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Summer is here and that means fresh berries are abundant. As you put together weekly menus to include this fruit in your regime, consider sharing with your dog. Blueberries and strawberries are a nutritional powerhouse for both of you. Furthermore, your dog will thank you for baking this fruit into some summer dog treats.
Health Benefits of Berries in Summer Dog Treats
Firstly, sharing fresh berries with your dog, helps them to stay healthy in more ways than one. According to the American Kennel Club, fresh fruit helps with aging and strengthens the immune system. In addition, fresh fruit helps dogs with weight management. Plus,fresh fruit can help with your dog’s teeth.
Blueberries
Blueberries are a low-calorie food that are rich in antioxidants. Therefore, antioxidants help minimize the effect of free-radicals, which cause damage at a cellular level.
Blueberries are rich in potassium, an essential mineral that plays an important role in your dog’s overall health. Moreover, the vitamin C and fiber that blueberries provide are beneficial to your dog’s health.
With fiber, potassium, antioxidants, and low sugar, blueberries are a perfect sweet treat for the summertime. Furthermore, your dog will love cooling down with a few frozen blueberries. In addition, your dog will love it when you add blueberries to homemade summer dog treats.
Strawberries
This fruit is chock full of antioxidants, fiber and vitamin C which helps strengthen a dog’s immune system. Furthermore, strawberries have natural anti-inflammatory agents that can help your dog with arthritis pain
Research shows that strawberries can help “whiten” your dog’s teeth. Strawberries contain an enzyme known as malic acid. In addition, this enzyme allows the particles on dog’s teeth to break away.
Strawberries can be given fresh, frozen or added to homemade summer dog treats.
Give Berries in Moderation
On the contrary, excessive consumption should be avoided due to the sugar content, even though it is low. When it comes to blueberries, Dr. Karen Becker with Mercola Healthy Pets encourages clients to watch the portions. She says that too many can cause digestive upset.
She suggests to give no more than a blueberry per pound of body weight a day. For example, a 10-pound dog can have up to 10 blueberries a day.
Just remember that strawberries are naturally sweet and too much can cause diarrhea or gastrointestinal upset.
Making Berry Parfait Biscuits
After researching the benefits of both of these fruits, I decided to create a summer dog treat recipe. I decided to call this recipe a parfait. In addition to the two berries, it contains banana flour, coconut, and oats. This sounds like a perfect combination for a berry parfait to me.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- coconut oil
- eggs
- almond flour
- banana flour
- blueberries
- strawberries
- rolled oats
Preparing Step by Step
Firstly, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then, gather your ingredients.
Second, melt the coconut oil in the microwave.
Third, combine both flours and the rolled oats in a medium bowl.
After that, add the coconut oil and eggs to the dry mix. Then, mix well.
Next, add in blueberries and strawberries.
Then, knead with your hands and form a ball of dough. (If the dough is sticky, add some more almond flour. You want the dough to have a play dough like consistency.)
Cover your counter with parchment paper and add some almond flour to the surface. Then roll out the dough with a almond floured rolling pin.
After that, cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters. As you can tell from this picture, I used two different sized bone shaped cookie cutters. I was able to get 14 large and 64 small bone shaped biscuits out of this recipe.
Next, place the shapes on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. (different ovens will vary cooking times)
Lastly, let the biscuits thoroughly cool before sharing them with your fur baby.
In Conclusion
I do not sell my treats, but I love to make little goody bags to share with my fur-iends. I always get lots and lots of tail wags and doggy kisses.
My favorite part of making homemade dog treats is sharing them with Bella and Edward. They watch every single step I make preparing the treats and wait so patiently.
How do you share blueberries and strawberries with your dog? We would love to hear about in the comments below.
If you would like to save this post with recipe, you can use one of the images below to pin to Pinterest. You also have the option to print the recipe below.
Berry Parfait Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup banana flour
- ½ cup blueberries
- ½ cup strawberries
- ¼ cup rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Melt coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl.
- In a medium bowl, combine both flours and rolled oats.
- Add coconut oil and eggs.
- Mix well and add blueberries and strawberries.
- Knead with your hands and form a dough ball.
- On almond floured parchment paper, roll out dough with an almond floured rolling pin.
- Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters.
- Place on a greased baking pan and bake for 15 to 18 minutes.
- Let the biscuits thoroughly cool before sharing with your fur babies.
- Be ready for lots of wags from them.
Notes
- YOU SHOULD NOT FEED YOUR DOG CANNED FRUIT OR FRUIT IN SYRUP!
- Another variation to this recipe I have tried is instead of using 2 cups of almond flour, I used…
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