I was talking about this with a friend today... she has two dogs, and recently started making their food instead of buying it. They eat maybe half homemade food and half storebought. I think today she said they had liver, rice, and vegetables and loved it. One of them even pushed all his carrots to the side and saved them for last. She also made homemade food for her cat after she had kidney problems, although the cat eats all storebought food now. I've also seen recipes for baking homemade dog treats.

I don't have any dogs or cats, so I can't really speak from experience. But I'm wondering whether homemade food is cheaper than storebought. Certainly it seems healthier for them, as long as the vet says it's okay or they don't need to be on a special diet. 

I have a rabbit who does get some kitchen scraps and bits of dried fruit... but only as treats, and if she has too many she gets diarrhea. She can't really eat anything besides storebought rabbit pellets.

Does anyone here make their own dog or cat food?

 When the cat food scare went on we made our own for a while.  I think the cost is about the same, maybe even less.  Definitely less when you figure its healthier and saves on vet bills!  Rice with a bit of chicken and vegetables.  Scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese, etc. In the summertime we always give them fresh melon as a treat when I cut it up for us, they especially love cantelope and watermelon.

Mother Earth News had recipes in it a few years back. I've done it in a pinch, but it can cause mild gastric upset with Cinnamon, who is 11-12 yrs old and I think she'd tolerate it better if she was younger.

I believe it was ground meat, cooked oatmeal, and ground cooked carrots. Why the carrots I don't know.

When we had ducks we had a large amount of duck eggs so I'd fry duck eggs for Cinnamon and our barn cat, Milo.

 I am in several shih tzu groups and the showers and breeders in those groups say that you have to supplement with vitamins and if you do it correctly, making it yourself can end up a lot more costly than buying ready made food.  They do all say to go with the best rated dog food you can afford.

I feed Blue Buffalo to my 10 lb shih tzu.  I pay $15.92 for a 6 lb bag at Tractor Supply Company.  He eats on average a cup a day but sometimes less.  I only have to buy food once a month. I realize that's not a great deal for someone who has larger dogs who eat a lot but he was eating about twice as much Iams before I switched. I'm told it's because the less expensive brands have more fillers while the more expensive have more nutrients and the things they need so they don't have to eat as much.

allie:

 I am in several shih tzu groups and the showers and breeders in those groups say that you have to supplement with vitamins and if you do it correctly, making it yourself can end up a lot more costly than buying ready made food.  They do all say to go with the best rated dog food you can afford.

I feed Blue Buffalo to my 10 lb shih tzu.  I pay $15.92 for a 6 lb bag at Tractor Supply Company.  He eats on average a cup a day but sometimes less.  I only have to buy food once a month. I realize that's not a great deal for someone who has larger dogs who eat a lot but he was eating about twice as much Iams before I switched. I'm told it's because the less expensive brands have more fillers while the more expensive have more nutrients and the things they need so they don't have to eat as much.

I found the same thing when I was researching food for my dog.  He eats Innova regular - a 32-pound bag costs $40 (price rose recently - could be $42), and lasts about a month, which isn't bad, considering he weighs 82 pounds.  He also gets 1 large spoonful of wet food with his dry, but a can lasts a week or so, and a case (12 cans) is $28.  But when he was eating Purebred (which is a reasonably good store brand) he ate 5 cups a day instead of 3, and a 40-pound bag of Purebred only lasted 3 weeks - so in the long run, the cost is the same, the quality is better, and he (to put it politely)_excretes less waste.

Your last sentence is a big bonus especially when you're talking a large dog....less cleanup!  You know Scooby would go potty 3 or more times a day and had a few accidents in the house if we were gone too long.  Since I switched him, he goes once a day and has only had one accident in the house and that's because someone fed him table scraps and he got sick during the night.

 When switching dog food, also remember to do it slowly by mixing the two foods together. I usually take two weeks to switch him.