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Archive for the 'Dog Food' Category
Diabetic dogs need oatmeal as the base for all their meals. Oatmeal does not affect their blood sugar levels as does potatoes, rice, pasta and sweet potatoes. The problem is that our diabetic basset, Daisy, won’t eat the same thing day after day. As you know, if a diabetic dog doesn’t eat then they can’t receive their insulin. In order to keep her eating, I will mix pureed vegetables, carob chips or a combination of pureed vegetable and fruit.
An example for breakfast is that I will cook her oatmeal as usual and puree in my Magic Bullet or mini food processor, one apple and about 1/4 cup of green beans. She loves this and eats it all.
Another combination could be oatmeal and pureed or sliced bananas. I have actually started making the same breakfast as she has, for our other two bassets (who do not have diabetes). They are all 3 eating healthier.
For a dinner example, I will cook the oatmeal and before it is done cooking, I will add some green peas or green beans with some kind of chopped lean meat.
We have seen our bassets coat become shiner and fuller plus their energy level has increased. Our diabetic basset is more alert, energetic and calmer since we starting feeding her homemade food and treats.
Daisy is the reason we founded TheGourmetDogBakery.com because there are NO diabetic dog treats on the commercial market and we wanted to spoil her with treats like healthy dogs receive.
Have a ‘howling’ good week!
If you follow this blog or any of my forum postings, you understand that I cook homemade food for our 3 bassets and love doing it. I love deciding which base to use, such as potato, pasta, rice or oatmeal and then add vegetables and a lean meat. If you are cooking for a diabetic or pancretitis dog, then you will need to use oatmeal as the base. Below is one of my latest creations and our bassets loved it. Have Fun!
1 lb. lean ground turkey
1/2 c. chopped green beans
1 small can of tomato sauce (check ingredients to make sure it is only tomato puree)
4 to 5 c. of water
1/2 c. chopped carrots
1/2 c. chopped zucchini
1/4 c. red bell pepper
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves OR 4 fresh chopped basil leaves
1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves OR 2 sprigs of fresh oregano leaves
3 c. macaroni noodles
In a dutch oven pan, cook the ground turkey until no pink remains. Add the water, oil and tomato sauce then bring to a boil. Add macaroni and remaining ingredients to the pot, stirring occassionally. Simmer until the macaroni and vegetables are cooked thoroughly.
Makes 4 - 2 cups of homemade dog food.
Did you know many pets have allergies to wheat, corn and soy? Read your pet’s food and treat labels, this may be the cause for their scratching, sneezing, tear staining, and potty issues in the house.
Quinoa is considered the supergrain of the future but you shouldn’t wait for the future to use it. Quinoa is a very good source of manganese as well as a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorous. This “grain” may be especially valuable for dogs with diabetes.
It is already available in the bulk grain sections of most natural food stores, such as Whole Foods. It has a mild flavor and can be added to most every food dish but it does take some prep work before adding to your food.
This is a very important step: Using a fine sieve, rinse the grain several times with cool water. Rinsing the quinoa grain will remove the bitter taste.
Bring 2 cups of water or homemade broth to a boil and then add 1 cup of quinoa grain. Bring to another boil and then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. The quinoa should absorb the broth. Fluff with a fork and let cool. Store in the refrigerator for about 4 days and add to your dishes during the week.
We use quinoa grain or quinoa flour in all of our healthy dog treats at The Gourmet Dog Bakery.
If you are seeking more information on homemade dog or cat food, then I highly recommend the book entitled, “Home Prepared Dog and Cat Diets” by Donald Strombeck, DVM, PhD.
“Diet is one of the most important considerations in a pet’s care and that it is a major determinate of health and life expectancy”. This is a quote from Dr. Donald Strombeck, DVM, PhD and Professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at U.C. (Gastroenterology). I found the book at Barnes & Noble stores and Amazon. Have a HOWLING good summer read!
There is no right or wrong answer here, if you use moderation in feeding your dog some liver. Liver is high in cholesterol so once per week is fine. Of course you will want to add it to their regular kibble or into their homemade meal with added vitamins.
We either puree chicken hearts or chicken livers once per week and add it to their oatmeal and peas (or green beans). Our Daisy is diabetic so we add it to oatmeal but you could add it to rice, sweet potatoes or wheat pasta. The combinations are almost limitless….so you can use your creativity to the fullest extent.
Some pet owners think all pet food manufacturers have their pet’s best interests in mind but this is far from the truth. Current pet food regulations allow manufacturers to use ingredients that you would never knowingly give your pet. You might even be shocked to learn what top brands of pet foods really contain. I was, when doing some research and found that all major pet food manufacturers use chicken feet and cow intestine, which is called by-products in the ingredients list. Along with by-products, these same pet food manufacturers add chemicals to presere the food so that it will last for over a year.
These top pet food manufacturers play on the busy lives of pet owners and use marketing that highlights the ease of feeding your pets with what they call “natural or healthy”. There is no regulation when using these terms on pet food packaging and there is nothing healthy about using by-products or chemicals.
Just as our society has found, humans gain weight and suffer from many high-risk health issues when our diets do not contain healthy choices. With last year’s pet food recall and the rise in pet obesity and diabeties, it is now being proven than our pets suffer from similar shortening of life.
So what is the solution to giving our pets a high quality of life without suffering from numerous health issues. We can make the decision to switch them from commercial pet food and either make their food from human grade ingredients or choose a raw diet. Don’t get me wrong, there are several high quality small pet food brands that you could choose but you must learn how to read the ingredients labels and what you want to avoid. I have found several that I would have considered but they contained garlic and our one basset becomes violently sick with any amount of garlic. So my choice was to make their food from scratch, so that I better understood what their diet contained. I am in the process of taping an instruction series (making dog food from scratch) for posting on ‘You Tube’ within the next month or so. I am looking forward to feedback from pet owners.
When I purchased The Gourmet Dog Bakery earlier this year, I wanted to offer dog owners with a low-fat choice in treats for dogs suffering from diabeties or pancretitis, at a reasonable price. When you have a dog diagnosed with diabeties, they always say “no treats allowed”. That suggestion is usually made due to the quality of commercial treats on the market. Find a small dog bakery that offers low-fat, chemical and by-product free treats, that does not negatively affect their blood sugar levels.
Keep in mind - dog treats should not exceed more than 10% of your dog’s calorie intake each day. With diabetic diagnosed dogs, treats should be used in moderation with a low-fat and low-glycemic diet.
As each day passes, we witness another unbelievable event involving commercial pet food. Today, the FDA posted a press release about their request to seize various commercial animal food products at the PetCo Distribution Center in Illinois. The press release describes insanitary conditions for storing the food products, such as rodent and bird infestation. More information can be read at the FDA website (link provided below).
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01854.html
If you have a diabetic pet, you may not know that you should carry a small packet of honey with you. If your pet’s blood sugar level becomes too high and they go into diabetic shock - just rub some of the honey inside their mouth and seek a veterinarian immediately.
This is similar to a diabetic person carrying a chocolate candy bar. Animals cannot eat chocolate so honey will have the same effect on their blood sugars.
Personally, I have had several friends over the past months; loose their beloved dogs to premature kidney or liver disease from the BARF diet. In one case - they paid an established breeder (they knew for many years) for expensive puppies and then started them with the BARF diet. This was the only food these puppies knew. One died of kidney disease at age 8 yrs. and the other died at age 5 yrs. with liver disease. So what advantage did these dogs have over the traditional cooked meat/fresh vegetable diet or even commercial dog food diets?
In the past, we have fed our bassets commercial dog food that was to be all natural and organic but we decided to read the label one day and that changed everything. We were paying over $2.00 per can and almost $50 for a 30 lb. bag of dry food but it still contained fillers, preservatives, artificial flavorings and chemicals. We educated ourselves about the labels after the 2nd commercial dog food recall last year.
I was working outside the home at that time, but decided that we loved our bassets too much to let an industry take them prematurely and also to rack up big vet bills with treatments for their illnesses. One symptom was continual diarrhea from the same canned food that they had eaten for over a year. My husband and I decided to cook their food on the weekends and freeze for the coming week. I am working from home now and have more time to cook every other day. We now use organic human-grade ingredients from proven recipes that we have found on the internet. They no longer have diarrhea and they look forward to meal time.
We even have proven how much healthier our 14 yr. old basset is from eating our homemade dog food. She was diagnosed with diabetes about 2.5 years ago. After a bout with pancretitis (before removing her from a commercial diet), she was at 24 units of insulin, twice per day. After changing over her diet to homemade diet, she is at 13 units of insulin, twice per day and we are continuing to work on getting that number down.
About 2 weeks ago, we were running late for an appt. and we gave them a cup of commercial food that someone had given us for a rescue dog of ours (which I had placed in the back of my pantry). Her blood sugars shot up high within hours of eating the commercial kibble. It is like eating JUNK food and our poor girl’s body was reacting violently. We have learned our lesson and at no time again, will we EVER give them commercial food or treats.
If you can’t pronounce an ingredient on the label of your dog food or treat, it is probably something that should not be in there. I don’t like eating that so why should I feed it to my dogs.
Please be careful what you feed your beloved family dog. They depend on us to make wise and educated decisions on their behalf, no matter if you decide raw, cooked or commercial diets.
More information can be obtained at the CDC link: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5719a4.htm#tab