Homemade Treats!

So Mommy finally got off her butt today and made me some new treats! I get a treat every night before bed and every once and a while during the day. For these treats Mom usually gives me biscuit type treats and likes to make them herself when she has the time. For training treats we use an assortment of softer treats that I will talk about later.

So today she decided to try a new variation of a recipe that she has used before. Warning: These treats smell REALLY good while baking!

Herb Cheese Treats
1 cup brown rice flour (we also sometimes use potato or oat flour)
1 egg
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon oregano

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl to form a ball of dough. Sprinkle flour on a clean surface and roll out dough to 1/4" thickness. Use a cookie cutter, knife, or a pizza cutter to cut dough into shapes. Place shape cutouts onto a cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let the treats cool and store them in an airtight container.

The ingredients. (Note: Mom meant to grab the brown rice flour
at the store but somehow ended up with white rice flour)

The dough.

The dough rolled out!

Lots of itty bitty treats.

The treats in the puppy cookie jar
(Note: These are not all of them)

Mom is not a huge fan of grains in my diet but she likes to bake so I get some treats with grains/starches. I also get treats with grains in them over at Nana and Grandpa's house. When I do have grains she likes to choose "good" grains. Many dogs have allergies to wheat and corn and mom suspects that I may have some sensitivities to them too. So we try to steer away from those two and use either rice, potato, or oat flour. We generally do not use any kind of raw food for treats mostly because it would be very impractical. Mom tries not to worry too much about the kind of treats I have (although she doesn't want me to have really junky ones) because they make up such a small part of my overall diet.

For training treats we usually use softer treats because I can eat them a lot faster! This leaves more time for training (and more treats)! We use a variety of treats for training but some of our favorites include Ziwi Peak Venison (we just use the regular daily cuisine food), Zuke's Z-Filets (chicken), Artemis food rolls, turkey hot dogs, string cheese, and cheddar cheese.

Mom and I are all cuddled up in our brand new king sized bed so I think I'm going to go to sleep. Auntie Katie ordered my bike trailer today so it should be here soon! I will be very happy when I can go on biking adventures with Mommy and Daddy!

Goodnight!

Raw Eats

Mia eats a prey model raw diet. This means she eats raw meat, bone, and organs modeled after what she would eat in the wild. I know a lot of people may find it hard to believe that a little dog could eat like this, but she can! The myth that small dogs cannot eat raw is a popular one. However, the only slight change I have to make for Mia is that she only eats smaller, more pliable bones like poultry, fish, and rabbit bones. All other meats are fed boneless.

Mia weighs about 9 lbs at her ideal weight. Yes, that is large for a Chihuahua but she is not overweight. She eats about 3-4 oz a day and we follow a model of about 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ. She eats a variety of meats including beef, pork, lamb, venison, goat, chicken, duck, turkey, quail, and salmon. Mia is not a big fan of organs (other than beef sweetbreads) so I usually have to disguise them in some way (i.e. grinding them up with ground beef) or sear them.

A sample weekly menu might include:
Sunday: 3 oz chicken (including bone)
Monday: 4 oz boneless beef
Tuesday: 4 oz boneless lamb
Wednesday: 1/4 turkey neck
Thursday: 3 oz salmon
Friday: 1.5 oz beef liver, 1.5 oz lamb kidney
Saturday: 4 oz bone-in ground venison

Mia's kitty sibling, Noche, also eats prey model raw (E-Man would too if he wasn't so picky).

Today, I cut and portioned up two whole chickens and about 12 lbs of boneless beef chuck roast. Here was the end result:

Chicken & Beef On Mia and Noche's Freezer

The interior of the freezer.

I put meal-sized portions into small plastic sandwich bags and then place those bags inside a big 1 or 2 gallon freezer bag that I label. This way I don't have all of the smaller bags swimming around the freezer.

Here are some of our favorite raw feeding links:

Myth: Toy Breeds and Small Dogs Cannot Eat a Diet of Raw Meaty Bones

Myths About Raw Feeding

Tom Lonsdale's Raw Meaty Bones

Dogster Raw Forum

Raw Fed Cats

Yahoo! RawFeeding Group

Yahoo! RawCat Group

A raw diet takes a lot of research starting out and should not be taken lightly. It is important to formulate the diet correctly and to provide lots of variety. If you are interested in starting a raw diet I suggest you research, research, research. If you are not willing to do the research but still really want to feed a raw diet there are high quality pre-made raw diets available to purchase like Nature's Variety, Primal, and Bravo.

Mia exhausted after a nice meal of boneless beef.