The Food Experiment: A Change of Course

I did it.  I moved the girls to another formula of Solid Gold's (MMillenia - beef formula) to see how Maggie would react.  Unfortunately, she has started the scratching again - it's pretty minimal at this point but I don't want it to build up again.  I want her to be happy and itch-free.  Having found that one formula that eliminated her itchiness overnight, I'm sticking with it.  Bye, Bye Food Experiment.  I'm glad that we found the solution to her problems and, though I would have liked to try a few more foods so that I had personal experience with which to recommend them to my customers, my goal was met.  Sadie is looking spectacular and though I haven't taken her in to the vet for the official weigh-in, there is no doubt that she is very close to her ideal weight.  She has gone from sausage to svelte.  I think all three of the foods we tried helped her as she started trimming the fat once we moved off of Iams and kept going.

I did have one goal in my experiment that won't be met by sticking to one formula - and that is providing variety in their diet.  So how am I going to accomplish that?  By supplementing their diets with fresh snacks and homemade meals of course!  I have already been doing this a little for the past few months but off and on and only when the cooking I was doing for us peeps was appropriate to feed to the girls.  Now I'm going to make the commitment to more than just off and on and when it's convenient.  They'll get one home-prepared protein per week, I will sometimes add food toppers like broth, eggs or fresh veggies and I'm going to start replacing some of the treats they get with raw veggies and fruit.  Sadie is pretty psyched about this. 

I will have no problem with Sadie and the fresh veggies.  I discovered her love for all things vegetables - well, not all veggies...just the crunchy ones - a few years back when a piece of raw asparagus fell on the floor.  She gobbled it up and I waited for the horrible, what the hell is this crap expression that would inevitably come.  I mean, raw asparagus?  Even I need my asparagus blanched at least.  Nope.  She loved it and begged for more. This past week, I introduced celery and now I have a dog that begs whenever I break out the cutting board.  Except if I'm cutting up meat - she knows her place is lying down at the edge of the kitchen when she smells meat.  Guess I'll have to start training her that the same applies to veggies too.

Maggie wasn't having any of the celery (good thing I won't be relying on celery for nutrition!) but she did have a good ole time chomping on carrots.

Another Doggie Intake at OFOSA

On Tuesday, I was able to help OFOSA intake a transport of about 100 dogs up from the San Bernadino shelter in CA.  It was my second time helping them out and something I hope to make a regular occurrence.  This time, some of the OFOSA folks flew down to San Bernadino to finalize the dog selections and rode up with them.  What a difference having our people on both sides of the transport makes!  This time around, there was less missing paperwork, dogs were in better condition and all around it was a smoother process. 

I was the lucky volunteer asked to coordinate supplies, stations and other volunteers since the regular intake guru was on the transport herself and not able to do all of the preparations at OFOSA.  I was super honored that they have that level of trust in me, with it only being the 2nd transport I've helped out with.  Can't say I did anything to help improve the process, except perhaps be the one that other volunteers came to so that the real experts could continue their work with minimal interruptions. 

One of OFOSA's intake areas - these guys will be going home to fosters this week.

Best part of the experience?  Getting to help with medical intake and naming the dogs.  I love getting more involved with each experience.

The hardest part?  Losing two newborn puppies in the process.  They had been born the day before they left CA and though we lost two, we prevented the entire litter from losing their lives.  I won't even begin to describe the puppy euthanasia room that was described to me.  Hearing those tough stories strengthens my commitment to this cause.  I hope I can be a small part of ensuring that in the future there is never a need for such a room.

I've also come to realize that I am a sucker for the hard cases.  I'm the first to take on a trouble-some dog or ones with medical issues.  There was this lil Pitbull puppy with a rather severe club foot.  It took everything in me not to take him home to foster.  He was silver and white - and really silver, not blue-being-called-silver silver.  I didn't get a picture of him 'cause I was too busy lovin' on him.  Sorry!  But I did get a few pictures of these mangy mutts...literally mangy - I was the one who got to care for them when they arrived and boy are they cute, even with an ucky skin problem.

Mange is itchy!

The last dog I felt I really helped was an Aussie with an extremely painful abscessed tooth.  She was in so much pain that she just laid on the newspaper-covered concrete floor, not having the motivation to take advantage of the fluffy dog bed right next to her.  I didn't think she would make the move but am so glad that I was able to convince her that the bed was a much better option.  It's difficult to see a dog that's in so much misery that she can't even move to a more comfortable place.  Luckily, she's will be having surgery on that tooth this week so she should be right as rain soon.

OK - you're right.  Doggie bed is much more comfy than concrete and newspapers!

I was exhausted when I came home Tuesday night.  Exhausted but completely satisfied that there was no better way that I could've spent the day.

The pups should be up on OFOSA's Petfinder page within the next couple days.  As you can imagine, it takes a while to input all the info on 100 different dogs when you've got an all-volunteer staff.