Homemade Super-Cheap Dog Bed

Many people know I'm very much a Do-It-Yourselfer (as if homemade dog food wasn't a huge clue). I grow most of our produce, make my own dog food and treats, build bed headboards, resurface our kitchen cabinets, build catios.... If I feel like I can do an equally good job rather than buying something or paying someone else to do it, then I do it myself!

Cue in Sarge...

A while ago Sarge started some destructive behaviors when the dogs were home alone.  Chewing up blankets, bed sheets, and even chewed a chunk out of my brand new squishy bed (memory foam mattress).  He then had to be kenneled when we left the house and continued his blanket shredding in his kennel.  I was tired of going through dog beds when even the cheapest ones were $10, it added up.  I stopped giving him dog beds and just left the tattered blankets, but that eventually made a mess.

At the suggestion of a friend whose dog also shredded beds, I tried a burlap sack.  It's only been in his kennel a day or so and Sarge has layed on it numerous times while we've been home.  He may very well destroy this one too, but it won't be financially stressful if he does this time.

I had a bag of poly-fill from a previous bed-ripping incident where I decided to keep the stuffing (after all, it's still perfectly fine) for when I might need it again.  I purchased a used burlap sack at C-A-L Ranch for a whopping $1.19!  The sack was torn open at the bottom of course, but with some string and a needle, I stitched it up after putting some poly-fill in it.  Worst case scenario, and Sarge does rip it up it will only cost me $1.19 for a new one and a few minutes of stitching.

Now before any strangers try to put their 2 cents in about the situation, don't worry, Sarge's anxiety/boredom behaviors are not an everyday or even weekly occurance.  We do other things like stuffed kongs, lavender oil, doggy pheramones, and daily runs to help ease his pent up energy.  And quite simply, I believe in letting some behaviors slide... I like having dogs (and cats) and all the quirks that come with them! :)

Buying Local is Better for Everyone, Even Your Pets!

The past few years there has been a movement to buy local and support small businesses.  It supports the local economy by creating and sustaining jobs and puts food on your neighbor's table rather than fuel in a CEO's private jet.

Think about the way you grocery shop - don't we all prefer our produce to be grown closer to us, even in our own state?  Why buy Pecans shipped from Georgia when us Arizonian's can buy them from our own county.  Who wants to eat eggs shipped from chicken farms in the midwest when you can buy eggs at your farmer's market from your neighbor who lets their chickens free range.  The same ideology goes for your pets.

The other week I was speaking to a client about the dog treats they just bought.  It was a big bag of chicken jerky from a massive company whose dog treats have been causing several dogs to become sick and die. There is a big disclaimer on the back of the bag of treats that says "MADE IN CHINA".  On top of it, the treats are also infused with glycerin which increases the weight of the treat without increasing the amount of chicken.  Sneaky little jerks.

It got me to thinking about how my treats compare in price to big box brands so I wanted to share some numbers which could surprise you...

This morning as I was packing up some treat orders, I put them on my kitchen scale to see their weights: 12.7oz and 13.7oz.  I sell my chicken jerky in one pound poly lined bags for $12 per order which makes these two particular bags $0.94/oz and $0.87/oz.  I fill my treat bags as much as I can which is why there is always a discrepancy.  I buy my treat ingredients at our local grocery stores and make them only after an order is received which guarantee's that they are as fresh as possible.

Big box companies make their dog treats in factories where quality control is often lacking.  Products are shipped across country, or worse, come from a different country, and then can sit on a shelf for several months before going 'out of date'.

Additionally, they are often full of other ingredients you might not expect...

I like simplicity and because of my years working with dogs and cats with food allergies, I like limited ingredients.  My chicken jerky has one ingredient: chicken breast.  Chicken breast that I buy from the grocery store labeled that it has been raised and butchered in the U.S.  Many of these big companies include weird ingredients in their 'chicken jerky' like: glycerin, soy flour, molasses, salt...  The sugar and salt are great for creating an addictive craving for your dogs, but they are terrible additions for carnivores.  High protein/low carb treats like chicken jerky are great for diabetic dogs ... unless those treats are made with molasses and sugar.  Most dogs and cats do very poorly with soy, and who would expect soy to be put into chicken jerky anyways?

Here are some prices and ingredients on some popular chicken jerky treats on the market...

Purina's Waggin Train Chicken Jerky Tenders: $12 for 11 oz. $1.09/oz. Ingredients: Chicken breast, glycerin. 'PRODUCT OF CHINA' disclaimer on the back. Long history of consumer complaints and recalls...

Blue Buffalo Chicken Jerky: $8.89 for 3.25 oz.  $2.73/oz.  Ingredients: Chicken, dried cane molasses, salt.

True Chews Chicken Jerky Fillet: $9.46 for 12 oz. $0.78/oz.  Ingredients: chicken, vegetable glycerin, distilled vinegar, salt....

Milo's Kitchen Chicken Jerky Recipe: $21 for 15oz.  $1.40/oz.  Ingredients: chicken, soy flour, sugar, glycerin, textured soy protein.... Once recalled for unapproved antibiotic residue

Dogswell Vitality Chicken Breast Jerky: $17.64 for 13.5oz.  $1.30/oz.  Ingredients: chicken breast, glycerin, salt, flaxseed .... Once recalled for unapproved antibiotic residue.

Something to think about when feeding your 4-legged loved ones.  I'm certainly not encouraging everyone to buy my treats because I only have one dehydrator and one oven ;)  But there are others like me who believe every pet deserves the very best and put a lot of work into offering healthy options.  Of course, there are local pet bakeries who make their own pet treats too but with ingredients like wheat flour and margarine (yuck!), you still have to do your homework by reading ingredient labels. 

Feeding better does not necessarily mean you need a money tree to afford quality treats.  But when you buy locally, a lot of overhead costs are eliminated and you can feel better about supporting local economy AND feeding Fido better!

Think Outside of The Bag - My Journey of Feeding Better

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm deeply invested in pet nutrition, specifically nutrition for dogs and cats.  I wasn't always so careful about choosing dog food though, or even reading ingredient labels of dog food.  When I was a newer vet tech, all I needed was to know what kibble the vet's I worked for recommended, and that's what I bought.  Sadly it took me a few years to realize I needed to be a better guardian for my little Pepe and become pickier about what I fueled his little body with.

I won't name the food, but the kibble I fed Pepe contained the top 5 ingredients: brewer's rice, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, corn, and wheat gluten.  Because I didn't know better, I never questioned these ingredients.  At some point I started to put puzzle pieces together and realized my carnivore needed more carne, more meat!  The simply anatomy of the dog's and cat's jaw shows that their bottom jaw does not swing side to side, only the open/close motion.  Animals that are meant to eat fibrous plant material have lower jaws that swing side to side.  Picture a cow chewing cud.  Even humans have bottom jaws that swing, since plants are meant to make a considerable part of our diet.  But canids and felids do not have this jaw motion, which should be a very strong indicator that plant material is not meant to make up a majority of their diet.  Additionally, read about the major difference in the saliva of dogs and cats vs. herbivores and omnivores.  It makes you think....

Now, I am no veterinarian but after years of working in animal hospitals, you start to see connections between chronically ill pets and the poorly rated pet foods they eat.  I started doing my homework on a better food to feed Pepe and I decided on Fromm's Four Star line.  The top 5 ingredients of one of their 4 star foods: duck, duck meal, pearled barley, sweet potatoes and brown rice.  Already a large improvement from the corn and wheat Pepe's previous food was made of.  I started rotating bags, giving Pepe different proteins, to offer him variety and keep him from getting bored.  One of the quickest changes I saw was his #2 in the yard - now that he was eating better ingredients that could get absorbed better, his #2's were much smaller and much less stinkier! What pet owner doesn't love that!?

We purchased this 7 cu ft freezer solely for dog food ingredients.  We also have a 14 cu ft freezer for our food, storage for my treat ingredients, as well as the dog's prepared meals (container picture at the bottom).

When I was working at my hydrotherapy pool in the Chicago suburbs, I started Pepe on a raw diet for the first time.  My boss was also a distributor of some commercially made raw food, so I was able to try it at cost.  I started bringing home 6lb bags of Northwest Naturals - a commercially made raw food that comes in nuggets, so it was very easy (and still affordable) for my 12lb Pepe.  I instantly became the world's best mom in Pepe's eyes.  Because he was the only dog for many years, he never felt the urge to gobble up his kibble.  There were no other dogs eyeing his food, so he often picked at it.  Now, he was excited about meal time!  I remember taking out 5 or 6 nuggets to thaw in the fridge for the next meal, depending on Pepe's activity level.  (We did tons of walking and running back then, and I altered his meal size based on activity level - something that helps overfeeding and maintaining weight).

But a major life event happened and Pepe and I were getting ready to chase our dreams and move cross country to Tucson!  This is when we went back to kibble for a number of years.  I still wanted to feed the best I could afford and I didn't have the freezer space in my new apartment.  Zoey also suddenly became a member of the family, just 2 months after I moved to Tucson.  So after some researching on ingredients and companies, I started feeding foods like Orijen and Taste of the Wild. I was now feeding strictly grain-free foods.  

Fast forward a few more years to living in Hereford and a third dog named Sarge.  It was now 2014 and I really wanted to get back to feeding a raw diet.  Our raw options in Cochise Country are extremely limited - buying commercially made foods wasn't going to happen.  No one carried the variety I wanted and having food shipped to my door was way out of the budget.  So I decided to start making my own!  There are ample resources out there to homemade dog food - whether you're doing a  homemade cooked diet with fruits and veggies, a raw diet with fruits and veggies, or a strictly raw meat diet... The resources are out there to help you start the journey.  The most important thing is to do your homework and really understand what is involved.  I firmly believe that an unbalanced homemade diet is worse than a bag of Ol' Roy.  You can't feed solely chicken breast and expect your dog to be healthy.

I joined some raw feeding groups, locally and nationally to start getting an idea of where to get my products from.  I bought freezers (we have 21 cubic feet of freezer space in the garage now) so that I could stock up when prices are good - this is critical to keeping things affordable!  I bought a small kitchen scale to weigh out food, freezable reditainers for storing prepared food, and thanks to a large raw group (22k members), printed out feeding charts for each dog as a quick reference when I make their food.

Vacuum sealed 1 lb packages of a deer/elk blend.  Bought through a raw feeding coop.

I've now been making my own dog food for a year now!  Bones are an every day part of their diet too!  Pepe and Zoey get bones like chicken necks and chicken feet and Sarge gets turkey necks and chicken thighs.  Bones are always raw and uncooked and choosing the proper sized item for the size of your animal is essential.  They eat liver and kidney which are full of vitamins and minerals.  And the proteins they eat on a monthly basis include: chicken, pork, turkey, smelt, beef, elk/venison, mackerel, green lipped mussels, chicken and duck eggs (from our birds) , and home raised duck.  Yes, our duck flock is solely to help feed our dogs.  I won't go into detail, but feel free to ask me about it in person.

Feeding a raw diet isn't for everyone and I don't encourage anyone to do it without ample understanding and research.  I do still feed kibble one day a week, just to keep their bodies used to it.  Primarily for the event of an emergency and needing to feed them on the go, or for when we go on vacation and I don't want to burden someone with feeding a diet that requires supervision. (I always stay in the kitchen and wait for the dogs to finish eating).  I also make a blend of raw fruits and steamed veggies that I puree together in a blender, freeze in ice cube trays and add to their dinners.  Not all fruits and veggies are created equal so I have a list of what foods to use and what foods not to use for these veggie cubes.

All of the meat I feed is from the grocery store, besides our eggs & ducks, and the elk/venison which is made specifically for animals and contains about 10-15% ground bone.  Now would you believe that my cost of feeding a homemade diet is the same cost as feeding a premium kibble!  As long as you know how to shop and plan, it can be really affordable!

This is what a day's worth of dog food looks like for us, without the veggies cubes and eggs (both stored separately).

One thing I instantly noticed about feeding a raw diet is once again, their #2.  Because their bodies can use so much more of their nutrients, compared to kibble, very little is expelled out.  In fact, I can't even smell it!  The only time their yard gets stinky is when they're back on kibble and it knocks me off my feet.  Their #2's also literally disintegrate after a few days.  No more picking up dog poop (unless it's from a kibble day), because it really does turn to dust!  Another major change is their drinking habits.  Because they're eating food full of water content, they end up drinking much less water throughout the day.  There's no real benefit to this, but it was eye opening to understand the difference of what their bodies are doing with their food.  Imagine if all you ate everyday, was crackers.  Your body would be insanely thirsty every day too.

There are a lot of options besides feeding kibble or a homemade raw diet.  The next blog entry will discuss:

• Freeze dried/dehydrated food

• Homecooked food

• Chubs

• Raw food: homemade vs. commerical

• Companies that formulate diets for you

I hope this has been interesting and has you thinking of ways to improve your pet's nutrition.  Stay tuned for more information!

What to Do with Those Tidy Cats Litter Containers?

I can't remember how it started but I started collecting my Tidy Cats litter boxes and soon one of my cat families started saving theirs to give to me once they heard how I was reusing them.  Locally, our waste companies do not accept these bins to be recycled so these big bulky litter containers take up space in our garbage bins and landfills.

The containers are built to hold up to 35 lbs of clay litter so they're obviously strong and durable and are built to stack upon each other, while holding all that weight

Tidy Cats asked their customers how they reused their bins a few years ago on Facebook, you can read some of the responses!

Iowa State University used them for glass recycling!

Here are some of the different ways I've used them...

I spray painted these ones and use them to hold feed! Spray painting them different colors makes it easy to know what is in each container.  These 3 colors of bins hold sunflower seeds, chick feed and chicken scratch.  Even if you don't have feed to store, the bins make excellent buckets.

I've used one of the bins under my kitchen sink to hold my kitchen scraps (with the lid on of course!)  With the handle on the bin, it makes it very easy to carry out to the garden and dump the contents into our compost, and then I rinse the bins out with the hose.

With a few large holes drilled on the bottom, they make excellent bins for weeding.  I have a few of these throughout the garden which make it convienent for weeding and pruning.  The holes are great so you don't have to worry about the bin filling up with rain.  These also get carried to the compost.

I have successfully grown veggies in them too! Again, with 1" holes drilled in the bottoms, I've grown peppers, beans and carrots in them!

This bin is currently my chicken feeder!  At the very bottom of the front side of the bin, I drilled two 2" holes.  The bin then sits in a small plastic container and I can fill the bin full of chicken feed and it keeps food available to the chickens for days!  (There are also some black sunflower seeds in there too)
 

My next bin project:  I will be cutting off the bottom 3-4" of a few bins to use as shallow trays to grow fodder for the birds during the upcoming winter.  This picture is currently day 3 of fodder, which will be a full bed of sprouted seed and grass in a week!

So you can see there are multiple ways to reuse these bins and even if you might not have a need for extra containers, someone you know might!

Review: Cardinal Auto-Lock Pet Gate (Model MG-15)

Right off the bat, I'm gonna say it - I love this gate!  

We've had this gate since we bought our house in November of 2013.  One of the things I liked most about our house was that there was a perfect doorway to put a gate up to keep the dogs out of the kitchen when I was cooking.  When we were first married, we were renting a huge house that had an awful kitchen floor plan and there was no way to gate the dogs out without blocking off half of the main floor.  We had our friend's mastiff living with us for over a year and he liked to lay in the middle of the floor of the kitchen, and I was always having to step over him when I cooked.  So I was thrilled when our new home had a good layout for easily blocking the dogs out of the kitchen.  I started shopping for semi-permanent gates that wouldn't be an eyesore but also wouldn't kill my wallet.  I originally found the Cardinal gate on Groupon - a site where I like to go look for some good deals.  The problem with Groupon is you often don't know the quality of the item and you don't know exactly when it'll be shipped to you.  I decided to take a chance on this gate.  At the very worst I knew I could return it.

I was so pleased when we got the gate set up!  It does require wall anchors to keep it securely in place but other than those, it came with everyone needed.  The width is adjustable and the vertical slats keep seasoned gate climbers on their side of the gate. (Yes, Zoey was once a gate climber!)  The auto-lock means that you can swing the gate behind you and it will lock into place - you don't need to stand there to lock it.  

When we received the gate, the instructions stated to install it 6" above the floor.  It didn't say why, so we left the 6" gap on the bottom which you don't want to do if you have little dogs.  They can sneak underneath if they're small enough.

We've now had this gate installed for 2.5 years and it is still working beautifully and looks just as good as day 1! 

It is available on Amazon and extensions are also available if you need a little more width.