This time of year is always a mad dash to the finish line, isn’t it? From Halloween through New Year's Day, there doesn’t seem to be much of a break! During the hustle and bustle, we often find that feeding ourselves and our pets sometimes comes last!
Here is Our Guide To Healthy Snacking, helping you manage the chaos while still taking time to feed yourselves and your pets well! It well comes down to one main lesson: Prep In Advance!
Include Snacks On Your Grocery List
- Green beans, carrots, broccoli florets - these are all healthy snacks you can share along with your pups while you’re dashing through the house to prepare for guests! Low glycemic, low carb, no starch - keep that in mind when choosing healthy veggie snacks to share!
As You Prep, Save Veggie & Fruit Trimmings For Future Use
- As you’re peeling carrots, apples, sweet potatoes, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and more - toss peels, leaves, ends and trimmings into a container and put this into the freezer! You can top meals, or make a broth using these things! Chop these up finely, grind in a food processor or puree into a smoothie. You can add some of the trim from #3 to this mixture to make it more appealing if your pup doesn't like veggies! When you add to their food bowl, remember a little goes a long way with veggies and fruits! Keep about 2% of their bowl made from these items! Remember, if you're feeding more in the bowl or through treats, it's important to reduce the amout of their regular food that's in the bowl by an equal amount to what you've added!
As You’re Prepping, Save Your Meat Trimmings For Future Use
- As you’re thawing ham or turkey, set aside trimmings, ham bone (raw only!!!), giblets, necks and wings for your pets to enjoy during your holiday meal! You can still make a delicious gravy without using these for yourself - and if you do use them to make gravy, strain the gravy and save the cooked giblets to add to your pets’ bowls during the holiday meal! These parts combined can make up 20% of their bowl! Remember, if you're feeding more in the bowl or through treats, it's important to reduce the amout of their regular food that's in the bowl by an equal amount to what you've added!
Stock The Treat Cabinet
- As you’re making your grocery list, remember to check your treat supply! You should include some light chews for healthy add-ins to the food bowl, or a light snack when meal time has been shifted to a couple hours later! Our pups love Salmon Skins and Chicken Feet! Also include one or two longer lasting chews to help keep your pup entertained while guests are in the house. Knuckle Bones are a fan fave, but Double Jointed Knuckles will keep them occupied for longer! Our Howliday Shop is loaded with gift packaged goodies you can take along to a holiday party, including the Howliday Paw-ty Tray - stocked with light chews and a cat friendly item, and the Merry Catmas Tin, which has all cat and dog approved items inside it!
Make Meal Time Fun
- Use a slow bowl to slow your pups down! We like to include variety in our pups’ bowls and the slow bowls mean they get a few minutes to work their problem solving muscles while they enjoy all the variety of flavors you’ve included in the dish! If you're into adding fun flavors, you can include a dash of one of our Meal Toppers, like our Salmon Sprinkle or Jerky Sprinkle!
As a bonus, we’re also going to mention Our Top 5 Items items To Keep Away From Your Pets!
Cooked Bones, including boiled, baked, roasted, and smoked bones! Bones that have been exposed to high temperatures will become brittle and fracture into large pieces and long shards. Feed RAW bones only! If your pet has consumed a cooked bone, observe how they are reacting. If your gut tells you something is wrong, call your emergency vet immediately! In some instances cooked bones will process without issue, but please keep alert to observe any potential issues quickly. The dangers of consuming cooked bones makes this number one on Our Top 5 Items To Keep Away From Your Pets.
Seasoned Foods! Please do not give salted, peppered, spicy or marinated foods to your pets! These additions can cause upset tummy, and we don’t want that while trying to relax after a long day! Giving fresh, canned or dried pumpkin can help firm loose stool, plus it can also help to loosen constipation. Do not use pumpkin pie mix, which has seasonings blended into it! Our Pumpkin Sprinkle will help just as well as the canned stuff, and ours is shelf stable, made from after-Halloween pumpkins!
Fat and Skin! While fat is a great source of energy for raw fed pets, those on dry kibble or processed foods can easily gain weight when excess fat is added into their diet. Pets on a dry kibble diet will also be more prone to pancreatitis when consuming fatty items, in addition, excess fat can cause loose stool and upset tummy. If you are a raw feeder, only include unseasoned raw fat and skin! Fat is considered muscle meat in a raw diet!
Xylitol (often found in sugar free candy, gum and peanut butter), Grapes, Chocolate, Onions, Fruit Pits, Coffee, Weed, Beer, Alcohol, Excessive Salt and Sugar! These items can all cause toxicosis! Symptoms will be lethargy, tremors, disorientation, foaming or salivating at the mouth, and unusual behaviors amongst other things. Be mindful while you are consuming these items and do all you can to prevent your pets from accidentally consuming these, too! If your pet has ingested any of these, or is showing these or any other distressing symptoms, call your emergency vet immediately! We also recommend keeping activated charcoal on hand for these types of scenarios!
Keep trash bins closed and emptied regularly. More often dogs end up consuming something unsafe when a trash bin has been left overfilled, opened up and within their reach! The items they might consume could include cooked bones, excess fat, plasticware, containers and plastic food bags which could become stuck over your pet’s face causing them to suffocate or lodged in their digestive system causing blockage! This seems extreme, but it does happen!
Keep your pets healthy and safe this holiday season by using the tips inclued in Our Guide To Healthy Snacking Plus Our Top 5 Items To Keep Away From Your Pets! And there you have it! We hope these tips will help you and your pets have a tasty, healthy and joyful holiday season!
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