Dog Community

Is this okay for dog muffins?

Posted : 9/7/2008 3:50:58 PM

The orginal recipe was posted at allrecipes.com, a friend of mine made some changes to it and passed it on to me.

Her muffins came out way different from mine... mine were way too soft and wouldn't stay together plus it took forever to cook. Anyhow, I wanted to ask about the ingredients to make sure I wasn't hurting my girls any by making these for them. I'd say if it looks good, they'd be eating these muffins every other day or so on top of their kibble.

1 1/2 lb ground beef

4 stalks celery, 5 carrots, 1 apple (chopped and mashed together)

2 eggs

1-2 cups cooked brown rice

1 cup regular rolled oats

1- 6oz can tomato paste

4 medium yams (cooked then mashed in with the veggies)

brookcove

Posted : 9/7/2008 5:51:58 PM

Reduce the veggies and see whether that helps. That's a lot of moisture for just one cup of oatmeal. Or, if your dogs aren't sensitive, you can add an egg and a bit of some kind of flour - I like barley for my non-sensitive guys in the summertime. That's if you want these to be literal muffins. This recipe looks more like my meatball recipes, which I don't typically bake, but rather freeze instead. Again, if you wanted it less crumbly, you'd use an egg, and if you wanted to reduce cooking time, you'll want to decrease the veggies some. Just make sure this isn't more than about 25% of their diet and you don't have to worry about a thing. If you go more than that, and really like the results, you might want to run it through something like a spreadsheet or maybe Balance-it.

3girls

Posted : 9/8/2008 5:29:22 AM

Thank you.

JoAnnDe

Posted : 9/8/2008 4:58:14 PM

Looks quite yummy. I agree that reducing the veg is a good idea - they get enough in their kibble, no need to give them more. I tend to use about 80% meat and then a mixture of vegs (celery, green beans, blueberries, zucchini, a little broccoli, a little cauliflower, and a little of green leafy veg). I actually run my veg / fruit through the food processor to make a mush but there's no reason why I couldn't add it to the meat and then bake it. I actually made a bunch of flat meat balls yesterday for days when I forget to defrost something - I froze them individually on a cookie sheet and then transferred them to a freezer bag. I figure they should defrost very quickly since each one only weighs an ounce or two.

3girls

Posted : 9/8/2008 5:20:05 PM

I can cut back on the celery, carrots and yams. Perhaps baking them as meatballs will help them cook better then in muffin pans.

JoAnnDe

Posted : 9/14/2008 2:22:20 PM

Did you make them yet ? how did they come out ? you might want to experiment and see if you can add the yam back in so you can cut out some of the rice or oats - tons of that stuff in kibble. I'm really curious on how they came out ! I know alot of people make a meat, veg, grain mix and then cook it into a meatloaf form. They then cut the cooked meatloaf up into individual servings. The "turkey balls" I made were all meat - and they were TINY - about 1.5 ounces raw (1 oz or so once cooked) each. I added the calcium (ground eggshell) right into the meat before I cooked it. I haven't used any yet but I don't expect Prancer to be unhappy with them LOL

3girls

Posted : 9/15/2008 5:17:37 AM

I didn't get a chance to make them this weekend. I'm hoping to try again mid week. I'll definitely let you know!!