Making Home-Cooked Dog Food

I'm cooking dog food this morning.  You may already know that I supplement my dogs' diet with home-cooked food that we call Dog Stew.  I started doing this five or six years ago, when our greyhound Emma was under the care of a holistic veterinarian for treatment of weakness in her back legs.  One of the first things the vet and I discussed was what Emma ate ... and the vet told me that Emma needed to eat more real food, in addition to commercial dry food.  From this conversation, Dog Stew was born.

Dog food components are in these pots.

The recipe has evolved since then, taking advantage of whatever I have on hand, but the basic ingredients remain the same. I offer it to you, in case you may be inclined to try something like this for your own dogs.


Connie's Dog Stew

In the smaller pot:
2 pounds ground beef
2 pounds ground turkey
1-2 pounds pureed/ground organ meat (today's organ-du-jour is chicken liver)

In the larger pot are lots of colorful vegetables ... frozen ones today, fresh ones when I can in summer:
One package each of peas, carrots, broccoli, lima beans, green beans, and kale, simmered till tender with just enough water to cover them in the pot.  No corn!  When the veggies are tender, I puree them in the pot with my hand blender.  I do this because Ruby eats so fast that she almost doesn't chew, and Winnie has only one tooth and she can't chew.  Stir in one large can of pumpkin puree (or add orange squash to your original veggie mixture)

Other stuff:
Cooked rice.  I use half white rice and half brown rice, two cups each when uncooked.
Kibble, amount varies

I mix the meat and rice, then stir this mixture into the vegetable puree.  Add kibble, one cup at a time, until most of the extra liquid is absorbed.  I divide the stew into plastic containers, 600 grams each, and store it in the freezer.

Not picking out that one extra gram from this container just to get a perfect photo.

At mealtime, the dogs' meals consist of half stew and half commercial food (kibble for Ruby, canned for Winnie), mixed with a little bit of water.  Today's batch of stew made 18 full containers and one partial, which will last for just over two months.

I know that cooking food for the dogs like this is better for them, and it makes me feel good to know that they are happier and healthier because of my efforts ... all of this cooking and mixing sure does crap up the kitchen, though.

The Week That Was.

Here are small snippets of some of the things that have gone on here during the past week ... none of which seemed to warrant its own post.

1.  I have been painting a really cute hutch in my new work space (the dining room).  This change of venue brings some challenges ... Alice and Dorothy.

"This is like a big box with different compartments, Mom."

Alice:  Whack, whack

Dorothy:  Bite.   Alice:  Dodge.

Alice:  Whack, whack ... you get the idea.

2.  On Friday, we went to our friends Kim and Andy's house for dinner and game night.  Ruby and Winnie went with us ... dogs are always included in the invitation.  Winnie did really well, considering she has only been here for just shy of four weeks, and this was her first away-from-home visit like this.  Ruby loves visiting her Auntie Kim, and she can get really silly while we are there.  At one point, she was sitting upright on the sofa hugging with The Husband while we all were chatting.  I'm really glad that Kim had her iPad on hand to capture the moment.

3.  You may already know that I am a big fan of ice hockey.  Saturday morning's Olympic hockey game between the USA and Russia was one of the very best games that I have ever seen.  Both teams were evenly matched ... the hard-fought game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation ... no one scored in the five minute overtime period ... and the USA finally won the game in the 8th round of the shoot out.  I was on the edge of my seat for most of the action.  Winnie ... not so much.

4.  After the hockey game, I spent the rest of the morning making a big batch of dog stew.  The result was 20 containers of stew in the freezer (600 grams each), which will supplement Ruby and Winnie's meals for the next two-and-a-half months.  Ruby gets kibble with water and stew added ... Winnie eats canned food mixed with stew.  My recipe for this varies, depending on what I have on hand.  Yesterday's batch contained rice, ground beef, ground turkey, pork liver (simmered and ground in the food processor), and lots of colorful vegetables (carrots, peas, lima beans, green beans, broccoli, collard greens, canned pumpkin, and butternut squash ... simmered till tender then whirled up with my hand blender.) ... stir the meat and rice into the blended veggie mixture.

5.  Speaking of food, the morning dog and cat feeding dynamics here are still evolving.  For the first couple of weeks, Winnie would wait just outside the boundary of the kitchen in the dining room while I prepared her food.  Now she comes into the kitchen with Ruby, wagging her tail, following me from cupboard to fridge to microwave.  This isn't freaking Dorothy out nearly as much as I thought it would.  I'm assuming that this is because canned cat food is involved and Dorothy rarely misses a chance at that.

Winnie really likes her big sister Ruby ... but she continues to growl at the cats.

Today started with another early morning Team USA hockey game (a 5-1 victory over Slovenia!) and now I am getting ready to paint the bottom portion of that hutch.  It's cold outside and we still have almost all of our snow from last week's storm.  Weather Guy says that temperatures here will be in the 60s by the end of the coming week.  It's enough to give a gal whiplash.

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

Are You Kidding ... It Can't Be Wednesday Already???

Oh my ... where has this week gone?  I have been faithfully chipping away at my To Do list, day by day, paying very little attention to what day it actually is.  Since I was last here a few days ago, I have accomplished a LOT.  Settle in and let's get caught up.

Saturday.  

Toured four beautifully decorated houses in downtown Fredericksburg during the annual Christmas Candlelight Tour.

Played hostess in the living room of one of the tour houses in the afternoon.

Spent the evening with our grandsons while our daughter and her husband went to her work Christmas party.

This is how our daughter found me (and Grandson #1) when they got home.

Sunday.

Met a greyhound hauler from Florida to pick up three dogs who were going to an adoption group in Maryland.

Missed the Greyhounds Rock meeting, because the hauler ran into bad weather on his trip north and was running late.  Participated in the meeting via cell phone after I dropped off the dogs.

Hung out with some very fun, very crafty women at The Empty Nest ... making Christmas decorations, eating, and lots of laughing.  Thank you, Janet, for hosting us!!

Monday.

Bug out of the house while the cleaning lady is here, and continue to chip away at the Christmas Shopping List.  Made good progress.

Put lights on second Christmas tree ... this one isn't prelit, darn it.

This is our prelit tree in the family room, with shims under the stand because the floors in this old house are uneven in places.

I still have to put the skirt under it.

Edit and print Christmas Letter.  Letters from some people are nauseating brag fests, but ours isn't.  I tried to eliminate the letter years ago, but this was met with protests from everyone on our Christmas Card list.


Tuesday.

Go to Shumate Auction tag sale.  It was the estate of a seamstress, and I thought I'd find some cool sewing stuff.  I passed on the machines, notions, and fabric (though there was one bolt of Waverly toile that I really, really wanted ... but had no use for.)  I left with a wonderful 6-board antique chest that will live in our guest/grandkid bedroom.

Address and mail Christmas cards and packages.  I only had two packages to wrap and mail, and about 30 Christmas cards.  The cards have glitter on them ... and so do I after handling them.

Make dog stew.  I supplement Ruby's commercial dog food with home-cooked veggie-meat-rice mixture ... cooking a large batch every few weeks and freezing most of it.  With only one dog to feed right now, this batch of stew will last for about 10 weeks.

Wednesday (today).

Finish the last few Christmas decorations and get the boxes and totes out of the entry hall.

Go to the vet to pick up a case of Dorothy's cat food.  (she eats prescription food to help with her tendency to develop urinary crystals.)

Write and mail Christmas cards that I forgot about on Monday.

Do laundry and pack for our trip to New York City this weekend.  This is a bucket-list item for The Husband.  We quit putting it off, and this year we have made time to spend a long weekend seeing the New York Christmas sights and a show with friends.  Ruby is spending the weekend with my parents, so I have to pack her things, too.

One of the other items on Monday's list was to de-shed Ruby, since I noticed that she was starting to blow her undercoat.

Even with all of this seemingly-nonstop activity, preparations for this Christmas are fairly relaxed.  I'm not stressing about shopping or decorating.  For shopping, I made a list and have stuck to it, for the most part.  The Husband did most of the house decorating while I was out doing other things over the weekend, and the place looks really nice.

Family room mantel

  

I love Christmas and all that comes with it!!  I expect that this year may be the best one yet!  (I say this every year.)

How are you doing with your Christmas preparations?