What did my dogs eat today? It would seem simple enough to answer this simple question. And I get that question all the time! After all, when you regularly advise people to pay attention to their dog’s diet, they usually follow-up by asking you what you feed your dogs.
Here’s why the answer ends up being a bit of a mouthful. Because the best one-word answer is “Variety”. But that is an abstract concept and the person needs more information. So here it goes…
Let’s go with yesterday. It was a typical day.
Breakfast
Salmon Brownies – with Essex Cottage Farms’ Hypoallergenic food mix, we cook up this meatloaf (nicknamed “brownies”) once a week. We freeze or refrigerate it, and dish it out for most breakfasts.
- Variety:
- We use four different meats: salmon, lamb, beef, turkey.
- We usually use broccoli but sometimes use green beans.
- We usually use sweet potato but sometimes use yellow squash or pumpkin.
- Human breakfast leftovers.
Treat When We Leave the House
We have a few favorite treats we grab out of the cookie jar just prior to leaving our dogs at home alone. Yesterday we had Real Meat Long Jerky Stix.
- Variety:
They LOVE these and actually get excited for our departure. (And yes, I’m SURE it’s the treats they’re excited about.)
We like a treat that lasts longer than a few seconds, but not a long time. Since we have three dogs, rather than create a slightly tense situation with a long treat (where one dog finishes before the others and then stares at the others enviously), we prefer the dogs to be wrapping up the treat and heading to their favorite sun spots by the time we’re ten steps away, out the door.
In my research, I’ve noticed several reports that tie kidney problems to products made in China. And most commercial dog food products are made in China (even if the companies are American). I strongly recommend you read the fine print, because the packaging can be deceiving. I recently noticed one of our favorites was made in China, despite wholesome-looking marketing. I had just gotten into a habit of keeping these treats on hand, and I’m glad I looked, as we will not purchase them any longer.
Training Treats
We had a bunch of treats yesterday! Here’s what I remember:
- homemade roast organic chicken pieces
- organic cheddar cheese pieces
- organic hot dog pieces
- Primal Organic Chicken Nibs.
Variety is a must when it comes to training treats, not only for health but also to peak a dog’s interest.
- Variety:
- Homemade recipes such as Go Bananas Training Treats or Salmon Treats
- Commercial options such as Happy Howie’s Food Rolls.
Dinner
Raw organic chicken backs and veggie glop with a last-minute big squirt of organic flax seed oil.
- Variety:
Our raw meaty bones typically vary among different parts of the chicken body. We also include ox tails, beef ribs, rabbit, lamb, venison.- Veggie glop has a lot of variety each batch – the whole idea is to throw together whatever organ meats, greens and fruits you have handy. Each batch has some steady ingredients such as a raw egg, garlic, molasses, etc. too.
- Green Tripe, oh green tripe, where have you been all our lives… just this past year we’ve incorporated tripe after learning of the great health benefits, and the dogs are nuts for it!
- We vary oils, e.g. salmon oil, Omega-3 mix, olive oil.
- We sometimes mix in Dr. Harvey’s “Veg-to-Bowl” or “Canine Health-The Miracle Dog Food”
- Non-raw nights might include:
- grilled fish or grilled meats of any kind
- human dinner leftovers
- stew – recipe from our holistic vet
- a ground beef/apple/yogurt/oatmeal recipe I like out of “Food Pets Die For“.
- dry food (we make sure the food(s) are “approved” by Whole Dog Journal)
Evening Supervised Snack
Beef butcher raw marrow bones, about 3-4″ cuts.
- Variety: carefully selected rawhide chews (e.g. Primal or Red Barn).
This dog diet stuff has all become second nature after an initial stage of figuring it out about 10 years ago. I consulted with a pet food specialist and two vets, read a few websites and read a few books.
My holistic vet’s main advice was to select good quality ingredients. For instance, I drive to an organic chicken farm 4 times a year and stock up on good chicken. She sells the book “Raw Food, Make it Easy for You and Your Dog” for guidelines.
My traditional vet’s advice was “make sure you get the mix right” – for example, don’t do all meat or too much grain. This is true enough, although it’s not that hard, really. In practice, I’ve found the correct portions are “a lot of good quality meat/bone” and “a little of everything else”.
