Another great Dogster Post!

I have learned SO much from Dogster where as it pertains to feeding raw.  Here is another great post by Charlie about different cuts of meat: http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/737490

Griffin Update

Griffin in 11 weeks old now, and eating raw like a champ (well ground it is), he'll be starting to get some regular cornish hens in the next week, and hoping to add organs soon too.  He gobbles it right up, which is awesome because he wasn't a good eater on kibble (although who can blame him?)  His health is greatly improved as he was dealing with a chronic respiratory from the time he was born (he was LITERALLY on antibiotics up until he was about 7 weeks old, when I got a hold of him and got him on natural remedies.  He has been keeping my husband company while he's been out of work recovering from surgery on his elbow and then surgery 2 weeks later on his shoulder.   Griffin is doing awesome, I love how easy it has been to transition the 2 puppies (Ziva (RIP) and Griffin to raw, I don't think Griffin has even had a soft stool yet.  YAY RAW!  

RIP Sweet Ziva

I have been really stressed and haven't updated for a long time.  I just wanted to share this as I realize I never posted about losing my sweet little Min Pin Ziva..  We lost Ziva on November 30th.  Here's what happened, I took her to my dad/vet as she threw up like 17x in a few hours.  And was acting 'loopy'.

Written Dec 1, 2011:  My sweet little Ziva is at Rainbow Bridge now.

I took her to the vet/my dad, by the time we got there (35 minute drive) we got her temperature up from 94.8 to 97.1 (had her on a rice heating pad), she was a little staggerish on her feet.  Just the fact that she let him draw blood and place a catheter without a fight indicated that something was seriously wrong, she does not like to be worked on.  Bloodwork confirmed it was pancreatitis so we started her on IV's and gave her some medications for it, about 5-10 minutes later she collapsed and essentially went comatose.  Her heartrate was 80 which is slow for her and the breed she is, she was throwing her head back & stretching her legs out stiff showing neurological signs, then all the sudden she stopped breathing, her heart rate was over 200 bpm, and we tubed her and breathed for her for about 5 minutes before her heart stopped.  Necropsy was done, that showed an abnormal pancreas that was the worst inflammation my dad has ever seen in 40 years.  It was BRIGHT pink, it's supposed to be kind of creamish colored.  She threw a blood clot to her heart (which was enlarged)...had never heard a murmur on her before.  As well as a blood clot to her brain.  My dad/vet said that as inflammed as the pancreas was, she probably would have come down with pancreatitis regardless of whether or not she got into the turkey fat it just sped up the process by triggering it.  He said it probably would have been less than a week.  There was nothing that we could have done, even if I would have taken her to the vet as soon as she started vomiting.  He said that the enlarged heart and pancreas abnormality could have been why she was so active, and always starving, and had to eat 8% of her body weight in order to maintain weight, as well as why she was so small (barely tipped scales at 4#).

My sweet little Ziva started her life out in a puppy mill, I rescued her from my cousin who bought her at the puppy store when she was 4 months old.  She was almost 19 months old and was such a spunky, happy little girl.  I will miss her tremendously.  It has been a very very hard night.  I do know one thing though, that my next puppy will come from a Naturally Reared breeder to help give her a better start on life.  It is so hard to believe that she has gone, she was running around like her normal mad woman self yesterday afternoon, then in a matter of hours she is gone.

Meet the newest little Carnivore.....

Meet Griffin....our little foster failure....he is 8 weeks old today and had his first full raw day today....cant quite figure out the chewing so he got ground up cornish hen.  Right now he weighs 1.4#

In honor of Veteran's Day

http://kuma.chipin.com/operation-kuma-acl
Veterans day is fast approaching and is a time to honor, pay tribute, and thank our Veterans and our Active military for their service to our country.We are asking for your help to enable an injured Veteran get a big part of his life back and let him know that his sacrifices mean something to us. His name is Sgt Josh Hansen. His Service Dog, Kuma, needs surgery to repair a ruptured ligament in her knee. We need your help in making this happen so that Sgt Hansen can have his Service Dog back at his side to help him with his disabilities including PTSD. We need to raise at least $2500.00 to cover the surgery, physical therapy, and supplies to aid her recovery. Please consider taking this opportunity to help this brave Veteran who gave up so much. Any amount will help. If you aren't able to help at this time, Please pass her story on to anyone you think might be able to help. Donations can be mailed to the Veterinary clinic;

A Gentle Vet
"Kuma's Fund" (Josh Hansen)
4663 W 6200 S Ste C
West Jordan, UT 84118
(801) 968-9932 Operation Kuma on FaceBook;http://www.facebook.com/OperationKuma?sk=photos#!/OperationKuma?sk=wall Remember....every dollar will help meet our goal of getting Sgt Hansen and Kuma back on their feet! Thanks for your time and consideration.

Feed Me! Feed Me!

Yes she gets so excited at meal time she barks at me if I'm not fast enough :-)

 Mid Bark

Happy Teeth!

One of my FAVORITE Benefits of feeding raw is how nice & shiny my dogs teeth are:

Ziva is about 15 months old and normally Min Pins have loads of tartar on their teeth at this point, she has minimal if any.