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Green Cubes for Dogs

by Emma Kesler, CDBC, CPDT-KA
0 0
17

No matter what kind of food you feed your dog, leafy greens are a fantastic addition to your dog’s diet. Leafy greens are packed with natural vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and fiber.

A study conducted at Purdue University on Scottish Terriers found that the addition of leafy greens to a dog’s diet can even play a role in preventing canine cancer! Because dogs have short digestive tracts, they process greens better and are able to absorb more of the nutrients when the greens are fresh and pre-blended. I came up with this recipe because I wanted to add a variety of finely blended, fresh, and top-quality greens to Miles’ diet in a suitable, affordable, customizable, and simple way. The following recipe is cheap, easy to make, and yields a large batch (1-3 months worth) of greens that store individually portioned in the freezer.

Ingredients

  1. Three bunches of organic leafy greens: For this recipe, you will need three bunches of organic leafy greens. I like to use three different kinds per recipe. These can include but are not limited to: kale (any variety, there are many!), chard, flat leaf / Italian parsley, bok choy, and dandelion greens. If your dog has any health conditions, please check with your veterinarian to ensure that the greens you use are appropriate.
  2. Bone broth or water: When you are making these for your dog for the first time, it is essential to use broth! The currently trendy natural low-sodium bone broth that is available for people is great for this purpose because it tends to be very basic, natural, and full of healthy collagen. I get mine fresh from my local health food store for only $4 for 4 cups (aka your typical 32 oz soup container) and it only contains bone broth. If you are going to buy packaged as opposed to fresh bone broth, make sure it is natural, low-sodium, and free from sugar and artificial ingredients. You can also make your own! When dogs aren’t used to eating greens, using any kind of low-sodium broth will make the cubes taste good. Over time, your dog will get used to the taste of greens, and you can switch to water!
  3. Optional – a kelp supplement: This article summarizes why kelp can be a highly beneficial supplement for dogs. The daily amount is usually 1/8 teaspoon for every 10 lbs of body weight (please check your brand’s recommended amount). I advise only using high-quality kelp supplements meant for dogs that have 1 ingredient: kelp! USA: I like the brand LifeLine. Canada: Ultra-Kelp is fantastic, has been around for 30 years, and is still owner-run.

Prepping Your Greens

Start by rinsing your greens well. Don’t worry about drying them! Next, “twist” your greens (video below). I use everything but the very end of the stalk.

Below I have my washed and “twisted” greens and some bone broth ready for blending:

Blending The Greens

Which Blender to Use:

You can use a food processor, which is what I did for a long time. It can be a bit messy and won’t yield a very fine blend, but it does work! About 4 years ago, I got this Ninja 1000 Watt Auto-IQ blender which is designed for smoothies. It is so loud I have to cover my ears, but it blends even the most fibrous greens down completely, stalks included. Recently, I gave that one to a friend, and upgraded to the Ninja Countertop Blender. It is about $35 more, and I like that it has a larger capacity so you can make this recipe and others faster. Either way I greatly prefer the affordable Ninja gear to my 2 very nice food processors for this purpose.

Instructions for Blending:

  • Food Processor of any kind or Ninja 1000 Watt Auto-IQ blender: put roughly 1/5th of your greens and 1/4 cup of your broth into the blender/processor.
  • Ninja 1100 Watt Countertop Blender: start with 1/3 of your greens and around 3/4-1 cup of broth into the blender. You may find that you can do 1/2 of your greens in one go!

Blend the mixture until very well pulverized. If it isn’t mixing well, try adding a bit more liquid. If you run low on broth, just add water! Don’t worry, we will be mixing it all together.

Pour the blended greens into a mixing bowl, and repeat this process until you have no greens left.

Optional: Add a Kelp Supplement

When you are done blending, you will have a nice green soup! The next step is to get out some ice cube trays. Before you place your green soup into the ice cube trays, if you want, you can add a natural kelp supplement designed for dogs into each cube compartment (for little/medium dogs, add a daily serving, for big dogs, add 1/2 a serving per cube compartment). See “ingredients” above for more info on why adding kelp is a great option, and to read about how to pick a brand.

Why do I add the kelp supplement to the green cube instead of sprinkling it over Miles’ dinner every night?  Because I am a big fan of doing some quick prep very infrequently, and not having to bother individually portioning this supplement every day! 😛 I also like the idea that the kelp gets re-hydrated in the green soup before Miles eats it, so he isn’t eating anything scratchy or dry.

Why do I use boring ice cube trays instead of fancy silicone molds that will make pretty shapes?  Because a standard double set of ice cube trays can quickly freeze 28 green cubes that are 1 3/4 tablespoons each (silicone molds tend to hold too little and rarely have 14 molds each), the cubes pop out easily once frozen, and I can wash them in the dishwasher after to sparkling perfection. If you decide to make prettier cubes for Instagram, tag some recipe credit ❤️ at @wildwiry!

Putting Your Green Soup into Ice Cube Trays

Now you are ready to put your green soup into ice cube trays! For a dog of Miles’ size, around 21.5 lbs, I fill standard ice cube tray compartments to create daily servings. You can get silicone trays that are fancy shapes, but I have found getting the portioning ideal can be tougher in those. For reference, my ice cube trays contain approximately 1 3/4 tablespoons each. For little pups, fill each cube 1/2 up, for big dogs, feed 1-2 cubes a day.

I simply spoon green soup into the trays.

Freezing Your Green Cubes

Now the ice cube trays are all ready for the freezer!

Since you are going to be freezing your green cubes in batches, you’ll want to refrigerate your green soup in the meantime.

Miles is so used to his green cubes that I no longer have to use broth if I don’t have any handy. He relishes green cubes so much that he loves getting a little extra from a spoon when I make this recipe. This to me is really proof that we like what we are used to. Before I came up with this recipe, Miles would have never dreamed of eating plain greens! Now he gets excited when I let him have my discarded kale stalks when I cook kale for myself. Purely anecdotal: Miles rarely eats grass now since getting green cubes every day.

Storing Your Green Cubes

When the cubes are frozen, I transfer them to a labeled Ziplock bag.


Recipe Yield: Miles weighs around 21.5 pounds. I give him one full 1 3/4 tablespoon green cube a day. In the winter, this recipe usually produces 1-2 months of greens per batch. In the summer, when the bunches of organic greens are often huge, I get WAY more than that out of a batch!

Feeding Your Dog Green Cubes

Miles eats raw food, but green cubes are a great addition to any dog’s meals, no matter what kind of food they eat. Again, for a little pup I’d make half cubes, for a medium dog full cubes, and for a big dog, double cubes once a day! I give Miles his green cube at dinner.

I like to feed Miles his daily green cubes thawed most of the time. On really hot days, Miles and many other dogs enjoy their daily green cube(s) frozen.


 

If you try the recipe, send me pictures and I will share them below!

 


Mary Anne from KY, USA made Green Cubes for Tiffin Raam and Pigwig! “My three are LOVING these.”


Carol from MD, USA made Green Cubes for Atlas! “We made green cubes and Atlas loves them! I think he’s getting more veggies than me!”


Anne from MN, USA made Green Cubes for Mr. Darcy! “Mr. Darcy LOVES the new addition to his diet 👏🏼”


Shannon from Canada made Green Cubes for Pixel! “Pixel licked the spoon when I was done making these 😂”

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Emma Kesler, CDBC, CPDT-KA

Emma Kesler, CDBC, CPDT-KA

Emma Kesler, CDBC, CPDT-KA is a terrier behavior specialist who has been conducting live online sessions and behavior consultations for nearly a decade. Emma shares her life with her Welsh Terrier, Miles. When Miles was young he was deemed "impossible to train" by a veterinarian and several trainers, who recommended resorting to old punishment-based methods. The quest to figure out how to work terriers in new and different ways became Emma's passion. Miles is Emma's trusted copilot, has set many performance records for terriers, and best of all, helps Emma coach others on how to share absolutely wonderful lives with their terriers.

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Comments 17

  1. Martha Russell says:
    7 months ago

    Hi Emma, thanks for the recipe! Miles is VERY healthy looking as is my three-year old Welsh Pepe. I often put greens into Pepe’s homemade meatballs, but then I get lazy and feed her freeze-dried raw reconstituted with water. This greens recipe will be a good addition to the freeze-dried. Out of curiosity, I would love to know what brands you feed Miles (if you are able to give me that information) or any personal recipes you have for raw. If this is not information you normally share, please point me to your favorite website or resource. Thanks! I enjoy your posts.

    Reply
    • Susan Gottselig says:
      7 months ago

      Thanks Emma! Thanks for taking time to share this. I’m going to try this for Indie. Beautiful photography as usual.

      Reply
      • Emma says:
        7 months ago

        Aww thank you Susan! Let me know what you (and more importantly, Indie!) think(s)! And thank you for appreciating my photography. You should visit when next possible so I can take pictures of miss Indie! 💕

        Reply
    • Emma says:
      7 months ago

      Hi Martha! I’m going to email you now! 👍

      Reply
  2. kimberley Atkison says:
    7 months ago

    I am definitely going to try this for Willow. I am careful with the broth I buy as a lot of human broth has onion and my understanding is onions are toxic to dogs. I am very excited to introduce healthy greens into her diet. By the way she LOVES her Zogoflex!! Thank you for that tip!

    Reply
    • Emma says:
      7 months ago

      Hi Kim, I can’t wait to hear what you think! Most health food stores sell bone broth that does not contain garlic or onions. However, if you are limited to packaged broth, a small amount of either should not be a problem. Artificial sweeteners and sugar are the most concerning to me. How fantastic that Willow loves her Toppl! Yay!

      Reply
  3. Gail Foote says:
    7 months ago

    I think I may try this recipe. I’ve been buying a product called Green Juju made in the PNW which is similar. I’ll use fermented fish stock which she loves as a bone broth. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Emma says:
      7 months ago

      Hi Gail! I am also in the PNW, so I have seen Green Juju pop up recently, along with Primal Pet Foods Elixirs. I think you’ll love my recipe because it is individually portioned and customizable. Fermented fish stock sounds perfect… Want to stop by and bring me some?! 😄 Any person or pup would be lucky to be under your thoughtful care! 💖

      Reply
  4. Denise says:
    7 months ago

    So amazing! I was just researching minutes ago healthy fruits and vegetables that George can eat. He gets broccoli and pumpkin every day, but I wanted a fun snack or treat outside of mealtime. Your post serendipitously popped into my email. 😊 I’m going to make these terrific cubes. I know George will just love them!! He says Woof! Happy birthday to Miles!!! Lucky 11. 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀❤️

    Reply
    • Emma says:
      7 months ago

      Hi Denise, clearly I read minds! 😂 George is SUCH a lucky pup, and he’d love these green cubes. I wish there was an emoji for them! Haha to the clover leaves! Shooting you an email now!

      Reply
  5. Mary Anne says:
    7 months ago

    Genius! I can’t wait to try this out. Thanks Miles and Emma!

    Reply
    • Emma says:
      7 months ago

      Yay! Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions! I can’t wait to hear what you think. 😀

      Reply
    • Mary Anne says:
      7 months ago

      OK, I made my version tonight…kale, blueberries, chicken bone broth and like you did, kelp in the bottom of the trays. Easy peasy and the dogs LOVE the taste. Wish I could attach a picture so you could see! Thanks Emma and Miles!

      Reply
      • Emma says:
        7 months ago

        Hi Mary Anne! How fantastic! Email me (click here) some pics!

        Reply
  6. Sue Jett says:
    7 months ago

    Hi Emma
    Can’t wait to try these! Pippin loves anything green already so the cubes will be an extra treat.

    Reply
    • Emma says:
      7 months ago

      Hi Sue! That is great! I can’t wait to hear what she thinks. How cute that she loves green things!

      Reply
  7. Elise R says:
    5 months ago

    Both Lily and Ceri love this! I am certain it has helped with Lily’s IBD issues. Thanks for sharing all of your great recipes.

    Reply

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