I get so many requests to share how I got into feeding home made food to my dog Violet, and how I actually do it.  In the beginning it was a bit of a complicated routine, but over the years I figured out what parts of the process I could let go of and still have a happy healthy dog. *This article is long, so if you are just curious about what I feed her just scroll to the bottom*

This topic is so near and dear to my heart.  Mostly because the star of the show is my beloved canine BFF Violet, and also because elaborating on the concept that food IS medicine is a passion of mine.

I am going to take this article as an opportunity to also share the story of Violet and me.  It’s a very special story, one I wanted to write before she wasn’t actually lying next me as I wrote it.  You see, Violet is 21 years old.  I credit her longevity (not only her longevity, but how WELL she has aged) to her diet by about 90%.  The other 10% is a combination of her genetics, being terribly spoiled, and her own amazing spirit.  She very dedicated to her job (me), and has been my constant shadow for the past 15 years.

Beautiful Violet, after eating her dinner! I believe she is 12 in this picture. Perfect teeth, vision, hearing. Still very athletic, chasing the tennis ball and wrestling with other dogs.

When I worked as a veterinary technician as a teenager, I hated the dog food the clinics sold- Science Diet.  The ingredient list was ridiculous, and it went against my common sense about nutrition and food.  The concept of this food was a feat of marketing genius.  And in my opinion, it was the furthest thing from what unhealthy dogs and cats needed to thrive.  A dog with tarter on it’s teeth does not an extra large, extra hard piece of kibble to “scrape” the tartar off it’s teeth.  That dog need to stop eating grain which turns to sugar in it mouth and then feeds the bacteria prompting tartar to grow.  It was maddening to have to tell people about this food and sell it to them, but I had no authority to tell them anything different.  I felt the same way about annual vaccine clinics, but that’s another article one day…

So here is the Story of Violet, and how I came to feed my dog raw meat:

Fifteen years ago I began working as a personal assistant for the owner of a small company that was run out of a home in the hills of Santa Susana Pass in Chatsworth, Ca.  At the time it was my dream job, my duties included calling winners of radio giveaway prizes and coordinating pick-up/ execution of said prizes (fun!), shopping for my boss (fun!), house sitting (super fun!), and caring for her animal menagerie, which included several cats, two big dogs, a parrot, and two beautiful horses who lived on the property (maximum amount of fun!).

My boss had been in this home for about two months.  One evening I had to take out some of the trash.  The house I worked in was built on the side of a hill, and the neighbors house was at the bottom of the hill to the right.  The neighbors house was very different from the mini-mansion in which I worked.  There were broken down cars, random junk, junk covered by tarps…and 4 loose dogs.  And our trashcans were across from this house.  My boss and I had heard the man who lived there abusing the dogs on two occasions.  Needless to say, I was nervous to go down there, and as I began unlocking the gate all four dogs rushed to the other side, barking at me.  I had worked as a veterinary technician for a while, and I sensed these dogs were more talk than action, but I wasn’t sure.  I could also see the poor condition these dogs were in- matted fur, hot spots…all greasy and filthy from laying under the cars.

The owner was home, and he came out to call the dogs away.  Or, more accurately, kick the dogs away, while cursing at them.  I played it cool, and he was very amicable to me.  I made conversation, asking him what his dogs names were.  He proceeded to tell me the two female dogs were pregnant, due any day.  Since female dogs are a hassle, and he didn’t want any more dogs period, he was going to put the puppies in a trash bag and leave it in the sun at the nearby park to kill them.  Yes, he said that to my face.  My mind raced- I had no idea what to say. My heart was pounding.  I stammered that, yes, that’s one way to handle it, b-b-but I have a lot of veterinary connections and could place the puppies for him and spay the females for free.  The seconds passed like hours.

He looked at me and said I must be an angel.  I had no idea how to respond to that, so I just told him I would be back the next day.  I ran back up the hill to tell my boss what had transpired.  Bless her heart, she sprang into action, outraged by what this man had said.  She called two men to come over the next morning to build a pen on her property for the two dogs and their imminent puppies.

When I arrived the next morning, the pen was being built.  She gave me some money, and I ran out to buy dog food, puppy formula just in case, and two large dog houses and big beds.  That evening, we went down to bring the girls over.  Well, the puppies had arrived!  And thank goodness the man had not interfered.  One of the females, Marvel, a black lab mix, was very happy and easy to bring over.  She was barely 2 years old herself, and had birthed only 4 puppies.  The other female, Seminole, a 6 year old Bearded Collie/ Sheepdog mix, had birthed 8 puppies (the owner informed he this was her third litter.  In her litter before this one he said she only had 2 puppies and killed them both).  She was not friendly.  She was the one her owner hated the most, and I had witnessed him hitting and kicking her.  She had no trust in humans and would not make eye contact.

The black lab came right onto our property with no concern for her puppies.  Seminole, the collie mix, was desperately trying to hide the puppies from us by shoving them under a car.  The owner took a length of hose, wrapped it around her neck, and held her back as we brought the puppies into the dog house in our pen.  It took all our self control not to lose it on this abusive man, we just whispered to each other that it was almost over.  Finally all the puppies were transferred.  With the hose around her neck, the man dragged Seminole over into the pen and threw her in.  She surveyed the pen, then rushed to the puppies and proceeded to nurse ALL 12 of them.  My heart melted for her right then.

The next day, I wasn’t sure what I was going to find.  As I approached the pen, the lab Marvel ran to greet me, but I didn’t see the other dog or any puppies.  My heart leapt into my throat.  Toward the back of the pen, there was a wooden shipping palate.  It moved.  And then a head popped out from under it.  Overnight, Seminole had dug a large hole under the palate to make a den where she could protect and care for the puppies!  I could not believe what I was seeing.  As I went in the pen, Seminole ducked back under the palate.  I filled the food and water bowls, bringing a set over to the mouth of the den so Seminole could access it easily.

I went up to the house, and through out the day we spied down on the pen, blown away by the vigilance of Seminole.  She would cautiously come out to eat and drink and then return to the den to care for the puppies.  Marvel had no interest in helping, and after  few days we let her out to play with our other dogs.  Within a week I had found a family to adopt her, and the little girls named her Princess.  I gave them a free exam and spay voucher, and they promised they would get her checked out and fixed.

The weeks passed, the puppies thrived.  By the 4th week, the puppies had a mind of their own and Seminole had a hard time keeping them hidden and away from us.  I made sure to spend a lot of time in the pen, so she could see me interact with them and possibly trust me.  At 8 weeks, I took the puppies for their first vaccines and fecal tests, and then placed them in a few adoption centers I trusted.  The day I took the last of the puppies away from Seminole was heart breaking for me, but I knew it was what I had to do.  By this time, we had been leaving the pen open sometimes, and Seminole had spent time wandering our property.  When I went to feed her that evening, I stood at the top of the hill and called for her to come up the stairs to get her food.  I had been doing this on purpose for about a week to get her to connect me with food.  After some coaxing, she came up.  I sat about 10 feet away and watched her eat.  I began to cry, and I told her she was making things very hard for me.  There was no way I was going to let her live with that man again, but she couldn’t stay with us (she chased the horses!).  I couldn’t adopt out a dog who wouldn’t let anyone touch her.  I sobbed as I told her I would rather put her to sleep than let her continue to be abused.

She finished her dinner, looked right at me for the first time, and retreated to her pen.  I retreated home, devastated.

My fears came true the next morning.  As I stood at the top of the hill, I did not see Seminole.  My boss came over to me and said she had jumped the (6 foot) wood fence last night, back to the neighbors property.  Well, I said, she has made her choice.  My heart was crushed.  We turned to walk into the house and suddenly heard a loud bang, followed by scraping sounds.  Looking down the hill, we heard another bang, and there was Seminole, climbing back over the fence.  To our shock, she ran up the hill, and flung herself at my feet!  I will never forget the look on my bosses face!  She let me pet her, and wouldn’t let me out of her sight the rest of the day.

She made her choice- ME!

I have this amazing picture of her taken on that day.  She is sitting on a lounge chair outside the french doors of the office, staring at me while I worked at my desk!  Her gaze in that picture is penetrating, alert.  She would not let anyone else near her, and would lower her head if I was next to her and someone else approached.  It was a very powerful feeling, and as honored as I felt to have been chosen by her, I knew it could potentially be dangerous.

I won’t go further into the details of her rehabilitation except to say it involved spaying, grooming, and 9 weeks at Hollywood Dog Training, as she was basically a wild dog, and a name change to something pretty and feminine- Seminole became Violet!  It ultimately took years to properly socialize her.  The first year I had her, she bit one of my friends on the leg when he bent over to hug me goodbye.  Thankfully, he knew her whole story, and she did not break skin, but I was still extra cautious.  Nothing like that ever happened again.  It took about 8 years of living with my husband for her to finally allow him to take her on a walk without me present.  The damage her owner had done was profound and deep.

Of course I fed her the best quality dog food I could find (this was in 1997) which I think was Natures Recipe .  She had been eating soggy, ant infested Kibbles n’ Bits in her former life, so her new food was already a 100% improvement.  I have always believed in food as fuel, and Violet was my fur-daughter and best friend, so naturally this thinking extended to her.  After having her for about 6 months, I was making myself dinner as I fed her.  I watched her gobble up the kibble and all of a sudden it just didn’t make sense to me.  It seemed totally unnatural.  I loved her as much as anyone can love anything.  She had done something we don’t automatically believe animals can do when she heard me and choose me to care for her, and all I wanted to do was right by her.  I respected and admired her so much, I just wanted to do all I could for her.  That evening I started researching feeding dogs raw meat.

In 1997 there was really only the B.A.R.F. (Bones And Raw Food) diet to learn from.  I decided to feed her raw ground beef from Whole Foods, egg yolks, bone meal, fish oil, probiotics, and herbs.  If the market had organic chicken hearts, liver or kidneys, I would buy some and toss them in as well.  Another book I had read told me to prepare her system by feeding soaked oats and kefir first thing in the morning, but she hated it!  She wanted no grains.  In the wild, the only grains a dog would eat would be the stomach contents of their prey, which would already have been pre-digested and fermented.

There was also this whole concept of “cleaning” the raw meat which involved soaking the meat in a gallon of water with 1 tbsp bleach.  I did this a few times, but kept thinking ‘Hey, my dog sometimes eats cat poop, and that doesn’t kill her.’ So I abandoned that step and never went back.  After all, I was feeding her fresh meat from Whole Foods and probiotics.

I fed her twice a day.  She is a large dog, and until recently had weighed 70lbs.  She ate about a pound of meat a day.  I estimate her diet has cost me about $80-$100 per month.

As I write this, she is 21 years old, lying right beside me.  In the 15 years I have been graced by her presence, she has never needed a dental cleaning (no sugar from grain to feed oral bacteria).  I have only vaccinated her once when I had her spayed.  Just last year her health began declining.  She has hip arthritis which began 2 years ago at 19, her hearing and vision are slightly dull (she can’t hear thunder or fireworks anymore thank goodness- she was so scared of them!).  She is now only 54 lbs, but still eats like a champ.  Her blood work shows slight kidney compromise and her liver values are slightly elevated, but neither are at levels for any real diagnosis or treatment.  We go for one walk a day using a harness to help her hind end manage all our exterior stairs.

I do cook her meat by 50% now, as her advanced age concerns me regarding the flora of her intestines.  She also only gets 7-10% fat meat now, whereas before I would by the highest fat content I could find.  Her liver has a hard time with fat and she will get runny poops.  For the last few years she has also been getting steamed vegetables with her meat (asparagus and zucchini are her fave), and vitamin B12 once a day (just the tiny B12 Dots).

Yes, it costs more than buying a bag of kibble.  Yes, it takes planning.  Yes, it’s awesome to have a happy, mobile, loving 21 year old dog.  The amount I spent on her real food is still less than what most people spend on vet bills for their sick pets who are getting cancer, diabetes, renal failure, fatty liver, dermatitis, ear infections, tumors, seizures, early onset arthritis, tendonitis, etc.

I so am glad I did this experiment.  I was scared back in the day- I didn’t personally know ANYONE who was doing this, and the vet said I was going to kill her with e-coli poisoning.  At the time I was actually a vegan- I braved the meat counter twice a week to give my dog the carnivorous diet she needs and is entitled to.

Well, at 21, she seems impervious to death.  Her vet cannot believe how strong her heart sounds.  I savor every day with her.  Inevitably her story will end, sooner rather than later, but she has set the course for every animal I will be blessed enough to have under my care, so she will live on in them.

Here are some pics (taken on my phone) detailing how I prepare her food.  I actually recommend cooking the meat by 50% for every dog, so you don’t have to give probiotics more than once or twice a week, and to feed steamed veggies.  I will always do this from here on out.

**Since this is a public blog, I want to say I am not a veterinary professional.  I am only sharing what I do.  Always consult your pet’s veterinarian before radically changing your animals food**

How I make Vio’s food:

I buy 3lbs of meat at a time, and steam a bunch of asparagus and about 3-4 zucchini's until tender enough to mash with a fork.

I partially cook it on a skillet.

If the veggies were in the fridge, I put them in the hot skillet with the flame off and mash them so they become warmed.

Hurry up mom!! She is 20 years old in this picture

The finished product. Here is where I would add in an egg yolk, organ meat, fish oil or B12 vitamin.

Yum!!

So there it is, the mystery of a 21 year old dog and the simple process of preparing your dogs food.  Please comment with any questions you may have, and I’ll do my best to answer them.  But if your dog has a health issue and you ask me about it, I will tell you to consult with your veterinarian.  I hope you enjoyed our story!

**By the way, she only drinks reverse osmosis water, the same my husband and I do.