#vegan dogs

So my friend Townes Van Dogt is staying with me for the week and I decided to make her vegan pupsicles! She’s not vegan and I know a lot of other dogs aren’t either but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a vegan treat!

I was inspired by this awesome site I found, Doggy Dessert Chef. It has a ton of fun recipes for treats and pupsicles and you can even sort just to see the vegan ones! The site doesn’t have this exact combination of flavors that I know Townes likes so I just kind of jumbled it together loosely using some of the recipes as a reference. And the Doggy Dessert Chef had the brilliant idea to use bully sticks in place of a popsicle stick so I found these great vegan jerky sticks by Whimzees to use in mine! Worked like a charm! 

Also if you’re looking for a pop mold, I highly recommend this one from Zoku. You can pull each pop mold out individually to run under warm water when your pup is ready for one. 

Now, the instructions! This made 4 pops in that Zoku mold.

Ingredients:
water
¼ cup unsalted peanut butter* 
1 ripe banana
coconut oil** 

*preferably raw. And the internet says make sure it doesn’t have the artificial sweetener xylitol bc it’s extremely toxic to dogs. See more dog safety tips for pb here. 

**read about the many health benefits of coconut oil for dogs here! Also note that it says start slow when introducing coconut oil to your pup; Townes already eats a bit every day but if your pup doesn’t, you can just top your pops off with a little to start. The guide says to introduce it by starting at a ¼ teaspoon a day for small dogs or puppies, and 1 teaspoon for big dogs. So you could just top each pop off with the right amount based on your doggo’s size. 

Directions:
Take your peanut butter and mix in some water–between ½ cup and a cup (though I eyeballed it tbh). Just add a little at a time until it gets to a smooth soupy consistency. Distribute it evenly in your pop molds.

Next you take a sheet of tinfoil and place it over your molds, then stick a jerky stick into each mold. The tinfoil will keep them from falling over. I pierced a little hold over each mold to get the stick in. Freeze for ½ an hour.

Now mash your banana and mix it with about ¼ to ½ cup of water. You could also mix this in a blender but I had a nice ripe banana and just mashed it with a potato masher. 

Next, get your pop mold out and take the tinfoil off, the sticks should stand on their own now. Pour your banana mush in each mold over top of the peanut butter. Freeze for another ½ hour.

Finally you just top each off with some coconut oil! If your coconut oil is too solidified, I would microwave it for a little and then let it cool to room temp, it should still be liquid. Freeze for several hours; Doggy Dessert Chef says 8…I got impatient around 4…oopsies  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Here is Townes enjoying the final product!!!:

Today I felt like cooking. I made some taco soy curls, no-cheese sauce, marinated mushrooms, and broccoli. The boys like to hang around in case I have something for them, which I always do. I keep it healthy by giving them broccoli.