Healthy toppings?

 Do you have any feed stores, nearby? You might be able to get Diamond. Their naturals line is VERY nice, for the price. The lamb and rice, at my store, is $37 for a 44 lb bag, cheaper than Purina ONE and a way better food. All the feed stores carry it, including the Tractor Supply, around here.... definitely worth a look.

Any kind of meat scrap is great, for him. The mackeral you're giving is fantastic. Yogurt (without artificial sweeteners) and cottage cheese are good, for dogs who tolerate dairy. Ena LOOOVES yogurt, on her food.  Mostly, don't let people throw away healthy tidbits off of their plates. Bits of meat, green veggies, even carrots and potatoes.... put them in Shailer's bowl. He'll really enjoy them. We've always been a "don't throw it out" household, LOL, and all of our dogs have benefitted from it, over the years. Back in the day, there was food like Gravy Train in their bowls (when I was a kid, and Toby was the only dog.... Mom still has him, he's 16!). Toby LOOOVED his nightly scraps. Anything we didn't eat, he got. It probably wasn't great that he was getting things like bread, but I do think the bits of meat and veggies he got improved his health, substantially. Now, Emma and Ena get the best food available, and Toby does, too. They STILL love their scraps, and probably do better with them than they would without.

I try to do that on occasion but we are Mexicans and mom cooks spicy! lol I don't know if that is good for him or not. He will eat spicy chips from Mexico but that is on rare occasion and he eats them with gusto. I will definatly give him yogurt that is something I know he will love. On the rare occasion that mom makes posole I will give him the broth from it and small pieces of meat. I can't harly give him scraps of food mom makes because she uses a lot of onion and I know that is bad for dogs. I know I will definelty keep on buying the can mackerel. By the way that is one old dog, lol!

ETA: I saw what looks like a feed store in Wiliamston so I will have to check that out on Tuesday and I am hopping they do seel Diamond food. As for Tractor Supply it is farther from the Petsmart in Greenville but I think I can arrange that when my dad goes to Sam's Club.

Yup, LOL. We got him when I was 9! He's FAT, and arthritic, and has low thyroid, but he's in pretty decent shape.

Spicy upsets a lot of dogs' tummies, but Emma loves it. I eat a lot of spicy stuff. *shrugs* I probably wouldn't, if he's not used to it, though. Yogurt is GREAT for him. That's even fine for every day.

My dogs go crazy for sardines!!   Also, something that seems to help coat is a little (maybe about half a teaspoon to a teaspoon a day) is olive oil.  Dogs seem to love the taste.  Frozen or canned green beans are nice to, if you do canned make sure it's not high in sodium.  We do baby carrots for treats and the dogs love them.

LillianD

My dogs go crazy for sardines!!   Also, something that seems to help coat is a little (maybe about half a teaspoon to a teaspoon a day) is olive oil.  Dogs seem to love the taste.  Frozen or canned green beans are nice to, if you do canned make sure it's not high in sodium.  We do baby carrots for treats and the dogs love them.

He likes sardines so I will do that as well. My mother buys a big bags of frozen mixed veggies could I use like 1/2 to 1 cup of eat? I will definetly do olive oil since we use that instead of the corn oil.  

Most spices do a dog no harm and even act as antiinflammatories - it's just a matter of whether they will eat them.  Almost all my gang will gobble stuff down, no problem.

Ask your mom whether you can get a crock pot and start cooking for the family.  There's tons of things you can do in the crock pot - traditional items for the family (My mom is Mexican too).  My mom does fideo (mm, good time of year for that!), ranch eggs, tamales, and lots of other dishes in the crock pot.  I can ask her for more recipes if you like, and of course there's simple dishes like whole chicken, pork ribs, etc, etc.  Of course if you already have a slow cooker, just ask if you can start cooking some for the family.  Ask your mom to teach you.  The slow cooker is because it's safe - my kids, 7 and 9, both are starting to learn slow cooking (PJs fave, barbecue ribs, Joe's fave, "tender chicken" - chicken quarters slow cooked with white rice and a few herbs).

You want to start cooking for the family yourself first, because you don't want to have them get mad at you when you want to cook for the dog.  Once you are established in the kitchen, look around this site for some of the recipes available for slow cookers.  One of the simplest is just cooking a whole chicken or quarters until the bones are squishy.  Cook a bunch of rice in a cooker (probably you have one of these?) until it's mushy - this is good practice, if you can deleiberately overcook rice you won't do it for people - it helped me, anyway.  Dump the chicken in a large bowl and mix with the rice.  You can steam any veggies or fruit, other than oinion and grapes, and add to the mixture.  Run any fibery foods through the food processor after cooking very well - like jicama, green plantain, maca, etc.

If you balance these meals, you feed as much as you want of this to your dog.  You can feed up to a third without balancing at all.  You got a ton of leeway in the meats cooked with bone in, because that's the main thing you want to worry about long term if you are feeding a diet with minerals added like kibble.
 

I checked out Diamond Feeds available locally - and remember you can get diamond products online too.  Your dad may like the fact that it would come right to your door.  Here's some dealers in the Greenville area:

What part of Mexico is she from?

We don't have a crock pot mom usually cooks traditional items on the stove. I don't cook because I either burn things or they don't come out like they are suppose too, so I stay as far away from the kitchen as I can, lol. Mind you there are things I can do like arroz, and frijoles de la olla. She is doing posole today but the thing is that she uses onions is it ok to give him the broth? She uses more garlic than onions though he has had it before too. I thought you couldn't fee a dog chicken bones, will I have to take the bones off of the chicken?   

P.A.W.S Inc
114 West Blvd
Williamston, North Carolina 27892
Phone: 252-792-2254
Distance: 23.7 miles

Looks like the nearest one I can drive myself too. I will have to check it out on Tuesday. Thanks brookcove

Okay, a good crock pot is like $40.  You can buy them online, too.  lol!  If you cook bone-in chicken for like 24 hours, the bones turn to mush and they are safe to feed.  You just take the bones and squish the biggest ones - if they crush easily it is done.

The beauty of crock pot cooking is that it's almost impossible to burn stuff.  Then you can cook things and impress your family!  Mamas love it when their kids want to learn to cook.  

Our family is in Mexico City - we've literally been in the same place 150 years.  I've never been to the villa but my mom and her brother have. 

brookcove

Okay, a good crock pot is like $40.  You can buy them online, too.  lol!  If you cook bone-in chicken for like 24 hours, the bones turn to mush and they are safe to feed.  You just take the bones and squish the biggest ones - if they crush easily it is done.

The beauty of crock pot cooking is that it's almost impossible to burn stuff.  Then you can cook things and impress your family!  Mamas love it when their kids want to learn to cook.  

Our family is in Mexico City - we've literally been in the same place 150 years.  I've never been to the villa but my mom and her brother have. 

I showed her a pot when I was reading your post. I think she will be getting one. Won't too long cooking kill the nutrients and stuff?

Wow that is one tuff city! We are from Chapala, Jalisco, nice twon with a lot of tourism haven't been there in like 13yrs and I hope to return to visit one of this days!

It's a BIG city.  When I say my family is from Mexico and people ask where from, about half the time I'll get, "Oh, me too!"  It's a bit like being from NYC but even more so because SO many people in Mexico live/were born in/once lived in/knows someone in/have family in Mexico City.

There's only a few really heat-sensitive nutrients.  You would want to supplement them anyway if this concerns you, because they wouldn't be in your kibble, either.  Things like probiotics, enymes, vitamin E, and omega-3s.  But if you include fibery veggies like jicama or apples and pear, the body will make probiotics it needs from the soluble fiber in those.  You can put pineapple and other tropical fruits in for a little enzyme boost, and we are always encouraging people to supplement with fish oil and vitamin E.

 Just piping in to say that places like Kohl's and Sears are great for getting good deals on crockpots.  Last year DH got some giant Rival one for $5 shipped from Kohl's.  If I see a deal I'll post here

Can you put an egg or two on his food? I'm doing that with Sam because he's on Iams, and I love spoiling him. =] I have the same issues you do with the family - they look at me like I've lost my mind when I want to give the dog healthier foods. So, I'm giving him an egg or too - just warmed up, not cooked all the way, along with leftovers! Add some water to it too. Sam's gained weight in the past week just on a higher quality dog food with eggs. That was an issue with Sam, I'm not sure if it is for Shailer or not. My Mom thought I was crazy when I started making home-made dog treats  - until I mentioned the $$$ we'd be saving. I'd say any sort of canned fish/chicken/turkey would be good and fairly cheep. Eggs, canned dog food if you can get any. Leftovers - minus the onions and grapes. Yogurt is good, but I haven't tried it. Sam loves cheese, I don't know how good it is for him, but he likes it. I could send you the recipe that oranges gave me - with or without my little tweaks, it's almost immposible to burn them! I had one batch in the oven for 30+ mins. No burns!