Homemade & Healthy Flea Repelling Dog Treats

Flea season can be exasperating for both pet owners and their pets. We can apply flea and tick preventatives on our dogs, we can vacuum our homes, wash the pet bedding regularly, and yet every time we open our door to the great outdoors those little pests are lurking to hitch a ride back inside.

The diet can have an influence on just how attractive those fleas find our pets. By adding ingredients such as brewer's or nutritional yeast and garlic, we can help our pets to be a bit less appealing to biting, blood sucking fleas.

Bake*A*Bone is a wonderful kitchen gadget that will make the process of homemade treats so much less of a hassle. There is no rolling out the dough or cutting with cookie cutters, both of which can be fun, but realistically, in any given busy week, I for one just never got it done. But using a Bake*A*Bone grill is so much less messy and saves money by not having to heat up the oven.



Below are two sources to find this little grill online. It'll cost about $24.00 and makes for a wonderful Holiday Gift Idea for an animal lover.

Bake*A*Bone from Amazon

Bake*A*Bone from Coupaws
Coupaws is a site of great deals and every purchase provides six meals to pets in need.

Included with the grill is a little book full of delicious recipes made up of wholesome, healthy ingredients. No preservatives, no added coloring or flavoring, no chemicals period. Just good for your dog foods that are great supplements and add variety to their ordinary diet.

Here is a recipe not included in the book. It is a treat that acts as a natural flea repellent.

FLEA-BE-GONE DOG BISCUITS (from the 2015 edition of the Farmer's Almanac)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 cups flour of choice
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup brewer's or nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chicken broth

Directions:

Stir the vegetable oil and garlic powder together in a mixing bowl.
In another larger bowl, mix the remaining ingredients.
Slowly add the oil and garlic mixture to the dry ingredients followed by the chicken broth.
Mix thoroughly until you get a doughy consistency.

Follow the directions that come with the Bake*A*Bone to bake your treats. The grill makes four at a time and each batch will take about 10 minutes baking time. Being the dough is thick it is easier to just add a small blob to the bone indentation and not worry so much about how perfect each one looks. If you want perfectly shaped bone shapes, you can pinch off the excess once they are baked.



To make these without a grill:
Roll dough onto a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.
Use a knife to cut dough into squares or use cookie cutters to make shapes.
Place cut dough onto a large, ungreased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are brown.
Allow the treats to cool completely and then store in plastic bags or tight containers.

The biggest challenge is setting a limit on how many of these your dog gets in a day. My dogs love them to the point I could be offering them far too often than I normally would just because I know how healthy they are.

Another great perk with these treats is that there is no crumbly mess left behind as there so often is with the typical dog bones. If you want them crunchier, the book says to preheat your oven to 350 degrees, place the baked treats on a cookie sheets and put into the preheated oven. Then turn off the oven and just let the treats sit in the turned off oven for 4-6 hours to dry out.

These dog bones will probably get eaten up before you have to worry about spoilage, but they can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for longer storage.