Pets and other animals

Homemade Dog Treats {Heather Kalinowski}

Heather Kalinowski is a pet lover and internet journalist at Trupanion, North America’s fastest growing pet insurance company. Trupanion offers 90% coverage for diagnostic tests, surgeries, and medications if a pet becomes sick or injured.

I am so happy to be guest posting on Ruffles and Truffles today. I have been a fan of Katie’s for a while now and originally popped over to her site because of her dog, Lucia. Katie had mentioned that Lucia had food sensitivity issues, and that struck a chord with me, as my own dog has the same problem. It can be really hard to provide a good diet for a dog, especially a dog with food sensitivities, as many foods contain excessive fillers and preservatives. So, in honor of Lucia coupled with Katie’s love of recipes, I thought I would provide a few dog treat recipes I know and love.


Making your own dog treats is not only a fun activity, it is one way to truly know what your dog is consuming, providing for a bit of control. First is a recipe that I have been making for years. It’s a high-calorie treat, so unless your dog needs to gain weight, this should be limited to special occasions only. Another benefit – it’s guaranteed to make your dog’s coat shiny and beautiful.

Beef Cakes

Ingredients:

•    ½ pound ground beef
•    ½ cup whole grain cereal (like Total)
•    ½ cup oats
•    ¼ cup wheat germ
•    2 Tbsp vegetable oil
•    2 Tbsp molasses
•    1 egg yolk

Instructions:

•    Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
•    Take large spoonfuls of the mixture and place on a section of wax paper. Press with bottom of spoon forming little cakes.
•    Refrigerate for immediate use (within a few days) or freeze for future use.

Next is a recipe for pupcakes that a friend of mine recently introduced to me. Thank goodness she put little bits of kibble on top when she showed them to me for the first time, or else I may have gobbled them up myself!

Pupcakes

Ingredients:

    •    2 ripe bananas
•    2 cups water
•    1 egg
•    ½ tsp vanilla
•    3 cups whole wheat flour
•    1 Tbsp baking powder
•    2 Tbsp honey
•    ½ cup peanut butter

Instructions:

    •    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cupcake pan with butter.
•    In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Add all other ingredients except peanut butter and mix until well blended. Add peanut butter and continue to mix until blended.
•    Fill cupcake pan ¾ full with mixture.
•    Bake 25 minutes.
•    Optional: Mix 2 cups plain yogurt and ½ cup peanut butter to create a ‘frosting’ for the cupcakes. Top with kibble bits to identify these as for the dogs!

Finally, this recipe is one I created myself after realizing my dog needed to be on a fish-based, limited-ingredient diet (a long story, but she has an auto immune condition and can’t stomach a varied diet).

Salmon Hash

Ingredients:

    •    1 can salmon
•    1 sweet potato
•    ¼ cup peas
•    Low-sodium vegetable broth as needed

Instructions:

    •    Bake or boil the sweet potato until soft all the way through and let cool.
•    Mash all ingredients in a large bowl, adding vegetable broth if the mixture becomes too chunky.
•    Refrigerate and give out spoonfuls after dinner time!

Have you ever made food for your dogs? If so, what prompted you to start?

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  • Oh my gosh, your dogs are adorable! I love the little argyle sweater, that’s just too cute. 🙂 I don’t have a dog (YET!!! I want a whole house full!) but when I do, I’m definitely coming back to this post and trying these recipes out!

  • Great posts! I may have to try my hand at the second recipe. By boys love anything with peanut butter!

  • The pupcakes recipe sounds great! I’ve made a cake for my pugs once (it was kind of a carrot cake) and also little tiny pumpkin treats. They loved them… it’s so fun to make your pet’s treats yourself! And I LOVEEEED the pics by the way!

  • Make sure your peanut butter doesn’t have xylitol in it! It is toxic for dogs and some peanut butter companies have started adding it to their recipes.

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