Thanksgiving Day for Dogs
If you are anything like me I know you will want to include your dog in your Thanksgiving Day celebration. This includes Thanksgiving dinner. Since our boy Guinness has ground, lean turkey meat added to his kibble every day along with veggies, treating him to cut up Thanksgiving turkey with a little gravy seemed like a nice thing to do for him. Wrong! We noticed that each year after being “treated” to a special Thanksgiving dinner Guinness didn’t feel too well. The following year we cut out the gravy and stuck to white meat. The next day Guinness became quite ill. Vomiting, diarrhea, loose stool, couldn’t even hold down water. We rushed him to the Vet in a snow storm. He was x-rayed and given IV therapy for dehydration. Diagnosis? Pancreatitis.
Pancreatitis is a serious and painful inflammation of the pancreas. Cause? Most likely turkey skin. Even the white meat of the turkey can cause upset, since most Thanksgiving turkey have been marinated or basted with oils or butters.
If you want to make your dog’s meal a bit special on Thanksgiving why not prepare this Turkey loaf the day before for his special meal.
Turkey Loaf for Dogs
- 2 pounds ground turkey
- 1/2 cup cooked mixed vegetables
- 1 T. garlic powder
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup barley
- 1 cup quick cooking oats
- 1 small can of low-fat, low sodium gravy or beef broth
Preparation -
Grease a 9″ loaf pan; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground turkey, vegetables, garlic powder, egg, barley and oats. Mix the ingredients together well and place the mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Press the mixture to flatten and level, then use a table knife to cut a few shallow slits on top. Pour the gravy over the loaf and bake in a preheated oven at 350° for 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until nicely browned on top. Cool, and then cut the loaf into about six slices. Wrap in plastic wrap or foil and store in the refrigerator. To feed – Break the slices into bite-size pieces.
You can serve this with cooked veggies. Just set some of your regular Thanksgiving vegetable and potatoes aside for your dog BEFORE adding cream, butter or any other high fat ingredients. Sweet potatoes are great plain boiled or baked.
