Mini Meatball Pill Treats Your Dog Can’t Resist!
Here is a great way to use ground beef to make mini meatballs for your dog’s pill treat. Your dog will love it and you will love how easy it is to get your dog to take his pill. I'm about to make dinner and the recipe that I'm using only calls for half a pound of ground beef. Rather than freezing the other half for another time, I’m going to use the left-over ground beef and make mini meatballs for rubies pill treats. This is an incredibly simple and healthy pill treat option that I make all of the time. Preheat the oven for 350 degrees and grab a baking sheet.
If you like you can cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up. I’m going to use half a pound of ground beef but you can use a pound of beef to make more meatballs.. You can do this with any ground meat like ground turkey, ground chicken, or lamb. I typically use beef because I always have beef in the freezer. Make sure you never use ground meat with seasonings in it. It needs to be just the meat with nothing else added. Also, be aware if your dog has any sort of sensitivities. I know that some owners of dogs with epilepsy have reported that chicken and turkey can be a trigger for their dog’s seizures. So you want to make sure that you know your dog and what your dog can have and can't have. Ruby does well with all meat so I try to rotate through the different meats to give her variety. I’m not a veterinarian or dog nutritionist. I’m just a dog owner that knows what works for my dog with epilepsy. Be sure to ask your veterinarian if you have any questions regarding your dog's diet or health.
Pinch off enough ground beef to make the mini meatball size that will be big enough for the size of your dog’s pill. Roll the beef between your palms to create a small ball of beef. Place the small balls of beef on the foil covered baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the size of your mini meatballs and how cooked you would like them to be. I bake them long enough so there is still a little pink inside when I cut the mini meatball open.
Once the mini meatballs have been baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool before transferring them to an airtight container for the refrigerator. When it is time to give your dog their pill, cut a little tiny slit in the mini meatball with a knife and just slip the pill inside. It’s that easy!
If you’d like more ways of creating at home pill treat options for your dog check out my Homemade Pill Treat book here. In the book there is another version of this recipe that is a bit fancier and involves more ingredients. I more often am in a hurry and make the version above. The mini meatball also makes for a wonderful treat in between pill time or if you have a dog that doesn’t take any medication and you just want a healthier treat option.
If you have a dog that normally would eat the meatball but won’t if the pill is in it, there is a very good chance they can smell the medicine on the food. The smell of the pill may have transferred from your fingers to the meat. A way to avoid this is to use one hand to put the pill into the mini meatball and the other hand to give your dog the pill treat. Another option is to place the pill in the slit you created with the knife in the mini meatball, wash your hands, and then give your dog the treat. You can also use the knife you used to create the slit for the pill to push the pill into the mini meatball rather than use your finger. Anything to avoid transferring the smell of the pill to the outside of the mini meatball.
So that is the super easy way to use ground beef to make mini meatballs to use as a healthy pill treat for your dog. Using only meat as a pill treat is a great option if your dog is having some digestive issues and you want to take a break from anything that might be causing stomach upset. Check out the video below to watch me show you how to make the beef mini meatball pill treat.