1 year ago, it all started

Best Friends inspecting the yard from their throne on the hot tub

Ike looking for someone to love him

Ike plays with Kong balls like a little kitty

Ike inspected a duck last year

I can't believe it's been more than a year since Ike has come into my life. I love this little guy and the way he explores his world. Some recent favorite pictures of him (and a favorite old picture).

Excited for our cow to arrive!

I relocated some of the items I don't use much to make room in my

freezer until she gets here. I didn't want to toss all the kibble nor the meaty bones.

You gotta be careful giving these kind of thick meaty bones or they can chip teeth.

Did you know quail eggs freeze really well?

Eh, was that a cow you say? Indeed it was, but she will be dead. I upgraded and bought a freezer chest last week for a song, and what better to fill it with than food for the dogs? Yesterday little Bessie the beef cow went to heaven in a humane way on her farm, and she dressed out at about 350 lbs of prime grass fed free range, antibiotic and hormone free, home grown beef. My parents are taking some of the ground and choice cuts (she came from a friend my mom works with) but I specifically requested organs, tongue, heart and tail, along with some prime cuts, no ground. She should fill the locker nicely. I can't wait till she gets here, I've been waiting for ever.

What happens when they die?

While at the last dog show in January with Ike, I splurged a little and bought some reading material (which was a long overdue purchase). My latest read, "Food Pets Die For" by Ann Martin http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-Shocking-Facts/dp/0939165317

It's a worthy read, and indeed shocking. Swine waste, horses, rancid restaurant fryer grease, and sawdust are often used as ingredients in commercial kibbles. That wasn't the shocking part for me. I've known this this for as long as I can remember. That probably started when I got caught eating out of the Alpo cans as a toddler or snacking on Kibbles n' Bits in the early 80's and my mom would snatch it away from me, saying, "Don't you know that's all horse meat? There's all kinds of garbage in there." And it was horse meat, but apparently OK for Fritz and Barney our Schnauzers. Grandma used to tell me how after the war, there was a surplus of horses and everyone in the rural farming communities our family lived in knew that's where unwanted horses went, to dog food and "victory war steaks".

Heck, when I was a student in Montana, a close friend who worked at the same Vet clinic as I had an entire herd of "canners." Canners were horses that were bought cheaply at auction or had become lame or too old to work, and then fattened on good grazing for a few wonderful and peaceful months, only to be sent straight to the rendering plant in the fall for a handsome price, to be sold for pet food or prepared as human edibles overseas. Young and old, all destined for slaughter.

By the way, a horse auction is possibly one of the saddest experiences with farm animals I have ever had. It invoked the childhood memories of reading "Black Beauty", and the gut wrenching feeling people should have when seeing an innocent creature suffer. Many of the horses are beyond terrified, fresh off the race track as failures, and many are simply too old, broken spirited and used up to care much about anything.

These are the horses that the brokers in the front rows of the auction barn keep an eye out for. They want the ones that don't sell, that won't ever get a good shot at an idyllic retirement in a grassy field like Black Beauty, so they are discretely purchased at the end of the auction for a very cheap price to fatten and sell for meat, or directly sent to the render. Perhaps the auction house isn't that bad, the Game Farm in my area encourages people to send their unwanted horses to where they are shot and then fed to the big cats, bears and wolves.

Most people don't realize that renders also process dog food, or sell their rendered product to a dog food company as ingredients (including horse meat which is listed as "meat by product" or "meat meal" usually). The shocking part for me was reading the reports that the majority of pet owners don't know what happens to their companion pets when they die. Sure, we say they go to the Rainbow Bridge, but where do their bodies end up? I was surprised that of all the Veterinary staff Ann Martin interviewed, the vast majority also reported NOT to know what happens to euthanized pet animal remains if the owners do not opt for cremation or private burial.

We called them Kirby Specials where I part time at. Dr. Kirby was an old timey vet and didn't do anything fancy and the pets were given a general disposal, that is to say, nothing fancy. No cremation, no solemn burial, no big send off. Nope, they were injected with euthanasia solution and sent straight to the rendering plant inside a garbage bag after spending a night or two in the freezer, to be rendered into "meat meal" and "byproducts" that people would then in turn feed to their pets. I knew this, especially after growing up on a farm and working in the pet care industry. Seriously, what do people honestly think happens to all the euthanized animals in the US? Thousands upon thousands of them.

I guess one big point I gleaned from all of this is to shepherd your pet to the very end. Feed them wholesome food, protect them from fear and harm. For me, that final act of shepherding my pet companion means hand carrying my deceased frineds to the pet crematory and cemetery, wrapped in their little blankies, and being the last person to touch them and send them off to the Rainbow Bridge. Someday, I know I will see them again, but it isn't going to be from inside a bag of dog food.

Smart Shopping for Raw food

I had no idea beef kidneys looked like this until I bought some. Eh, what can you do?

I recently finished reading a book entitled "Pet Food Nation." I strongly do NOT recommend anybody to read this. It looked exciting, but the blurb about feeding raw and why it's bad was so off the mark and largely untrue of anybody feeding a carefully prepared, researched raw diet, it completely lacked credibility. Key points that were discussed which may deter many from feeding raw is the expense, risk of contamination, and nutritional imbalance. Oh, also the ick factor.

The expense-If I were to shop for only the raw items I specifically wanted on a certain day, like human grade grass fed beef tongue ($25 over here at my butcher-4 meals about) or a pre cut rabbit ($21, about 2 individual meals), I guarantee the cost will be astronomical. If instead, I mostly buy human grade items in quantity as they become available or go on sale, which are not precut, preground, or gutted, are not from a chain boutique advertising as pet quality (the patties), or listed as a specialty unique item (sweat breads), I can cut the cost to under a dollar per meal.

Contamination-avoid buying pre ground food, buy human grade, and buy from local sources where you know or can see how the animal was reared and prepared. Handle with care. Better yet, grow your own-it's like the circle of life in my backyard and I love it.

Nutritional imbalance-do the research before diving in and be a conscientious feeder (I have had to heed my own advice recently, so it is very important). Plan meals ahead of time. Dogs can and often do experience nutritional deficiencies on kibble, as well as a host of other ailments that have become killers to the modern kibble fed canine. Dogs have eaten raw and scraps almost exclusively up until kibble became a trend in the 20th century. Yet, this is when many of the major canine diseases have cropped up. That's right, kibble is a trend, raw was here first.

The ick factor-in order to save money and reduce contamination, I will have to do some of the dirty work myself when preparing their food, because I love them and I value a total body approach to their health. If that means touching raw meat, so be it. It builds character when one comes to literal grips with the food we eat in it's most basic form and not ground or formed to beyond recognition. If people can't get over this little part, pretty soon we will be eating kibbles too. Soylent green anyone?

So, today our purchases at the butcher shop were 3 packs of grass fed locally reared and slaughtered beef kidney for all of $2 apiece. 4 beef hearts, same source, $2.50 apiece. A 5lb bag of raw meaty bones for $4. I also ordered a box of chicken feet for $2/lb, and some spleen/green tripe for a similar price. Meat, bone, and organ, all human grade and neatly wrapped in butcher paper, which will stretch for months when combined with my existing supplies of whole birds, eggs, and meat pieces. A bag of high quality kibble to last as long can't beat it. We are happy campers over here :)

My poor neglected blog!

Oy vey, here are the updates.

Ike just wrapped up a weekend at the Western Washington Dog Show Cluster and came away with a small win. The competition was amazing, and I learned a TON about handling thanks to my generous mentors.

To celebrate, I picked up a Pawtrekker dog scooter to help us all get in shape for the new year. I have occasionally biked with the dogs and gone with them on my smaller, less fancy Diggler scooter, but have long coveted the Pawtrekker for it's more robust frame (like mine), and the anti-death brush bow in front that keeps the gangline from acting like a stick in the spokes. Ike knows what to do and ventures forth without hesitation at the front of the line like a miniature Balto. Beebe wants to heel next to it, and let me do all the pushing, the lazy beast.
I'm going to try and get some pictures of us in action, a forewarning that it won't be pretty watching me huff and puff while my dogs give me dirty looks for slowing them down. But hey, I'm so convinced of this breeds versatility, that I don't mind looking like an idiot from time to time.

Beebe's Adventures with Pacific Rimism

Well, what I had thought was at worst pancreatitis from the giving of table scraps over Christmas, turned out to be a whole can of worms. The Vet told me they believed Beebe had Addison's disease because her potassium was near lethal levels. The Vet's near exact words, "this lab work is scary."

I was advised to begin treatment of her Addison's and to treat the elevated potassium per the cardiologists evaluation of her EKG. After further tests and after frantic phone calls to my breeder and other Japanese breed experts while rushing to the Vet, we concluded that Beebe does express the recessive syndrome of Pacific Rimism and I have declined further treatment of the suspected Addison's and pseudo hyperkalemia.

What does this mean for Japanese/Asian spitz breed owners: Pacific Rimism by itself is not dangerous or lethal. What is dangerous is misdiagnosing Addison's disease and treating it in animals that have Pacific Rim syndrome. The average, or even well informed General Practice Vet will not know about this syndrome. Face it, I count myself fortunate that my Vet even knows what a Shiba Inu is. Everything beyond that is icing on the cake.

Odie's adventures with misdiagnosis:
http://rowdyrover.blogspot.com/2010/01/odie-and-pacific-rimism.html

My original recount of Beebe's adventures with Pacific Rimism posted by Jen (Shiba Inu Spirit):
http://shibainuspirit.blogspot.com/2009/12/health-alert-pacific-rimism.html

Ares' story, the fatal result of misdiagnosis (get your tissues ready):
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/266218

Beebe's Christmas Letter

Beebe after her allergy testing

"Dear Relatives,

Thank you for giving me table scraps, bread, butter, and fatty pieces of roast and steak. It was a nice Christmas gift. I never get those things and it's just what I always wanted.

Beebe"

In return, Beebe's gift to me this Christmas, was a colitis flare. For two nights she has woken me up with panting, trembling, and screaming to get outside, for THE WORST DIARRHEA EVER (mucous and water, not much blood). I took her to get bloodwork, made her NPO, and I hope to God she doesn't have pancreatitis. So, at 5am I had the pleasure of cooking up some brown rice and chicken broth for her first meal in a day. Her abdomen isn't painful and she acts fairly spunky, she wants to eat and drink, so I'm not too worried. We will be visiting the Vet again on Monday for her lab work.

No matter how much improvement in her health I see while she takes her Interferons, her allergy injections, and eats her carefully prepared raw diet, I shouldn't rest on my laurels. At the heart of it all remains an unhealthy dog with a bad immune system.