Need raw beef

I'm off today to find some raw meat for the dogs. I really need to find a good supplier of preferably organic beef. I also need some bones for their teeth, it is amazing what raw bones can do for their pearly whites. Dogs were meant to eat raw eat; it has enzymes in it that cooked or processed food does not.

I have yet to feed raw chicken, it just seems to be a more delicate act trying to be sure that it is fresh. But I know lots of people do feed raw chicken, I'm just not there yet. Dogs have a great ability to deal with bacteria and a dog that is not immune compromised can eat stuff that we can't.

Take wolves for instance, they stash their food away for later use. If we ate that same meat we'd probably die, if we could ever get it past our noses that is.

Taken from USAtoday.com

Predators and scavengers can eat rotted meat thanks to a germ-hostile digestive system. All vertebrate predators have remarkably similar systems: a short pipe — six times the body length — with a bulge (the stomach) in the middle.

Because it's short, food doesn't stay long in the gut. Bacteria have little time to multiply and cause problems. The stomach, moreover, brews a vicious batch of hydrochloric acid that not only dissolves gobbled meat and fat but also kills most bacteria and other microorganisms.

"Practically the whole gastrointestinal tract of a carnivore is sterile," says Barry Groves, British nutritional scientist.

Rotting meat is rich in protein, amino acids, fat, lipid components, and minerals. Scavengers usually find dead meat soon after a kill so it loses little nutritional value. Eating rotted meat helps the species to survive.

"Hunger will drive most animals to feed on what's available," says Dan Stahler, project biologist with the Yellowstone Gray Wolf Restoration Program, National Park Service. "These meat eaters can handle a high bacterial load due to their short digestive system and appropriate digestive enzymes and acids."

So can we. In Europe, people "regularly hang beef three weeks in a fridge before eating it," says Groves. Inuits leave fish to rot for months. By then, according to the anthropologist and Arctic explorer, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, it has the consistency of ice cream. "At first repelled, he grew to like it," says Groves.

Oldies but goodies

Tilley has not been well for the last couple of days so I have been having to prepare her food special. As a senior she has special food requirements and that is easily digested food and low fat. She still needs as much protein but the fat is hard on her so all protein is low fat.

Low fat can often mean the way you prepare a protein or choosing low fat to start with. If I am cooking up meat of some sort I make sure that all fat is either trimmed or rinsed. With the hamburger I simply run the kitchen water very hot and rinse. Luke is getting a bit more fat in his food; as much as he can tolerate for the added calories.

It's not a science but it is definitely a trial and error act.

Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. And so between them both you see they licked the platter clean. Works for Tilley and Luke very nicely.

Garlic and fleas

I like to offer my dogs a wide variety of protein sources,so yesterday when I bought the regular standby of ground beef I bought ground turkey as well. Cooking it up this morning I added some garlic; as you know I have said many times before that Luke loves people food, lasagna, sausages, steak and shortbread. So I thought by adding some garlic it might be more to his liking.

I only use small amounts of garlic; there is a big controversy over the good and bad of garlic for dogs. I do think that you can give your dog too much of a good thing but a shake or two of garlic powder while preparing their food adds flavor and they say keeps fleas away. I have no evidence of it working on fleas; I don't battle them often but if I do I use a weekly bath to kill them.

Fleas drown very easily so giving a bath with any type of shampoo once a week when there are fleas present really helps. Make sure to make a nice soap ring around the neck and tail/private area so that the fleas cannot flee and hide in there. Leave the sudsy shampoo on for at least 5 minutes. If there are fleas you will see them coming to the surface to try to escape; don't let them. Plop a big pile of suds on top of them and then wash them down the drain.

I never use toxic flea treatment anymore; best to use management and safe, healthy alternatives.

Up to my eyeballs

Good evening everyone; I have been cooking and baking around the clock it seems. If it's not goodies for the humans, it is either goodies for the dogs, dinner for the humans or the dogs.

I want to wish everyone the very best Christmas ever. My guys are patiently awaiting present opening; yes they all get two to open. They will be eating turkey and the gizzards from the turkey. I bought ground beef and ground turkey for over the holidays and they will be eating a combination of all these as well. As I wrote several days ago; I bought 10 lbs of liver so I also have that on hand. But with all of these seniors we've had pretty bad farts from the liver.

My rule for dealing with the farts; deal with it. Luke is eating like a champion so he is getting liver and the girls get it just because they like it too. I will be on high alert for Jessie and her food stealing binges. Please make sure that your dogs do not have access to any type of chocolate; especially the dark type over the holidays.

Give all of your dogs a huge hug and kiss for me.

Soup day

Today is definitely a soup day. I just told my husband the other day that I think that not only eating soup is Therapeutic but making it is as well. I love having a pot on the stove simmering all day long. So today will be dog soup day; I'm sure the humans are going to be too happy about it. Maybe I'll simmer some for the humans as well.

So what will go into the soup? Everything but the kitchen sink; liver, turkey, organic chicken broth, spinach, sweet potato, green beans and whatever else I can find. It is a great way to add extra flavor to their meals. You can prepare their normal food and add a ladle full of warm soup on the top.

So get out your pots and make some good ole dog soup.

Mishmosh

Yesterday was very busy so breakfast was a mixture of many things. Luke surprisingly ate very well and the girls of course ate great. I had to run out and get more meat, liver etc for them so it was an everything but the kitchen sink breakfast so to speak. There was leftover lentils, rice, ground turkey, granola, yogurt, apple, pumpkin and a couple of eggs thrown in.

I have been giving the dogs dog food occasionally so that they can be fed it if I have to go away for a day or two but I was out of that as well. Their breakfast was actually a very good one but because I was scrounging for items to give them; it makes me feel like it not as good as if I had planned it out. But after looking into their bowls before I offered up the Wednesday morning caserole to them I realized it was a pretty great meal.

Feeding dogs real food can seem like a huge undertaking; it's actually quite easy. Most dogs are willing to eat just about anything you offer them. And if you make sure that they are getting a good source of protein, veggies, fruit and a complete supplement then your off to the races.

I finally got my hands on more liver lastnight and bought 10 lbs. I got quite the stares at the store and the cashier just had to ask. That means today I'm going to be on the barbeque for a good while. Once it is all cooked I'll freeze most so that we have a nice supply to keep Luke happy for the Holidays.

Partially cooked

I've been on the hunt for liver again. Yesterday I went to the store where I got it last time and nothing. I don't frequent this store and went there strictly for Luke and they were actually out of liver; the delivery truck was 8 hours late. Luke has not been eating great with the absence of liver.

So lastnight I cooked up some ground turkey; they like this and it is a good and inexpensive protein source.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=125

I don't typically feed raw poultry but though I'd give partial cooking a try. Luke loves raw meat so I cooked the turkey only until it was a sort of pinky beige. Amazingly this was enough to entice him to eat his whole meal. When you don't thoroughly cook meat you must take much more care about how long you keep it and that it is well refridgerated.

But if this is all it takes; I'm all for it. Less time in the kitchen and a fatter boy. :)

Blueberries

Blueberries; what is not to love about them? They are amazingly good for you and your dogs. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=8

Cut and paste the above link to find out all you ever wanted to know about Blueberries.

I often slip blueberries into breakfast or dinner for my pooches. The girls of course enjoy them but Luke is not a fan. And again because Jessie does not chew them I cut them up so that they can get every speck of goodness out of these fabulous little antioxidant fruit.

Another great way to get a few blueberries into your dog is to add it to plain yogurt as a midday snack. Use frozen, fresh or dried.

Yes it is work

We are having a party this weekend; which means I've been in the kitchen just about everyday all day. With preparing food the party, feeding the family and the dogs my kitchen is well used. I have often been in several million dollar homes for training when the topic of dog food has come up. "I'm not cooking for my dogs; I don't cook for my family." Standing looking at the enormous kitchen I think to myself what a waste.

But yes; cooking for the dogs is alot of work. It wouldn't be near the work if it was just Jessie; one little 15 lb mouth to feed. And it definitely wouldn't be as much work if it were not for Luke; I am constantly challenged by his fussy palate. But I enjoy cooking and baking; not always mind you. There are days when I want to throw in the towel and not set foot in the kitchen. One of my favorite things to do is dine out.

When I'm overwhelmed and busy beyond belief the dogs eat fast food. Fast food for them is more than likely raw meat; they had raw meat the other night. Not because I didn't want to cook but because I was just too busy; and like any kid they were very excited to have fast food. They all sit politely infront of me and I feed them with a fork; it's got to be novel for them, a nice change from eating out of the old feed bowl.

I know it is alot of work to feed the dogs this way but when you know the facts; it's hard not to. I also understand that many people don't have the time or desire to feed their dogs like I do. Everyone is different and every dog is different; doing the best we can is what matters. I enjoy feeding my dogs but if you don't want to cook or prepare your dog's food; just research all the dog foods out there and get the one you think is the best.

I tend to like the smaller companies; not so commercial. The ones who still care about the dogs and not just the bottom line. And don't be afraid to throw in some chicken, veggies, beef or whatever you bring home from the restaurant ;) as long as it is healthy food.

Pretty good

Tilley is my floor cleaner; very vigilant about her job.






Okay, these cookies are pretty good. They taste sort of like Cheese crackers.

1/2 Cup butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup grated sharp cheddar

I used my KitchenAid mixer for 3 solid minutes. Hand knead for 1 min to make sure all the cheese is blended in nicely. Roll out to 1/4" thickness using flour on your surface and top of dough. The dough is really nice to roll.

Bake large cookies 2 1/2" size for 20 min. Leave in for 25 min again at 275 to dry.
small size 1 1/2" for 15 min. Leave in for 15 min again at 275 to dry.

Photos to follow soon

The Double Quarter pounder

Since Luke started dropping weight from his mysterious illness I started stopping at McDs on a regular basis. My favorite coffee hands down is McDs; that is here in SoCal. Back home it is Tim Hortons ahead of McDs so when I stop for my coffee; or should I say when I stop to get a burger for the dogs I get to grab a coffee.

I get the double quarter pounder and they love it. Surprisingly there is no complaining from Luke; he eats it like a champ. Perhaps I should create some sort of burger type pattie that would be close to a balanced meal for him and the rest of the pooches. Like Luke the girls love it and I have to watch my fingers with Jessie when I feed the 1/4 lb; tuck em in or loose'm.

I have fed Luke some of the great RAW food brands of patties but it was work and he didn't eat them all. Taste is everything to Luke; so I'd have to put on my chef hat and come up with the perfect combination and a good amount of fat. Luke loves fat; the only problem with fat is that it tends to give regular dogs the runs in large quantities.

But dogs need fat just like we do. I was watching the Iditarod show a while back and it explained that mushers feed their dogs different foods. Most feed a combination of a high quality balanced dog food mixed with meats, high fat fish and added fat and oil. Sled dogs require between 6,000 - 12,000 calories a day during the run; an amazing amount of calories have to go into a meal. They also stop approximately every 3 hours or so for a snack, usually of frozen fish.

Most dogs on the Iditarod do best on a 60% fat diet; which is the equivalent of 60 Big Mac's. A diet consisting of 60% fat would turn both our dogs and us into fat cows. So we must regulate the fat content in our dogs food. Activity level of each dog plays a large role in caloric intake. And activity level is the amount of exercise and the level of natural activity a dog displays. That being a big difference between a very mellow dog and a high energy type personality. Luke tends to burn alot of calories during the day as he spins and carries on for greetings and throughout the day.

When I feed a burger midday to the dogs; Luke gets about 3/4 of it. The girls get enough between them to give them a little treat without adding extra pounds.

Making cookies again

I was out yesterday looking for some coasters for our new table when I spotted these. I had a bone cookie cutter years ago and somewhere during one of our many moves it got displaced. So I bought these and I will bake up some cookies with them today. Funny isn't it how we like to make cookies in the shape of bones or other cute dog items.

I don't typically make cookies in the shape of things for my guys but if I'm going to give them away which I am; I want them in cute shapes. Not that the dogs know; well maybe they do but they don't care. I do know that!

I found a fairly good recipe but it is still not as good as I want it to be. I want Luke to eat them with the same gusto as he does his shortbread. I can't even eat shortbread without having a long blonde face staring at me. I don't know, I may have to resort to adding butter in the recipe. ;)

Water

Water is very important for dogs; good fresh clean water. Like us they need water each and every day. But; how much they drink depends on what they eat. When I switched to feeding my dogs real food from kibble the water consumption dropped dramatically. Even after a hard run the dogs rarely drink water. The only time they really seem to drink more is when it is hot out. And at that time they love ice in their water. After a long hot run they will wait very patiently for someone to fill their bowl with ice and fresh cold water. We also give the dogs spring water whenever we can. Yes they drink taop water sometimes but I try to keep it at a minimum. I figure if it isn't something I want to chug back then I should be having my dogs chug it back either. When they do drink it takes them a while; unlike us they lap their water with the back of their tongue. It may look like they lap up with their tongue in a laddle like shape but their tongue curls backwards and it is in the tiny pocket that they hold the water from the bowl to their mouth. The video above of Jessie shows this action.

Ah Raw

Luke is one happy boy; yesterdays meal consisted of RAW beef. I know dog noses are amazing but they still astound me. I can take raw meat out of the refriderater and Luke will be in the kitchen with 15 sec. Even when he is sleeping in the familyroom which is on the opposite end of the house; unbelievable. And when I come home from the grocery store with meat; it takes but a second for him to be hot on my trail.

Raw is very natural for dogs but if you have never given them raw before it can take a while for them to get use to it. When I first gave them raw beef Tilley spit it on the floor. I had to offer it to her several times before she realized she should eat it. But believe me it doesn't take long once they get the hang of it.

The only time I feed raw is if I just purchased meat from the grocery; it also has to have a best by date of several days from the day I am giving it to them. I do not feed raw ground beef or chicken. Many people do but this is my own decision only to feed solid raw beef.

So when I do feed raw beef especially; I have to make sure that whatever else is going with it is stuck to the raw beef or Luke will pick out the beef and that's it. I cooked up some oatmeal yesterday as it sticks very nicely giving Luke no option other than to eat the oatmeal. I also chopped Arugula very tiny and cranberries which both stuck nicely as well.

I made some cookies yesterday; a new recipe and they are pretty good. Luke ate some lastnight but they still don't compare to the shortbread.

Dog cookies

Having been known as the cookie lady (for humans)for years; it seems only fitting that I make dog cookies. I've made several different kinds over the years but have yet to find one that is as good as I want them to be. So I'm on a mission to create a really good cookie.

Most dog cookies are very bland; even the "organic" type. And then there are the ones that taste like cardboard; they sure smell like cardboard. I want something that my dogs want to eat. Lastnight I was making shortbread; a big hit with all the dogs, Luke included. Shortbread is great for adding calories which is what Luke needs but I don't want the sugar in them. Not that shortbread has a ton of sugar; what makes shortbread really amazing is the butter. And we know how much Luke loves butter.

Tilley was my constant companion as I baked lastnight. I was using a cookie press so there is alot of radom bits and pieces that fly off the counter; she was there to clean up the mess for me. ;) So now I have to put on my thinking cap and come up with a recipe that taste good and is good for the dogs. Calories are not a concern; if they are high in calories then the girls only get a small piece and hopefully Luke will put on some much needed weight.

I'm off to experiment.

Weight gain

I've been working very hard to put some weight on Luke; as you know he is a very fussy eater and way skinny. I wish I had the same problem he does; don't we all? So I'm always trying to add high calorie foods to his meals and between meals. The only problem with this is that I'm not trying to fatten up the girls; they don't need any extra meat on them.

It can be difficult to add calories without causing problems. High calories are typically more fat content for dogs. More food is not the answer when you have a dog who rarely finishes his food so you must slip in more calories. Lastnight I put some bacon drippings on his food; only a small amount. The danger of adding more fat is loose stool or worse. So you must add it in small amounts.

The bacon flavor definitely did the trick for Luke; he ate all of his dinner lastnight which was turkey, chopped arugula, apple, brown rice, green pepper, liver and bacon drippings, yum. I can already feel that he is putting on some weight since he was sick. Not much mind you but a tiny coating of meat over his bones. He is never going to be a heavy dog; it just isn't who he is.

And for the girls; I'm constantly watching what they eat. With Tilley being almost 12 I don't want her carrying any extra weight and Jessie; well she puts weight on if she looks at food and not eating has never been a problem for her.

Sunday morning

We took the dogs down to the canyon for an early morning walk today. Because I do not run the dogs either an hour before or two hours after they have eaten; we go before they eat. But; like us they need a little something or they might not feel great being too hungry. This morning my husband gave them a cheese string to split. The girls love it of course; Luke takes a while to convince him that he does indeed like it.

So once we were back from the run; they had their feet washed, a drink of water and time to cool it was breakfast time. This morning they had turkey of course, liver, green pepper, yogurt, cranberries, potato, tomato and brown basmati rice. Peppers are a big favorite for the dogs; and of course they prefer the sweeter yellow, orange and red over the green but they eat green.

Even Luke loves them and this morning picked his green pepper out before anything else. What a good boy to eat his greens. So what's in green pepper?

Green Bell Pepper nutritional information:

Serving size 1 medium (148g)
Calories 30
Total Fat 0g
Sodium 0mg
Total Carbohydrate 7g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Protein 1g
% of U.S. RDA

Vitamin A 6%
Calcium 0%
Vitamin C 150%
Iron 2%

Turkey

Having got two turkeys at the grocery store yesterday for a quarter of the regular price; I cooked them both today. I barbequed up the liver early this morning and got the turkeys into the oven. The dogs had liver this morning and a huge turkey dinner tonight.

After cooling the turkey I picked the meat off both and prepared their dinner. They had brown basmati rice, yellow pepper, chopped dried cranberries, turkey and liver with probiotic powder. As you can see from the image above; they were more than anxiously awaiting their turkey dinner.

I was surprised and very happy to see Luke so into turkey. Often I will give Luke and the girls an appetizer to get (Luke) them prepared for dinner. Often if Luke has a few bites before dinner he will actually eat better. He ate all of his dinner but a few pieces of pepper and a tiny bit of rice.

The big secret with Luke is to mix well; the easier it is to pick out pieces the less chance Luke will eat it all.

Recently I was asked about Mayonaise for dogs; someone with a sick dogs just needs them to eat. Just like several weeks ago when Luke wouldn't eat anything; I tried everything. Like us when we are sick; whatever goes down, works. Mayo is fine; you have to watch the fat content, fat is the worst culprit for diarrhea so take care when giving high fat foods. Consider where you will be the day after. ;)

Thankgiving day

It's Thanksgiving; but we aren't eating turkey. We are celebrated our Thanksgiving in October (Canadian Thanksgiving), so we had an Italian dinner with pumpkin. I made a delicious pumpkin pasta dish; salad and a chocolate chip pizookie. A pizookie is a giant soft chocolate chip; served warm with ice cream in the middle. You serve it at the table in the pan and everyone digs in.

The dogs had tonight a good portion of ground turkey and beef, gizzards, arugula, and pumpkin pasta. The girls loved it; Luke picked through it but eventually ate almost everything. Before giving my dogs any of our prepared food I have to consider what went into it; what might come out and how much they should get.

Gizzards

If you're like me you grew up hearing the terms gizzards, giblets etc around the holidays. It never really peeked my interest; I just knew that it was the gross stuff my Mom boiled up and it came out of the turkey. Now as a canine guardian looking for great food for the dogs I wanted to know. What the heck are gizzards?

While at the grocery store yesterday; looking for liver I spotted a good supply of gizzards and hearts. I did know that they come out of turkey's and chickens but I wasn't sure what they were exactly. They are cheap; so I bought four packages for the dogs. Once home I got out the computer to see just what these gizzards are.

Gizzards are secondary stomachs used by birds to grind their food before digestion. Very much like the tripe people feed their dogs and themselves; yuck. Because birds don't have teeth, they must fill their gizzards with small stones to achieve the same end result. Gizzards contain a very tough inner membrane, surrounded by a muscular pouch which provides the grinding action. Gizzards are part of the group of foods called offal, which also includes beef tripe, chitlins (pork intestines), and hearts; mmmmmmmmmm.

I am of Scottish heritage so I am very accustom to the stuff that some people eat. It really is what you are raised with. Steak and kidney pie, blood pudding, haggis (made from sheep liver, lungs, hearts, oatmeal and seasonings). I have to admit I love oatmeal; love it in anything but the other stuff? I'll leave that for the dogs to enjoy.

I have three packages of gizzards, hearts and liver fresh off the barbeque. They will be outside cooling; lest they offend any sleeping human members of the family in the house. But believe me, the dogs are going to be very happy.

The incredible edible egg

Sunday morning breakfast; two fried eggs and toast. Eggs aren't just for us anymore, eggs are a great source of protein for our dogs and they are very affordable. Most dogs love eggs; not all though. You know who I'm talking about; Luke is not an egg fan. So if eggs are on the menu I have some hide'n seek work to do.

Yesterday was egg day and with a ton of liver on hand I was able to conceal just about completely. I cooked up two eggs for the poodles, one for Jessie and two for my son. Easy fixing; they all went into the pot and I returned 10 minutes later. Running cold water over the eggs before attempting to shell them saves your fingers.

I chopped the dogs eggs as much as I could; mashed them really. You can't hide big pieces, I needed to be able to disguise them. The girls ate them without one bit of complaint; Luke knew there was something other than his liver in the bowl but he ate them. Here is the facts below.

http://www.nutritionandeggs.co.uk/eggs_nutrition/nutrition1.html

Green Beans

I've been feeding green beans to my dogs for a very longtime. I'm not a huge fan of them myself; but my husband loves fresh green beans. Fresh is always best whether for us or for our dogs. But as a constant food source for my dogs I buy the frozen ones at Trader Joe's. They are very good and a good value.

Green beans are something that all my dogs enjoy; yes even Luke. Oddly enough he does enjoy green vegetables alot; even if his tastes are strange concerning other foods. Like all veggies I cut them small and they are partially cooked to make them more easily digested for the dogs.

Here is a good link to the nutritional value of the good ole Green bean.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=134

Best way to cook liver

I have discovered the best way to cook liver; the best way that is if everyone in the house hates liver. Even the smell of it sends some of the family members to gagging. To me liver is just that; liver and it does not offend me to cook it. It does bring back memories of being in the show ring and I do sort of gross out at it in it's raw state.

But being that I have alot of people to deal with in this house; not only the dogs I try to accomodate. So I have discovered that cooking it in tinfoil on the barbeque works best. I can leave it outside to cool so that not even the foul smelling steam gets into the house. But that's as far as it goes.

If anyone complains about the smell of liver as I cut it up for the dogs; well too bad. It has made a huge difference to Luke; he ate two bowls of food lastnight and he only ever did that before for liver. So liver is here to stay in my house and I am very glad that I finally found a source to get it.

Taste

As you start to cook for your dog/dogs you will find that not everyone is going to like everything. Just like us; dogs have very specific likes and dislikes. Now there are dogs that will eat anything you put infront of them, like my Jessie. There are very few foods that she won't eat and often if there are things she likes and dislikes mixed up; she goes through eating the best and leaving the worst for last.

My girls are easy to feed; the even ate the sardines I tried on them. Luke is just plain weird and beyond fussy; he likes to eat like a person not a dog. So I try my best to accomodate but it can't always be a gourmet meal. There are days like yesterday when I've been out and dinner is going to be a quick one.

Lastnight I made scrambled eggs with ham and havarti; I then added oatmeal before serving it up. The girls loved it; even though Tilley is not a big egg fan she ate. Luke on the otherhand was a challenge to feed. He adores ham typically but I had forgotten to fry up the ham first, he loves the taste of fried (who doesn't). I threw the ham in after the eggs were cooked so it didn't have that mmmmmmmmmmmm flavor.

Honestly.

Where has the liver gone?

Okay, I've finally found something that Luke loves; liver. Now finding liver is the trick; you use to be able to get it at any grocer. That is back in Canada when I was showing dogs in the conformation ring. I had to buy it all the time to cook and bake it up for bait. Now I want it to feed to Luke and I can't find it.

I even went to a butchers yesterday where they had veal liver; at 12.00/lb "are you kidding me." So I'm on a search to find a good supplier of liver; I think I'll have a look at the freeze dried stuff, see where it comes from and perhaps it will suffice until I find the real thing.

Liver is very strong smelling and definitely stirs something in Luke. So what is in liver that is so great?

http://www.fitbit.com/foods/Beef+Liver+Braised/2872

The list is long; but what you quickly see from the information is that it is a high fat, high cholesterol, high vit A meat. High caloric foods is what I need for Luke. Liver gives him the taste sensation he needs while giving him more nutrients in small amounts than other meats.

Squash

I love squash, mostly acorn squash and it is in season now. It's easy to cook and the dogs love it. I split them in half, scoop out the guck, turn them upside down on a plate and microwave. This is a fast and easy way to do it. With the nutritional value of this food it is a great thing to add to your dogs diet.

Because they are in season right now they are a great price. You can cook them, scoop out the squash and freeze it for use all year long. Try spaghetti squash as well, it's ever cheaper.

Nutritional facts can be found by clicking on this link:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=63

Fruits and veggies

There are a few things you learn when you feed your dog real food. Over the weeks and months some things become quite clear. One of those things is what happens to raw fruit and veggies. Not a whole lot happens to them; and they are pooped out onto your grass. So what is the problem?

Dogs have a more difficult time digesting fruits and vegetables so what doesn't get digested comes out as waste. The best way to give your dogs both is in the raw form; just as it is best for us. But, because dogs have a more difficult time digesting it is a good idea to either chop the food very tiny or cook it quickly.

It is amazing what you learn just by watching what comes out. The harder the veggie or fruit the smaller it must be; like carrots. Best to cook them and mash or chop really tiny; you'll know if it is small enough. And apples, same thing but it is mostly about the skin. Peas must be mashed and any type of beans.

A little extra time spent on preparation helps to make sure your dog receives better nutrition. No point in feeding something you are just going to throw away the next day.

Some dogs chew but alot of them don't; they don't know that chewing helps in processing the food. And if you have a dog like my little JRT, she'll swallow anything that doesn't choke her to death. And even those get several attempts before she decides to chew them.

Liver again

Yesterday I tried to get more liver for Luke. As I said I just add a bit to his meal and he eats like a champ. They were all out of beef liver so I got some chicken liver. I have been asked to only cook liver when no one is home; bunch of whoosies. But as it was Sunday I was not waiting to feed Luke until today so being one to not want whining and complaining I took it outside.

We have a big bar area with the barbeque in it so I took out my big flat grill and plugged it in out there. It was hot; too hot to be cooking outside but I much prefer that than to listen to whining about the smell. So I cooked up the liver, and let it cool a bit before bringing it in. I quickly put it in the container and put a loose lid on it to cool completely before refrigerating.

I took several of the pieces of liver and mashed them up into Luke's breakfast which he hadn't eaten. We tried it again with the newly added liver. He ate a bit, chicken liver doesn't seem to do the trick that beef liver does. I'm going to have to find a good supplier of liver; organic liver if I can get it.

Chicken liver also has a different texture, mushy. The smell is not near as strong as beef; good for the humans but bad as far as Luke is concerned. He was hungry once again when dinner rolled around and some nice fresh raw beef did the trick.

Dried Cranberries and Sweet Potatoes

I've been using alot of sweet potatoes lately. They are in season and #1 on the "good for you" veggie list. So what is good for me is good for my dogs. Of course not always; there are things that my dogs cannot eat that I can. But for sweet potatoes, they can eat them and they enjoy them. Luke of course likes his with butter and lots of it (just like his Mom). Here are the nutritional reasons to eat them:

The numbers for the nutritional sweet potato speak for themselves: almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!

Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts
(for one medium size sweet potato)
Calories 130
Fat 0.39 g
Protein 2.15 g
Net Carbs 31.56 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Calcium 28.6 mg
Sodium 16.9 mg
Potassium 265.2 mg
Folate 18.2 mcg
Vitamin C 29.51 mg
Vitamin A 26081.9 IU
Source: US Department of Agriculture


I have also started cutting up dried cranberries for the dogs food. I wanted to make sure that they are getting a natural source of vitamin C and this is a good one. They are very tart and not typically something the dogs would like; excluding Jessie of course. So I chop them very fine and sprinkle them in their food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dried_cranberries

sneaking it in

So you have a finicky eater; you go above and beyond the call of duty to try to get them to eat. That's where I am at the moment but I have found that warming helps alot. Lastnight I gave Luke and delicious dinner of chicken, sweet potatoes, apples, liver and rice. As I watched him pick through the food I was astonished with the precision.

On our walk this morning I thought about outsmarting him and exactly how to go about it. I had cut the liver as small as it could be cut, mixed it until it all resembled liver; but he still was able to pick out the tiniest of pieces. I very often will warm the dogs food; I dont' think eating a bowl of cold food goes over too well sometimes. Although the girls don't care what the temperature of their food is.

This morning I warmed all the food. Tossed in a good portion of liver to all bowls with an extra handful for Luke. He ate almost all of his food, he started trying to pick but soon was eating it all. Warm is definitely the ticket.

Mmmmmmm liver

As Luke is going to the vet today I wanted to make his meal lastnight a great one. He loves liver so I went to the grocery store and got some to cook up. Luke loves flavor, he is not into boiled, bland meat so I fried it up in a pan with butter. I gave all the humans in the house a heads up, I had already decided to wait until we ate our dinner because I know liver is a strong smell.

I was frying Luke some liver and that was that; don't like it? then go out for a while. There was alot of complaining and gagging noises but I was committed to giving Luke his liver. It is rich so it is not a meal of entirely liver; just enough for him to know he is eating it and convince him the whole thing is liver. He also had ground turkey, sweet potato, rice, carrots and smashed peas. He ate his entire meal; I'm always amazed when he eats all of his food. A clean bowl always gives me a false sense of hope; that he will eat his whole meal everytime if I put liver in it.

Luke is finicky and it is very seldom that he will even eat his whole meal two days in a row. So we are off to the vet early this morning and I will post the results on my original blog.

Bone appetite

Organics

Organic food is all the rage these days. Both Organic famers and non organic farmers are talking about it. And like anything both sides have very strong opinions on the subject. Of course the non organic side is going to bring up every possible angle on why organic is not the way to go. But the way I look at it; if I can feed my family less chemicals in their food then that's the way I'm siding.

Same goes with my dogs; I try to buy as much organic food as possible. And we are very lucky to have a fabulous store which is carrying more and more organic food each day. I am probably at Trader Joe's almost everyday and with each visit I see a new organic version of a food they carry; this is great.

Who knows what the studies are going to find out about all these "safe chemicals" down the road. Who knows what damage they have already done to the ground and our environment in general. I know when I lived in Canada and had my own garden; we ate organic all the time. Whatever came out of my garden was completely organic. I even saved seeds so that I wouldn't have to buy chemically altered seeds to sow the following season.

Our dogs deserve organic as well and even if you don't cook for your dogs there are lots of organic dog foods that use high quality products in their versions.

Think about going organic; at least when you can.

What I've learned

What I've learned over the last year and a half of feeding strickly homemade to my dogs is that rice is very important. Rice is substance that enables you to swithc it up daily. Well, for my dogs it is and that may be the fact that they are all seniors. Tilley for one has an easily upset stomach now at almost 12; she never use to.

I'm actually thinking about getting one of those great rice makers so I can have rice on hand always. At the moment I keep a good supply by microwaving it whenever I think about it. I'm liking the organic brown basmati rice now;

Basmati is a variety of long grain rice, famous for its fragrance and delicate flavour. Its name means "the fragrant one" in Sanskrit, but it can also mean the "soft rice." India and Pakistan are the largest cultivators and exporters of this rice - primarily grown through paddy field farming in the Punjab region.

The grains of basmati rice are longer than non-basmati varieties. Cooked grains of Basmati rice are characteristically free flowing rather than sticky. Cooked basmati rice can be uniquely identified by its fragrance. Basmati rice is available in two varieties - white rice and brown rice

Brown Basmati seems to be much easier to digest that typical brown rice which often just ends up in the yard.

When you feed your dog or dogs real food it can take a while to learn their likes and dislikes both in taste and stomach acceptance. My girls are great, they can eat just about anything and will eat just about anything. Luke is my big challenge; what I've learned about Luke is that finicky means not always liking something you like yesterday and often being shocked when he does eat something I'm assuming he won't.

Steak sandwich

Luke lucked out yesterday morning; being sick and finicky I'm doing my best to accomodate him. So let's just say he hasn't been eating the best of diets. Oh he is eating homemade fresh food but like us; somethings just don't look appealing to him when he is not himself.

So yesterday he got a raw steak sandwich and loved it. I'm having to do my trickiest of cooking and preparations. And my version of "open up for the choo choo" is becoming old really quick. "Mmmmmmmmmm, look what Mommy made you Luke; yummy." If I persist it finally works, getting him to taste is the biggy.

So his sandwich consisted of raw steak, toast with lots of butter of course and pumpkin spread thick enough to do some good but thin enough to not interfere with him eating. He liked the sandwich alot; can't blame him it looked really good.

Not sure what is on the menu this morning but I'll let ya know.

First food blog

This is breakfast for the hounds this morning; with my boy Luke being sick I've got a ton of different things on the menu. This morning was leftover toss.

I cook for my dogs; I cook for my family as well but this blog is all about the dogs. With the cooler air moving in I've been in the kitchen a whole lot more. Now with a sick finicky eater I've been cooking up a storm to try and create something that looks or smells appealing to him.

Cooking for dogs may seem to be a confusing task; many think it's just too much work. Yes it is more work than opening a bag and dumping but with a little effort you will see huge changes in your dog. I have and will explain in depth in the near future.

For now, welcome to my blog and I hope to enlighten, educate and entertain your desire to think about cooking for your dog.

Happy cook'n