Monday, July 8, 2013

Cooking for Leo

As many of you know, I have a dog who has chronic health issues. I've recently decided that I wanted to try and get him off of being on antibiotics constantly and am looking for a more holistic approach of caring for him...or at least feeding him. I started with some dog food that I found that is ground, raw chicken meat, bones, innards, etc. with no grains or other fillers. It is then made into kibble shape and frozen. I was giving Leo this, and he loved it...sadly, one bag would last about 6 days and cost, well more than I pay for my own food.

I then decided that I would move away from the frozen kibble and acquired kibble from the same makers, but it is freeze-dried and comes in a regular bag with no special care instructions (the frozen had to stay frozen until ready to serve). However, I still want to give my baby something more than just kibble, so I am cooking for him as well. My first foray into cooking for him was chicken thighs cooked with potatoes and green peas and chicken stock. He was very happy with this, but it may have been a little rich for him. This week I boiled some chicken breasts, that I then chopped up, and cooked some brown rice in the same water that I boiled the chicken. I mixed it all up and added some shredded carrots:

He gets 2/3 cup of this each meal and it is supplemented with some kibble. I also will throw in some cherry tomatoes, or blueberries, or a couple of apple slices....I am thinking I need to start heating a scoop of this up for myself as well, because, in general it is pretty healthy....unfortunately, I didn't cook it with any seasoning and it tastes like sadness.

It does make me happy to see how happy he is when I put his food down for him. He practically dances for dinner these days.