Archive for the ‘dogs’ Category

Yeah, it’s been a while. I’m a horrible blogger! I don’t feel like I have anything interesting to say that anyone wants to read about. LOL Not that this will interest anyone either…but I’m finally gonna blog a little bit.

First things first…update on miss Beans kitty. She is doing fine right now…no new seizures or anything, so we’re just going to keep an eye on her still. I don’t know what we’ll do if the seizures are going to be a regular thing. I honestly don’t think I can deal with two epileptic animals and good Lord, there is absolutely NO way to medicate that little kitty! She doesn’t let us pick her up! So, we’ll see. I may have to look into giving her up to a rescue. I don’t want to do that, but seriously, I can’t deal with it. Judge me if you will. I already have an epileptic dog, 3 other cats, another dog and a sick husband…I cannot take one.more.thing. We’re not to that point yet anyways. She’s only had the two seizures, and I’m hoping the 2nd was stress related. So we’ll see. Plz think positively for our little girl.

Google Reader. Google reader is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful too of pure and utter WIN! I don’t know WHY on earth I didn’t start using this sooner! I follow about 15 or so blogs. Most are scrapbooky type blogs, but some are regular ones. I just like stalking some people. LOL Anyways…before, I’d have them all listed in a sidebar on my Blogger blog and when they updated it would let me know, so I put my own blog into my “Morning Coffee” rotation (If you have Firefox and have a number of sites that you visit on a regular basis, I highly recommend this add on! It’s too cool!) But now, with the Google Reader, all of my blogs that I follow are in one spot! How convenient is that?? LOL I am slow, I know!! I never understood “feeds” and RSS and all that…but I am loving it now! I even added a couple blogs that I sometimes go to, but weren’t on my old list. Yeah…welcome to 2000, Heidi. LOL

I need to put little lines in or something when I switch subjects abruptly. lol Maybe stars or something. I dunno.

**New Meds: My husband, as you may or may not know, has a number of Autoimmune diseases including Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome and Lupus. He’s been diagnosed since 2004 when he had a DVT in one of his calves. He’s had a number of TIA’s since then and a lot of other diseases and syndromes have been added to the list. We’ve stuck together through the good and bad of it, and although it is stressful, we deal with things as they come.

Anyway, he has been asking his new hematologist if he could be put on Plaquenil for a few visits and this past week he finally wrote the hubbs a script for it! It’s really supposed to help him with some of his APS and Lupus issues, which will be great. I’m so glad he finally got it…but the side effects so far are kind of crappy…heh, pun intended. He’s back and forth from the bed to the bathroom all night long…which then wakes me up, so I’ve had a few of the worst night’s sleeps EVER lately! Everyone we know who’s on this med says it will subside after a week…I sure hope so! I can only imagine what he’s going thru, but it’s driving me CRAZY to get no sleep and then to have to work for 8 hours…then do it all over again!

Now…the Duggars…

Tuesday nights at 9:00pm I watch the Duggars (18 & Counting) on TLC. This family fascinates me! I have been watching them since they had just a couple special documentary type shows on whatever channel…TLC, Discovery…not sure. I watched out of curiosity at first, but now…they truly fascinate me. I can’t get enough of them! In a total good way too.

In this day and age having so many children is odd…being self sufficient with this many children? OMG I have to hand it to them! And she homeschools? Michelle Duggar is destined for saint-hood. I don’t care what anyone thinks…this family is awesome. I don’t want to live my life like that or anything, it’s fine for them, not for me. But it’s so interesting to me.

My husband makes fun of me for watching it. I don’t care. I like the Duggars. I like their family values, and I think in this day and age, families like theirs are a rarity. Maybe not in Arkansas or around where they are from…but definitely where I’m from. So many families are breaking up and everything…it’s great to showcase a family where the love is strong like that.

So there. My Duggar love has been revealed. It’s better than watching Jon and Kate…UGH! I am SO SICK of THOSE two! (that’s a whole nothing blog!)

*************
On to Sparkly Vampires!………

So yes, I have the mad, mad love for Twilight and all things related – sparkly, vegetarian, vampires…and OMG check that smile above!!! *swooooon*

Ok, I had a point…got distracted by the Edward Cullen…

Oh yeah, so I was listening to the Sookie Stackhouse books on my iPod for a while, but I only have 1-5 and then #8 I think…and I was on #5 and didn’t want to finish #5 and then want to keep going and not be able to, so I abandoned Sookie. Sorry Sooks, but I can’t keep going, so until I get at least #6 and 7…I’m taking a Sookie break.

So I spent a couple days listening to CD’s on the iPod…Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Paramore, Pink and the Twilight Soundtrack…and then decided to listen to Breaking Dawn again. My VERY favorite of all the Twilight books aside from Twilight itself.

Ahhh Breaking Dawn…although, it’s SO annoying to have book 2 of BD read by “Jacob”, it’s still my favorite. I think I’ve almost cried at least 10 times. I hate that too! I’m sitting there listening and working and choking back tears and sobs. My face gets all red and everything. Yuck! But yet, I listen on!

I’m almost done too…and then who knows what I’ll listen to…maybe I’ll take a vampire break…GASP! Not that! LOL I do have other books I haven’t listened to on my iPod! It’s not ALL Vampires! Some is Romance…hehe and yeah, some is even NORMAL!

*************
And I will leave you with some cuddly cuteness!

This is our Razzle kitty…he really likes it outside! If you click on the picture, you’ll go to my Flickr site and you can see a couple more photos of him just chillin’ on the table while we were sitting outside. He didn’t move for a long time…he just kept looking around. Usually he is trying to get down and explore, but this time he was pretty content just hanging out with us.

And these are our crazy pups! For some reason lately Topaz has been really playful…trying to get Onyx to play with him. She will for a little bit and then she just goes after him. She’s the boss, ya know. So this is Topaz trying to play with her. He kept getting on top of her and I snapped this while he was in the air!

Once they were done playing…he layed down in his pool. LOL silly puppa!

This was posted in my Epi-K9 list and it gives permission to cross post, so I thought I’d share.

As many of you already know, Xylitol, a natural sweetener, is very toxic to dogs, causing hypoglycema (low blood glucose) that can lead to depression, vomiting, seizures, and even death. Even a very small dosage can cause toxicity: 41 mg may cause hypoglycemia in a 100 lb dog, while a single stick of chewing gum may have two grams (2,000 mg) of Xylitol. See the following web sites for more info on Xylitol poisoning in dogs:

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/sep04/040901c.asp
http://www.aspca.org/site/DocServer/Foss-Tox_Brief-Nov_VT_04.pdf
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc_news082106
http://www.mainetoday.com/pets/dogslife/004476.html

Note that the sweeteners mannitol and sorbitol are NOT toxic to dogs.

I recently learned that there are a number of products marketed for dogs that contain Xylitol among their ingredients! Here is a list of the products that I found:

Advanced Dental Chews, made by Animal Dermatology Laboratories
http://www.calvetsupply.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1062

C.E.T. AquaDent (drinking water additive) and Petrodex Breath Spray For Pets, made by Virbac Animal Health
http://www.medi-vet.com/detail.aspx~ID~3009
http://www.virbacpets.com/petrodex/product.php?pid=198

BreathaLyser Plus and AQuala (drinking water additives), made by imRex, Inc.
http://www.healthypets.com/brwaad1.html
http://www.petacular.com/products/Aquala-Dog.html

CurTail Pet Food Enzyme Drops (used to treat gas), made by AkPharma Inc
http://acatdog.com/detail.aspx?ID=25

I also saw xylitol listed as an ingredient in Dragons Teeth and Dragonette Dog Biscuits made by Solid Gold, but it was not among the ingredients listed on their web site, so I wrote to the company and they told me that they removed xylitol from their biscuits about eight months ago, which was good to hear.

I have written to each of the companies that manufacture these products. Only two of the four companies responded. Here are the responses I received:

imRex (BreathaLyser Plus and Aquala) claimed that there wasn’t enough Xylitol in their product to be concerned about, but then said that “the dog will drink a maximum of 0.05grms per day.” 0.05 grams is 50 mg, enough to potentially cause hypoglycemia in a 100 lb dog. That also doesn’t account for owners who might give more than the recommended amount, or spills that the dog might lap up. There’s simply no reason why a company should add a potentially toxic ingredient to products made for dogs, no matter how small the amount.

AkPharma (CurTail Pet Food Enzyme Drops) thanked me for contacting them and said, “We have never had a report of any such reactions in the 6 years that our product has been formulated with xylitol. Nonetheless, having seen the information that you sent, we are withholding sales until we investigate further.” I was very impressed with their response.

Neither Animal Dermatology Laboratories nor Virbac responded to my inquiry.

I would suggest contacting the companies that make these products and letting them know that you will not use their products, and will be warning others against them. If they hear from enough people, it should give them incentive to change their formulas.

It would also be helpful to let any company who carries these products know about the dangers. One company that I contacted has already decided to stop selling the product that they carried once they learned about the risks of xylitol. Again, if companies will not sell these products, the manufacturers will have to take action.

Here is the contact info for the companies that make these products:

Advanced Dental Chews
Advanced Animal Dental Laboratories, a division of Animal Dermatology Laboratories
P.O. Box 19097
Irvine, CA 92623
http://www.adlvet.com/
e-mail: adl
800-521-2525

C.E.T. AquaDent
Petrodex Breath Spray For Pets
Virbac Animal Health
3200 Meacham Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76137
http://www.virbacvet.com/
http://www.virbacpets.com/petrodex/product.php?pid=198
e-mail: mwalsh
800-338-3659

BreathaLyser Plus and Aquala – Dental Care Water Additives
imRex, Inc.
2 Pioneer Drive RR #5
Komoka, Ontario N0L 1R0
http://www.goimrex.com/
e-mail: romanowski
800-851-3819

CurTail Pet Food Enzyme Drops
AkPharma Inc. (note this company is already looking into changing their formula)
http://www.akpharma.com/curtail/curtail_index.html

Permission is given to cross-post this information to other lists.

Mary Straus
http://www.dogaware.com

Onibasu Link: http://onibasu.com/archives/kn/152034.html

I should rename this blog…Our adventures with RAW! LOL

Ok…so we got the food tonight. A little pricier than I had thought it was going to be, but we’ll see how long it lasts and how everything goes. I was paying this much a month for a month’s worth of dog food and canned cat food, so I think we can work it out for just the dogs. And yes…the animals are NOW eating better than the humans in the house…haha

I have a few tips for myself…The inexperienced RAW feeder.

A little tip…don’t attempt to feed this way on a day that you are really clumsy and inexperienced and NEED to feed the dogs something!! We ran out of kibble…totally. I needed to feed them something today…it was either cat food or this mix.

Tip two…also plan out to thaw the tripe…just in case the red beast doesn’t like the mixture. Which for some reason, he doesn’t!!! Well…I think it’s the consistency that he doesn’t like. Now the little black dog…she ate the shit out of that mix!! Tomorrow is the turkey necks…this will be interesting.

Tip three…remember that you have 3 VERY curious male cats who would also LOVE to sample a bit of that raw mix food. It’s very hard to measure and scrape off the thawed meat mix from the block when you have 3 nosy kitties all in your face.

Tip four…put the box of turkey necks just in the tub…no water, no nothing. Necks in a tub in water made for a huge mess. I was able to pull a few off for the next couple days and thank GOD for Freezer zipper bags…I will be splitting them up and refreezing some of them tomorrow.

Tip five…dig the other aluminum pan out of the garage tomorrow and buy another one. kitchen bowls will not cut it.

Tip six…remember to breath and know you’re learning as you go. It will all be ok. You bought enough food for a month.

******************

Tips are over for now. lol

Anyway…yeah, the cats would LOVE to eat a bowl of the mix. All of the boys were all over the counter and licking the spoon and bowls and everything!!

And tell me why the little black dog gobbled it all down and Topaz kind of picked up a mouthful and then spit it out everywhere. I added a little tripe and he picked that all out. He’s a fruitcake!

I am so tired. I will write more tomorrow.

The adventure continues…H

I volunteer at an animal shelter on the weekends and sometimes during the week…

This past weekend we had a pet adoption like we do every weekend.

This weekend was different and special because we adopted out at least 4 … probably more that I’m forgetting … adult or near adult dogs – including a couple who have been with us for a very long time. We also adopted out 4 older cats – one who I thought would NEVER be adopted.

Buddah was brought in feral and just did not trust people at ALL! She would hiss and swat at people and scratch and everything. She just didn’t like anyone! Well this couple was adopting another cat, a little orange tabby female who is the sweetest thing and the man told the volunteer who was helping them that he wanted to give a second chance to a cat who may not otherwise get adopted. WOW! The volunteer immediately showed them Buddah and told them about her short comings. And they decided to adopt her as well.

There are still good people out there. And that was TRULY a Christmas Miracle if I’ve ever seen one…I have tears as I type this…and I had tears on Saturday too.

I wonder what Buddah is doing right now in her new home.

Thing about the weekend that was so cool…we had two litters of puppies there, and although a couple puppies did get adopted, it was mostly older dogs and the cats.

Just.Wow.

H