This time around I used a recipe from a book. It was very simple and I think it would be a good option for anytime the dog has an upset tummy. I used 3 chicken breasts, 3 chicken thighs lightly sauteeed in safflower oil then mixed with cooked brown rice and peas. I thought it tasted pretty good at least. The dog seems to agree too. I made about 4 quarts of it. I put half in a container to freeze and the other half in the fridge. She is getting 1C per day. At the evening meal she gets her supplement and a human grade fish oil pill (they were on sale). So far I haven't noticed much weight gain so the 1C doesn't seem to be too much for her. It's also been a bit harder to keep the cats out of her dish too. -Jade has to wait on a rug away from her food until I say it's okay. Sometimes the cats will wander over while they're waiting for their food.-
I also got a baking bug the other day and made up 2 batches of treats. One is apple cinnamon and the other is carrot. Since I was baking with my parents' dog in mind, I left out the unbleached flour and substitued soy flour and milled flax. This really affected the consistancy of the dough. The dough ended up being very sticky and soft. As a result I was unable to roll the carrot treats out and cut them (like sugar cookies). The apple treats look a lot like tiny cow patties, the carrot ones are close but a bit lighter. I don't remember the ingredient list exactly so I will have to post that another day. I'm thinking these can also double as horse treats too (if only the horse would eat carrots!)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Asian Invasion
I bumped up Jade's ration from 1/2 C per day to 3/4 C. She's still a bit bonier than I would like, particularly over the hips but otherwise in good condition. You can't see her ribs, but can feel them (this is good). Perhaps she just has prominent pelvic bones... we will see.
Not paying attention (again) I bought her the Asian mix of veggies and failed to notice they were seasoned. I don't think this will hurt her but I tend to stay away from seasoned foods because they typically are higher in sodium, sugar, and fat. She likes it just fine and it smells pretty good. It's a mix of snow peas, carrots, water chestnuts, broccoli, cauliflower.
She's getting
3Tbl veggie mix
3 Tbl brown rice
2 Tbl yogurt
2 Tbl pumpkin
supplement
in addition to her daily meat ration, which is either arm steak, chicken gizzard, albacore tuna packed in sunflower oil, or eggs.
I am toying with the idea of using one of the recipies from one of my books for the next round. My only concern is these recipies call for cooked meat and tend to omit the yogurt and pumpkin. Plus they need to be stored in a large container in the fridge which not only brings up the issue of spoilage, but also how do I serve it and do I have enough real estate in the fridge? I think I would probably split the batch in half putting one container in the freezer and the other in the fridge to reduce spoilage and space... but how to serve it? Do I really have to sacrifice yet another measuring cup for pet food? I do think it would be fun though... some of the recipies look pretty yummy.
Not paying attention (again) I bought her the Asian mix of veggies and failed to notice they were seasoned. I don't think this will hurt her but I tend to stay away from seasoned foods because they typically are higher in sodium, sugar, and fat. She likes it just fine and it smells pretty good. It's a mix of snow peas, carrots, water chestnuts, broccoli, cauliflower.
She's getting
3Tbl veggie mix
3 Tbl brown rice
2 Tbl yogurt
2 Tbl pumpkin
supplement
in addition to her daily meat ration, which is either arm steak, chicken gizzard, albacore tuna packed in sunflower oil, or eggs.
I am toying with the idea of using one of the recipies from one of my books for the next round. My only concern is these recipies call for cooked meat and tend to omit the yogurt and pumpkin. Plus they need to be stored in a large container in the fridge which not only brings up the issue of spoilage, but also how do I serve it and do I have enough real estate in the fridge? I think I would probably split the batch in half putting one container in the freezer and the other in the fridge to reduce spoilage and space... but how to serve it? Do I really have to sacrifice yet another measuring cup for pet food? I do think it would be fun though... some of the recipies look pretty yummy.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Ahh, I forgot to update what Jade is eating now...
This time I made her
2Tbl Arm steak
2Tbl boiled New Potatoes
2 Tbl Steamed peas
1 Tbl pumpkin
1 Tbl yogurt
supplement.
I bought some new knives at the State Fair, they made slicing up the steaks a breeze! I think I might start buying roasts again now that I know it won't take me 2 hours just to cut it up.
I also just noticed that the can of pumpkin I'd been using for this batch and the one prior is not pumpkin... it is in fact, Pumpkin Pie mix! Crap, the last thing that dog needs is sugar! Oh well, it's gone now.
I think I am going to try an increase her protien a little bit, she's looking a tad thin again and winter is coming up.
This time I made her
2Tbl Arm steak
2Tbl boiled New Potatoes
2 Tbl Steamed peas
1 Tbl pumpkin
1 Tbl yogurt
supplement.
I bought some new knives at the State Fair, they made slicing up the steaks a breeze! I think I might start buying roasts again now that I know it won't take me 2 hours just to cut it up.
I also just noticed that the can of pumpkin I'd been using for this batch and the one prior is not pumpkin... it is in fact, Pumpkin Pie mix! Crap, the last thing that dog needs is sugar! Oh well, it's gone now.
I think I am going to try an increase her protien a little bit, she's looking a tad thin again and winter is coming up.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Beef Heart
This time I decided to try out beef heart. The heart is considered muscle meat, not organ meat, so she will be getting that as her base meat and gizzards on organ meat day. Because beef heart is quite fatty I reduced her portion size.
She gets
2 Tbl beef heart
2 Tbl oatmeal
2 Tbl steamed green beans
1 Tbl pumpkin
1 Tbl yogurt
supplement
Didn't switch up too much this time around. I will warn you though, beef hearts SMELL. Holy wow, do they smell. They smell really really bad and I had to verify with a few people that this is normal and they hadn't gone rotten. It was very easy to slice though.
I had a good question come through. Someone asked why raw food is so controversial. I will attempt to explain.
Dog food has not always been the neat bags of colorful little shapes that we have today. Before the 1900s most Americans fed thier pets table scraps and other leftovers. Now, most people feed thier dogs prepackaged dry dog food. These extruded pellets have a long shelf life, are easy to store, and are provide uniform levels of ingredients. They are also, generally, very affordable.
Raw diets are less uniform, spoil quickly, and can cause several types of food borne illnesses in humans. Feeding a balanced raw diet also requires some education in dogs' nutritional needs. The USFDA does not reccomend such a diet.
Why would I choose to feed my dog such a diet?
Since Jade does not have a voice, I must speak for her. Commercial diets are commonly loaded with fillers that are undigestible for a dog. Most dogs cannot digest grains very well, corn being especially difficult to digest, yet very commonly used as a main ingredient in dog food manufacturing. In addition to fillers they contain preservatives, artificial dyes and flavors. I know some of you are probably saying, "but wait, some of my favorite foods contain all of those things!" And it is true. My problem lies with the regulation of the dog food industry. There are few well defined regulations or standards. A few years ago hundreds of different brands of dog food were allowed to be contaminated with melamine. Most dog foods contain meat by-products that are not allowed to be sold for human consumption because they contiain bovine spinal tissue, or come from animals that died of disease, or are contaminated with feces. I cannot in good conscious feed such things to my dog when I can, for the same price and at very little inconvenience to me, feed her human grade food.
This being said, they certianly do sell high quality dry dog chow with no fillers using human grade food but it is very expensive and hard to come by here in the boondocks.
Some people advocate raw diet because it is more natural for a dog. I agree with this to an extent. To keep a dog in a pack of humans is unnatural, to allow said dog to sleep under the covers is unnatural, to train them to 'sit pretty' and 'high five' is unnatural, to feed them at the same time every day and the same amount is... unnatural. However, physiologically speaking, a dog is naturally well equipt to process raw foods.
Typically, meat processed in large packing plants and shipped over long distances is more likely to contain higher levels of bacteria. I buy my meat locally, follow proper handling procedures, and keep it frozen or refrigerated until it is used. I will not feed Jade raw ground beef because it had an increased incidence of carrying dangerous levels of bacteria due to an increased surface area. I try to avoid poultry due to its greater potential to carry bacteria... now, if I had local, farm raised chicken, I would feed her that.
These are a few of the things I considered before switching Jade over to a raw diet.
She gets
2 Tbl beef heart
2 Tbl oatmeal
2 Tbl steamed green beans
1 Tbl pumpkin
1 Tbl yogurt
supplement
Didn't switch up too much this time around. I will warn you though, beef hearts SMELL. Holy wow, do they smell. They smell really really bad and I had to verify with a few people that this is normal and they hadn't gone rotten. It was very easy to slice though.
I had a good question come through. Someone asked why raw food is so controversial. I will attempt to explain.
Dog food has not always been the neat bags of colorful little shapes that we have today. Before the 1900s most Americans fed thier pets table scraps and other leftovers. Now, most people feed thier dogs prepackaged dry dog food. These extruded pellets have a long shelf life, are easy to store, and are provide uniform levels of ingredients. They are also, generally, very affordable.
Raw diets are less uniform, spoil quickly, and can cause several types of food borne illnesses in humans. Feeding a balanced raw diet also requires some education in dogs' nutritional needs. The USFDA does not reccomend such a diet.
Why would I choose to feed my dog such a diet?
Since Jade does not have a voice, I must speak for her. Commercial diets are commonly loaded with fillers that are undigestible for a dog. Most dogs cannot digest grains very well, corn being especially difficult to digest, yet very commonly used as a main ingredient in dog food manufacturing. In addition to fillers they contain preservatives, artificial dyes and flavors. I know some of you are probably saying, "but wait, some of my favorite foods contain all of those things!" And it is true. My problem lies with the regulation of the dog food industry. There are few well defined regulations or standards. A few years ago hundreds of different brands of dog food were allowed to be contaminated with melamine. Most dog foods contain meat by-products that are not allowed to be sold for human consumption because they contiain bovine spinal tissue, or come from animals that died of disease, or are contaminated with feces. I cannot in good conscious feed such things to my dog when I can, for the same price and at very little inconvenience to me, feed her human grade food.
This being said, they certianly do sell high quality dry dog chow with no fillers using human grade food but it is very expensive and hard to come by here in the boondocks.
Some people advocate raw diet because it is more natural for a dog. I agree with this to an extent. To keep a dog in a pack of humans is unnatural, to allow said dog to sleep under the covers is unnatural, to train them to 'sit pretty' and 'high five' is unnatural, to feed them at the same time every day and the same amount is... unnatural. However, physiologically speaking, a dog is naturally well equipt to process raw foods.
Typically, meat processed in large packing plants and shipped over long distances is more likely to contain higher levels of bacteria. I buy my meat locally, follow proper handling procedures, and keep it frozen or refrigerated until it is used. I will not feed Jade raw ground beef because it had an increased incidence of carrying dangerous levels of bacteria due to an increased surface area. I try to avoid poultry due to its greater potential to carry bacteria... now, if I had local, farm raised chicken, I would feed her that.
These are a few of the things I considered before switching Jade over to a raw diet.
Friday, July 31, 2009
My brain took a vacation
Well, I bought Jade some nice beef leg steaks. Ok, maybe they weren't THAT nice. They were on sale b/c they were going to expire. When I cut them up they had a slight smell, but hadn't gone bad yet... just smelled like aged beef. I sliced them up nice, packaged them in little baggies and then left them on the counter... over night. Dang! So, I threw them out the next day when I realized my mistake. I went out and bought her some pork chops. I forgot to get more plastic baggies so I ended up putting a days worth of meat in with the other ingredients. So far it seems to be working alright. She's getting:
5 Tbl pork
2 Tbl oatmeal
2 Tbl steamed green beans
1 Tbl pumpkin
1 Tbl yogurt
3/4 tsp supplement
she gets gizzards on organ meat day. I like these MUCH better than that icky liver. She gets about 3 per meal.
Also, I learned that freezing yogurt really alters its consistancy. It becomes VERY watery. Pumpkin also doesn't fair quite as well after being frozen.
She got some canned salmon the other day too and seemed to enjoy that quite a lot.
I gave her a carrot the other morning to chew on. It made a HUGE mess all over the place but she really liked it. Her poop later in the day was carrot colored. I might just switch her over to all carrot diet, it will make it much easier to clean up the yard! Less searching.
Happy Feeding
5 Tbl pork
2 Tbl oatmeal
2 Tbl steamed green beans
1 Tbl pumpkin
1 Tbl yogurt
3/4 tsp supplement
she gets gizzards on organ meat day. I like these MUCH better than that icky liver. She gets about 3 per meal.
Also, I learned that freezing yogurt really alters its consistancy. It becomes VERY watery. Pumpkin also doesn't fair quite as well after being frozen.
She got some canned salmon the other day too and seemed to enjoy that quite a lot.
I gave her a carrot the other morning to chew on. It made a HUGE mess all over the place but she really liked it. Her poop later in the day was carrot colored. I might just switch her over to all carrot diet, it will make it much easier to clean up the yard! Less searching.
Happy Feeding
Monday, June 22, 2009
A new combo
Made up some more dog chow...
this time she is getting
1 Tbl plain yogurt
1 Tbl pumpkin
2 Tbl raditore pasta (cooked)
2 Tbl steamed/canned green beans
3/4 tsp all natural canine supplement
I ran out of green beans so I had to use canned (no salt added).
It all looked quite delicious until I stirred it up.
I didn't notice much of a change in her temperment with the chammomile, so I left that out this time around.
She's still got quite a bit of arm steak left but has gone through all her liver. I'm trying to figure out an alternative organ meat because the liver is just too gross for me. I've been looking for some chicken or turkey hearts to use instead but with no luck.
She sure does love her eggs though, she slurps them right up! And her breath is the worst on Tuna Tuesdays.
She seems to be slimmer than she was before I started all of this. I can't decide if it's just because she's hitting that akward not puppy/not adult stage or if it's because she needs more protien. Some days I give her an egg with the steak if she seems a bit on the thin side. Right now she looks pretty healthy.
On another note: I started her on K9 Advantix in may. when the day came to reapply in June I did so. I noticed she kind of started being extra wiggly and rolling on stuff. I wasn't sure if it was the Advantix or if she just needed to get her wiggles out. I left her for a few hours and when I came back she was covered in hives! She was itchy and bumpy and looked terrible. She was in good spirits though and was playing with the cats and acting normal... just more itchy. She didn't have any hives on her face or head, just her body and legs. I ran to the store and got her some dissolvable childrens benadryl tabs and some oatmeal bath. I tried to give her half a tab but dropped the other half as I was trying to put it away and she vacuumed it up before I had the chance to grab it away. (at least I don't have to worry about her not wanting to take her medicine) She survived and it definetly stopped the hives and itching. I gave her a bath with the oatmeal stuff too and she was fine after that. She didn't even get sleepy from the benadryl (dang!) I kept her on the benadryl for 2 days as needed. She's fine now but now I have all this extra K9 Advantix left over and I need to figure out a new way to prevent fleas and ticks.
this time she is getting
1 Tbl plain yogurt
1 Tbl pumpkin
2 Tbl raditore pasta (cooked)
2 Tbl steamed/canned green beans
3/4 tsp all natural canine supplement
I ran out of green beans so I had to use canned (no salt added).
It all looked quite delicious until I stirred it up.
I didn't notice much of a change in her temperment with the chammomile, so I left that out this time around.
She's still got quite a bit of arm steak left but has gone through all her liver. I'm trying to figure out an alternative organ meat because the liver is just too gross for me. I've been looking for some chicken or turkey hearts to use instead but with no luck.
She sure does love her eggs though, she slurps them right up! And her breath is the worst on Tuna Tuesdays.
She seems to be slimmer than she was before I started all of this. I can't decide if it's just because she's hitting that akward not puppy/not adult stage or if it's because she needs more protien. Some days I give her an egg with the steak if she seems a bit on the thin side. Right now she looks pretty healthy.
On another note: I started her on K9 Advantix in may. when the day came to reapply in June I did so. I noticed she kind of started being extra wiggly and rolling on stuff. I wasn't sure if it was the Advantix or if she just needed to get her wiggles out. I left her for a few hours and when I came back she was covered in hives! She was itchy and bumpy and looked terrible. She was in good spirits though and was playing with the cats and acting normal... just more itchy. She didn't have any hives on her face or head, just her body and legs. I ran to the store and got her some dissolvable childrens benadryl tabs and some oatmeal bath. I tried to give her half a tab but dropped the other half as I was trying to put it away and she vacuumed it up before I had the chance to grab it away. (at least I don't have to worry about her not wanting to take her medicine) She survived and it definetly stopped the hives and itching. I gave her a bath with the oatmeal stuff too and she was fine after that. She didn't even get sleepy from the benadryl (dang!) I kept her on the benadryl for 2 days as needed. She's fine now but now I have all this extra K9 Advantix left over and I need to figure out a new way to prevent fleas and ticks.
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