Rack the McNab Dog has always been tough to feed. Pancreatitis and Allergies do not help.

Please eat your food?

I find myself saying that constantly, for the last almost 15 years.  

Rack, The McNab SuperDog has historically not been a morning feeder.  In fact I believe to this day, that he stunted his growth by not wanting to eat as a puppy.  

He went through his "Prime Years" at around 40 pounds.  Most McNabs are 45 to 55 pounds and I never even got him above 42.  

We got into a "feedback loop" years ago and it calcified into this routine.  I am famously an early riser.  I would wake early enough to get to the park for a workout at sunrise.  Since I have been an athlete since I was a teen, it has served me well.

With Rack, getting him fed and walked, has been a trial.  I never was able to just put a bowl of food down and he'd eat.  I think this is how I ended up with him.  He was left at a vet's office for 39 days and was never picked back up.  Slow Motion Abandonment.  To this day, he loves the Vet, no matter which one, I think they fussed over him.

We went through a slow adjustment process of different foods.  His original diet has shifted over the years but it served him well in his prime.

He had Pancreatitis more times than I care to mention.  This is, I believe, what we are going through right now.  The symptoms seem to fit well.  Loose stools, disinterest in food, low energy, there are more.

He's eaten better than most people.  I've developed a fair amount of knowledge of Nutrition for my own Training Regimen.  It works, I'm constantly amused at the reaction of medical personnel when I explain to them that my resting heart rate is in the low to mid 50s and if I am dehydrated it will sneak up to 60 and I panic.

Long story.  You try doing three marathons a week on a bicycle in Florida temps and humidity.  (Sips some iced tea)  

When I say "Hydrate" I know what I mean.  I bring half a gallon to drink on the trail and it rarely comes home with me after a 2 hour workout.

Pancreatitis in a dog is helped by a lean diet.  The protein has to be prepared so that the fat content is as low as possible.  Boiled ground beef in his case.  I shifted his original diet to boiled beef along with the same tried and true veg to fill out the dietary requirements.

He also has an allergy to grain which manifests itself in an ability to turn poultry into soft serve poo.  No chicken/turkey.  Beef only.  Pork is problematic with dogs.

So he's on "A Prescribed Diet".  

When dogs get older, they have a lower protein diet.  So I developed one.  Vet approved.  

But the same diet over and over is boring.

Waking up at dawn got earlier and earlier to allow for all of this.  I'm now getting up at 4:45AM just to get some food in his stomach, then a mile walk.

That walk is getting slower.

I have always allowed him to direct the walk, a McNab is known to be an incredibly intelligent creature.  If you can't train a McNab, you can't train a dog.  

Rack has a mental map of where the neighborhood is laid out.  Certain walks are on certain blocks at certain times of day.  There is a cul-de-sac near me that is well planted with mature trees and since it is Furnace Hot in August in South Florida, he pulls to go through that street at the 5pm walk.  Other walks are more flexible.

However lately, his historically two mile walks at 530 after putting some food in him, are being truncated in the middle.  His choice, not mine.  He heads back at to the house after a mile.  

He knows where he's going.  In fact yesterday he dragged himself home after a half mile total because that was it, he was done.

But this food thing?  It is difficult.  You have to be flexible.  I don't like pampering, after all, I have a freezer crammed with ingredients to make the next three days of dog food.  The result is that I just keep putting food down in hope he won't be avoiding it all day.

Part of my own Nutritional Obsession is that I make a lot of food from scratch.  There are a lot of recipes for breads, cakes, cookies on here.  In fact, I need to locate my recipe for a cake mix.  Adding two tablespoons of the right dark cocoa to a single layer of white cake mix turns it into a very dark chocolate cake.

This all gives me an excuse to point to the ignored dog food bowl when he's begging for the Cheese Tax when I am cooking for my own needs.

You aren't getting mine in favor of your own.  

If there is one hint I can give is Yogurt.  It is why I make so much of the stuff for my own uses.  He likes it too.  If he is ignoring his food, a tablespoon of yogurt smeared on top changes it into something good.

Not boring is good.

Which is where I am today.   He had Pancreatitis.  I solved that by mixing his normal food 50/50 with white steamed rice.  That bored him more so I added Yogurt to the top.

Since he actually ate the 7 ounces of his diet mix and it only took 2 hours to do so, I filled the bowl again and am going to paint the top with the whey from the top of the yogurt container.

I suspect it's going to be a tough "last year" fighting Pancreatitis.

Since I found my cake mix recipe, I guess I have an afternoon tax.  I'm off to the kitchen to feed Rack again and my own need for Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Buttercream Icing.  Real Buttercream icing, none of this "Bettercream" crap you get in the markets these days.

I'll get off that soapbox.  I have baking to do.

Rack, after 14 years, you are still weird. Old Dogs, New Tricks.

Ok, this may be your Ceremonial 14th birthday, but I could use a little slack.

We will never know if it is today or even a different month.  Part of the mystery of sharing your life with a Rescue Dog is having to figure things out on your own terms.  Both of your terms.  As far as it goes, this day mystery is a minor and forgettable one.  It is today because I say it is.  Maybe next year it will be a different one.

We have gone through a number of scares. 

You were a terrified dog when we got you.  Your first walk was across the street on your belly to meet up with the neighbors.  I think you realized that we weren't going to allow you to fail, we simply had no other option.

With a fearful dog, you plan every activity and make sure that there will be success at the end of it.  These neighbors were perfect for that.  Lisa was the older lady who treated everyone with kindness, Bill her son did not fall far from that same bottle brush tree.  The tree is there, Lisa is gone, Bill moved on.

You are now one of the longest residents of this town.  People don't tend to stay long in South Florida.  I've been here myself two weeks shy of 20 years which is longer than I have lived anywhere else.

The thing about having a herding dog is that you have to keep their bodies and their minds active.  I mean, Truly Active, in capital letters.  You can do that as long as you give them long walks, I give you upwards of 6 miles a day.  10K may sound like a lot but it isn't really, especially spread across four walks. 

Luckily for you, I am an endurance athlete.  It is keeping us both alive.

Truly Active means you have to be able to find New Things.  Greeting New People is a major plus, and in a Resort Town near a shopping area is a plus as well.

You have never been a Morning Person.  Too bad, I am.  When you live in a hot climate, you have to be.  There really isn't a winter, it never freezes here.  We get you out before 10 and after 5 daily because you're wearing a black fur coat.

That works well with my own schedule.  Just not yours.  We notice that you eat your food faster at lunch and dinner than you do  before dawn.  It can't be helped.  I just have not figured out why you have to pick mouthfuls of food and pick it all back up after standing on it at 5:30AM.  You don't do that any other time of day.  That meal can take as long as 45 minutes and you are slowing me down from my own routine.

Bizarre.

You don't like being home alone.  Most dogs don't.  I have not figured out how you know when I am coming home after a workout, but you seem to have.  There you are standing at the door, smiling and wagging and waiting for the routine to begin.

It is all about The Process with a McNab.  I walk in the door, you greet me, and immediately after, you go to the back door and ring a bell to be let out.  It is The Process that is important.  Coming home means Greet, Bell, Sniff the Air Out Back.  Lunch is Eat Quickly, Get Ball of Cookies, Ring Bell, Go Out Back. 

If you could figure out how to open the sliding door it would be easier.  I guess that's not happening, sliding doors need thumbs and that is a lot of heavy Hurricane Glass to get past.

It isn't really separation anxiety although science has proven that dogs do have that.  You are only alone for about 5 hours a week plus whatever time it takes to run to the market. 

You taught yourself how to ring that bell at the back door.  There is a string of Elephant Bells that I got for my sister's wedding.  You get your snoot in the string and give it a too gentle shake.  We know you enjoy that because it's like that dog talking buttons, it makes you smile.  You ring that about every hour in the morning, less at other times of the day.

Going for a walk is more strangeness.  "Go get your leash".  You'll walk to the door then immediately back to me.  "Where is your leash".  Back to the door.  It's like playing tennis.  SERVE!

We get the leash and loop it over your head.  You taught yourself to put your foot through the loop on the side strap that snaps under your belly.  You use that trick assertively.  As the foot waves in the air until you realize we noticed, which can be as many times as you need to get your point across.  A couple dozen times when you are excited is reasonable even if it does look strange.

You don't bark aimlessly at a leaf falling in the yard like many, you have a purpose.  If I am sitting here, I tell you that I know about it, you quiet down.  But not completely.  Deliveries become a Discussion. 

"Yes, I know there's someone here, they're bringing us things". 
"GRUMBLEGRUMBLE!" 
"I know, they're here, calm down." 
"Grumble. Grumble?"

A dog that has learned how to process inflection.  I wish that the talking buttons had been a thing when we got you, but that was a different time.

"Moan"  as you sit down.  I swear you are learning the art of friendly discourse even if the hardware in your body won't allow for it.

You are older, you did not get deaf, you are the poster child for selective hearing.  Deliveries sometimes miss you, other times you are startled into action by someone dropping a box at the door which will mean you'll complain about the intruder long after they've left the premises.

You have been bitten, had and survived cancer, and walked thousands of miles each year.  Your first year meant that you never had a problem with the Vet as it is comforting to you. 

I think you made it this far because I have a tailored diet to get past food allergies and pancreatitis bouts that put you in the shelter in the first place.  I think we may have gone through Pancreatitis yearly.  I don't want to think about what hell you went through in your first year, there are still echoes of it in your personality, but I will say that the food issues probably put you there.  A piece of chicken the size of a thumbnail will turn you into a soft serve dispenser.  It's just easier to make your food from a proscribed recipe that is carved in stone.

As you got older, I did have to adjust that diet using spreadsheet to reduce the protein you take in.  You are due for another visit to the vet for a blood test to see if everything is working.

With all the strangeness and weird quirks I'd do it all over again.  At 14 years old you are closer to the end than the beginning.  Dogs only very rarely make it much past this to 20 years.  The breed is not well known, but the McNab breeders seem to think that 16 years is reasonable with expert care.

I'm doing my best to be that expert carer you bizarre and weird dog.  I'd do it all over again.

Dog Food Recipe For Older Dogs With Lower Protein

In Florida, I understand the laws on who is a "Nutritionist" is "flexible".  If you say you are, you are.

For this purpose, I am.  At least as a blog writer.

I have been learning and honing my knowledge of proper "Sports Nutrition" since the Disco Era.  Seeing that I am listening to some Classic Disco right now, that timing becomes hazy.

Never mind that.  In this case, I am trying to keep my nearly 14 Year Old Dog, Rack the McNab SuperDog (TM) alive another year or three.  His coat is shiny, his energy is excellent, his eyesight is clear.  His hearing is somewhat hit or miss.  It's also clear that my own Sports Nutrition knowledge is helping.

He also is a Cancer Survivor and has typical old dog kidney issues.

We have been making his food, from scratch, since well before Covid.  We got him because there was a recall on some dog food that killed my prior dog, Lettie.  I feed him nothing from a can, nothing from a bag, and nothing I could not eat myself.

His prior recipe is here on the blog.  That recipe is excellent for adult and younger dogs.

What I am doing in this recipe is reducing the protein content while keeping the calorie count approximately equal.  In order to achieve this recipe, I have been using spreadsheets, nutrition labels, and the USDA food ingredient website information to calculate what I am doing to the recipe.

Original Recipe is 25% of calories from Protein.
Total Protein is about 20.2% with Macaroni, 18.9% with Rice Noodles.

Calories for the recipe is about 3300 calories total.
I get 11 servings, about 3 days of food from all of this. 

It's involved, and should you take this on, feel free to comment here or find me on FB Ramblingmoose or Blue Sky @ramblingmoose. 

The theory goes that 80% lean Burger Meat is about 5g of protein per ounce cooked.  Reducing that to 3.5g per ounce pre-cooked by substituting in "typical" Elbow Macaroni or to 2g of protein per ounce by using Rice Noodles will help.

The reason for this reduction is that he's older.  The Veterinarian recommended a low protein diet because, in an older dog, you have problems processing protein. What happens is that for Kidney Health, and Longevity, they recommend a reduced protein diet. 

Original recipe is here, and it has drifted slightly.  All ingredients are as low salt as possible, no added sugar.  He can't have chicken or other poultry due to a grain allergy. 

The low fat issue is due to pancreatitis that we've had come and go over the years - low fat helps him greatly.  Hence the boiled and strained beef.


Recipe:


16 ounces boiled and strained 81% lean beef.
3 ounces green peas.
5 ounces shredded carrots.
15 ounces Butternut Squash.
15 ounces Kidney Beans.
40 ounces white rice, boiled and cooked.
8 ounces Elbow Macaroni, boiled and cooked.

This makes, for him, 85 ounces of food once cooked.

Meaning, 1 serving is 7.5 ounces.  Give or take. 

The protein count from USDA.GOV is as follows:

Ground Beef:  17.5g for 100g.  1100g for recipe.
Frozen Green Peas:  4g for 85g.  (From package)
Shredded Carrots:  3.5 for 100g.
Butternut Squash: 3g for can (from can)
White rice: 77g for 1100g.
Kidney Beans: 7.8g for 100g, 33g (for can)

Elbow Macaroni is from the package: 7g for 2 ounces/56g
For Rice Noodles, 9g protein per 4 oz/113g.

My math is not perfect.  Your mileage will vary with ingredients and your skill.

Standard Internet Warranty Applies - You get what you pay for, and while I am placing this here, I am doing this to help.  If you have any doubts consult your Veterinarian or Nutritionist.  I'm not an expert I but I can play one on TV.

Reducing Protein in Older Dog's Food Recipe

The story goes that we were told Rack, The McNab SuperDog(TM) is older.  He's got kidney issues.  So to help him live perhaps a little longer, we have to reduce the protein in his food so he might live.

But nobody has told us precisely what to do.  Since I developed this diet for him, I have control over what goes into him.  He acts like a much younger dog but has been slowing down, and slowing down his eating.  At 13, he has a right.

He has pancreatis issues, so I have to "De-Fat" the recipe.  It is much leaner than what I put down my own open maw.

He can't have any sort of poultry so no chicken or turkey.  We believe it is a grain allergy.

He also has about half of the teeth a normal dog was born with, so he licks what you give him out of the bowl.

Since we are taking him back to the Vet for more bloodwork in about a month to see what the results are, and since we have no idea whether we are doing the right amount of restrictions, we reduced the main protein ingredients by a quarter.

Original recipe is here, and it has drifted slightly.  All ingredients are as low salt as possible, no added sugar.

The Recipe as it stands is:

32 ounces boiled and strained 81% lean beef.
3 ounces green peas.
5 ounces shredded carrots.
15 ounces Butternut Squash.
15 ounces Kidney Beans.
40 ounces white rice, boiled and cooked.

This makes, for him, 10 servings.  85 ounces of food once cooked.

Meaning, 1 serving is 8.5 ounces.

The protein count from USDA.GOV is as follows:

Ground Beef:  17.5g for 100g.  1575g for recipe.
Frozen Green Peas:  4g for 85g.  (From package)
Shredded Carrots:  3.5 for 100g.
Butternut Squash: 3g for can (from can)
White rice: 77g for 1100g.
Kidney Beans: 7.8g for 100g, 33g (for can)

That means it is a total of 1696g total.
Old Recipe is 1969g for beef alone, 2023g total.

If it is necessary to lower protein further, there is room.  The White Rice can be substituted for more beef or for the kidney beans.   Vets often recommend increasing White Rice in recipes for dogs with stomach upset.

The reduction is 326g total or 32g per serving which is what I personally try to get for each meal in a day.  Half of the rice above, another 25% of the beef.  It is a 20% reduction in protein.

Give or take a fraction.

I'm not a dog.   Although some may think so.

So I will wait to see what the vet says.  Further reduction in the beef is possible, and the beans can be reduced as well. 

Take the advice for what it's worth.  I am rolling the dice here, and hoping for the best.  I'm not a vet, and canine nutrition is decidedly different from human.  Your mileage may vary.

For food to be nutritious, it has to actually be chewable.

After I started making my own food, and in this case dog food, I came across a truism.

For food to be nutritious, it has to actually be chewable.

After all if you eat dry popcorn kernels, they're just going to pass through you and eventually try to sprout corn along the banks of the river. 

Or where ever that stuff goes.  I never got popcorn to sprout in my garden either up North or down here in Florida.  It must need more water or something.  I'll leave that to the farmers, I'm having too much luck growing Mango Trees.

I have four in pots, one in the ground.  I only wanted two.  It's a long story.  Neighbor's tree was a Special Variety from Thailand that had super thin skin and tasted like Mango Ice Cream no matter how eaten.  Neighbor moved away and any time one fell on the ground and into the street, I grabbed it.  So to preserve the tree, I have one in the pot.  To make sure I got one, I planted four.  All four sprouted. 

If you are nearby and want one, let's talk - based on availability and so forth.

Anyway, about the dog food. 

My usual recipe has been developed to keep Mr Dog, Rack the McNab SuperDog(TM) at a stable weight.  The vet thinks he looks amazing after all these years.  He's almost 13, I would have to check my records, and has been through all the issues of having sensitivity to fat, poultry, and grain. 

My recipe has none of that, or at least as little as possible.  Pancreatitis is avoided because the meat I use, burger meat, is boiled and the fat is skimmed before added to the vegetable mix.  Ladled out to a jar and then properly disposed of. 

Since that original recipe has been developed years ago, the actual ingredients have shifted along with the process.  I make the food twice a week, so I will have to re-master the recipe so the efficiency tweaks can be incorporated.

The de-fatted dog food is healthier than I generally eat.  But it has a what we will call the Pea Popping Problem. 

Start with putting the beef on the stove with water to get the mix to boiling to render out the fat.

Then, start on the Veg.

3 ounces of bulk frozen peas are put into the microwave for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. 

When the peas come out they are blisteringly hot.  But they are also frozen before I get them so they are uncooked.  I think I may even be able to get them to germinate if I threw them into the garden like so much popcorn kernels that won't grow.

That popcorn thing really annoys me.  When I want fresh, I prefer homegrown.  If it can't be then, peas or popcorn, I will have to settle for homemade.

After those 2:30, those peas are little green ball bearings.  I could get an electric blender or a food processor to blast them into a paste but that would not work for me because that means the dishwasher would be filled. 

Yes, I use great-grandmom's potato masher and try to turn them into mush.

Since I don't manage to burst all of them at once, and some remain un-popped, I end up with some that make it through the cooking process and are more like what was once called "Roughage".  Dietary Fiber.

How do I know?  Because I follow Rack around during the walks, "pick up" after him.  If I popped all his Peas, he would not pass unpopped peas. 

While this is getting too alliterative, the point remains, they are not nutritive if they aren't popped.

Three times a day, I feed him, and each time, the food goes into the microwave to take the chill off.  When it comes out, I reach into the food in his bowl and mix it by stirring with a finger.

Microwaves will leave your food with hot spots.  A hot spot will burn a dog's mouth just like it will burn your own.  This way you can be sure as you will burn your own finger just like testing baby bottles on your arm.

While I am stirring this and burning my finger, I stop when I spot an unpopped pea, and squeeze it between my fingers.  I don't ever get them all, but this is a partial solution and a good one.

I convert something that is not nutritionally available to a dog with not a complete set of teeth to something biologically available.  The peas are split, and his shorter digestive tract can process the green goodness into energy.

He may be older but he still has a lot of energy left.

So since I won't chew his food and feed him the stuff directly, this is a better and much less disgusting way to get him the food energy.

At least since they don't have doggy dentures to replace the molars he wasn't born with.

We may be losing our Muse, Rack the McNab SuperDog(TM)

A Wise child once said "Dogs don't live as long as us because they already know how to love". 

This is certainly the case with Rack.

He came to us shattered as a puppy.  Completely demoralized.  When he got out of the freedom ride, he slinked across the street on his belly, to meet the neighbors the very first night.

Now, he's at the point where he looks forward to a walk around town to greet friends two and four legged both.

He has been my muse for 12 years or so.  I watched him bloom, grow, and shake off the mistreatment he got before we rescued him.  Figured out his diet problems - home made food only, never from a bag, never from a can. 

That diet kept him healthy for all this time.  Even with his current trials, his "numbers" at 12 years old are square in the middle of the healthy range.  But it did not help him dodge the cancer bullet.  Something in his hardware, his DNA, short circuited and he has a 2 cm lump in his back side.  Left side anal gland specifically.

We're waiting on the ultrasound results to make a decision on where to go with this. 

For now, it looks like he has a minimum of 3 to 6 months left.  Who knows what the maximum is.

Stay tuned, we're waiting on the vet.

Rack the McNab Superdog is just now starting to slow at almost 12.

Here I sit on my chair.  Had a long workout, but that is normal.  I do 7 hours of Cardio every week, four workouts.  We will call this afternoon Recovery.

On the other hand, or rather at my elbow, is Rack.  Looking like a pile of dog parts tossed on a blue pillow, he's resting as well.

Rack is my 11 and a Half Year Old McNab SuperDog (TM).  I think this is normal for us.  He would rather come with me when I go out to beat myself up four times a week, but even when he was a puppy I don't think he would have been able to keep up with me.

"Sorry Rack, it's a workout day, I'll be back before Lunch.  Good Boy, you get to Watch The House".

Ears go down, posture changes to what passes for disappointment, and he wanders off. 

I could always find a way... no, inline skating is an extreme sport and I can't see towing 40 plus pounds of dog in a cart behind me or having him trot along side.  My cardio is roughly 20 miles each workout, bike or skate, about two hours each.

On my return, the routine is that he meets me at the front door, shows me to the back door, and asks to go outside.  Never mind that all he does is a lap or three of the yard in a slow plod, it's the process that is the thing.

I may be at a level of training that can justifiably be called elite, so after cool-down and the rest of the ritual of winding down, I fade into my own version of a pile of parts.  Usually fall asleep in the chair.  A nap they call it, but at an hour and a half it feels like it's a bit much.

I look over my right arm after hearing something tap against the wall and that pile of parts has shifted. 

Later he gets to go out and walk.  Upwards of four miles a day.  That's where we realize what he had been doing, winding up the spring. 

It can be a bit ironic to think.  He was always a jumpy dog.  Bounding around with the kind of energy I find difficult to keep up with, I notice that the edge is off that particular blade.

He used to run around the yard like a crazy dog.  Now that is a bit more sedate.  When he meets a puppy, he gives them the distance that older dogs used to give him.   As the pup's owner is apologizing I usually comment not to worry, this is what he was like when he was younger and he only gets stupid with people and very specific dogs now.

I guess he is slowing down.  He's got more energy than almost any almost 12 year old dog I have ever known.  I have been making his food all his life and that has a lot to do with it.  Not table scraps, but a balanced recipe.  I wouldn't feed any dog table scraps, human food has too much seasoning and for most it's too much food.

Besides, I'm on a training diet trying to hit My Macros every day so my own food is ... Weird.

For now, I'm enjoying his middle age, but I do see signs.  Not happy with those signs but not much we can do.

I Got Yer Beanstalk Right Here, Jack!

I have to keep cooked beans on hand.  I don’t mean occasionally, I mean all the time.  You see Our Dog Rack The McNab Superdog (TM) can’t have a normal dog diet.

In the long run that’s a good thing since I am not prone to losing a loved one who I have known for 12 years due to a food recall where dogs were dying due to kidney failure.   I had that happen once already with Lettie The McBorder SuperDog (TM).  I won’t have that again.

On the other hand, it’s a lot of work and Rack can’t have a list of foods such as Chicken and Grain.  Any of them.  Not even the esoteric ones like quail.  I can feed him beef and do, I have given him pork to uneven results.

That leads to my keeping a recipe that I have made public here on my blog.  I have the cooking down to a science which is good because the recipe only makes three days worth.  Twice a week I make more.

But that also means my freezer is chock full of meta ingredients to go into this.  The Beans I got smart with a couple years ago and stopped getting them in the cans.   I buy bulk kidney beans and cook them in the pressure cooker – instant pot to the normies.

Recipe – 1 hour under pressure, 15 minutes rest, manual release.  3 parts water, 1 part beans, a half teaspoon of baking soda.

But you are told rinse your beans and pick off any of the “floaters”.  Ok, I do.  I also am a veteran gardener.  I toss the extras in the garden and don’t think twice of it.  

I have never gotten anything out of that until this time.  A Week Ago.  Now I have these things coming out of the pots I keep on the front porch.  Those are my nursery pots for Basil right now, some Crotons for display later, and these beans.

I just did not expect them to grow so fast.  Or really at all.

I was told that now I have proven that I have the gardening skills of a Second Grader.  The story was that typically you get a little bean to plant and watch it grow.  I didn’t, I got a sunflower and to this day I truly enjoy them.  Just never beans.

I am amused by the little beanstalks and how quickly they sprouted for some beans that were floaters.

So Rack and Jack will have their beans.  They’re also good in a salad, trust me.

Rack's Dog Food Recipe or How To Meal Prep For A Dog

Basically Rack is a trial to feed.  He's got grain allergies, and he's got poultry allergies.  Since we lost Lettie before due to one of those Dog Food Scares, we refuse to feed Rack anything that is not home made.

Making dog food is not a difficult thing to do, but it takes a fair amount of preparation.  I do everything from scratch, if you are a long time reader of this blog, search for recipes and you will find that I home roast coffee, churn butter, make scratch biscuits, and many recipes for bread.

The ingredient list is simple however, I will explain at the end how I actually prepare EACH ingredient.  If you do things that way, you can shortcut the recipe to under 1/2 hour of cooking.

 Ingredients are in "Imperial" and converted to Metric.

All Ingredients are UNSALTED or LOW SALT:

• 2.5 pounds/1.1kg ground beef (I use 77% Lean or better)
• 24 ounces/3 cups/710ml water
  
• 3 ounces/90g unsalted pre-cooked green peas
• 5 ounces/150g finely shredded partially pre-cooked carrots
  
• 15-16 ounces/450g pre-cooked Kidney Beans (I have also used Pinto Beans)
• 1 can/15-16 ounces/450g Butternut Squash or Pumpkin - NOT PUMPKIN PIE FILLING
• 21 ounces/600g pre-cooked white rice (I prefer Jasmine but that's because I can get it)
  

Process:

• Brown and drain the ground beef in a large pot of about a gallon/4 liters
  
• Return beef to the pot and add water.
• Turn on the heat again and begin to warm the water to simmer.
• Add ingredients in the order listed allowing the water to come back to simmer between each ingredient
• Allow the food to cool before serving.  Dogs will eat things that are too hot for them but you don't want to harm your friend.  The pre-cooked rice will soak up extra water when stored in the refrigerator.

Preparing the ingredients.

Carrots:  I peel carrots and grate them finely in a food processor.  A Box Grater will work if you are patient.  Portion the carrots in bags and freeze the carrots.  Thaw before use.  This freeze/thaw cycle will "cook" the carrots and make them more palatable to the dog.

Beans:  If you can find a low or no sodium bean in a can you can use this.  I buy dry kidney beans in bulk because they are vastly cheaper than in a can.   Also, there is very little difference between varieties of beans for nutrition.   Buy what is in season or cheapest, I do.

To cook beans using an Instant Pot or a Crock Pot Express, rinse beans, add 3 cups of water to 1 cup of beans.  Cook on High Pressure for 45 minutes and Natural Release for 15 minutes.  Beans should be portioned as needed and for the dog food, mash them partially to make them more bio-available.

Rice:  Rinse rice.  3 parts rice to 4 parts water.  Add a tablespoon of cooking oil to the water before sealing the Rice Cooker or Instant Pot.  

For the Instant Pot/Crock Pot Express, use the Rice Button but reduce time to 6 minutes.  Turn off the Keep Warm button.  I tend to allow the rice to sit in the pot for about 5 minutes or so for Natural Release, then carefully vent the pot.  Don't burn yourself!

Peas:  I use frozen peas that are warmed in the microwave before adding to the mix.  Mash the peas in a bowl/cup before adding to make them more bio-available.

Water:  Since I have access to filtered water, I always use that.

Managing My Dog's Pancreatitis Flare Up Requires Dietary Management

Standard Internet Disclaimer:  I'm not a vet. 

If you have a problem with your dog's health go see a vet. 

I can't be responsible for any "bad advice" that you apply - GO SEE A VET if you suspect a problem. 

I am but a blog writer, don't let me be your only source of information.

However this is what worked for me.  I am not a Doctor, or a Vet.  I am however someone who has been on an "Athletic Training Diet" since 1979, so some of this is a lot of applied knowledge that came from my own trial and error.

The symptoms were that my dog got sluggish, started vomiting, and started refusing his food.  We had a bout with Diarrhea. 

The Vet suspected Pancreatitis, and after research, it seemed very likely that this was the case.   We also suspected that he has always had this but it just hadn't flared up yet.

It took a couple weeks worth of fiddling with his diet to figure this solution out.

The solution was "nuanced".  There were a few subtle things that I was doing wrong, apparently very wrong for my dog.

The result was that he's now healthy, two pounds lighter, and probably will always be on a low fat diet.


We never have completely figured out Rack's nutritional problems.  I got him as a rescue puppy with some pretty severe problems.  Worms that took three cycles of de-worming powder to kill off.  What turned out to be an allergy to poultry and grain.

His nutrition as a puppy at 7 months took him longer to get figured out than I would have liked, and it resulted in him being on the "small and light" side for the breed.

He always got the grain free dry food, when I could convince him to eat it since his teeth were naturally missing in the back.

While that is a lot to manage, it triggered my own training diet mind in gear and I figured out what was wrong.  I lost 75 pounds in 2 years when younger and have maintained a better than normal build through nutrition and exercise in the too-many years since, I should be able to figure this out.

When the prepared dry food we were giving him moved production to the US, and to a state  known for lax enforcement of food quality standards, I panicked.  The quality would suffer so we needed a different way.  That brand later had a food recall for some reason and we heard that there were dogs endangered as a result.

I was forced to prepare his own food.  Twice a week, I would take 2 1/2 pounds of cooked and browned ground beef, add water, add powder and feed him that.  He did very well on it although he got bored with it after a while.

That should have been a cue something was up.

So I did an internet search for a crock pot dog food.  Found one recipe that is human safe, although very bland - I even tasted it.  He did very well on that but it did tire him after a while.

I kept feeding him the two foods, alternating every week between recipes.

Then the Pancreatitis hit.  I recognized the symptoms from my old dog, Lettie, who had it
before she passed of kidney failure induced by "recalled dog food".  The same symptoms.  Refusing food, sluggish, loose stool, occasional vomiting.

Rack at this point is in the prime of his life.  Five years old herding dog.  Should be beyond active. 

I did some research and realized that treating him well was the problem.

We have a routine.  He gets his food at breakfast and dinner.  I rarely give him treats.  Almost never give him table scraps.

I have Pork more often than I have anything else.  I can make a pork tenderloin into something that is High End Restaurant quality.  Pork Tenderloin is a very forgiving recipe - 250F Slow oven until internally 140F.   Takes around two hours.  Marinade the Pork the night before in sauces of choice, I prefer Barbecue Sauce.

Try that recipe on Pork Loin and it works, although Pork Loin is much tougher.  Pork Loin also has a layer of fat left on it so it can soak down into the roast. 

That was the problem.

Dogs do not digest pork fat well.

Two days before the incident, I had given him the fat from the top of my lunch pork.  I did that again the next day.

The third day, he later started refusing food. 

HIS food never changed.  MY food had.  I went from the Pork Tenderloin which is just about the leanest meat you can get to Pork Loin and feeding him an ounce of fatty scraps.

On research it turns out that you should never feed a dog pork fat.  That includes Bacon.

Dogs can not digest it well, it tends to cause problems.  Like Pancreatitis.

So all snacks were cancelled.  He got a Fasting Day to clear his system of the fat.  His "regular food" was cut down to a quarter and served on a bed of white rice to be mixed in.

He began eating it slowly.

As his system cleared out, I mixed in proportionally more of the regular food.

He had a small flare up.

It turned out that the beef I was serving was a problem as well.  There was too much fat in the meat.  This was a "Utility Grade Meat" and as such had a significant quantity of added fat.  You could actually smell the fat in the resulting dog food.

Now my own cooking skills were brought to task.  I had a freezer full of Utility Grade Meat that needed to be de-fatted.

If you won't eat it, don't feed it to the dog.

Brown the meat and skim off as much fat as possible. 

I was getting as much as a cup of fat skimmed off of 2 1/2 pounds of "beef".

Prepare the normal recipes.

Success.

The only side effect was that he started losing weight.  That I can manage since he was acting hungry again.  His serving sizes were increased by an ounce at a time over the next couple weeks until the weight loss stopped and the begging slowed.

Now he's doing fine.  Begging for Yogurt here is at a normal level and since I make the stuff for my own use, it's not a problem.

Stools are normal.  Coat is shiny and soft.  No vomiting.

Best of all the energy level is higher than I remember it.  Which means that I get more exercise as well.

So:

• Reduce the fat to the utmost minimum.  
• No table scraps ever.  
• No added sugar, ever.
• No added salt, ever.
• No treats of Bacon or other fat from the roasts.  

It helped him out big time.  I'm back to being run around by a herding dog with a big personality.

Dog Food Recipe Fit for a Human - in a Crock Pot

Yes, I sampled my dog's food.  The recipe is at the bottom.

For two thirds of my life I have managed what I eat closely.  I'm not a nutritionist, but that doesn't mean anything in many places in the US - you can say you are and you are one.

If I am going to a restaurant, I will skip a meal or a part of one and "Bank" the calories.   It's the only way to do it here or else you become a stereotype of what someone outside of the country thinks of us.

I have a nasty habit of being able to estimate calories "off the top of my head" and usually come in close since I have done it so long.

The idea of finding a recipe that is healthy is usually something I can do just by skimming it.

I rose to the challenge of getting my dog healthy when we got him. 

Rack is, or was a rescue.  He had worms that needed multiple treatments to clear him out.  He still has an allergy to Chicken and he is sensitive to Grain.

All that made it difficult to find just the right food to feed him. 

Add to that the rather casual attitude dog food manufacturers have towards their products and the constant dog food recalls I have been hearing about meant that eventually we stopped feeding Our Best Friend anything that came in a bag or a can.

The recipe I was using was a powder that I would add to water and ground beef but he's now quite bored with it, and never really liked it.

I guess a dog who doesn't like Broccoli is like most human kids.  Personally I enjoy Beef and Broccoli but my sense of smell isn't as good as his.

We hunted around for a recipe that we liked and I was sent one that cooks in a crock pot.

Basically it's a Beef Hash.  Since I make it with Human Grade ingredients, I had to try it.  Bland but edible.  I guess I would actually like the stuff if there was some curry or some hot sauce added to it.


When I gave it to Rack though, he devoured it.

Normally I have to give him encouragement to eat any food.  Tapping the bowl, shaking it, mixing it up, telling him it's time to eat.  It's tiresome.

With this stuff he started at one side of the bowl after asking for the thing by hovering very expectantly, and then finished it in one breath.

I guess he doesn't need any curry added to his food.

Anyway the Recipe. 

When selecting canned foods for your dog, make certain that you select the LOW SODIUM varieties since dogs have trouble digesting salt.  If you can't find LOW SODIUM, use Fresh or Frozen.

Again: Fresh is best, Frozen is second, and Canned is third in preference but Low Salt.

The Salt Limit stated here for a 33 pound dog is 100Mg Per Day.

If anything, this exercise made me more aware or the ridiculous amounts of salt we eat on a daily basis!

Ingredients:

• Ground Beef - 2 1/2 Pounds or 1.13 KG (I used 80% lean)
• Water - 4 cups or 1 Liter
• Brown Rice (dry) - 1.5 cups dry - 355g.
• Kidney Beans - Canned, 15 ounces or 425g washed and drained. 
• Butternut Squash puree - Canned, 15 ounces or 425g
• Peas (frozen) - 4 oz or 1/2 cup or 113g 
• Carrots (Raw is best or frozen) - 15 ounces or 425g

Process:

This uses a 6 quart/Liter crock pot on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.  Food should be cooked to a temperature of 165F or 75C 'Internally'.

• Add the ingredients to the crock pot in any order. 
• Stir ingredients so that they are evenly mixed.
• Cover the crock pot and turn it on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.
• Stir periodically, I did every half hour to an hour or so. 
• Cook to 165F or 75C to allow wholesome goodness for Puppy!
• Allow this to cool completely before serving.

Teaching Rack to Eat - A Slow Eater Gets Much Better With Water and Heat.

Rack is a fascinating character.

My dog, Rack, has some quirks.  Some of those quirks are endearing.  He greets me in the house, despite other people living there, first.

Mind you since I'm the one that tends to grab the heaviest bags from the back of the car, that's not always comfortable.  That wet nose has found itself in places it never should have been.

He sleeps in his bed, but only until I have drifted to sleep.  Many nights, in the glow of the clocks and

Dogs live by their noses, and will curl up next to their favorite people, and barring that, their clothes so

that they are comforted by the scent.
lights in the bedroom, I open an eye and see that he's moved to the bath mat I keep next to the bed and my boots.  I would have thought it is more comfortable in his bed that is chock full of foam rubber, but he'd rather curl up on a flat mat next to my shoes and my bed. 

Ok, Boy, as long as you don't chew anything.

But one of those quirks has bothered me since day one, and is something I will have to watch for the rest of his time. 

Food.  He's a terrible eater. 

Many dogs are too fast.  They eat so fast that they bloat and you end up turning the bowl over, or get a Maze bowl to force them to slow down.

Lettie was fine, although she was a bit too quick on snacks.  Just watch your fingers, she thought her snout was shorter than it actually was.

In Rack's case, Food is an Afterthought.

He has severe food allergies.  Grain and Poultry are a definite no.  We went through quite a few meals followed by projectile "Soft Serve" and diarrhea until we figured that out.

Cheap food is full of grain.  Dogs don't need grain.  They are omnivores, but more toward being a carnivore than we are.  So cut out the grain.  Chickens and Turkeys eat grains.  So whatever was in that grain gets stored in the muscle tissue, and whatever else, that is used to make the dog food and more "Soft Serve".

We found a couple of foods that he could eat safely, but the damage was done.  He gets extremely picky.

Since one of the foods was a dry kibble, he would take as much as a half hour or more to eat on a normal feeding.  Twice a day and I was spending an hour tapping and shaking the food bowl to motivate him to eat. I would get frustrated, start nagging him to eat.

Not good.  Nobody likes to be nagged.

So I hit on an idea.

Take the food in the bowl, ours is purple plastic, and add an ounce of water or so.  Just enough to puddle a little bit in the bottom of the bowl.  Coat all of the food with the water.  Shake and stir it around.

Then microwave it for 15 seconds.  Just enough to warm things.

The last dry day he had was 27 minutes of crunching.  Lettie would have had that done in short order and ask for more.

The first wet day he was done so fast that I had to do a double take.  It took three minutes.

So the rule is that he gets bored and needs variety.

The main rule is that even just an ounce of water to warm and soak things is a help.

Reading this you may say to "Give him 10 minutes then remove the food, he'll eat when he's hungry".

No.  "I mean are you stupid? No."

I have a dog with a very low prey drive, and a very low food drive.  He will starve himself.  As in "I'll lose 20% of my body weight and still ignore that food."

It simply is not a priority and removing food from a dog is unnecessarily cruel.  Better to try something positive and see if you can change things.

Of course we're also dealing with a dog who was still growing when I got him from the rescue, so he

You see, Puppies are wonderful and beautiful balls of love.  However taking a dog away from Mom means that it does not learn what is acceptable in a pack.  Feeding is one of those things that is effected and you end up with a painfully fussy dog. 

He was almost certainly taken from his mother early and not socialized properly. 

When your pup is in a pack of 8 brothers and sisters, you eat or you go hungry.  Being picky means failure to thrive.  If you aren't taught that lesson, it may linger.

In our case it did.

So a little water, and 15 minutes in the microwave may just do the trick.  It did with us.

Rack's Dad's a Soft Touch

Just before you left you said it.

"Dad's a Soft Touch".

"No, I'm not!"

You sure are.

I guess I'm starting to break the dog.  Well, not break but "break".

I was waiting for the house to empty.  I wanted to put on the headphones.  Music had stopped on the iPod, there was a queue to start up rolling.  I was going to listen to "Something Different", although someone who listens to music regularly in four languages, in eras stretching back over the last 100 years, and on every one of the populated continents, it's difficult to tell what "Different" really is.

I settled on one of my old favorites.  I had a cache of music I was listening to from a West African group called Loketo in Mostly French as well as a smattering of local languages.  Guitar, but not like what most Americans have heard unless you took a liking to World Music back in the 90s.  Absolutely pure tones in rapid fire contra-puntal form.  Think Bach four or five times removed done by a group of people out to have a lot of fun dancing in the Congolese sun.

I grabbed my noise limiting headphones, a pair of "courtesy headphones" from a computer mounted inside of some "Hearing Protectors" from a gun range, and walked outside with the trash and recycling.  They look like I'm up to no good so wearing them outside will give me "Looks".

While Diblo Dibala was doing his African Speed Guitar act and the background group was singing "Dancez! Dancez! Dancez-la!" I bounded out of the house and bounced down the driveway and back in.

It was time for the last course.  Rack was sitting at the entry of the kitchen staring at the counter when I returned.  I had left a hard boiled egg, peeled, in a bowl there.  Adding to it a bit of Mayo, I made up a light egg salad and realized I forgot the curry and onion as I bit down.

Rack continued to stare.

This is a big change from the dog that I had to feed by hand, one piece of kibble at a time.  We tried the Feed-and-remove bit and decided that was unnecessarily cruel.  I pieced together what was wrong and got the Vet to confirm that he's missing a tooth which means hard food is painful.  His food now gets soaked soft.

He's even begging for some of the stuff now.

Which I guess I started.

Laughing at him as I wolfed down my breakfast sandwich, I looked at the bowl.  It was coated with sunshine yellow egg.

Shrugging, I walked him out to the living room.  Velcro Dog was glued to my right calf muscle.

He sat down in the middle of the room, I was being stared through with brown laser beams as the background group singing in my ears was chanting in French "Ou Yea, Ou Yah!".

Oh here, you earned it, it might put some weight on you!

"Dancez!  Dancez-La!"  "Bolingo! Bailondo!"

Rack proceeded to lick the shine off the bowl.  Yes, I was in proud possession of a CBD Bowl by the time he was done.

After all, who needs to pre-wash the dishes before the dishwasher?  CBD - Cleaned By Dog!

I'll get that dish now that you're done.

China Free, Grain Free Pet Food Vendor List

Disclaimer:  I am not a Vet.  I am not a trained expert in Veterinary Food Sciences.  All of this posting, and anything else on this blog is clearly My Own Opinion.  You must decide for yourself whether I am full of crap, or completely correct, or somewhere in the middle.  I am presenting this information simply because the next time my dog gets bored with his food, I want to refer to a list somewhere instead of having to do this research again.   It took me all weekend to find this short list, and I just would prefer not to go back and start over.

---

When I lost my dog Lettie due to Chronic Renal Failure after a lifetime of feeding her Purina Products, I vowed never again would I knowingly feed my pets anything from that vendor.

Cause and effect?  Perhaps.  I don't know.  But it is my opinion that since there was a spate of recalls due to Purina foods being tainted with Chinese ingredients and that as a result many dogs died of Chronic Renal Failure, that I will avoid anything of Chinese Origin when it comes to food.

The recalls have long since ended.  I am still not feeding my dog, Rack, anything with any Chinese Origin ingredients. 

Many people have the same attitude, and thankfully many pet food vendors have taken up the standard and proudly proclaim that their food is of the highest quality.  That is great, but not really enough. 

My own personal standard is that since Rack can not digest grain well, the food must also be grain free.  The company must clearly advertise that the food is "locally sourced", or preferably "No Ingredients of Chinese Origin".  For "Locally Sourced" I am accepting any ingredients that are Canadian, US, New Zealand, or Australia.  The laws in Canada are better than in the US for purity of pet food ingredients, so as a rule of thumb, if I am hard pressed to find a food, Canada is best.

If there is no clear announcement, I will simply pass on the company whether the company says their food is human grade, or whether it's of the "highest quality ingredients" because those words really do not mean anything.  The laws as I understand them say that if a food is human grade going into a pet food plant, they no longer are human grade when they get into the food.  It's nice to hear but doesn't mean anything really.

I'm not completely comfortable with US ingredients either since our laws here have been weakened and things do "get in" where they don't belong.  Personally I won't eat GMO if I can avoid it, and High Fructose Corn Syrup simply has no purpose in food, in my opinion. 

So why feed it to your dog who has no choice in the matter?

As to recalls, I will forgive any company who has had a recall that is older than 5 years and a reputation that is good.

How did I develop this list?

First I went to http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com and looked at their Dog Food Reviews lists.  I am concentrating on Dry Dog Foods only. 

The list that drove my research was their 5 Star Dry Dog Foods List.  I went top to bottom on that list.

While the list itself may have issues, I tend to agree with Dog Food Advisor's reasons for choosing one food above another and their ratings - Yes, this is my opinion, I am not a vet.

Furthermore, I read through the forums on each individual page.  Forums are tricky, there's a lot of people with axes to grind, and some will say I am one of them.  There are a lot of people who simply post "I love this" and think it's done.  Finally there are companies who will "greenwash" the review by posting their own comments.  I looked through the discussions on each food and made a mental note of them before I followed through.

Some companies who are grain free and China free will be excluded from this list because the company's reputation is not exactly stellar in the forum.  Any mention of bad quality assurance practices, mold in the food, off smells, recent recalls within the last very few years, or anything that simply does not "feel right" means I will leave them off the list.

This is not complete.  This is My Opinion.  Your Mileage May Vary.  This is strictly a personal list that I will follow in the future.  After all, a blog functions well as an individual's "scratch pad" to keep notes and that is what I am doing here.   I hope that this may help someone but if it does not, so be it.  Of course if I later find information to change this short list, I'll put out a new list.

But for now in alphabetical order, the list:

Acana - http://www.acana.com/
Brother's Complete - http://www.brotherscomplete.com/
Dr. Gary's Best Breed - http://www.bestbreed.com/
First Mate - http://www.firstmate.com/
Fromm - http://frommfamily.com/
Holistic Blend - http://holisticblend.com/en/
Orijen - http://www.orijen.ca
Performatrin - http://performatrin.com/
Solid Gold Pet Food- http://www.solidgoldpet.com/
Wild Calling Pet Food- http://wildcalling.com/
Wysong - http://www.wysong.net/
Young Again Pet Food - https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/