Bully Sticks - Thank you Sam!

Sam brought with him from the US a bag full of bully sticks after I asked him to help me get some for the dogs. Even packed in a ziplock bag, Kiya could smell it. I don't usually give out treats (that's S' job which he will not willingly relinquish), but I could not resist. Kiya chewed and ate her first bully stick in less than five minutes. Louie? He picked it up, dropped, licked, and sniffed it, but did not venture to chew it. So I took it away. Bully sticks are too precious to be wasted.

I don't know why bully sticks are not sold in local pet shops - yes, they're not just any dog treat. They're, ah, dried bull penis. But for a dog, there is nothing yummier. And, unlike some other dog treats, such as smoked beef leg bone, or rawhide, which are very, very dangerous for your dogs (splintering in stomach, etc), bully sticks are safe. Other dog treats you find in pet shops are nothing more than kibble, to be honest. I think us humans are all suckers for packaging, and if a company packaged kibble in a treat bag, we'll buy it.


So, sometimes Louie ignores the bully stick (gasp!).





But most of the time now, he does chew on it and eat it up.










Louie takes anywhere from ten minutes to more than one hour to work on a bully stick!



Kiya, of course, could not take more than fifteen minutes, at most, on one.




She knows how to use her paws to handle the bully stick.







Our supply of bully sticks is dwindling. Maybe I could do a bulk order, so if you want to be adored by your dogs, let me know.

Raw feeding - My raw-fed dogs are living, healthy proof

This is a post, not so much to record, but to share with and urge other dog (and cat) owners to think twice about the diet you are providing for your pet.



My dogs are raw fed. I used to be insecure with this decision, especially with Moonshine, my first love, my first dog - the very special Dobermann. I remember the first vet visit with Moonshine, and when the vet asked what I was feeding him, I hesitated, "Raw meaty bones."

He threw me a look like as if to say that I was a terrible dog owner who did not know what was best for dogs. "What type of raw meat?"

"Er, chicken, beef, lamb, fish.."

When he asked where I learned about this type of diet for dogs, I blanched. "The internet," I said.


OK. I know there are articles on the internet teaching you that drinking your own pee is beneficial to your health, but raw feeding your dogs (and cats), is NOT to be dismissed. Suffice to say, the (thoroughly ignorant and foolish) vet promptly dissed my raw feeding, and heralded the wonders of a dog kibble called "Science Diet", brought to you by Hill's. He explained that Science Diet is a 'balanced' food for dogs, with all the necessary carbohydrate, protein, and nutrients. I cannot know for sure whether the vet was commissioned by Hill's to recommend their dog food to clients, but I am quite certain he was.

Randomly select one of the many Science Diet dog kibble, say, Science Diet Canine Adult Active Formula. Look at the ingredients list. The ingredients are listed in descending 'order', i.e. the very first listed constitutes the bulk of the food. Almost all the Science Diet kibble lists corn meal as the very first ingredient. Do you know what corn meal is? Do you know what corn is? It is a grain. Only humans are ever known to cultivate and harvest grain. Dogs, like wolves, do NOT eat corn in the wild. They simply don't.

Sure, all animals survive by eating what they can, and if they are fed corn, so be it. But if you love your pet, you would surely want to give the best you can, with what you have. I do not buy grass-fed, free-range, Argentinian beef for my dogs, but I stock up on almost-expired chicken and duck from NTUC, freeze it, and hand it to them, or buy in bulk frozen lamb, beef, fish..


There are numerous articles on the internet on raw feeding your dogs. (Do a quick google search). Though I never had a dog when I was a child, I grew up thinking that dogs eat those small pellets of brown biscuit - kibble. When I first read about raw feeding, and saw pictures of dogs being fed raw meat, I thought it was a joke. No, seriously. I thought it was one of those internet hoaxes. But I did even more research.. and here I am. Here are my dogs.


Still, that is not to say that I am a raw feeding fanatic. I understand that there are circumstances that call for a dog to be fed kibble or home-cooked meals - in kennels and dog shelters, for example, where the sheer number of dogs make raw feeding impossible. Kiya, when she first came to live with us, was on steroid drugs and many other medication. She could not tolerate any raw meaty bones, as I found out the hard way (a lot of diarrhea..). So I fed her kibble mixed with rice (she was malnourished then and I needed her to gain weight). She loved it, of course, but Kiya loves to eat anything - even the skin of a banana (yes). But she soon developed an yeast infection that would not go away - and when she was done with her meds, I switched her to raw - not only did her yeast infection go away magically, she thrived. We never looked back.








I raw feed my dogs, and I no longer feel insecure about this decision. I know there are many dog owners out there who have reservations (to put it lightly) about raw feeding, and while I will not diss your choice for your dogs, I would like to encourage dog and cat owners out there to be more open-minded and resourceful. Don't just take what the corporations provide you - slick advertising, packaging, and 'this is what we have been feeding our dogs for decades!'. Instead, read up on raw feeding, and make an informed decision.


I feed my dogs fish, such as mackerel,

(here is Moonshine enjoying his!)



salmon,

(and I have been feeding Kiya a lot of salmon, watching her enjoy the fish, and sitting back admiring her gleaming, positively gleaming, shimmering, coat - but no photo, so I shall use one of Moonshine)





liver,
(which should only make up 10% of the food you are feeding. Liver is vital to a dog's diet, but too much can also be harmful)





pig's trotters,
(ignore the gaudy blue plastic sheet)








chicken, of course,
(this was early days with Louie when I was trying to teach him to eat on his dinner 'place-mat' cloth!)





(chickens are inexpensive, especially those marked down by the supermarkets when they are about to go bad. Perfect for dogs. I hack the chicken into halves, or quarters, bag them and freeze them. Hand a frozen one to Kiya, or a thawed one to Louie)





lamb,
(Louie handles raw bones very well, so I occasionally buy lamb flap for him)





beef, any cut, though I got a rib-eye for Moonshine,





duck, which Louie is particularly partial to.







The best Christmas gift you can give your dog or cat is to feed raw meaty bones. Your dog/cat will be very happy and healthy.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Day? - A day just like any other

It may be days of last-minute shopping, gift-wrapping, thronging the streets to jingles, and Christmas dinners/parties for most of us, but I spent it quietly with the dogs. The dogs, of course, do not care about the 'cultural' and capitalistic side of Christmas, for all they know was that they had two visitors last evening, and they were both delirious with joy when they arrived.

The only Christmas-y thing I did was to buy a Furminator from ebay. It arrived yesterday, and I brought the dogs to the park and promptly put it to the test. Did it work! Those of you with dogs that shed (95% of dogs, I'd guess) (and cats too!)- I'm sure you understand the 'joy' of having dog hair all over your floor, sofa, clothes, food, and most annoyingly, your morning coffee. I vacuum the floor almost every day, and still..

Anyway, I'll save my review of the Furminator for another day. Today it shall be about how Kiya sometimes sleep with her tongue sticking out, heh.



She looks like she is dead when she does this. A dead dog. And acts like one too, because when I prod her, she ignores me and continues to slumber.





.. and how Louie likes to surf the internet for..



dog porn?! LOL. He looks so guilty!

Happy holidays!

It seems almost halcyon, these days. The dogs know our routine quite well now, and fall quickly into place. Whenever we head out, they would both remain obediently in the kitchen (with the radio and fan switched on, and the web cam spying on them). They both get VERY excited in the morning when S gets up - probably because Kiya is extremely excited about the morning treats she gets from S, and some of that energy rubs off onto Louie. And they both quite literally smile when we prepare to take them out to the park for a walk on weekend mornings.

Here are some pictures to make up for the dearth of updates in the last three weeks.


A profile shot of Kiya - I think she looks pretty good for a dog that was heartlessly dumped and abandoned, and later found infected with heartworms and starving.





Euph, the previous owner of Louie, commented that Kiya's hot pink skull and bones collar makes her look 'butch'. LOL. I think she looks adorable in it.





Louie does weird things, as always. After sprinting around the park at full speed for two minutes, he sat down heavily in the middle of a path. Weird.





Some of that rubbed off onto Kiya too. Jeez.





Whenever I take Louie out for a walk, I like to place his martingale collar over his head, tucking his ears under the collar but not quite on the neck. He looks so cute - like a girl with a hairband.





And looking model-ly and sissy in his red flea collar. Maybe christmasy too.





S has also been spoiling them a lot - allowing both of them on the sofa with him, for instance, resulting in me having to sit on the floor or stool. Whatever happened to alpha leader? Pack status??






Both of them not quite believing their luck in having the sofa.





But they're happy. So there.





Louie, the strange one, does not care when we open the door even as he is lying right next to it. Kiya would immediately get up and make way for us to exit, but not Louie. And his tail sometimes shows through from the outside of our apartment.







A welcoming sight whenever we come home.

Kiya's nail-cutting phobia

Lately, Person D has been staying at home a lot, but instead of taking us out to the beach, she sits in front of the TV and plays this thing called 'Assassin's Creed II'. At least she gives Louie and me more belly rubs and pats on the head than usual.

Yesterday, Person D tried to cut my nails. I hate it whenever I see her whipping out the nail cutter. I started to squirm and show my displeasure by licking my lips but she ignored them and grabbed one of my paws and started to clip off my precious nails. Sure enough, she cut too much of a nail into the quick on one of my toes and it bled profusely. She was apologetic, but she still continued to cut the rest of my nails!! I was furious, and started to get up and walk away, but she followed me, and soon, got to the quick on another of my toe. Grr.

When Persons D and S went to bed, I licked my wounds - the two nails that were cut to the quick. They started to bleed again. Wherever I walked, the blood would flow. I plodded all over the living room, and then went up on the sofa and licked the wounds again. At around 4am, Person D got up and saw the blood-stained floors. Ha ha! The look on her face was priceless. She later told Person S that it looked like as if somebody was killed and dragged around the house. She spent an hour cleaning up the blood. That should serve her right - and hopefully teach her a lesson never to cut my nails again!





She later bundled up my two paws with the wounded nails. I wish the Corban bandage could have come in pink or bright red, not nude.





Still, I am happy these days. Person D has been buying lots of raw salmon, sometimes an entire salmon head, for me. Imagine! Fresh salmon imported from Hokkaido every dinner! And this morning, Person S gave me a bully stick treat. I hope the rest of the holidays stay this way.

the amazing technicolour dreamcoat

We are (naturally) not those to dress up our dogs, except the occasional navy blue polka-dotted diapers on Kiya when she has the odd incontinence. One evening, S threw the towel he was using on the dogs.

He first did it on Louie.




Louie did not really struggle, but he was not too happy.








He finally stopped fidgeting for me to get a cute shot of him.









Kiya, on the other hand, was a darling as usual: obedient and compliant.





hehe. She is so cute!