Pumpkin Oatmeal Dog Biscuits

I am going to start this post with a disclaimer:

This is so not like me. I would normally be somewhat cynical about the idea of making homemade dog biscuits. Just being honest here.

But, our dog was just diagnosed with cancer this month, and she just turned six years old. The vet put her on a low-fat diet. It turns out, the "low-fat" dog food in the grocery store isn't really as low-fat as they want you to think. We had been buying the really "good" brands too. When I started seeing friends pinning recipes on Pinterest for homemade dog biscuits, I actually took notice.

We had just bought three big pumpkins to carve, and I was already planning on baking some of the pumpkin seeds. And, I had just ground up a bunch of oatmeal to use for oatmeal baths since our daughter has eczema during the winter months.

I thought, well, I'm always looking for projects to do with my little one, and since we have these ingredients, and since our dog has cancer, and since the prescription low-fat dog food is super expensive, we are going to do this!

So we did it. And it has been a huge success. I think my husband was pretty skeptical too. But the other night he told me: you should sell these things.

From what I've read, pumpkin is really good for dog's health. Perfect timing.

We really don't give out treats to our dog. So, we've basically used these squares to mix in with her food. And she loves it. I would highly recommend it!

I found tons of recipes online, but several used tons of peanut butter, which I wanted to avoid. So, I just kind of did the best I could, basing my recipes on the things I was seeing online. Here's what I did:

2c fresh pumpkin (pureed in food processor)
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp oil
1 tbs milk
2c brown rice flour (ground up brown rice in food processor)
3c oat flour (ground up dried oats in food processor)

First, I mixed all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Then, I floured a large baking sheet and a rolling pin. I rolled the mixture out onto the baking sheet, and then I cut the dough into small squares, around 1.5 inches. I baked on 350 for 25 minutes, and then I flipped them over and cooked for an additional 15-20 minutes, until they were hard, but not burned.