Brain Spew

The Deal with Elvis's Crap

Sometimes I really do wish I had forethought to take "before" pictures but the thought usually doesn't occur till the "after" happens and there ain't no going back. ... This might be an exception though, but I may have to be descriptive to make up for it. You've been warned.

Elvis is huge. We know this. He's averaged around 130 pounds since adulthood, and you know what? That's a lot of dog! Over the course of 7+ years with me, his diet has evolved right along with my knowledge of dog food. We didn't come from "Ol' Roy" beginnings.... hmm, thinking back that far, I'd say that Iam's was his food to begin with. Then we migrated over to Taste Of The Wild about 4 years ago. Then came TOTW mixed with cooked chicken & vegies which we've done for about a year. And now we're partly raw. Still a bit of TOTW, but more pressure-cooked chicken, fresh herbs & steamed vegies/fruits and raw red meats.

You've no doubt seen humongous doggie poops at some point in your life. Elvis's were huge. Huge! When we changed over to Taste Of The Wild (TOTW) his poop size reduced by a good 1/3 or a bit more. A significant change... because I noticed, right? I expected it, so it wasn't like a huge surprise... more like a really nice perk.

Then Elvis became a diabetic and soon after I got bit with a "feed him really healthy" bug. I buy chicken quarters and pressure cook them bones and all along with fresh carrots and a sweet potato. Vegies, fruits & herbs are steamed to preserve their nutrients & fibrous qualities. Organ meats are always cooked....'cause the doggies just don't dig it raw. Doggies tastes differ, just like humans.

Once we made the "almost completely home cooked food" switch, the fecal size has gone down yet again! Elvis's body is using more of what he's given. From mini-pachyderm sized poops down to very acceptable sized doggie poops of firm, well formed consistency. Yep, I'd guess that his waste has been reduced by HALF of what it was when he was on commercial dog food alone.

Half. ..... That's a significant change!

Coat texture is amazingly improved and shedding has been greatly reduced. Granted, I do feed my kids herbal additives. I add dried catnip and either "Tranquility" or "Seaweed & Rosehips" dried Hilton Herbs to their food at preparation time .... not added during the cooking process. Home grown herbs that are added during cooking include: mint, rosemary, sage, curled parsley, bee or lemon balm, dandelion leaves and (when it blooms) we'll add chamomile.

More on Home Cooked Food

Being a cost conscious human.... I have always had this mistaken belief that making your own dog food could not possibly be anymore cost effective than buying a bag of kibble every few weeks. Ha! I was oh-so wrong! I used to purchase a $45 bag of food every 2 weeks when we were on kibble alone. That's $90/month in kibble alone for 3 dogs. So, that roughly amounts to $20/week in food. There's no way I can purchase $20 in fresh foods.... it doesn't even come close! My average fresh food cost per week is roughly $10 to $15. Here's what I typically get: A HUGE bag of chicken quarters for $5... that lasts a full week easily as I only pressure cook 3-4 quarters per cooking session. Then there's ground pork, beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, etc.. One or two trays of those per week along with a container of livers. Frozen vegies are inexpensive and easy to store if you have the space. 1 or 2 sweet potatoes, apples, pears and a couple heads of broccoli (the good parts for us humans.... the cast off's get saved & cooked for the doggies). Inexpensive makings and easy to fix and a considerable amount less than the kibble.... plus you know where it came from.

So, every 5 days or so my kitchen goes doggie for a couple hours:

Pressure cook: 3-4 chicken quarters + 1 medium sweet potato (chopped), garlic, organ meats (chopped), salmon skins (cut up - if I have 'em) and anything else that needs more than steaming. I pressure cook for 2+ hours. Cool. If the chicken bones do not easy break with a spoon, cook for another 30 minutes or so. Cool.

Steam: vegies and herbs. Corn is a carbohydrate... do not use. Steam till tender. Cool.
** I save the tinted water to add to their food that night (full of nutrients).

Optional: Bake: organ meats. Just different texture than pressure cooking and possibly tastier. I sprinkle garlic powder on 'em prior to baking. Bake 350 till cooked through (about 20-30 minutes). Cool.

Raw: 1 package any ground meat. Egg - optional. If you're not using fresh herbs, this is where you add DRIED herbs**.

Combine everything and refrigerate. I use a large 2 quart Tupperware-type plastic container.

How much to feed? If a human tummy is the size of a loosely closed fist, relate that analogy to your dog. It's less than you think, especially compared to kibble. But, do monitor your dogs' weight till you find the appropriate amount to feed. Elvis either has to go to the vet to be weighed, or with his thin coat I monitor by body feel. If I have doubts/questions I get a weight. This is especially important with his diabetes. If his weight changes, his insulin dose changes.


** Fresh vs Dried Herbs

Fresh herbs have significant more potency than their dried counterparts. Adding dried herbs to the dogs food after cooking preserves their nutrients.

Fresh herbs worth adding to your garden for yourself and your dog include: mint, catnip, rosemary, parsley, chamomile, sage. All are relatively easy to grow and provide a valuable resource to your dogs overall health... and your own.

Dandelion leaves are edible for both humans and dogs... it just doesn't please me to eat something I pick out of my lawn. I use a hand full of dandelion leaves for every cooking for the doggies.

Catnip & mint (both in the mint family) make great ground covers.... meaning they can be invasive. Both grow well in container gardens to prevent spreading. Catnip was historically used to treat colic in babies. It's a great tummy tamer and I use a healthy dose both fresh and dried in the dogs food. I even recommend eating a fresh leaf or two when your own tummy is upset. It works better than Tums. Catnip is easy to get at any garden center and some pet stores.

My chamomile is young and not yet in flower. The flowers are what we put in the dogs food, or dry and make teas for ourselves, or the dogs. I am told it is a serious calmer for reactive dogs. I will be giving this a try and will report.

Speaking of trying new things: I have been using Hilton Herbs for well over a month now. Herbs (of any preparation) take about a month to begin producing results. In our "fix it now!" society, this can be a challenge. But if you want to go drug free and see lasting results, you must be patient, Grasshopper. Here's my results on Hilton's Herbs thus far:

All three dogs show positive coat change. Nestle shows the most change. He had frizzy, dry hair that would not grow. He looked more like a wire haired Dox than a long haired in some respects. His coat was thin and nearly bald in places and his skin was very dry, tender and itchy. Again, wishing for that coveted "before" picture. Now his coat is thick, curly, luxurious, growing longer and the bald spots are filling in. His skin is soft with no dryness, flakes or itchies. Because his coat is no longer dry and brittle which visually looks much lighter in colour, his coat now appears much darker and richer in colour.

Jazz's coat is simply thicker, richer and amazingly softer. She had no coat issues going in like Nestle did. Shedding is much reduced. She is my only double coated dog.

Elvis's coat is also thicker, richer, softer. All three shed less. They still shed.... it's just less. Less is good. Elvis had a couple nasty bald spots going in. One is filled in completely with new hair, the other is still in the slow process of improvement. Being diabetic and having healing issues, this does not surprise or alarm me. His "licking" is much reduced, thus less tongue stained fur or resulting irritations that took forever to heal.

To date the dogs have been receiving the "Tranquility" or "Rose Hips & Sea Weed" Hilton Herbs. Jazz takes CDRM solution drops for her degenerating hip. Results thus far with her hip? A LOT less favoring. She would typically carry that leg when descending stairs. Now, I notice her do that "rarely" and only briefly when she does. Her bolts of racing around the yard at high speed have dramatically increased suggesting less discomfort.

I am deeply impressed with the results thus far in going (mostly) raw with the doggies diet and the addition of herbs. Less poop is only the tip of the ice burg in the perks one can look forward to when making these simple diet changes.... it's just happens to be the most immediate perk.

Less crap is good.

Case Studies

GUINNESS This is Guinness, a 14 y/o GSD. His tilting head is due to vestibular syndrome that he began exhibiting in February. At his age, the resulting inactivity was of concern with atrophying muscles. I came to see my fur friend at his home and spent long time doing TTouches all over and around his ears to aid in neural connections. I also used some energy medicine to gently keep his leg muscles in working order and showed his Momma what and how to do the exercises. My main concern was in maintaining his mobility during this rather immobile time for him.
A couple weeks later, Guinness was able to go back to work with his people where I met him and touched base with how he was doing and we enjoyed some TTouch time.


SIDNEY
This is Sidney, an adoptable GSD in foster care. I met her briefly at an adoption fair for GSD rescue and got to work with her. She (not surprisingly) has physical stresses which responded well to the TTouches. She was sporting a huge prong collar and was quite off balance and pulling heavily on the prong even when standing. I fashioned her lead into a TTouch balance lead and we simply stood while I gave Sidney subtle signals to put her more into balance and teach her to not lean into the prong. By the time I handed her back over to her foster person, she was standing in balance on a completely loose lead... that prong no longer digging into her neck. She also seemed much more calm and content.

Sidney is available for adoption. She has issues with other female dogs, however I have complete confidence that TTouch would help her overcome many issues. A delightful young lady deserving of a forever home.


DORRIE I have more recent pics of Lady Dorrie, but I'll be darned if I can locate 'em! Dorrie is a 5 y/o Golden with lots of stress issues. Her canine pal, is Cash.... an active Coonhound. I worked with Cash & Dorrie together at our last session. Both were remarkably calmer at our last session, which was rather noteworthy! Cash showed interest in the neighbor dog, but didn't go manic with pacing and barking. Dorrie was all over much more laid back. We did ground work with both dogs together and went over some new TTouches for both of them. Their progressive calm is really the highlight of their TTouch sessions.


HARLEY Harley is a 3 y/o West Highland Terrier. Harley is a super-duper sweetie who experiences shyness and/or reactivity with strangers or other selective issues, such as reluctance to foot handling. We've just had one session together thus far and he seems to be quite responsive to and liking of the TTouches. I'm looking forward to finding avenues to really help this little jewel soar!


And then there's my own test subjects! ThunderShirts arrived and naturally I have been test driving them with my own crew. Nestle & Jazz both really appreciate these gentle body compression garments when the stress gets too great. Somewhere along the banks of the Tennessee River, someone enjoys target shooting (I HOPE they're shooting targets!) which sends both small dogs into shivering, stressed reactivity. ThunderShirts were a raving success each time, shaking stopped and though both dogs stayed close to me... they were much calmer.

Some dogs need time. Nestle has taught me that when it comes to "come"... some dogs need time to process this and carry out the activity. He will stop, think and then come a runnin'. Sometimes this can seem like an eternity, when it's usually less than a minute. I have to remember to not nag ("come", "come", .... etc.) and practice my patience during his processing time - and it pays off. With time, Nestle's "pauses" before coming are becoming shorter in duration. I give him the time to choose and when he chooses correctly, he's rewarded for it. He simply responds a little more slowly than some dogs. He reminds me that "instantaneous response" is an unfair expectation from each and every creature.... because they are as individual as we humans are.

Jazz

My sweet "sister-in-fur". I owe this girl a great deal for who and where I am. She appeared from nowhere five days after I'd watched my Father's fight with cancer end, and she chose me. A month later she was my constant companion as I lay for weeks recovering from a bike accident and a couple of surgeries. She was only a year old when she was diagnosed with her degenerating hip. Such a sweet heart with such a long, lovely life ahead, I had the hip ordered and the surgery scheduled. Fortunately those hips take a long time to arrive because in the mean time I requested we try Adequan to offer her some relief. She carried her leg a lot and the hind quarter was sore to the touch. The Adequan worked like a miracle and the surgery was postponed indefinitely. Knowing and fearing we'd come to this bridge again in her future, Jazz's hip inspired me to do all I could to help her maintain a healthy joint and comfort for as long as possible and as naturally as possible. This eventually led me to TTouch.

It touches my soul to share what TTouch has done for her. Maybe it was her week at the seminar that helped bring it all together for her, but as usual, I feel it was all things. Car riding has had its challenges and she has calmed considerably but lately she has being doing something quite remarkable. She chooses the front seat. There are still things that cause her to tremble, but she knows that if she's in the front seat I can TTouch her and she calms. To read the whole story on Jazz & car rides, visit her blog.

She still "toes out" on that bad hip, suggesting rotation. But it's less, a bit. I do in depth work on her regularly. Her range of motion is very good, her speed and agility as great as ever. Considering how crippled she was when we discovered the ailment, her silliness is a delight to see. She will carry that foot when descending long stairs at a quick pace, but that's it for any favoring.

She seems much more comfortable being in this world. To my utter amazement she trotted calmly beside me right past a stranger in the neighboring yard who watched in wonder. She never even gave him a glance as she calmly trotted on by, her tail high in the air. This is the dog who barked viciously at the neighbors (and any persons over there) in the past.

Best of all she seems much more willing to admit that Nestle is just plain nuts on occasion, rather than joining in as she has been in the habit of doing. She was quiet before the barky boy arrived. She's rediscovering her quiet.

Nestle is beginning to realize he has a quiet side. This is huge.

2nd TTouch Training Session

We did it again, Nestle, Jazz and I took the last week of March in Chapel Hill, NC to be at our 2nd Tellington TTouch companion animal practitioner training session.

Kathy Cascade was our instructor, pictured here with, "Dorito" a little mixed breed from the shelter at "Paws 4 Ever" in Chapel Hill. (She's available, kids! The dog that is.... )

I am blown away that a same subject can be taught so eloquently - yet a different facet of the same gem . It makes complete sense, of course, but the reality of it is quite impressive. It was new, yet it wasn't. The familiarity fascinating. I felt green going in, but coming away I feel much more capable and competent. It was a wonderful (COLD! It snowed, sleeted, heavy freeze and 1 sunny, warm day) week of learning, making new friends and touching base with familiar friends. My 3rd session is in June with Linda Tellington-Jones, the founder. I am very much looking forward to that one.

So, I'm back to case studies with my first batch due in June. It Should be interesting now with new parts of the growth process integrating into my being, my "style" of doing this work. I learned so much! Thank you deeply, KC! A magical week.

I have been approved to be a dealer for ThunderShirts, and boy does Nestle need one anyway... so he gets first crack at it. I was also approved to be a dealer for Hilton Herbs. I love my herbs, as we all know, and I'm deeply impressed with the ethics Hilton uses in making such fine products (human grade for our companion animals & horses, too). My dogs enjoy the herbs. I'd go nuts singing praises, but it really hasn't been long enough for my babies to reach their "maintenance level" of the herb for me to give a fair feedback. The shampoos are the best I've found thus far. Nestle has very thin, delicate and dry skin, so keeping him clean, comfortable and "not" bald or raw, is a trial. I used the "pine tar" shampoo on him, and I've never seen (or felt) him better.

So, my goodness my basket is filling up. TTouch, Herbalist, Jin Shin for animals and Raiki for animals... it's all coming together into a superb package.

Happy April!

That's me putting a rope harness on an Angora Ram (goat)
Oh, and pardon my butt