FATBOY FOR THE KIDS

Rascal chilling on his fatboy

Rascal is a pretty good boy as far as dogs go... He doesn't give me much trouble except for occasional naughtiness when out on his walks... But he does have one serious problem - he loves to destroy his beds!

We have gone through so many beds ever since he walked into our lives 6 years ago. He has chewed up everything that we have put down as bedding for him. He has destroyed cardboard boxes, cheap rugs from Ikea, expensive rugs, human comforters with covers, a really nice doggie bed I brought back from London, several rather expensive doggie type beds from petstores...and the list goes on...

You might say that I should just give up on beds for him, but you see he's quite thin and he needs a nice bed to lie on so that he has some sort of cushioning. I would imagine that it would be quite painful also to sleep in his crate without any bedding of sorts. And also because he's quite thin, I worry that he'd get cold on raining nights (although he always has his Thundershirt on when it rains).

Anyway I have been on the lookout for a tough and durable bed for him, and recently I have noticed loads of bean bags that are on sale at our malls. Most of these bags have pretty tough fabric, but so far I have not come across any that were actually made for dogs in KL. Until today that is...

I was meandering in Pavillion while waiting for some stuff to be fixed, and happened to walk into this store called molecule on the 6th floor. I saw some bean bags there and then saw that they were actually fatboy beanbags and they had the doggie version of their beanbags as well.

Cleo - trying out her fatboy

So you're thinking, what's the big deal with getting a doggie version? Well the first thing is that doggie version from fatboy is washable (with warm, soapy water) while most human versions from other brands are not (you can only wipe them clean). This I think is pretty important for most dog owners...

And secondly, as I have been looking at quite a few bean bags including the ones from doof (which are much much cheaper), I felt that the human ones are alot more chewable. The reason being that there are less beans (which allows you to turn it into many different shapes etc) and therefore gives the dogs more areas to chew on, and there are also edges that are very easily chewable...(see pictures above).

However, if your dog is not a chewaholic - then I think you should consider getting a normal human bean bag as they really are much cheaper.

In the mean time, I will keep all of you updated as to how the bean bags are faring...Cleo and Lucky are usually quite good with their beds and so I think they will not destroy them. Hopefully, Rascal will not chew and destroy his bean bag... if he does, then I seriously won't know what to get him next...I might just have to leave him with no bed... :(

WALKING IN THE RAIN

Walking in the rain this morning with the kids - they were nicely protected by their Hurtta raincoats :)

Just in case anyone needs to get one for their furkids, we got ours from Euro Dog Designs:

http://www.eurodogdesigns.com/Hurtta-Rain-Coat_p_36.html

IT ALL STARTS AT SCHOOL...

As I was walking Cleo & Lucky this morning, we ran into a whole bunch of school kids who were doing some kind of cross country running thing.

So all three of us stopped and waited patiently at the junction for all the kids to go past... There were hundreds of them. Cleo and Lucky behaved exceptionally well and just stood there watching the kids. The school kids however, were not nearly as well behaved as my fur-kids.

Almost every single one of them started to - get this - BARK!!! - when they saw us. I was quite horrified at their behaviour and told many of them to stop doing the nonsense that they were doing

If they were faced with dogs that were not as well behaved or strays, they may have put themselves in danger of being bitten by the dogs. Thankfully, my kids didn't flinch in the slightest bit with all the ruckus.

But what irked me most this morning, was not the behaviour of the school kids, but the behaviour of some of the teachers that were chaperoning the kids. One of the teachers who rode past on a motorcycle actually turned around to the children and started shouting and waving like a lunatic!

He shouted: Anjing kat depan! Anjing kat depan! Tepi! Tepi! Tepi! Nanti kena gigit! Tepi! Tepi! Anjing kat depan! Nanti kena gigit! (Dogs up ahead! Dogs up ahead! Move! Move! Move! You'll get bitten!)

This ridiculous behaviour of the teacher got the kids into a right frenzy and they literally all started to run helter-skelter, and scream and shout hysterically as they passed us!

I nearly had a heart attack right there and glared at this stupid teacher! Seriously if my dogs were easily spooked or not as well trained, they would have most probably gotten very excited and may have actually bitten some of the kids.

I feel that as an adult the last thing that teacher should have done was to make the kids panic! He should have told them to walk by calmly and quietly instead of scaring them like he did. And the worst part of this fiasco, was that he rode away after shouting at the kids, instead of staying there to ensure that the kids were safe from my two "ferocious" dogs!

This is probably why so many kids react so badly when they see dogs or when a dog approaches them. Their reaction can cause them to be seriously hurt.

I hope that parents and teachers will actually teach their kids to react the correct way when faced with an unknown dog. Here are some tips on how to prevent being attacked or bitten by a dog!

Avoiding dog attacks

The following tips may help you avoid being attacked by a dog:

• Don't stare dogs in the eyes - dogs often feel as though you're challenging them when you make direct eye contact with them, so this should be avoided to reduce the risk of attack.
• STAND STILL - or maintain a constant slow pace while BACKING out of the dog's territory if you are withdrawing. Do not turn away from the dog.
• Never try to outrun a dog as this will provoke the dog to chase you and this can end in an attack.
• Start by slowly distancing yourself from the dog if it begins to approach you. Get something between yourself and it - for instance if you're on a bike, place the bike between you and the dog; if there is a tree post or bench, ensure they are between yourself and the dog. Once behind the object you can speak softly and gently to calm the dog.
• Do not use part of your body - e.g. an arm - to distance yourself from the dog as the dog may snap at you, causing injury.
• Keep a safe distance between yourself and dogs being walked on a lead, and always ask the owner's permission before approaching any dog.
• Be aware of areas that dogs frequent and change your route to avoid dogs which are not on leads. 

 

What to do if a dog attacks you

• Call 999 (or ask somebody else to) as soon as it is possible to do so. 
• Do not use part of your body - e.g. an arm - to distance yourself from the dog as the dog may snap at you, causing injury.
• If you are attacked or knocked to the ground, take measures to protect your face, neck and head by curling up in a ball and putting your hands on the back of your neck. Try to be still and do not wave your arms around.

 

WHY I WILL NEVER FEED MY KIDS KIBBLE EVER AGAIN!

Most readers of my blog would know that I currently feed my kids raw food. I made the switch almost a year ago now when Cleo was diagnosed with a severely enlarged heart. There didn't seem to be anything that I could do to improve her condition from a medical point of view. The only thing that kept cropping up when I was researching her condition was diet and supplements. And I am glad to report that a year on, she is doing really quite well.

One of the first things that I did when I made the decision to switch from kibble to raw was to actually give away the kibble that I still had. It was a newly opened super premium brand mind you. I gave it away so that I couldn't cave in and feed the kids kibble in the event that they decided not to eat the raw food. Now that was almost a year ago...

A couple of weeks ago, I was cleaning out the little store room under my stair case when I saw two small, round pellets on the floor. I groaned rather loudly as I thought that I had rats or something in the house. But upon closer inspection I discovered that it was not rat droppings but kibble!!!

The two rogue pieces of kibble

I was quite horrified because the kibble looked "normal", i.e. as if it was just taken out of the bag... There was no sign of decomposition or degradation of any sort! This kibble was completely well preserved and it had been lying there on the floor for at least a year, if not more - depending on when that kibble actually fell out!

This really further impressed upon me that kibble is really just full of chemicals and preservatives, and we should really stop feeding our kids kibble!

I will try to write a more comprehensive post on the evil that is kibble later on. But I just hope that this will help those of you who are still feeding your kids kibble to ditch it asap! Even if you can't bring yourself to feed your kids raw, stop feeding them kibble or any processed food really!

After years of being brainwashed by everyone into thinking that kibble was the perfect food for my kids, I have come to realise that what my aged uncle was feeding his dogs - human food, i.e. whatever my uncle ate, his dogs ate - was a million times better than kibble. I know for certain now that I will never ever feed my kids kibble again!

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To further impress upon everyone the importance of ditching kibble, I am conducting a mini experiment: I have put the two pellets of kibble in a small, open, plastic container. I have dated it today (16/01/13) and put it back into the store room. I will check on it in 6 months time and let you know if they are still there...

UPDATE 07/12/13 The two pieces of kibble are still perfectly intact!

CLEO GUARDING HER TENNIS BALL

WAITING FOR HER TENNIS BALL

Cleo, waiting as patiently as she can for me to toss her tennis ball!

RAW FEEDING FOR HEALTHIER DOGS

2 days worth of chicken for the lot of them

The kids have been doing really well on BFFLO (Big Food Fed Less Often). They seem fuller and more contented. Basically for those of you who are wondering what on earth this means, it simply means that they get a much larger meal and only eat every other day or so.. Note that this does not equal fasting!

One giant meal for Cleo

What happens with my lot is that (after some tweaking etc) they eat on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays only. They essentially get a double meal at each meal time except Wednesdays (they get a single meal here). I have scheduled it such so that I remember when to feed them and how much. Otherwise I may forget if they need to eat... ;-)

We are now almost 10/11 months into raw food for the kids. And I must say I am so pleased that I made the switch early this year! I cannot imagine ever putting them back on kibble! They are generally doing very very well.

Cleo's health has improved although we still have issues every now and then. But she is doing so well compared to before we made the switch! No one believes that she is an 8 year old labrador with a heart problem!

Lucky and Belle's skin have cleared up completely! No more nasty hot spots and sores and stinky coat!

Rascal has put on weight and his coat is so shiny and glossy eventhough he hasn't had a bath in 3 months already now!!! Lucky also has a really nice coat and he hasn't had a bath in a few months as well. Cleo and Belle have just had a bath yesterday after 2 months - and that was just because I felt that they needed one before the new year as opposed to them actually needing the one. The boys refused to get bathed so I gave up...

But seriously feeding raw has made my life so much easier in terms of bathing them. It used to be once a a week and it took me a really long time to get all of them bathed. I would be exhausted by the time I finished with them. And the worst part was that their skin (esp Lucky and Belle) was still not great and they would stink towards the end of the week! I have no such problem now!

The best part of raw feeding is that all of them have no ticks at all (even without regular baths) and we have stopped using Frontline for over a year now and they are not on any other tick or flea prevention remedies!

So if any of you out there are still sitting on the fence and contemplating whether or not to feed raw, I would say just do it! The benefits from raw feeding OUTWEIGHS the inconvenience of preparing the food by far...

In the mean time Happy New Year everyone!

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Note: This post is intended as a guide or reference and is not meant to replace veterinary advice. The information on this post is based on conclusions that I have made after extensive reading, advice from other raw feeders in particular the Raw Feeding and Raw Chat Facebook groups, and on my experience with my own dogs. Please consult your holistic veterinarian for advice on the most appropriate way to feed and supplement your dogs.

I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS...

 

I am dreaming of a white Christmas,

Just like the ones I used to know,

Where the tree tops glisten,

And children listen,

To hear sleigh bells in the snow....

Well I think my Lucky could tell that I was wishing I was in the snowy white mountains of Jasna, Slovakia like last year... And so he decided to give me a Malaysian white Christmas!!!

A SEMI FUR-LESS CLEO

Cleo had to go for an ultrasound of the chest and abdomen last week which meant that she had to be shaved almost completely from her chest all the way down to her abdomen... She's not very pleased with her new look and neither am I.

The good news is that her heart is functioning great! So we are all quite relieved. I think the raw food must be doing her a whole lot of good... The not so good news is that she has some minor irregularities in her spleen and bladder.

Dr Prem doesn't think that we need to worry too much about it though. So hopefully she will be right as rain after a couple of weeks on cranberry concentrate tablets.

In the mean time, I really hope that her fur grows back soon... The last time she had her chest shaved, it took ages before all the fur grew back nicely...

SNOOZING DOGS!

Cleo and Lucky all wrapped up in their blankets as it has been rather chilly of late...