How to Cook for Your Dog
Here's another great Two Minute Dog Advice tip from Wendy Nan Rees about how to cook for your dog.
How to Cook for your Pet
During the big pet food recall of 2007, I received more than 200 emails asking me to help with cooking for your pet. For those of you who do not know, I have written four cookbooks, three of them being doggie cookbooks, called, No Barking at the Table I & II, and the revised No Barking at the Table III. The most important consideration when cooking for your dog is there are many food types that dogs cannot have - for example, chocolate, onions, raisins and grapes, just to name a few.
I stress in all my books and I want to stress it here, please consult with your vet first before cooking for your pet. I know pet food recalls invoke fear in all of us, not knowing what to feed our pets. However, going directly to a human food diet can be stressful on your pet's system and not necessarily a healthy alternative. I am a firm believer in Kibble because it offers a balanced diet for dogs and helps to clean their.
Once you have approval from your vet, you can start to incorporate cooking for your pet. There are a few popular ideas out there. One of them is the RAW Food Diet. I am not personally a big fan of the raw food diet but, with that being said, I do know a lot of people that follow it and have great success with it. Again, with any other diet, the RAW food diet will take some research and involves working closely with your vet and your breeder.
When creating a balanced diet for our dogs, we need to consider what's important in their diet: protein, carbohydrates, vegetables, vitamins, a small amount of salt and fat (preferably olive oil fat). Normally, I suggest that the food and treats that I offer should not be more than 10 to 15 % of your dog's daily diet. If you are considering totally cooking for your pet, you will have to consult with your vet to determine the proper portions and mineral supplements needed. Each dog is different, so consider the age, weight and how much exercise your pet receives.
- Proteins can be lamb, ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork and fish.
- Carbohydrates include brown rice, white rice, potatoes, pasta, sweet potatoes.
- Vegetables include carrots, green beans, broccolis, sea kelp, pumpkin and squash, just to name a few.
One of the things I find so funny is that when you travel around the world, you find that different cultures feed their dogs different foods. When I was in Japan, I learned the dogs' main food source is fish. In contrast, Italy sells 40-pound bags of pasta in the pet store.
Today's recipe is one of my favorites, and it's one that I make at least once a month. It will freeze beautifully, and you can add everything but the kitchen sink to it. The name of the recipe is Little Man's Loaf. Not only does this recipe have a little extra protein boost in it, when you slice it open it's very pretty.
Little Man's Loaf
Preheat oven to 350˚
You'll need:
- A silicone mini loaf pan (You can find these at Target or any cooking supply store; my loaf pan has 12 mini loaves).
- A large glass mixing bowl
Ingredients:
- 12 hard boiled eggs (Without shells)
- 3 raw eggs
- 2 pounds of ground lamb
- ½ pound of ground beef
- 2 cups of cooked brown rice
- ¼ cup of rolled oats
- ¼ cup of fresh chopped parsley
- 4 chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped green beans
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
- 12 strips of raw bacon (for top)
- ½ cup of dry plain bread crumbs
In a mixing bowl, mix together everything except for your hard boiled eggs, ketchup and bacon.
Pre-spray your Silicone pan with non-stick spray. Now here comes the fun part. I bet you were wondering about the hard boiled eggs. Take a small amount of your meat mixture, place it in the bottom of the pan and set a hard boiled egg on top. Cover the hard boiled egg with the more meat mixture. When you slice the loaf after baking, it's beautiful.
Now it's time for the ketchup and the bacon. When all your loaves are in your pan, before placing in the oven, spread some ketchup on the top of each loaf, and place one piece of bacon on top. This adds great flavor and some fat.
Bake for one hour and forty minutes. Take the pan out of the oven, cool for one hour and now your ready to serve Little Man's Loaf. These loaves also freeze beautifully!
This is a fun easy recipe. From start to finish, it will take about two hours to prepare. It's well worth it for the joy you will see in your dog's expression when he's eating his loaf. If you're going down the road of totally cooking for your pet, this is where I would consult with a vet to determine which type of vitamin supplements you can add to this recipe.
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