Babydog's Food

This is just a draft of the dog food recipe I have devised. Baby loves it but it took 2 and a half hours to make, store, and clean up after. It should not be stored longer than 2 days, so must be packaged up and kept in the freezer.

Ingredients:

5 pounds ground pork
2.5 pounds organic potatoes, chopped
3 cups no added sodium V8 juice
4 cups cooked unflavored instant oatmeal
1 red bell pepper, chopped
7 cloves garlic, minced and exposed to air for 10 minutes to develop medicinal properties
1 1/2 tsp each ground ginger and cloves to aid digestion
1 tsp potassium chloride
2 containers Lactaid cottage cheese
6 raw eggs
~1 cup frozen chopped spinach
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses

Boil the potatoes in the V8 juice (this retains the nutrition of the potatoes). Cook the bell pepper and spinach in this pot as well.

Brown the pork thoroughly with the spices, potassium, and garlic. Must cook WELL to kill trichinosis. Break eggs into the meat; cook and stir until opaque.

Combine all ingredients in a stock pot. Puree thoroughly with immersion blender. Pureeing is necessary, because Babydog's gut was so irritated that it moved food through so quickly that he could not break down any chunks larger than a grain of rice.

Supplement with vitamins D and E, and use giblet meats liberally as treats, such as liver or lung. I prefer freeze dried lamb lung as easy to digest and non-allergenic, and give a sweet potato treat that is supplemented with D and E. Those vitamins must be supplemented because they are absent in the food, due to the food not containing 100% of the animal - muscle meat is extremely unbalanced nutritionally, and I have not yet found a good, affordable, digestible ingredient that contains these vitamins in sufficient volume.

WHY AND WHEREFORE:

Why pork? Because it's a less-common protein that he is unlikely to be allergic to, and it contains enough zinc that I need not supplement with zinc. I cannot afford lamb, and I do not believe that poultry is natural for dogs. Wild canids cannot not capture poultry as prey reliably. Their diet consists of ungulate meat.

Why potatoes? Because I try to avoid grain where I can, and because it is non-allergenic and nutritious with a lot of potassium. Dogs need lots of potassium in their diets.

Okay, then why add oats? Because I can afford them :( But also for their nutritional profile. They help fill in the gaps left by feeding only muscle meat instead of a whole animal. Rolled (instant) oats are soft and easy to digest, too. Also, I have had oats highly recommended to me by breeders of my particular breed of dog. Your mileage may vary. I don't think rice is as good as people think it is, though, since it tends to irritate my dogs' guts as often as not. At the very least, the rice must be pureed. Many dogs can't easily break apart the rice starches to get into the grain.

Why ginger, cloves and garlic? The garlic repels pests and also has mild antifungal properties and other healthful properties. Note that it must be exposed to air or these do not develop! The ginger is to smooth out the muscle contractions in the gut, reducing both diarrhea and constipation. It also stimulates stomach muscle contraction, which he was having trouble with - food emptied too quickly. The cloves are soothing and a mild anthelmintic; though that won't kill giardia, it may help his body keep from developing a secondary infestation of roundworms while he is weakened.

Why potassium chloride? Purchasable under the brand name Nu-Salt, this has been recommended to me by vets for all homemade diets, especially for sick dogs. Dogs need lots of potassium, especially when they have the runs and might be losing electrolytes.

Lactaid cottage cheese? Because bone bits would irritate his gut, and yet he still needs calcium. The Lactaid brand is lactose-free and theoretically easy to digest.

Red bell pepper? A rich source of many vitamins he would otherwise obtain from organ meats.

Spinach? Ground-up and cooked, it hopefully comes close to the digestibility of green tripe. Also, he has been ravenously eating grass, and I theorize he has not been able to get some mineral or other that is in greens. Just a guess, though, we will see if it helps - I only just started adding this ingredient.

V8 juice? Same thing. No digestion required when the veggies are juiced.

Molasses? A common ingredient in dog foods that also contains an unusually bioavailable source of iron, which is not as high as I'd like in the pork meat. Blackstrap has more than regular.

Rumbledethumps (Potato Pie)

Every nation in Europe, in fact every tiny geographical region, has its own "leftovers" dish, usually involving potatoes to glue the leftovers together. This one is particularly hearty and makes both a satisfying dinner and a fantastic leftover lunch. You can hold the slices in your hand to eat them, and they don't go bad for quite a while at room temperature, so they are good for bringing places. This is a variant of a Scottish peasant recipe called Rumbledethumps (wikipedia link). What differentiates it from, for example, colcannon or bubble-and-squeak is the addition of a cheese topping followed by baking in a plate.

Ingredients:

4 Yukon gold potatoes, with skins
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 big box or bag of baby arugula, or baby spinach if you prefer
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp smart balance or butter
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded gouda (or additional 1/2 cup cheddar)
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste (I use none, but the traditional recipe calls for lots, so it's up to you)

Chop and steam the potatoes, or bake them in tinfoil, until soft. Mash.

Saute the scallions and garlic in the butter until they begin to soften, then add the arugula and saute until wilted. Transer to a cutting board and chop (it's easier to chop them after cooking than before).

Heat oven to 350.

Sprinkle half the cheddar into the bottom of a well-greased pie plate. Combine remaining cheddar and all other ingredients (except parmesan) in a bowl and mix. Pour into pie plate and top with parmesan.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until set but not puffy.

You can eat this fresh but honestly I like the leftovers better!

NOTE: You can replace the cheese with fake cheese quite easily for the lactose-intolerant.