Why did we start creating oat bars for dogs?

Getting Penelope, our Border Collie puppy

As parents to a 10-month-old baby and a 10-month-old puppy, we have had to find ways to keep both entertained at the same time. We have had to keep both our baby and puppy safe while they learn to interact with each other. More importantly, we have had to keep both our baby and puppy safe whilst we teach them how to interact with each other. That is our duty both as human parents and dog parents.

 

We got our puppy when our daughter was 4 months old and our puppy was 16 weeks old. We always joked that it was the perfect time for their bond would grow naturally when our daughter started weaning. And it did. Due to our daughter’s CMPA and reflux, we were advised by our dietitian to start early weaning as she was struggling with side effects from her medication. This meant that she started her weaning journey at just under 5 months old. This was just a few weeks after our puppy came home, Penelope, joined our family.

 

Dog Friendly Baby-Led Weaning

As we were starting so early, we were recommended by our dietitian to start with single-source pureed vegetables. And we took this as an opportunity to start growing the bond between our puppy and daughter. We selected dog-friendly vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes. We then fed these to our daughter and made sure to drop some from her chair for our puppy too. Naturally, our puppy began to associate our daughter with food, and positive experiences. Even though our daughter couldn’t walk, talk or do very much yet. We could see the bond starting to grow between them.

 

Our puppy's favourite thing to do became licking our daughter’s feet in her high chair whilst she waited for the next morsel of food to drop. It helped to keep both children entertained during mealtimes. And it helped to give me a quick break to have a sip of tea whilst our daughter fed our dog and our dog made our daughter giggle.

 

Over time, our daughters’ meals have adapted. However, we have always prioritised giving dog-friendly foods and preparing dog-friendly meals. This meant we could rest assured they could both enjoy a great variety of healthy foods whilst keeping each other entertained. Plus, their bond gets better every day. Even if they are still learning how to interact together.

 

Some of our early meals are what started the habit of freezing foods for our dogs. As we would stuff enrichment mats and toys with leftover meals and freeze them to keep the dogs entertained during naptime. And as our meals adapted, so did our routines. Our current routine is to have breakfast as a family and then feed the dogs breakfast and do training. But, quickly we started to break up leftover foods from our daughters’ plate to feed to the dogs as part of this training.

 

Oat Bars for Babies... and Dogs!

As our daughter has a cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA), she is at a higher risk for other allergies. She had an egg allergy on top of this so we have had to be extra cautious with what we feed her. Finding healthy breakfast meals without eggs and dairy has been very difficult but baking oat bars has been a saving grace. Especially for a child who is already very adamant about eating independently. And who wants things she can feed easily to the dogs. We very quickly started giving her peanut butter on our dietitians’ recommendation as it is one of the biggest allergies. Which was, of course, very happily accepted by the dogs. With bananas being her favourite food, it was natural for us to start creating peanut butter and banana oat bars for her. And then giving her leftovers to the dogs after breakfast for training sessions. Our oat bars are one of their most loved high-value treats. And yet, they contain no meat!

 

There are many theories out there as to what foods are high value for dogs. Some people swear by dry treats, some swear by kibble and others will only advocate for using moist foods as high value. However, I firmly believe that no two dogs are the same. Our puppy prefers a wide variety. Sometimes she will choose dry foods over moist. And sometimes she will choose moist foods over dry. To help keep her entertained and focused during training sessions we feed a wide variety of training treats. And the majority of these are homemade! They are simply leftovers from our daughters’ plates. This saves us valuable time and money. Which, you really cannot beat in a cost-of-living crisis.

 

And Finally...

This leads us to today’s recipe we are sharing with you. We have adapted this ever so slightly so it contains kefir milk rather than a dairy-free alternative. This is because whilst dairy-free alternatives can be safe for dogs to consume in moderation, it is usually healthier for them to eat kefir on a more regular basis if they can tolerate it.

 

As always. Some dogs will not be able to tolerate certain treats or certain ingredients. If your dog cannot tolerate dairy we would recommend substituting the kefir milk with water. If your dog cannot tolerate oats, then unfortunately I don’t think this is the recipe for them. However, we will be sharing more oat-free recipes in the future so please do check back for updates on our recipes section. We bake and make new recipes almost daily so there is always something new coming up. We have another 3 recipes just waiting to be written and uploaded already after our peanut butter and banana oat bars for dogs.

 

 

Banana and Peanut Butter Oat Bars for Dogs

 

Substitutions 

Peanut Butter

You can remove the peanut butter from this recipe if you are looking for a lower-fat alternative. Our dogs will eat these happily without the peanut butter on the days we have run out. However, if you have a very fussy eater we would recommend keeping the peanut butter in the recipe. If you would like to substitute for a different nut butter, both almond butter and cashew butter are safe for dogs. The only requirements are not to feed these too often. Plus, make sure you introduce them slowly to make sure your dog can tolerate them. Finally, check the ingredients to make sure they are 100% nuts and do not contain any dangerous ingredients such as Xylitol as this is very dangerous for dogs.

We speak about peanut butter and its health benefits for dogs in an upcoming nutrition article so make sure to check back soon. We will also be discussing our favourite UK-bought peanut butter – and they are all extremelyaffordable, starting at only £3 per kilo from your local supermarket!

 

Banana

If your dog doesn’t like bananas or cannot tolerate bananas, there are a lot of substitutions you can use instead for this recipe. Or you could remove it completely! With no banana, it means your bars may be a little drier than normal. But you can add in more kefir milk or peanut butter to compensate for this. Or simply, leave them as a dry treat for your dog to enjoy as it’s not essential.

If you would like to substitute, you can use Greek yoghurt, or sweet potato or even check out our homemade applesauce recipe for dogs (coming soon!)

 

Oats

We’ll be honest, there isn’t a great alternative for oats in this recipe. Purely because this recipe is designed to be an oat bar recipe for dogs. However, we do have a lot of oat-free recipes we will be sharing very soon. In the meantime, if your dog can tolerate oats, you can read all about the health benefits of oats for dogs here.

 

Kefir Milk

If you do not have kefir milk to hand or your dog cannot tolerate dairy you can substitute this for water. Alternatively, if it is just a case of not having any left in the fridge, feel free to mix water and Greek yoghurt to substitute instead for a creamier alternative. We discuss all of the health benefits of Kefir Milk for dogs here. Plus, you can read all about the health benefits of Greek Yoghurt for dogs here. Just make sure to keep an eye on the ingredients for these products to make sure they are 100% milk/yoghurt and do not contain any dangerous or harmful ingredients for your dog. It is also best to always introduce dairy slowly and to feed in moderation appropriately for your dog. Every dog is an individual and will have their individual and unique needs.

 

Click here to read about all the health benefits of Kefir milk for dogs.

 

Oat Bars for Dogs Recipe

Ingredients:

• 100g rolled oats
• 7 tablespoons Kefir Milk
• 1 banana
• 3 tablespoons Xylitol-free, dog-safe peanut butter

 

Method:

Step One:

Mash the banana until smooth

 

Step Two:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. All the ingredients should be evenly spread and all the oats should be coated in the mixture.

 

Step Three:

Decant into a microwave-friendly dish and spread evenly throughout the dish.

 

Step Four:

We use a 20cm x 14.5cm microwave-friendly glass dish for this recipe. If you are using a larger dish, you will need to reduce the cooking time. If you are using a smaller dish you may need to increase the cooking time as appropriate. The mixture will come away from the sides of the dish when it is ready.

For a 20cm x 14cm dish, microwave on high for 8 minutes.

 

Step Five:

As the mixture cools it will harden so do not worry if it is still a little soft at this stage. If it is runny, microwave again for an additional 2 minutes on high. Remove the dish from the microwave using heat-resistant gloves as the dish will be hot. Leave the dish to cool completely for 30 minutes or more.

 

Step Six:

When completely cooled, use a spatula to loosen the oat slab from the dish and turn it upside down onto a chopping board to decant.

 

Step Seven:

Slice into size-appropriate treats for your dog to enjoy! You can slice into long bars or you can chop up into cubes to use as training treats for training sessions with your dog.

 

Step Eight:

Feed to your dog and watch them enjoy!

 

 

This recipe will make approximately 16 bars for your dogs, or hundreds of training treats. It all depends on how you choose to slice them. However, as yummy as these bars are we do not recommend giving them as a substitution for their normal diet. They are designed to supplement their diet as a yummy treat rather than substitute their normal food.

 

If you make our peanut butter and banana oat bars for dogs recipe we would love to see it! Make sure you tag us on Instagram @woofandsnout and we cannot wait to see your dogs enjoy them too. Plus, don’t forget to leave a note in the comments to let us know what you thought of our recipe. If there are any other types of recipes you would like to see from us, let us know and we can tailor what we post next.

 

And finally, please help to support us in making more recipes for you and your dog to enjoy by taking a look at our store for your dogs’ apparel, grooming, treat and enrichment needs. Or, alternatively by giving us a follow, like and/or share on our Instagram account to help us reach more pup parents who would love our recipes or products too.

 

 

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