Lexi, Wilson, Carly, Jake, Leo: Spring Hikes!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Spring Hikes!

video

video

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi this is Debbie Tieu from Deerfield Beach, FL. again. Just curious, you being someone who is always looking out for your dogs' health interest, do you use anything for fleas/ticks, esp. since you guys are always are out in the woods? I stopped using Frontline after realizing it's like putting pesticide on your pet... Some people say feeding them healthy diet is the first defense against fleas/ticks...; May 6, 2009 9:21 PM
Ivy said...: I agree that a healthy diet is definitely the first defense against pests and diseases. I also looked into the risks of using flea/tick products.

For Lexi (doberman) I didn't have to worry about ticks because of her short coat. I was always able to visibly check for ticks even though the blackness of her coat sometimes made it difficult. She's had about 5 ticks in her 3 year life.

However, when I adopted Wilson and later Carly and Jake their thick coats were heaven sent for ticks.
Unfortunately, Carly got diagnosed with Lyme disease not long after we adopted her. She was limping her hind legs. After antibiotics and a healthier diet, she recovered fully.

Now all our dogs get lyme shots, (except Carly since she is positive)and are on K9 Advantix.
I chose K9 Advantix because it also repels against mosquitoes which is also a problem in our area and backyard.

None of them had any reactions on their skin, behavior, stool, or digestion with K9 Advantix. However, I still find some stray ticks mostly dead ones on them.
Visual and tactile checking (through deep scratches and petting)is always a must after a romp in the woods especially in NY NJ area. Even I have found 2 on my own skin! I wish there was a human version~ Garlic and herbs help they say...

It was also odd to notice that there are more ticks on the dogs that came to our house more recently. So a healthy diet is key.

Our dogs diet have recently changed. This is their usual meal:
(All dogs have different feeding requirements. This works best for our pack.)

Chicken or Marrow Bone Broth

Raw ground meat
(Choose 1 out of chicken, beef, turkey, or pork)

Veggies
(Choose 1 out of spinach,broccoli, collard green, carrots, pumpkin)

Carbs/Grains
(Choose 1 out of rice, bread, plain corn flakes cereal, or tofu)

1 TBS/Extras
Ground Anchovies, Apple Cider Vinegar, Garlic, Joint Max, EVO Red Meat Large Bite kibble (also used as treats).

Mix altogether and serve!

Tips:

Raw meat frozen and thawed room temp overnight.

Chicken quarter leg broth boiled and cooled overnight daily.

Veggies are frozen, fresh, or canned.

The dogs teeth are white, coats shimmer with flecks of gold on the 3 adopted. Lexi's coat is almost blue black! Stools are almost perfect every time unless they ate something they shouldn't have....

Hope this helps!; May 28, 2009 6:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Thnx Ivy for the detailed response! I'm a fan of feeding cooked or raw meal for our dogs, but not my husband. So I stuck with the next best kibble out there, Innova Evo Chicken/Turkey Large Bite. He also thinks if the dogs have diarrhea from the raw/cooked food than it's bad for them. Do your dogs get that when you first started feeding cooked/raw? -DebbieT; August 14, 2009 10:48 PM
Ivy said...: When we gave only the raw meat with nothing else, they didn't have diarrhea. When we gave raw meat not ground up they had diarrhea. They just swallowed a whole steak, so I now grind all meat. Their stools are tiny and perfect!

Some people give little by little of the raw meat with their regular food to ease them into the new diet, but I just switched cold turkey and they were fine.

Keep in mind that the meat is ground, bagged, then frozen for a minimum of 3 weeks.

Add veggies and other goodies like chicken or marrow broth after they have adjusted to the raw meat, and introduce one ingredient at a time.

Later you can give frozen pork ribs, chicken drumsticks as treats. They love to crunch on those and it keeps their teeth and gums clean. Make sure the ribs or drumsticks are big enough so they don't swallow it whole...

Hope this helps~

IVy; August 17, 2009 1:55 PM
Ivy said...: Here is the link to the meat grinder we use:

http://www.sillypugs.com/sb840.html; August 17, 2009 1:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi Ivy, you said you freeze the raw food for a minimum of 3 weeks, is this purpose to kill bacteria? Do you ever feed raw food fresh, like when you just got it from the supermarket? Sorry for all the questions. I'm trying to gather all the pros/cons information to see if I can start feeding my dogs raw food, since my husband and the dogs' vet do not really support it... THNX! -DebbieT.; September 13, 2009 6:31 PM
Ivy said...: Supposedly the 3 week freezing kills bacteria. I don't believe it 100%, but since that's the usual protocol I follow it, but loosely. I have a chest freezer and an upright freezer to accommodate all that meat. But think about it this way, if freezing for 3 weeks doesn't kill bacteria, what about the short heating process for cooking for human consumption? Same difference to me. Also, I do sometimes feed straight from the grocery if the meat looks fresh to me and they never have diarrhea from that either. Animals eat decaying carcasses all the time and their short intestines are short to accommodate their eating habits. Humans worry about bacteria a lot more because our intestines are a lot longer therefore the food and potential bacteria stays inside of us much longer, which can cause harm. I'm not an expert or a vet though,this stuff comes from reading and talking with other resources and people, so please don't take my word for it though! : ); September 28, 2009 10:51 AM

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