Dinner at Chez Dog

Yellow Gold Potatoes starting to grow legs so after a quick wash and trim - into the dog pot. Carrots getting whiskers so likewise with them. Chicken on markdown at the grocery store and voila! Dinner.

Dinner at Chez Dog

This is a meal I fix a lot - oats soaked overnight in buttermilk or yogurt. Before adding the dairy, I mix in flaxseed meal and coconut (pictured) or almond meal or other ground nuts, depending on what's in the cupboard. I usually stir in applesauce too but in this case, I had some leftover dried dates to use up so I added those instead. This is a convenient, one bowl meal and I just add calcium before serving.

Dinner at Chez Dog

A warm meal for a cold night:

• Applesauce (pictured) - I often seem to have a bag of old apples. I don't know what else to do with them but make applesauce. I added cinnamon and some salt substitute while cooking.
• Oatmeal - In warmer weather I usually just soak oats overnight in liquid but it's nice in Winter to actually cook them plus it helps warm up the kitchen!
• Yogurt - I usually make this once a week, a gallon at a time and then use it by the quart for dinners. It helps to cool off the oatmeal which stays hot for a long time after cooking.

I added flaxseed meal and calcium before serving.

Dinner at Chez Dog

OK I made this awhile back and never dl'd the photo off the camera so here's what I think I put in this dish:

• Manicotti stuffed with ricotta cheese, cottage cheese and carrots that had been put through the food processor, topped with shredded fresh mozzarella
• Roma tomatoes, olive oil, and italian seasoning

It was my usual use-all-leftover-bits type meal and I remember I needed to use the manicotti because I was emptying the weevil cupboard.

Pet Gifts: All I Want for Christmas is You

In my morning reading, I came across a Veterinarian offering a list of Christmas gifts for pets and astonishingly, there's more than one that involves giving money to Veterinarians. There's also the obligatory taboo on "people food" which is a pet peeve of mine. There is no such thing as "people food". There is food. We all eat it.

At any rate, I offer my own list as an alternative:

• Bring your outside dog in from the cold or provide a warm outdoor shelter for him.
• Prepare some homemade meals or treats (more recipes here and here). Most dogs love home prepared food. With cats, your mileage may vary but cat owners usually know at least a couple things their kitteh likes.
• Spend some extra quality time with your pets. They don't care about presents really, it's your presence that matters to them.
• Drop by your local no kill shelter and donate some canned food or your time. Shelter pets appreciate visitors.
• Ask your local no kill shelter if they have a foster program for the holidays. Many shelters do and if you have the ability to care for another pet for a few weeks, you'd be giving a shelter animal the opportunity to get out of his cage or kennel and into a home. Even if it's temporary, it's a gift you can't put a price tag on.

Food Porn, Part Five

Thank you to reader Jess who turned me on to this addicting page on the historical feeding of Hounds. Lots of great excerpts to read from various sources and I will include a few.

From Stonehenge on the Dog (published 1887):

If Indian meal [corn meal] is employed, it must be mixed with water or broth while cold, and then boiled for at least an hour, stirring it occasionally to prevent burning. If it is intended to mix oatmeal with the Indian meal, the former may be first mixed with cold water to a paste, and then stirred in after boiling the latter for three quarters of an hour; then boil another quarter, reckoning from the time that the contents of the copper came to the boiling- point a second time.
Wheat-flour should be boiled from fifteen to twenty minutes, and may be mixed with the oatmeal in the same way as the Indian meal.
[...]
The flesh with the bones should be boiled for hours, until the meat is thoroughly done; then take it out and let it hang till cold, cut or strip it from the bones and mix with the puddings or stirabout according to the quantity required. The broth should always be used, as there are important elements of nutrition dissolved in it which are absent in the boiled flesh. It is, therefore, necessary to make the puddings or stirabout with it or to soak in it the biscuit, when this is the food selected. The bones should be given for the dogs to gnaw, together with any others from the house which can be obtained, but taking care to remove all fragments small enough for them to swallow whole.
[...]
Proportions given are two third puddings or biscuit to one third cooked meat, but the amount of meat should be reduced for growing dogs which have not much exercise. "Most people prefer a much smaller proportion of meat, especially for hounds, pointers, setters, and spaniels, which depend on their nose, this organ being supposed to be rendered less delicate by high feeding." It is also suggested that dogs which are fed two thirds pudding to one third meat require a great deal of green vegetables, which should be given once or twice a week during the summer to prevent their becoming overheated and getting skin eruptions. "Green cabbage, turnip-tops, turnips, nettle-tops, or carrots, as well as potatoes, may all be given with advantage boiled and mixed with the meal and broth, in which way they are much relished."

From the Kennel Gazette, November 1927, an exchange of letters regarding new-on-the-market "dog biscuits" (what we would call kibble now) vs. meat.

From the meat purveyor, seeing a business opportunity to sell meat to dog owners:

Dog biscuits doubtless have their merits, but meat is, without a doubt, a vital foodstuff in the diet of any animal whose digestive organs are of carnivorous design.
[...]
[I]f dog owners are being educated to the fact that dog biscuits constitute the best food for dogs, it stands to reason that the feelings of dog owners towards meat will shortly become more distant than ever.

From the dog breeder, in response to the meat purveyor's letter:

[T]he carnivorous appetite can be appeased by means other than the giving of fresh meat.
"For many years now, dog biscuits in one form or another have come to be considered the staple diet of a dog. There is good reason for the acceptance of this theory - or shall I say 'this truth'. Firstly, whether meat is a necessity or not, the most ardent advocate of meat will not deny that meat alone, no matter how much a dog likes it, would sooner or later become nauseating to the dog himself. A cereal food must accompany meat so as to provide the dog with a balanced ration, i.e. a ration complete with its complement of carbohydrates and protein, without which life itself cannot function on normal lines.
[...]
[A] dog biscuit is to a dog what bread and meat are to man - only more so! The cereal part of a biscuit includes most, if not all, of the wheat berry and other nourishing cereals. Added to these is an adequate quantity of sterilized meat. To feed a dog on biscuit, therefore, is to give a concentrated 'cereal-meat' diet, in easily digestible form. It does more. The hardness of a biscuit compels mastication and so ensures the dog using his teeth and jaws, and incidentally,the act of mastication releases saliva and other vital digestive juices, so facilitating thereby the process of digestion and assimilation. Meat is just meat - beef, mutton, or 'what not' are all more or less the same to a dog. Variety is lacking, and once again, this is where a biscuit holds the advantage.
"There are numerous varieties of biscuit foods. Some are for puppies and young dogs only; others are specially made for the adult dog. Some contain meat, others are plain. There are the square or round biscuits, and there are the broken kinds, commonly known as hound or terrier meal. From among the assortment available, there is no difficulty whatsoever in catering for any and every breed of dog and puppy.
"If meat must be fed, then see to it that a goodly percentage of the daily feed includes biscuit. I hold no brief for this or that biscuit, and the only reason I have for writing at length on a dog's food is to warn dog owners against the use of too much meat. There is meat in dog biscuits, and it is sufficient.

Previously in this series:
Food Porn (Part One)
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Recipe: Twice Baked Potato and Sour Cream Treats

This was sort of a leftovers extravaganza: I baked about 8 small potatoes and scooped out the flesh when cool. (Skins got tossed into the dogs' dinner bowls.) I beat in about 2/3 of a medium carton of sour cream, a couple eggs, 6 or so tablespoons olive oil, and added some milk to thin it out. Then I sprinkled in some dill and added enough wheat flour to make a dough (maybe 6 cups). Roll dough on to greased cookie sheet, bake at 325 degrees F for about 45 minutes and cut into squares.

Dinner at Chez Dog

We've got weevils. (Don't worry, that's not what's for the dog dinner.) They can apparently get into most anything and I don't know how we're going to get rid of them. For starters, I'm trying to cook everything in the cupboard to diminish their food supply. Unfortunately this also diminishes our food supply so I'm not sure what the end game here is exactly. At any rate, I boiled up every kind of pasta we had in the cupboards. (Note: Weevils float to the top of the pan as soon as you dump the pasta in so you can skim them out if you don't want the added protein.) I then cooked up some spinach, carrots and yellow squash and stirred them in. Minced parsley, yogurt and cottage cheese were added and I topped each dog's bowl off with a couple hunks of mozzarella. Add calcium and oil (I used fish oil caps for this meal) and serve.

Dinner at Chez Dog

Sweet potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, turkey livers and turkey gizzards - add calcium and oil, serve.

I found the organ meat for a good price in a freezer bin at the grocery store. Never having bought them before, I was a little leery because they were labeled "turkey gizzard" and "turkey liver" (each singular) and were in white plastic containers that you can't see into. I was envisioning some monster sized organ falling out of each but alas, when opened, the containers revealed multiple organs, regular sized.

Food Porn, Part Three

Excerpt from the book British Dogs - Their Varieties, History, Characteristics, Breeding, Management and Exhibition by Hugh Dalziel (circa 1879)

(click images to enlarge)





Previously in this series:
Food Porn (Part One)
Food Porn, Part Two

Nuh-uh ABC News!

An ABC News article on home cooked meals for pets vs. kibble contains a couple of misleading statements by my interpretation. Regarding the major pet food recall of 2007, ABC says:

Dozens of dogs and cats died as owners learned about the tainted dog food, most of which was imported from Chinese manufacturers.

Firstly, "dozens" is misleading because it makes it seem like the total number of dead pets as a result of the melamine tainted food was less than the thousands who likely died. Secondly, although the melamine tainted ingredients were imported from China, the toxic pet food itself was largely manufactured in the U.S., using the poisoned ingredients. No one should feel automatically "safe" buying a pet food just because it wasn't made in China.

As far as so-called regulation goes, ABC notes:

Gallagher and Thompson [from the Pet Food Institute] didn't dispute some of [Dr. Richard] Pitcairn's claims of byproducts that were sometimes found in food, but pointed out that the commercial industry is regulated -- a stamp of approval not guaranteed with home cooking.

Again, misleading to my mind because the "regulation" of the pet food industry is done by AAFCO and it's by no means an independent, third-party "stamp of approval" for pet food products. Further, of course there is no guarantee that home prepared diets are 100% complete and balanced - whether you are feeding humans, pets, or weevils. That doesn't mean they're unsafe.

Food Porn, Part Two

Excerpt from The Gentleman's Dog - His Rearing, Training and Treatment by C.A. Bryce, A.M., M.D. published in 1909:

(click images to enlarge)







Previously in this series:
Food Porn (Part One)

Food Porn

Thanks to reader Pai and to the Library of Congress, I offer the following chapter on feeding from the book Dogs as Home Companions by A.F. Hochwalt, published in 1922. I love this kind of thing, prolly abnormally so. Expect to see more excerpts from old dog books in future. Thank you Pai!

(click images to enlarge)

Those Old Yellow Magazine Clippings

H/T to They are What They Eat

One of my Favorite Things is looking at old dog photos. I came across a collection on Photobucket of some good ones:

Flatcoated Retriever photos

Beagle photos

Saluki photos (another breed on my wish list)

and another of my fetishes: old clippings about what people fed dogs before the invention of commercial dog food

Pet Food Problems

Nutro has recalled some varieties of puppy food but they haven't posted about it on their website which seems totally in character odd. Pet Connection has the details.

Premium Edge recalled two varieties of cat food due to thiamine deficiency which causes neurological problems.

Esbilac puppy formula has not been recalled but there is an internet posting from a group claiming to have sent the product to an independent lab for analysis. The analysis turned up some discrepancies with the product label. The makers of Esbilac deny any problems with their product according to the posting.
Note: I have done supplemental puppy feedings with this homemade puppy formula and had great results.

Dinner at Chez Dog

Yesterday I did some marathon dog food making (just a couple batches but I have a lot of dogs and I'm only a short distance runner) and wanted to share:



The first batch was a non-meat menu so I used a rice/squash/spinach base and added some chopped hard-boiled eggs and cottage cheese. I stirred in olive oil in the process.



For the second batch I used the same base and then did one of my classic "Hmm, what's in the back of the cupboard?" menus: Can of low salt wild rice & chicken soup, leftover chicken broth from the fridge, can of sardines in tomato sauce, two cans of chunk chicken breast and a can of Brandon Farms chicken.

And while I was dl'ing these pics from the camera, I found one Billy had snapped of Linus. He likes to roll in things (Linus I mean), and this one happens to be publishable:



Linus does not get along with other male dogs so we are hoping to find a single dog (or all girl) home for him. Besides rolling in things and fighting with other males, he also whines and barks. Contact me if interested! (He actually is a very good dog, maybe I shoulda said that first?)

Paws Down and Paws Up

One of my pet peeves is the nonsense about never feeding table scraps to pets:

Giving your pet table scraps isn't recommended for a couple of reasons. Pets like people food better than dog or cat food (who wouldn’t?), but human food is made for a humans dietary needs.

First the admission that no pet in his right mind wouldn't enjoy eating real food that humans eat more than a processed pet food product. Followed by the stunning conclusion that human food is made for humans. To my mind, food is food. Granted there are some foods consumed by certain species which would be inappropriate for other species (I'm thinking grasses for example). But regarding humans and their domesticated pets, food is food. If you watch TV pet food commercials or look at the packaging on some pet food products, you'll notice the images featured are those of beef, carrots, oats, etc. In other words, "human" food. And if you read the ingredient list on a pet food product, you'll find a list of "human" foods.

Furthermore, "human food" is not "made" - unless you are referring to highly processed foods. Beef that humans eat is simply cuts of meat from cows. Carrots are grown in gardens and oats grow in fields (often steam rolled after harvesting for human consumption). My point being that "human food" is basically edible stuff humans eat - and share with their domesticated pets. Which makes it just "food" then, doesn't it?

***

Unrelated: I read a nice article this morning that I could relate to and thought many of you might enjoy too:

How to not feel bad about once being a bad dog owner

Homemade Pet Food - Getting Started

What's the difference between paying a consultant (veterinary or otherwise) for a recipe to feed your dogs real food and learnin' it up yourself? The former leaves your wallet lighter while the latter makes your brain heavier.

Here's my view: If you are the type of owner who doesn't feel comfortable making decisions regarding the care of your pets and you can afford to pay for a professional consultation to tell you how to prepare food - go for it. It will give you the peace of mind you require and allow you to confidently pursue a healthy diet plan for your pets. Bear in mind that there are all sorts of people hanging shingles along the information superhighway offering to take your money in exchange for nutritional advice. If I was looking for a consultant, I wouldn't go to anyone who hasn't had advanced training in pet nutrition. For example, my regular Vet, whom I trust to perform surgery on my pets, doesn't claim to be a nutrition expert nor do I regard her as such.

In my experience, learning proper pet nutrition is a readily achievable task for pet owners. For those who are so inclined, books on pet nutrition are available at the library and there are many websites offering advice as well. The usual caveats apply - some info out there is worse than useless so you'll need to use your judgment. If you run into the same principles repeated by multiple trusted sources, you can probably rely on that info. Stuff I tend to dismiss: Your dog will die if you don't follow diet plan X, your dog will suffer ill health effects if you don't buy supplement Y, or any other extreme sounding/snake oil type warnings.

The answer to many of the main concerns about feeding home prepared pet food is variety. By feeding a variety of foods and recipes over time, you don't have to worry about feeding too much or too little of specific nutrients. You can also take advantage of buying seasonal foods available at lower prices.

The best gauge for how your feeding plan is going is the health of your pets. If they look good and seem to feel good, you are probably doing a fine job. At my house, I noticed a significant improvement in the overall health of the dogs after switching from a kibble based diet to one based on fresh food. Not that I thought they were "unhealthy" before, rather I just thought it was normal to be at the Vet's office regularly for ailments such as ear infections, skin problems, etc. Our current "normal" is to visit the Vet's office rarely and primarily for routine care. The only thing that has changed is how I feed.

All that said, research for yourself in order to make an informed decision that you feel comfortable with regarding what to feed your pets. Don't take the recommendations of one person - even if they charge for their advice. Utilize multiple resources to gather info and see what might work for your pet's specific needs and your budget. Knowledge is power!

If anyone has a home prepared pet food recipe they like, please share in the comments. I never get tired of reading about how people feed their pets.

Related Reading:

Don't Forget the Calcium, Mom

Juliette de Bairacli Levy's Natural Rearing Diet for Dogs

AAFCO - The Pet Food Industry Fails to Regulate Itself

Dinner at Chez Dog

On the menu: beef heart (sliced into big chunks), rice, celery, yellow squash and parsley. Add a splash of olive oil and some Calcium and serve.

Dinner at Chez Dog

In this edition: Chicken, celery, carrots, parsley and a bit of leftover Basmati with sliced almonds. I boiled the chicken and after it was done, used the same pot and broth to boil the celery and carrots (successfully avoiding washing the pot!). I mixed up the meal in a separate bowl and put the pot with the broth in it in the fridge overnight (Pot washing avoidance numero dos). When it came time to serve, I heated up the broth to pour it over the food so that the meal wasn't cold. Once I did that though, there was no more avoiding it - I had to wash the pot. *sniff* I just hate sad endings.


Breakfast was oats that I'd soaked overnight in buttermilk, applesauce and ricotta cheese. As with the dinner, I just add Calcium and some form of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil capsules, flaxseed meal, etc.) before serving.