Meet Cohen.
Dream dog. Not even kidding. Like up there with Lassie and Old Yeller and Old Dan and Little Ann. Loyal. Obedient. Intelligent. Playful. An all around people pleaser. Lives, I repeat, lives for his red frisbee.
Our old boy turned 11 years old over the weekend. Given his large size (approximately 90 pounds), the vet classifies him as a super senior. I agree — he’s pretty SUPER! But this also means he’s struggled with arthritis for the past couple years, especially in his hips. We manage it pretty well by keeping him at a healthy weight, feeding him a salmon based dog food, and supplementing with fish oil and Cosequin (fyi: this supplement was a big game changer in managing Cohen’s symptoms). I’ve made it a tradition to cook him up a special treat to celebrate his birthday. This year, I wanted to take a “food as medicine” approach and incorporate lots of anti-inflammatory ingredients. After doing a bit of research and taking Cohen’s favorite foods into consideration — the star anti-inflammatory ingredients in this recipe include ground flax meal, turmeric, sweet potato, and pineapple.
I also used brown rice flour (Cohen is sensitive to wheat) and, perhaps the most drool-worthy ingredient, melted bacon fat. Seems we always have a jar of bacon fat floating around at the back of our refrigerator, so this was a perfect way to use it up. I used sweet potato baby food leftover from the baby shower (so convenient!) and pureed the pineapple myself. The dough was the perfect consistency to fill this silicone treat mold I purchased from Amazon. You can also add a bit more rice flour to make a stiffer dough that can be rolled out and cut into shapes.
As for how they taste, I can’t comment personally but Cohen (and his sidekick Wrigley) gobbled these treats right up and whined for more!
Side note, Justin and I have always wanted to see how Cohen would look in one of those lion mane costumes. We always say he’s King of the Dogs – a title given to him by a little boy at the park. Dog costumes are really the most ridiculous thing and a great way to accumulate non-essential “stuff”…but I broke down and bought one anyway. Cohen was not amused, but we were not disappointed. I’m laughing right now looking at these pictures!! And now (cue royalty fanfare horns), ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you King Cohen!
If you make these homemade anti-inflammatory treats for your pup, let me know how they turn out and if your dogs like them as much as ours did!
- 1½ cups (201 g) brown rice flour
- ½ cup (50 g) ground flax meal
- ½ cup (111 g) melted bacon fat
- ½ cup (120 g) sweet potato puree
- ½ cup (120 g) pineapple puree
- 1 tablespoon (7 g) turmeric
- 1 large egg
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Place silicone molds on a cookie sheet and fill with dough. Tap the cookie sheet on the counter a few times to help the dough settle into the molds. Alternately, add up to ½ cup rice flour to the dough mixture. On a floured surface, roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut into shapes.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Turn off oven. Remove treats from silicone molds and allow to cool in oven. Flip shaped treats and allow to cool in the same manner. This will help the treats to crisp up.
- Store treats in an airtight container at room temperature or refrigerated for 1 week. They can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
What a super treat for a super dog! Love & hugs to the birthday boy.
Shelly – this is excellent. My mom has been struggling to find nutritious treats for our miniature toy yorkie and I sent her this post so she could check it out 🙂
Marissa – thanks for sharing, I hope these treats help that little yorkie gain a little weight!
Thanks for the inspiration Shelly. I enjoyed making these tasty treats for a sweet little dog named Chloe.
Fantastic! I hope Chloe liked them. That was very sweet of you to do for her. Muschi kept telling me how excited she was for you to make the recipe from my blog. 🙂
Hi, what temperature do you bake them at?
Oops! Didn’t realize I had left that important detail out. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 🙂
Silly question = for pineapple puree, do I just put fresh or canned pineapple in the blender? Is it that easy? Thanks for your help!
Hi Tasha! Not a silly question at all. Yes that’s exactly what I did. Very easy! Just make sure you cut out out the hard core if using fresh pineapple. Hope your pup enjoys these treats 🙂
Thanks, Shelly! And thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hi
What could I substitute the bacon fat with do you think?
Hi Nina, so sorry it’s taken me so long to reply. I would try coconut oil. Let me know how it turns out!
Hi! I stumbled across your recipe, and it looks so easy. I’m wondering if you could substitute the rice flour with regular white flour? Today Is a beautiful snowy day, where I live, and I have all the ingredients except the rice flour. I thought I might make those for my puppy girl, Molly, while we are enjoying the snowfall.
Hi Sarah! I’m excited for you to try this recipe and would love to hear how it turns out for your Molly-pup. We recently added a pup named Molly to our family too! I think it would be just fine to sub regular flour. I used rice flour because our dog had an allergy to gluten. Happy baking and enjoy the snow!
Once you made the treats did you stop giving your pup the Cosequin or do you still give him the supplements ?
I still gave him the Cosequin since I didn’t always have the treats on hand and they were just meant to complement the other things we were doing to help reduce inflammation.
Can you use chia instead of flax?
Hi Kristina, yes I think it would be fine to substitute chia. As I understand it is safe for dogs and provides healthy fats just as the flax is meant to do. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Hey Shelly!
I’m so glad I found your article on Pinterest! I live in California and it’s been a tad cold lately as a result I found my GSP, Ryder whimpering a lot when she gets up in the morning or even when she’s out running in the bushes, it BREAKS MY HEART!!!! I took her in for a check up, they said she has a slight case of arthritis and she could have pulled a muscle, she had cold laser and a depo injection that helped her a lot! But after about a week treatment wore off. I think slight is an understatement because she’s a pretty tough pup so I started looking up what I could do for her. I came across your article and had just friend bacon the other day so it was perfect! I followed your instructions per measurement, I give her 2 small ball treats a day, one in morning and when I get home from work. They really seem to be doing the job! I do have one question though for a 50lb dog how many treats or amount of turmeric would be ok? If you know …
Hi Jess! Thank you for sharing your story. I am sorry to hear Ryder has not been feeling well but am of course thrilled to hear that she may be on the mend. I am not a veterinarian, so I can’t give exact recommendations for how much turmeric would be therapeutic for your dog. However I did find this article to be interesting and in line with what you’ve been doing for your Ryder pup. https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/turmeric-dogs/
Sounds like 1/8 to 1/4 tsp per day for every 10lbs in weight is a good dose. There is 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) turmeric in my entire recipe, which you could probably alter if needed. It’s been cold here in Seattle too – hope things warm up soon for us both! – Shelly