Healthy Breakfast for Your DogHi

Healthy Breakfast for Your DogHi, I'm Christie Shaver and I am the Healthy Pet Gourment, founder of The Healthy Pet Gourmet, for About.com Home. Today, I'm going to show you how to make a bugs-away breakfast for your pets. It's a simple meal that you can make to help keep fleas and other pests away from your pets during the summer. Healthy Dog Breakfast IngredientsTo make a bugs-away breakfast, you can use the same ingredients you might use to make a morning omelet:3 cups boiled potatoes 3 hard-boiled eggs 2 tablespoons tomato sauce (make sure there are no onions) 1 clove garlic 2 tablespoons sardines a few leaves of parsley 1/2 cup chicken stock To make chicken stock, I boiled some chickens, and the water that is left over is what I have here. You can also buy a chicken stock at your local grocery store; just make sure that it does not contain any onions. Add Vitamin and Mineral SupplementsIf you're going to make this more than an occasional meal for your pet, you do need to add vitamin and mineral supplements to make sure the diet is complete. Today for my dog hunter, we're going to be adding a multivitamin, a vegetable source vegetable calcium supplement, and vitamin C from dried cranberries. Now, I like to use powder form or liquid because they are more easily digestible than the ordinary tablet vitamins that pets can sometimes take. In order to make sure your pet is getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals, contact your veterinarian or someone like myself. Combine the Eggs and PotatoesI'm going to start by adding our hard-boiled eggs. I'm just going to chop them up. So once we have the eggs chopped up pretty well, you're going to want to add your boiled potatoes. You'll want to leave those skins on; the skins do have a lot of vitamins in them that we are going to want our dogs to have. Benefits of PotatoesA lot of people think that if their dog is suffering from diarrhea or other stomach problems, they should give them rice. But I am here to tell you that potatoes are a much better way to go. Potatoes bind much better in the stomach and will make the stool firmer than rice does, which is so easily digestible. Make the Parsley WaterThis is about all the parsley you're going to need. I've just pulled off a small amount from the bunch that I had and made sure to wash it. So we're going to add this 1/2 cup of chicken stock to our parsley to make what we will call a parsley water that we can put over the top of the rest of the meal. And this will give it a nice smooth texture. Some people call it parsley water, but you can call it whatever you like. All that matters is that we are able to really combine it and consolidate it really well. Benefits of ParsleyNow, you may be wondering why we're adding parsley to a diet for a dog, and I'll tell you it's because of the eggs. Now, eggs may be the most digestible of all proteins that our pets can eat, but just like for you and me, they can sometimes cause gas. So the parsley is going to help your pet prevent that, and it will also add a lot of vitamins to your dog's diet to help keep their immune system at its peak. Combine the Other IngredientsAll right, so that looks pretty good. Now, you're going to want to just grab one clove of garlic. Garlic is the reason this diet is so great to prevent fleas. They really don't like it. So now we're going to blend that up back with our parsley. I am also going to add the 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce that is onion-free. And I'm also going to go ahead and add the sardines. The reason they are so great is the Omega 3s and 6s that are in here really help keep your dog's skin and coat in the best condition. Add the SupplementsSo now that you've combined all the ingredients in the blender, you're ready to pour it over our mixture in the bowl. You are going to mix that thoroughly. Now you can stop here if you already have your pet on a great vitamin and supplement regimen. But like I said, to make this meal complete for my dog hunter today, I am going to be adding vitamin mineral supplement, calcium supplement, and vitamin C from cranberry. Serve Your Dog the BreakfastThis meal has about 730 calories, which is great for a dog that weighs about 30 pounds. My dog hunter only weighs about 15 pounds, so I'm not going to give her the full portion today. Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit us on the Web at homegarden.about.com.