Ribs! Every day!
Just kidding.
He very rarely eats table-food.
Rib night on S/V Mother Jones: K was so confused by this rare treat he carried it around for a while before chowing down. Don’t you think he makes a great warthog?
He used to eat store-bought food (which is available everywhere – Islanders have dogs, too, y’all!).
But, then, a year into cruising with his diet changing from port to port, he started to display signs of a chronic allergy.
scabby skin and molting hair turned Mr. K into a little leopard
After months of antibiotics and careful environmental controls, we started making his dog food on board. Guess what happened after we switched his diet: no more infections. Our pup gets the following mix made every three days for twice-daily servings:
- 1 ounce of olive oil
- 2 cups of rice
- 15 ounces (1 can) of beans
- 15 ounces (1 can) of veggies (we don’t do corn, but we’ve used sweet potato, carrots, mixed, etc)
- 9 ounces of protein (tuna, chicken, sardines, and once a bunch of leftover mahi mahi)
- **8/2013 update**: we’ve since added this multivitamin supplement to ensure he gets the amino acids and minerals he needs. Our dog takes vitamins, y’all!
I received a word of caution to rinse as much canned ingredients as possible to remove sodium; we do this as we can.
K’s review of his new food is obvious as he starts sniffing the air longingly as soon as the rice starts to boil – this dog is weird, y’all!
We’ve also taken to giving K a can of sardines every week so he can get those good fish oils for his skin and hair.
Since starting his new diet in May of 2013, we’ve experimented with recipes and portion size. We originally used more rice than we now know to use (we still use the same amount in the recipe, but we added more veggies & protein to the mix). Also, at first we were only giving him about a two cups of his new food during his morning and evening meals. This proved too little as his #2s looked like tiny, little rabbit droppings and he began to drop weight quickly (from switching from McDonald’s to a clean-burning diet). Now, we up his meal portions and his, err, other portions have responded reciprocally.
Also, while we visited in Austin this August, we took the opportunity to discuss K’s new diet with his awesome vet. She gave us a stamp of approval for our home-made regimen, but also recommended we add a multi-vitamin supplement when we were able. In other words, K will do just fine in far-flung ports of call with his basic diet. But, given we have the opportunity to ensure he gets all the essential vitamins, minerals & amino acids he needs, we choose to take advantage of our access to awesome products (while not in far-flung ports of call).
Luckily, one visit with Trevor at his Healthy Pet store and we were all set up! Trevor totally understood our needs and even offered to mail his awesome products (these multi-vitamin & glucosamine chews) to any far-flung ports of call we might be in! Amazing!
Trevor also hooked K up with this antler, which he LOVES! (and which cleans his teeth!)
Click here to jump to the next section: Shore leave? Limited freedom? (for us & him)