Pamper Your Pup with Homemade Treats Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day

Recipe

Whip up some delightful homemade treats for your dog with just three easy-to-find, pet-safe ingredients. These simple-to-make cookies can be shaped into adorable doggy designs like bones for fun or quickly formed into small, flattened balls if time is tight. Ensure your peanut butter is free from added sugars, oils, and particularly Xylitol, which is harmful to dogs.

Banana Bliss Biscuits for Barkers

Easy 3-Ingredient Dog Treats Yields: 20-24 biscuits. Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (check for no Xylitol!)
• 1 large ripe banana (or 2 mediums), mashed

How to Make Them:

• Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Pulse the rolled oats in a blender until they resemble fine flour, or use pre-made oat flour. Set this aside.
• In a big bowl, combine the peanut butter and mashed banana thoroughly. Mix in the oat flour until you achieve a thick, cohesive dough. If it's too dry, mix in 2-4 tablespoons of peanut butter until the dough is sticky yet workable.
• Flatten the dough to about a 1/4 inch thickness and cut out shapes with a doggie-themed cookie cutter. For a quicker option, shape the dough into small balls (about 1 tablespoon each) and press them down to form simple round cookies.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bottoms are slightly golden. Let them cool for 10-15 minutes – if you can wait – before treating your dog.
• Store these tasty treats in a sealed container; they'll keep fresh for up to two weeks.

Treat your four-legged friend to these healthy, homemade snacks and watch their tail wag joyfully!

May 3, National Specially-Abled Pets Day and Feeding Your Dog

National Specially-abled Pets Day celebrates these amazing and heroic animals, helps to educate the public about caring for disabled pets and find homes for orphaned, specially-abled pets.  Pets that become challenged due to disease, birth flaws, or injuries, tend to develop greater senses than your average pet. Most of the time it's as if they never had to readjust to life and we need to keep up with them!"

Celebrated nationally and internationally on May 3rd, National Specially-abled Pets Day encourages adoption always and for people who would like to bring a new furry family member home, to consider a specially-abled pet.

Blind Golden Retriever gets Guide Dog

Feeding Your Dog

Good nutrition is always important for your dog, but it is especially so when she's recovering from an injury or illness. In fact, the balance of nutrients she needs may be different during the time she's recuperating-more protein to promote cell repair and fight infection, more fats and carbohydrates for the extra energy needed, and certain vitamins and minerals that promote healing. Check with your vet to see what you should be feeding the dog as she gets better and follow these tips to make eating easier for your ailing pet:

• Feed her a little at a time and often, for example, divide the daily allowance of food into two to four small meals.
• Warm the food to just below your dog's body temperature. Do not give her really hot food.
• Leave the food down 10 or 15 minutes and then remove it (after she finishes eating, of course). Dogs are more likely to eat fresh food than a dish that's been sitting out for a while.
• Some dogs like a little spice, like garlic powder. Ask your vet about what flavorings would be acceptable for your dog. 
• Of course, your dog just may not feel like eating. If this is the case, you'll have to force-feed her. The easiest way to accomplish this is to liquefy the food by adding water and then feed it to her as a fluid (use the method described above). Again, give her several small meals (a few teaspoons of food every 2 to 3 hours) rather than one large one. If you give her too much, she may vomit it back up.

Resources
The Love of Specially-Abled Pets