Liver Cookies

[tigerlily46514]

my dog adores ham.
one of his favorites. LOVES it.

but of all the meats in the world, ham is the one i worry most about going rotten. and secretly rotten, too, not obviously rotten. Ham can taste fine, and make you sick as sick can be for days and days.

Especially if it is shaved or sliced ham, woah baby, can that stuff go bad FAST.

I'd be super careful about keeping treats with ham in it, very very well chilled and use them up within a day or so of taking them out of the freezer.

so just be very vigilant about keeping the treats WELL CHILLED and safe
if there is ham in them, cuz ham can go so secretly rotten, so so very fast. Twice in my life, i've been deathly sick off of ham...i mean SICK. It's left me with the urge to be super super super super careful about ham.

GLAD YOUR DOG LIKES THE TREATS!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tâmara Vaz]

I did the "liver cookies" with some changes today...Laika loved it!
I used Luna fish and sardine, Carrots, Sweet potato, Potato and egg.


"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman.
The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog."
Edward Hoagland
See more of me and Laika: www.youtube.com/tamaravm

​

 

[tigerlily46514]

Awesome!! GLAD YOUR DOG LOVES THEM!!
I often use whatever leftover meat i have in the fridge, but I've never made them with fish, good to know it still works! don't forget to bag up and freeze the leftovers in the freezer!

 

[charmedwolf]

I tried these last night and the dogs loved them!! Not only did we make the patties I also put some in a pastry bag to put it in kongs.

Only thing, if you are like me and can't stand the smell of liver. Don't use liver!! I thought I could handle it. Boy, was I wrong!! I had to get my room mate to put them in patties while I squeezed it into kongs. Next time, I'll just use some ground beef.

 

[tigerlily46514]

YAY!!!!!! GLAD YOU LIKED THEM!!!!!!!!!!

I am not certain, how long the uncooked dough is good, if you used a raw egg in it...no idea, really. You could also smash cooked treats down into the kongs, too, i'd think....

lol, i ADORE chicken liver, and would live on it, if it were not so high calorie. I love chicken liver.
I strongly dislike BEEF liver, but i just LOVE LOVE LOVE some CHICKEN liver Rumaki. YUM! (Rumaki---small bits of CHICKEN liver, wrapped in bacon, then brown sugar, put onto skewer or strong toothpick, then topped off with waterchestnut,
and grilled.
delish! but it's like desert, very fattening, so we don't often indulge in it. But i also love plain grilled chicken liver, too.



Also, as a mother changing diapers or caring for vomitting kids or kids with head lice, etc,
as a dog owner,
and as a nurse,
i long ago lost the luxury to indulge any sense of queasiness. Not an option for *me*!! I've worked E.R. or I.C.U. the bulk of my career, so i HAD TO learn to overcome queasiness, and learn how to fight against it to keep working. (in truth, most nurses usually divert ALL their queasiness into ONE (1) item, such as being utterly revolted by funnelling ALL the times we WANT to be be queasy, into ONLY one (1) thing, and make do like that. My thing i can not bear is eyeball injuries. My coworker's was nose bleeds, just about made her swoon, same as i do for eyeball injuries. Gunshots, guts hanging out, puke, etc, i keep right on working. But give me an eyeball, i can swoon. We all find a way to cope, sooner or later. SO I took all her nosebleeds, and she took all my eyeball patients for me.)
ANYWAY
Breathing through your mouth,
you can smell NOTHING. It is impossible. People i know who do autopsys, use scented creams under their nostrils. Wearing a facemask can help you remember to keep breathing through your mouth only!!!!!!!!!

or just breathe your mouth. Problem solved. One does not have to handle the RAW liver, either, one can just open the tub, and dump entire contents, blood and all, into the boiling pot of water-------COOK IT TIL IT'S PURE WHITE-ish, grayish,
drain it SUPER WELL in colander, and whip it with well-drained veggies, raw egg,
into a dough.
then it no longer even looks like liver at all.

BUT GLAD YOU LIKED THEM!!! I have made them with hamburger, too, my dog still loved them!!! But i do think he loves liver the best. In a kill, only the top dog or top wolf, gets first go at the liver, it is a high value prize indeed to a canine.

 

[tigerlily46514]

Also, CWolf,
DO READ the recipe update in "REPLY # 35"
on page 2 of this thread,
might be easier way for YOU to make cookies/less gross?

Plus, once the liver is beaten in with all the veggies, as soon as it is cooked and mixed with veggies,
it no longer even looks like liver, really...and you can just breathe through your mouth.

btw, i don't usually "make patties" INSTEAD, I usually just drop spoonfuls of dough
onto the blue rubbery cookie sheet liner, and flatten them with fork,

you really don't have to handle the dough, if doing so makes you squeamy. You can just drop spoonfuls of it onto the blue rubbery cookie sheet liner,
and flatten them a bit with a fork or spoon, so they are not too thick to cook through.


Hamburger is way more costly per pound than chicken liver is, btw.

 

[charmedwolf]

For the kongs, I just put some in then froze them for the next morning. So I didn't keep them for long.

For me, the smell of things is what gets me queasy like no other. Usually if I can't smell it I'm fine. When I used it for dog show I would put anise seeds or garlic on the liver so I couldn't smell it. But for some reason, the smell after cooking the liver was stronger than what I thought it would be. I don't know why I didn't think of putting some vanilla cream under my nose. When I was calling my room mate out she started laughing at me. "You can handle the smell and sights of most disgusting things but the smell of liver is what sends you running to the hills?!"

I'm never gonna live this down with her! I think if I use some cream under my nose I might make it through next time.

 

[tigerlily46514]

oh you poor thing, i DO understand! HANG IN THERE CWOLF, AND IF YOU HAVE TO, DO JUST USE THE HAMBURGER!! HUGS!!

 

[LeviTheOutlaw]

I finally made these liver cookies today. Levi and Xena think they are awesome!!!!. I boiled the chicken livers and green beans together and then drained them and put them in the blender with a small can of puree pumpkin. Then I added 2 eggs and oatmeal. I tried to cook them at 450 but they started burning after 15 min. The 2nd batch I cooked at 350 for about 20 min.
The dogs love them and they were super cheap and easy to make. Great idea Tigerlily!!!

 

[brody_smom]

yeah, i do, i do think occasional flour treat is okay for dogs, others may disagree. It's not the BEST thing you can give your dog, but, it's not poisonous either.
Some ppl are very picky, some ppl are very very lax, about what they use for dog treats. I guess i am somewhere in the middle, i try to use healthy homemade treats about 80 or 90% of the time, but, my dog does get the occasional flour based treat, or worse, (shiver), a store bought treat. Most of the store bought treats are simply crapola. and the ones that do seem decent, are sooooooo pricey.
Yeah, do check out getting one of those blue silicone cookie sheet liners, i just love mine, use it all the time, and wonder now, what i did before i got one?

My previous dog had serious problems with wheat and corn. I think she had allergies to start with (don't know for sure as we rescued her when she was already 7yrs and showing gastro and skin symptoms), but later developed a systemic yeast infection. This started in her gut, but presents as excessive itching, hair loss, licking and chewing, strong smell, ear infections, diarrhea, etc. Not fun. It took more than eight months of severe dietary restrictions (only her kibble, which was lamb and rice with no other meats or grains. No cheese, hot dogs, or peanut butter. Especially no wheat or corn. Poor baby!) and 'Nzymes treatment, bathing 2x per week, wearing an e-collar before she was symptom free. Another contributor to this is over use of antibiotics without probiotics to replace normal gut bacteria. Needless to say, I am a little wary of wheat and corn in dog food. Oats are less likely to be allergenic, as is rice, that's why they are usually the first two foods we give our human babies.

 

[brody_smom]

LIVER COOKIES
Easy to make, healthy, and economical, and DOGS LOOOOOOOVE THESE.
(even picky dogs go crazy for THESE)
.

LIver is loaded with calories,
as much training as we do, Buddy'd get fat!! But by watching my dog's reaction to this recipe, i guess these cookies must taste like PURE liver, but, without all the calories.

I popped in to the vet's office to have Brody weighed today. He has gained almost 5 lbs. in the last 5 weeks. I guess that's normal for a pup his age (9 1/2 months), but I asked the vet's assistant about treats, since we use quite a few pieces of cheese and hotdog each day for counter conditioning his reactivity, as well as loose leash training and just our daily training sessions. She said that using people food as treats too often can lead to pancreatitis, which is not fun. She recommended giving him the Rollover food in the big sausage, just sliced and cut into small pieces. I had read on a training site ( can't remember which now, I've read sooo many!) that this was a great and economical option at about $8 for 2 kg at Walmart. This does have wheat flour as an ingredient, but her comment was that a little wheat flour would do a lot less harm than pancreatitis. Anyway, I mentioned these liver cookies of tigerlily's and she said that they would be a great idea and much better than hotdogs and cheese! I'm off to buy me some chicken liver!

 

[blacknym]

yeah to much salty stuff can cause weight gain and water retention. LOL

try boiled chicken and other meats, or bake them. Im sure Brody would love it.