Blance of nutrition in a homemade dog diet?

I am researching ways to create a nutritionally balanced homemade diet for dogs. I am researching homemade diets and raw diets. Do any of you make homemade dog food? Where did you come up with your nutrition balance? Can you list some websites that tell what a good nutrition balance is for homemade dog food?

It does depend on the breed and their activities.

For my sighthounds, I use a combination of the following:

-cooked ground beef
-cooked ground turkey
-hard-boiled eggs
-plain yogurt
-salmon oil
-Nature's Kitchen Preference dehydrated dog food supplement.

We used to use regular turkey meat roasted when we had full birds in abundance, but the ground works better because you can cook it and the ground beef (73% lean is usually OK) at the same time in the wok.

You can use raw eggs, but the boiled ones are safer.

The salmon oil is good for their coats, comes in a pump dispenser, one squirt per 20# of pet weight.

The yogurt is a good calcium source and keeps their gut flora balanced.

The Preference is dehyrdated veggies, fruits, and greens that provide good vitamins and nutrients for them.

We discovered this combinaton as a spinoff of a cancer diet we concocted for one of our previous dogs. We used to do kibble, but they hated it, and refused to eat it, so no more.

I feed three cats and a (hopefully) pregnant dog a raw 'frankenprey' diet. As the previous poster wrote this means raw meat, meaty bones and offal/organ meat. If you have access to whole prey even better!!

I use about the same ratios i.e. 70-80% muscle meat, 10-15% edible bones and 10-15% offal over the course of a week or two. I make sure that I feed liver at least once a week and that the cats gets raw heart (counted as muscle) several times a fortnight. This is for the taurine content.

They get a mixture of foods - chicken, pork, lamb, beef, goat, kangaroo and raw whole fish. The dog likes raw egg too. You will find ethnic markets and delis a great source of those 'unusual' items and also become expert at scouring the supermarket for marked downs meats.

** Living in Australia the vast majority of our meat is grass/paddock raised so I don't add any supplements. I know that many people, concerned about the low levels of omega 3 in grain fed animals, add fish oils to ensure adequate levels.

Just fallow nature and how they would eat in the wild and you will be good to go.

I prefer a RAW diet (prey model) for our pets. I don't feed supplements, as I figure with the wide variety of meats they get they are getting what they need (I follow the same idea with myself).

The prey model diet (to sum up) is based on the idea of giving your pet 2-3% of their body weight daily, breaking it down into 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ matter. I would also advise on giving organ, grass feed, or something more natural as it will be healthier. This doesn't mean you have to use prime cuts of meat. Cheep cuts (less desired) or scraps work great as they are cheaper (and sometimes free if you can find the right people).

With a healthier diet, you will have a healthier pet, which turns into saving money in the long run. As you won't have as many trips to the vet and other expenses. I would read the links to learn more.

Good luck!

The absolute best website showing pictures and feeding chart for feeding raw:
http://www.geocities.com/summerwindstand...
Both of my Standard Poodles are on the raw diet and are doing fantastic! You should supplement with a good daily vitamin when feeding raw.