Homemade Diet Is OK for Diabetic Dog

Q. I have a 6-year-old Bassett Hound with diabetes. She is now on 15 units of vetsulin twice a day. She is a very finicky eater, and I cannot get her to eat her Purina DCO dog food. Every day I make a mixture of ground turkey, beef, or chicken and chopped green beans, plus brown rice or bulgur wheat. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can get her to eat her regular dog food? It is a great source of stress for me, and I am trying everything I know to remedy this.

A. Not surprisingly, your dog prefers the homemade diet to the commercial one. It sounded quite appetizing to me, in fact. Gradually transition her over to her prescription diet by adding a small amount of the DCO to her homemade diet, and gradually adding more each day, over a period of two weeks. You may have to add at least a small amount of the ground turkey diet for a while, but hopefully after several months you can stop it completely.

Alternatively, the homemade diet would not necessarily be bad for her to eat long term, if you don’t mind preparing it.