Funny about Money
Banana looking good:
A dog food recipe
Today is the fourth day of the project to switch Anna H. Banana back over to Real Food, and she is acting significantly better. She’s over the collywobbles, and she seems to be feeling pretty lively for an old bat.
This morning she brought a toy into the bedroom and rousted me out of the sack—something she hasn’t done in a long time. So obviously she’s feeling well enough to get up and shuffle around early on a chilly day. She inhaled the food I put down: chicken, chicken broth, oatmeal, and broccoli. We’re running low on meat; didn’t have quite enough chicken, but I made it up with a couple slices of cooked bacon plus the boiled chicken that was in the broth. I’ll have to defrost the hamburger and get that cooked up for her before this evening.
The other day Safeway had pork for under two bucks a pound, but she doesn’t seem to much like the meat of the pig. Tomorrow being Wednesday, a favorite Safeway sale day, I’m hoping they’ll have chuck or round roast at a dollar-something a pound, which I can ask the butcher to grind. That makes THE best hamburger—both for her and for me—and it’s a lot cheaper than you can get packaged burger anyplace around here.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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Dog Joy Food
For each pound of food, mix about 1/3 pound of each:
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• Cooked meat, cottage cheese, cooked eggs, yogurt, cooked fish in moderation
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• Source of starch, such as rice, potatoes, sweet potato, yam, oatmeal, pasta, bread
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• Mixed yellow, orange, & green veggies, such as carrots, leafy green veggies, broccoli, peas, etc.
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• DO NOT feed corn.
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• DO NOT EVER FEED ONION!!
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• Do not overdo organ meats. The liver & kidney filter toxins from the body and so may be high in environmental contaminants.
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• Note that some dogs are allergic to fish.
To each serving, add a tablespoon of lard or olive oil to provide extra calories and needed fat, and toss in a doggie vitamin pill.
I feed my dog about 2% of her ideal body weight. Since she should weigh around 80 or 85 pounds, that’s a couple of pounds of food a day. If you’re really gung-ho, you can figure out the calories in a serving of dog food and then go here for a list that will help you calculate an equivalent calorie load for your recipe. In any event, weigh your dog regularly, especially at the outset—most vets will let you use their scale for free—and adjust the amount of food to maintain a healthy weight.
You can prepare a week’s worth in one swell foop or make meals a day at a time. I’ve found that if you have a bunch of cooked meat on hand, it’s easier to cook instant oatmeal or microwave yams or potatoes as needed. Then you can stir frozen veggies into the hot starch, defrosting the vegetables and cooling the starch at the same time.
If you’re in the habit of cooking at home instead of eating out a lot, this doesn’t add much extra work, and the payoff in your dog’s improved health is so worth it! You’ll have a much happier dog and make lots fewer payments on the veterinarian’s Porsche.
pets, shopping, dog food recipes
