I am becoming more convinced of the need to prepare my own dog food.  I have done this in the past using turkey and lamb mince mixed with brown rice, fish oil and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables frozen in batches.  I am currently feeding naturediet and burns as I was worried that my diet wasn't giving them what they needed.  I still do occasionally give my dogs home cooked if what we are eating is suitable as I don't add salt to our own cooking anyway, e.g. roast dinner (without the gravy) and salmon and sweet potato.  Has anyone got a recipe for an everyday one size fits all food that can be given to them for most meals and will give them the nutrients that they require?  I don't wish to go down the raw route as I do not feel comfortable with this (having read the horrific story of the poor boxer dog that ate the raw mince.  I would be very grateful. 

Suggest you buy a book called "Natural Health for Dogs & Cats" by Pitcairn.  I am sure there are others folks here can recommend that will also give you recipes for making homecooked meals.

I don't believe that meat & veg - without bone for calcium/phosphorous - will provide the correct balance of nutrients.  

On average, a bit more than half of my dogs diet is home cooked.  If it's a day where they get nothing but home cooked I will often add a calcium supplement for dogs.  I also give them a daily dog vitamin. 

Thank you very much:)  That's exactly what I was worrried about - the calcium. Do you know where you can get ground bone from?

Just wondering why you don't think natures diet and burns is giving them what they need. I'm only asking as thats is exactly what I feed my dogs and although they seem to be thriving I'm open new ideas/suggestions/alternatives (even as a treat/occasional subsitute rather than completely changing their diet). I am also unable to feed raw meat as my girl will not eat it!

Pets at Home for calcium supplements (tablets), but they are easy to find from various sources.  

If you are actually looking for ground bone only buy it if it is like powder.  I bought a bottle of "ground" bone (Wafcol I think) once and found it was full of sharp little pieces - and they are dried/cooked - so potentially dangerous.

I don't think that there's anything wrong with these foods - I am just exploring other ideas.  I'm just being a fussy mum!

I was told that ground bonemeal shouldn't be fed as, due to it's very fine particles, it can cause a build up in a dog's intestines where it can take on the consistency of cement slurry. For an alternative source of calcium you can dry and then grind up eggshells adding it at around a level teaspoon of shell to a kilogram of boneless meat.

Feeding whole raw eggs, complete with shell, is also a great way of adding calcium to a raw diet.

Mine love crunching their egg shells.

Thank you again.  I have ordered a second hand copy for just over 90p from amazon.  With postage it cost about £3.80 so thank you.  I look forward to seeing my copy which is coming all the way from the USA.

why don't you buy mince with the bone in? suppliers such as landywoods etc are very good prices and would solve your calcium problem. I do cook mine sometimes aswell.

I too was going to mention ground egg shells, an excellent source of calcium.
This site might offer some more info for you.
http://www.pet-grub.com/pet-supplements/eggshellent-calcium.pets

I've currently been looking into vitamins/supplements etc.

What oils/vitamins do other owners give their dogs?

>What oils/vitamins do other owners give their dogs?

I give mine

salmon oil and vitE
Probiotics
and when i remember, msm/gluc/chon combination for prevention of joint problems.

The problem with using egg shells as a source of calcium is have insignificant amounts of phosphorous in relation to calcium. 

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1662&articleid=652

>The problem with using egg shells as a source of calcium is have insignificant amounts of phosphorous in relation to calcium.

Which is why you have to balance it with the amount of meat you're feeding.I add egg shell powder for the calcium,not the phosphorus.

I think the correct amount is 1/2 tsp per pound of boneless meat.