Home Made Dog Food Recipe

 My mommy makes me home made dog food every 2-3 weeks because it's much better than the commercial dog food.  Here are the steps.

She uses whatever veggies that are on sale at the supermarket.  She also uses left over veggies that are used for the humans.  Make sure to use all parts of the veggies that you would usually throw away for humans - like the leaf of the cauliflower, core of the cabbage, and the stems of the bell peppers.

 Today, she is using cauliflower (99 cents a pound), green and red bell peppers (3 for $1), old cabbage, bag of frozen spinach (99 cents), ginger, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 pound of ground beef ($1.99), and 3 pounds of chicken breast ($6).
Too much garlic is bad for dogs, but garlic naturally deters fleas, so a little bit is ok. 
 
First, boil the ground beef until it gets brown, and then drain.

Then, boil the chicken breast until cooked.

We're also using a can of chunk light tuna (77 cents) and 1/4 pound of liver.  You should add some sort of offal (heart, liver, etc), and if you look in the meat department, you will often find them on clearance since most people don't like them.  Get them for clearance and then freeze it until needed.  This was $1 for a pound.  Cook the liver the last 5 minutes of the chicken. 

You also need some sort of grains.  But, most commercial dog food manufactures use corn or wheat, which are BAD for dogs.  When is the last time you've ever seen wild dogs eat corn or wheat?  The manufactures use them because they are cheap fillers.  Dogs were not meant to eat grains, so cheap grains may be the culprit to dog cancers.

Check your dog food ingredients and make sure that the first 3-4 items are NOT grains like rice, wheat, or corn. 

Use low glycemic grains, and we mostly use barley for it's cheap (find

them in bulk at Sprouts or Whole Foods for about 99 cents a pound).  

Here is about 1/2 C; rinse it well and then boil it in the same liquid that you boiled the chicken in.  Add some minced ginger (3T) and boil for 1 hour until the barley is soft.  

Cool the chicken and the liver and then cut them into small pieces. 

You can use whatever meat that you find on sale.  Sometimes, we use all beef, chicken, pork, fish, or mixture of all of the above.  I go straight to the meat clearance section and see if they have anything on clearance.  If not, beef or chicken is usually on sale for $1 - $2 and I get 3-4 pounds.


Roughly chop up the veggies including the garlic.  You have to break the cell wall of the veggies (remember that from Biology class?) and lightly cook the veggies because dog's stomach doesn't have the acid to break down the cell walls of veggies.  If you don't, they just come right out the other end.  Have you ever given your dog a piece of fruit or veggie and then saw it the next day whole, undigested in their poop?  It's cause your dog's body could not break it down, so it just passed it right through.

 So, steam the veggies in a little bit of water for about 5 - 7 minutes.  I usually just put it into a pot with about 1/2 C of water and then stir it around every 2 minutes or so.

Combine the meat and the veggies and viola!  You're all done!

I put the food into small plastic containers and then freeze it.  I've found that after 5 days in the frig, it starts to go bad, so portion it so that you only have 3-4 days worth in the refrigerator while everything else is in the freezer.  Hint: use finished containers of yogurt and cottage cheese. 
One batch makes about 3 weeks worth of food for me, but I do still give him very high quality canned dog food (like EVO, Whole Earth Farms) and I use dry dog food (like Taste of the Wild) as treats.  He also gets multi-vitamins, Vitamin E, and enzymes. 


Remember that it doesn't have to be perfect.  Your dog will eat the barley if it's overcooked or if the chicken is dry.  No need to use salt or pepper and the veggies don't have to be uniform in shape.  They will be grateful for whatever you give them!

Here is Ripley licking the bowl.  This is his favorite part.
He's been cancer free for almost a year now, and I think that home cooked, healthy food is one of the reasons!

A Bike That Goes Nowhere

My dad put this bike that goes nowhere near the window.  He goes on the bike for a few minutes and then says, "Whew, that was a workout!" 

The funny thing is that he's pedaling with all of his might, but he doesn't move at all. 


We have another bike that's in the garage and he rides that outside and I get to run next to him on the street.  That bike is fun! 

But this bike, it doesn't go anywhere.  I stare at him when he's pedaling and I wait and I wait, but it doesn't move an inch.  This bike is no fun. 

Soft Like a Teddy Bear

 My mommy's bday was yesterday so I got a grooming as part of her gift.  They called Dashing Doggies Mobile Groomers again since they were so nice to me last time.  I like the fact that I don't have to wait in cages and they come right to my front door!
http://www.dashingdoggies.com/


Here's my front, and here's my back. 

My grammy thought she could cut my butt herself but she gave me a bowl cut so the professionals cleaned it up for me.  I was ashamed walking around the neighborhood with my bowl butt.  The other dogs made fun of me when they came to sniff my butt. 

Now, I'm clean and even.  My mommy said that I was soft like a teddy bear.  That's a human equivalent of my monkey.  I love my monkeys so I guess that's a good thing. 

Digging to China

I like to dig on the carpet before I lie down.  I don't know why I do it and I can't seem to stop.  Every time I do it, my mommy asks, "Are you trying to dig to China?  You don't want to go there.  They're Communists and they eat dogs." 

I hope I don't go there because I'm a Republican and not a Communist.  Go Elephants!

Cravat

This morning, my personal valet tied a cravat under my chin.  He said that it was all the rage according to Beau Brummell. I think I look smashing!  Next time, I will ask for a pink or blue one. 

I call this knot "The Ripley" in my honor.All I need now is my top hat, monocle, and walking stick!

Trash Again

 I woke up early today and went through the trash again.  This time, there was a piece of chocolate cake with red frosting and I decided to eat it.  It was sweet and delicious. 

Unfortunately, the red frosting got onto my white paws and I made a big mess so my mommy saw it and I got into trouble. 

She said that chocolate was bad for dogs and I could die if I ate too much chocolate.  Luckily, it was only 1 small slice.

My dad put some pieces of banana in the trashcan and tried to tempt me.  But, I didn't want to get into any more trouble so I refrained from touching the banana in the trashcan.  I didn't get any breakfast or lunch again as punishment, so I was very sad.

I don't know why I go into the trash because I know I'm not supposed to do that.  Bad boy! 

Trash, Barf, the Pits

Last Sunday, we had a little Father's Day get together and there was lots of trash in the trashcans.  The next morning, I got up very early and I was tempted by the various foods inside.  I don't know what got into me, but I went through every single trashcan and emptied the contents.  It was a lot of work since there were 5 trashcans in the kitchen.  My mommy found the mess and I got into a lot of trouble.

The next day, I woke up early again, and I went through the trashcans the second time.  I think I will plead temporary insanity because I'm a good boy and I don't do those things.  My mommy didn't give me breakfast or lunch that day and I was very hungry. That day, I barfed and pooped out some shiny things (my mommy called it aluminum foil). 

On Tues and Wed mornings, I barfed bile which got my mommy really scared since that's what started my cancer/tumor.  She told me that I better not let the tumor come back again.  

We had another party on Friday and I saw some caramel corn in the trashcan.  The smell just called out to me and while my mommy was in the kitchen, I tried to take it out, but she heard me and I got into trouble again. Sigh.

This morning (Sat), I barfed at 3 am and at 5 am.  The 5 am barf had my old friend, the peach pit.  I remember eating a whole peach while I was walking with my grammy, but that was over 3 weeks ago!  I guess it was stuck in my tummy this whole time.   I will blame my trash digging behavior on the peach pit because it somehow caused my brain to not work and be a bad boy.  Not guilty!