Sweet Potato Treats!

I am always looking for natural dog treats to spoil Milly with. About a month ago I picked up a bag of dehydrated sweet potatoes for her. They are cut into strips, and the perfect treat to give her – it takes her longer than a small biscuit would to eat, but it isn’t a chew treat that she would spend a significant amount of time on. She goes bonkers for her sweet potato treats, but they aren’t cheap. My bag was $9, and I now have 3 treats left in it. It probably had about 2 or 3 sweet potatoes worth of dehydrated strips in it when I originally bought the bag.

For a long time I have been thinking about purchasing a dehydrator to make my own jerky treats, but right now my next big dog purchase is going to be a professional dryer, and so I’m putting the dehydrator on the backburner for now. But, I really can’t justify or afford regularly spending $9 on bags of dog treats that won’t last that long, and to me the price seems somewhat steep, so I decided to see if I could make these myself.

A few days ago I bought two sweet potatoes ($.99 each) and scrubbed them very well. I then thinly sliced them, and laid them on a cookie sheet (I lightly greased the cookie sheet with oil, but I don’t think I will do that in the future), and pre-heated the oven for 200 degrees. The hardest part was thinly slicing the potatoes, and I found the thinner slices the better. I then laid my sliced potatoes on a cookie sheet (1 potato sliced perfectly fit 1 cookie sheet) and put them in the oven, and waited. Every 30 minutes I flipped the potato slices, and back in the oven they went. I waited, and waited, and waited… after almost four hours in the oven I was tired of waiting. The thinnest sliced potatoes I removed at about 2.5 hours (they were potato chip thin), but the larger strips (like the dehydrated bag I bought) were not yet crispy. I cranked up the heat to 350, and gave them another hour and a half in the oven. The results were great! I actually tasted the chip thin ones, and loved them. Totally baked, all-natural, healthy, easy and satisfying, but would Milly like them? I always ask her to perform a task before she gets a treat so I asked for a “down” and then handed her the potato, and she gobbled it right up, and wagged her tail asking for more. I still have a few left from my homemade batch, and all-in-all I think it was a success.

In the future I plan on doing this on a weekend when I have time to be at the house with the oven on. I will set the oven to 200-250 next time, and give them 6-8 hours at this low heat. Other than wanting to cook them for more time at a lower heat to really dry them out, I was very pleased with my cost-saving healthy alternative to buying dog treats at the store. Milly seems pleased too.

If you have a dehydrator I totally suggest doing them in that, but if you don’t have one, give it a whirl. It’s a great treat for dogs on a grain free diet too! I am saving about $7 by making these myself, and that is $7 I can put towards either a puppy, or the dog dryer I am lusting after! :)

Raw Marrow Bones

With so many risks associated with feeding a commercial pet food diet, and recalls hitting every part of the animal nutrition industry – from canned food to kibble to treats – it’s comforting to know there are some natural ways to reward your pet. The raw food movement has really infiltrated the pet market, and I have considered on numerous occasions switching Milly to a raw diet, but ultimately I have decided not to change her diet, because I have finally found a food that works for her itchy skin. I do however feed raw marrow bones, and want to tell you a bit more about these. They are a wonderful treat, and you will be amazed at how white your dog’s teeth will become after eating them. They really are great for promoting healthy teeth and gums.

For most dog owners they’ve heard their entire lives never to feed a dog bones, as they not only pose a choking hazard, but can also break and splinter and cause severe damage to a dog’s esophagus and entire digestive tract. Well, this old idea is true to an extent – never feed a dog COOKED BONES. Raw bones are an exception to the rule, and a wonderful, natural chew treat to give your dogs.

I have spent the past year reading up on the wonderful qualities of treating with raw marrow bones. I searched high and low, but could not find a butcher in my area, and instead decided to try Nature’s Variety raw bones – they come in a variety of sizes, and you can chose from many different animals. I’m sure they are a bit more expensive than just going to your butcher, but they are only a couple of dollars a bone, and I thought they were worthwhile. I bought lamb, bison and beef marrow bones and serve them frozen one at a time – each bone will last months, I’m told.

Milly has so far only tried the bison marrow bone, but she LOVES it. She happily chomps away for a solid hour when I give it to her, and when she’s done, I simply rinse the bone and pop it back in the freezer in a baggie for next time. I highly recommend trying raw bones with your dogs, but if you do decide to try this make sure the bone is large enough that your dog cannot swallow it (this could be a choking hazard). You want to stay away from raw soup bones (often found in the frozen section at the grocery store), because these tend to be cut small, and can easily cause your dog to choke. Also, for the most part stay away from joints like elbows and knees (these also can easily break). I always supervise Milly when I give her a raw bone to be on the safe side. I also recommend giving the bone outside, on your porch, in your garage, on-top of newspaper, etc. so you do not get raw marrow all over your house.

You can see in this photo the bones come shrink wrapped, which in my opinion reduces the gross factor of buying raw bones, and storing them in your freezer beside the Ben & Jerry's!

The easiest way to find these bones would be to look for a retailer on Nature’s Variety’s website, and then call the retailers to see if they sell the raw, frozen bones.

Do not forget there is still time to enter the second PUPCAKE GIVEAWAY!!! The drawing will take place on July 24th using a random number generator!! Good Luck!! :)

Texas Toothpicks!!!

As you know last week I went on a fun natural-treat shopping spree at a wonderful store called A.K.A. Spot. I wanted to get Milly something to serve the purpose of a rawhide type chew – something to clean her teeth, and keep her occupied for at least 30 minutes. I found the perfect treat… Texas Toothpicks, made by Merrick. I could not be happier with them! Milly absolutely loves this one of a kind treat. The toothpicks are about 6-8” in length, and maybe ½” in diameter at the largest point – they have a puffy texture that makes them appropriate for dogs of all ages, and is not too hard on their gums. It takes Milly about 30 minutes to finish one Texas Toothpick making them the perfect treat to leave her with when I head to work on weekday mornings, and she seems to really enjoy the crunchy, chewy sensation and unique texture of the toothpicks. The all-natural treats made from beef tails, and smoked in the heart of Texas, are a healthy alternative to the rawhide bones you will find at the grocery. Because dogs are naturally carnivores feeding all-meat treats like these natural Texas Toothpicks is sure to be a very enjoyable snack for the dog, and is very natural for their digestive tracts. Unfortunately, all-natural treats do tend to come with higher price tags, and Texas Toothpicks are no exception to the rule. I paid almost $17.00 for my 6.5oz bag, but the bag does have at least 20 Texas Toothpicks in it – making them less than $1 a treat.

Chicken treats, Milly got sick, and I found a great dog store!

A few weeks ago I fed Milly breakfast, gave her a dehydrated chicken treat, and headed to work. When I returned at lunchtime to check on Milly there was vomit everywhere and I was so worried! I cleaned it all up, made sure she was acting normal and drinking, and reluctantly headed back to work for my last two hours. I spent my time at work wishing I was with Milly, worried sick about her, wondering what could have made her vomit 8 or 9 times, and if she was okay.

I went through my mind of possible problems: the day before I had done yard work, and had not yet had a chance to pick up all of the clippings from the yard, could she have eaten something toxic? I mixed in a Taste of the Wild food sample (25% Taste of the Wild, and 75% her regular Fromm) with her breakfast, because I was thinking about switching – did the new food do it to her? And lastly, what I now think was the culprit… I had acquired two bags of Waggin’ Train dehydrated chicken strips – I fed the first bag to Milly the weeks leading up to the incident with no problems, and she loved them, but on the morning of her illness I gave her the first treat from a new bag. I have since learned the problem with Waggin’ Train treats is they are made in China, and there have been all sorts of problems with poultry products coming from China. Though the Waggin’ Train website reassures customers their products are safe, I have read of these particular treats being involved in two recalls in the past few years.

After lots of worrying, Milly turned out to be just fine, but vomiting 8 or 9 times is something to really be concerned about! I have since had her around the same plants that were clipped, and tried feeding her more Taste of the Wild food with no problems… the only thing different I did that day was that bag of chicken treats! I even found the treat in one pile of vomit, so I know shortly after eating breakfast she fell ill. I have saved this bag of treats, and am currently looking for a company to test them and see if there are toxins in this batch of treats. She has not been given any more of these treats, and I will never feed her this brand again (or any other made in China treats).

This incident really frightened me, and I want to publicly thank a wonderful veterinarian in the area by the name of Dr. Amy Poole, who kindly offered her assistance to me on this terrifying day.

Since then I have been on the hunt for some high quality treats to stock up on. I make my own biscuit type treats, but I like to give Milly something that takes her a bit longer to eat when I leave for work.

On Thursday, I stopped by a new dog store (well, new to me) in Clarendon (a neighborhood in Arlington, VA) called A.K.A. Spot. A.K.A. Spot is great, and if you haven’t been there I encourage you to check it out! I had heard great things about the store from my former roommate Mary Katherine, but had never been there myself. I was on the hunt for all-natural treats and found this store to be exactly what I was looking for! They have a large variety of all-natural and high quality foods, lots of collars and leashes (many of which are on sale right now!) and tons and tons of treats and toys! I stocked up on lots of treats and spoke with the wonderful sales associate about my problems with treats made in China, Milly’s dry skin, and countless other dog related topics. Everyone at A.K.A. Spot was extremely friendly, and dogs are welcome in the store! When I need more treats I will be sure to frequent this wonderful local business again! Unfortunately, they do not carry Fromm or Wysong foods, so I will not be able to use them as my food provider.

I’ll post a photo (update: photo posted!) of my wonderful purchases when I get home, but wanted to quickly mention that among the many, many, many treats I bought I also picked up a bottle of doggie beer! It is non-alcoholic, contains beef broth, and was a major hit with Milly and her puppal Hershey. I’ll right a full review of my experience with Bowser Beer at a later date, but it is great stuff, and a fun treat to give the dogs on occasion.

Don’t forget to enter the Austrian Crystal Dog Bone Pendant GIVEAWAY!!!