Category Archives: Doggie Recipes
Our first big RAW feeding experience!
Today we decided to finally brave up and let the dogs have their first big try at raw meaty bones. We have had some beef shank bones stored in the freezer for some time but up until today, I had always chickened out every time I considered giving them to the pups (mainly because handling raw meat somewhat wigs me out, especially after having done one too many cadaver labs this semester …). But anyway, we gave each of the pups a mostly defrosted bone in his/her empty crate for a supervised 30-minute chew session.
The results? The pups loved them! It was very interesting to watch their initial reactions and their plans of attack for the bone. Bailey seemed perplexed at first, but then quickly caught on and went to town. Evee thought she must have won the lottery and was gung-ho about that magic piece of cow from start to finish. Kylie’s eyes widened as soon as she took her first taste and she ended up finishing more marrow than anybody else. And Diesel was so thrilled that his tail was thumping the sides of his crate for nearly the entire half an hour.
After 30 minutes, we took the bones up and put them back in the freezer to save for another chew session or two. No one had any digestive upset and I am happy to say that everyone had either normal or only slightly softer stools the next day. We plan to let the pups have raw meaty bones twice a week as a healthy treat to help clean and strengthen their teeth and gums. And if you are interested in adding raw meaty bones to your pup’s diet, My Little Dog has a fantastic BARF diet guide which helped me take the plunge and finally try raw (and boy are the pups glad I did!).
Doggie Recipe #1: Liver Brownies!
Today I decided to try my hand at baking my first homemade dog treat. I based this recipe off of that of a friend’s but tweaked it slightly due to ingredients on hand. It turned out great!
Lip-Smacking Liver Brownies: consistency is like that of meatloaf.
Lip-Smacking Liver Brownies
Ingredients:
- 1.25 pounds of liver
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine ingredients in a food processor; mix until finely chopped. [I put all of the ingredients in a blender and minced them until they were at a thick liquid consistency.]
- Pour into bakeware. [I used a 9"x13" glass baking pan.]
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the middle is firm.
- Let cool. Cut into small squares appropriate for your dog’s size.
- Store in closed container in the refrigerator.
This size recipe batch easily filled up 2 sandwich-meat storage containers, even after giving the pups their fill of samples!
The result? All 4 dogs LOVED them! When I was preparing these treats, the pups were walking around in the kitchen with their noses up in the air. When they finally got to test them out, they were begging for more and went through every trick in the book to see if something would get them another treat. I will definitely make these again — the ingredients are super affordable, they were quick and easy to make, they are all-natural and high in protein, and every single dog gave them 2 paws up!
"Yes ... give ... us ... the ... liver ... crack ..."
