Monday, April 16, 2007 , early morning

Hug your sibling

It’s not the greatest quality, because I took it with the cell phone camera, but I couldn’t resist!

carlo_bunny_hug (2)

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/16 at 07:10 AM
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Creepy Mike Minton on trial

Remember that jerk Mike Minton, the Sheriff in St. Bernard Parish (Louisiana), who brutally shot and killed harmless pet dogs in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina?  Well, the monster is finally on trial, along with Deputy Chip England.  The two of them are charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony.  Minton has pretty much confessed to shooting the dogs, although he claims he was providing a “service” to the community.  The trial has been set for May 8th, 9th, or 10th - keep checking the Pasado’s website, linked above, to stay caught up on the details.  There’s still time for you to send in letters condemning Minton’s actions, and requesting that he receive the most severe punishment possible.

I hope this case has a swift and positive resolution.  Now more than ever, people in positions of authority need to stand up and say that animals have value, they deserve to be protected, and they deserve to be treated humanely.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/16 at 05:02 AM
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Sunday, April 15, 2007 , late at night

Natural Balance dry food recall

In more exciting news for pet owners, Natural Balance is recalling Venison and Pea dry cat food, and Venison and Rice dry dog food.  This recall has nothing to do with wheat gluten, and it hasn’t been associated with any deaths.  The recall comes after numerous pet owners reported their pets displayed stomach problems and vomiting after eating the recalled foods.  The recall is not yet listed on the Natural Balance website, but I believe the source of the information to be accurate and trustworthy (you can click the above link to find out more).  News of this recall has caused a number of people to come out of the woodwork to claim that their dog or cat got ill after eating NB.  Around our house we’re feeding Natural Balance canned food to all our cats, and our two small dogs, but everything has been fine.  Chelsea or Jackson had one day where one of them ate and then immediately threw up all over the bathroom, but that’s not uncommon - they both have very sensitive stomachs, no matter what I’m feeding, and it’s the only vomiting we’ve dealt with since we started to feed NB a couple of weeks ago.  We go through a lot of food—somewhere around 240 cans of cat food every month—and I still feel comfortable with Natural Balance.  I’ve got a bag of kibble in the house because I thought I’d use it for weaning kittens, but I may wait a day or so to see how this recall pans out, even though the kibble I’ve got doesn’t include venison.

I was reading pet owner comments about recalled food, and saw people claiming their pets had become sick from Nutro dry foods, and even Solid Gold dry food.  I don’t really know what to believe anymore, so I’m sticking to foods with good ingredient lists, and I’m just going to be extra-observant.  I just started feeding our two large dogs Solid Gold Holistique kibble, because I can add raw food/extra meat to it myself, and everyone else eats something made by Natural Balance.  My plan is to eventually make homemade food, like I do for our parrots, but I have neither time nor energy for that right now.  If I give myself any more “projects” I’m going to pass out from exhaustion!  The pet food industry had better get its crap together quickly, because I think we’re just one small step from riots in the streets.

Speaking of the pet food industry, I tried to obtain a free pass to attend Petfood Forum in Chicago this week, but I was unsuccessful.  The organizers offered me a half-price student discount, but I couldn’t afford the $500 entry fee, plus hotel, plus airfare.  I should be able to buy conference notes after the event, and I’m anxious to read what people like Nancy Kerns of “Whole Dog Journal” have to say.  Looking at the schedule of events, I can’t find any reason why the conference should cost almost $1000… I think the organizers are probably trying to weed out “the little people” (like me).

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/15 at 11:32 PM
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Friday, April 13, 2007 , late at night

Look who’s three weeks old

bunny_carlo_week_3

Carlo and Bunny are finally three weeks old!  As you can see, they’re both pretty solid and sturdy, although Carlo (on the left) is still about two and a half ounces lighter than his hefty sister.  Both continue to eat well… Carlo will probably be the first to wean, as he’s already interested in solid food, and enjoys drinking out of a water dish (if he doesn’t lean in too far and get water up his nose).

Doesn’t Carlo resemble Mon Chi Chi?

monchichi

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/13 at 11:32 PM
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

Feline House Soiling course

I’ve signed up to take an online CE class on the subject of ”Feline House Soiling”.  It’s happily not a major issue around our house (just a rare annoyance), but I get lots of emails about it at my Wee Paws email address.  In fact, house soiling is a nuisance behaviour in about 50% of cats that people want to surrender to me.  I think I already do a pretty good job of making suggestions and giving advice, but I hope this course will fill gaps in my knowledge.  The best part is that it’s open to Vets and Vet Techs, so the information won’t be simplified or edited.  The course starts the week of April 23rd.  If any of you have any specific questions that you’d like me to try to find answers to while I take this course, please let me know!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/11 at 03:06 AM
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007 , evening

Pet food: Who makes what?

If you haven’t already seen it, be sure to visit the Pet Food Information website to find out more about where your favourite pet foods are manufactured.  For example, you might be interested to know that Wellness brand canned food is manufactured by Menu Foods, as is Avoderm, Castor & Pollux, Innova, Nature’s Variety, Newman’s Own Organics, Pinnacle cat food, and Wysong.  It doesn’t necessarily reflect poorly on Wellness, because the foods are made using OMH’s specific recipes.  However, as pet owners I think we’re entitled to be concerned about issues like cleanliness in the manufacturing process.  I’ve always been a fan of Fromm Family food, but now that I know their food is made in China, I’m obviously going to think twice about feeding it because I worry about lack of oversight.  Fromm Family has done nothing to cause my concern, it’s the fault of the pet food industry as a whole.

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect that all pet food companies maintain their own manufacturing plants.  It would add incredible expense to the cost of pet food.  However, those of us who pay extra for foods which are (for example) free of corn, don’t feel very comfortable finding out that the food we buy has been made in the same vats as other brands which do contain corn.  I don’t know what the solution to the problem is (except for us all to make our own pet food!), but this new transparency in the pet industry is good, and I’d encourage you to take advantage of the information offered on the Pet Food Information list.

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If you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, there was an interesting article in today’s paper called, “Perils and Gains of Unexpected Demand”.  It’s about how small pet food companies, like Evanger’s, are coping with higher demand because of the pet food recall.  Evanger’s has seen a surge of orders, and has had to hire staff and expand the number of hours the company is in production.  It all sounds good, but it also demands up-front cash outlays that not all companies have available.  Evanger’s owns their own plant outside Chicago, and manufacturers their own brand, plus some private label brands like Life4K9.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/10 at 09:02 PM
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Royal Canin prescription cat food recalled, plus more Nutro recalls

Royal Canin in Canada is recalling “Medi-Cal Feline Dissolution Formula canned diet” because one product lot contains contaminated wheat gluten.  The product is sold only through vet clinics, and I believe this problem only affected product distributed in Canada.  The recalled cans of food have the best-before date of Jan. 8, 2009.

Also, Nutro is pulling all of their dog and cat food which contains wheat gluten, regardless of when the product was manufactured.  That includes all of their pouch products, as well as selected canned dog and cat food.  You can find the list on Nutro’s website. 

And… some more products have been added to the list of recalls from Menu Foods.  Rather than explaining it myself, you should read the press release.

I guess we shouldn’t feel secure about what we’re feeding just yet, especially if it contains wheat gluten.  This contaminated wheat gluten is proving to be awfully difficult to track down.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/10 at 04:20 PM
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Natural Balance

This is my last post for the evening, I swear.

While I continue to work out the logistics of cooking homemade food for all our pets, I’ve started to feed the cats ”Natural Balance”.  My plan had been to put all the cats on Merrick, but I still haven’t been able to buy it at a reasonable price, and I’m hearing some disappointing reports about quality control.  Helena reported a spoiled case of Merrick cat food recently, although the company quickly cooperated to replace it for her.  Shortly after hearing that news, I was on Amazon and saw that Merrick foods were very poorly rated.  The reviews were from people who used to swear by the food, but who’ve recently noticed a very obvious decline in quality.  One person found hair in a cat of food, and another found a fly.  I’m willing to give Merrick the benefit of the doubt—they maintain their own plant, and are just a tiny company, and they may be having temporary growing pains.  On the other hand, I shouldn’t have to pay for the growing pains.  Once I hear that things have been turned around (and I think the company should address this issues on their website), I’ll certainly be happy to be a customer again.

So then, we’re left with Natural Balance as a decent quality food without unnecessary additives, and which isn’t made at Menu Foods (even Eagle Pack, Innova, and Wellness were made at the Menu Foods factory).  While Natural Balance isn’t as visually appealing as Merrick, it’s still a good food with good ingredients, and it’s priced well.  Instead of making a 5.5 oz. can of food, their can size is 6 oz., so it’s a better value at about 95 cents per can.  It’s got a “Made in USA” label on it, which doesn’t prove that all the ingredients are from the USA, but there’s not much reason to assume otherwise.  One of the nicest things about Natural Balance so far (I’ve only been using it for two weeks) is that Chelsea will eat it!  Chelsea, the cat who would rather starve than eat!  Chelsea, the cat who enjoys food which contains only the cheapest and most unnecessary ingredients!  That very Chelsea has been willing to eat “Venison and Peas” flavor, as well as “Indoor Cat Formula”, although she shies away from “Turkey with Giblets” and “Chicken and Liver”.  Still, this is the highest-quality food she’s ever scarfed down, and that really makes me happy.

Natural Balance has some good incentive programs for breeders and charities.  If it’s something you use and buy by the case please let me know - they have a charity donation program where I can earn money for WeePaws.org if I collect UPC codes and cash register receipts.

It’s still an experiment, but I’ll keep on going for now because it’s fairly well-priced.  If you want to buy Natural Balanced canned cat food online, your best bets are PetFoodDirect (if you can find a good coupon), or OnlyNaturalPet (no coupon needed for a good price, but you may find a coupon anyway if you search at Bargains4Pets).  Petco has had some in-store specials where you buy 4 cans and get 1 free, but it’s such a huge hit that some Petco stores are almost entirely out of stock.

My house is filled with dog and cat food cookbooks, frozen chicken livers, frozen chicken thighs, a meat grinder, etc., yet I still feel rather immobilized by the thought of cooking.  I’ve got about five part-time jobs, literally, and I don’t know how I’ll find the time to cook.  Or the energy.  But I want my pets to be healthy, and I want to save money.  I’ll work it all out eventually.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/10 at 02:35 AM
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Carlo and Bunny weight report

I just weighed the kittens.  Carlo weighs 6.8 ounces, and Bunny weighs 9.4.  It’s a huge discrepancy, but the good news is that Carlo has gained 1.4 ounces in the last 72 hours.  He’s still within the normal weight ranges suggested in the Neonatal Kitten Care Handbook (that links to a pdf), although he’s at the lower limits.  Bunny seems like a huge behemoth in contrast, so they won’t be fighting in the same weight class.  Today they are 18 days old.  I’ve been bad about taking photos because I’m so busy, and because they’re very labour-intensive and don’t leave a lot of free time.  They take ages to bathe, ages to feed, etc.  I can’t wait until they start to use the litterbox!  Bunny is showing interest in licking her paws, but it will be a while before she’s coordinated enough to clean herself properly.

Today we took Cricket and Phoenix to the vet for checkups and vaccinations.  Phoenix also had bloodwork for her thyroid, and urinalysis.  The bloodwork was somehow botched, so we need to return to have it done again, but I guess the urinalysis turned out fine.  I’m still amazed at how great she looks now, and perhaps we’ve finally found a diet which really works for her.  It’s been ages since she’s had an allergy shot, and also an eternity since her last ear infection.  She is still on low-dose prednisone (her allergies were always so terrible that it was unavoidable), but I think it’s time to wean her off that as well, and to see what happens.  Just for the record, she and Cricket both eat Eatables.

Our bill today was about $325, which included exams, vaccines, urinalysis, thyroid and heartworm panel for Phoenix, heartworm test for Cricket, plus six months of heartworm meds for all four dogs (two big and two little).  The vet was nice enough to toss in a few months worth of sample meds to help us save a bit.  I really resent having to use heartworm meds now… this wasn’t a problem until hurricane Katrina.  I’ve never even seen a mosquito here, but apparently our vet clinic has had one case of an infected dog so it’s now a necessity. 

We had a couple of other surprises today.  We found out that the vet who owns the clinic, who we rarely get to see, is six months pregnant.  That was a big surprise.  We also found out that our second-favourite vet (the one we see when the owner isn’t available) is leaving at the end of this week to move out-of-state.  Apparently it’s tough to get vets to stay in Las Vegas, as a couple of good vets have left and moved elsewhere.  It’s frustrating, because the vet who’s leaving was the one who gave me TJ’s testicles in a jar for my birthday, and she also does most of the work on our foster kittens, so we’ve built up a good rapport with her.  The last surprise was that the clinic owner offered to come to our house to vaccinate all our cats, to save us a trip to their office.  I appreciate that, because we can usually afford all the routine vet care we need, but it’s a huge headache to have to make so many trips.  I’ve got about five cats needing vaccinations right now (the vet wants to have all our cats vaccinated against FIV/FeLV because we bring foster kittens in), so we’ll have quite the lineup of candidates. 

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/10 at 02:11 AM
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Fire at Jacksonville Humane Society

There are any number of places to donate your money, but may I suggest that we all dig down deep and try to send $5 or $10 to the Jacksonville Humane Society?  They’re a no-kill shelter in Jacksonville, Florida, and they just suffered a terrible fire.  At least two dogs died, and many cats perished as the roof collapsed over the cattery area.  It’s very sad, and the damage is estimated to be around one million dollars.  While I’m sure insurance will eventually cover many costs of repair and rebuilding, there are some immediate costs, like alternate housing for rescued cats and dogs, and I’m sure anything you could afford would come in handy.  You can make a credit card donation on their website.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/10 at 01:58 AM
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