[Mutts and Cats]

Hi Patricia A. Thanks for the condolences and supportive words. Sorry to hear about your heart breaking losses. I’ve had many of those too, and the last two were particularly hard as I went into the vet’s office knowing there was something wrong, but no idea that I would be leaving with a dead dog. Like you, I have a hard time even talking/writing about those experiences.

You mentioned shots, and I’m right there with you. No more shots, except rabies, for the one with seizures. I’m really mad at myself that a few days after the first seizure I let the vet give him a leptospirosis shot. She insisted it was a good idea even though he had just had a seizure. I was in a state of mind where I just desperately wanted to trust my vet.

My dogs were acquired from the shelter, so I have no idea about their background. The one who has seizures was picked up on the street, at 8 weeks old, by animal control with a REALLY BADLY broken leg. I forget the technical term, but snapped in two, not just fractured. So he went through several surgeries to pin the leg back together, then later to remove the pins. I was fostering dogs and cats at the time so I fostered him. I should have known the minute he came to my house that I was going to adopt him, and of course I did. But his leg was in a splint for so long that the tendon fused to the bone and he can’t straighten it out enough to use it. So he is essentially a tripawd.

Also, I thought I would mention a revived old concern about S&C, plus a new one. My exchanges with Aimee gave me some affirmation on an issue on my long Worry List – copper content. Some foods are quite high in copper content, and many experts out there feel that this could be a factor in liver disease. Usually the beef recipes, probably because they contain a lot of beef liver. S&C is not quite as bad as some companies, but from the data I have there are some recipes that are pretty darn high. For the freeze dried patties, these are the ones that are high (mg/kg or ppm): Surf & Turf 89; Red Meat 79; Pork 62; Beef 51.
For the Wild Red Raw Blend Kibble, Grain Free I only have data for the Prairie, which is ok at 22 ppm, but I’ll bet the Red Meat recipe is pretty darn high.

And then, a few months ago when I was getting the data from S&C there was a note on the website under the Guaranteed Analysis tab saying something like “We will have more data here soon – if you need data now email us”. When I corresponded with a rep to get data they told me that they were in the process of the final formatting and review and it would be available online soon. Now I see that there is no data available online and they took away the statement inviting customers to request it by email. So they are definitely moving in an undesirable direction from my perspective. Just wanted to share those thoughts.

Migraines – I used to get terrible ones that completely incapacitated me, so I really feel for you that you have one plus some mother issues to go with it. Hope you get some relief soon.
M&C