And Now for Something Completely Different. Recently my little Ugly Mutts Rescue dog, Sidney, went to the vet for a dentistry. I noticed that his doggy breath was...well.. a little bit more doggy than usual. Being the great pet owner and professional RVT that I am...I thought "I should really have that checked out." So I booked an appointment for my little buddy, and 22 tooth extractions later... you get this:
Poor little Bubs. But thankfully, once he healed, having the dental did him a world of good and the little fella is feeling friskier and better than ever!
Never under estimate the pain of dental disease people. That is some free veterinary advice for you all. Seriously. So the fact that most of the teeth on his upper jaw were now gone, presented me (and him ultimately) with a bit of a dilemma. Treat Time for all (4 cats and 1 little dog) is scheduled for 7 pm...which changes nightly depending on the whims of the animals (the Humans of the household are so not in control anymore, we are out numbered...and scared frankly.) Sidney's usual treat was a C.E.T. Dental Chew which are hard and tough and now, after so many teeth extractions, he would no longer be able to chew. In order to avoid utter and complete chaos at Bistro 164, I decided that I should make him his own treats. There was nothing on the market which I thought would be healthy enough, economical enough, and most importantly, take long enough for him to eat that he wouldn't be gulping it down in seconds and then bulldozing the cats out of the way devouring their treats. All the things that I need to think about. Who knew that giving treats could be so damn complicated?! (Ha! You should witness feeding time with 3 different diets!) Yes I realize that as I type this I will seem rather crazy to non-pet people. But the rest of you will get me, I know. (To be fair, I don't understand you "Children People"- diapers? Tantrums? Human poop and vomit and pee? Really? Ugh! Gross!)
I am not one who would ever have wanted to cook for their pets. Those people are NUTS. I can barely cook food for myself sometimes, why the heck would I want to cook for my pets?! And yet here I am: I am a committed Baker of Pet Treats. Sigh. Who would have thought?! I will say that after a few trays of cutting dog bone shaped cookies out, I get rather lazy (and maybe there are a "couple" glasses of red juice involved in the process to make it less painful.) Note the shapes of my cookies after the 3rd tray of them:
They do get rather creative, spurring on discussions whether they are birds, or ears, or male members. Either way, the dog doesn't care about the shape, he just wants to eat them. And he LOVES them. He wags his tail, does his cute little whirling dervish thing on his hind legs, and bolts upstairs with his reward. Which makes it all worth it in the end doesn't it? And then he runs downstairs, bulldozes the cats out of the way and eats their treats too. Freakin dog.
Happy Pet Treat Baking from Bistro 164!
Sweet Potato Dog Biscuits
from The Midnight Baker
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| Sid doing his whirling dervish thing |
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Makes: Ruffly (get it?) 24 biscuits
Ingredients
1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato (or canned if you can find it)
1 cup quick cook oats
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4- 1 cup warm water
1 1/2 -2 cups whole wheat flour (or use whatever flour of your liking- I used quinoa flour as I had a whole bunch on hand)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sweet potato and cornmeal. Add 3/4 cup of water and let sit for 10 minutes.
Add only enough of the flour to make it easily rollable. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and kneed for 1 minute.
Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into whatever desired shape you choose- I happened to have a dog bone shaped cookie cutter for some reason from many years ago when I was a staunch cat person. Go figure!
Place on the parchment paper lined baking pan and cook for 30-35 minutes. Let the pan set in the oven until cool- helps to further dehydrate them and makes them last longer...unless your dog steals them all from your counter.
I stored the cookies in the freezer in plastic bags and doled them out frozen nightly. I found that they didn't keep for too long on their own in a jar on the counter hence keeping them frozen. He LOVES them! Even a dog with few teeth left had no problems eating them up...and then invading the Kitty Treat Time, hoovering up whatever remained and licking the floor clean of crumbs.
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| Such self-restraint...after many years of training |
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| A satisfied customer |
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| How can you resist those puppy dog eyes? |
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