Apricots

Below is an image of organic pearl tomatos, dried apricots and organic wheat grass. I have to admit that I have never enjoyed apricots myself but I am trying to learn to like a wider variety. It is the best way to get all of your daily requirements from eating a large variety of foods. So it is just as important to feed your dog a variety of foods.

So why dried apricots? Dried apricots are easier to store and a quick and easy snack. Fresh fruit is always best but not always easily found and easy to keep on hand always. Here are some apricot facts.

And although I am still not fond of the flavor I always pop a few while chopping them up for the dogs. And notably they are a good source of dietary fibre and potassium.

Not all apricots are equal; from research the California apricot is said to be the best in flavor.

Wheat grass for dogs

We all know that dogs eat grass; often just for nutrient sake. So when I found organic wheat grass at my regular grocer's the other day I was really happy. Not only is it very affordable but it is yet another food that is great for my human and canine family.

Wheat Grass contains high concentrations of chlorophyll, enzymes, anti-oxidant nutrients, vitamins A, B-complex, C and E, minerals and amino acids.

Lastnight with several other yummy ingredients which I will discuss at a later date they had wheat grass. I keep it in the kitchen window and cut just the tops off for everyone. Sprinkled in the dogs food they chowed down like happy cows.

:)

It's diet time

It's January and yes it is diet season. My little JRT has always been difficult to keep the pounds off of but I try. As she get's older it been more difficult (I can relate). But as they say the proof is in the pudding and the pudding was the trip to the vet's on Friday.

Jessie is 2 lbs heavier than she has ever been. I knew she had put on some weight but didn't know how much. You may be saying 2 lbs?????? Are you kidding??????? That's it? Yes, 2 lbs but 2 lbs on a little 15 lb body is quite a bit. Just think of what two lbs of butter looks like.

So even though it is only 2 lbs. it has to come off. So the first thing to be cut back will be carbohydrates. When you are use to feeding 50 lb dogs it can be difficult to put the tiny portion in a bowl and offer it to your dog. It seems like such a small amount but; it is important to remember size.

Being fat is hard on dogs just like us but unlike us it is someone else's fault if they are fat. So, less carbs for Jessie and me for 2009 ;)

Quinoa

Quinoa Gotta run to the gym but I'll be back to discuss this wonderful food.

Okay I'm back, worked out and ran the dogs. So about Quinoa which I just had a big bowl of for lunch. The dogs all love it and it is extremely good for you. Not available everywhere yet but most health food, natural food stores or Trader Joe's for sure has it.

I am replacing rice, oats etc for Quinoa. It is important like the protein source to switch it up. Just like for us the more variety you eat the better chance that you are getting everything that you need, same goes for our dogs.

Quinoa actually cooks faster than rice and doesn't stick, nice. Go have a bowl and share it with your dog.

Luke hates rice

Rice is eaten around the world. It is a good thing to add to your ever changing dog food to help eliminate stomach upset. Unfortunately I have come to discover that Luke really dislikes rice; I mean who doesn't love rice? I love and eat it regularly.

Okay so with changing your proteins and vitamin source I like to have a whole grain staple, so I use Oatmeal as an alternative to rice. Luke likes it and the girls love it. At the end of each meal everyone has oatmeal on their nose.

If I am using whole slow cooking oats then I cook them making them more easily digestible. But for those days I'm in a hurry I use the quick cook oats which are much easier to digest thus don't need cooking.

So if you always use rice, give oatmeal a try.

Stealing dog food

Okay, I'm going to fess up. I stole food from my dogs yesterday; I did, honestly. I was slow cooking 2 pots roasts all day; it smelled amazing. It was simply beef and spring water; nice and plain for the dogs. It was just for the dogs and we were going to have lentils; I swear that's what I had in mind.

I was cutting up the roast, what a wonderful aroma. Well one thing lead to another and I felt that I should taste it; you know just to make sure it was good. Well heck; it was delicious. How could beef and water taste so good. I thought and though, hmmmmmmmmm. There was lots; two full roasts. Decision made.

I shredded about 3 cups and tossed it into a frying pan, added some garlic, onion, ketchup, a tsp. of brown sugar, lemon juice and a pinch of flour to thick'n. It was delicious. I bought a whole wheat loaf of bread and presto, zapped some trader joe's cream corn and presto, dinner.

For the dogs, they had shredded beef, basmati, arugula, blueberries, pumpkin, probiotics and Tilley had her cranberry supplement. It smelled almost as good as mine and Luke loved it.

So there you have it; what's good enough for my dogs is good enough for me. I will do that again, what a time saver.

Salmon

I cooked up a whack of salmon lastnight for the dogs. The girls love it, Luke? Nope. He is not a fish eater and he would not even try it. Only after I put butter, freeze dried liver, liver biscotti sprinkles and olive oil would he even look at it. And even then he ate enough to keep maybe a baby hummingbird alive.

When I cook salmon I simply wrap it in foil and bake in the oven at 350 until it has changed texture. Depending on the thickness is how long it should stay in the oven for.

Salmon should always be cooked.


fatal disease (raw salmon)

Salmon nutrition

So out I went today to get a pile of raw beef for the poor deprived boy.

Ethoxyquin

Ethoxyquin, the word alone should send red flags flying. It was years ago when I first heard about it; and at that point the buzz had just begun. At the time I was feeding the ever popular Eukanuba by Iams. The new wonder food for dogs; anyone who wanted the best for their dog fed this and it remained this way for years.

Science Diet was and is the same for some. Many veterinarian offices carry a huge array of the highly specialized Science Diet formulas for our dogs. Well with all the hype of ethoxyquin, out came hordes of new dog food. What is a guardian to do? It is truly mind boggling. The easy solution is to feed your dog food that you buy, real food.

But please do yourself a favor and do some reading on the subject. Below are some great links I found on ethoxyquin.

Dangers of ethoxuquin

Iams story

And if you want to feed kibble, here is a wonderful site.


http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com

The myths of feeding kibble

How many of you think that kibble is good for cleaning dog teeth? Have you heard the urban legend about it cleaning their teeth because it is hard? Ya, legend is about as truthful as it is; nothing could be further from the truth. The next time your dog has a meal of kibble dog food have a look back at the molars to see what is left.

Let me say first that if you have a quizzy stomach; don't look. There on their molars you will find a globulus heap of brown mush stuck until it dissolves away. Dogs don't use their tongue to get it off like we would. Mostly it just sits there and causes decay.

What does clean teeth is raw meat, tendons, raw bones, gristle etc. Gizzards are wonderful to clean teeth; just watch your dog chomp some of those suckers back and you'll see why. My girl Tilley actually uses her Nylabones to help in removing food which is stuck on her molars. When they ate kibble way back when she used her nylabones twice a day. Very ingenius if you ask me.

Dogs do use tools.

Leafy greens

I like to give my guys lots of leafy greens in their meals. Afterall how many dogs eat grass? Just about all. Dogs eat grass for many reasons, not just to vomit although vomiting is one reason. But dogs like wolves are perhaps just eating it because. Eating grass is a very difficult question to answer and even in researching the subject there seems to be no definitive answer.

From my own experience my dogs eat grass to induce vomiting and just because. If we happen to venture to an open field where there is new grass growing because of some recent rain; I then have a pack of cows and not dogs. It is obvious that baby grass is much better tasting than old grass and they feast for quite a while. And after such a feast, there is no vomiting.

There are then other days when my dogs are out in the yard eating grass with a purpose. There is a big difference in the voracity of consumption. When they are eating grass to induce vomiting it is intense, head down scarfing grass which then leads to the inevitable dual vomit.

So do wolves eat grass in the wild? Again the answer is unclear; most say yes in the form of eating grazing animal stomachs. So with all these unanswered questions; I leave you with, I give my dogs grass and leafy greens. Some of them they dislike some they love. Spinach seems to be one that is disliked across the board, Arugula is one that they all like.

Leafy greens have an abundance of health benefits for us, so why not our dogs? When feeding leafy greens I either blanch or cut very small to aid in digestion. And like anything you put into your dog; watch what comes out. Dogs do not digest grass and you can easily see this. Make sure what you feed is being digested; otherwise it is just a waste of food and can lead to some stomach upset.

There are many articles on the benefits of eating leafy greens; this is just one.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbsuperfoods/a/greensnutrition.htm

Happy New Year

Happy New Year; well here we go again. Yesterday Luke decided he was over liver; great. The one thing I have found that he loves; wouldn't even give it the time of day yesterday. So as I stood defeated at the refridgerator I looked and looked. There was still some Ricotta from when I made Rigatoni,hmmmmmmmm?

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

Well, he likes it. It is not very high in fat content which suprised me; but if it helps get his food into him...........Ricotta is on the menu. As I have said before; feeding dogs is not a science but more an experimental process. My girls will eat near anything but every so often there is something that pops up they find inedible.

So on with the experimenting; as usual I will be posting the results of each experiment. :)

Have a wonderful New Year.