Quick Pet Treats
By Marcia Vincent
What pet or person doesn’t like treats? I don’t know anyone that doesn’t. You can see some happy smiling faces with these quick recipes and additions to regular food rations. Making home made treats and daily meals aren’t as hard as you may think. And it doesn’t have to be time consuming and elaborate either. Today, we will be thinking quick. Another day we’ll go into more extensive recipes. Home made is a good alternative to store bought.
Organic products are always better, in my opinion, but aren’t always readily available. So, use what you can get. This is supposed to make everyone feel good. You shouldn’t have to agonize about making treats.
Everyone is busy these days, so rather than making a more time consuming recipe you might just add to the day’s regular food dish. That way your pet can enjoy an added pleasure while still getting the daily nutrients needed.
Horses love treats of any sort. I feed cracked corn and whole oats daily and they act like that’s a treat. But sometimes I surprise them with the following changes. I call it...
Corny Apple Carrot Delight
- 1/2 cup cracked corn
- 1/2 cup whole oats
- 1/2 cup corn oil
- 1 apple cored and quartered
- 1 carrot, cut in one inch pieces
You can use this recipe separate from your daily feeding, but be sure to decrease your daily grain ration accordingly when you add this recipe. You can also just add the oil, apple, and carrot to your usual daily ration. I use this recipe a couple times a week for two weeks when the horses skin is dry and flaky. Make it up before you go to the barn or mix it up right in the feed bucket.
Dog Treats can be as simple as... Popcorn
- 1/2 cup of popcorn, plain
But I gotta tell ya that mine love it buttered. You won’t want to feed much and plan to go for a walk about 20 minutes after eating because the fiber is fast acting. Also the cream content in butter isn’t digested well by dogs and it goes through their system quickly. They will need to have a bowl movement. In some buttered popcorn can cause loose stools.
Garlic Liver
So simple, yet what a taste sensation. I do try to get organic beef liver for this recipe. The liver is a major cleansing organ after all. I almost hate to say this, but veal is cleaner. To cook, cover the liver with water, add 3-5 cloves of crushed garlic, boil until the liver is cooked through. I don’t try to use the boiled water for anything else. Cut the liver into bite size pieces and refrigerate.
Hard Dog Treats
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 cups corn meal
- 1 t. crushed egg shell
- 1 t. garlic powder
- 1/2 cup flax seed, sunflower seed, or pumpkin seed
- 2 t. salt
- 4 Tbls bacon fat or other oil
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 3 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1/2 cup milk or broth
This is the recipe for hard treats that store well. In a large mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients, mix to blend. Add fat or oil, molasses and mix, add eggs and milk and mix well. This is a stiff batter. Form these treats as large or small as you want. Roll out and use a cookie cutter Form balls with your hands and flatten, or roll out and use a cookie cutter. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If you want a harder treat, turn off the oven and leave the treats in the oven for one or two hours more. Watch that they don’t burn though. This recipe makes about 2 dozen 2 inch rounds.
Calling all Cats...my cats are great hunters. I know this because I have been presented with many small gifts. The gifts are always put in my path so I can’t miss them. As many times as I’ve found them, it still startles me. Still the kitties really enjoy a treat from the kitchen too.
Wet Kitty Treat
- 1/2 cup oatmeal, cooked
- 1 cup chicken, ground beef, or any left over meat from dinner
- 1 egg cooked any way you choose
- 1/2 cup raw chopped vegetables, whatever you have i.e., carrot, broccoli, greens, zucchini
Just mix this all up. Some cats have a harder time enjoying home cooked foods when they have grown up on canned store bought food. Don’t give up on them. You’ll find a combination they like. I’ll be giving more time to this subject.
Hard Cat Treats
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1 cup milk, water or broth
- 1 Tbls kelp (optional, some like it, some don’t)
- 1 t. crushed egg shell
- 1 Tbls catnip leaves
- 2 Tbls molasses
- 4 Tbls vegetable oil
- 1 egg
Mix dry ingredients, add the rest, mix well, shape into small bits Bake on cookie sheet, 350 degrees, 20 minutes.
Well, try these treats for your pets. They won’t contain any additives or preservatives. Their little bodies will be healthier for it. This is a subject that interests me a great deal and making meals at home is not that hard. Many recipes can be made up ahead and refrigerated, frozen or even dried. So, until we visit this subject again...Bon Appetite!
About the Author:
I own a heritage livestock farm in Michigan. These are old and some endangered breeds of farm livestock. The breeds incluse Delaware chickens, which are a dual purpose bird that lay brown eggs. The horses are American Bashkir Curly and Appaloosa. Natural living is something I believe in and practice.
The Jacob and Shetland sheep give us natural color wool for spinning, knitting, weaving, quilt batts and the like. Natural living is so important to us people, the planet, and the animals. I have had many experienced in natural living and would like more people to know about it.
My study of human massage was really an avenue to practicing animal massage. I then took intensive courses of study in equine, canine, and massage. Those are my areas of specialty.
Other study areas I've been involved in are aromatherapy, herbology, flower essence, polarity, crystals, visual creativity, animal communication, chair massage, cranial sacral therapy, accupressure, hands on healing, touch for health.
I teach classes at the farm and enjoy very much seeing people open up to new alternatives. In college, I studied psychology. We produce handmade soaps, aromatherapy products, herbs, healing salves and other skin products for people and animals.
Article courtesy of Suite101.com.
