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This is a very simple and economical way to feed your dog. It only takes about two hours to make, a little longer if you plan to pressure can the end results in jars for later use. This recipe uses leftovers, particularly gnawed on chicken bones. Start saving all the leftover chicken bones in a bag in your freezer, along with chicken fat, innards, juice, and gravy. When you get a bread bag full of frozen bones, it is time to start saving a differnt kind of leftover; the vegetables. Dogs need some vegetables to maintain a balanced diet. About three cups of vegetables should be enough. Save this in another bag in the freezer along with your chicken bones.
You will need a pressure cooker that holds at least six quarts and something to bind the liquid together. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can always cook this the long way. Rice, cornmeal, flours, especially flour mixtures leftover from batter frying. But be careful with highly seasoned flours for they can upset your dog's tummy. Eggs, old (but not spoiled) milk, and cheese make great additions. If you have some dog food that your dog wouldn't eat, you can sneak this in, too.
After you have everything together, you are ready to begin. First, put a rack in the bottom of the pressure cooker. Then load up the frozen chicken bones with about three cups of liquid. Vegetable water, noodle water, old milk or plain water is acceptable.
If you are not using a pressure cooker, any large pot will do, a rack will help to keep the contents from scorching. You will also need two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to help soften the bones. You will also need more liquid, perhaps four to six cups; you will add more as needed.
Put on the lid and set your pressure cooker to fifteen pounds pressure for fourty-five minutes or you can set it to ten pounds pressure for one hour.
Without a pressure cooker, this could take anywhere from three to eight hours. You will need to keep a close eye on the bones and add more liquid as needed.
What happens is that the chicken bones will cook to a finger softness, allowing all that good bone marrow to be safely ingested by your dog.
After the timer has gone off on the pressure cooker, allow it to cool until you can handle it safely.
Get out a large spoon to stir and break up the chicken bones, a potato masher works well, too. Next, roll up our sleves and stick your hands in to finish the breaking up of the bones. While you have your hands in there you can remove the rack, you won't be needing this any more. You will find that the bones will be amazingly soft. If by chance they aren't, add one tablespoon of cider vinegar and more liquid, if necessary, and recook for about fifteen mimutes. This mixture should be fairly wet and soupy.
After you get the bones all mashed up with your fingers, you can add your three cups of leftover vegetables and any other goodies to the pot and stir it all in. If you have extra eggs, add them now, as you cook this mixture further they will help to bind everything together. Slowly heat this mixture while adding the other binding materials. Heat thoroughly yet slowly as it will scorch as it thickens, and will thicken even further as it cools.
At this point you can freeze or pressure can your dog food for future use. This method will not work with other bird bones such as turkey, although the ribs and back will soften, the rest of the bird won't. Older birds seem to take longer to soften then young ones. Other bones won't soften, but you can crack them and boil out that good marrow, then remove the bones and proceed with the rest of the recipe.
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