“Rufus is feeling five years younger! He loves his food now and seems so much happier.” I’ve heard pet owners gushing like this repeatedly after I’ve recommended they switch to a homemade senior dog diet.
A balanced homemade dog food recipe can make a huge difference if your senior dog has lost interest in life or is a picky eater. It can also be used to treat diseases common in senior dogs. But it’s extremely important to make the food complete and balanced! Otherwise, your dog could end up worse off than he is with dry dog food.
Homemade dog food recipes for senior dogs can be as simple as chicken, brown rice and green beans as long as you add the right supplements. It’s easy (and free) to create a complete and balanced recipe with Balance.it®. I’ll show you two vet-approved recipes I created there that are perfect for senior dogs.
Here’s what you’re looking for! Two recipes I created to be easy, complete and balanced for any healthy adult dog, especially senior dogs. After the recipes you can learn more about how to make your own recipe customized for your exact dog.
EASY Chicken & Rice Homemade Dog Food Recipe for Seniors
(7-Day Batch)
Serving Size:
14 meals for a 52-pound dog
Time:
Total: 60-90 min., 20 min. active
Difficulty:
EASY
Calories: 8414 for the entire recipe, 601 calories per meal
Macronutrients: Protein 28%, Fat 39%, Carbohydrate 33%
I modeled this recipe on a popular chicken and rice adult dry dog food. It’s made with inexpensive everyday ingredients. The only thing you’ll have to order is the Balance IT supplement. I recommend using a kitchen scale for precise measurement of the ingredients.
Please review the instructions that come with your recipe. Here’s how I prepared my recipe (also shown in the video above):
Ingredients
- 3 lb. 8 oz. (1581 grams) ROASTED boneless, skinless chicken breast (weight of COOKED chicken, not raw)
- 14 1/8 cup (2232 grams) COOKED Regular long-grain white rice (measurement of COOKED rice, not dry/raw)
- 1 1/3 cup (298 grams) Corn oil
- 8 3/8 cup (1131 grams) Canned green beans, drained
- 37 5/8 tsp (94 grams) Balance IT® Canine powder (or 26 7/8=94 grams Balance IT® Canine Plus powder)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Slice the raw chicken breasts lengthwise into 1-inch strips so they’ll cook faster. Place the sliced raw meat on a foil-covered baking sheet. Do not add any oil or salt. Roast in oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes until juices run clear and the internal temperature is at least 165 degrees F. Remove from oven, discard juices and allow to cool. Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- While chicken is roasting, prepare and cook rice as directed on the label. You can use a slow cooker, a pot on the stove, a rice cooker or even cook it in the oven. Remember the amount called for in the recipe is the cooked amount which is approximately double the dry rice amount. For my recipe, I’ll be measuring Just over 7 cups of dry rice and 14 cups of water into my stovetop pot. Allow rice to cool after it’s fully cooked.
- Open and drain canned green beans while waiting for the rice and chicken to cool.
- Measure all ingredients according to the recipe using a kitchen scale, measuring cups and spoons. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir well.*
- Portion equally into 7 sealable storage containers. Balance IT recommends only storing food in the fridge for 3 days, so refrigerate 3 and freeze 4.
Feed ½ of each container for your dog’s meal twice a day.
Each day, move one container from the freezer to the fridge so it has a few days to thaw before feeding.
*If you want to reheat the food before serving, use Balance IT Canine Plus powder which is made to withstand being reheated up to 165 degrees F one time. Regular Balance IT Canine powder should not be reheated so you need to serve the food without reheating it (most dogs don’t mind cool food at all).
Beef & Sweet Potato Homemade Senior Dog Food Recipe
(7-Day Batch)
Serving Size:
14 meals for a 52-pound dog
Time:
Total: 60-90 minutes, about 30 minutes of active time
Difficulty:
EASY
Calories: 8409 for the entire recipe, 600 calories per meal
Macronutrients: Protein 30%, Fat 36%, Carbohydrate 34%
This recipe is loosely modeled on another best-selling brand of grain-free, high-protein kibble dog food. The basic ingredients are ground beef, sweet potatoes and green beans. It could work for dogs who can’t tolerate chicken.
You can easily alter this recipe using the FREE Balance IT software to use any protein you want including ground turkey or chicken breasts.
Please review the instructions that come with your recipe. Here’s how I prepared my recipe:
Ingredients
- 4.3 lb. (1953 grams) 85% Lean ground beef, COOKED/pan-browned (weight of drained, COOKED beef, not raw)
- 16 1/8 cup (3225 grams) Sweet potato, COOKED/baked without salt (measurement for COOKED flesh only, no skin)
- 6 1/4 teaspoon (29.6 grams) Corn oil
- 8 3/8 cup (1131 grams) Canned green beans, drained
- 26 3/4 tsp (67 grams) Balance IT® Canine powder (or 19 1/8=64 grams Balance IT® Canine Plus powder)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Rinse sweet potatoes, poke the skin a few times with a fork and place them on a foil-covered sheet pan. Roast in the oven until they’re slightly soft when pressed, about 40-50 minutes. Take them out of the oven and allow them to cool. Scoop the flesh out and discard the skins.
- While sweet potatoes are roasting, cook ground beef in a large pot on the stovetop until there is no more pink color to the meat. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat (discard pan drippings) and allow it to cool.
- Open and drain your canned green beans while waiting for sweet potatoes and beef to cool.
- Measure all ingredients according to the recipe using a kitchen scale, measuring cups and spoons. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir well.*
- Portion equally into 7 sealable storage containers. Balance IT recommends only storing food in the fridge for 3 days, so refrigerate 3 and freeze 4.
Feed ½ of each container for your dog’s meal twice a day.
Each day, move one container from the freezer to the fridge so it has a few days to thaw before feeding.
*If you want to reheat the food before serving, use Balance IT Canine Plus powder which is made to withstand being reheated up to 165 degrees F one time. Regular Balance IT Canine powder should not be reheated so you need to serve the food without reheating it (most dogs don’t mind cool food at all).
Get More Free Recipes
Making food for your dog can be easy with free resources available at Balance.it. Founded by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, Balance IT provides software for creating hundreds of nutritionally complete homemade dog food recipes, along with supplements to ensure balance.
These recipes are just as complete and balanced as high-end commercial veterinary diets. Avoid unbalanced recipes and keep your pet healthy with Balance IT.
Feeding Challenges for Older Dogs
Weight and muscle loss are common in geriatric dogs. Scientists believe these may occur due to the increased recycling of old body cells (autophagy).(3)
We want our older dogs to maintain their fat and muscle mass for as long as possible. But it may take more calories and a different macronutrient ratio to combat geriatric wasting once it starts. Home-prepared food can be tailored to fit your dog. Most dogs also find it tastier so they eat more of it.
It’s not unusual for senior dogs to experience changes in appetite. If a dog is eating less, the food needs to have a more concentrated level of all required nutrients to meet the dog’s needs.
Home-prepared food can be made with more calories per cup and still have all the vitamins and minerals your dog requires for health. Some of the reasons senior dogs have a lower appetite include:
- Dental disease–so many senior dogs have dental disease to the point of having pain and an overall unhealthy condition.
- Mobility issues–spinal pain, muscle stiffness and arthritis are common in older dogs.
- Other systemic diseases–urinary tract diseases, liver disease, chronic gastrointestinal disease and endocrine disease are all more likely to occur in senior dogs.
Calorie Requirements
Depending on their activity level, senior dogs may need fewer calories than they did when they were younger.
Obesity is rampant amongst pets in the United States. And older dogs are more likely to be obese than their younger counterparts. Not only have they had more years of over-consuming highly digestible food, but they also tend to burn fewer calories due to inactivity.
The smartest thing is to get an honest assessment of your pet’s weight from your veterinarian. If your pup needs to lose weight, ask your vet what your dog’s ideal weight would be. Also, ask them to help you figure out how long it should take to lose weight.
Getting an obese senior dog to a healthy weight could add years to his life. And it will definitely make those years more enjoyable.
Protein Requirements
There are no official senior dog nutrition recommendations from AAFCO or NRC, so the “senior” label on dog food is simply a marketing strategy.(1)
Senior dogs don’t necessarily need more protein than younger dogs. High-quality adult dog foods typically contain enough protein for senior dogs.
Veterinary nutritionists recommend feeding healthy elderly dogs at least the same amount of protein as adult dogs, but the protein source should be highly digestible.
Each senior dog is unique, and their specific needs should be assessed by a veterinarian. Work with your vet to determine if a special therapeutic diet is needed.
How to Switch Diets
Discuss any diet change with your vet if your dog has any health problems or a history of reacting badly to food changes. I always tell people to gradually change to the new diet over 7 days for dogs who tolerate changes well. Change over a period of 14 days if you know your dog tends to get an upset stomach with food changes.
Stop the new food and contact your veterinarian if vomiting, diarrhea or decreased appetite occurs.
How Much to Feed
As a rule of thumb, for most homemade dog food 1.5 cups is about equal to 1 cup of dry dog food. So a dog who eats 2 cups of dry food twice a day will be eating closer to 3 cups of homemade dog food twice a day.
Luckily, you don’t have to guesstimate since your Balance IT recipe will tell you exactly how much to feed your dog.
Cost
It costs me around $95 per month to feed a 52-pound dog with the chicken-based recipe shown in this article. That figure could go up significantly if you’re using more expensive proteins like lamb or fish.
Chicken & Rice Recipe Cost per Month for 52 lb. Dog
| Ingredient | Cost |
|---|---|
| Chicken Breast | $40 |
| White Rice | $4 |
| Corn Oil | $3.50 |
| Canned Green Beans | $7 |
| BalanceIT Supplement | $44 |
| TOTAL | $98.50 |
Homemade dog food costs only about 25% more than you’d pay for high-end dry kibble food. And for you raw food enthusiasts, these recipes cost 66% less than commercial raw dog food.
But the difference in the quality of ingredients, control over preparation, psychological and physical benefits are invaluable.
So if you have a couple of hours a week to cook food for your dog, you can feed fresh meals for just a fraction more than it would cost to feed high-end dry dog food. Why not give it a try?
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References
- Carlson, E. (2020). In 42nd Annual OAVT Conference & Trade Show. Woburn, MA; Ethos Veterinary Health.
- Mundt, H. C. (1991). Nutrition of old dogs. The Journal of nutrition, 121(suppl_11), S41-S42.
- Pagano, T. B., Wojcik, S., Costagliola, A., De Biase, D., Iovino, S., Iovane, V., … & Paciello, O. (2015). Age-related skeletal muscle atrophy and upregulation of autophagy in dogs. The Veterinary Journal, 206(1), 54-60.
- Sheffy, B. E., Williams, A. J., Zimmer, J. F., & Ryan, G. D. (1985). Nutrition and metabolism of the geriatric dog. The Cornell Veterinarian, 75(2), 324-347.
- Williams, C. C., Cummins, K. A., Hayek, M. G., & Davenport, G. M. (2001). Effects of dietary protein on whole-body protein turnover and endocrine function in young-adult and aging dogs. Journal of animal science, 79(12), 3128-3136.
