This is a really quick and easy recipe for a cracking Christmas dinner for your dog, which is really tasty but also much more healthy than feeding scraps from your Christmas dinner.

It only takes about 20 minutes to prepare, and about half an hour in the oven alongside your turkey.

You will need:

· 250g turkey mince

· A couple of medium potatoes (around 350g)

· 1 good sized carrot (around 200g)

· A handful of sprouts (about 250g)

· ½ teaspoon of Marmite (or similar yeast extract)

· 1 teaspoon cranberry sauce

· Gravy from your Christmas dinner

Method

1. Firstly, boil the potatoes and sprouts for 10-15 minutes until well-cooked. Then drain them and set about them with a masher until they form a rough and sticky mash.

2. Meanwhile, heat up a frying pan and gently brown the mince. You don’t need any oil as there is plenty of fat in the meat. Once the mince is cooked through, mix it into the mash, add in the cranberry sauce (great for urinary health), and finally, just to add a healthy dose of B vitamins and a bit of extra meatiness to the flavour, stir in the Marmite (don’t worry, dogs aren’t like humans – they all love yeast extract!)

3. While the mixture is cooling down, grease a baking tray - and then it’s time to get your hands dirty! Form the sticky mix into walnut-sized balls and smooth them off, before placing them on the baking tray.

4. Pop the tray into a moderate oven for half an hour or so – until the balls are nicely crisp and brown – and then take them out and let them stand for at least twenty minutes to cool down. Then arrange them in the dog’s bowl, pour over a little gravy and serve.

The content of this article should not replace the advice given to you by your vet. If you are in any doubt, please refer back to your pets veterinary surgeon  

If the romantic day should come around and there’s no-one to share it with this year, why not treat the dog to something truly special?

It’ll certainly bring you love – but perhaps not quite the kind of love you were looking for! Still, a slobbery kiss from the dog is better than nothing!

To make your dog’s Valentine dreams come true, you need to get:

· One lamb’s heart

· 1 carrot

· 1 leek

· 100g rice

Method

1. Take the heart and cover it with boiling water in a medium-sized saucepan.  Add in the chopped carrot and leek and let it all simmer for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet and allow it to cool down.

2. When the heart has finished cooking, drain off the water, and carefully slice it into thin strips. Put the cooked carrot and leek into a blender and reduce them to a thick puree.

3. Once everything has cooled down, serve the heart on a bed of rice and top with a spoonful of the vegetable puree.

The content of this article should not replace the advice given to you by your vet. If you are in any doubt, please refer back to your pets veterinary surgeon  

Ideal for a doggy birthday, this tasty pizza is healthy thanks to the layer of spinach which provided iron and vitamins, and the low-fat turkey mince on top.

The base is made from your dog’s normal dried food, so it’s got all the goodness he normally gets every day as well as the extra tasty topping.

For one medium dog-sized pizza, you’ll need:

· 100g dried dog food

· 75g plain flour

· 30g butter or margarine

· 100g spinach, finely chopped

· 100g turkey mince

· 50g grated cheddar cheese

Method

1. Firstly, you need to grind up the dried biscuits into a fine powder using a blender. Then moisten the kibble powder with enough warm water to make it into a really moist and gooey mess. Leave it to stand for ten minutes, and add more water if you need to, as the kibble absorbs a lot of water.

2. Next, add in the flour and slightly melted butter, and mix it all together to form a thick dough. It should form up into a nice dry ball which you can roll out on a floured surface until it’s about ¼ inch thick.

3.  For the topping, you need to fry up the turkey mince for five minutes or so and then mix it together with the finely chopped spinach. Cover the base with this mixture and finally, sprinkle on the grated cheese.

4. Cook in a moderate oven for 20-25 minutes – until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool thoroughly and then slice into wedges before serving. 

The content of this article should not replace the advice given to you by your vet. If you are in any doubt, please refer back to your pets veterinary surgeon  

This is a great recipe for really special occasions – perhaps your puppy has just had his vaccinations or passed out of puppy training school.

Whatever the occasion, he’ll love you for baking these crispy bones which are full of meaty goodness.

For 4 small bones, you will need:

· 50g butter or margarine

· 75g rolled oats

· 75g flour

· 1 egg

· ½ teaspoon Marmite

· 2 small leeks

· 125g beef mince

Method

1. Rub the butter, oats and flour together to form a crumbly mix. Then beat in the egg, mix in the Marmite and gradually add just enough hot water to make a sticky but firm dough.

2. Roll this out thinly on a floury board and cut it into 4 rectangles.

3. Next, take both leeks and remove the outer layers until they are about ½ inch thick all the way along. Coat them with a good layer of butter, and then roll two squares of the pastry around each one, leaving a gap in between. You should now have two leeks, each with two sections wrapped in pastry.

4. Lay these on a greased baking sheet, and cook them in a moderate oven for 25 minutes. Then take them out and carefully cut the leeks in half, in between the two sections of pastry. You should then be able to slide the leeks out from the pastry, leaving four firm tubes of pastry. Put these back in the oven to cook for a further ten minutes before letting them cool.

5. While the pastry is cooking, fry the mince until cooked through, and then stuff the bones with the meat, and voila, you have four delicious and healthy bones that your puppy will love!

The content of this article should not replace the advice given to you by your vet. If you are in any doubt, please refer back to your pets veterinary surgeon