National Cook For Your Pets Day

Today is a holiday that I can relate to. Today is National Cook For Your Pets Day. Our dog, Kat, gets homemade food everyday but for her it is always something to celebrate!

Kat gets dry kibble but we supplement it with a small dish of homemade ‘soft’ food in the morning. We started this when our previous dog, Casey, was getting up in age and was no longer able to manage enough dry food to keep her at a healthy weight. We wanted to provide her with the best nutrition possible so we studied the subject and started her on a special home cooked diet.  Of course, she had to share with Kat and once she was gone we kept up the practice. 

We follow the same basic recipe every time – meat, vegetables, and a little filler cooked together with saltless broth and one package of clear gelatin.    (The gelatin is good for her joints.) For meat we generally use a portion from a package we are using for our meal – hamburger, stewing meat, steak, chicken, turkey, or pork loin.  Occasionally we will buy her a small package of lamb or chicken livers.    Kat, like Casey did, loves vegetables and must sample each as we are chopping them.   Her favourites are carrots, asparagus and kohlrabi.  For filler we use a bit of rice, barley or orzo. Then we stew it together with the broth and gelatin, a spoonful of powdered eggshell, seasoned with homegrown herbs like parsley or lemon balm and a bit of pepper. We make a sizeable batch and freeze it in portions that will last her about for days.