A 10am update that supercedes the now deleted 3am update.

Let it be known, your honour, that somewhere in Sydney, Australia, a suburban housewife is very sleepy, crabby at Blogger and about to do dangerous bodily harm by plucking out her own hair.

I made a huge mistake in yesterday's important post with this caption -

2 daily meals of raw and cooked bones, offal and meat, kibble [currently Canidae], rice and greens.

Did you spot it?

I must have proof read it at least, oh, 5 times before publishing and yet I missed it.

Lucky for me, Jean [despite often being sleepless, having to wipe 12 muddy critter paws in the middle of the night] was sharp.

Last night at 3am, I hastily tumbled downstairs after seeing her comment picking out the mistake, to correct the post.

Why the haste?

It wasn;t just a typo eror, or even an silly grammatical one.

No, it was a mistake that should not have been made, in all places, on a post about what bones to give your dog. I HAD to immediately change it.

And all would have been well and I would be having a lovely crispy bacon and egg sangy for Sunday brekkie now instead of typing this - if it wasn't for the fact that Blogger wouldn't let me make the correction.

Every time I tried to re-publish the corrected post, the paragraphs would come out scrambled like eggs. Tossed about like a salad. Incomprehensible, in short.

I don't know what's going on with Blogger these days but I might just save that particular rant for another rainy day.

So I did the only thing I could. I wrote a new post correcting the mistake and published it at 3.30 am.

This morning, after I read my 3.30am post, I realised I should have made more of a hoo-ha over the mistake. Perhaps something like this -

2 daily meals of raw and cooked bones, offal and meat, kibble [currently Canidae], rice and greens.

Now you see what I mean!

That caption should have read -

2 daily meals of  raw bones, raw and cooked offal and meat, kibble [currently Canidae], rice and greens.

Because, of course, cooked bones are bad for dogs! [So please people, stop tossing them over your fence onto the road! and leaving them behind in the park after your picnic! No one will think you're being kind and generous to share your leftover cooked bones this way.]

Thank god, I say, THANK GOD! for Ms Jean, her sharp eye and her knowledge of such things!

I'm still distressed that Blogger won't let me change it on the original post. I hope that I'll be able to one day, as I'd hate someone trying to find the right bone for his/her dog to ever have to read that.

P>S> When I was at Something Wagging last night, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to join the Saturday BlogHop in the hope of getting more input on the last post.

It was my 1st time ever and, I'm afraid, I might have messed up. So here I am, about to make yet another correction.

Thank you Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume for hosting.

NOTE No need to make any comments on this post, unless you want to throw a dummy spit at Blogger.

Otherwise, please go back to the last post HERE. Any thoughts on the subject will be welcome :)

Thank you and have a great weekend!

With love and respect always, The Typist x

Deleting the 3.30am post NOW!

"Please Mr Butcher, can I have a bone for my dog?"

A serious post about how [confusing it is] to choose the right bone for a dog - written by a concerned and confused housewife dogowner after 1 night of googling.

+

Most people would say Georgia eats well. We've come a long way from feeding our dogs kibble from Woollie's and canned dog food.

Sadly, I can't say for sure if her meals are perfectly balanced since I'm not a dogfood expert.

The entire bottom half of our freezer is all Georgia's food. How did our fridge life get so taken over by 1 dog?

Nor do I have the mathematical genius required to calculate the kind of 2 decimal point percentages I see on dogfood bags and sites.

To tell you the truth, I get a headache when presented with such numbers and instantly think of all the dogs in the world who don't eat like that and still live good happy lives. [Though perhaps not Methuselan ones.]

Here at our little house, we're hedging our bets by feeding Georgia with a mixture of all good things. As I once commented on Ms Tonk's post about what to feed dogs, we follow the same guideline with Georgia's diet as we do with our own - provide lots of variety and eat in moderation.

2 daily meals of raw and cooked bones*, offal and meat, kibble [currently Canidae], rice and greens.

Sometimes, I wonder why I fret. Last week, Georgia found some fresh entrails from roadkill. Before The Other Half could stop her, she'd sucked the lot down. We thought she'd get the runs. But no. Remarkably [or perhaps not], she didn't get the slightest bit sick from it, and the only ones who gagged were us humans.

My latest bugbear and the one I'll be discussing today is bones.

There was a time when we fed our dogs bones as treats. Jordan and Rufus got a big marrow bone or lamb shank once a fortnight, if they were lucky and if we remembered.

Georgia, our 46kg princess, gets 2 little raw bones every single day with her meals. And a big one once a fortnight or so.

Here's the problem.

It seems not all dogs are suited to bones and not all bones are suitable for all dogs.

What bone you pick for a dog might depend on such fiddly things as the size of the dog, the said dog's preferred chewing method, and the purpose of giving the said bone to the said dog in the 1st place.

I know, I know. That already sounds too complicated. But it is, in fact, common sense. Take a deep breath, re-read the sentence if you have to, and you'll see what I mean.

Georgia does not chew her bones. Big or small, she gives them a cursory chomp or 2, then swallows them in chunks. She gobbles them down as if there were ravenous hyenas circling, waiting to pounce and pluck the bone right out of her jaws [not to be confused with Typists who steal her bones while she's sleeping]. Sometimes, she gags and regurgitates the chunks.   

This, of course, bothers us. Over the last year, we've experimented with all types of bones for her. From chicken necks and wings to brisket and lamb necks. We give her tibias long marrow bones for cleaning her teeth. We give her lamb shanks for a more meaty bite.



"This one's pretty good. What is it?"

We've also experimented with sizes of bones, and how they should be cut.

For example -

Given that she often gags trying to swallow her 1/2 a lamb neck, we now get the butcher to 1/4 them, thus hopefully halving her chances of choking on one. [See? I do do some dubious math.]

We've also gone from giving her a whole marrow bone to just 1/2 at a time so there's less gunk stuffing up her intestines and other more unmentionable body parts.

And no more cutting them lengthwise either, as butchers like to do! Bad BAD. [Apparently.]

In short, our choice of bones has evolved in the last year to cater to our dog's needs and eating habits. I was feeling quite proud and happy with our decisions.

Until last night, when I read this -

"...stay away from cut bones; this includes things like cut up neck bones (where they are cut into individual vertebrae), cut ox-tail bones, and cut knuckle bones. The smaller size encourages inappropriate gulping, not to mention the rather sharp edges left over from the saw blade!"

On that same site [which is dedicated to dispelling myths surrounding raw feeding], I found even more things we should do to make bone-eating safer for our little pea!

Who would have thought picking a bone for a dog would be so closely related to rocket science?

Then. While my mind was still grappling with what further changes we might have to make...

More confusing news.

Some experts believe bones are not good for dogs at all!

How could this be? Well, if you'd like to know what complications could arise from feeding bones, read this. Personally, I wouldn't be keen for Georgia to choke on a bone. I just wouldn't have the strength required to attempt a Heimlich Manoeuvre on her 46kg mass.

And if the above advice is not expert enough for you, perhaps you'll believe this scary one from the U.S. FDA.

+

I don't know what I hope to get out of this post. A little more clarity would be good. What scares me is that I've come up with so much conflicting information in just 1 night [or to be precise, 2 hours] of googling. What else is out there that I do not know and should know?

How can an average dogowner like myself hope to make a good decision when even the experts are conflicted?

Can you, by any chance, help? Any personal experiences, thoughts and opinions will be gratefully added to this database!

I will end this post with  A Note To The Other Half who buys the bones but will probably not read any of the helpful links I've provided here.

>>>

Dear Other Half,

Based on my findings,  this will be our new guideline for feeding bones to Georgia -

+ We will now use only raw chicken wings and beef brisket in her daily meals. The chicken wings are small enough for her BigDog throat and she does at least crunch them once or twice before swallowing. The brisket bones are soft and [so far] she seems to chew them more.

A bag of brisket sure doesn't go far. After trimming all the fat off, all that was left was the plate on the left.

No more raw lamb necks until she stops gobbling them down, not even if they're 1/4ed.

+ We may be overdoing the bones by feeding them to her twice a day, 7 days a week. 3 or 4 times a week, or just 1 bone a day should be fine.

You'll just have to learn how to ignore Georgia when she comes to hassle remind you about her bone.

+ No more cuttings of the spine, even if the butcher swears they're great for dogs.

No more lengthwise cutting of tibias/femurs/longbones/marrow bones even if the butcher says the dog won't be able to get to the marrow if he cuts it crosswise, and even if he thinks we're being stupid.

+ "Recreational, teeth-cleaning bones" and lamb shanks will only be given once a fortnight. We won't let Georgia get to the point where she's cracked them open and swallowed the chunks. We'll remove the bones after a good gnaw and while they're still intact. You will not say that that is a waste of money.

+ Finally, just in case all these precautions do not work, we you will learn the Heimlich Manoeuvre [video below].

Thank you. Please be aware that this guideline is subject to change at any time.

<<<

I don't know about the rest of you, but sometimes, I wish we could go back to the good old days when dogs called Fido ate table scraps, and no one felt guilty about it.

"Listen guys. Please don't fuss."


"I'd be happy to have whatever you're having."

"Really."

Other related reading.

+  I like the general feeding guidelines here on the RSPCA Australia site. They're simple to understand and achievable. Plus, there are many other interesting onward reading links.

Here's an excerpt from the section on bones:

+ Too many raw bones may lead to constipation. Generally 1-2 raw bones may be offered per week with a few days in between each serving

+ Avoid large marrow bones (these have very thick outer rims), T-bones, 'chop' bones e.g. lamb cutlets, large knuckle bones and bones sawn lengthwise (as done by some butchers) as dogs may crack their teeth on these

+  Want to know how to perform the Heimlich Manoeuvre on a dog?

OR if you don't like to read, here's a video. [I don't see her lifting a 46kg dog in it though.]

+ After all that to-ing and fro-ing, is raw food [including bones] even good for a dog?

I accidentally found this article on a site called Science Based Medicine. It's written by a vet and titled Raw Meat and Bone Diets for dogs: It's enough to make you BARK ooops! BARF.

I've read it through once. My head is aching and my eyes feel crossed. I will have to go back for another round later. In case you think I'm being a baby about it, here's an excerpt -

"Functionally, dogs are omnivores or facultative carnivores, not obligate carnivores, and they are well-suited to an omnivorous diet regardless of their taxonomic classification or ancestry."

 +

Update. 2 steps forward, 1 step back.
I wrote this post yesterday. This morning, Georgia chucked this lot up. [Don't worry, I've cleaned the messy yellow slime off.]

Yesterday, she got 1 piece of brisket with her brekkie, and 1 chicken wing with her dinner. As you can see, bits of both came out of the front end. [God know what came out of the back.]

This is the one that bothers me the most.

It's not little and it's very sharp. I wouldn't want her to suffer from a perforated intestine so, as of this moment, and until her eating habits change...no more raw chicken wings either.

+

"Oh honestly. Why don't you just kill me now and get it over with?"


p.s. I'd like to say a quick "Thank you!" to Kol's mama, the Nigella of the doggy world, who's kindly been emailing me information on bones as we struggle to find some suitable ones for Georgia :) 


*UPDATE 5 April
Please read the next post for an important correction!

A story for strong stomachs. Chapter 2.

Here's Chapter 1, in case you missed it. 

Chapter 2.

"Yum. Is that a french fry?"

"Yum. Is that cabanossi?"

"Yum. Is that palm fruit?"

"Yum. Is that puppacino?"

"Yum. Is that possum poop?"

"Yum. Is that squid?"

"Excuse me."

"Why am I seeing Dr Dog again?"

 "Excuse me."
"What are you doing with my poop?"

*****

My tummy hasn't been good since December. Neither has Mr Thumper's. But we've been very considerate and always take turns to be sick so my stay-at-home human only has to look after 1 of us at a time.

Sometimes, my stay-at-home human has to go out. This is very rare because she's extremely dedicated to looking after us. But if she has to go out, she always leaves clear instructions for my out-at-work human on when and how much to feed us.

Last Saturday, my stay-at-home human told my out-at-work human to feed me 3 tablespoons of pap, 5 times a day.

Here's how much 1 tablespoon of pap is.

Here's how much my out-at-work human thinks 1 tablespoon of pap is.

My out-at-work human isn't very good at following instructions.

It's my birthday in 10 sleeps and Dr Dog just told my stay-at-home human I'm not allowed to eat anything but pap for the next 2 weeks.

I think I might be in trouble.

"Excuse me."

"Does this mean I can't eat that dried tuna Ms Tracy gave me?"

***

It's 11pm and Mr Thumper just pooped in his bed again. Lucky my humans were awake to clean up.

There's never a dull moment in this house.

Diary of a neglected dog.

Dear Diary,

Please don't tell anyone, but I don't think my stay-at-home human a.k.a. My Typist a.k.a. My Nutritionist loves me anymore.

You can see how sad I am.

She's been sitting in front of the computer for 3 days now, and late into the night too. My bedsheets haven't been washed in a week. She's stopped cuddling me on the couch because she's never on the couch. She almost forgot to feed Mr Thumper and me our afternoon tea 2 days ago.

In fact, about the only good thing that's happened this week, is that she's been forgetting to eat HER lunch too. If she continues like this, she might be able to wear something that doesn't look like a tent soon.

Yesterday, I didn't get to eat at all.

???*!&^^ :( ??? I can hear you thinking.

I was SO hungry.

By 2 in the morning, I was starving, so I went upstairs to see if there was anything to eat there. All I found were my 2 humans, snoring away. I wondered for a moment if they My Typist might miss a toe, or 2 at the most, if I gave them just a teeny-tiny chew. But I'm A Lady, and decided it was better to go hungry than hurt her, even if she hadn't remembered to feed me for a whole day.

All the time, my tummy kept grumbling at me. I had to try to console it, "I'm sorry, LittleTummy. What can I do? It's not like there's a garbage bin nearby that I can tip over for scraps. Please don't be sad, LittleTummy. I'm sure she'll remember to feed us tomorrow. Try and get some sleep now, okay?"

But LittleTummy didn't stop grumbling and it got louder and louder and LOUDER! until it woke My Typist up.

"WHAT is that sound?" I heard her say. "Georgia! Is that YOU? Is that YOUR TUMMY?" She came over, put her hand on my tummy, gave it a gentle rub and finally, FINALLY!...she felt bad and mean and selfish and all of those awful things.

She gave me a cuddle. She brought my bed up to the room. She tucked me in and told me to hang in there till brekkie.

Then she went back to bed and left me with my grumbling tum. I was very sad. But what could I do, Dear Diary? It's not like I had the key to the house and could just let myself out and run away like Jennie. So I did what she told me, and bravely hung in there.

When I woke up this morning, I couldn't wait to eat, but I had to go for my walk first. When I got home, I found My Nutritionist had gotten out of bed! and made my breakfast!

In case you're wondering, Mr Thumper's brekkie is the one on the left. Mine is the yummy one on the right.

It looked pretty bad. But I was so hungry, I gobbled down the 3 whole big generous gooey tablespoons she gave me. She tells me I'm going to have 5 little meals today. But Dear Diary, I don't know if she's lying because she's back at the computer again.

If you ask me, Murphy's decided he likes our little house and has moved in. In the last 2 weeks, I've been bitten, had surgery, haven't been allowed to play with my friends, had a bad tummy, been starved to the brink of death. 

My scar. Isn't it neat? Dr Dog isn't just handsome, he's Very Good.
And now, my toes have started to itch too. And did I mention, my bum g.l.a.n.ds are killing me? I was so stressed, I started to leak stuff yesterday on My Poor Cushion. Lucky there was a towel on him [that immediately got washed by My Typist a.k.a. My Washerwoman].

My Cushion was very brave. He put on some gloves, brought out a tube of whatever and gave me a squeeze,  just like Dr Dog had taught him. I won't go into the gory details here because...well, just because.

But anyone having a morning coffee and a roll while reading this had BETTER NOT LOOK AT THE NEXT 2 PICTURES.

I'll just give you some space here to quickly close your eyes and scroll down.





Dum-de-dum...

...de-dum-de-dum...

 

Okay, it's safe now!

If you DID look at those pictures, I hope you're okay. If it's any comfort, I didn't feel great about what was happening either.

This morning, maybe because she was feeling quilty about being A Bad Mom, or maybe because she was scared my out-at-work human would use his Very Loud Voice when he comes back from work, My Typist thought it best to do something about the mess that is now our little house.

She did the laundry, that is to say, the washing machine did the laundry and she hung them out.

She did the dishes, that is to say, the dishwasher did the dishes and she put them away.

She gave Mr Thumper's scabby back a medicated wash.

And she FINALLY realised my toes needed one too.

Does anyone else think I've aged in the last 2 weeks?

Despite being so busy, My Typist also found time to beautify herself with these bracelets.

She says they're supposed to chase the mosquitoes away. I don't know why she she's worried about  getting bitten by mosquitoes. Everyone knows they only bite smart humans.

And that, Dear Diary, is pretty much what I have to tell you today. I don't think my humans stay-at-home human loves me anymore.

I wonder if anyone out there would like A Lovely PigDog, housetrained, Almost A Lady, who doesn't eat too much [not even yummy littledogs], with freshly washed toes, and who is only ever so slightly opinionated.

*****

Eat This Yummy Pap, Georgia. It's Good For You!

Rice

Oatmeal [the cheap Homebrand kind] cooked in homemade chicken stock

Lentils, chickpea and pumpkin mash

Blended silverbeet and beans

Chopped up poached chicken breast [she says there's a lot in my bowl, I think she's lying]

Bloodwood honey [tastes better than it sounds]

1 tsp probiotic or slippery elm [so yum]

"YOU eat it, you typist you!"

Hey Fatty.

Remember when we wrote about The Bathing And Feeding Of Miss Ratatouille and Mr Thumper In Order To Maintain A Sense Of WellBeing?

Being a perceptive person, if you actually made it to the end of that fascinating post, you would no doubt have said to yourself, "WHAT feeding is she talking about?"

Aha! Well, here it is. The Feeding bit. It's a fat juicy story with a meaty ending.

But be warned. It's also A Very Long Story [especially if you click on all the helpful links] because it's a subject that's close to my stay-at-home human's heart. So before you read on, go get yourself a pack of timmys and a mug of yummy Guatemalan chili-chocolate to dip them in. It's okay. We'll wait.

Ready?

Stuff I overheard... 

...in March and April

[The black bits are my stay-at-home human talking. The blue bits are Other People We Know.]

"Georgia! You're such a big girl now!"
"Yes, she's growing up."

"How much does she weigh? Her head looks small compared to her body."
"Oh, she might have put on a little. She's a big-chested girl."

"Georgia! You're so BIG!"
"YES! She's big! She's not a chihuahua! She's a BIG DOG!"


...in late May

"Did you weigh her when you came in?
"Yes, Dr C, she's just over 48kgs."

"She could afford to lose a bit of weight."
"Really? Isn't she just a big-chested girl?"

"No, see this? She's fat."
" ??? "    " : (  "

"See what happens when you don't let me
scoop the fat out of the stock and meat?
                                         "Sorry lovey. I thought it would make the food more tasty."
"It's all YOUR fault she's fat."
                                                                       "Yes lovey."  "Sorry lovey."


...in June

"45kgs! Good girl, Georgia!"


...in July and August

"Georgia's rō tund′!"
"She is not rō tund′."

"Georgia's rō tund′."
"Look, she's lost 3 kgs. She's NOT rō tund′."

"44.2kgs! Good girl, Georgia!"

"43.5kgs! Let's just aim for 43kgs, okay girl? Good girl!"

"43.46kgs. Hmmm."

"43.37kgs. I think we may have to cut your food down a bit more, girly."


...in early September

"42.89kgs! Good girl, Georgia! We did it! GOOD GIRL!"

"What do you think, Dr C?"
                                            "Let me see. Yes, I think she's a perfect weight now. You wouldn't want her to lose anymore."
                           "Hear that, Georgia? You're perfect! Good girl!"


...in late September

"Oh no, Georgia! What did you eat in the park? Why are you always so hungry?! And why didn't YOU watch her? I think we're going to have to fast today, girl."

"Sorry lovey."

"Don't look at me like that, Georgia. You know I love you but you CAN'T eat today, okay? 

"Rufus eat. Georgia NO eat. Georgia bad tummy. Georgia good girl. Georgia bad toilet. Georgia no eat. NO eat. Understand?"

"How about a cuddle instead?"


...in the last week or so

"Georgia's looking a bit thin."
"Yes, she's been on a diet and had a bad tum last week."

"Goodness, you can see her ribs!"
"Yes, she's been on a diet and had a bad tum last week. The vet said she's a perfect weight now."

"Wow! She's lost a lot of weight! She needs to eat more, don't you think?"
" *sigh* "

Would anyone like to know what I think about my diet?

I'm always hungry. I'm hungry when I wake up in the morning. I'm hungry when I go to sleep.

I'm sad.

Leave me alone. Can't you see I'm busy being sad?





I'm cranky.

Feed me! Feed me!

PLEASE feed me!

And EVERYTHING looks edible.

Sorry, little skink.

"When Dr Dog declared, "She's a perfect weight now." - he instantly became my 3rd favourite human again.

"PERFECT!" he said, "In fact, when you get home, give her a big fat meaty bone with extra gravy for doing so well. She really deserves it!"

Okay, so I made that last bit up.

My new diet has almost bankrupted the people who deliver my food, who kept texting my stay-at-home human in the hope that she might have run out of something, anything. But no, I'll probably be on the same bag of kibble until next year, thank you. They've given up now.

"So what is the secret of your drastic weight loss Miss Ratatouille?" I hear you ask. Here it is.

My Big Fat Diet [Which is More Or Less The Same As Mr Thumper's Post-Pancreatitis Diet Except I Get Other Stuff And He Doesn't.]

Every day I eat this lot, divided into 2 meals:

1 and a 1/2 cups good quality low-fat/weight-management kibble, with homemade chicken stock [fat skimmed off]
6 big tablespoons rice

2 big tablespoons lentils OR oatmeal

1/2 tablespoon unprocessed bran

500gm of chicken breast/beef topside/lamb [all fat removed]

2 big tablespoons vegetables [raw carrot-celery puree OR steamed silverbeet-beans-brocolli puree] and, sometimes, a few pieces of fruit.

Other Stuff

Yogurt and Cheese - Only low-fat and no longer every day. Bummer.

Eggs - I used to get this twice a week. Now I get it once in 2 weeks. Double bummer.

Raw Lamb Bones - I get a small one for breakfast. I get a big one only when Mr Thumper isn't looking because he's not allowed any.

Treats and Honey - What treats? Only when I'm at school. I love school. What honey?

Important Note:  This Diet was used in conjunction with 2 big walks a day. It is in NO way a scientifically-formulated, vet-recommended diet. It's just MINE!

Before

After

Is any part of that fresh crusty palmier for me?

***

Snippets from article, "Man's best friend hits the gym" by Caroline Marcus, Sunday Telegraph, 26th September 2010:

"...at least 20% of pets in Australia are classified as clinically obese."


"...the epidemic had become so widespread, owners with perfectly healthy dogs were being stopped on the street by strangers accusing them of underfeeding their animals because people were so used to seeing overweight pets."

***

p.s.  Sometimes, humans stop to say how fat Mr Thumper is. Even fat humans, which is kind of i.r.o.n.i.c.

As you can see, Mr Thumper is not fat. He's just about 55kgs now and, happily, managed to put on a couple of kilos since The Last Big Pancreatitis Scare.

***

yadda yadda yadda.

I've heard that it is pointless to feed grain like rice to dogs. Not being a vet, a dog nutritionist or even particularly well read, I can't say for sure if that's true.

Whenever our dogs have bad stomachs, we fast them for 24 hours followed by small amounts of something easily digestible like rice and chopped up meat for a day or 2, weaning them slowly back to their normal diet.

In Rufus's case, this proved to be impossible. Post-pancreatitis, he can no longer tolerate kibble of any kind. His filler is now rice/oatmeal and he's, perhaps strangely, thriving  on this diet.

We decided to try Rufus's natural homecooked diet on Georgia but with some kibble [about 1/2 of total filler amount] added. Partly because commercial dogfood does have a balance of nutrients that I, Ms Average Dog Owner, do not know how to calculate. And partly because we have a huge bag of kibble that we need to finish!

It may be coincidence, but Georgia hasn't had any skin flare-ups since starting this diet. On the vet's recommendation, she's also been taking a teaspoonful of flaxseed oil a day. Perhaps this helped too.

It may be more time-consuming, but I don't think we'll be going back to feeding her commercial dog food.

I've been reading a lot about dogs on diet lately. It seems that dogs are getting fat just about everywhere in the [western] world. In my humble opinion, there are 2 things that are indispensible in getting a fat dog back into shape.

The first are some horribly honest friends and an equally honest vet [who will persist in calling your dog Fatty until you are over the denial phase].

The second is a hard heart [that would be yours, the dog owner] and the ability to not hear your dog's grumbling tum.

The rest is, by comparison, easy.

If YOU have a fat dog and are embarking on a diet, GOOD LUCK! : )

*****

Early November, more food for thought:

I might have forgotten to mention that we're not the Packers. But we've discovered that we don't have to be, to feed the dogs well.

We buy about 8 kilos of meat every week. I guess that's considered bulk buy. We get the meat from wholesalers or, more recently, Chinese butchers. Everything is negotiable there when you're a regular making a big purchase. Believe it or not, it actually works out cheaper to buy chicken breast fillet or chunks of topside beef from these places than buying, let's say, regular mince from places like Woolies or Coles. If you have a wee-size dog, getting together with a group of friends is always a good idea for bulk-buying power!

Because Rufus and Georgia's diet is  now skewed towards rice, lentils, meat, raw bones and vegies, we were able to cut down drastically on the dog kibble. [We used to buy Royal Canin, but are now trialling Eagle Pack.] The big bag that used to last about 3 weeks now lasts closer to 6 months. 

The bottom line is, though their diet sounds a bit posh, I've calculated that it's NO MORE EXPENSIVE to feed the dogs this way. It's just more time-consuming.

***

p.s. I hope you haven't finished that packet of timmys because, you know, they're VERY fattening.