Food for the dogs
We recently started making our own dog food, and we are already seeing great results. One of our dogs had been struggling with allergies for most of his life (it’s a boy). He had been scratching himself bloody and losing fur during his worst episodes. Our home-cooked dog food put an end to that. Little Happy is looking and feeling great: no scratching, a shiny coat, and high energy. Our research found that chicken is not the ideal protein for dogs, especially when they tend to suffer from allergies. It is recommended to replace the protein with turkey, goat, or beef. We are also looking at rabbits—more about that in a later post.
Here is the recipe:
Cook 3 pounds of lean, ground turkey with a little water and olive oil in a large soup pot. Stir with a wooden spoon to keep the turkey from clumping. Cook until the turkey has mostly changed color, then add 6 cups of water and 3 cups of brown rice. Drop in a bunch of rosemary leaves (we have a large bush just outside the house) and slow-cook until the rice is done. Basil and parsley are also good herb choices to add to your recipe. Add a bag of frozen veggies. We use broccoli from our garden, or—when on sale—cauliflower and carrots, cut into small chunks and frozen. Veggies from the frozen vegetable aisle work too. Cook until the veggies are done, stirring regularly throughout the entire cooking process. Let everything cool, then fill reused commercial dog food bags with zippers and store for up to a week in the fridge. We collect our eggshells, and when we have enough, we crush them by hand in a small bucket with water. Drain them and spread the pieces on a baking sheet. Place the sheet in the oven at a low temperature for about 30 minutes to one hour. The dried shells can be ground in a coffee grinder into eggshell powder—a great supplement for dog food, supplying calcium. You can also add about half a teaspoon of fish oil to each portion. It provides vitamins, helps with shiny coats, and is also good brain food for dogs. We have also added dried peas or lentils at the brown rice stage—just make sure to add at least the same amount of water. That’s about it for now. We will post more on this subject as we learn more and research additional protein sources, herbs, and veggies. Our dogs love the food. They are fed twice a day, about the same amount we used to feed in kibble. Happy cooking and peace!