Paleo for Pups

Moose could do this all day.

Don't worry, this blog hasn't gone to the dogs, but with my recent eye injury (which is still acting up) training really did take a dive.  But no matter how much pain I was in or how doped up on Vicodin I was, Moose and Springer needed to be fed and walked and played with.

I think everyone will agree that we feel better when we fuel ourselves with real food.  And dogs do to!  When I first got Moose, he did great on Origin brand dog food.  Then he started getting diarrhea a LOT.  He would play all day long, but he had some major gut problems.  So I switched him to the bland diet of cooked rice, cooked chicken and some pumpkin for good measure.  He got better.  But 2-3 days later, his diarrhea was back.  I finally decided that I'd make food for him.  So I started to research how much of what does a dog need, and how much food does a growing puppy need.  I found the BARF diet.  Bones and Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food diet.  It's a diet for dogs (and cats) that consists of raw meat and bones, which is what dogs in the wild eat.  I call it Paleo for Pups...caveman had dogs right?

It took me a long time to try it because I was worried about salmonella and him eating bones (dogs can eat raw chicken bones, it's the cooked ones that get brittle and splinter).  But everything I read said it was okay to do.  So I tried it.  Or rather, he tried it.  He LOVED it.  I did some more research and found some 'recipes' to use.  Most of the recipes were "give your dog 1/2 a chicken" or something like that.  I opted for some blended veggies mixed in with the 1/2 a chicken.  I was pretty specific about how much of what he got, and it was pretty time consuming measuring and weighing everything.  After I while I got pretty good at just eyeballing it, though I do weigh his meals from time to time just to make sure I'm still in the ball park of what he's supposed to eat. But for the most part I check to make sure he's not fat and just keep on feeding him.  He's a solid 58 pounds and not fat.

What do you mean it's time for bed?

Post meal nap. Look at that full belly.

It took some time for Springer to come around the idea that she might have to chew her food a bit.  She wasn't a fan of gnawing through the bones.  I spent time cutting the chicken up into bite size pieces (cutting chicken bone isn't easy) and she finally decided she like it and I can just toss her 1/4 a chicken each meal.  She still won't touch veggies unless the chicken has soaked in them for a while to flavor the veggies like chicken.  Now both dogs love it.  I usually make up 2 weeks worth of meals at a time and freeze them so they don't go bad. Of course dogs can still stomach food that's gone bad, as long as it's raw.  Weird but true.

I think I accidentally started the raw chicken diet yesterday.  It was pretty ugly.  But I'm over it and spent the afternoon (well, an hour of the afternoon) in the kitchen making three different types of basmati rice.  And then I spent the rest of the afternoon taste testing them because they were all so good.  The saffron coconut rice turned out the best.  It was the fluffiest.  But the tomato cardamom was surprisingly not sticky (it was cooked on the stove top, not a rice cooker...more room for human error).  And the lemon parsley rice was pretty darn tasty too (maybe a little over the top with lemon flavor).  I might have over done it on the rice.  It's a small dinner party.  But I was really afraid one kind wouldn't turn out couldn't decide on what kind to make.  I think I'll be eating left over rice until I head to Kona on Wednesday.

Saffron Coconut Basmati Rice

Spicy Tomato Cardamom Basmati Rice

Lemon and Parsley Basmati Rice