Dog Food Recipes

Seasonal (Summer) Recipe for Dogs

Since its summer and temperatures are hot, this is a seasonal recipe for your dog with cooling ingredients to counter some of the effects of the weather on the body. When there is too much heat in the body, a common ailment known as excess heat in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) develops. Environmental variables, emotional stress, and poor food choices can contribute to this condition’s many symptoms. In hot weather, tropical climates or the summer season, its common to have skin issues, infections, heat stroke, dehydration, anxiety, nosebleeds, red eyes, constipation, or oral ulcers. Highly-processed, dry foods such as kibble (especially with warming proteins such as venison or chicken) can add even more heat to the body and contribute to health issues flaring up when the weather gets hot.

This veterinary-formulated recipe includes turkey, which is a thermally “cooling” protein compared to other types of meat); liver, which is a highly nutrient dense food for supplying vitamins and minerals; cooling and neutral vegetables such as celery, carrots and squash; oils for essential fats, vitamins and antioxidants; chia seeds (one of my favorite superfoods), for omega’s, fiber, vitamins, and minerals; and BalanceIT Canine, which is a useful multivitamin and mineral supplement to make sure there are no nutritional deficiencies.

Recipe:

1 pound 85% ground turkey
1/2 pound beef liver
150 g chopped raw summer squash or zucchini
150 g chopped raw carrots
50 g chopped raw celery
6 g dried chia seeds
30 g BalanceIT Canine
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fish oil
30 IU vitamin E oil

Instructions:

Cook the celery, carrots and squash until they are soft, in a pan on medium heat. Add the meat and liver and cook until browned. Remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator for 60 minutes, then stir in the remaining ingredients (olive oil, fish oil, chia seeds, vitamin E, BalanceIt). The total calories in this recipe are 1570. Multiply the entire recipe by a factor of 2 or 3 to make a larger batch.

Refrigerate for up to 5 days, otherwise keep extra portions frozen and thaw as needed.

When you serve refrigerated food, mix in a tablespoon of hot water (not boiling, just hot) to make it closer to room temperature, which some dogs prefer.