5 Fussy Dog Food Recipes

A dog who won’t eat is incredibly stressful – especially if they are a big part of your family. In this case, fussy dog food recipes can really help. Many dogs will eat simple home cooked meals when they won’t eat anything else.

NOTE: If your dog is off their food for a while and you can’t coax her to eat, make sure you contact your veterinarian. This can be dangerous over time.

Dog Food For the Pickiest Eater (5 Recipes for Different Situations)

Most dogs will eat almost anything you put in front of them, but some dogs are extremely picky eaters. Today I’ll give you 5 recipes that you can try depending on your situation.

Homemade Wet Dog Food Recipe

This recipe is extremely easy on dog’s stomachs and tempts most picky eaters. If your dog is extremely selective about their food, you can omit the rosemary and use white rice instead of brown.

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 cups brown rice
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 (16 ounce) package frozen broccoli, carrots and cauliflower combination

Directions

1. Place the water, ground turkey, rice, and rosemary into a large Dutch oven. Stir until the ground turkey is broken up and evenly distributed throughout the mixture; bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the frozen vegetables, and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Refrigerate until using.

Thank you to AllRecipes.com for this recipe.

Dog Food Recipe with Canned Salmon

It’s not only cats that like fish. Dogs – even very picky dogs – will often eat fish as well. This recipe featuring canned salmon and simple ingredients like potatoes is easy to make and tempting to most dogs.

Ingredients

• 1 can of salmon – 14-15 ounces (remove bones)
• 1 beaten egg (or if intolerant to eggs could use egg substitute)
• 3 tablespoons cornmeal – I prefer using the coarser kind
• Canola oil or other oil – or use cooking spray
• 1 potato
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk of celery

Directions

1. Combine the salmon, egg or substitute and cornmeal – mix well.
2. Form this mixture into patties.
3. Coat them with a little more cornmeal.
4. Then fry in a tiny amount of canola oil until brown on both sides.
5. Chop potato, carrot and celery into chunks.
6. Boil potato, carrot and celery until soft but not mushy.
7. Chop the salmon patties into small bites and stir together with the chopped and boiled vegetables.
8. A spoonful of cottage cheese can be added for moisture if n

Thank you to Hubpages for this recipe.

Dog Food Recipe for Sensitive Stomachs

This recipe is super easy to throw together in the crockpot and you can then save serving sizes in plastic bags. Because it uses stomach friendly ingredients – it works well for dogs with sensitive stomachs.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs lean ground chicken
• 1 cup butternut squash I use frozen, precut
• 15 oz can kidney beans drained
• 1 cup peas
• 1 cup green beans
• 1 cup carrots sliced or diced
• 1 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 4 cups of water

Instructions

• Throw everything in crockpot.
• Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally

Thanks to A Forks Tale for this recipe.

Dog Food Recipe for Senior Dogs

Many senior dogs get pickier as they get older. This is quite normal, but can be distressing for dog parents. This “beef stew” recipe is a favorite of senior dogs and will often tempt your picky guy to eat.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb beef stew meat
• 1 small sweet potato
• ½ cup diced carrots
• ½ cup diced green beans
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup water
• 1 tbsp organic vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Microwave the sweet potato for five to eight minutes until tender but still firm.
2. Cut up the beef stew meat into nickel-sized chunks.
3. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the stew chunks and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes or until well done.
4. Take the beef ut of the pan but reserve the drippings.
5. Dice the cooked sweet potato.
6. Turn the heat to medium-low and heat the drippings. While whisking, slowly add the flour and water to the drippings to make a thick gravy.
7. Add the sweet potato, meat, green beans and carrots to the gravy and mix to coat.
8. Cook about 10 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
9. Let the stew cool completely before serving to your senior dog.
10. The leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to five days.

Thank you to dog quality for this recipe.

Dog Food Recipe with Eggs

This recipe makes a big batch, which is perfect for freezing. It also includes the egg shells, which seems weird. But they give your dog important and usable calcium.

• 10 lbs. of chicken leg and thigh quarters
• 18 eggs including the shells (the egg shells supply digestible calcium to your dog. Yes, studies have proved that the calcium in egg shell is highly absorbable.)
• 5 cups uncooked white rice (The rice will need to be thoroughly cooked before making this recipe. I believe the five cups will yield approximately 10-15 cups cooked rice. Use white rice not brown because it is more easily digested by your dog.)
• 1 tube of Supromega  fish oil with natural vitamin E. (This supplies important omega 3 fatty acids , this is good! It also contains natural source vitamin E.) Click here for this supplement.
• Dinovite dog supplement (This supplies a host of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, zinc and live direct fed microbials. Dinovite also has a nutritious plant component in the “Alfalfa Nutrient Concentrate” that replicates the partially digested plant matter of herbivores.  All great stuff!) Click here for this supplement.

 Cooked Chicken and Rice Dog Food Recipe Yield: Approximately 32-35 cups of dog food.

This  dog food recipe can be halved or doubled to accommodate the size of your dog or for multi-dog households. Do not feed this dog food recipe without the Dinovite and Supromega dog supplements as it will cause this dog food recipe to be deficient.

Directions for cooked chicken and rice dog food recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2.  In multiple pans or a large roaster bake 10 pounds of chicken leg and thigh quarters at 400 F for 1 hour.
3. Allow chicken to cool.
4. Debone the chicken. Try to save the cartilage off the bones plus all juices. (You can save the bones and make a bone stock)
5. Pour meat, cartilage and juice in a large mixing pan.
6. Add the cooled cooked white rice. Approximately 10 cups.
7. Add 18 crushed hardboiled eggs with shells. If you are concerned about the size and sharpness of the egg shell then blend them in a blender or food processor.
8. Add one tube of Supromega fish oil and 2-4 cups of Dinovite. Mix well and completely with your hands until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
9. Place the finished dog food recipe in resealable storage containers and store in freezer

Thank you to Homemade Dog Food for this recipe.

The Bottom Line on Fussy Dog Food Recipes

If you have a dog that isn’t eating, then making homemade dog food may be your best bet to entice them to the dog bowl.

If you plan on feeding one of the recipes above over the long term, you should always check with your vet. Your dog may need a supplement added to their food to make sure their nutritional needs are met.