Canine Casserole is a healthy homemade blend of beef, veggies, and brown rice. This easy make-ahead doggy dinner can be frozen in small containers or ziplock bags.
There are a number of reasons, besides the expense that one might choose to make their own pet food. We chose this recipe because our dog was constantly getting sick and his liver enzymes were through the roof while he was on a (Major) Name brand puppy chow.
We were concerned that his liver would fail if we continued feeding him the expensive chow and decided to stop cold turkey and start making his food ourselves.
Within 4 weeks his enzymes returned to normal. To see if it was a fluke we started adding back in 1/2 c. of the puppy chow we’d been feeding him and within a few days, once again, his vet tests showed that his enzymes had spiked. This time, we just threw out the entire bag of that overpriced crap.
Casserole for Canines
You’ll Need:
2 c. brown rice, cooked
1/2 c. finely chopped steamed carrots
1/2 c. finely chopped steamed broccoli
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 lb ground chuck (or venison or ground turkey)
1 garlic clove, crushed
Sauté garlic in oil in good size frying pan, add ground beef until cook well. Add remaining ingredients, stir to combine flavors, cool. Serve cooled & refrigerate leftovers (My dog asks… “What Leftovers???!”)
You can make this grain-free by switching out the rice for diced cooked sweet potatoes. For most homemade dog food recipes, we generally feed our dogs about 1/2-3/4 of a cup of food for every 25 pounds of body weight. They get fed twice daily.
Busy Mom’s Canine Casserole Recipe
1/2 lb. browned ground beef
1 cup cooked jasmine rice
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp. ground flax seed
1/2 tbsp. bone meal
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. black pepper
In a large skillet, bring the olive oil to medium heat and brown the garlic. Add the cooked ground beef, peas, spices, two cups of water, and stir. Sauté for 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rice. Add the flaxseed and bone meal stirring to incorporate. Serve your dog the food when it is cool.
Nutritional Information: Serving Size: 1/2 cup Calories: 204 Sugar: .7 g Sodium: 33 mg Fat: 4.1 g Carbohydrates: 26.6 g Fiber: 2.3 g Protein: 14 g Cholesterol: 34 mg
A Note about Garlic:
Now, before you bombard me with emails saying how Garlic is bad for your dog, please note that Garlic is safe in doses of 1/2 clove per 10 pounds of body weight, in short, your dog would have to eat a MASSIVE amount of garlic to cause health issues and if your vet claims otherwise, it might be worthwhile to seek out a better vet with updated information. Onions, on the other hand, are extremely dangerous to the health of your dog!
Sources on Garlic Safety for Dogs
- Holistic Pet Healthcare
- Dogs Naturally Magazine
- Pet Remedy ChartsCanstock/Colecanstock
We also feed our dogs garlic occasionally, I had one vet that flipped out on us for it and another vet tell us that we SHOULD feed her garlic. It completely depends on the vet and their own personal thoughts and has little to nothing to do with the science of it I think. lol
We use garlic to prevent fleas and ticks and it helps a lot. I’m leery about using certain flea repellent products with it though, worried about possible chemical interactions, so we mostly use garlic and brewers yeast.
How much if this mixture do you feed your dog?