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my dog (Max) is a 13 year old GS/collie. He has always been 100% attached to me, rather neurotic and has a very poor appetite. Our other dog (an adored,greedy gal) died last week and Max has hardly eaten since.
I have always given them a mix of bought can food, appropriate kitchen scraps and treats of liver/heart with rice and or pasta. I have never thought much about the balance of these home made meals except that this is the only thing that seems to tempt Max now. I am very aware that he is old (though healthy), and am wary to try something too new at this stage but if he is only going to eat home made then does anyone have any idea of the proportions of protein/carb/veg etc that I should aim for .
My vet (clinically excellent) thinks that I a bit of a hippy nutter so will probably suggest another brand of commercial food.
Any thoughts?

Madwitch, you should be able to google recipes on the net which are vetted by vets :-)

Also there is are a lot of people feeding their pets 'BARF' and they usually are very conscious of the proportions. I'm a cat person, but that should give you something to google.

Good luck with the sad dog. Hope he gets more cheerful soon (and starts eating properly!)

Jandra

Poor you and Max. I feed our three dogs homemade dog food and all you need to know is they require a third each of protein, carbs and veg. I cook the meat until it falls off the bone making deboning easier, and then add cooked carbs (pasta, rice or spuds) and then mix in some raw, blitzed veg (but no onions or raw garlic). They all love and thrive on this diet.

poor old Max.

have you looked into a raw diet?
Assuming his teeth are sound, the GSD in him will thrive on it!

I feed my dog per day the following.

A bit of home-made juice in the bottom of the bowl, a small piece of frozen raw liver cut into small pieces. The yoke of a raw egg on top. She eats this ravenously after her 5 km walk in the morning. Later in the afternoon I give her a lamb chop frozen raw from NZ purchased in a frozen package of about 15 for about 14 dollars. This she gnaws on for about half an hour and cleans the bone. This probably assists in keeping her teeth strong and no encrustations. I leave some dried food out which she eats as required, just to ensure that the diet is rounded. I never give her treats, but will offer her various small chunks of food that I eat. She weighs less than 10 pounds. Ginny is always alert, active, and only rests when I do. so I must be doing something right.

We feed Troy dried food twice a day, to which we put hot water and then once it has swollen we add cold water to ensure he gets plenty of fluid, plus he gets lots of apple cores during the day as I like to eat at least 3 ................not to mention all the titbits ..........but he is a rescue and we are his third home

Dave