Why RAW?

As you all know; or at least I think you know that there is a huge trend to "real" and "raw" feeding our dogs. When you consider feeding your dog you must look at where our dogs came from; wolves. Pekingese, Rat terriers, Dobermans, Poodles, Yorkies and Irish Wolfhounds all evolved from the wolf. Although it is hard to even contemplate the idea sometimes; you must think of your dog as just that, a dog. And being a dog they do not have the same nutritional needs as we do.

Dogs have a much shorter digestive system than we do so the easier it is to digest the better. Raw food meat offers ease of digestion as well and enzymes that are killed from the cooking process. Many people find it very difficult to transition to raw; we are use to cooking meat and raw sometimes freaks us out. But rest assured it is good for your dog and although it might take a few tries; they'll thank you for it.

The diet I am loosely following now for my dogs is 75% meat and 25% veggies. I am not strict about feeding the perfect portions but I am strict about feeding a variety of foods. I think the best way to ensure that all nutritional requirements are being met is to feed variety. This morning the dogs had raw beef, cooked asparagus with the water that it was cooked in, blueberries, goat yogurt and flaxseed oil.

Tonight they will have sardines or salmon with a different assortment of veggies. Not too many people have charts or graphs for feeding themselves or their family so why do it for your dog. I will often add different things like sweet potatoe, oatmeal or cottage cheese for a change. My dogs are amazingly healthy and I feel great about what they are eating.

Cartilage

Well the dogs had their cartilage on Friday; went well. They are strange looking things and this was a first for me. I let them thaw on the counter; which resulted in many visitors to the kitchen with noses in the air. The most important thing to me was that Jessie no swallow any big pieces so I cut off any loose cartilage, cut away much of the fat and all that was left was long solid cartilage, tendons and sinew mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. As always Jessie got hers, then Tilley and last but not least Luke. I gave them a good 2 hours to chew.

During that 2 hours I make routine close proximity visits to deliver treats; this ensures that no one gets guarded with their stuff. And when it comes time to collect no one minds. So they chewed and chewed and chewed. I sat in the yard, puttered around the garden and in the kitchen. Finally I had things to do so it was gathering up time. Jessie is the toughest but she turned it over okay. When I went to get Tilley's it was gone; she'd eaten the whole thing. From what I've read that is perfectly find but I wasn't so sure. My main concern was that she had chewed it up enough.

So it is now Sunday and she is eating and pooping just fine; still waiting to see if any problems arise. If she chewed it before swallowing, which is what I think she would have done; she is not a big gulp swallower, great. I do have to say that Friday and Saturday Jessie and Tilley had a burst of energy. Lastnight when we got home from dinner out everyone was commenting on Jessie's flying around the house. No one would guess in a million years that she is over 13. We'll see after the next cartilage chew if the same thing happens.

Free feeding

Free feeding - don't. Plain and simple; just don't do it and here's why. First and foremost can you imagine having a big old pile of food on your counter all day, all night there for your every whim. It may be cool for a day or two but you would grow sick of looking at it and if you are like any normal human you would have eaten way too much of it. Now just looking at it makes you feel sick; so if this is your only food source you will probably pick at it, but the gusto is long gone. Dogs who are free fed are usually poor eaters.

Now, not all dogs grow sick of eating and those who still enjoy eating and have a bowl of food that is always full risk the chance of becoming obese. Fat dogs are fat through no fault of their own; nope it is the humans who create fat dogs. Just picture your dog while you are at work all day. They are probably bored; what do you do when you are bored? I often eat; yes it is a bad habit but dogs will do the same, again increasing their risk of gaining extra pounds.

Leaving food out all day and night is not healthy; food goes bad. And the better the quality the faster it goes bad. If your dog is not cleaning their bowl everyday and receiving new fresh food then how do you know that the kibbles on the bottom haven't been there for a really longtime? Eeeewwwww.

When a dog is constantly nibbling it is very difficult to know when they are going to need to relieve themselves. For puppies this makes housetraining extremely difficult and making sure that your dog goes before you go off to work in the morning can be very difficult.

Free feeding has no benefit except that I guess it is really a lazy way to feed a dog. Just keep filling the bowl that is sitting on the floor, day in and day out.

What's for breakfast?

Well this morning it was time to cook up the organ blend; it's not all organ meat. If it was I'd only give it to the dogs either mixed with something else or maybe once or twice a week. This blend has cheeks, trachea and tongue as well so it is a good mixture. I can't cook it when there is anyone else home because it has quite a strong smell to it and I don't deal with the complaints well. So this morning I cooked it rare and added green beans, apple, ground flax seed and individual supplements.

The girls ate like the champion eaters that they are but Luke stared at it for the longest time. He is falling into a pattern of waiting until the girls eat and then eating. Fine with me; I know it makes him feel like he somehow is one up on them this way. (Like he needs a fatter head than he already has.) So once everyone ate; dishes go into the dishwasher and we are ready to start the day.

Organs and cartilage

Sounds wonderful doesn't it? Mmmmmmmm; well today will be the first time I try out the cartilage thing. It is a natural source of glucosomine and is suppose to be very good for dogs. I have only ever given my dogs bones and so this is new. At a quick glance yesterday they look like bones but are white; I'll take them out of the freezer this morning and offer them up this afternoon. I'm thinking this will be like a trip to the dentist at least but will fill you in on how it turns out.

With the cartilage I also got a huge amount of organ blend again. The dogs really love it and it is good for them. It contains liver, kidney, spleen, cheeks and tongue yummy. I'll cook it up this morning stew style and freeze it in portion sizes. I love having made food in the freezer for those times when I don't feel like "cooking tonight."

Have a great weekend all.

Apples

You know the old saying "an apple a day?" Well an apple a day is good for you and apples are good for dogs but did you know that the seeds are poisonous? I have known this for years but it was recently brought to my attention that others do not know this. Apple seeds contain cyanogenic acids which is a compound of cyanide. Dogs are especially susceptable to the effects being that they are much smaller than us. So when you do give your dog apple make sure that there are no seeds included.

Apples contain potassium and are an excellent source of dietary fibre. I will typically cut up 3/4 of an apple to split between the three dogs in their food. Both Jessie and Tilley enjoy apples but if there is anything else that is better in their books they'll save the apple for later.

So do give your dogs some apple but make sure the seeds hit the garbage can. And if you can; buy Organic apples.

Friday morning

Mmmmmm; the pups had a good breakfast this morning and even Luke ate like a champ. Lastnight I made a trip to the local grocers and was unable to find beef at a good price so it was chicken thighs. After going to the gym this morning I tossed it in the oven for a quick cook. While I blogged I pondered on what to add to the chicken today. I like to mix it up alot; it is simply the best way to cover all your nutritional basis.

So they got frozen peppers, green, red and yellow. I added ground flax seed which I warmed before adding. Then some chopped dried craberries and probiotics and voila breakfast. Tilley has a joint supplement added which must taste bad because if I don't mix it well she baulks a tad at her meal.

I will make a trip to the grocers again today and try to get some organ meat for the dogs. They all love it and it is a great source of vitamins for them, of course in moderation. Everything in moderation.

A new face

Yep, we have a new face on the cooking blog as well. It's been a while since I've changed anything on the blogs so I felt it was do time. As well as a change to the look I'm hoping to get more writing done on here. With my other blog a daily; I often forget about this one. But I will do my best to get on here and write.

This morning I was out; out of meat and I didn't want to give the dogs, dog food. So I got out some nice frozen ground sirloin patties; cooked them rare, added yogurt, apple, bonemeal, probiotics and presto breakfast was served. Surprisingly Luke ate everything; and with gusto at that. Not sure what is on the menu for tonight for the hounds but we are having Lentils, perhaps the dogs will have lentils as well. I'll let you know.

;)