Quote:
Originally Posted by WillyKid  Thanks Suzy! Great advice! But, I do have a quick follow-up ...
You mention trying oatmeal, frozen bags of veggies (no onion, or garlic), and whole-wheat pasta. Do you cook the oatmal, or serve it dry? What about the veggies -- thawed and served raw, or cooked? Obviously, the pasta is boiled. 
Thanks again ... any other suggestions are welcome (from anyone!)
- Willy |
Mine love the oatmeal-it mixes really well with raw ground turkey. I too usually use carrots for Vitamin A, but have subbed sweet potato lately. Those are easy-just poke with a fork and microwave on the baked potato setting, and serve! They're lower in carbs than potatoes, so you can use them with rice, oatmeal, etc. Brown rice is obviously better than white, as is regular rice rather than minute rice, but do what works best for you for the time being.
I thought of another easy fix for you-buy frozen fish fillets in the seafood section (the kind that are individually wrapped and frozen, they come in a bag of 4-6 fillets), and microwave the fish for your dog! I did this today-they had tilapia and sweet potato for dinner-they LOVED it! They have tilapia, perch, whitefish, cod, salmon, you name it! It's pretty cost competitive with other meat, and I think it's more convenient since you only have to prepare the one fillet at a time, rather than a whole pound of other meat.
Veggies should be raw if possible. Of course, you'll want to cook starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, etc. Corn is actually kind of tough on their tummies, so I'd avoid it.
I always keep frozen green peas in the fridge-Emma and Milli love those frozen as treats, or thawed in their food mixture.
I'd avoid the baby food-like Marcerella02 said, they can be high in fat, as well as sodium. Frozen veggies are great when you don't have fresh. Another option is canned-just make sure to buy the no salt added variety, and rinse before using. I have some green beans, but haven't tried them on my furgirls yet. I don't blend up my veggies-I try and mash them a bit-like the sweet potatoes-or chop/grate really small. Some people use grated zucchini-easy to grate, cost effective, and delicious even raw!
If you choose to use fruit, go easy on them at first. I too stay away from citrus, NO grapes, and be careful with anything with seeds/pits, as the seeds can be toxic. I feed my dogs bananas, apple pieces, melon, berries, peaches, and pears. I like to mix them in cottage cheese for breakfast or as a treat.
I have found too that my dogs can eat more food in one day, but spread out between several small meals (3-4) on this diet than they can on kibble, since the food is higher quality. Since it's wet, it has a higher moisture content, and fills them up quicker at each feeding. And, I like to give them snacks when we have snacks-they don't beg then! I think it's better for their metabolism to eat small meals often, with exercise. Emma begs less (she is a huge begger
), is more active, and I feel like they poop less on their new diet. You'll notice a change after a couple weeks-I sure have. At first they are kind of bogged down. Marcerella02 warned me about this, and it's true-when their little bodies are getting rid of the old type of food, they're really tired and inactive-but it only lasts a few days. My furgirls are so spunky and play harder than they did before, I honestly think they feel better!
Be sure and let us know if you have other questions-we're glad to help. Marcerella02 was a key player in my turning to homecooking-I'm so glad she was, because I think it's definitely the best diet for my dogs.