First off Merry Christmas SIG FORUM friends. I hope that you have a Merry Christmas full of Love, Joy, Peace, and Happiness.

I enjoy cooking. For myself and others. That includes my two fur babies. I love my aussies more than most people. I want them to live a long, happy, healthy life. Onto this, I have decided to feed them a mixed diet of raw, and home-cooked food. Yes, they also have "dog food", but I mostly feed the The Honest Kitchen dehydrated food, human grade dehydrated food. Some high quality kibble, mostly as treats and travels.

Well, anyways this is another Christmas that I'm down with kidney stones. Friday was my third procedure in 60 days. I have been off work for most of that time, and will be until the 15th of January.

Slightly depressed, board, and going stir crazy. I decided to at least make some good use of my time and prepare some food for my pups.

Thursday I made two batches of Puppy casserole. And started a batch of bone broth. A neighbor gave me the legs of a couple of deer that they harvested.

I had some turkey leg and wing bones, beef shank bones with marrow, and chicken paws. So with some veggies and herbs and cold filtered water I chucked about 4 pounds of the bone mix into the Instant Pot and for 3.5 hours on high, 3.5 on low, 8 hours at keep warm overnight and 1 hour on low and 10 hours on keep warm I came up with a delicious batch of bone broth for myself and the pups.

Also after the broth was put up, most poured into ice cube trays and frozen. I went through the meat and vegetables and removed any small fragments of bone. After making sure that it was bone free, I bagged up what I call "dogs deer/beef stew". They will get a small portion of this in their dinner until it's gone, looks to be about a weeks worth.

Today, Saturday I made some pumpkin puree. I had a very large pumpkin for Halloween/Thanksgiving. The skin cracked because of the freezing weather, so I thought this was a good time to get it done. I removed the bad parts, and was left with quite a bit of Excellent flesh. I saved the seeds and stringy slime. I dried the seeds and will use as natural dewormer for the pups, plus they are a vitamin power house for them and myself

I cut it up, put it in the Instant Pot in batch and steamed it so I could remove the skin.

After the skin was removed I put it back into the Instant Pot and pressure cooked it for 15 minutes. Afterward I used my stick blinder and added some, pumpkin spice, 5 spice, turmeric and pureed the flesh. I didn't add sugar as this is mostly for the pups, this pumpkin made a little more then 5 quarts!

After cooling, I scooped some into a container to put in the refrigerator for Immediate use, then bagged the rest to freeze.

Pumpkin puree is full of vitamins and minerals and great for gut health. A heaping tablespoon in with the food, keeps my pups tummies happy, and regular.

After all this, I feel a little happier, and like I have achieved something. I have at the very least food for my pups for the next two months. That's at least something.


ARman

Pumpkin from a can is a standard additive at our house and the Labs love it. Mrs.'Hook also used it when we retired the 17 year old barn cat to our house. We didn't expect her to live even 6 months, but a diet of canned tuna and pumpkin got her better. I'm convinced the pumpkin contributed to her living another 2 years.

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Originally posted by Tailhook 84:
Pumpkin from a can is a standard additive at our house and the Labs love it. Mrs.'Hook also used it when we retired the 17 year old barn cat to our house. We didn't expect her to live even 6 months, but a diet of canned tuna and pumpkin got her better. I'm convinced the pumpkin contributed to her living another 2 years.

Ahyoka Star is absolutely nuts over pumpkin! Especially my homemade pumpkin puree since it is slightly spiced up. Sequoyah loves it too, just not to the extreme that she does.

Pumpkin is a superfood, and it is great for gut health. Pumpkin seeds (raw) are a natural dewormer, delicious snack packed full of vitamins and minerals. Both low calories but healthy, full of vitamins and minerals and delicious.

ARman

My wife buys bulk ground turkey/chicken (dirt cheap if you get it close to sell by date) and rice, mixes in sweet potato chunks and yogurt for our dogs. It’s become a far cheaper and healthier alternative for them.

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Afterward I used my stick blinder and added some pumpkin spice, 5 spice, turmeric and pureed the flesh.

You might want to look into the spices that are not good for dogs, especially in the pumpkin spice and 5-spice, e.g., nutmeg, allspice, clove, etc.

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