I really want to share a book we discovered in our efforts to raise a Healthy Puppy. Our Siamese cat eats a grain-free brand of food for his allergies and we wanted to make sure our Puppy eat well too. Unfortunately Butter the Basset Hound had different ideas.
He was not a fan of kibble unless it was the multi-colored chemical filled stuff that he had been weaned onto. If the new brand was mixed with the 'Rainbow kibble' he would just bark at it! If we cooked him chicken, brown rice and veggies, it would vanish in seconds! All of this drama this led us to a guide by 'Dog Food Dude',
Rick Woodford.
Feed Your Best Friend Better: Easy, Nutritious Meals and Treats for Dogs
is the product of a journey the author began when his dog, Jackson was diagnosed with Cancer. He set out to help his best friend by studying Canine nutrition and cooking him healthy meals. After years of helping many ailing dogs feel better, including his buddy Jackson, Rick Woodford is now sharing all his research and 85 vet approved recipes. These recipes are for complete meals, dishes you can share, Treats and Cookies. Other sections in the book are:
- A Balancing act: Nutrients in a Dog's Diet explains Canine Nutrition to 'the rest of us'
- Warm nosed Meals for Ailing Dogs are recipes are for specific conditions such as allergies, Weight loss and Arthritis.
- Choosing a commercial dry dog food opens your eyes to all the things that should (and shouldn't be) in the food you are purchasing (if you aren't going to be feeding 100% home cooked)
- A more meaningful Mealtime is a helpful chapter which address behavioral issues associated with food.
- Determining Portion size
- Feeding Growing Puppies.
The Piwi Family's Review:
The thought of cooking an extra meal for Butter seemed a bit crazy. Thankfully of the recipes in this book require little preparation and cooked in a casserole dish or the slow cooker. The treats and cookies are no more difficult than an average cookie recipe and our kids had a blast making them. Only human grade ingredients are used so there is no real ick factor about using your regular cooking utensils etc. The only thing I was 'grossed out' by were a few recipes that call for Organ meat I am not sure this Plant eating Mama will ever get her head around cooking up hearts and kidneys. Sorry Butter!
Currently we are feeding 50% Homemade 50 % Store bought. Butter is content to eat the better quality dry kibble when we mix it with the Rick's Puppy stew recipe. We are spending less than we would be on the expensive kibble because he is eating less of it. The ingredients are generally already in the pantry except for the meat which we purchase in bulk specifically for butter. Overall we are spending less on his food but he is eating better. From an eco friendly perspective I really like the idea that we are creating less waste are not feeding our dog the fillers and chemicals that we wouldn't touch ourselves.
Butter's favorite recipes (so far) are the Blue Moon Cookies and Peanut Butter Banana 'Ice cream' treats. The list of Kong stuffing ideas are also proving extremely useful.
We would recommend this book to all Dog Parents, It would also make a great gift!. The easy to understand information on Canine nutrition alone made it worth the purchase. The Dog and owner approved recipes are the icing on the Pup-Cake!
Sample recipes from the book:
We were kindly given permission by Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC to reproduce some of the recipes we have tried...
Piwi Kids make Blue Moon Dog Cookies .
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