(Here’s a time saving and clever version)
I have been meaning to write to you to let you know how I have added to your recipe.
First of all if I don’t have any homemade chicken stock in the freezer I buy organic vegetable stock and/or low sodium, low fat chicken stock in the box.
I put that into a stock pot and begin adding my vegetables. I chop the carrots finely because it thickens the stock. I add the peas, green beans and both kinds of squash.
I bake a sweet potato in the oven and chop that up into the mix with the skin. That is the only real carb unless I sometimes add Quinoa. I then grill chicken breasts and add those. I add the Rosemary and kelp and keep cooking.
Right before I take it out to put it into individual containers I add blueberries (not too many) and sometimes I will add an apple instead if I have one on hand.
I think that is about it. It just simplifies it a bit. It takes me about an hour to make two to three weeks food. I don’t like to add rice because Rupert tends to gain weight even though I only feed him 1/4c twice a day. Every now and then I might add some rolled oats if I want him to have some carbs but almost never. I do add an omega oil supplement to his food every night and a vitamin with glucosamine daily to his food for his arthritis.
Wow Deb! Rupert’s looking great, and I’m so happy to know that the seizures are really under control. He has some wonderful cats looking over him, and you’re an incredible Mom for taking his health into your own loving hands. BRAVO, Deb! xox
I have accommodated your recipe to my life as well. I save chicken carcasses from lovely organic roast chicken, put them in the freezer until I’m ready to spend time in the kitchen. Then I take as many as I have, throw in a package of raw wings, chicken or turkey, add a Tbs of apple cider vinegar to help bring all of the goodness out of the bones! Then cook for a couple of hours while doing other things- actually a slow cooker would work well for this, then I eventually add all of the vegees and when it’s all cooked down beautifully, turn off the heat & let it cool. I like the idea of blueberries, I might have to add them at the end of cooking! When I’m ready to package portions of the stew, I remove all the bones, leave cartilage & skin, & blend w/a hand blender you stick into the pot and make a nice blend to then add to dehydrated food I like to use. These dogs have gorgeous coats & are very healthy!!
Hi Paula,
I’m so excited to hear the tips and tricks you’ve used to make your dogs’ food so easily! AND… I think it’s wonderful that you’ve been cleverly using the apple cider vinegar to get the bones to do their job. (I really love this idea). Your dogs are probably the talk of the town and really lucky to have you taking such amazing care of them. Keep up the great work A photo of them would also be lovely, I’m sure:)
Wishing you continued great health!
xox
Andi
This is all great, bit I haven’t given my Jazz cooked food in years. Have you done raw and I wonder what Andi thinks of raw? Chicken and veggies…. Go Rupert & Deb!
Hi J!
(Andi here:) Well the truth of the matter is that in all the years I have been working with dogs and cats, I have found that most pets have done best with a combination of mostly cooked balanced, wholesome foods (see my Chicken and Veggie Recipe).. along with some raw foods that may compliment the basic diet. (My cat gets raw fish every day along with her cooked stew). Just because someone uses raw foods exclusively, it isn’t always the best solo choice to produce a healthy pet. (I address this more in my book). If you have found a great, balanced way to feed your Jazz.. I would love to have the recipe you use. We all can learn more when it comes to the health of the ones we love! Thanks so much! xox
xox
Love the new additions to the stew I have made for my Dog Reggie for years. He is over 14 and loves to eat. Honestly, I never even thought to add chicken stock, but we use it for “people food” instead of water, so I too will switch to it. Reggie loves fruit and I give it to him daily. Right now the tomatoes are plentiful, and he goes in the garden looking for the cherry tomatoes! Funny how years ago we were always taught never to give your pet table food. Boy were they wrong! Thanks for the tips.
Hi Donna,
Wow.. Reggie is doing really great, huh? Yes, chicken stock is a nice addition. (Be careful to not use the full sodium brands, though.. too much salt or spices could be a real problem). Fruit in moderate proportions is such a lovely addition. My dogs love bits of apple and melon, right along with me at the beach:). Yes, before there was “Alpo”… we fed our pets the scraps of the healthy meals we used to eat as a family. I think the reason that we’ve been told to not give them our food is because many of us don’t eat healthfully ourselves. AND if we don’t pick our food choices wisely for our pets, we could be doing them a dis-service. It’s great if we can keep them in balance and share our great food with them. Thank YOU for loving Reggie with wisdom:)
xox
I forgot to mention in the original recipe that I add eggs to the recipe but what I do is to separate the eggs and keep the egg whites and maybe one egg yolk. I scramble them and while the stock is boiling I add them like you would do when you are making an egg drop soup. I like to do what I can to make the stock part of the food thicker because Rupert’s beard gets really messy otherwise! With the Omega Oils he gets smelly sometimes.
I have just purchased the book and make the first pot of Chicken Stew. I have 2 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers. My oldest 4 1/2 year old female loves the stew and “washes” her bowl completely after every meal. My 2nd female however is not too keen on the change of menu. I think I may have the recipe too thick and I haven’t pureed it as I was thinking al dente veggies would provide chewing and interest in the meal. I think that serving it cold was also a no no. This is day 2 and I had to plead with my youngest even though she is traditionally our foodie of the 2.
So far the diet is awesome and I truly feel we are doing a very loving thing for our “girls”
Thanks for the book and this site!
Reba and Sally’s mom ; o P
Hi Deborah,
Most pets do prefer their food at room temperature. Not to worry.. sometimes it takes a few tries to get the consistency down right. I, myself always make it a bit different. Your youngest will (I’m sure) come around. Leave the food down for no more than 15 minutes. Then take it away. She will get hungry and in a day or so will be thrilled with your wonderful fare. Reba and Sally are VERY lucky to have you care so much. Keep us posted. xox Andi
Happy you found it here!
xox
I was wondering what to do. It seems that my youngest Toller is revolting with the new feeding routine. She just doesn’t like rice or the chicken stew. My other one gulps her dinner and looks to her sisters bowl to “do the dishes”. I worry that the older one will become impossibly fat and the youngest will wither to a toothpick. It seems to be like when I had a finicky 2 year old child! This plan was supposed to be wonderful but so far I am worried and the dinnertimes t my house are becoming increasingly stressful. Any hints?
The best remedy is to add a bribe food or a topping right off the bat. I list many bribe foods to enhance the pets to eat their NEW food (which sometimes appears very foreign). Try a few pieces of yummy chicken on top, or even a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Something that you know she LOVES. She will eat the topping and probably find that the underneath stew part is pretty darn good also. Please make sure that you always serve your food at room temp. Never cold. Hope this helps. xox
Andi
Still no movement on the lack of interest in the change of diet. Reba is progressing wonderfully and Sally is still bucking the program. Being the foodie she is we are going to try a different tack. Hubby suggested that I put down half portions and when Sally refuses to eat we will let Reba finish it. Hopefully pressure from her sister will induce her to be quicker to eat. I will keep you posted.
Deborah
Hi Deborah,
So many pets are “hooked” on dry foods which contain plenty of salt and sugar to make them eat it. I’m certain that your two girls wll adore their new food. (Never met a dog that didn’t) and that they will grow more healthy and beautiful with each day passing. Keep up the great work. Pets that are overweight will tend to slim down and pets that are underweight will begin to fill out. The healthy food helps their metabolism to correct itself. You’re a great MOM. They are lucky. Please let us know how they’re doing! xox Andi
I have two 15 pound Boston Terriers that have been on the Chicken Stew recipe for about 4 weeks now. No health issues, just wanted to feed them better (were on a combo of premium kibble and wet food without visible issue). Now, they have both lost weight, not a good thing. Their spines and ribs are beginning to show! I’m following the recipe to a ‘T’ and surprised of the weigt loss. I’m causious to just add yogurt or egg as you suggested in another post as their digestive systems can be very tricky. One easily gets bloody colitis. I’ve read elsewhere the protein % should be higher than the grains and vegetable %’s are. Help! Desperate to reverse the weight loss.
Hi Tess,
You are not feeding them enough of the food. Please give them more. Every animal has different requirments based on their age, climate, activity level. A runner needs more food than a couch potato who watches TV ll day. You just need to up the amount of food. If you want to stretch your food a bit, you can add a slice of whole grain bread to the food and make kind of a Stew Sandwich:) In any case… they are simply not getting enough to eat. Please add more. Definitely keep me posted. xoxox Andi
We just adopted a new kitten because one of my pair of 19 1/2 year old cats had to be put to sleep. Hugo is the one remaining and he wouldn’t eat Rupert’s Spot Stew and all of the sudden he started showing interest in in when I began to grind it up. I decided that I would make Hugo his own food that was more seafood based. Worrying about the taurine I wanted to put some squid and fish in it. I had some frozen seafood that I bought at Sam’s for my family for a stew and picked out all of the squid, put that into the stew with frozen fish that I bought at the grocery store. I cooked this in a stew like I do with Rupert’s with all of the veggies. Hugo LOVES it. When I went to pick up the new kitten I took some to the rescuer and she gave it to all of the cats there and they went crazy as well. I have ordered Andi’s book from Amazon for her and she is really excited to get it. Andi…you have made a lot more cats happy….By the way my new kitty’s name is Sebastian!!!
Oh Deb… You are quite the creative one indeed. I’ve been working with lots of different kinds of fish for my cats and all I can tell you is that they’ve never been healthier. I’m planning on a new book as you know, and there will be lots of tips and tricks about the use of fish. Thank you for sharing your story. I love hearing from you about how you’ve improved every aspect of your pets’ lives and hope to meet Sebastian sometime soon. xoxox Andi
Hi Andi. I have started on the path, once again, to homemade food for my babies. They absolutely LOVE the chicken stew… and so does my husband
. He could not resist tasting what I had concocted. I am wondering about garlic use. I am reading conflicting info on its possible negative effect… red blodd cell damage. Your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Juli,
I’m thrilled that you’re doing my stew for your babies! It doesn’t get better than what Mom makes! Most of the Holistic Vets I know, use and recommend garlic because it’s got such wonderful properties for enhancing the immune system. BUT.. like anything… too much of a good thing can be not-so-good. The OVERUSE of garlic can cause gasses in the system, but when used moderately.. I think it’s really beneficial. The most important thing is that YOU have to feel good about what you’re doing in the kitchen. If you’re not comfortable with garlic, then certainly omit it from the recipe. Your wonderful, healing stew will be great for your kids and your husband too! You bring the healing energy to the dinner table with you. Don’t forget that. And make sure you sign up for my newsletter. I’ve got INCREDIBLE news to share in a few weeks! xoxoxo
Since I have this new kitten, Sebastian, I have changed Rupert’s food up a bit so that they could all eat the same food. Hugo has a sensitive stomach so we have to be very careful. He can’t have anything like duck or he vomits. I take the above Stew recipe and I have been adding to it white fish and calamari. They ALL love it and I don’t have to make two separate batches of food. The fish and calamari are also very good for Rupert but I do try to watch the fine line of too much protein.
I just checked out your book at the library. I have been spending hundreds of dollars on my dog and her scratching. She has scratched day in and day out. I have been to the vet and their comments say that she is allergic to food. I have been buying the best of foods, $3+ per can and Top of the line dry food, and combining both. I have tried Kangaroo, No grain, nothing seems to work. I am feeling very positive about your resources as I was feeding MIA wholesome food from home before and don’t recall issues. I am also switching my cats to this cooked at home foods. I have enjoyed reading this book and I am gathering a TON of information and adjusting the dets accordingly.
Yay Janet! I’m so very pleased to know that you’re no longer doing the commercial foods that just try to “fool the public”. For years the pet food makers talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. As you know by now, I DON”T RECOMMEND ANY DRY FOOD, because it’s often the culprit in the skin problems that so many pets face daily.. You will not only save money on vet bills, but you’ll have a healthy girl. Make sure to sign up for my newsletter, if you haven’t already… I have exciting NEWS this month and I know that you and your whole family will absolutely adore what’s coming! YAY YOU! xoxo Andi
Glad we’ve helped you!