How to Make Homemade Dog Food

Rebecca Brayton: Pet food recalls along with health issues are just a few reasons why more and more people are turning to home made dog food. Hi, I’m Rebecca Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll be learning how best to feed our pets. So, tell us about Evive. Tracy Martin: It is hand made fresh foods for dogs and soon for cats. It is the same concept as dry or canned foods and that it is complete and balanced except it’s handmade and fresh. Rebecca Brayton: How did you develop the different recipes? Tracy Martin: The basis is that I wanted to use the best quality ingredients that I could, so obviously that means local from small forms. So, the recipes follow the seasons. Rebecca Brayton: What would say some of the biggest mistakes people make in terms of their pet’s diets would be? Tracy Martin: Not balanced. A dog’s diet needs to be balanced. Do they have specific nutritional requirements, there is an inter kit mineral balance, protein to calcium ratios etc., etc. That is why vets always say, “Don’t feed your dogs table scraps” because it affects their health over the long term Rebecca Brayton: And finally, have you ever tried the food? Tracy Martin: Yes I have, I have. When I’m cooking, it smells amazing and I am always eating the vegetables and the fruits, the finished product, yeah everything is human grace so you can eat it. It’s actually really good for you. It does taste really medium vegetarian so it’s like, “Wow!” This is really meaty which is what, you know, dogs love so Rebecca Brayton: Would you like to show us around the kitchen? Tracy Martin: Sure. So, the first step is preparing the vegetables. In order for a dog to be able to absorb for example the beta carotene in the carrot that needs to be finely, finely ground, the rest of them will just pass the scissor. Of course the meat; beef, hear and liver. We add very well cooked rice, ground rice and white rice so everything is mixed by hand until it is very well mixed and then it is bake. We bake it just until the meat turns brown. It is cool on the cooling rack and once it is cool, we add the minerals. We have vitamin E, zinc, vitamin B, magnesium, calcium carbonate, manganese, kelp from Canadian ocean waters, the bone meal is from purified New Zealand ‘bill bones’ and everything is sent to a lab and everything is human great and then the really important component is oil. So, we have wild salmon oil, the chicken recipe takes safflower oil, we have organic. First cold pressed safflower oil and also cod liver oil. Once that is all mixed up, everything is carefully measured out and then vacuum filled. One of the reasons why we vacuum seal it is that we can sell it fresh or frozen and we also ship so we can easily ship frozen product across Canada.