How to Make Toppers for Your Diabetic Dog
In our last post, we talked about how to calculate food amounts; I hope that you have recovered from that. While I was finishing that up, it occurred to me that we talk about toppers and midday snacks a fair amount and I haven’t really shared how to prepare these. I have helped several vegetarian and vegan pet parents along the way that have asked how to cook the chicken,ground beef or ground turkey. Frankly, it never occurred to me that I should explain, but if those that don’t eat any kind of meat themselves are willing to take that extra step for their pups, then I am here to first applaud them and next to share how I did it.
Let’s start with chicken. When you are buying your chicken, buy the most natural chicken that you can afford. Be very aware that you need to read the fine print on the packaging. Many brands that are sold in the grocery store inject their chicken with “natural flavors” which typically means sugar water or other sugar based flavorings. You’ll have to get out your readers for this, because it is likely in very fine print somewhere on the package. I bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts in bulk at Sam’s Club and bought their cage free, natural brand. It was a bit more expensive, but not by much. The way that I could tell that this was “clean” chicken was that I bought their small roaster chickens to make my chicken soup and bone broth. When I boiled the whole chicken there was very little “scum” (for lack of a better description) that rose to the top of the pot while boiling. I chose to buy the boneless, skinless breasts because, I didn’t want to pay for the parts that I wasn’t going to use.
Now that you’ve found your chicken, there are several ways to prepare it depending on how much time you have or what your pup prefers. My “go to” preparation was to take a 9”x13” pan and put 8-10 chicken breasts in it (or however many would fit), cover it with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour. I saved the broth that it made to pour over each meal as “gravy”. I would shred some, put some in the food processor to use as a topper and I would cut 2-3 breasts into small cubes to use as treats for use before and after tests and injections. I also gave some of the cubes before bed as my boys did better with bile buildup overnight if I gave them a little something right before bed. Suffice it to say that I went through a fair amount of chicken breast every week with my two boys!
If I was pressed for time, I would throw a few breasts in a frying pan with water or low sodium chicken broth about half way up and just cook (boil/sauté) them for 7-8 minutes, turn them over and 6-7 minutes more. This would usually last me until I could bake some others. You could also grill them if that is your preferred cooking method, just be sure that they don’t get too done.
Ground Meats are next up.
Beef - I would buy the leanest beef that you can find in your grocery store, as we want to be very aware of pancreatitis. I cooked my 96% lean ground beef in a big frying pan on top of the stove. No additives unless it needed a bit of moisture (water or low sodium broth). Drain the beef very well, many rinse with warm water to get rid of even more fat, then drain it and pat it dry. Refrigerate until needed. If you make a huge batch, freeze some so that it doesn’t go to waste.
Ground turkey - I bought the ground turkey breast as it is the leanest. When that wasn’t available, I bought the next leanest that I could find. You will need to add some low sodium broth or water to this when you fry it in the pan as it is really lean and doesn’t make much fat. After it is cooked through, drain it and refrigerate.
Ground bison – Cook as the ground beef.
Ground chicken - Cook as the ground turkey
I hope that this helps you make some yummy toppers for your pup’s food or treats!
If you have questions, feel free to comment below. If you have any thoughts or ideas for topics that you’d like to see covered here, please feel free to comment below or send me an email at NancyForPetTest@PharmaSupply.com. As always, please “like” this blog post or any of the others that have helped you or just refreshed your memory. Look for new posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!
Until next time…