Tag: homemade

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Brand Highlights

4 Dog-Friendly Recipes feat. Bronco Always Good Peanut Butter!

Last month, we launched our very first The Woof Agency (TWA) Cookoff featuring Bronco Always Good Peanut Butter.

Inspired by @dubuwubu, pet owners were invited to concoct their very own dog-friendly recipes with Bronco Peanut Butter. We were truly impressed with the creativity of our paw-rents.

1. Dubu’s Satay

We kicked things off with Dubu’s amazing satay meal. Her dish inspired other pet owners to experiment and create their own recipes with Bronco peanut butter.

Photo and Recipe Credit: @dubuwubu

With that– Check out our Top 3 entries!

2. Truffle’s 5-course Meal

Photo Credit: Instagram @truffleruffel
Photo Credit: Instagram @truffleruffel

Carrot and Cheese Pizza

Ingredients

  • Minced Meat (Pork)
  • Carrot
  • Cheese
  • Bronco Peanut Butter

Steps

  1. Shape minced pork loin into a circle, about 1cm in height
  2. Bake it for 4 mins at 180 degree celsius
  3. Remove from oven and let it cool to room temperature
  4. Spread peanut butter onto cooled minced pork
  5. Top with carrot cubes and mozzarella cheese
  6. Bake it for another 10 minutes at 180 degree celsius

Peanut Butter Soy Milk Shake

Ingredients

  • Unsweetened soy milk or Goat milk
  • Bronco Peanut Butter

Steps

  1. Mix a small amount of peanut butter into milk
  2. Dip the back of a spoon into peanut butter
  3. Take a shot glass and run the back of the spoon up the inner side of the cup
  4. Pour in mixed milk

See Truffle’s full collection of recipes here.

3. Latte and Croissant’s Dumplings

Photo Credit: Instagram @idiot_and_kosong

Peanut Dumplings

Ingredients

  • Minced pork
  • Bronco Peanut Butter
  • Half-cut deshelled peanuts
  • Chopped carrots
  • Bamboo leaves
  • String
  • Boiled egg yolk (optional)

Steps

  1. Wrap minced pork in bamboo leaves while incorporating peanuts and carrots until half full
  2. Insert peanut butter in the core – Boiled egg yolk can be added here, depending on how large your dumplings are
  3. Wrap pork around fillings until the desired shape
  4. Secure it with a string
  5. Boil dumplings in boiling water and pork are fully cooked

Check out Latte and Croissant’s post here.

4. [WINNER] Kobe’s Satay BeeHoon

Photo Credit: Instagram @furrychua
Photo Credit: @furrychua

Kobe’s Satay Beehoon

Ingredients

  • Bronco Peanut Butter
  • Bee Hoon (Vermicelli)
  • Meat (Chicken or Beef)
  • Mussels
  • Prawn
  • Egg
  • Chicken Stock (Optional)

Steps

  1. Soak Bee Hoon in water till soft
  2. Wash ingredients and place in a bowl.
  3. Steam ingredients for 20-30 minutes.
  4. Cook egg in boiling water for 10 minutes.
  5. Assemble steamed ingredients and egg. Add in Bronco Peanut Butter and enjoy!

Check out Kobe’s winning entry here.

We would like to thank all our participants for their wonderful entries. In no particular order: Bai.leywatch | be_like_chewie | Billie_barkington | Bingo_binguu | Corgicallednugget | Corgimochichan | dailyy.cocoa | hey.buibui | Ilikethatcookie | itsbailey2017 | Lexi.the.spitz | miku_pomapoo | Milky_thesillydog | Mizuthecorgi | Peanut_thelittleboss | promisethedoggie | shooting.star.cockapoo | Twinkle_themaltipoo

Check out everyone’s amazing recipes. Linked above.

Stay tuned for more campaigns like this with Pawjourr’s Pet Jobs Portal.

Let us know in the comments if you’d be trying out these recipes soon!

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Brand Highlights Community Stories

3 Local Singaporean Businesses to get Homemade and Healthy Pet Treats

It is important that our darling pets are given the best care possible. Recently, emerging trends have noted a rise in the demand for high quality and natural treats. Consuming all-natural ingredients can help your fur babies achieve better digestion, lower susceptibility to diseases, strengthen their immunity and boost their stamina. 

This helps to sustain their physical and mental health, so they will continue to grow up strong and healthy!

Following our previous article on single-ingredient pet treats, we have also collaborated with local Singaporean businesses to promote their homemade and healthy pet treats. These businesses share one thing in common- their desire to promote safe and preservative-free alternatives to your pet’s everyday diet. 

From dehydrated milky biscuits to cheesy munchies, check out what they have to offer!

Pawfect Treats

Photo Credit: Instagram @pawfecttreats.sg

Singaporean home-based business Pawfect Treats is devoted to producing fresh handmade snacks for your furkid. They will only begin producing your pet’s treats upon ordering, ensuring the highest and freshest quality. They are also dedicated to using only human-grade ingredients so you can rest assured your pet will be eating well.

They are also offering a starter pack with every $10 worth of treats purchased. In addition to that, 10% of their sales will go towards SoSD Singapore. 

Photo Credit: Instagram @pawfecttreats.sg

Some of their unique variants include Dehydrated Air Dried Japanese Shishamo which are rich in Omega 3, Calcium, Potassium, Vitamin B and D.

Their Cheesy Munchies are also made with 100% human grade cheese for a fun yet healthy training snack.

Quote ‘PAWFXPJ5’ at checkout for an additional 5% off (min. order $20)! This code expires 31 May 2021.

Shopee | Instagram

Snacclikemad [CLOSED]

Photo Credit: Instagram @snacclikemad

Likewise to Pawfect Treats, Snacclikemad also produces its treats to order to ensure the highest quality upon delivery. Its treats are mostly flour-based, with no additional preservatives to ensure your pet’s health while snacking.

Managed by students, this pet-friendly business will serve to inspire and educate you on the benefits of human-grade ingredients while baking up a storm for your pet.

Photo Credit: Instagram @snacclikemad

Some of their notable variants include soft and pillowy mini yoghurt puffs that are made out of 100% natural greek yoghurt and whole wheat flour.

They also pride themselves on their super addictive peanut butter cookies made with xylitol-free peanut butter.

Get your pets snacking like mad!

[STORE CLOSED]

Milkshake’s Pet Treats

Photo Credit: Instagram @milkshake.ry

Need something fancy for a special event?

Look no further than Milkshake’s Pet Treats’ home-baked beautiful pastries made with natural ingredients! These biscuits and petcakes are a sight to behold and are guaranteed to wow even the fussiest of pets.

Photo Credit: Instagram @milkshake.ry

We are truly impressed with their ‘Korean Fried Chicken’ variant, made with your choice of either salmon, pork, chicken or beef, alongside vegetables and oats. This treat promises to provide all the essential protein your pet may need. You can serve this to your pet as a meal topper or a snack!

They are also offering dehydrated milky biscuits made with 100% goats milk and dehydrated ‘pizza’ bites packed with protein!

Feast your eyes on these adorable yet healthy snacks!

Quote ‘MSXPAWJOURR’ at checkout for 5% off all purchases with no min. order required. Code expires 31 Dec 2021.

Instagram

Don’t hesitate to support these Singaporean businesses! 

You can also check out our coupons page for discounts with other pet brands.

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Community Stories

A wonderful bak kwa recipe for your wonderful pups!

Are you looking to treat your amazing furkids to some delicious Chinese New Year goodies? I’ve got a fun one for you!

Not only is this recipe delicious (based on the reviews of the pups that have tried it), but it’s also extremely easy to make.

You’ll need the following ingredients/equipment:
1. A dehydrator
2. Baking sheet
3. Minced meat (pork/chicken) (~300g)
4. Herbs (Oregano, Rosemary, and any others that you like)

Step 1:

Firstly, be sure to thaw, wash and drain the meat! By doing so, it saves you a lot of time waiting for the dehydrator to make its living.

Step 2:

Once the meat is nice and soft, you can start to mix in any optional ingredients that you’d like. Feel free to add in some fat such as a little bit of butter to just give the meat a nice coating, as well as salt and other herbs that your pup prefers. Personally, I like to use rosemary and oregano as not only are they delicious, but they’re also nutritious for dogs to eat.

If you’re not into that, you can also opt to just pop the meat straight into the dehydrator as is and it’ll still be delicious!

Once done, you can leave the meat to rest as you start to set up the dehydrator.

Step 3:

Spread your baking paper on the dehydrator and make sure its covered as much as possible. Once done, take the minced meat and use the back of a spoon or spatula and spread the meat across the baking sheet.

*IMPORTANT: In order for your Bak Kwa to be crispy, spread the meat thinly across the tray.

Adding it in the oven for extra conchiness

Step 4:

Once done, set your dehydrator to anywhere between 60 – 80 degrees celcius, based on the total weight of meat you purchased. The total cooking time should be set to 8 hours. Once set and the dehydrator is closed, feel free to tend to other work, or just enjoy a nice break on the couch for 7 hours and 55 minutes while you wait for it to be done.

Yummy Bak Kwa for furkids

Step 5:

After 8 hours, your bak kwa will be cooked and ready for your pup to eat! For those of you who want it to be a little bit crispier, you can put the bah kwa in the oven for around 10 – 15 mins for an added cronch 🙂

After that’s done, you can cut the bak kwa into bite-sized pieces for your pup.

Summary

And there you go! An extremely simple recipe that you can make this CNY to give your pups some delicious treatos. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that this recipe is just a basic guide. If you’d like to use different types of meat or seasonings based on your dogs preference, feel free to do so!



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Community Stories

Ever tried munching on your doggo’s food? ?

Hands up if you are one of those crazy pet parents who tried their furkids’ food just to know how it tastes like ??‍♀️

Source: https://funvizeo.com/324bf80cfbd9a3c1/human-food-dog-food

Well, check out Furry’s Kitchen who recently partnered with celebrity chef Justin Quek to conceptualise a 3-course degustation meal at a pop-up restaurant called Terrier that put the brand’s home-cooked food to the ultimate taste and quality test with some of Singapore’s top food influencers.

Furry Kitchen shouldn’t be a stranger to most pet owners, given that they have been establishing a pretty active presence within the local pets community such as events & campaign with pet influencer marketing agency, The Woof Agency.

Stephen Chua, Founder of Furry’s Kitchen said: “This experiment challenges the perception that food for dogs tastes unpleasant and is made with undiscernible ingredients and preservatives unfit for human consumption.

Just like how we love to indulge in a delicious meal and feed ourselves and our loved ones with only the best ingredients possible, our furry friends deserve the same and can enjoy the same quality and freshness in their diet”.

The purpose was to break down the notion that food that dogs eat is unfit for humans. Guests were blown away by the flavour profiles, quality and freshness of the ingredients, giving their stamps of approval & demanding seconds. Some even likened it to grandma’s cooking.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/embed/dCOW851K4Ck

Chef Justin Quek added: “As with any social experiment, we had to keep certain variables under wraps to ensure the most unbiased results. We wanted to know if by removing the negative perception of dog food, we would discover that human-grade food made for dogs could taste both delicious and nutritious too. 

The dishes the food influencers enjoyed have all been taste-tested and quality-checked by me personally. You have my word that I only serve my guests food that I believe in, and food that meets my standards”.

While of course there was an element of surprise, the majority of the influencers taking part in the experiment appreciated that they had not eaten dog food, just human-grade food prepared for dogs. They understood that all ingredients such as beef, salmon, brown rice, potatoes and broccoli are sourced from the same SFA-certified suppliers used by local Singaporean restaurants, promising the same quality for humans.

Benefits of HCF feat. Furry’s Kitchen

Similar to hooman, there are different diets that you can put your furkids on depending on your budget, lifestyle and personal preference. Home-cooked food (HCF) has remain as one of the top choices amongst pet owners for its:

  1. High-Quality Proteins & Fresh Ingredients

Furry’s Kitchen is about providing your dog with high-quality proteins, fresh vegetables and fruits. Their approach is similar to how we feed ourselves and our families. They call it “balance over time”, which will, over time, meet your dog’s needs if you vary the diet enough over a week or two. Feeding a wide variety of meat and vegetables give your dog the nutrition it needs.

2. No Preservatives & Additives

Only using the good parts of the animal. No by-products. They also say no to preservatives, additives and fillers. Their recipes are made by hand in small batches and gently cooked to retain their nutritional value. They only source our ingredients from the same suppliers who supply to restaurants in Singapore, the same quality fit for humans.

3. Nutritional Needs

Nothing gives more flavour and health benefits than fresh and quality ingredients. A diet full of high quality, fresh, minimally processes ingredients help to support the immune system and all other body functions essential for everyday health. Without it, your dog will be more susceptible to disease. They also retain a lot more nutritious value compared to processed foods.

HERE’S OUR TAKE:

At the end of the day, there are pros and cons to different diet and pet owners should do proper research (not just on the nutritional value) but also to take into consideration your lifestyle and budget — e.g. it can get pricey if you are a multi-dog household or owns a large breed who eats a lot more than your small dogs.

You can also check out some articles to learn more about HCF from our resident doggo owners here.

Last but not least, check out Furry’s Kitchen influencers #approved goodies here!

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Community Stories

The No Sweat Meal Prep for Busy Dog-moms

Disclaimer: I am neither a professional nutritionist nor a vet. This article is written solely based on personal experience and what I wish I knew when I first got Ori.

Time for pictures > Time for cooking

If you are like me and tired of cooking the same food over and over and over again, then this article is for you. I used to cook enough for 2 meals each day and it got tedious. First, I could not vary his proteins much (Erm, how much variety of meat can you find in our local supermarkets?). Second, what a waste when I buy offals and throw away the bulk of it because Ori should only have 5% of such proteins. Third, it got boring.

I chanced upon @aki_no_kumo’s food preparation one day and I knew then that that was what I wanted to do for Ori. It’s been working well for two months now and I hope that this little tip will help you as well.

Part 1: The nutrients dogs need

I found most of my information on DogAware.com but also chanced upon information from @thelazygoldiemax (who has nicely summed everything up in this article: Home-Cooked Food – Facts and Myths). Truffleruffel also wrote a fantastic article on a Beginner’s Guide to Home-Cooked Food so do check those links out.

In general, dogs require 2-3% of their body weight in food every day and with no thanks to my post-graduation-not-really-functional-brain, I armed myself with my trusty phone calculator and headed down to my nearest supermarket. 

Love how easy meal prep becomes with these babies!

Oh, I should mention that these silicon food containers are life savers. Each compartment has a capacity of 100ml (perfect for each meal for my 9.5kg furkid). Do also note that the weight of raw food =/= cooked food so you’ll have to account for that when shopping. Since I mix kibbles with HCF, this was not so important for me as I can top up the balance with kibbles.

Part 2: Ingredients

I like ingredients that are readily-available in our local supermarkets. If you’re looking to vary your proteins, there are many online suppliers that can provide others such as lamb, crocodile, kangaroo, yada yada yada.

Again, check out the links above for ingredient ideas!

* You do not have to include everything in this list all the time. I mix the portions up and exlude/include items each week depending on my mood. 

Part 3: Getting to work

Your job will be 10x easier if you have a meat grinder, which sadly, I don’t, so a pair of food-grade scissors are now my best friend. I like to cut everything in as small a piece as my patience can manage just so they’re easier to contain.

Throw in all the meats and turn on the gas for a good steam. Remember to stir it occasionally. 

While waiting, I cut the vegetables. A blender will save your life, but since mine is spoilt, I use this opportunity to practice working my fine motor skills and chop everything up instead.

Got these cutting boards from Modori because how can anyone resist its look?

Put the chopped/blended vegetables in bowl in the fridge and wait for the meat to be ready. 

Part 4: It’s ready!

All you need to do is to partition and contain the meat into the different silicon boxes.

I prefer adding some vegetables to top it off but you can always vary portion sizes to suit your dog’s needs (e.g. 1 container for meat, another for vegetables; half for meat, half for vegetables). The key is, it should be something that works for you. 

Add the remaining soup and top it up with water to form a perfect cube. Freeze your food prep and it is now ready to go!

Part 5: The yum yum in their tum tums

Defrost one portion overnight (it helps, trust me) and simply add hot water to mix it all up before serving. Reheating vegetables releases nitrates, and ingesting anything high in nitrates increase the chance of developing cancer, which is why I don’t cook the vegetables first. I was not able to find the original study I read this and am unable to provide the link here. This is when I add Ori’s supplements (e.g. Coconut oil, rosehip powder, egg shell powder) as well as his portion of kibbles. 

And voila! One happy pupper and a happier hooman who no longer needs to cook each and every day. 

Do leave a comment or drop me a PM over at @orithespitz if you have any queries!

P.S. I store other canned/packaged food too and I use them to take cooking breaks in between cycles. Can’t be cooking a week’s worth of food on days when I reach home late, can I?

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Home-cooked Food – Facts and Myths

PSA – I am self-taught and this guide is not meant to be an exhaustive list or replace what your vet/nutritionist advised you! I just want to share some nuggets of information I picked up along the way 🙂

Myth #1: Dogs can eat exactly what humans eat!

Dear hoomums and hoodads out there, do you have the misconception that dogs eat exactly what we eat? For instance, rice, meat and vegetables are sufficient to constitute a nutritious and balanced diet?

Like many of you, when I first adopted Max, that was what I thought. However, after a horrible itchy episode that Max suffered, I realised that what I was feeding was highly inflammatory and not even balanced!

What is a balanced diet then?

A quick rule of thumb is the 80 – 5 – 15 rule that I follow. There are slight variations out there and it all depends on your dog (and any pre-existing health conditions that he/she may have)

Generally, 80% of the bowl should be filled with meat.

Meat includes pork, chicken, beef, crocodile, lamb etc. It can be minced or in cubed form, whichever your dog prefers. Additionally, try spicing up the meat options by adding in different seafoods such as canned tuna in water (do check for salt content), salmon and green lipped mussels.

*Bones of canned fish are edible

5% refers to offals and kidneys – these are essential for balancing the diet!
15% refers to vegetables and grains.

For vegetables, it is advisable to choose vegetables that are low in sugar such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini and cucumbers. Try to reduce the number of potatoes (too much carbs!) and carrots (high in sugar). Additionally, vegetables should be cooked and cut into smaller pieces to aid digestion!

For grains, white rice, white bread and pasta should be avoided (it increases the chances of yeast infections and many dogs are allergic to it). Instead, opt for wholesome grains such as quinoa, oats and lentils.

Myth #2: Dogs don’t need supplements

While it is true that not all supplements are necessary for a balanced meal, it is important to add in calcium to your dog’s home cooked food. The amount of calcium to add depends on your dog’s body weight, and there are lots of online resources to help calculate this. Examples of calcium include finely grounded egg-shell powder and bonemeal powder.

Optional but highly recommended supplements include:

  • For joints: rosehip powder and golden paste
  • For gut health: probiotics, greek yoghurt, kefir and cottage cheese
  • Herbs – rosemary, turmeric, oregano and cinnamon

Do check the dosages of these based on your own dog’s weight!

Myth #3: Dogs do not need oils

While oils are optional, they are a great source of omega-3 and helps with fur growth! These are the 3 common oils that are fed:

  • Fish oil
  • Coconut oil
  • Flaxseed oil – alternatively, flaxseeds can be bought and grounded prior to meals

Summary

Conclusion

While home-cooked food is better than commercial brands because you know what is going into their meals, it is important for their diet to be balanced and nutritious as well.

If you are deciding to switch their diet to home-cooked food, do start slow, especially if your dog has a sensitive gut and monitor their stools as well.

I hope that my advice has been helpful! Max says a big thank you to everyone who has read till here.

If you want to follow Max’s journey, his instagram is @thelazygoldiemax <3