Food

I'm having doubts these days about the food I've been feeding Team Menace. It is a well-known very clever put together brand, but I caught them contradicting themselves on  their .com web page. By promoting a new product which is in step with the latest research, they invalidate most of their other senior and adult products. New information reveals (and it makes a lot of sense) that senior dogs need more protein and not less to combat muscular atrophy. The reasoning for the less protein was that it causes kidney problems in older dogs who's bodies can no longer break it down well enough. Turns out it is the highly processed protein in dry food that is the problem.

I noticed that in the recent months my pups weren't as strong as what they should be, Horton and Butter developed warts that should not have happened if their immune systems were in order. This happened after they were put on a senior light food. They did not lose the weight they picked up on the normal senior dog food.
Bofa started skipping breakfast. I could see that he was trying to avoid eating the dry food until it was the absolute last thing left in the bowl.
Nougat has not scratched this much since I figured out that she was allergic to the metal in her fancy tag. She had been wearing the plastic kind since then and was okay for a year until recently. (Mrs Fudge also made her a beautiful collar with no metal in it.)

Is our brand cutting corners in the current economic climate?

So off to the vet I went and picked two test packets of food from the opposite shelf, not a too expensive brand, but one at least backed by a well known superb brand that I've been avoiding since they classified Bassets as a medium sized dog.

Nougat loved the duck and rice allergen free sample and Bofa ate like a Basset with an appetite. Stupid me. I might just as well have sent Mr. Easily Distracted Horton to go and do the shopping. Protein was not even mentioned as a first ingredient in either of those two sample packets.

There are 5 and even 6 star brands out there in the world but you'll find none of it locally. The local companies import only a fraction of it and only what is rated as 3 star foods.

There are many many people advocating raw diets these days but the lines are very blurred. Reading, observation, instinct and common sense is needed here. It is still super tricky and it will be best if I can figure it out before the Bassets have aged another year.

So after that short explanation above, what I really want to say is that I'm attempting to supplement their food with real food, veg and meat and so forth. Yes, I cook for the Bassets but heat up frozen pizza for myself because of time constraints. They love it. I'll nail it soon. Give me six months or less.

something's cooking...

The Pet Mall

I'm sitting in a mall not older than a year and it is a dying mall. The bees have taken their credit cards and moved the hive elsewhere. What if it was turned into a pet mall?

Humans like me would not have to feel the 'rush home' itch after 30 minutes away from home. My movie starts only in another hour but I'm uncomfortable about wasting my time away from the pack because there is enough of that during the week.

I could bring them all with me!

 Instead of car guards there would be someone helping you get the hooligans out of the car without incident. The security guards will be patrolling with water spray guns - aggressive dog control.

There would be vet consultation rooms, pet gyms (where you'd get personal trainers - ha!), health shops, pet product convenience stores, boutiques for the Chihuahuas, a day care center, a games parlor where you can play catch the virtual rabbit, toy stores, cat-anariums, movie theaters (for the humans while the Bassets are at the games parlor), biltong bars, snack shops, cookie shops, sound stores (where you buy nothing but make as much noise as you can), restaurants where you can sneak things off low tables without getting into trouble, smelly perfume stores, mattress shops. There would be fire hydrants and patches of lawn in the bathrooms, talking to and sniffing strangers would not be dangerous.

can we go to the mall please? Please...please...lots of please?

No one will ever want to go back home again, which is why those guys in the parking lot would have to help get the hooligans back into the car. (Plus the shopping bags)

No words required.

Drool

Bofa is by far the best drooler in our pack. Yesterday I took him and Butter to the vet at the same time (the last of the kennel cough vaccinations for a year). As always he was super excited about all the smells and people and had in a minute flat lathered up a muzzle full of excitement induced frothy drool. This froth he expertly wrapped around his entire face with a good shake of the head.

There was an elderly couple at the counter waiting to pay, the woman looked down and remarked how beautiful they were - which Bofa took for a 'come here puppy let this friendly lady pet you'. It was only when he leaned forward that she realized he was covered in drool. Her facial expression changed and she started stepping back saying 'No, stay... NO..no'. I pulled him back of course. I think they might have been bird people with touch and cuddle issues.

Here is Bofa working up a lather when eating his favorite veg: grass.

Gimme some

Attention. Now. Or be drooled upon.

We're in hiding...

Somewhere on my laptop resides a pesky app that steals data. Untill found I have to resort to other ways to get our message out into the universe. Please be patient. Blogging using my (smart) phone but I promise you it is no fun. Hence short messages and crummy photos for a while. Aaaaannnnddd looks like blogger and my phone's media card hates each other. Well.

Long Before Dawn Comes a Yawn