Liver treats are a favorite for dogs. Apart from the taste, liver treats are also a great source of iron and other vitamins and minerals that promote the healthy development of your pet. Liver treats, however, can be very expensive when purchased from the pet shop or grocery. Make your own using scraps of liver in the kitchen through these easy steps.
Cook the liver. You will need fresh liver. Clean this thoroughly in running water. While cleaning the piece of liver, take a pot of water and boil it in the stove. When the water is boiling, place the liver and allow the liver to cook for about five minutes, until the flesh has lost the natural pink color. Once it is already dark, remove the meat from the water and rinse in tap water. Gently run your fingers through the liver to remove the slime and dirt.
Basic liver treat. At this point, you can already create a very basic liver treat by cutting up the liver into chunks or strips. These chunks can then be placed on a preheated oven at around 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave for about 20 minutes, until the leather has assumed a leathery texture. These treats can then be fed to your dog.
Create dough. If you want a tastier liver treat, however, turn the liver treats into a cookie. Do this by creating dough made from a combination of one and a half cup of unbleached flour, a cup of oatmeal, and half a cup of water. Combine these together and knead until you have dough. Cut the liver pieces into smaller pieces, and then add to the mixture. You can use a dough mixer to make sure that the liver chunks are well distributed into the dough.
Bake. Roll the dough into a flat surface and then use a cookie cutter to create bite size dog cookie treat pieces. There are cookie cutters that are shaped as doggie bones, to give the treats a distinct look perfect for your pets. Place a cookie sheet on a baking tray or spray on some nonstick spray onto the surface of the baking pan. Place the cookies on the pan and cook in an oven that has been preheated to a temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the cookies for thirty minutes.
Storage. Let the cookies cool down before feeding them to your dogs. You can also store the liver dog treats in an airtight Ziploc bag or in an old tin canister. Place these in the refrigerator so that the liver will not spoil. Remember to let the liver dog treats cool down first before storing in the refrigerator, since the excess moisture that hot products give off will accumulate as water droplets in the canister or Ziploc bags, which can in turn create soft and moldy liver dog treats.
Even with the rising costs of basic goods and commodities these days, making sure that your pet has the treats that he deserves is possible if you know how to create your own homemade liver dog treats.