I miss my doggies!

From front to back - Sophia, Emmy, Roxy and Andy - waiting patiently for dinner! 

It's no secret that I am a cat person through and through. Dogs overwhelm me. They are so needy. Their love for their owners is borderline desperate. This usually leads to me feeling guilty and sad that I am not doing more for them and loving and petting them more. Okay, I'm not going to get into this now. 

That aside I fell in love with two dogs while I was in Norway. The family I worked for had two Labradors and they were just the sweetest, best behaved, gentle dogs. 

The blonde lab has serious hip trouble and it is important for her to keep slim. The black lab has had some serious digestive problems and tends to be under weight and has a low appetite. Now this was like red rag to a bull for me. Of course I was going to tackle their feeding myself. 







I fed them a combination of raw (sometimes lightly cooked) proteins in the form of minced beef, lamb, fish, chicken, lentils, quinoa or eggs. To that I added a carbohydrate of mostly rice but sometimes bread or potato. Then I added loads of raw veggies and herbs. 

When I started making their new meals, I would put all the ingredients in the blender with some hot water and blend it well and serve it them at 'blood' temperature. They loved it! 

I then gradually blended it less and less, as I wanted them to have to chew the crunchy veggies to help with gum and tooth health. 

The picture above, is how I ended up serving it them. Really chunky and they ate every morsel! 

Good friends of the family are a vet and his wife; to whom the two smaller dogs in the pictures belong. When they came to visit I fed their dogs on the same food and they were crazy about it too. The vet was really impressed with the blonde labs weight and the black lab was the first to her bowl and always ready for more. 

This diet is not scientifically researched, I simply used my gut feel and common sense. The dogs were happy and energetic with gleaming coats and sparkling eyes. So use it, don't use it - but I feel raw and fresh food has to beat prefabricated dry dog pellets.

Now if only I could get my cat to eat anything other than Royal Canine Exigent (the heroine of cat food).