In which I become one of THOSE doggie parents

I’ve been considering this for several years now… basically since the Iams scare five or so years ago. But today I actually did it. I made dog food for Annie.

What I have here is not to completely replace what I buy, but to be her evening meal, supplementing her morning vittles which currently consists of 1 tablespoon of cottage cheese and a half a cup of Nature’s Variety Prairie kibble. (I believe she needs the hard kibble for her teeth.)

Babbette’s Turkey Meatloaf for Pups
1.3 lb ground turkey
2 cups frozen green beans (thawed)
6 small carrot stalks
1 egg

Here’s how it went:  Process green beans & carrots.

Mix vegetables with ground turkey and egg. Fill greased muffin tins with mixture. 
Bake on 375 for 25 minutes while the most precious puppy alive waits. Seriously, this was Annie while they were cooking. She knew this treat was for her!
My recipe made 15 mini loaves at 85 calories per loaf. I individually wrapped each loaf, and I’ll freeze most of them, just taking out a couple at a time. Annie will get a half of one each night as her evening meal. This batch will last a month.
Does anyone else make their dog’s food and have great recipes to share?

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Update!

I made these a second time and made two changes that I liked. Made 12 instead of 15 muffins, so each serving is a little larger (just over 100 calories per loaf) and only messed up one muffin tin. 😉 Also, I cut the temp down to 325 and they didn’t have the burned edges.

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7 Replies to “In which I become one of THOSE doggie parents

  1. This looks great! I will have to make some for Pepsi and Charlie. How did you determine how much she should have for her weight?

  2. Bunny – I was shooting for about 50 calories per serving, so on the next go-round, I'll probably fill the muffin tins a little fuller & go for 12 loaves instead of 15. The serving is based on the medallions (also Nature's Variety) that she had been eating, but at much more $$ – $25 per bag – almost $1 per medallion. This recipe cost me about $5.50.

  3. Well you know I made Amanda's and I started cooking for my little girl with the pet food scare. I went online and looked at lots of recipes. One of the recipes used 1/3 lean meat, 1/3 veggies & 1/3 grain.

    For Amanda, I boiled very lean hamburger or ground chicken. Then I added chopped carrots, green beans and brown rice. Actually, was really good. She tried to lick the color off the bowl.

    At first, that is all I fed her until I felt better about the commercial food. Then I gave her some hard food to help her teeth.

  4. I have never cooked for Martini except for the time I ran out of dog food and didn't want to run out so I cooked her a chicken breast and green broccoli. I think these little meat loafs would be great though! Martini is a medium sized dog (around 60lbs) so I would assume her portion would be a little bigger. Should I just ask my vet about how large of a serving she should get?

    I LOVE the picture of her waiting for her dinner! SO CUTE!!!

  5. Yes, Diane – I remember talking to you about how you cooked for Amanda.

    Lauren, Annie is 12 lbs… and she gets most of her calories in the morning – around 125 or so. She typically gets a couple of treats, though I'm starting to break them in half. And then I'd like for her evening meal to be about 50 calories (see previous note to Bunny).

  6. I copied this recipe for my SIL as all she feeds her dog is ground turkey, rice and carrots and a bit of high quality dry food. Good job. (we have cats)

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