CrockPot Meal 4 Dogs

Many people would love to feed their dog’s raw food but are afraid to do so because of the safety of them and their young children.  The fear isn’t of the dogs becoming blood thirsty which is a false statement anyway; the fear is of bacteria’s and viruses being left behind after eating or after cleanup.  This was good enough reason for me to get back in the lab and do some research, studying, and testing.  
How can I turn my RAW dog meals into safe cooked meals for those who don’t want to feed RAW? Canned food came to mind but hold on; one major thing is missing the BONE. Going with the truth that cooked bones become brittle, splinter, can get lodged in the throat or intestines, cut into the digestive track and so on; how can I make it safe for dogs to consume.  Ha, ha I’ve think I’ve got it! I'll use a CROCK POT it gives me a way to cook everything slowly in their own juices without using a bunch of water. So what would be my base bone and meat?
Ok let’s get right to it using beef with bone took way too long to cook and most of the bone never became soft. I had speed things up, get it finished within 48 hours, 2 days was the goal.
Thinking back on Crock Pot meals my mom made, one jumped out at me “CHICKEN & RICE”. Chicken and rice was simple you place the chicken in a Crock Pot let cook over night on low then adding the rice 30 minutes before eating, being told to watch out for bones while eating. LOL!  I’ve noticed sometimes when I let the chicken cook on high a little too long, when I was taking bone out of the pot that some of the bone ends would crumble up or break very easy.  So thinking like I was making my raw food I should use chicken necks as my base bone and meat; chicken necks have the right meat to bone ratio to me with RAW food so why not use it in my cooked meals as well. I also like to add Fresh Fish to every meal it’s easy to grind up with a meat grinder or hand blender RAW, so cooking them and using a hand blender should be extremely easy.
So here it goes this is what I do: It takes about 36-48 hours to make, most of the time its done in 30 hours. Stir this up every few hours. You will need:
4-5lbs. Chicken Necks
1-2lbs. Chicken Liver
2-3lbs. Chicken Hearts
1 1-2lbs. Fresh Mackerel Whole (guts, scales, head) (Cut into 2-3 inches chunks)
1lb. Carrots (Cut off green tops)
1 Large Fresh Beet (Peel off outer skin)
1lb. Fresh Collard Greens (Cut off ends and chop them up)
1lb. Fresh Kale (Cut off ends and chop them up)
2-3 Sweet Potatoes (Peel off outer skin)
1lb. Celery (Cut off ends)
1lb.  Apples (De-core the apples NO SEEDS)
1-2 Pints of Blueberries
1-2 Bunches of Parsley (Cut off bottom end)
6 Garlic cloves
4 Tablespoons of Fresh Ginger (About a 1 inch by 1 inch size of a piece)
½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
¼ cup of Rice
1. Place the Chicken Necks in the Crock Pot along with the Apple Cider Vinegar, Garlic, and Ginger. Cut the Crock Pot on HIGH and let this cook for 24 hours.
2. After cooking for 24 hours, add the Mackerel, Carrots, Beets, Collard Greens, Kale, Sweet Potato, and keep this cooking on HIGH for 6-12 hours.
(NOTE) Normally I’m running out of space in my Crock Pot by now so I use a hand blender to break it down.
”CAUTION” your messing with extremely hot food and liquid; also all the chicken bone may not be soft enough to cut yet, normally most of the bone is soft enough to cut with a hand blender.
3. After this has cooked for 30-36 hours, cut the Crock Pot DOWN to LOW and add the Chicken Liver, Chicken Hearts, Celery, Rice, Apples, Blueberries, Parsley, and a ¼ cup of water then cook for another 6-12 hours.
Check it to see if you need to add anymore water. Don’t forget to stir.
 4. When the chicken necks have cooked for a complete 36-48 hours, cut the crock pot off and let it cool.  After it has cooled, I then take a hand held blender and chop it all together then either bag it or feed it to my dogs.

What you have when it’s all said and done is homemade canned dog food better than any commercial canned food best part you know exactly what’s in it, and where it came from.

Vegetables Fruits Herbs........

It is important that vegetables and fruits are crushed, minced, or pureed in order to release the contents contained inside the cell walls; it’s a fact that dogs do not digest cellulose well.  These are veggies and fruits that I feed on a normal basis followed by a little facts about each:

Carrots- Contains vitamin A, B, C, D, E, G, K, potassium, calcium. I use carrots as the base and add a few others to vary the juice daily.

Celery- Contains organic sodium helps maintains fluidity of the blood and lymph’s. It also is helpful for arthritis, water retention, urinary problems, and chemical imbalances.

Yellow and Green Squash

Beets- Contains copper, manganese, potassium. It builds red corpuscles as well as tones the blood. Add once a week due to beet's having cleansing properties.

Collard Greens- Contains vitamin A, C, potassium, chlorophyll

Kale- has the same nutrients as cabbage, helps with digestive disorders

Zucchini- high in water as well as potassium, manganese, and antioxidants like vitamin A and C

Sweet Potato- high in fiber and packed with vitamins A, B5, B6, 

Pumpkin- Good for a few things, diarrhea, constipation and weight loss. I give my dogs 1-4 tablespoons when they have cannon butt, 4-6 tablespoons when they are constipated, and 8 tablespoons with every meal when underweight.  Pumpkin is also a great source of fiber.

Watercress- Contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B17, C, D, E, K, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, sodium, magnesium, copper, manganese, fluorine, sulphur, chlorine, iodine, germanium, silica, zinc, and also its a intestinal cleanser

Parsley- Is full of chlorophyll, and helps fight bad breath. Best thing about it all parts of the plant can be used seed, leaves, stems, and roots. An herb helps with oxygen metabolism with the adrenal and thyroid glands, healing for the genito-urianry tract.

Ginger-The most popular uses for ginger have been, and continue to be, stomach-related issues like motion sickness and nausea; also it’s used for inflammation and arthritis problems.

Flax Seed or Oil-

Alfalfa Sprouts- One of the highest sources of Vitamin A.

Cayenne-

Echinacea-

Garlic- Garlic contains about 30 compounds that have been found to be useful for a variety of conditions from skin disorders to cancer; holistic veterinarians recommend garlic because of its multiple health benefits. Garlic stimulates immune functions in the bloodstream by increasing the activities of killer cells. These cells seek out and destroy invading microbes and cancer cells. Dogs with suppressed immune systems or ones fighting cancer can profit from having fresh garlic added to their diet. Healthy dogs can also boost their immune system and fight to prevent cancer from consuming fresh garlic. This powerful antimicrobial and antibiotic is effective in fighting various forms of internal or external bacterial, viral, or fungal infection, including parasites and protozoan organisms. Garlic contains at least six compounds that can enhance liver function by helping the liver eliminate toxins from the body. The exact reason and extent of garlic's effeteness in preventing fleas and ticks isn’t all that clear. It may be the odor released through the dog's skin as the garlic is metabolized. Whatever the reason, there’s a lot of reports on the effectiveness of garlic as a flea and tick repellent. When using fresh garlic use this table to help you feed them an appropriate amount. 5-15 pounds- ½ clove; 20-40 pounds- 1 clove; 45-65 pounds- 1 ½ cloves; 70-95 pounds- 2 cloves; 100 pounds and over 3 cloves. Use this guide and feed your dogs every other day and taking a week long break every 5 weeks.

Lemon Balm- a calming herb that sooths and relaxes your dog, it’s a digestive add that helps with canine gas, helps with muscle relaxation for working dogs after a hard day of work, it also is a canine deodorizer, it has disinfecting properties, it also has insect-repelling benefits; 1 teaspoon for every 15 pounds, so 1 tablespoon for a 50 pound dog

Apples- Vitamin A

Cranberries-

Pineapples-

Seedless Watermelon-

Blue Berries-

Raspberries-

Info Update: 12-17-2016 

A List of Meat, Bones, & Organ..........

Raw Meaty Bones (RMB)

Raw Meaty Bones are the core of a Natural diet and this must have the correct meat to bone ratio to insure optimal health (VERY IMPORTANT).

RMB iteams should be fed to your dog every day.  RMBs as a meal can be fed to your dog ground or given whole, but in order for your dog to get the full benefits of the RMB it should be fed whole.  Meats can be fed freely but don’t over look the other proteins like (organ meats).  Heart is considered to be an Organ and a Meat.  I often ground or chop the organ meats and added them to a puree of veggie/fruits mix.

Meats & RMBs & Organs

Whole Eggs (with shell hard boiled)

Beef, Buffalo, Deer, Goat, Lamb, RMBs (no dense weight-bearing bones)

Neck Bones

Tails

Feet

Beef, Buffalo, Deer, Goat, Lamb Organs

Heart

Liver

Kidney

Spleen

Sweetbread

Lung

Green Tripe

Beef, Buffalo, Deer, Goat, Lamb, Meats

Heart

Tongue

Ground Beef

Chicken, Duck, Turkey, Quail RMBs

Necks

Backs

Wings

Feet

Chicken, Duck, Turkey, Quail Organs

Hearts

Liver

Gizzards

Chicken, Duck, Turkey, Quail Meats

Breast

Legs

Thighs

Hearts

Although these iteams have bone in them I feel that it is not the right amount of Meat to Bone to be called a Raw Meaty Bone so I place them in the Meat category.

Whole fish including the Bones, Guts, Heads, and Scales

Sardines

Smelt

Anchovies

Shad

Mackerel

Canned fish is used sparingly; salmon, sardines, and mackerel packed in water or vegetables oil is what I tend to stick with when I use canned fish this is also added to the veggie mixes.

I avoid fresh Salmon! WHY?  Salmon poisoning, this is a potentially fatal condition seen in dogs that eat Raw Fresh Salmon. You see Salmon swim upstream to breed and this is when the Salmon can become infected with a parasite called nanophyetus salmincola.  Nanophyetus Salmincola is generally harmless, but the danger occurs when the parasite itself is infected with another organism called neorickettsia helminthoeca. It’s this microorganism that causes salmon poisoning and all the problems. Typical signs are:
Vomiting

Lack of appetite

Fever

Diarrhea

Weakness

Swollen lymph nodes

Dehydration