Last week you got a peek at cooking liver for Rocko’s meals, this week you’ll see the rest of the process to get his food ready.
Rocko has had a few extra pounds on him for a long time now. I realize the error of my ways years ago but they just aren’t going anywhere.
When I discussed his weight with the vet, Dr Grace said to put him on the green bean diet. Not wanting to appear too much of an idiot, I didn’t ask him for details but googled it when I got home. The green bean diet involves replacing half of Rocko’s regular food with green beans, they fill him up without adding calories. I use the frozen green beans because they have no added sodium like canned and keep a bag on the shelf in the refrigerator. Rocko goes through a two pound bag every four days. I am probably Value Market’s biggest frozen green bean customer.
At meal time I pour one cup of green beans into a small bowl, top it with a heaping tablespoon of liver and microwave it for 25 seconds. This goes into his bowl and is topped with a cup of Wellness Healthy Weight dry food. He has a full meal in the morning, in the evening we split it between 4:30 and 7:30 meals.
There’s only one problem with this process – once you start it you can’t ever stop. Rocko has been eating green beans with every meal for at least five years now even though he’s not shedding a pound. It doesn’t matter any more if he is anemic, if his bowl doesn’t have liver in it he’ll turn it down.
He does take a multi-vitamin to supplement any nutrition lost with the green beans, but his daily vitamin and medicine schedule are a topic for another post.
We are now in the process of transitioning to Wellness Core food which is grain free. It will be a slow process, starting with a tablespoon of the new food mixed in with the old for a couple weeks. I’ve heard many people talk about how a low grain diet added extra years to their dog’s life. There is a logic that a dog in the wild would not choose to eat corn so their metabolism is not made to eat it every day. Now would be a good time to take a look at your dog’s food. If corn is listed as the first ingredient, at least compare prices next time you’re at the store and see if you can move it down a couple spaces on the list.
We get to choose what we eat, our dogs rely on us for what they eat. Let’s do what we can to make it a healthy choice.
On a side note, we’re going to bake a small batch of grain free biscuits. The cost will be slightly higher, if you are interested in ordering email us at contact@RockosRewards.com.
Until next week . . . happy eating !
