The Saga Continues

I’m not real sure what to do with this information, yet, but here are some links with more information about the melamine contamination – very interesting . . .

• Tainted Feed in Indiana
• FDA Alert
• Link Between Pet Food, Kidney Failure

So, yesterday I switched Rusty from commercial dog food to a more dog-appropriate raw meaty bone diet. But due to budget constraints, I purchased big name chicken from the grocery store. I’m a little frustrated to find that the chicken I purchased could possibly have issues, as well, due to the feed they were given. Aaaargh!

But, if we manage to avoid any of this conaminated food and he survives the next few weeks (tongue in cheek), we’ll be able to join a co-op after we move that purchases grass-fed, organic, and natural meats for feeding our canine and feline friends.

So far, Rusty is loving the chicken. We’ll add one new protein each week, so eventually he’ll have more variety in his diet. If you’re thinking about changing your pet’s diet, here’s a link to a Yahoo group that is very helpful: Raw-Lite. They answer questions and are very supportive, AND non-judgemental about whatever feeding style you might choose. I am certainly very happy to have found them.

What to Feed the Dog??

I’ve written recently about my dog being ill, along with the pet food scare. I must say my dog’s illness was not directly related to the pet food – we did not have any of the recalled food. Although he is a relatively healthy dog, with only occasional bouts of illness (diarrhea, vomiting, ear infections), I believe the commercial diet we feed him does have a negative impact on his health. It is not a natural diet for a dog. In the back of my mind as I’ve made effort to eliminate certain types of food from our diet I knew the same types of issues existed for the dog, as well.

Several weeks ago, in the midst of the scare, I checked out the Weston Price website to see what they had to say about dog food. What they recommended was a raw meat diet. I brushed that aside and figured I’d find that cook book my mother-in-law had given and begin to cook him some mixture of food. Today, my husband gave me a news clipping about feeding your pet. They referred to PetStyle.com and claimed they recommended 1/3rd meat, 1/3rd grain, and 1/3rd vegetables. Well, I don’t know where the author got that from. In browsing the PetStyle.com site I’ve found two articles recommending the same raw meat diet as the Weston Price folks!

Aha! I just found an article by a vet recommending various brands of commercial pet food. So the above recommendations for preparing your pet’s food yourself are probably there, somewhere. So I suppose PetStyle offers a balance of the many differing opinions out there. But, the more I read about the raw diet for dogs and cats, the more sense it seems to make. The jury is still out and I’m not off to the butcher just yet. But I’m starting to lean more in that direction. My deadline for deciding and proceeding is before the current stash of dry dog food runs out. Here are some links to the raw diet info I’ve been reading:

• Trends in Home-Prepared Diets for Pets
• Optimum Pet Nutrition
• Dispelling the Myths of Raw Feeding
• Jane Anderson’s Raw Learning Sight - a wealth of information!
• Raw Fed Dogs

Doggy Update

I wrote the last post about my dog Saturday evening. We made it through the night without him having to go out, and he seemed back to normal Sunday. So we resumed his regular food. Eeeeeh, not so fast.

We arrived home Sunday evening and soon noticed he had the runs again. He has been making it outside, so no yucky accidents to clean up – thank goodness. But we skipped his breakfast.  Boy has he ever moped around today. I don’t know about other breeds, but the two bassetts we’ve had seem to be all about food. So, he’s very sad that we haven’t given him any, poor doggy.

So, for dinner tonight, he’s going to have some chicken and rice. I’m cooking about a quarter cup (dry) of rice. I will chop up some chicken my husband is grilling and mix that into the rice. I’ll probably need to continue that for a few more meals to get his system back on track. Anybody out there have any healthy recipes for dogs?

ADDED NOTE: It took about a week of chicken & rice to get him back to normal. The initial rice I made above was a trial run. The batches I made after that consisted of 1 cup water, 1 cup chicken broth, and 3/4 cup brown rice – cooked until liquid was absorbed and rice soft. Then I mixed in whatever chicken I had available. The last couple of days I started mixing in some dry food, gradually increasing the amount. He is now back on dry food only. We haven’t yet re-introduced any canned food.

FYI Pet Food Recall

We are visiting my folks for the weekend and have brought our canine member of the family-a big old floppy eared basset hound. He’s been getting into the resident dog’s food and has been given some different dog biscuits. We assume these are what have caused his not so fun case of diarrhea.

Well, tonight as I went to check my Yahoo mail, I came across a news story about a pet food recall, which includes Iams – the brand we use – specifically the foil packs we brought on our trip. It’s OK, as the date code on our foil packets are before the recalled codes. But they were produced at the same plant. So, likely our first assumption is correct. He’s gotten into stuff his system is not used to. Apparently the only pets reported ill have been cats, anyway. But, I would consider this a near miss. Whew!

Well, here’s a link to the Iam’s website regarding the recall: Voluntary Recall. And, here’s a link to the Yahoo article that brought it to my attention: Pet Food Recall.