Every time that the pack has to stay home alone, they each get a Kong stuffed with part of their breakfast or dinner kibble. In order to ensure a long lasting Kong, I have always added some canned dog food and packed it in as tight as possible (Except for Breeze. She won't work at a tightly packed Kong). Due to the concerns of country of origin of the ingredients and also preferring a quality canned food, I found myself paying over $3.00 per can and on average, using 2-3 cans per week. Not a huge amount of money and of course, the pack is worth it, but I thought it was time to explore other options.
For a few days we tried using natural organic peanut butter. I was hesitant because Bill isn't too fond of peanut butter. Then we tried dehydrated sweet potatoes and that didn't give the tightly packed Kongs that I wanted. Then when I was peeling and slicing carrots to cook for dinner and of course, handing out slices to the pack, I suddenly had an idea. Why not cook some carrots and then put them in the blender and use that?
So, after cooking carrots, I put them, some of the cooking water and some leftover brown rice in the blender and pureed.
So, after cooking carrots, I put them, some of the cooking water and some leftover brown rice in the blender and pureed.
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| pureed carrots and brown rice |
Just to see the reactions, I put a small amount in each of the dog's dishes with their breakfast. They all gobbled it up.
The most interesting reaction was from Breeze. She still has her moments of growling while eating and will often nose around in the dish and sometimes wander a few feet away and then back to the dish. With only approximately a tablespoon of the carrot mixture in with the kibble (not even mixed in, just plopped on top) she ate all the kibble without wandering and there was not a sound other than the crunching and the swish of her tail wagging. Was it the carrot mix? To test the theory, I added another tablespoon size sample at dinner. Same thing.
So, not only have I found a way to save a few dollars, I might have also found a way to make Breeze's meal times a bit more relaxed and enjoyable.
