While ur away

I was a way for a week on vacation; this trip was the easiest so far in regards to food preparations. I have been giving the dogs a wide variety of foods; including raw, cooked, freeze dried raw and dog food. I have added dog food every so often so that when I go away the caregiver can use it without upsetting the dogs. Like I've said before the dog food I do use is Orijen; it is the only one I use right now.

My kids were taking care of the dogs and I wanted to make the feeding aspect really easy. So I had prepared several types of homemade food, chicken, beef, salmon and organ meats. I had several bags of Stella and Chewys for feeding throughout the day if Luke wasn't in the eating mood; it is a convenience I have grown to love. I also left a bag of Orijen. I left treats; organic peanut butter cookies and Liver biscottie (Luke's favorite). All feeding directions were written out and I had a wonderful worry free trip.

If you have always been told to only give your dog one type of dog food, no treats, no people food, nothing else other than their food then toss this info. Toss it out the window or into the garbage where it belongs. There are foods that dogs should not eat and the more simple the better. But feeding a variety helps you and your dogs. If your dog is accustom to eating different things then they will not become upset by newly added foods; it also makes your life more simple giving you more options to feed your pooch.

Particular tastes

Every dog has it's own tastes; like us there are somethings that they just don't like. As I've spoken about often Luke loves beef, he's not a big fan of too much else. He likes chicken but he is a meat man for sure; the girls will eat just about anything. So what did they have this morning for breakfast?

Jessie and Tilley's menu

Sardine
arugula
carrot
raw egg
probiotics
chopped cranberries
Cranberry d mannose (Tilley)

Luke's menu

Raw beef
arugula
carrot
probiotics

After he was finished picking through this he got two patties of
Stella and Chewy's freezedried raw

Luke is not a big fan of eating out of a bowl; he eats much better if his food is "prey like." What I don't do.

Stew

Made a stew that was a first for me yesterday, Organ meat stew. Sounds yummy doesn't it? Not. But I have to say the dogs really enjoyed it. It consists of liver, kidney, cheeks, tongue etc. The smell was not something I was accustom to, never cooked up that much organ meat before. The other ingredients in the stew, other than the meat was blueberries, green beans (a big favorite), apple and quinoa.

There is alot of talk about feeding too much liver causing liver toxicity and although liver is high in vit a you would have to feed alot of it over a long period of time to cause this. I do not think your dogs diet should consist of just liver obviously but organ meat is a very good source of nutrients for our dogs and they should eat it. A small amount in their food daily or a couple of organ meals each week is a great idea. Nutritional facts on organ meat.

It is important not to feed too much organ meat, that's why I like this blend of meat as it has more than just organ meat in it. Also it will be frozen in small amounts today and added to other foods and dog food when needed. It is a big hit and even Mr. Luke ate it which he has not been doing lately. His eating has gotten worse and worse and I at the point of stirring up the stew yesterday I told he that he better eat it or I'm not feeding him anymore, just kidding of course.

More on variety

I thought I would discuss variety again as I'm sure that many of you are asking yourself "what kind of variety?" So this morning was a good example of variety and trials of feeding a pack of dogs. As I have said before; Jessie will eat anything, Tilley almost anything and Luke nearly nothing. I was a bit short of fresh raw turkey so Luke got most of it. Tilley and Jessie had a tiny bit of turkey, sardines and cottage cheese.

The veggies were zucchini and green pepper plus I added probiotics and then each dogs individual supplements. Pictured above is just the protein source. Dogs can have a problem with lactose so when you do feed it don't go overboard. I threw 3 sardines into Tilley's food and one into Jessie's. Luke will not touch sardines, no way no how; there is no sneaking with Luke. I buy the sardines at trader joe's and get the ones in water or olive oil.

Mmmmmm, doesn't it just look scrumptious? Sardines have to be one of the most disgusting things I feed the dogs.

Variety

I have to say that the more variety I give my dogs the easier and easier it gets to feed them. This whole "dogs should only eat dog food" thing is for the birds. I actually think birds eat a wide variety of food as well. But speaking about dogs; my guys eat raw, cooked and dog food on occasion when I simply am short on time. Like I was lastnight, I got in late 9:30 and the dogs needed to eat. I had chicken in the fridge but I would have had to cut up veggies so I turned to their dog food.

I don't feed dog food often but because I do every once in a while it is something I can fall back on when I need to without anyone getting an upset stomach. I only feed Orijen and it has just been rated the top dog food manufacturer in Canada.

The dogs ate; I was tired and so were they. We watched a bit of television and it was up to bed with full stomachs. And in fact they are still in bed this morning at 8:30 and not a creature is stirring.

Mmmmm bonemeal muffins

I got it; it was not easy but I found edible bonemeal. So.......that means I'm going to whip up a batch of bonemeal muffins, yummy. As you know I am trying to create a muffin that is a great snack for the dogs and one that perhaps Luke might eat. So far he has not even given one muffin a chance so maybe bone will make it more enticing. I got this bonemeal at Whole foods in Irvine.

There will be all organic ingredients in the muffins, lots of protein, fruit and veggies. I make the muffins in the tiny muffin papers so they make a three bite size muffin for small dogs, two bites for the poodles and one small bite for the giant breeds. I love having a batch in the fridge knowing that the dogs are getting such great food as a snack throughout the day.

I did find this online and may purchase it next time. The product I got is for human consumption although the girls face who helped me said that most people would not eat it.

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/products/showproduct.php?id=26&code=514

I'll let you know how the bonemeal turns out.

2nd batch

I have made a second batch of muffins and they were a hit at our poodle walk yesterday. I am trying to make several different types of really healthy muffins for canines. I like to be able to pop a tiny treat to my dogs if I think they are hungry (jessie is always hungry) and not feel bad about it. Yesterdays were filled with healthy organic, human grade ingredients. Pinto beans, applesauce, oatmeal, whole wheat flour, eggs etc.

So far the only dog who will not eat them is Luke; not surprisingly. Even with the cream cheese on top he was not a fan. He did give the cream cheese the smallest of licks but that was it.

Onto the drawing board again.