Macaroni and Cheese For Endurance Dogs

Summer’s here and you’re armed with plenty of activities to do with your dog. However, your energetic dog seems to be lagging behind after a 10-minutes jog. This can’t be right, you fed him a “well-balance” diet only an hour before.

What many don’t know about running with their dogs is that dogs, like us, need more complex carbohydrate (than usual) in their diet before going for endurance run.

There are some commercial dog foods that are designed for this purpose. But if you don’t want to buy another bag of kibbles or spend countless hours in the kitchen cooking for your dog, then this easy homemade macaroni and cheese is just superb for your dog.

Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese

Servings: Approximately 8 small-sized or 3 medium-sized dog meals.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of elbow macaroni
• 1 cup of non-dairy cheddar cheese shreds
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup of non-fat milk
• ¼ cup of peas or diced celery
• ¼ cup of carrot, diced
• ¼ cup of ground chicken breast or any lean meat of your dog’s choice except pork
• Pinch of garlic powder to taste

Method:

1. Cook the macaroni as the box instructed, al dente. You might want to give the salt a miss when boiling the macaroni. Your dog will be very thirsty after the run, so don’t make him yelp for more water for every 10-minutes run!
2. Heat oil in a saucepan, sauté the ground chicken breast and vegetables for 3 minutes.
3. Add in the cheese and milk over medium heat unit it melts. Stir often.
4. Pour over the drained pasta and mix well.
5. Add a pinch of garlic powder and allow it to cool.
6. Serve what is needed for that day and refrigerate the leftovers.

Special notes:

For dogs who love to crunch on carrots and celeries, add them when the creamy sauce is about done.

Limit this meal to twice or thrice weekly if your dog is a beginner daily jogger. Most beginners don’t have the stamina to run for 30 minutes or more hence the stored carbohydrate will turn to fats very easily if not “used.”

Remember this is a supplement meal; it should not be replaced over his regular kibbles. You may want to reduce his daily kibbles intake whenever you feed him macaroni and cheese.