All the Creatures

With many dog and cat rescues shutting their doors for lack of funds a local pet rescue has decided to go big. The rescue is Safe Haven located in Albany, Oregon. What they plan on doing is having a huge warehouse built and cater to dog and cat owners. They will offer pet boarding, training and have a pet supply store onsite.

The building is reported to be a huge one. I don’t know if they will go with something like Olympia steel buildings or have a local builder design and build it. They received a huge donation that enables them to go through with this venture.

It will be interesting to see how the boarding and store will pay for the rescue side of the “business.” The one thought that I did have is, will they be able to retain their non-profit status?

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Don’t you get tired of all those crazy claims that some pet food manufacturers claim? I know I do. Dog food and horse feed seem to be the most notorious of nutritional claims. I remember one dog food company that made an expensive dry dog food that claimed to alleviate all kinds of skin allergies. Did it work? Heck no…………..and I bought 2, 40 pound bags just to test it out. The “secret” ingredient was suppose to be avocados. I bought it for my female Chow Chow that was having skin lesions. The little bumps were at first thought to be flea bites but was something else. It turned out she had a food allergy to soy.

Soy beans are often added to dog and cat foods to hike up the protein percentage of the food. It is a cheap way for the manufacturer to make the claims of “more protein” than another brand. What us pet owners need to keep in mind is that soy is a plant. Being that it is a plant, it has cell walls and cell walls are harder to digest for carnivores than cells that have no walls (animal based foods).

Then there are the pet foods that have all those added vitamins - why? If the food was made from actual food rather than “by products” such as hair, bone and hoof then there would be no need to shop for which food contained the best multivitamins but the best top ingredients.

Here is how I shop for dry pet foods. I look at the ingredients and the first one had better be meat and not grains. Some of the best dog foods are often the store brands. The ones that I have found to have the highest amount of actual meat are the lamb and rice foods.

Happy pet food shopping.

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Do you really know what a fit dog looks like? Most of us know that you should be able to just feel the dogs ribs with your finger tips but not see them. The dog should also have a tightly packed abdominal section. It is the doggy equivalent of a human six pack also known as abdominal cuts. That is the sign of a fit dog. The photo of the racing greyhounds is shown as an example of the ultimate fit dog. Notice the highly muscled hindquarters. The tummy is also tightly packed.

While I do not condone grey hound racing, I do enjoy looking at any athletic animal, domestic or wild. An athletic animal will have a better time fighting injuries if hurt, just like us humans. In order for a dog to get and remain fit, they need to run or jog each day. Just walking your dog will not get them as fit as they could be.

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