A few days ago Funny About Money posted about making your own dog food. I decided to give it a try. Left behind pug is allergic to just about everything and currently eats only prescription dog food. His symptoms tend to worsen in the winter and, as the season is changing, he has definitely started scratching more. I feel bad for him and, more importantly, all that scratching is driving me crazy!
I decided to see if homemade food would provide him any relief. I cut up potatoes and carrots and put them in the bottom of my big aluminum roaster, topped the vegetables with two chickens, put the lid on and popped it in the oven at 400° for a couple of hours. I did not use any seasoning and, of course, was not too worried about the chickens getting brown. After they were done I pulled the chickens out, cut them up, skinned them, pulled the meat off and diced it. I drained the fat off the vegetables, added them to the meat and mixed thoroughly. Keeping with the amount of food he was already getting, I’m feeding him ½ cup of food twice a day. I expect this batch to last 15 days. I did the math and figured it is costing me .50 per serving for the homemade food and about .44 per serving for the prescription dry food. I was hoping to save some money on this deal but, if it provides the poor dog some relief, it will still be worth it.
In the spirit of “Going Scratch” I also decided to give making my own baby wipes a try. Although I have no babies around here, the wipes are useful for removing makeup. The recipe is simple. Cut a roll of paper towels in half, leaving you with two smaller rolls. Gently mix two cups of water, 1 tablespoon of baby oil and 1 tablespoon of baby shampoo in a shallow dish. Add the half-roll of paper towels, turning to allow the solution to soak through all the layers. Once it is completely sodden, unroll the towels into an empty plastic baby wipe container. Unrolling the paper towels was the most time consuming part of the process, that’s how easy this is. The towels smell nice too! Unfortunately, they weren’t too effective in removing waterproof mascara but did a good job with everything else and left my skin feeling soft. This is an incredibly cheap and easy way to make your own wipes, whether you use them for your baby or something else. Kudos to Happy to be at Home for posting the recipe.
I’m feeling virtuous after my day of making my own stuff from scratch. What are you brewing up?
I decided to see if homemade food would provide him any relief. I cut up potatoes and carrots and put them in the bottom of my big aluminum roaster, topped the vegetables with two chickens, put the lid on and popped it in the oven at 400° for a couple of hours. I did not use any seasoning and, of course, was not too worried about the chickens getting brown. After they were done I pulled the chickens out, cut them up, skinned them, pulled the meat off and diced it. I drained the fat off the vegetables, added them to the meat and mixed thoroughly. Keeping with the amount of food he was already getting, I’m feeding him ½ cup of food twice a day. I expect this batch to last 15 days. I did the math and figured it is costing me .50 per serving for the homemade food and about .44 per serving for the prescription dry food. I was hoping to save some money on this deal but, if it provides the poor dog some relief, it will still be worth it.
In the spirit of “Going Scratch” I also decided to give making my own baby wipes a try. Although I have no babies around here, the wipes are useful for removing makeup. The recipe is simple. Cut a roll of paper towels in half, leaving you with two smaller rolls. Gently mix two cups of water, 1 tablespoon of baby oil and 1 tablespoon of baby shampoo in a shallow dish. Add the half-roll of paper towels, turning to allow the solution to soak through all the layers. Once it is completely sodden, unroll the towels into an empty plastic baby wipe container. Unrolling the paper towels was the most time consuming part of the process, that’s how easy this is. The towels smell nice too! Unfortunately, they weren’t too effective in removing waterproof mascara but did a good job with everything else and left my skin feeling soft. This is an incredibly cheap and easy way to make your own wipes, whether you use them for your baby or something else. Kudos to Happy to be at Home for posting the recipe.
I’m feeling virtuous after my day of making my own stuff from scratch. What are you brewing up?
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4 comments:
My dog goes through a scratching phase at the end of every summer that lasts about a month. He is a smaller mixed breed- a cockapoo. Our neighbor recommended a spray- Natural Care Hot Spot Itch releif spray- that has worked well. It has tea tree oil, aloe, and chamomile in it, and my dog smells like a million bucks once we brush it on him- plus it helps stop the itching a bit.
Thanks Lilli, I'll be on the lookout for it. Although my dog has a million allergies, both food and environment related, a little topical relief might help!
OMG, what a terrific image!
I hope the DIY dog food helps. Be sure to weigh Pup about once a week by way of calibrating the amount you're feeding. Cassie the Corgi is getting suspiciously rotund on 10 ounces a day...it's really hard to assess the right amount to feed.
I've used the slow cooker to cook dog meat. The veggies don't have to be very well cooked. Really, if you get them frozen (watch ingredients...look for unadulterated veggies), just defrost them or steam them very briefly, they're fine.
LOL! I found that just plain baby oil works REALLY well to remove mascara. But if you get it in your eyes...oh annoyance! It doesn't hurt, but it clouds your vision for awhile. Pretty clearly (uhm..heh heh) you wouldn't want it in your eyes if you wear contact lenses.
Unfortunately, poor pug burns off most of his excess weight by scratching all the time. I will definitely keep an eye on that though. He was eating 1/2 cup twice a day before so I've started with that on this food.
I'd read somewhere that several oils work very well on mascara. Maybe there's not enough oil in the baby wipes for it to work. Only 1 tablespoon for a half roll of paper towels isn't much. Maybe I'll try oil on a cotton ball or something and see how that works. I sure would like to stop buying makeup removing wipes.
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