How to make festive pet treats
One of the best things about the Christmas season is that it gives us an excuse to be creative and have fun making things. So why not combine our festive spirit with making some delicious home-made pet treats. Do remember though that a treat is just that! Something delicious which your pet will enjoy, but should only be given in small quantities at a time.
Do not let your pet over indulge or give your pet too many treats. Putting on weight over the festive season can happen to pets too! Pet treats should be factored in as part of your pet’s daily food allowance, so other meals should be reduced accordingly. For advice on helping to keep your pet a healthy weight >
Check with your vet first if you have any concerns about giving home-made treats to your pet. Treats may not be suitable for pets on specialised diets.
Dog treats
This treat is a real winner and is used by trainers (such as Hearing dogs for the deaf) as a “high-value” reward. This means it is so extra yummy that dogs will do (almost) anything for it! Liver is a very rich food and should only be fed in very limited quantities. We also recommend that liver cake treats should not be given to puppies under 6 months of age.
So here goes with our recipe for you to try at home.
Liver cake
Ingredients
450 g of lamb or ox liver
450g self raising flour
3 eggs
Milk or water
This recipe will make around 12 treats – you can halve or quarter the recipe to make less treats.
Method
- Crack the eggs into a measuring jug
- Add an equal volume of milk/water to the measuring jug and whisk
- Blend the raw liver in a food processor
- Add the egg mixture and flour.
- Empty the contents into a greased baking tray. Bake at 180 degrees (160 fan) for approximately 30 minutes
- Allow to cool and cut into treat sized pieces.
- Due to the meat content, these treats must be stored in the fridge, no longer than a week. Once cooled, you can also freeze these treats.
Cat treats
A homemade treat is a great way to show your cat you love them. You can make this recipe at home very easily with very few ingredients! If you want to give them an extra special present this Christmas, you can even add some dried catnip to the recipe!
Cat nip is a natural herb which is particularly attractive to cats and makes them go a bit happy and crazy! There do not appear to be any bad side effects so it can be safely incorporated into your cooking!
How to make tasty tuna treats for your feline friend
Ingredients
1 tin of tuna in water
1 egg beaten
250 g plain flour
1 tablespoon dried catnip (optional)
You can halve or quarter the recipe to make less treats – or you can gift any extra biscuits to your fellow cat owning friends!
Method
- Preheat oven to 180c (160 for fan) and line a baking tray with baking parchment
- Blend the tuna until it is smooth, preferably in a food processor.
- In a large bowl combine the tuna with the egg and flour, mix thoroughly to form a dough. Add a little extra water if the mixture is too dry.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4” thick
- Cut out your biscuits using a tiny cutter, or just cut into tiny bricks with a sharp knife.
- Arrange your biscuit nibbles on your tray and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely and store in an airtight container in the fridge where they will last for a week – if your moggie hasn’t devoured the lot by then!
How to treat your bunny
We do have to very careful with our bunnies diets and when thinking about giving them special treats we must make sure that whatever extras we give them, it’s not going to be detrimental to their health. You can buy some good healthy treats including such things as gnaw bars, dried apple pieces, tasty nuggets and herb mixes.
Just remember the average rabbit should only have a tablespoon of rabbit pellets once a day and in addition, ONE healthy treat. The rest of the diet should be a handful of suitable greens and a bundle of feeding hay at least as big as they are. With this in mind here is a recipe to make your own tasty treats at home using all healthy stuff your rabbit will love.
Ingredients
1 cup of rabbit pellets
1/4 to 1/2 cup of hay dust ( the small pieces hay that end up in the bottom of the bag)
half a banana
A small handful herbs such as parsley or coriander (or other suitable greenery/herb)
Method
In a food processor blend the pellets and add the mashed banana and chopped herbs.
Transfer to a bowl and add enough of the hay to make the mixture course but still able to be formed into small walnut sized balls. Add a little water if the mixture is too dry. Flatten the balls and place on a parchment lined baking tray. Bake for 40 mins at 180c (160 fan). Turn the oven off and leave the nuggets in the oven until they are quite dried out and cool.