Ask the Past: dog biscuits
My dog is a really fussy eater, and they have discontinued the brand of biscuits that he likes. I thought I might try making some homemade ones to see if he'd like those better than the other kind at the supermarket that he refuses to eat. Can you recommend some recipes?
Provided you're happy to deal with alarming quantities of meat and byproducts, yes, I think there are some options out there for you. Firstly, a basic recipe from the "Kennel Notes" column in the 14 August 1933 issue of the Southland Times.
The following recipe has been found satisfactory for dog biscuits: one measure of bran, one of pollard, one of oatmeal, half of linseed meal, four pounds of liver, well boiled and minced, (or one measure of meat meal instead.) Mix with water the liver has been boiled in, roll out half inch thick, mark in squares and bake in very slow oven until thoroughly dried out. Add salt when boiling the liver.
For larger dogs, you might need to make a larger quantity of biscuits, and this recipe from the 8 October 1947 issue of the Townsville Daily Bulletin certainly qualifies, although it may be difficult these days to actually get hold of a sheep's pluck:
A palatable and nourishing dog biscuit can be made by taking 8lb. of finely ground wheat and then boiling a sheep's pluck (heart liver and lungs) retaining the liquor for mixing with the wheat. Run the boiled meat through a fine mincer and mix with the wheat.
Pour in the warm liquor, adding one tablespoonful of salt and kneading like bread into a firm dough. Roll out and cut into three-inch squares and bake until hard. Cooked vegetables may be included if desired. These should be well mixed with the meat and meal.
This will make about five dozen biscuits and should give Fido quite a lot of enjoyment.
Particularly good dogs might merit this recipe from the 5 March 1932 issue of the Weekly Times instead, and after trying some of the other recipes, you may find it beneficial yourself:
The following is a good recipe for making dog biscuits: Take a quart and a half of brandy, a quart of pollard, and half a quart of best meat meal. Mix to a stiff dough with water in which cabbage or other green stuff has been boiled.Roll out to half an inch thick, cut into squares and bake in a very slow oven, until thoroughly dry. The biscuits can be fed dry or soaked in water or milk.
Do be careful, though, and make sure to keep mosquitos well away from your dog biscuits. This article from the 29 August 1938 issue of the Ashburton Guardian doesn't seem like it was intended to be a warning, but if you read it in its entirety, you may consider switching away from dog biscuits altogether:
Mosquitoes thrive best on powdered dog biscuit, Professor Sir Rickard Christophers, leading authority on malaria, has discovered. He described today the work of his experimental malaria unit, conducted in a shed on the roof of the London School of Tropical Medicine.
In glass bowls and net-covered cages, he said, 3000 mosquito had been raised from egg grafts every fortnight during the past six years.
A thousand mosquito larvae eat a teaspoonful of powdered dog biscuit a day and the rate of growth is colossal, corresponding, roughly, to a baby becoming the size of an elephant in a fortnight.
The malarial unit works in conjunction with the Ministry of Health department, which is concerned with malaria therapy in nervous diseases of the insane.
"The mental condition of patients has been remarkably bettered by giving them malaria, then curing them,” said Sir Rickard Christophers. “Between 25 and 50 per cent of patients had been notably helped.”
Mosquitoes are being used to infect patients in most of the large hospitals and parasites are sent to Rome, Antwerp, Rumania and America.
I'm sure that will help.