and practical for you to feed plant-based homemade long term.

It is so important when homecooking for your dog, to weigh all the ingredients (once we send you the tailormade quantities for your dog) and get the balance just right as every weight of dog has a different requirement. The reason for this is that a Chihuahua has a much greater surface area than a Great Dane for example, so this means a higher protein requirement (as a higher surface area means more protein-requiring fur).

Together with the a top vet nutritionist in Germany, we have done all the calculations for you. Just follow our family recipes and use the correct amount of supplement, and you will have certainty that you are feeding a 100% balanced plant-based and highly nutritious (and delicious!) home-cooked diet.

Absolutely and it will make the homemade food last longer. The quantities you are weighing will be the same, but if half the daily ration is made of dry biscuits mixed into the homemade food, it will last twice as long.

We do advise using the top recommended and balanced dry foods – TRY SAMPLES OF THE TOP FOODS

Where the vegetables are grouped together in the measurements we send; the weight is for all the vegetables weighed together. Remove any woody stems of the kale so that more of the leafy foliage (full of nutrients) is used. Remove the skin of the sweet potato prior to cooking.

We advise using these Vegetology Algae oil capsules that complement our JUST BE KIND supplement perfectly! They are human grade and contain the highest and purest form of the essential Omega 3 EPA. As they are ‘human capsules’ (you can benefit from them too:), they do not carry the heftier price tag when marketed for our pets….and they are completely safe for our pets!

We agree that for us to boil all our food together for so long does seem contra-indicated as all the important nutrients may be lost. It is very different in our dogs as they cannot fully absorb the nutrients unless everything is well cooked and carefully mashed or blended.

Dogs do not chew their food as we do, they instinctively gulp their food, so the digestive process only starts in the stomach and intestines. Their intestinal tract is shorter than ours so they need everything already broken down to be able to absorb all the amino acids and nutrients from the food (or you will spot whole seeds or peas coming out the other end!)

By adding in the oats, or millet, or polenta to the remaining nutrient rich broth; we ensure that no nutrient rich water gets thrown away – some dogs will even drink the broth quite happily without the addition of the oats. It is worth keeping some broth and freezing it for emergencies as this broth is ideal for any dogs suffering from a tummy bug or recovering from an anaesthetic. The vegetables used are soothing and cleansing to their digestive tract.

Sunflower oil (or rapeseed oil) has the highest amount of linoleic acid that is essential to our dogs so it is the oil of choice for your dog to obtain their vital Omega 6’s. Our recipes also use sesame oil and linseed (same as flaxseed oil) also for their high Omega 6 content, and dogs find sesame oil particularly palatable!

We advise cooking in batches for dogs that are of similar weights  – cook for them together and if you have a number of small dogs, cook for them separately to the large dogs. We appreciate that it will not be 100% accurate, but makes it more manageable for you with a number of dogs.