Home Made Dog Cookies - Carrots and Meat

 Carrot and Meat Dog Cookies in Heart Shapes

Here is a Kilohana K9s healthy dog cookie recipe. Sometimes we get tired of talking about Bed Bugs! These cookies are loved by Zoey and Daisy anytime we make them. We are sure your dog will love them too!

This recipe calls for shortening, but we use butter. Butter seems to work just fine but you may prefer shortening for your dog.

Meat and Carrot Dog Cookies
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups sifted whole wheat flour
4 Tbs Powdered Buttermilk
1 cube of bouillon, crumbled or 1 tablespoon powdered bouillon
1 cup cooked ground pork or pork and beef mixed
1 cup grated carrots
6 tablespoons shortening or butter
1 xtra large egg or 2 medium eggs
1/2 cup cold water, if or as needed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (or 180-190 C) depending on your oven. 

In a large bowl, mix the flour, powdered milk and bouillon. Add the cooked meat, grated carrot, shortening and egg, while adding water gradually until you get a firm ball of dough. You may find you don't need the entire 1/2 cup of water.

Lightly flour your rolling surface and then roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) thickness. Use what ever design cookie cutters you desire, I use 'hearts' or 'dog bone' shapes. Cut out the shapes of dough and place them on the baking sheet. Use a Silpat baking/cookie sheet or lightly oil a plain cookie sheet. Silpat works the best. You can put them fairly close together, but not touching. They do not spread during baking.

When you make heart shaped cookies, I have found that pressing my finger lightly and making indentations at the top of the hearts makes them formed better (after peeling them off the rolling surface and placing them onto the Silpat in which they sometimes get malformed a bit) and it adds a cute texture when they are finished baking.

 Dog Bone shaped cookies on the Silpat baking sheet.

Add Some Cheese!

Here is a photo of some cookies made in the shape of stars with cheese.  I added just a pinch of shredded cheese on top of each cookie before baking for an extra flavor treat (click on photo to enlarge and see the cheese more closely). You can see the cheese melted nicely while baking. I used a cheddar and jack cheese mix on these cookies, but you could put almost any kind of semi-hard cheese such as cheddar, mozzarella, gruyère, edam or jarlsberg.

Bed Bug Eggs - Often Blamed for Failed Eradication

 Magnified photograph of viable (unhatched) bed bug eggs. You can see the little end 'plug' which is where the nymph crawls out of the egg upon hatching.  

(photo by Brittany Delong from Virginia Tech)

This post will focus on the eggs of the bed bug. Often times bed bug eggs are cited and blamed as a reason for failed treatments for bed bug infestations. Not all insecticides used on bed bug infestations are capable of killing the eggs. Additionally, many eggs seem to survive heat and cold treatments, but this is not necessarily due to the eggs being stronger than a live bed bug. Research suggests that instead, bed bug eggs often survive treatments due to their placement in very protected locations. 

The female bed bug deposits her eggs in protected places, even very tight places such as tiny crevices and cracks no wider than the thickness of a razor blade. Some of the most common places eggs are laid are the inside the box springs and the coils of a bed, also behind peeling wallpaper, in closets and along or behind baseboards. In such areas, an exterminator's treatment may not reach the hidden eggs well enough to kill them. 

An adult female typically lays up to 5 eggs per day depositing them in a wide variety of locations, both on and away from a bed. An adult female may lay up to 500 eggs during her lifetime. 

 Adult bed bug on a shred of paper, with 3 unhatched eggs next to it.

(Photo by T. Nakamura, Kilohana K9s)

There is not alot known about the make-up of bed bug eggs. However we do know the following facts; 

• Eggs hatch approximately 7-10 days after being deposited by the female, but the timing of the hatching depends quite a bit on the air temperature. The eggs do not need a mother around to hatch.
• When the eggs are laid, a glue-like material covers them allowing them to adhere to the surface they are laid on. They are attached quite well, requiring the use of a stiff brush to dislodge them. After hatching occurs, the eggshells frequently remain stuck in place.
• The eggs are very tiny and sort of whitish, almost clear in color. They are very hard to see without magnification, especially on light-colored surfaces.  

Bed bug eggshells, after nymphs have hatched. 

Research has shown that with 'cold treatments' it may take 15 days at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) to kill bed bug adults and 30 days to kill bed bug eggs.  The use of a steamer kills both bed bugs and eggs on contact. Once again, if the eggs are not able to be reached due to their placement, then the steam cannot kill them. All life stages of bed bugs (adult, larva, and eggs) die within minutes at an air temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius). At this high temperature they will 'dry up', so to speak. 

 Close up of 3 eggs laid on a shred of paper. The tip of the pencil is pointing towards them and is shown for size comparison. 

(Photo by T. Nakamura, Kilohana K9s)

Here are newly hatched nymphs (the pencil tip is pointing to them) next to the egg shells (now empty due to the hatching). As you can see, when they first hatch, the nymphs are nearly transparent and just slightly larger than the eggs (these nymphs are about 4-5 days old). Until they feed for the first time, they will be very difficult to spot with the naked eye.

(photo by T. Nakamura, Kilohana K9s) 

 Development of the newly hatched bed bug (called a nymph) to adulthood takes approximately 1 ½ - 2 months but it can take longer depending upon the environmental conditions and food availability. 

Electronic Bed Bug Repellent Devices Don't Work

One type of Ultrasonic device on the market today.

 

Today the NPMA printed a story from Sciencecodex.com, which provides information on another recent study of a product that is now for sale, which claims to deter bed bugs. ("Bed bugs are not repelled by commercial ultrasonic frequency devices", Posted on Sciencecodex.com: December 10, 2012) 

The story points out ultrasonic frequency pest control devices are available and marketed to the public now and that "despite the lack of evidence for the efficacy of such devices, they continue to be sold and new versions targeting bed bugs are readily available". Here are some excerpts from this story, showing once again, bed bugs are not a do-it-yourself problem.

"According to a soon-to-be-published article in the Journal of Economic Entomology, commercial devices that produce ultrasound frequencies are NOT promising tools for repelling bed bugs. In "Efficacy of Commercially Available Ultrasonic Pest Repellent Devices to Affect Behavior of Bed Bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)," , authors K. M. Yturralde and R. W. Hofstetter report the results of their tests of four commercially available electronic pest repellent devices designed to repel insect and mammalian pests by using sound."
 
"The devices, which were purchased online, were used according to manufacturers' instructions. A sound arena was created for each ultrasonic device, in addition to a control arena which featured no sound. However, the authors found that there were no significant differences in the number of bed bugs observed in the control (no sound) and sound arenas, and that bed bugs were neither deterred nor attracted to the arena with the sound device".

These types of devices often claim to repel many different types of pests. 

They do not help with bed bugs.

 

What Do Bed Bug Bites Look Like?

 An adult bed bug feeding.

When people get bit by a bed bug for the first time, they may not know it. Many people do not know what bed bug bites look like and the reactions to bed bugs bites are very individualized.

Not realizing you have been bit by a bed bug is common when the bed bug infestation is at a low level and when traveling or staying somewhere other than your home. In these cases, people may notice they have been bitten by something, but think that it might have been something like a spider or mosquito. Often times, two people can be in the same bed but only one person seems to be suffering from bites. This causes people to conclude that the person with the bites must be getting bit somewhere away from the person who appears to be free of bites. However, this is not the case.

The truth is that people show varied reactions to bed bug bites, including no reaction at all! Each person reacts (or doesn't react) differently. Just because one person doesn't seem to be bitten does not mean they are not getting bit. And for those that have reactions and know they have been bitten, there are many different ways they will show a reaction to the bites. Additionally, some people do not show a reaction until they have been bitten repeatedly over a period of time, such as after 6 months.

Typically, bed bug bites will appear in little groups of 3-6 raised bumps that are red or pink and they can be itchy or not. Most of the time, the bumps do not appear right away, usually about 48 hours after being bitten! If the infestation is at lower levels, there may be only one place showing such little groups of bites, such as a hand or an elbow, but when larger populations of bed bugs are present, you may see such groupings of bites all over an arm, leg or one's back or neck and shoulders, or anywhere else on the body. Some reactions are severe and cause large swelling areas that are extremely itchy and red, even with just one bite. These types of reactions are believed to be due to an allergic reaction to the bed bug. 

So as you can see, if you are not acquainted with a bed bug bite in the past, it can be hard to know if you have been bitten by a bed bug or not.

Here are some photos that might help you with identification. You can also do a Google Images search to see many photographs of bed bug bites. 

 A small group of bites, probably delivered by one bed bug on one day/night. Even these little bites from just one instance of being bitten, 
can be incredibly itchy!

 Another small group of bites on someone's hand, probably 
delivered by one bug at one feeding time.

 A severe reaction to what appears to be one instance of being bitten 
(one bug and delivered on one night or day). 

This person has large reactions to bed bug bites as well as probably being bitten by multiple bugs on multiple occasions. You would typically see such bite patterns, covering more areas on a person's body, in someplace that has a larger population of bed bugs present and the person is 
constantly being bitten, night after night.