by Jackie Bass on September 21, 2011
My dogs have gotten pretty smart. I give them supplements daily and have used a variety of techniques to get them to swallow their pills. Marshmallows, peanut butter, cheese, cold cuts, cream cheese, yogurt, hot dogs and commercial pill pockets. Each was either messy, expensive, or both. Finally I found a recipe for making my own pill pockets that was cheap, easy and tidy.
I forgot what the original proportions were – I just want something I can throw together without thinking too much. So I took one whole “tube” of liverwurst, one whole package of cream cheese, and three approximate handfuls of shredded wheat and mixed it all together in a bowl. Stick it in the fridge overnight and it turns into this putty that’s easy to scoop and form around pills. The taste is irresistible to every dog I’ve tried it on. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
I can get around 4 packages’ worth of commercial pill pockets from one batch — doing the math, that’s basically $1.95 vs. $7.26 if you were to buy a pack of Greenie’s Pill Pockets — minus the unknown qualities of the ingredients.
by Jackie Bass on July 2, 2011
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I’ll never forget the summer where my sister and I found a stray dog after the 4th of July. We were out of elementary school for the summer and had nothing better to do. We figured the golden retriever needed some food and water before we set out to find his home. We fished out the small bag of dog food meant for our miniature dachshund and kept refilling the bowl as soon as he was done with the last. Convinced this dog had been starved for some time, we ended up feeding him nearly the whole bag.
After 2 days of going door to door, we were about to give up. No one had said the dog was theirs, nor did they know who he belonged to. It was to our surprise that on the 3rd day, a nice man came by asking if we had seen his dog. Sure enough, the dog was his! We exclaimed, “boy your dog eats A LOT!” so he gave us $5 each to cover the kibble. Now that I think back about it, that dog must have had some terrible diarrhea…
Unfortunately due to the fireworks, many dogs panic and run off. Some dig under fences, jump over them, or chew their way through. Here are some tips to prevent your pet from running off, or flipping out.
- Keep your pet inside. Cats can become the victim of pranks and dogs are capable of amazing break-out feats. Not to mention, being left alone outside with all the noise and visuals will cause him to stress out and damage your property and fence, not to mention harm himself in doing so.
- Let your pet stay home for the fireworks show. The noise of both fireworks and the crowd may scare him, and you might be trying to hold on to him, consoling him or be busy controlling him instead of enjoying the show.
- Keep the radio or TV on so it helps drown out the noise of explosions
- Use a feel-good pheromone diffuser or spray, or use a wrap to help calm your dog without using drugs. For cats, Feliway is a good choice and for dogs the thunder shirt or anxiety wrap may help.
- Make sure your pets have their current and legible ID tags on them (or pet sitters: have YOUR info on their tag)
- Don’t upset their tummy any further by offering them table scraps or treats that they normally don’t get
- If you’re hosting a BBQ or party, make sure alcohol and food is kept out of their reach
- As a last resort, you may want to ask your vet about a sedative. Be careful of this, as the side effects can be pretty severe. For instance, do not use Ace Promazine on bulldogs as it may cause heart failure.
