Sardines!

Posted on by TayBham

Sardines gross me out.

But my dogs LOVE them. Pearl spins around like a top until I can put her bowl on the floor whenever I break out the sardines.

They’re inexpensive, a good source of protein & good fat, and are filled with vitamins & minerals, including:

  • Riboflavin (may help prevent cataracts)
  • Vitamin B-12 (lowers risk of heart disease, cancer)
  • Vitamin D (lowers risk of arthritis, cancer)
  • Niacin (lowers risk of arthritis)
  • Calcium (bone health)
  • Iron (muscle & blood health)
  • Phosphorus (good for storing energy)
  • Potassium (lowers risk of heart disease)

I keep boxes of Reese Sardines packed in water on the shelf at all times, just in case I forget to take something from the freezer when I’m racing to work in the mornings.

And sometimes I feed them to Pearl and Truman just as a treat, or to get a break from our rotation of poultry and beef.

I add nothing to them. Just sardines in the bowl, mashed with a fork, because at 4.5oz per container, that’s a hefty meal.

They stink, though. So, heads up.

pugs & kisses,

Beef & Veggies

Posted on by TayBham

More shopping tips:

Buy beef stew meat. It’s the cheapest non-ground cut of meat in the packaged beef section of the grocery store.

I do not feed my dogs raw ground beef, primarily because it’s fatty, and also because most of the time, ground beef is not certified as grass-feed, hormone/antibiotic-free.

Stew meat is leaner, though has some marbling. I cut away any external pieces of fat.

Recipe for beef & veggies:

  • 3-oz raw stew meat
  • 1-2 oz steamed, chopped broccoli OR
  • 1-2 oz cooked, pureed carrots OR
  • 1-2 oz cooked, mashed sweet potato OR
  • 1-2 oz fresh, vine-ripened local tomato
  • 1 Tbsp raw, local honey
  • 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/2 scoop of digestive enzyme powder (Total-zymes comes with a scoop inside)

Digestive enzymes are added whenever I feed them something cooked, like steamed broccoli.

It’s important to avoid starchy vegetables in combination with proteins to keep from slowing the digestive process. Tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potatoes are less starchy and will not cause indigestion.

I’m telling you, once you get into a groove, once you find your comfort zone, this is easy. You can do it!

pugs & kisses!

Ring-a-ding-ding! Time for Chicken Wings!

Posted on by TayBham

I still get stares of disbelief whenever I tell folks I feed my dogs chicken bones.

YES. They eat the RAW meat ON THE BONE.

They eat the bone.

Because it’s Raw, it does not splinter. It crunches, and even Pug jaws are strong enough to break the bone into bite size bits. Their stomachs have high levels of hydrochloric acid, so they have no trouble digesting.

When I shop, I usually look for sale items at Whole Foods. In the poultry section, they have bone-in, skin-on wings and thighs in a strip of 3 perforated pouches. Because more people want boneless, skinless breasts for their own use, the wings & thighs are cheaper.

I buy in bulk and freeze. My freezer is my friend.

I do a lot of prep on the weekends so that my weekday mornings and evenings are stress-free.

Once I learned I was overfeeding, I cut back to 3-4 oz twice per day for these 25-lb Pugs. One hormone-free raw chicken wing is about 3 oz.

Truman & Pearl have no trouble crunching the bones, but they do have trouble–with their tiny front-row chicklets–tearing the meat from the bones. So I help them out by cutting the meat away from the bones, and then cutting the bones at the joints. (Sharp kitchen sheers are also my friend.)

Here’s what they ate all week last week:

  • 1 raw chicken wing
  • 1 oz raw goats milk (for probiotics) OR
  • 1 oz fresh bell pepper
  • 1 tsp raw, local honey (for allergies)
  • sprinkle of ground milk thistle seed (for liver support)
  • sprinkle of ground roasted pumpkin seed (in case of worms)

You can do this. It’s not that hard, and it’s no more costly than those prescription bags of kibble I bought for years.

pugs & kisses,

Cold Chicken Liver Soup

Posted on by TayBham

So, people are telling me they want to feed a Raw, wHOLe food diet, but it’s time consuming, and they don’t know what to buy or how to prepare it. For the next several posts, I’m going to share some of the recipes I’ve created. Saddle up.

Organ meats are good for your dogs (see Liver La Vida Loca, parts 1 & 2). High nutritional content, but should only be fed occasionally because they’re so rich.

Here’s a little recipe I’ve developed over the last few months that is easy to prepare once you get over the grossness of dealing with organ meats.

  • 1 container of organic, antibiotic-free chicken livers (frozen)
  • 4 oz raw goats milk
  • 4 oz organic chicken stock
  • 4 oz filtered water
  • 1 Tbsp raw honey
  • 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt

Organic, not-pumped-up-with-growth-hormones chicken livers are smaller and better for your dog. When you get home from the market with your chicken livers, put wax paper on a cookie sheet, and lay the livers on it so they’re not touching each other. Freeze for at least a couple of hours. They’re less messy/slippery/gross when frozen.

Once frozen, put them in your food processor or blender, add all the other ingredients, and blend until smooth.

It makes a brownish-pink cold soup. I pour 6oz portions into plastic containers and refrigerate. They’ll keep for about a 5 days in the fridge.

Nutrient-rich meals for days! I either pour out 3oz servings for each dog for each meal, or I’ll pour a single ounce over something else, like say if I’m splitting a single chicken wing between them. Most of the time, though, it’s just the soup, and it’s a complete meal. Then once it’s all gone, we rotate to a different protein, like beef or fish.

pugs & kisses,