If you’ve ever stood in the pet food aisle reading ingredient labels and wondering what you’re really feeding your dog, you’re not alone. More dog owners are questioning ultra-processed kibble and looking for ways to take control of their dog’s nutrition. One solution that’s gaining serious traction? Switching to a dog food maker.
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Here’s why making your dog’s food at home, especially with a dedicated pet food maker, can be a game-changer for your dog’s health and your budget.
How do I control what goes into my dog’s food?
YOu make the decision to do so by making food at home. When you use a dog food maker, you choose every single ingredient. This means you no longer have to worry about mystery meats, fillers, artificial preservatives, or sneaky additives hiding behind vague and confusing dog food ingredient labels.
Instead, you can build meals around fresh proteins like chicken, turkey, beef, fish, or a novel protein for sensitive dogs who have allergen triggers. You also have control over what level of “clean” food you can afford, whether that’s standard USDA meat, organic, pastured, grass-fed, etc.
Dogs also need fruits and veggies to balance out nutrients. Again, you make the call whether legumes, broccoli or potatoes are something you want in their food. If your dog tolerates grains, or needs extra fiber, you can use it. Choose what works for you and your pet, but I highly suggest using non-GMO produce, at the minimum when it comes to produce. Choosing organic will already be non-GMO, plus it reduces pesticide residue too, which can be a game-changer for pet health.
This level of control over your dog’s food is especially powerful if your pet has specific dietary needs, tummy issues, allergies or food sensitivities. You’re no longer constantly guessing cause, but intentionally feeding them what works for their body.
A Dog Food Maker that Actually saves You Money
I didn’t think so, because we were already spending quite a bit, monthly, on our dogs’ food. We were buying a mostly organic, gently-cooked, frozen dog food. It was a pretty penny to purchase enough for two good-sized dogs. We had been looking at the ChefPaw dog food maker for awhile before pulling the trigger, but we knew we needed to do it.
Once we did, we decided on a recipe, read through the short manual, went shopping, and started making batches of homemade dog food on the weekends. After all of that, my husband took to calculating the difference between our previous dog food (SmallBatch) and our new, homemade dog food. We included everything in the cost, except the one-time cost of the ChefPaw food maker (which we got on sale!), and it pays for itself in a little less than 3 months!
We included all of the ingredients. For our first recipe, we tried one of the allergy-free ones. This included olive oil, sweet potato, basmati rice, ground turkey, salt, chia seeds, pumpkin, sweet potato, broccoli, hemp/salmon oil, and the ChefPaw Nutrient Booster.
ChefPaw claims you can save up to 80% on dog food by using their dog food maker, and I believe it, but because we were already using a high-end brand, we saved a little over 50%, which was surprising, and so welcomed!
Vet-approved Dog Food Recipes Included
ChefPaw has over 70 vet-approved recipes on their online app…everything from allergen-friendly recipes to low carb recipes (we’re currently using one to help Willow shed a few pounds – she’s already lost 3 lbs.), senior recipes, puppy recipes, ones for high energy dogs (like Cali), low carb diet recipes and much more!
How do I know if my dog is getting all the nutrients they need?
Let me just quote the ChefPaw website: “The ChefPaw App goes above and beyond AAFCO and NRC standards. With ChefPaw, you get nearly twice as much information on all the nutrients your dog’s meals are providing. ChefPaw includes nutritional value for 1000+ ingredients, all from the USDA database for foods.
Unlike AFFCO and NRC recommendations, which are only based on a dog’s weight, ChefPaw adjusts its nutrient recommendations based on several other factors, including breed and activity level.”
A ChefPaw Dog Food Maker Does Most of the Work
It depends on what you consider a hassle. This machine weighs, mixes, and cooks all of the food for you in one bowl, so the only real effort you’re putting in is the purchasing and chopping of ingredients, then the machine does the rest! Each batch takes about 40 minutes to cook, which leaves you with some time for a walk, to read a book, or take a short nap while it’s cooking.
We usually do 2-3 batches on the weekend to get us through the week, but like I mentioned earlier, we have two med/large dogs to feed. If you have only one pup, or two smaller dogs, you won’t need as much dog food as we do, and therefore, your batch-making would be less.
Oh, and you do need to clean the dog food maker afterwards, but it does have its own self-cleaning setting. We have yet to use it, but I’m sure it would do a lot of the work for you, before needing to do any detail cleaning.
Your Dog Will Fall In Love with Homemade Dog Food
For us, it doesn’t seem to matter if we use an allergy-free dog food recipe or a low carb, low calorie dog food recipe, our dogs huddle around us and the food while we make it. They get SO EXCITED! It might be because we let them lick the “cooling pan” before we remove the food to measured storage containers.
I’m happy to say we have yet to find a ChefPaw recipe either of them dislikes. And, we still have so many more recipes to try!
A Truly Healthy and More Affordable Option
There are so many benefits to making dog food at home: personalization, saving money, accommodating dogs with allergies and sensitivities, and increasing your pet’s overall health. This might include easier digestion, shinier coat, or happier skin. A healthy pup is a happy pup. Both of my dogs are benefiting from our new dog food regimen.
If you try this dog food maker, please come back and share your experience with it in the comment section.
