Serves 2 potatoes
The Dinner Time Drama
Yes… perhaps the bane of every parent’s nighttime routine: DINNER TIME!
Getting kids to eat what you’ve lovingly prepared, convincing them to stay seated for more than 37 seconds, persuading them that green vegetables are not, in fact, a form of medieval torture, and keeping them nourished and hydrated enough to avoid actual expiration. Stress levels? Off the charts after my 9 to 5.
It’s not so different with my dogs.
They are fussy—yes. They have sensitive tummies—absolutely. And they are ravenously hungry all of the time. One bowl? Never enough. And don’t even think about dinner delivered late, unless you enjoy tantrums. Loud ones. The kind that make the neighbours wonder if you’re running an underground opera school.Here they are (left), 20 minutes into supervision of dinner preparations last night, waiting not so patiently for supper. Audrey, my Pied girl, will not, under any circumstances, stay in her trained “sit and wait” spot. Instead, she wedges herself between my legs and wails like a small child who has just been told the playground is closing. I’m never quick enough.
Why I Became a Full-Time Dog Chef
So why do I stand at the stove for over an hour every night, with my husband hovering in the background telling me I’m taking too long and he “needs the kitchen!”, to cook two separate meals from scratch for dogs?
When we adopted our two, I already knew I didn’t want to feed canned food. The texture and colour alone didn’t exactly scream “fresh” or “healthy”— more “TV dinner for canines.” Sure, I understood the need for a canned emergency backup, but for everyday feeding? Not for us.
My first bright idea was fresh mince and offal from the butcher’s pet section—a granular texture (bone, cartilage, and mystery carcass included). I thought I was doing them a favour nutritionally. Chicken and beef fried up with kibble and water for gravy. A hearty, meaty dinner. They wolfed it down.
Two hours later…
Vomit. Everywhere. Followed by the charming canine behaviour of trying to eat it again in some kind of starvation-fuelled frenzy. Weeks of this routine later, Audrey started vomiting blood. We rushed her to the vet, announcing like the world’s most panicked pet parents, “She’s bleeding internally!”The vet—unresponsively completely unruffled—asked, “What have you been feeding her?” I shrank in my chair, confessing, “Just fresh cooked mince and kibble.”
Diagnosis? IBS. Treatment? A 6-month elimination diet. Homework? A stack of reading that rivalled War and Peace.
The Long and Winding Road to Dinner Success
Fast forward 6 months and the verdict was: the most expensive Anallergenic kibble made from bird feathers??, sweet potato, and pork mince. It worked… for a while.
Then the vomiting came back.
Back to the vet. His new suggestion? “Game meat. Rabbit, duck, maybe partridge, whatever you can find.” I blinked. Was this my life now spending my evenings plucking quails for two small French Bulldogs? We compromised on Goat. I made bone broth (here is what I created and used with success: https://www.kojiandme.store/products/recovery-bone-broth-for-dogs), invented “Goat Konji” for sick days (the dog version of your mum’s chicken soup), and introduced broth flavoured porridge breakfasts. It worked for the tummy—less so for the waistline. Soon we were enduring the canine equivalent of fat-shaming at vet visits.
Then came a recipe from a friend’s breeder group: 15 magical steps to a complete diet. Seven hours every Sunday I slow-cooked chicken on the bone, stripped it meticulously avoiding bones and some choking disaster, added veggies and ginger, and mixed in secret ingredients like some kind of dog food alchemist. No kibble. No vomiting. Weight is perfect. Fur shiny. I was smug.Until… The Kale Incident.
I was out of other veggies, so in went a mountain of kale. Cue a week of vomiting from both dogs. Chicken was now not tolerated and off the table once more. We slunk back to goat, sweet potato, and Konji—a stripped-down but reliable diet.
Lessons From the Stove
Feeding dogs with sensitivities is a constant pivot. What works for a few months might be a disaster the next. Fresh cooking has given me flexibility – I can adapt their diet to the changing moods of their digestive systems. A lot of work right? Well, I’ve learned along the way that cooking really is my love language—especially when my audience is two short, round, opinionated French Bulldogs. At least I know they’re getting fresh protein and vegetables, without synthetic nasties or sneaky sugars that set them off or stack on kilos. I have refined the process, let the slow cooker do the grunt work, and banished the husband to the Den, where he remains until my work is done. I love recipe development and adding little personalised tweaks when tummies are rough. Result- the perfect poo. Anyone else obsessed with a good bowel movement? And satisfied dogs!
Addit: And yet… here we are today. Koji has urinary crystals after an ultrasound today and needs a $200/month specialised canned and kibble diet according to said vet who is determined I’m sure to ruin my home cooked haven. Audrey is perpetually starving and demands to be entertained by food. I live in my apron. Vet-prescribed canned food? Surely not. This is my thing now. So the search for the perfect urinary care diet now continues with a veterinary nutritionist – then it’s back to the stove.
Disclaimer: I acknowledge not everyone has the time, energy, or money for home cooked meals every night. I work for myself and can spare some time, but you do you. Some dogs I hear are perfectly well on cans and kibble, which sounds like energy efficient heaven. Maybe I just shouldn’t have let my partner convince us to adopt French Bulldogs!!!
That’s blog post one! What are your thoughts? Do you cook fresh as well? Are you looking into starting to cook more for your dog family? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Thank you for your time,
Sarah J
Co-Founder Koji & me, Your curated online dog products store