Cooking for your dog – made easy!

A number of years ago my dog had some bladder issues, so I took her to the vet.

Calcium Oxalate crystals in her urine – precursor to kidney stones. Not good.

Vet knew I cooked and was into healthy eating, saw how well I took care of my girl, so she gave me a recipe to keep her alkalinity in check. Translation: stop the formation of Oxalate crystals.

Of course, I quickly made this recipe my own and added a bunch more nutritional elements to it. To which I notice a substantial improvement in her energy and playfulness.

Since Kelsey can’t talk; actions speak louder than words. Now if I would only remember that while dealing with people.

I posted a quickie video today ‘Cooking for Kelsey‘ if you want to watch how easy it is to cook, where/what I use. And where to shop the ingredients.

The link to Youtube –Cooking for Kelsey

Not that it’s rocket science at all. Remember? Broke Actress? Being frugal is good.

The basics to this recipe are:

A couple large scoops ( I use those old dime store scoopers, so the translation would be a medium sized coffee mug or just pour from the bag for 2 seconds;

Dry Black Eyed Peas (just encase you were thinking to to use canned – NO-NO – too much salt!!!) especially for a dog with kidney issues.

Brown Rice. A scoop, a coffee cup or pile of. I use Red Rice. Hu? You say? I say, watch the video! http://youtu.be/wJ9er5jPef8

A Soup Bone, Ox Tail, A Turkey Leg OR a couple Chicken Legs – Your choice – knowing your dogs favorite foods.

A bunch of Dried Seaweed. Just grab a handful and throw it in.

Optional: garlic clove, couple whole carrots, squash chunks (skin and all), yam chunks or whole (it cooks for so long it will be mush to stir in). glucosamine tablets, a vitamin e tablet. These are all things I put in from time to time.

Get out your biggest soup pot in the kitchen. Put the ingredients in, in that order. Do not stir. Leave the beans at the bottom. Pour in water to the top of the pot, making sure there’s a good 6 inches of water submerging the ingredients. Beans and rice absorb a lot of water. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn to your lowest setting. Let simmer for oh, 2, 3, 4, 5 hrs. Or more. I’ve been known to forget about it. Or put in a crock pot for the day.

THATS IT!!!

Freeze half into individual freezer baggies or in one big container to be thawed for meals later. The other half keeps in the fridge for about 7 days.

Opening the mail. R there any treats in here?

WARNING: TAKE THE CHICKEN BONES/TURKEY BONES OUT AFTER COOKING. TOSS THEM – DO NOT FEED TO YOUR DOG. ANY BIG BEEF BONES ARE ‘Kinda’ OK. BUT ONLY WHILE BEING SUPERVISED.

DO NOT LEAVE THEM ALONE WITH ANY KIND OF BONE THAT HAS SHARP EDGES. THEY WILL SWALLOW IT OR TRY TO.  And really, unless you are watching and know your child is not splintering the bone – it’s best to just refrain from giving your dog any kind of bone.