Meet Gizmo and Emma. They're my two chihuahua mix fur babies. Gizmo (the brown one) was a birthday gift from my husband when we first started dating. When I got him, he could fit in the palm of my hand! We had him for a couple of years before we got Emma. She is a dog of the streets, yo. My husband saw her one day when she ran into the school he was working at. He told me about it and I begged him to get her if she came back again. On the third day, he brought her home. We waited a few weeks to see if anybody reported a missing dog or responded to our found dog ad...but nada. It's been one big, happy family ever since! Although, Emma is driving me crazy right now! She is bored with her kibble and refuses to eat it. This happens with them every couple of years.
Lately, the only way I've been getting them to eat their food is by mixing ridiculous amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables in it. They especially love apples, carrots, zucchini, frozen peas, frozen mixed vegetables and broccoli (if it's finely chopped). This is giving me great hope that I can up their intake of fresh produce and purchase less and less kibble. I've also been thinking about making their dog treats as well because it's so much cheaper.
Anyway. To any of you who have vegan dogs...kudos! I started Gizmo out on a vegan diet, but I don't know how I feel about it. Towards the end of Gizmo's trial period of veganism, he would barely eat and his coat was getting brittle. So I tried a variety of dog foods and he settled on Nutro. When he got bored with that, we moved onto Pedigree.
But now Emma is bored with Pedigree. These dogs are killing me. Right now I've been mixing rice into the vegetables until I can transition them into another dog food. Any recommendations for a good brand?
And something that the dogs have been obsessed with recently...
sweet potato chews. I always get mine from Target. They are so much better than raw hides which make me want to vomit just touching them. My dogs cannot get enough of these. Though, I suppose they are just as easy to make in a dehydrator....
Speaking of...I will officially begin rawdom tomorrow. I plan to at least eat 95% raw until my birthday (June 6th...27 like what?!). I'm not sure what I will be eating but I am definitely all over some mangoes, bananas, watermelon and raw fajitas. There is lots of posting ahead. Happy Thursday to all!
9 comments:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/
for better dog foods (non-vegan) go to nicer pet stores - i forget the names of all of them but things like wellness
Thanks Sarah. I've been getting dog foods based on my dad's recommendations. After reading some stuff on that site, I am definitely going to be reading labels carefully.
What cute little babies!
Adorable Pups! My boys are completely vegan and I make their treats myself too (FYI if you wish to have some recipes!).
Unfortunately most commercial dog foods have sketchy relations with dogs, including testing and disgustingly sometimes actual dogs in the food itself. So regardless of whether you make your pups vegan, try to stay away from the evil brands (which you can find info for online). My boys love Natural Balance Vegetarian (actually vegan), plus I feed them homemade food especially for them. I never have issues with them eating, but if they seem to be bored I mix up their veggies/snacks etc. They know they only get treats when they finish their food...so that is all the incentive they usually need LOL.
Oh they are sooo cute.
:)
Thanks everybody for the doggie love!
VeganVerve, are the treat recipes on your blog?
They are just too cute! And sweet potato chews sound great.
SUCH super cuties! Oh, I just love doggies. I give our dogs Innova kibble in the morning, and then at night they get a brand called The Honest Kitchen. It's dehydrated meats, veggies, and fruits (and some of them have grains). You can add in whatever else you want to add in too.
It's not vegan, but they LOVE it.
:)
Hmm, ya know what? I don't think I have any listed on there. LMK how to contact you and I'd be more than happy to share some recipes. Also, here is a great starter website....I've taken ideas from here and made my own. http://www.yummyfordogs.org/ I've done a lot of research into dog diets, so just be sure to research ingredients if you aren't sure dogs can have them. I've found some vegan dog treat recipes have iffy ingredients sometimes...at least ingredients that are "potential" issues...such as garlic (good at very low doses only), also some dogs don't do well with wheat flour...so use oat or spelt etc instead.
You'll find once you get a base recipe (such as the flour:water ratios) such as the garbanzo pepita recipe on the link, you can do whatever you want! BTW, my boys LOVE that garbanzo pepita recipe (you'll need to add more flour for an actual dough tho!).
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