Homemade food for a picky dog

My 1.5 y-o Bloodhound/Boxer, Sammi, became very picky with her food after she somehow hurt a muscle in her neck. For about a week she couldn't bend down to eat, so I hand fed her. Even then she didn't want to eat much. This began her picking at her food & dropping it in piles all over the house. So, the recipe below is finally one that she gobbled up & actually licks her bowl clean! Of course my 4.5 y-o Beagle, Jade, likes the food too. She will eat anything :) If you have a sick pet or picky pet, then this might get them to eat!

Ingredients:

2 packages chicken gizzards/hearts
 1 Lb. ground beef
 6 jumbo eggs
 2.5 Lb.'s white rice
 1 Cup uncooked, chopped kale

Directions:

 1. In a large pot with a lid add a few cups of water, turn on medium heat, add gizzards/hearts, ground beef, eggs (crack open & no shells unless your dog likes the shells), & kale. I usually sprinkle with some salt, but that is optional. Cover.
 2. Stir occasionally, mixing the ingredients together really well.  Cook until meat is brown.
 3. Dump this mixture into a large mixing bowl, but leave the juice in the cooking pot.
 4. Cook the rice in the juice & add water.
 5. Mix all in the large mixing bowl & portion out into bags or containers to store in the fridge.

 This makes 4-5 days of twice a day meals for both my dogs. I feed Sammi the calorie amount for an 80-lb dog because that is her weight. She is also still growing, but you have to factor the calories of treats into their daily amount as well. I feed Jade the amount for a 20-25-lb dog even though she is over 30-lb's. She is extremely inactive indoors.

When you serve the food what I do is plop it into a bowl & microwave for a minute. I mix it all up in Sammi's big bowl & then spoon some into Jade's bowl. They eat it all within a minute or two! Before I couldn't even get Sammi to eat 1 whole meal of kibble per day & it would take her all day.

Silly Sammi Pics :)

Here are just some fun pics I captured of Sammi, my Bloodhound/Boxer Mix. I didn't get any of Jade, my older Beagle, but that is due to her antisocial behaviors. She's a strange little Beagle!

Keeping an eye on the new bag of food I just bought

                                               Not amused with the humans :)

Ginger & Beef Flavored Dog Treats

I made two different batches of these treats- one batch for my smaller Beagle, Jade, and another batch for my large Bloodhound Sammi. Jade's treats have a lot of ginger in them to calm her tummy and her general anxiety, while Sammi's treats just have a sprinkle of ginger. Too much might upset her sensitive system! Here are the recipes:

Jade's Treats:
2 C whole wheat flour
1 large egg
3/4 C low-sodium beef broth
sprinkle of baking soda
2 Tbsp ground ginger

Sammi's Treats:
2 & 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 large egg
1 C low-sodium beef broth
sprinkling of baking soda
sprinkling of ground ginger

Mix wet ingredients in a bowl and dry ingredients in another bowl. Mix together well & knead witha spatula. Roll out on a floured surface & flour the rolling pin. Cut shapes & poke holes with a fork. Bake at 375 for 20-25 min per baking sheet (or until hardened). Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Store in airtight jars. I feed 2-3 treats to Jade per day and 1-2 treats to Sammi (her treats are a much larger shape). Enjoy!

 

DIY Cute Dog Food Canisters

This project was inexpensive and fairly easy. You'll need: old Christmas popcorn container(s), metallic silver spray paint, black spray paint, & a stencil (I printed the words and cut them on paper). I used Cambria font size 300 and Edwardian script font size 275.