As if I wasn't weird enough already

I make my own dog food. Does that make me officially weird? When we found out we were getting Dexter, Jeff and I went shopping. We looked at labels. Do you know that very few dog food labels say they are made in the USA? I'm really not comfortable with Chinese dog food. With the dog food scare a while ago, we were a little skeptical about buying just anything. Of the USA made dog food, what is REALLY in it? I read a label that stated that it did NOT contain chicken heads, feathers or intestines. Do you really have to say that you don't add these things? Do some brands add chicken feathers? Blech. And what are "fillers"?

We did find one that was made in the USA and we felt fairly comfortable with it. But...it had a side effect. It made him fart. A lot. I mean it made him fart continuously. Seriously. And he smelled. Bad. Really, really bad. Mark and Dana visited for Christmas and it was just hillarious. The dog could not stop farting. Dana's pregnant. It was bad. It was pretty funny, but really bad. We blamed the dog treats. It was not the dog treats. It was the dog food.

So we began to google homemade dog food. A few guideline exists like "no chocolate, or onions or grapes" Some say "no avacado or garlic" Some say that avacado and garlic are wonderful for dogs. Sigh. How did dogs exist before commercial dog food? Ok, at $1 per avacado, I don't think Dexter will have those. He doesn't HAVE to have garlic either. I will keep researching that. So, I came up with a basic recipe that works and Dexter loves it.

One pound meat (pretty much, whatever), 1 cup uncooked brown rice, a cup or two of cooked veggies. Cook the meat and rice, preferrably together. Add the veggies (a can of peas works really well, as do sweet potatoes and pumpkin). Mix together and store in the fridge or freezer. Dexter gets about 1 cup twice a day. He loves it. It's pretty economical too. And, NO farting!

Usually, we just use whatever is in the freezer for the protein part but we scored a touchdown tonight while grocery shopping. Kroger had Tyson bone-in chicken breast on sale for $.97/pound. Tonight, they were marked down to $.50/pound!!! We bought (6) 3 (ish) pound packages. Each one was approximately $1.50 each! That's almost 20 pounds of meat for Dexter's food. What a deal. It's not organic but I can guarantee that it is all at least "people" food grade.

We also try to feed him a meaty raw bone at least once a week. It's good for his teeth and provides calcium. So now I cook for the dog. He does appreciate it though. He has a refined palate. He likes homemade sauerkraut too.