Tag Archives: is raw food safe for dogs

A Day of Raw

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deconstructed raw mealSorry my friends, but there’s just no way to make a raw meal look pretty.  I tried, though, I really did!   I want to share this “recipe” today because we are putting our RAW episode of Fido & Wine online as I write this – this is a great show for people who are interested in learning more about the raw diet for dogs.  My slogan is “Think Outside of The Bag”, the goal being to get more people to consider feeding their dogs food that isn’t processed.  I am obviously a fan of home cooking for dogs, but I also stand behind a raw diet.  As I’ve mentioned in some previous posts, I incorporate raw elements into both of The Boys diets.  I will NOT cook any offal in my house – gag me with a giant spoon.  I shudder just thinking of the smell of kidney or liver cooking.  So, the boys get their fix (dogs require about 10% of their weekly diet to be offal, 5% of which should be liver) in the form of a frozen cube or frozen/dehydrated liver.  I also feed one of The Boys primarily raw meals. I have been doing this for a couple of years so that I can become extremely knowledgeable in both types of feeding.

The picture of my dog’s bowl represents an entire day of food for one large lab. The beef chunk, beef meatballs, ground chicken with bone, and variety of gently cooked veggies would be divided into a breakfast and dinner feeding, then a cube each (I switch them up between offal and tripe, generally) gets fed to both dogs (in the backyard) at 7pm, I call this their “sub” as in substantial snack.  I change up the meats often, and of course, there are lots of my healthy home made treats given out during the day, which aren’t raw but are often grain-free.

Myths and naysayers abound when it comes to feeding raw, but I don’t believe the negative press for one minute.  Lori of Heronview Raw & Natural does a much better job of explaining to our host, Laura than I ever could. Lori is my own supplier, she really knows her stuff – and dare I say “she knows more than the internet” – for reals!

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO WATCH THIS EPISODE!

my dogs breakfast raw food

xo/J

P.S. Guess what Lori is so proudly holding in this picture :) I love your sense of humor, Lori!!

I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist. This recipe is not meant to replace a proper and balanced diet for your dog. You should speak to your own vet before trying new recipes or feeding any home cooked foods to your dog.

Veggie Chip Cookies

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Sometimes I come up with some pretty crazy ideas. I love it when my friends call them “creative”…! For some reason, I have really been wanting to make cookies for dogs that are as fun to look at as those popular and colourful M & M cookies! Candy and chocolate are no’s for Fido, but veggies are a must, so I thought I’d try using them instead of candy. In my mind, I had pictured plump, juicy, jewel-like veggie chips, not shrunken and dehydrated lackluster ones. A bunch of batches later, I finally have a recipe I’m pleased with. After many tests and tweaks, this is as close as I can get to what I had in mind. (Although those darned peas are still a little shrunken looking!) These dog cookies are fairly healthy in my book. You will notice that I indicated that you can use carrot juice or water – I used carrot juice because I have a big old jug of it in my fridge, and it gives the cookies a nice golden hue (in addition to all of the health benefits carrots have to offer). Plain old water is just fine. You could also use your own favorite cookie recipe and omit things like vanilla (it contains alcohol) and skip, reduce or substitute sugar with better alternatives like honey.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. butter or margarine
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup dry milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp. water or carrot juice
2 eggs
1 cup of “Veggie chips”, dealer’s choice – frozen peas, carrots, beets, potato, etc. Basically, cut up tiny chip-like pieces of dog-friendly veggies.

I used these dehydrated ones I bought from my fave Heronview Raw & Natural. This is what they look like dehydrated, you just soak them in hot water and they are ready to use. I also used lots of frozen peas (which I left frozen for additional water content).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin by adding soft butter or margarine to your mixing bowl. Give it a good forking until it’s a little whipped! Then, add your carrot juice or water, and the eggs. Beat lightly. Then, add the honey, sea salt, baking soda, and stir together. Finally, in portions, stir in the whole wheat flour. Lastly, add 1/3 of your veggie chips and gently mix into the cookie dough.

Place your cookie dough balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Make them the appropriate size for your dog(s). Mine are huge as my dogs are of the pig variety. Then, place your veggie chips on top of the cookies and slightly press in. Leave most of them exposed as the dough will puff up a bit around them. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool before letting the dogs have a taste.

I leave you with my new favourite shot of Miko and Hank, taken by my new fave photographer, Erin Campbell. She is also a doggie mama, and The Drool Brothers in front of the smeared sliding glass doors was something that really resonated with her, ha ha! Can you relate?

* Please note that I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist, so it’s advisable to consult with your own authority when trying new foods, and also to ensure that your dog’s home cooked diet is balanced & includes all of the nutrients that are necessary for your dog’s health.

Crack for Dogs

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That’s what my leo lovin’ friend Lori Dzingala of Heronview Raw & Natural and Heronview Leonburgers calls these…and she’s right!

I incorporate raw elements into my dog’s home cooked diets. My goal is to get people thinking outside the proverbial box of food, and to feed pets fresh food. My show filmed Lori at her farm, in the Episode “Raw” and my favourite sound bite was when she said, (in a nutshell) how can something be healthy if it’s been cooked to the point where it’s brown sludge? Bingo. Did you know that they spray the hard pellets of dry food with fat, digests, or other compounds to make it more palatable? Only to have your dog turn up it’s nose at the unappetizing mess in front of them. Can you blame them?

Anyway, don’t buy into the baloney about Raw being dangerous or bad for dogs. Not only do they love raw food, they smell better, look better and perhaps best of all – their poops are the tiniest ‘lil things after…and if you hate a stinky litterbox for your cat – try raw feeding and note the difference.

If you’d like to see our Raw exploration, we have put that part of the episode on the Pet Network website. After Laura visits Lori, she makes dog sushi back in her kitchen…mmmm dog sushi…
Fido & Wine – “Raw”

As for the crack (I had you at Crack for Dogs, didn’t I?) The reddish one is a frozen offal cube and the other one is frozen tripe (with stomach contents). I feed these to The Boys every night at 7pm and they start whining and pacing around 6:00 because they just can’t wait for the next hit. It’s a nice, substantial snack for my guys. They eat them frozen so I don’t have to deal with any STANK – and they eat them out back.

* Please note that I’m neither a vet nor an animal nutritionist, so it’s advisable to consult with your own authority when trying new foods, and also to ensure that your dog’s home cooked diet is balanced & includes all of the nutrients that are necessary for your dog’s health.