Need something soft, but still high-quality

[Pomp]

One of my dogs just had a tooth removed due to fracture, and now he is on a soft-food only diet for the next 2 weeks while healing. I usually gave him a frozen chicken wing or drumstick for dinner, but I have to lay off the hard stuff for a little while.

Any alternatives? I'd still like to give him something with high protein. Past couple nights, I've been giving him plain fat-free greek yogurt frozen up in a Kong...but I'd like to give the brotha some meat. I was thinking of buying some turkey from a deli and giving him some of that, wedged up in a kong.

What do people think?

 

[PoodleMommy]

can you give him some canned food?

thats what I did with mine when he had his tooth removed.

If you need high protein, try a puppy food.

 

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

You could debone the chicken and let it thaw before giving it to him at night. Or you could just grab a few cans of a grain free food like Wellness Core or Evo RM just for these two weeks. Do you have a meat grinder or a blender? You could always grind meat and make it into a somewhat mushy consistency.

 

[xpaeanx]

I'd do canned or ground meat. If you don't have a meat grinder, and buy from the store, just remember to add ground up egg shells(coffee grinder does an awesome job on egg shells).

 

[Pomp]

I guess I could grab some canned food. I feed EVO Reduced Fat Dry, but I'm not sure they have a canned option.

I like the blender idea. I could blend up some meat and then freeze it in a kong. It would take him a while to lick it all out. Any downside to giving him deli meat tonight though?

Any suggestions for meat to freeze in a kong?

edit: I see the suggestion for ground meat. Why egg shells though? To add some phosphorus?

 

[xpaeanx]

no, it's to add calcium.

If you buy ground meat from a store they don't grind in the bones, only the meat. Dogs on raw get their calcium from the bones... but if you're not feeding a meat with bones, you have to add it somehow... that's where the egg shells come in.

 

[Pomp]

Ah, I knew it was one of them. I remember reading that when feeding raw meat, the bones balance out phosphorus in the meat?? Something like that...something with periodic tables.

 

[Pomp]

I'm assuming I don't have to cook the ground meat. How many eggshells do I need to grind?

 

[xpaeanx]

I believe it's 1 teaspoon per 1 pound of meat

 

[Pomp]

Awesome, thanks.

 

[ihartgonzo]

It would be super easy AND nutritionally balanced to just buy a few rolls of pre-made ground raw. Primal, Farmore, Bravo and Nature's Variety are all good brands! They can be found at most feed stores and pet specialty stores (not Petsmart, but there is some at Petco). Depending on how expensive ground meats are in your area, it might be practically the same cost to feed ground raw, plus it is already balanced and complete.

 

[Pomp]

Thanks. I actually went with ground turkey and egg shells. Sounds tasty, doesn't it?