Sick Pup: Cooking for the Dog

The UnPicky Eater

I always brag that I’ll pretty much eat anything; lording it over my husband whose nickname is “Mr Picky”. However in this house, I am not the champion Eater-of-All-Things. It’s the dog. Our Havanese, Hobbes.

Unfortunately, his habits of munching on things, that most of us would find, um, unusual, if not downright disgusting, on occasion makes him sick. And I get to spend a fair amount of time cleaning the carpets.

He doesn’t get sick, sad and lay around. Oh, no. He just barfs wherever he is (or leaves a pile of runny poop) and just keeps on playing. So sometimes you get a little ambushed by stepping into something you didn’t see and would really rather NOT. Can’t imagine that STUFF came out of my sweet little furbaby. Eeeeew.

Usually, this only happens in the spring when there is a smorgasbord of scents in the yard. Since we live in a place that we euphemistically call “Bambi Land”, there is no telling what kind of animal poop he may have sampled. He has a veritable menu of deer, rabbit, fox chipmunk, gopher, goose, duck and squirrel. You name it, we’ve got it. Everything for the doggie epicure. Hobbes is fast and sneaky about it, too.

So, as per the instructions from our vet, (and call YOUR vet if your dog isn’t up to snuff before you try any of this) he gets a tiny piece of a Pepcid AC appropriate to his weight, and a few meals of boiled white rice with chicken until everything is normal again. And we’re not getting up at 3 AM and 4 AM to take him out, again.

Sometimes I think he actually does this just so I’ll cook for him.

Hobbes Unscientific Dog Gruel

3 small boneless, skinless chicken thighs

3 cups water

1 cup plain white rice

Chop the thighs into small pieces and place in a medium saucepan that has a cover. Add the water, bring to a boil, add the rice, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the rice is well done and the whole thing is soupy, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temp before serving to your dog in small portions.

Or, like I really do: Dump it all into a pot, without any chopping, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until most of the water is gone. Mash up the over cooked chicken into the mushy rice and serve to your canine companion.

The Dog's Dinner and Breakfast, too!

Warning: He’ll be totally spoiled by this and not want to go back to eating dog food. Sigh. And please, if your dog’s symptoms don’t clear up in a day or so, or if he’s in any sort of distress, get your furbaby to the vet immediately.