Things I've Learned From My Dog: Listen!

We had a brief (and actually very minor, in the grand scheme of things) scare with Indiana this week; she stopped eating!

She's done this before, about two years ago. It's scary every time, given her history. My mind goes terrible places at first. Oh, God, why isn't she eating? Is she sick? Is it the cancer? It's the cancer, isn't it? How will I ever be able to deal with it? I can't go through this again. Why is this happening? Why? Then I take a deep breath and tell myself to shut up! For heaven's sake.

Turns out, Indiana, who isn't a picky eater, is a picky eater. The first time, she was turning her nose up at her food because we were trying to sneak pills into it. So out went the pills, and in came a new brand of food. We thought this round of food-snubbery was related to a new pill she's taking--a bit of stomach upset?--and fed her canned pumpkin that night to settle her stomach. The next day, she was still turning her nose up at the food, but she was acting completely normal. Hmmm. "Let's give her some of the cats' raw food," I thought to myself. "Let's experiment here." Sure enough, she ate that raw food like it was going out of style. Hallelujah!

We're still feeding Isis the homemade raw food, but Indiana is eating a locally-made raw food, Nature's Quest. Jim feels bad about this switch, because we were obviously feeding homemade because we felt it was the healthiest thing for our pets. I don't feel so bad about it though. It's not like we're going from raw to kibble. We're still talking about a high-quality, fresh diet, made by a company I trust (I've met one of the owners and traded emails with the other--they started feeding raw to their pets for the same reasons we did, only they decided to make a living out of it!).

For whatever reason, Indiana is done with the homemade food for the timebeing. She made that abundantly clear. We'll give her some time off and try the homemade food again. But it has gotten me to thinking. Even though we give our girls a good rotation of meat--a different source(chicken, turkey, lamb, or buffalo) every 5 meals and a different mix of fresh veggies and fruit every batch--it wasn't enough variety for Indiana. Maybe going back to the homemade isn't the right way to go. Maybe a rotation of different meats and different brands of commercial raw foods is right for her. It's so hard to know.

But what I do know is to listen to Indiana. She's pretty clear about what she wants, and why shouldn't I trust that?

Product Spotlight: Primal Pet Foods

This is the first in a series of posts on products I love. It was hard to choose which product would have the place of honor as the very first, because there are so many wonderful products out there, but ultimately, my gut said to go with Primal.

I discovered Primal foods several years ago when I switched over to holistic care for my pets. They make a wonderful line of premade raw meals, with meat sources like chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, quail, venison, and pheasant. The first thing that struck me about Primal was their ingredients list. Check it out:

Chicken, Chicken Necks, Ground Chicken Bones, Chicken Hearts, Organic Kale,
Organic Carrots, Organic Yams, Chicken Livers, Organic Broccoli, Organic Apples,
Organic Ground Flaxseed, Cranberries, Organic Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar,
Organic Parsley, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Kelp, Alfalfa, Mixed Tocopherols
(source of vitamin E).

Oh my gosh! Amazing! I know and understand every ingredient on there! I love that their fruits and veggies are not only organic, but they use just the right mix, so they don't have to add any artificial vitamins or minerals. Humans are always told that it's better for us to derive our nutrients from food sources, rather than from vitamins in pill form. The same holds for our animals. Love it!

We don't feed the premade stuff anymore, but we do use Primal meat in our homemade mix. Primal makes a line of "grinds," which include the meat, organs, and bone. We add our own veggies and nutrients to this. The only reason we switched to a homemade diet was because we wanted control over the vegetables and add-ins, such as the oils, supergreen foods, and such.

Primal is always the first brand I mention when I recommend raw diets to others. I encourage you to visit their website, http://primalpetfoods.com/, read their company philosophy and drool over their wonderfully amazing ingredients lists. But pretend you're a dog when you're drooling, or otherwise it's pretty gross.

Happy Birthday, Squirt!

Today is my youngest kitty Gus' First Birthday. Or so we guess. He found us on September 25, 2008, and we guessed him to be about six to eight weeks old. He only weighed fourteen ounces, so he was super tiny, but he was weaned, so we think he was just an unlucky (although eventually VERY lucky) runt.

When we found Gus, he had an injured leg which turned out to be broken. After microscopic orthopedic surgery, Gus was good to go. Well, mostly. His leg couldn't be repaired correctly, so he can't bend it and now walks with a limp. But he couldn't care less. We have been constantly amazed by his ability to adapt. I've never once seen him frustrated at his disability. I'll tell Gus' story someday soon too, as there are lessons to be learned there as well. (Look for a post soon about his internet and calendar stardom!)

So, a very happy birthday to my little man. You've brought Daddy and I such joy. We are so lucky to have found you and brought you into our lives. You make us smile and laugh every day, and we love that we never know what you're going to do next.

The cutest darn kitten ever.

Guster today. Still pretty dern cute.