Condo Blues: Allergy Free Apple and Banana Dog Treats

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Allergy Free Apple and Banana Dog Treats

It was a fine day for agility class when tragedy struck The Condo.

We ran out of dog treats!

OK, honestly, if you’re a human, this is not a tragedy. However, if you’re a food motivated Pekingese that really looks forward to earning good treats during dog training sessions it is paws for concern. (Pause, paws. Punny heh, heh. I kill me.)

Buying dog treats for Blitzkrieg can be difficult. It’s not that Blitzkrieg is a fussy eater. Oh no. My dog will eat anything put in front of him, even if its human food that is poisonous to dogs. I’m sure that this is a carryover from the Bad Old Days when Blitzkrieg lived on the streets as a stray*.


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Food allergies make it difficult to buy treats for Blitzkrieg. Wheat and corn make my dog itch and chew bald spots in his fur. As long as I keep Blitzkrieg from eating anything containing corn and wheat, he’s itch free and happy. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find dog food and treats that are corn and wheat free because most of the grocery store “junk food” brands as well as many of the healthier premium pet store brands use corn and wheat as fillers in their treats. This makes shopping difficult but not impossible. However, when you’re out of treats and you have a training session that day, running a crossed town to buy one bag of dog treats is a bit of a pain. But it’s not much of a pain if you decide to bake a batch of homemade allergy free apple and banana dog treats!

Allergy Free Apple and Banana Dog Treat Recipe




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1 ½ cups of oatmeal flour**
¼ cup of quick cooking oatmeal flakes
¼ cup flax seed
One egg
1 small jar of banana and apple baby food***
1 Teaspoon of honey
1 1/2 Tablespoons of water (more or less)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees (F.)
2. Mix the oatmeal flower, oatmeal, and flax seed together in a large bowl.
3. Add the egg, baby food, and honey to the powdered mixture and stir. If the mixture is dry, add the water.
4. Sprinkle the counter with oatmeal flour and roll the dough out into a thin sheet.
5. Either cut the dough into biscuits using a cookie cutter (I have one that shaped like a dog bone), cut the dough into round shapes using the baby food jar as a cookie cutter, or use a knife to cut the dough into squares.
6. Transfer the cookies onto a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 15-30 minutes. The cookies are ready to come out of the oven when they are a fully cooked semi-soft cookie treat for your favorite pooch.
7. Allow the cookies to cool and let the training games begin!

Baking these treats under the supervision of your favorite canine is optional.

*If you’ve ever wondered why Blitzkrieg has one eye, some horrible unknown person hit or kicked my dog so much that they knocked out some teeth, his left eye, and gave him a hernia. Then they turned him loose where Blitzkrieg lived as a stray until we adopted him, rehabilitated him, and found dog sports that allow Blitzkrieg to earn tons of praise and treats.

**You can easily grind your own oatmeal flour by putting quick cooking oatmeal into a blender. Whir away until the blender grinds the oatmeal into a powder.

***Some baby food use corn syrup as a sweetener. If your dog has corn allergies, avoid using a brand of baby food that uses corn syrup as a sweetener. If you do not want to use baby food in the recipe substitute approximately ¼ cup of applesauce (again, be aware that some apple sauces may contain corn syrup) and half of a banana.
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7 comments :

Nessa said...

I'm going to try these for my rottie. Almost every store bought treat i can buy him makes his tummy hurt so bad he just groans and cries all night. Anything basted is worse so i gave up on those quickly, but these contain things i already give him, in some cases to calm his tummy so i'm sure he would love these. Thanks for sharing!!

Barb Smith said...

Sassy, the puppy love of my life who passed away in 1998, loved homemade peanut butter dog bones that I made. She devoured them. You've just reminded me about those and now that I've got my new babies, Jasper and Juno (Maltese brothers), I think they deserve some, too. Plus I need to try your recipe. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Neat doggie treats! Ever since the melamine flap, I've made all my dogs' food. They seem to do so much better when they have real food, instead of the fake stuff. Thanks for the link to the list of toxic human foods.

Baby food can have corn syrup? You mean high-fructose corn syrup, really??? That is outrageous. Let's get them started on the road to diabetes right away!

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Funny about money - Not all baby foods (and I'm talking non-organic/natural here) use corn syrup as a sweetner. Also, I've read up on the corn syrup vs. high-fuctose corn syrup thing. CS and HFCS are not the same thing. Corn Syrup doens't is lower in suger than HFCS and is considered OK (I verified with a nutrionist) unlike HFCS.

Lauren @ 31diy said...

Thanks so much for this treat idea! I definitely need to try it for my Jini and Heidi. I buy expensive corn-and-wheat-free treats for them, so perhaps this would be cheaper..? Do you think I could substitute diced apples and bananas for the baby food?

Thanks so much!
Lauren
http://31diy.blogspot.com

Carol said...

I am most definitely going to try my hand at these within the next week!

Carol
antiquetexan.blogspot.com

Foundinthe-ALI said...

I am in the middle of making my boyfriends dog the Sweet potato chewies you posted about. Ill have to try these too.

I just wanted to tell you also that your dog is adorable. Thank you for taking him in and adopting him. I don't understand how people could be so evil to helpless animals. I'm not able to have doggies because of my landlord. I'm glad there are people like you in the world to take in the dogs that I can't :)

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