Halloween is upon us! It’s the time of the year where our furbabies are out on the prowl, parading in spooky costumes and bamboozling us in all manner of trickery. Pawrents, we know you’re excited, we are too! So before you hurry to get their outfit, here’s what you should know:
Make.Costumes.Safe.Again
When choosing outfits for your pets, we have to make sure the costumes won’t cause any harm to them. Avoid tight-fitting costumes as it might make it difficult for them to breathe. For pawpals on the fluffy side, that also includes costumes that are too thick or have many layers. Animals have a layer of fur to insulate themselves and thick clothing would lead to overheating, especially on hot Singapore days.
Also look out for costumes with small, loose objects like buttons and bells. Never let your furbaby chew on something they shouldn’t. And don’t furget: no fairy lights, no glitter, and no glow sticks.
Dog in halloween costume standing on pumpkin Halloween photo created by gpointstudio – www.freepik.com
Your pets may look good, but they ought to feel good too
Doggos are expressive creatures. They show their emotions through facial expressions and movement. That’s why instead of wearing a mask, you could get them hats! Cattos are also extremely sensitive to clothes and accessories. Some cats especially might freeze and fall over, and even try to shake the clothes off in a panic. Alternatively, you could dress your pets up in halloween inspired collars and bandanas.
You should always let your pawpal try their costume on before the big day. If your pets freeze when you put the costumes on, you could try conditioning them with treats or toys so they know they can move freely in their new outfit. A lot of pawsitive reinforcement is needed so that your pet warms up to wearing accessories and costumes. You could also wear your costume around them too!
Eating with Ji is a video series that showcases fuss-free yummy treats made for dogs, by a lazy pawrent who wants to act fancy. Do note that the treats are meant to be consumed as part of a balanced diet, and should be fed in moderation.
Prawns are not part of Duoji’s regular diet but I give some to her occasionally, when it’s on the hooman’s dinner menu. Normally I just boil them and add them to her dinner but then I thought, why not jazz it up a little to make the treat a little extra special for her. Hence, the idea for prawn risotto – doggie version.
I highly recommend boiling the prawns in their shells, with the head, so as to extract the goodnesss of the prawn head roe for the broth. In the video below, I didn’t have the prawn heads on hence the broth looks less creamy.
Another time, I made this again but I mixed in a little bit of Absolute Holistic Lobster Bisque for extra oomph.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe. Do share your creations with us.
In today’s article, I’ll be sharing easy treats recipes and DIY Birthday cake for your furkid!
Disclaimer: I am not a professional. This article is written based on personal experience in making these treats.
If you’ve never done your own dog treats before I suggest starting with one of the dog recipes in the list below. In fact, I would recommend these recipes to everyone. Who doesn’t love simple?
These basic dog recipes are easy to produce, even to beginner cooks like me. And if your treats don’t turn out to be as pretty as the pictures below, don’t worry — your dog will just enjoy them the same way.
Here’s some simple dog treat recipes are are made from human-grade ingredients and frozen choices, to DIYs. Owners can eat it too !
1. Quick & Easy Peanut Butter Treats
Does your dog love peanut butter as much as mine does?
LOL – over heated. try n error yourself.
Ingredients – 2cups flour, 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter or powdered (dog-friendly ones), 1/4 cup water.
Homemade Peanut Butter.
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Mix the ingredients together until combined, and then add water until it becomes wet enough to roll out as dough.
Two ingredient dog treats: about 10 minute cook time at about 150 – 180 degree.
2. Frozen Yogurt Apple/Banana/Blueberry/Strawberry Dog Treats
This dog treat recipe is so simple it doesn’t even involve any cooking.
Ingredients – 2apples/banana/blueburry/Strawberry, a cup of plain yogurt/kefir n some ice cubes trays or mould.
*Recommend you to get Farmers Union Greek Style Yoghurt – Natural
You’ve got yourself a yummy treat your dog will love. My dogs Snowy&Bella absolutely loves these treats.
Freeze for a couple hours.
You can also mix n match, your own innovation!
3. Yogurt Apple/Banana/Blueberry/Strawberry Dog Treats – eat on the spot !
This dog treat recipe is excetly same as frozen treat above but without freezing it.
Ingredients – sliced apples/banana/blueburry/Strawberry and a cup of plain yogurt/kefir. Additional ingredients Manuka Honey.
Pour the yogurt into the bowl, decorate with the fruits and serve it to your furkids ! Add a little of raw Manuka honey if you want to !
Image from @wag.n.co
4. Pumpkin Cookie Dog Treats.
These pumpkin dog treats are mega simple. They’re made with whole wheat flour, though you’re certainly welcome to use all purpose. Whole wheat flour just tends to carry a bit more nutritional value. Pump up the health value of those treats!
Ingredients – 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour all purpose is fine, 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 cup pumpkin purée, 1/4 cup water or milk, 1 large egg.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
Set aside.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, water or milk, and egg until smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently until everything is combined. You may need to use your hands. /roll out dough onto a floured surface and use desired shape cookie cutter, reroll, and cut again until there is no more dough left.
Bake dog treats for 30 minutes, flipping treats over halfway through baking.
ingredient dog treats: 30 minute cook time. Store dog treats covered at room temperature. Treats may be frozen, up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
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DIY Barkday Cake (homemade from scratch)
I’m super exciting recipe to share with you: a yummy Birthday Cake just for pups!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtShEJj2Pk/
Ingredients List
(Cake) 300g pork – I use /beef/Tuna/etc… (steamed/baked – i baked) and 50-70g finely chopped vegetables (carrots/pumpkim/any vegetable you wanna add in)
(Frosting) 300g Mashed Potato – I use / sweet potatos (purple/orange) / Greek yogurt frosting , Liquid Food Colours – must be dog-friendly (any colour you like or you can use natural vegetable for colours)
(Decorate) Fruits – Strawberry, Banana, Blueberry, etc.. / dog cookies / dehydrated meats??
instagram @snowyxbella
STEPS
Preheat oven to 160-180 degrees celsius.
Mix together all the (cake) ingredients into a bowl
Transfer it to a cake mould and bake for 15-25 minutes, (To check if the cake is done, place a stick in and remove. If stick comes out dry, it’s done!)
Leave (cake) to cool.
Prepare frosting: Mashed Potato together plain or if you adding the list below.
Once cakes are cool, they are ready to frost and design to your liking!
If there are left over mashed potato, you can use waffle/donut maker machine to cook it OR dehydrate it (personally I’ve never tried to dehydrate it, maybe you can let me know).
We hope you enjoy reading and baking it for your pup! Your pup will definitely like it because my pup likes it!!
Lemme know what other strategies did you use or what orther recipes you tried? Let us know in the comment below or DM us on our Instagram @snowyxbella , or what are the topics you would like us to share!
Example – Dog-friendly (cafes, restaurants, hotels, daycare, services, fun places) , Organised for a doggie pawty, Training, Dog parks, Life (tips – photos, recipes – how to dehyrate treats), Shop pet suppliers (accessories, shops on stores/online/instagrams), etc…
Eating with Ji is a video series that showcases fuss-free yummy treats made for dogs, by a lazy pawrent who wants to act fancy. Do note that the treats are meant to be consumed as part of a balanced diet, and should be fed in moderation.
The idea to create special treats for my dog came about one day when I was watching Masterchef on TV. When I saw the contestants getting all creative and coming up with yummy dishes, I thought to myself, hey I could do that for Duoji too. Plus point, she’s probably less critical than Gordan Ramsey.
Of cos, me being me, my aim is to keep things as simple and fuss-free as possible. Hence the idea for the Eating with Ji series was born – to create ‘fancy’ yummy dog treats with easily available ingredients under a short amount of time.
The first treat I made was mini burgers or sliders. I used a commercial dog bread for the bun but you can use regular bread as well if your dog is able to eat it. In general, bread is safe for dogs provided they don’t have any allergies but do limit the amount, which was why I made mini burgers. I sometimes feed Duoji some keto-friendly (no carbs) bread as well, just a small piece, so you could use that too for a grain-free option.
For the filling, you could use canned dog food or small pieces of cooked meat. In the video below, I used Pet Cubes (cos lazy) but I’ve also done the same thing with small pieces of pan-fried minced pork as well. Just use your furkid’s favourite food, but make sure the ‘patty’ is moist enough to stick together.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe. Do share your creations with us.
Mid-Autumn Festival will be upon us soon. What better way to celebrate the occasion than to enjoy some mooncakes and tea (non-caffeinated) together with our furry pals?
Here’s an easy DIY doggie mooncake recipe that I’d like to share today. In this recipe, I featured two flavours – salmon pumpkin and cheesy chicken. Feel free to customise the mooncakes with your furkid’s favourite fillings. Think other proteins, different seasonings, chopped up meat jerkies, fruit puree or even durian if you’re feeling indulgent.
You’ll need:
350g Sweet potatoes
50g Pumpkin
80g Salmon
80g Chicken fillet
Mozzerella cheese
Mooncake mould
Weighing scale
Makes approximately 10 mini mooncakes. To be consumed as a treat or as part of a balanced diet.
Step by step instructions
Peel and wash the sweet potatoes. Cut into cubes.
Wash and de-skin the pumpkin. Cut into cubes.
Steam the sweet potatoes and pumpkin on high heat for around 15 minutes, till soft. Alternatively you may choose to boil them.
Remove from heat and mash them separately. Set aside for use later. The sweet potato would be your mooncake ‘skin’.
Pan fry the salmon and chicken fillet till fully cooked. Add a drizzle of coconut oil for added fragrance (optional). You may also choose to boil or bake the proteins.
Chop the salmon and chicken into smaller pieces. These will be your mooncake filling.
Weigh out the ingredients according to the volume of your mooncake mould. The skin to filling ratio is approximately 3:1. For a 40g mooncake, I used 30g of sweet potatoes for the ‘skin’ and 10g of salmon and pumpkin combined. Likewise for the other flavour, I used 10g of chicken and cheese combined.
Flatten the sweet potato into a disc shape with your palm. Place the filling in the middle of the ‘skin’ and carefully wrap it up. Shape into a compact ball. If there are cracks or the filling is spilling out, reduce the amount of filling slightly.
Shape the mooncake using your preferred mooncake mould and you’re done!
Notes:
You may use other types of sweet potatoes for the ‘skin’ – the orange or yellow ones. Regular potatoes work as well. For more colour variants, you may also colour the potatoes with natural food colourings eg. beets for red, turmeric for mustard, spinach juice for green etc.
Pumpkin tend to be more moist and sticky when mashed, hence it’s not suitable to be used as the ‘skin’. You can try mixing in some flour if you prefer to use pumpkin for the ‘skin’.
I used the old-school wooden mooncake mould which takes a little more effort to get the mooncakes out. You may brush the mould with a little bit of oil or dust with some flour to make the removal easier. The plunger style type of mould would be more convenient.
Less is more when it comes to the fillings. The sweet potato ‘skin’ is drier, more crumbly and less stretchy compared to a real dough. You may find it challenging to form a compact ball if you put too much fillings in.
Ending off with a quick visual summary of the recipe.
If you have tried and enjoyed our recipe, tag us on IG @duojipoodle. We would love to see your creations!
