Kibble Topper #2

Ran out of Doggie Mush yesterday so I figured I'd make some more today.  I didn't make nearly as much as last time, I want to keep the recipes small until I find something that really sticks.  I left out the beef, liver and heart his time since I didn't have any that wasn't frozen solid.  Instead I added some tuna.

Today's much consisted of:

1 1/2 cup oats (uncooked, about 3 cups cooked)
2 eggs
1 can of tuna
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp molasses

The honey and molasses were in there for me at first since I was going to eat the oats but when I remembered I was out of dog mush I decdicated it to them.  Honey and molasses, in small amounts, is perfectly fine to give to your dogs.

This is what the result looked like.

Cook the oats in a bit more water than normal (if using honey and/or molasses, add when you put oats in the water), let sit until mushy.  Add eggs and tuna, stir, cover and let sit for five or so minutes.  Stir once more then serve over or mixed into kibble.

Juneau thought this recipe was the BOMB!  She is normally a very slow eater but today she finished her food a couple minutes faster than normal.  Juneau is also the main reason why I make this stuff.  She needs a LOT more kibble than Sasha and though TOTW is a good kibble, Juneau had begun to lose some weight on it.  It was either up the amount of kibble or add something else in so I began to make this crap and she's back to her normal weight now.  Juneau gets only about a cup or less in her kibble so it doesn't make up any drastic portion of her diet.

Anyways, this recipe is NOT complete, so don't go feeding your dog just this.  There is a lot more that needs to be added and right now I'm just looking for something easy to make that the dogs love.  Once I find that I'll work on getting it balanced.

Zuke's Jerky Naturals

These are by far both mine and Conker's favorite treats.  They are made by Zuke's, a company located in Durango Colorado.  They manufacture their stuff in Colorado as well so if you like made in the U.S.A. then you might like these.  They also make treats for cats.

The Jerky Naturals come in three flavors. Lamb, Beef and Salmon.  The flavor I use most commonly is the lamb. Conker goes nuts for them and if you've never seen a Shiba drool then you haven't found the right treats.

The ingredients are the same for each flavor except for the first slot being used by whatever flavor that particular treat is.

Ingredients:  Lamb, Ground Rice, Ground Oats, Malted Barley, Gelatin, Maple Syrup, Vegetable Glycerin, Fresh Apples, Fresh Carrots, Canola Oil, Ground Flax Seed, Fresh Blueberries, Lecithin, Salt, Phosphoric Acid (a natural acidifier), Sorbic Acid (a preservative).

Guaranteed Analysis – Lamb
Protein	not less than 10%
Fat	not less than 8%
Fiber	not more than 3%
Moisture	not more than 30%
Calories	Approximately 22 per piece

Since Conker hasn't shown any reactions to these they are deemed safe for mildly reactive Shibas and dogs.  They do contain some grains but they are much higher quality than some treats and are wheat, corn and soy free.  

The treats are soft and roughly 1 inch square that is easily broken and molded into smaller pieces.  I use one treat each day I train Conker since I can cut it into several pieces, sometimes as many as 25.  Each bag has about 30 or so treats in it so if you only use one a day or one every few days they should last a while.  I have found them for as low as $4.99 a bag and Zuke's has a coupon on their website that they will send to you for $1 off.  For this type of treat they have a good price.

Overall these are very good treats.  They aren't messy like most dry treats and are easily carried around.

Ark Naturals Gentle Digest

When I first began feeding Conker raw food he had frequent bouts of unpredictable poop.  This was sometimes remedied by feeding bone-heavy meals but other times I could not get his digestive system to sort itself out.  I decided to give a probiotic a try before outright quitting and I am glad I did.
I picked out a probiotic made by Ark Naturals called Gentle Digest since my local petshop had samples that seemed to help Conker out.

Active Ingredients: Bacillus Coagulans (Lactobacillius Sporogenes) and Chicory.
Inactive Ingredients: Dicalcium phosphate, gelatin, magnesium searate and rice flour.

The bottle had 60 capsules that are quite small and very easily hidden in a small chunk of meat, ground meat or a chicken heart.  If anything it can be pulled open and sprinkled over the food.
The results were instant.  The day Conker had diarrhea I would hold off on his next meal for a couple hours then give him a capsule with the food.  The next day's poop would be better or normal than the day before.  It really helped him transition to raw and any new foods after that.   

My bottle has long since ran out and I switched to a human-grade probiotic.  Unfortunately it is nowhere near as good at the Gentle Digest is for Conker. Now  I only ever give him probiotics when he gets a new food, has loose poop or eats something he shouldn't have and explodes in the backyard. 

Overall Gentle Digest is a good product from my experience.  The ingredients are good, the results are quick and it works very well for Conker.  It's not the cheapest at around $13 a bottle but if I find it again I'll most likely pick it up.

Trail Fail

So we went to Limpy Creek Waterfall today. We as in Mom, Little-brother + friend, Little-sister + friend, Older-sister + boyfriend and all three dogs.  First off, Mom and Little-sister's friend let Sasha and Juneau pull like fucking mad on the leash.  Juneau was pulling so hard she was gagging, hacking, barely breathing etc. and Mom didn't think there was an issue.
I tried to explain to her why you shouldn't let her do this but today Mom decided to not to listen.
Plus, if you let Juneau pull even the slightest bit I HAVE TO RETRAIN HER ALL OVER AGAIN!  If you can't tell I'm very irate over this.

Anyways, Conker and I hung out at the back of the moron pack and stayed at a small waterfall for bit to let the stupid get ahead of us.  I didn't realize that there are like, a fucking million side-trails that all go back to the beginning instead of the waterfall so Conker and I ended back up at the parking lot since I had no idea what trail was the correct one to take.  Whatever, I wasn't enjoying the hike anyways (poison oak rash on legs = not fun) and I don't even know why I went in the first place. 

So, I plan on going back some other time when no stupid is accompanying me.  Maybe just me and Conker, after the damn PO rash is gone.  I wanted to see that waterfall and explore the area a bit.

Here's to having a bad day.

Today's Meat Mix

I really would like a meat grinder.  While Conker has learned how to chew his food a bit he is still a dumbass and tries to swallow giant hunks of things.  Plus I've decided that unless he shows otherwise, I just don't want to risk him choking on a piece of meat or whatever.

Tonight I made up 10 days with of food.  I magically pulled out just about that much meat from the freezer.  I am normally over or under by quite a bit but I was only off by 1/4th of a meal which is easily fixed.  Anyways, what I made is this:

This is half of the meat mixture, the rest is in tupperwares.  It consists of roughly:

Turkey, 12 ounces
Pork, 10 ounces
Lamb, 6 ounces
Beef trim, 4 ounces
Chicken hearts, 8 ounces
Canned salmon and mackerel, 8 ounces
Liver and kidney, 7-8 ounces
Eggs, 2
Turkey bone, 8 ounces

Not "perfect" but it works.  Juneau enjoyed the bits of canned fish I gave her and since Conker loves sardines I don't think he'll object to the salmon and mackerel.
So, can you see why I'd like a meat grinder?  Chopping all that meat into non-choking sized pieces takes a while, plus none of the bone is actually chopped.  It still needs to be crunched.

Here is Conker's food packaged into 2 day portions. I did have a lot of leftover canned fish but I expected that and stuck the rest in the freezer.  Sasha really wanted it though.  I kept the "water" from the cans and will pour a bit over the dog's food tomorrow.

Solid Gold: Green Cow

I have been wanting to try out some tripe for a short while.  But I haven't been able to find any except for some made by Solid Gold at Petco.  I figured I was most likely only going to be buying it once so I went ahead and purchased a $2.99 can there.

Edit: I have found this for $1.69 at the Grange and $1.99 at Rays.

The label is kinda cheesy looking but hey, it's dog food.

Ingredients: Green Beef Tripe, Beef Broth, Potatoes, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Garlic, Choline Chloride, dl-methionine, A-Tocopherol, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Calcium Panthothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Niacin, Vitamin D Supplement, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Selenomethionine, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate

Guaranteed Analysis
Protein, Min 10%
Fat, Min 2.5%
Fiber, Max 1.5%
Moisture, Max 82%
485 kcal / 13.2 oz can

Okay, so it's not what I really wanted.  Since it's a complete food I guess they needed to add a bunch of crap instead of just the tripe and one or two other things.  But again it's the only tripe that I've been able to find here so far.  Anywho, broth and potatoes are up high on the list so there really isn't too much real stuff in there.

When opened it looks and smells like... a can of dog food.  I was immensely disappointed when I saw this.  I was expecting it to look something like the tripe on this site.  I was also thrown off by the chunks of potato that were scattered in the gross after I dumped it into Juneau's bowl.

It looked a bit greener after I added some kibble and Doggie Mush to the bowl and gave it a good stir.  Conker did not get any of this, just Juneau and Sasha.  They both thought it was great though, but I won't be buying it again unless I can find it for $1.

I am still on the lookout for the brand Tripett. It's supposedly able to be found at the MPM down the street from my house, the Grange and another feedstore I have yet to visit but every time I go into the stores they don't have it.  I think tomorrow, if I don't buy something else before then, I'm going to hit up as many of the other pet shops around here that I haven't gone to yet.  Most of them are grooming shops, that's why I haven't visited them.






In other news...


I haven't walked any of the dogs for at least 5 days.  No actual walks.  Just visits to the petstores for Conker.  And it's beginning to show with him.  He is immensely whiny, wants to play all the time and has insane bouts of running around like mad.  The reason for this?  I've apparently got poison oak oil (not related to the first time I "met" it) behind my knees and down from my butt all the way to my knee on the back of my right leg.  It's insanely painful to walk with that so the poor dogs have been suffering because of my stupid dilemma.  I have no honest idea how the hell that crap got there.  The first time I got into poison oak it didn't even touch those areas.  I'm really confused.

I have finally found some chicory root.  It's taken a long long time to find it.  For some reason I never bothered to check the herb shop downtown until today.
Anyways, I bought one ounce of raw dried chicory root to experiment with.

It came coarsely ground with some large and some almost powdered pieces.  I separated the smaller stuff from the larger stuff so I could start using it without having to get a coffee grinder.
I will begin the chicory experiment with Conker tomorrow. 


Conker is again refusing to eat food.  He flat-out refused to eat his food the day before yesterday when I offered it at the normal time but ate it at dinner and today ate everything but the turkey neck chunk.  I'm not going to put up with that so if he doesn't want to eat when he gets up he aint gonna and will have to wait until the afternoon/evening when the Girls eat.

Doggie Mush

So we had this hunk of steak (1 pound 8 ounces) that I didn't find sitting in the fridge until today.  Mom said I could have it, as in give it to the dogs, so I decided to come up with a mixture including the slightly old steak  that all three dogs could enjoy.

I didn't want to feed the steak completely raw or as a single meal.  I chopped it into small pieces and par-boiled it, not completely but not fully raw anymore.  This steak wasn't gone, I would have eaten it, but it made Mom feel better about giving to the pups if I cooked it somewhat first.
So I did that then made up a small pot of oats (so far Conker approved), mixed them together then thought:  "What else can I add?"  So I cracked a couple eggs into it, emptied a can of sardines in, added a bit if finely chopped raw liver an heart and mixed it up all real good.
It looks like this.

Yumm...   I'd made way more than I'd first thought but oh well, I've got three dogs who like odd crap like this.
I gave each of them a spoonful (Juneau got considerably more than Sasha or Conker) and it was an instant hit!  Sasha, like usual, was done first with Conker in second and Juneau third, taking her time cleaning her bowl then Sasha and even Conker's bowls of any mushy residue.

This isn't meant to be fed as an entire meal since It's not really complete.  I did put a small bit of ground eggshell in there but not enough for it to really count, plus it is missing a couple other vitamins and stuff.  Anyways, it's going to be used as a snack and kibble topper mainly for Juneau since I don't want to give too much to Conker who is a solid but borderline chubby Shiba or Sasha who is still fat. 

I had a lot of fun making this and plan on making several more snacks/kibble toppers and even complete meals for the dogs in the near-future.

Zuke's Very Berryz

Right as I say I'm trying to add variety to Conker's treats I go and buy these.

I kinda cheated and bought these at a mis-marked price of $6.29 instead of the normal $8.29.  The checkout lady didn't care and let me pay $2 less for them.
I've been wanting to try these since they are all fruity-like and Conker only eats certain type of fruits and prefers them whole and raw instead of pureed or cooked.

Ingredients:  Organic Ground Oats, Organic Ground Barley*, Blueberries, Cranberries, Potatoes, Oat Fiber, Organic Blackstrap Molasses, Oil Blend (sunflower, olive and canola), Beets, Raspberries, Cherries, Blackberries, Natural Vegetable Flavors.

Guaranteed Analysis – Very Berryz
Protein	not less than 10%
Fat	not less than 11%
Fiber	not more than 10%
Moisture	not more than 10%
Calories	Approximately 9 per piece

The ingredients are okay.  First two are grains, but Conker hasn't reacted to them so they are fine in my book.  Potatoes are fifth followed by another grain product, some other stuff and finally the last three berries.  I'd prefer the berries be the main ingredients or close up there but oh well.
Relatively the same as the Mini Bakes but with less fat and slightly less fiber and protein. 

Like the Mini Bakes they are able to be easily broken in half but are somewhat bigger than the MB's.  The Very Berryz are 2 grams, the Mini Bakes 1.
The MB's come in 16 ounce boxes and cost $6.29, the VB's come in 14 ounce boxes and cost $8.29.  So really the MB's are a better deal if your dog doesn't much show a preference for the different treats.  But the VB's are organic, the MB's are not so if you're one of those types you'll like the VB's.

Edit:  I have found these for $5.50 at a small feedstore, but other stores still carry them at the above price so the price rating is not affected.

Conker liked them on the first try. Again, not as good as the lamb treats and he performed a perfect sit but failed to catch about four times before he got it. 

Grizzly Nutreats

I haven't been very diverse with Conker's treats lately.  I've noticed that I've only got treats made by Zuke's so when I stopped at Mini Pet Mart today I figured I should pick something up by a different brand and see how well I liked it.

This is what I ended up with.  Most everything else there was wheat, corn, nameless protein or nameless by-product based and I don't get that junk for my dogs.  There were a few brands (some grain free) I've noticed but never really looked at there but they were far more expensive than these.  At $6.99 per 6 ounce bag they are $1 more expensive than the Mini and Jerky Naturals I normally get.

Ingredients:  Salmon Meal, Smoked Salmon, Salmon Protein Hydrolysate, Salmon Oil, Porcine Gelatin, Alfalfa, Kelp, Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extracts

The ingredients are simple.  Almost completely salmon with a few other things.  Nothing instantly stuck out to me as something to avoid so I went ahead and grabbed them.

Guaranteed Analysis  
Crude Protein (min) 53%
Crude Fat (min) 12%
Crude Fiber (max) 3%
Moisture (max) 7%
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (min) 3%

The protein content is quite high compared to the Zuke's treats I get (around 11%) so these will be an occasional treat. There are about 150 in each bag and they are difficult to break up but since they are lighter than the Zuke's treats I guess you get more per bag, unless the Zuke's are busted up.

Conker wasn't instantly interested in them when I offered one to him.  Probably because I had to go hunt him down and he never gets treats when I have to do that so he was probably weirded out by me.  Anyways, he took his time crunching up the first one and dropped several pieces but licked them up soon after.  He ate the second one with more gusto but still wasn't as thrilled with these as he is with the Zuke's treats.

When offered three treats at the same time, part of a Lamb Jerky Natural,  a Grizzly Nutreat and half of a Mini Bake, Conker went for them in that order.  So he still prefers the Lamb over anything else.  I will have to try pitting other lamb flavored treats against each other and see which one he chooses.

All in all these treats are pretty good.  They are made with good ingredients, don't have common reactive ingredients (for Shibas), are healthy for your dog and smell obnoxious so even picky eaters might enjoy them.