Murphy our Irish Setter has always been rather picky about his food, he must take after his owners LOL, so many, many puppy foods were bought, tried and mainly not eaten. A great worry for us, especially when at his age he’s growing so rapidly and his diet would have great impact on his health in later years.
When Murphy was around six months old we realised he had some kind of an allergy to the dry dog food we’d been feeding him, I won’t go into the details but it wasn’t pleasant for the poor little mite. After a little detective work I realised it was the wheat/gluten in his biscuits, he was fine with corn based biscuits, although he wasn’t keen to eat them.
What to do? Well after a little research using the ever helpful google I decided to go down a home made food route for him. I ordered a couple of books from amazon and have had much success. The meals are wonderful and include such delights as chicken with eggy rice, lasagna and beef stew. Needless to say Murphy loves these meals, which with a little thought can all be adapted to suit his gluten allergy needs.
It also pleases me that I can provide him with a healthy, free-range and organic diet containing minimal amounts of additives etc.
Also included are plenty of recipes for ‘treats’ such as cookies and savoury cakes. Yesterday I made him some carrot and cinnamon cookies. Just for scientific purposes you understand I had to try one and they’re pretty good and they made on Setter puppy very happy indeed.
The slightly adapted recipe can be found below.
The Recipe (Makes around 500g of cookies):
- 4 cups whole wheat flour (I used white gluten free, not as good but I couldn’t find whole wheat gluten free)
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 2 tablespoons runny honey
- 1 large egg
- Preheat the oven to 180C or the equivalent.
- Combine the flour, cornmeal, cinnamon and carrot in a large bowl.
- In a jug whisk together the water, oil, honey and egg.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well until combined and holding together.
- Roll tablespoons of the dough into a rough circle and place on a baking tray, press down to flatten.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until firm. Allow to cool.
- Lower the temperature of the oven to 150C or the equivalent and bake the cookies for 25 minutes longer until hard.
- Allow to cool and transfer to a cookie jar, use within 30 days.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Awww, you’re so good to your little guy! I’m sure he and his tummy appreciate it more than he can express.
Oh George so so cute and how loving of you, one of our cats has a very sensitive stomach so I totally understand where you’re coming from with having to be very careful about what you feed them.
What a sweet, beautiful pup! My kids are dying for a dog.
Methinks Murphy eats better than most people I know. He’s a cutie. I had an Irish Setter (female) and she drove me nuts. Very high spirited, chased herself around the house and made sure I got plenty of exercise. But you can’t beat that personality that just keeps you laughing all the time.
Murphy certainly landed on his feet when he came to your house George! He’s a very lucky dog!
Thanks for the comments guys
Giz they’re rather crazy aren’t they. I wouldn’t have him any other way though.