If ever a camera was needed, it was Sunday night in the two Compound kitchens.
When we started the dogs on raw food, we bought three 10-pound tubes of ground chicken and vegetables from a local dealer. We’re getting to the end of that, and her shop isn’t open again until Thursday. So it seemed like a good time to make our own raw food.
Tim and I went together (Tom decided that sleep was more important–so selfish! It was only midnight.) to the grocery store. We were hoping to find really gross stuff like beef tongue and chicken gizzards and livers and such. Alas, there must have been a HUGE run on those items Sunday at Disco Kroger. So we selected two packages of turkey necks (you’re already wishing YOU ate raw food, aren’t you?), some veal, some short ribs, and ox tail, all at excellent prices.
From the fresh produce section, we decided on parsley and brussels sprouts. (Brussels sprouts may give them gas, but a Rex fart can be a hilarious thing, so what the hell.) I already had a big bag of carrots to add to that mix.
When we got home, Tim didn’t know I was going to start the food mixing and dividing immediately, so he went to his apartment. (He was probably hoping for more Adventures with Palmetto Bugs, but that’s his story to tell.) I intended to chop the vegetables, but then I read on someone’s site that because dogs have short small intestines, they can’t really get the full nutritional value of vegetables unless they’re juiced. The blender lives at Tim’s, so I went and got it. Unfortunately, the blender wasn’t really working out as a juicer. I added a little water. Tim suggested that next time, we buy some vegetable juice to use in place of water. Good suggestion. At one point, nothing was happening so I pushed the vegetables down a little with a rubber spatula. The spatula hit the blade–no harm done. Except for the stream of green liquid that sprayed my cabinets and counters. Margot and Guinness watched all this with great anticipation. I’m not sure if they were hoping for an exorcism or a juice fountain.
After I had a big bowl of juiced vegetables, I decided to cut up the turkey necks. Um, I’m not a butcher. I don’t have great knives. I don’t have a cleaver. I WILL have a cleaver before we do this again. At this point, Tim came in and saw me struggling with the turkey necks. He took over with his strong manly hands while I sliced up veal and ribs.
Then it was time to divide it, but it wasn’t as simple as with the ground stuff we’d gotten from Bones2Go. That’s when I remembered that I had a food scale. I dug around in a cabinet until I found it. I also found–A JUICER! Where the hell did that come from? I never juiced anything in my life. I have a vague recollection of asking for a juicer for Christmas one year, and someone in Tom’s family must have provided. YAY! Unfortunately, there was not a surprise meat cleaver anywhere.
Tim said it smelled like a slaughterhouse in my kitchen and that he felt like he was in a scene from Sweeney Todd. The dogs were pacing at our feet, but they got nothing.
Later, when everything was divided into portions and put into the freezer, there was still mushy vegetable juice. I took it to Tim’s and put it in his unused ice trays to freeze. A vegecube is about the right amount to add to their meat portion.
I offered the veggie bowl to Rex to lick out. He was like, “Are you shittin’ me? Number one, Tim never lets me do this. Number two, while in your kitchen, did I not smell beef? Veal? Turkey neck? OX TAIL? Give me the good stuff, betch.”
He finally licked some vegetable mush off of my fingers to humor me.
So which of you is Ethel and which of you is Lucy?
That could depend on whether Tom wants to be Ricky or Fred. (I’m thinking he’s more Fred…)
Hahahaha
First off, LOVE Sweeney Todd. I could totally see you both in there, chopping and sawing away, making those meat pies/cubes. I went to Bones2go, and figured out what Rutlie needs to subsidize his food, so I really have been good about it. I give him, now only ONCE a day, a big bowl of his dry food from Wysong, and then I add, either chicken broth, livers, or yogurt. I make it bland, though, to not hurt his tummy (again). I also have a veggie broth, where I cooked a lot of veggies in water, and then I use the mush veggies with the broth to mix in his food, too.
You both have sure helped me with Rutlie this past year. Thanks for all your advice on things. His coat looks awesome, he’s happy, and that’s all I care about.
*I never thought of freezing the veggie juice stuff. Good idea…
Tim’s the one who suggested the vegecubes. That Tim’s always thinking.
I’m so glad Rutlie’s doing well. =) He definitely looks happy in his teddy bear photos.
You are grossing me out … I spoke to Dash about this … and he said he’d just rather stick to kibbles and bits. If he couldn’t have raw Oreo’s he didn’t want it
Dash is a dog of strong opinions.
If Tim were expected to make a diet of raw Oreos, he’d starve. Can you believe there are people who HATE Oreos?
Becky YOU LIE! There are NOT people who hate Oreos!
Here it is, the face of a man who will eat a beignet but will never eat an Oreo:
Well given the choice I’m all over the beignet too…
Not even as a side dish?
When you say “Oreo” to Tim, he gets the same look on his face that I imagine you get when someone says “clown.”
As Emily Litella would say, “Nevermind!”
I don’t know about the girls, but I’m with Dash–kibbles work fine, thank you. Plus, with my luck, they’d be running low right when I had to work a longish stretch, and I wouldn’t have time to make any more (read: way too damn much work). =)
Entry Request:
One of these days could you tell me the story of why it’s called Disco Kroger, please? : )
Maybe it’s because Al Camino shops there?? =0)
I have this picture in my head now of Al Camino walking into Kroger. Suddenly the lights go dim. A disco ball drops from the ceiling. As the music begins with that whooping disco cry we all remember (or have heard in songs), Al does the John Travolta strut down the cereal aisle.
It’s a beautiful thing.
You’re welcome. =0)
Bonus photo of Al Camino, as described by Tim, “being cheesy and doing the white man’s overbite”:
I think it got its nickname because it’s considered one of the cruisiest spots in GayWorld.
What you REALLLY needed was a video camera. The story really made me laugh. Good luck with this.
I never want a video of me wrestling with turkey necks on YouTube. A woman has to retain some shred of dignity.
But what happened to satisfying your readers(or in this case veiwers)? 😛 HEHEHE
DO IT YOURSELF DOG FOOD
Tee…hee..hee…I’ve been making my own natural dog food for years. But my vet recommended stewing the meat and veggies which makes the veggies more digestible. And all the vitamins are left in the broth that the dogs really enjoy. Also avoid long bones that can splinter and puncture the dog’s intestines. And as I mentioned to Tim dogs love onions and garlic and a bit of crushed red pepper as a natural flea retardant. I’m also adding generic glucosamine (cheaper than vet supplied and the same thing) for Nickie’s arthritis. She’ll be 15 come July and she acts like a puppy when I give it to her.
Really Rob
Re: DO IT YOURSELF DOG FOOD
Every site I read cautions against feeding onions (and sometimes even garlic) to dogs, because onions in large doses, or even in small doses over time, can cause an anemia that can be fatal. Apparently, Nickie’s never had a problem with that, but I figured I’d better mention it here because I’ve read of so many cases where onions are toxic.
Re: DO IT YOURSELF DOG FOOD
Sorry, cut the onion and the garlic. The vet’s recipe, actually from the Humane Society, was 40-years old, and things have probably changed since then. Now all I have to do is keep her from eating the wild onions and garlic that grows on the prairie (er, lawn) around here.
Re: DO IT YOURSELF DOG FOOD
OH–also, I think that glucosamine can be a huge help. Greta the Dowager Doberman who’s 300 years old gets her ‘cosamine tablet once a day. She thinks it’s a treat, too.
Re: DO IT YOURSELF DOG FOOD
I think I need to do some research into glucosamine for Sophie. She does fine, but then when we do something like go to the trail at the park where they run like fiends, you can tell she’s pretty stiff later that day.
So where WAS the camera?
When I was growing up, my mom liked eating things like chicken gizzards and livers. Gag. I used to blame it on her being from Missouri/Arkansas–those hill people and their weird eating preferences, ya know.
I’ll bet there’s no sugar in that cornbread they eat with their gizzards.
Now — don’t think it’s just kibble for Dash all the time … tonight he had a burger with me… complete with Lipton Soup Mix.. MMMM
so I started reading this raw thing, we’re thinking….
Oh, great. Here comes the Dog Nazi again. I was going through my archives and found this and started thinking… When you give Dash a burger mixed with Lipton Soup Mix, it’s not onion soup, is it? Make sure he never gets anything onion or onionized. Onions are not excreted from a dog’s system. Over time, they have a cumulative effect that can cause a fatal anemia in canines. No grapes or raisins, no onions, no chocolate. Ever.
Trust me Dash never really gets a burger … like I leave anything on the plate.