Sunday, July 14, 2013

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.