[Akari_32]

Oh man!! Why, PetCo? Whyyyyyyyy??? Must– resist– online shopping–!!

[Akari_32]

Does it work? 😉

[Akari_32]

My phone is blowing up, so it’s working on my end 🙂

[Akari_32]

Oh yeah! Forgot to mention the Wellness coupons! I got mine yesterday lol

[Akari_32]

I’m glad I’m not the only one with feather crazes pets LOL

Oh! And PetSmart has 99 cent shipping 🙂

[Akari_32]

Haha, thanks!

Yes, he loves it! He’s alreay torn a couple feathers of… lol Weird cat as a feather fetish XD

[Akari_32]

Done! 🙂 47.5% savings– not bad!

[Akari_32]

Got all this for $31.15! Stay tuned for a break down 🙂

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/2014-06/F0C5BF03-2FDB-4B3C-9235-F560AD159F67_zpsyunnf4tx.jpg

I did three total transactions, two at Pet Smart and one at PetCo.

First one at PetSmart:
3x 5lb Purina Pro Plan Savor Salmon and Rice
–Original Price: $13.99 ($14.97 after tax)
–Clearance Price: $8.37 ($7.62 after tax)
1x 5lb Nature’s Variety Prairie Puppy Chicken Meal and Brown Rice
–Original Price: $14.99 ($16.04 after tax)
–Clearance Price: $8.37 ($7.62 after tax)
Coupons:
–3x $2 off any Purina product (found on random Purina products through out the store)
–1x $3 off and Nature’s Variety Instinct, Instinct RAW, or Prairie pet food (received in the mail with samples from Nature’s Variety)
–1x $5 off $25 purchase Pet Supermarket coupon
–1x $3 off any purchase $3 or more PetSmart Coupon

Total after clearance and coupons: $18.27
–Total before clearance and coupons: $60.95
–Total savings: $42.68!

Second transaction at PetSmart:
1x 5lb Nature’s Variety Prairie Puppy Chicken Meal and Brown Rice
–Original Price: $14.99 ($16.04 after tax)
–Clearance Price: $8.37 ($7.62 after tax)
1x 2oz Omega One Algae Wafers
–Original Price: $4.99
Coupons:
–1x $3 off any purchase $3 or more PetSmart Coupon
–1x $2 off $10 purchase for Pet Supermarket
–1x $3 off and Nature’s Variety Instinct, Instinct RAW, or Prairie pet food

Total after clearance and coupons: $5.95
–Total before clearance and coupons: $21.38
–Total savings: $15.43!

And at PetCo:

2x Temptations Cat Treats 2.1 oz (manager approved replacement for Friskies Cat Treats)
–Original Price: $2.13
2x 5.5oz Royal Canin Radiant Shine canned dog food
–Original Price:$1.81
1x PetLinks cat toy
–Original Price: $5.99
Coupons:
–2x Free 2.1oz Friskies cat treat PetCo coupon (manager allowed me to substitute with Temptations because they no longer cary Friskies)
–1x 10% off any PetLinks cat toy PetCo coupon
–2x 15% off any one can of Royal Canin dog or cat food PetCo coupon
–1x $2 off $10 purchase for Pet Supermarket

Total after coupons: $6.93
–Total before clearance and coupons: $14.28
–Total savings: $7.35!

Total savings for my whole trip is $65.46 🙂 Some of this is for donations.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by Akari_32.

[Akari_32]

You could try making a small batch, and leaving out at room temp, and then checking at various intervals (such as every 24 hours, or 48 hours), using the good old fashioned sniff test.

[Akari_32]

It would still need to be frozen, and then refrigerated during use, but it should take up considerably less space, in theory.

[Akari_32]

Hey girl! No, I do not use a premix any more. SSLL going off the market (however temporarily) is what finally convinced me to dive in and do balanced raw. I’m happy I did. Bentley loves it, and he eats even less than he did on SSLL. The best thing is I can get away with buying chicken parts because the excess bones I just remove and freeze for later when something like pork tenderloin goes on sale and I need it 🙂 Makes deal shopping really worth while! Publix always has leg quarters for $1.49/lb when you buy 4 lb or more.

[Akari_32]

My cat eats twice a day. 11 am and 11 pm (roughly, anyways. It can vary from between 8 am and 1 am, typically). I don’t leave his food out, I put it down, and he eats it all, no matter when it gets put down. Then again, he also pounces on vegetables that fall on the floor (not that he eats them, but still… lol).

Given your cat’s unwillingness to eat dry, and his veterinary history, I wouldn’t make him eat it, personally. Instead, keep meal time interesting, with lots of different canned foods (I feed a different brand and flavor at each meal), and keep being creative on ways to getting him to continue eating canned, such as offering it at different temperatures, with different broths or water, at different consistencies (varying amounts of water and broth added).

[Akari_32]

It’s very easy to ensure your dog gets a proper diet on a raw diet. You just have to do the calculations right. Better yet, each and every meal does not have to completely balanced. The concept is to balance over time. I makes life much simpler. For example, if I were to balance each and every meal for my 7.8 pound dog, he would get less than one half of an ounce of bone at every meal. He’d totally choke on that (not the brightest of creatures)! Instead, he gets a decent sized chicken bone a few days a week.

Also, I feel it’s hard to ensure they are getting everything by using veggies rather than organs. Dogs to not fully digest plant matter, even when it’s cooked and puréed, but they do digest the organs, which is where they get all of their neccessary vitamins and minerals.

(Most) Dogs are perfectly capable of handling “questionable” meat. Their stomach acid has such a low ph that not much can survive in there. I know many raw feeders up north bring carcasses into their yards and let their dogs eat off of it until all eatable parts are gone. There is where knowing your dog comes in, and knowing what they can handle and what they like.

The only down side I find to making up raw meals for my dog and cat is the freezer space. We do not have the room available for even a small freezer, so the humans and animals share a freezer. This isn’t a problem with most people, though.

The problem with what you are suggesting is that your idea is really not that much better than kibble. Dogs to not need rice, or pumpkin, or any veggies. Sure many dogs like these things, but they are of little value as far as nutrition goes. If you were to just dehydrate meat and organs, that would be different. So long as bones were also offered, that is. Bones are neccessary because they provide glucosamine and calcium, among other things. They can be replaced with bone meal, egg shell, or a calcium suppliment, but then you loose the added “work out” and teeth cleaning benefit when the dog chews them. Also, unpreserved dehydrated meat does go bad, and would need to frozen and used from the fridge. So there’s still that.

It is an interesting idea, you just aren’t quite looking at the whole picture. 🙂

[Akari_32]

Hey guys! Vet visit went very well. She has lost about a pound since the last time they weighed her, when ever the first time she saw this vet was, but other than that, everything is about as good as it can be. The urinalysis turned up nothing, so she’s just being a senile pain in the butt brat when it comes to pottying on the floor lol

We talked about what the best course of action would be, told him we were between just going for the dental and hoping for the best, or doing antibiotics and denamarin and then after a period of time doing the dental with no further blood testing, and again, hoping for the best. He agreed it would increase her chances if we put her on a good run of antibiotics and denamarin and went from there. So he gave her two weeks of batryl (sp?) and a month of denamarin.

The denamarin is once a day on an empty stomach, which is going to prove itself quite hard to give lol She won’t eat anything bitter. I had some pill pockets, so I got just a little tiny bit of one, not quite the size of the pill, and covered as much of the pill as i could. She did eat that, thankfully. Fingers crossed she doesn’t figure it out LOL The antibiotic can be tossed in her food. She doesn’t pick through her food.

So, $100-something later, we’re playing the wait and see game right now. They asked for an update in a couple weeks, which works out good because I have another dog and a cat that need their rabies shots in a week or so. Though I really hope they don’t charge an office visit for vaccines, because my bank account can’t take much more LOL

[Akari_32]

It just depends on what the dog can handle. Generally, higher protein is better, because it means less carbs, which dogs can not fully digest. I would try Acana first, since its lower in protein than Orijen, and switch them nice and slowly, and see how they do. Most dogs feel much better on higher protein diets, because protein and fat is where dogs get all their engery from.

[Akari_32]

Aww poor baby 🙁 let us know how it goes!

[Akari_32]

Thanks girl! I hope this whole potty situation is just a phase. I’m going to try and get a pee sample for the vet before we go tomorrow, but I’m not too sure how that’ll work out lol

[Akari_32]

Update on the vet situation: we are supposed to be going tomorrow. Mom is going with me, and we are all going to talk about what the best course of action is.

LM, it’s ok, and I do appreciate the help. There’s just no point in getting on me about something I can’t control. It’s not my dog, so the end decision is not mine. All I can do is pass on the information I gather, and let mom decide what she wants to do.

[Akari_32]

Since dry food isn’t species appropriate, and can cause some serious health issues anyways, if he doesn’t want to eat it, don’t make him. Dry is especially dangerous for males if they don’t get enough water. If we were talking going from dry to canned, and he didn’t want to eat the canned, I’d say keep bribing him, but there are more cost effective ways to feed a cat than introducing dry food. Brands that typically offer coupons for canned food are Halo, Wellness, Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, and if you dig, there are many more…. I can tell you right now that you can get 5.5 oz cans of Halo Vigor for free at PetCo with the coupon Halo has on their website. I fed my cat for $20 a month on canned with coupons. Now I’m doing it with raw, and he loves it 🙂

[Akari_32]

I don’t need your negativite crap. It’s not my dog, it’s not my choice. All I can do is give my mom the information I’ve gathered and let her decide what she feels is best. If you don’t want to comment anymore, don’t comment.

On another note, I need some opinions on a potty matter. Ginger has not pee’d or pooped outside in pretty much two days. Today she kept asking to go out, repeatedly, and I took her out, tried to walk her around and get her to do something. But all she wants to do is lay in the grass and go to sleep. I have to pick her up and take her back inside (she plants her feet when pulled back toward the door), where she then walks around for a while and then either passes out in her bed or on the couch, or pee’s in the floor and then passes out. She’s been off and on going potty in the house since she got her blood work done, and yesterday and today, all bets have been off. And I noticed today a nasty spot where the blood was taken. Lots of blood just under the skin, that also goes over the tumor on her neck. Not really a bruise though, because it doesn’t seem to bother her. It wasn’t there the couple of days following her blood work. Not really sure if this all just a coincidence that happened to coincide with the blood work, or if the blood work getting done has really stressed her, and caused her some sort of harm. I’ve never dealt with a dog so sensitive to litterally everything, like she is. Gets her feeling hurt very easily lol I will be making an appointment at the vet as soon as they can get me in. While we’re there, I’ll talk over the dental/antibiotic-denamarin combo options and see what he has to say.

[Akari_32]

Speaking of Primal, I have free samples and coupons coming in the mail from them! I’m excited lol

The way our door is, a screen door would’t work. Good idea, though!

[Akari_32]

I agree. In the end, what we do is up to mom, since its her dog. So right now I’m gathering information, putting it all together, then I’ll give it to her, have her call the vet and talk to him about what I’ve picked up and see what he recommends, and let her choose from there. She said last night that she was really happy that I cancelled the dental because she would be devastated and traumatized if Ginger hadn’t made it through the procedure. She doesn’t want to put Ginger through a bunch of tests to figure why these are all so high either, but also doesn’t want her to suffering in any way (both by not doing the dental, and by her not making it through the dental). So, I’m just pretty much hanging out, stuck in the middle of all this at this point.

[Akari_32]

I expected it, tbh. Didn’t think they’d be this crazy though. I think we are going to talk to the vet about getting her on a stronger antibiotic, something to bring her liver and kidney values back down, and possibly some pain relievers.

[Akari_32]

He said with out knowing exactly what is causing the levels to be so high (which would require testing and such), he couldn’t say for sure if she would be ok to be put under or not. He said they could be high because of the state of her mouth, or because of something else, such as cancer. My thought is that they are probably that high because of this infection that she’s had for who knows how long, most of her life, I’m sure. Antibiotics are no longer helping her. We just finished a $25 week of Clavamox, with no change at all. The free 250mg Omoxacylin (how ever the crap you spell it… lol) did more than the Clavamox did.

I think detoxing first would be a good idea. But that would then involve more blood tests later down the road… Ugh, so much money D: What would the risks be of detoxing for a while and then doing the dental with out another set of blood work?

I posted a brief history of more or less whats been posted in this thread on RCF Chat (Off topic sister group to the Raw Feeding Community group on Facebook) and the general consensus is that I should just bite the bullet and do the dental. Actually, no one thats replied said I shouldn’t do it. In the end, it is moms choice, and she’s really upset about the results of her blood work, and would devastated if anything happened to her while she was under the anesthetic. She’s pretty much at the no-dental-ever-put-her-on-medicatcation-to-fix-her-liver-and-kidney-functions point right now.

[Akari_32]

Huh, never heard of that. Is it a grind, or it is an actual pre-mix to add to your own grind?

Dude, I don’t even know! They moved here from Michigan last year, but have been coming down here for the winter for the last 7 or so years (damn snow birds…. lol), so they know perfectly well about the bug problem here…. Better yet, the cat has this crazy idea in his head that he is now allowed outside, and has been trying very hard to open the front door. It’s kind of funny, actually, because his is large enough to wrap both paws around the door knob. Good thing its round, and we keep it locked anyways, or he’d have it open in a heart beat! He’s also taken to trying to casually walk out as we are going in and out of the door, rather than sitting up on the back of the love seat just happy to even look outside as it opens. Turd….

[Akari_32]

Her mouth is terrible. Every singe one of her teeth are this nasty translucent grey and she’s lost several teeth just since september when I brought her home. It needs to be done, but I’m still unsure as to if the risks outweigh the benefits. And given that some of her levels are so, exaggeratedly high, I’m even more unsure if its the right thing to do…

[Akari_32]

LM, if you click back to page 12, all I have been told is typed out there. The vet is basically leaving it up to me to decide at this point. He knows we don’t have much money, so he doesn’t really push anything on us. Anything that we decide will be discussed with the vet before hand, of course.

RDM, he did recommend Sam-e, now that I think about it, and someone on Facebook just recommended Turmeric (which is apparently what mom was thinking about when telling me about our friends dog). That sounds great, thanks. I’d like to get a list together of all possible treatment options so I can go over them with the vet and see what he thinks. He’s pretty traditional, but he does surprise me at times lol

[Akari_32]

So I just explained to my mom what the vet had said, and explained the blood test results to her. Recently, our friends dog was at deaths door. His kidneys were failing, and was to the point where they had scheduled his euthanasia appointment. As a last-ditch effort, they started giving him some sort of medication that is supposed to rebuild the kidneys, and he is now back to full health and going strong. She said it is some sort of over the counter vitamin, and that she wants Ginger on it. Anyone have any idea what this might be?

[Akari_32]

Nope. I do 85% meat, 5% liver, 5% etc organ, and 5% bone. More or less, anyways. general recommendation for cats is still 10% organ like with dogs, but 5-7% bone, so I just kind of go with it based on what bones I have available at the time. He loves bones, so I typically give him closer to the 7% mark.

There are pre-mixes for cats, you just have to dig for them, and they cost a lot. The cheapest one, Wild Kitty, I didn’t like the looks of, but I’ve used a sample pack of it before, and he likes it. Pre-mixes require the meat be ground, which doesn’t do anything for dental health. It’s cheaper to just figure it out yourself, but it does take all that planning and prepping…. lol

[Akari_32]

Ok, heres a list of the values that tested high:

AST (SGOT): 105 U/L, Ref. Range 15-66 U/L
ALT (SGPT): 538 U/L, Ref. Range 12-118 U/L
Alk Phosphatase: 845 U/L, Ref. Range 5-131
GGTP: 13 U/L, Ref. Range 1-12 U/L
BUN/Creatinine Ratio: 29, Ref. Range 4-27
Platelet Count: 463 10^3/uL, Ref. Range 170-400 10^3/uL

Any thoughts on what I should do…?

[Akari_32]

He said they could be elevated just because her mouth, or it could be cancer, and a list of other things. He said he would do it, as long as I understood the risk involved. He said we could also do X-rays or an ultra sound, but the level of stress that would cause her, I just don’t think that’s a good idea. She was so stressed just getting blood work done. I’ll talk to him more when I pick up the copy of her blood work, and see what else he has to say, and I’ll do some research and talk to him more after that. Over all, I do want to do what’s best for her. If putting her under is going to be too high risk, than so be it, I suppose.

[Akari_32]

Hey guys! Gingers blood work came back with high kidney and liver levels. I talked to the vet and decided to cancel her appointment tomorrow and pick up a copy of her blood work and do some research and decide whether or not i feel it’s safe for her to be put under for the dental. I’ll keep you guys updated!

[Akari_32]

The problem with feeding a cat dog food is that dog food typically lacks taurine, which is essential for cats. And the problem with feeding chunked canned foods is that they are very (*very*) high in carbs. Carbs are hard on a cats system, because they aren’t meant to digest them, and they take a lot of water for their bodies to break down. Not to mention, they are the cause of tartar build up on the teeth, with out regular brushing. I do include some chunky style canned foods in my cats rotation, yes, but they do not make any significant portion of his diet.

I’m actually finding a raw diet is cheaper than even using coupons to get super good deals on premium brands. With raw, you want to use lots of dark and red meats and hearts because they are high in fat and taurine. Dark meat chicken is cheap, usually about $1 a pound, pork is around $2.50 a pound, and many cuts go on fantastic sales for $1 a pound. Large pieces of meat and chicken bone are great for dental health. He also eats much less on raw than canned. On canned he normally gets about 9 oz. On raw, he eats 6 oz.

[Akari_32]

The worst part is, there was absolutely NO EFFORT to even close the door, either time! There is a bell hanging from the handle for the dogs to ring when they need to go out, so I can understand the bell getting caught up and the door bouncing back open. It happens– whatever. But to just flat out not close the door? Are you kidding me???? Drives me insane!

Haha, thanks! I can’t even believe its been that long already! :O

[Akari_32]

Ugh, I’m gunna start smacking people. My grandparents came over today, the same ones that have no self control over how many treats they give the dogs, and they left the front door open when they came in! I was out back, in the garage, so I didn’t even know, and I come back in through the back door to mom yelling, and the front wide open. Mom comes around the corner with the cat (who had a terrible, angry, defeated look on his face) draped over her arm. I took him from mom, tossed him in my room, and shut the door.

We leave to go fishing, come home a few hours later, they come back in, guess who leaves the door open AGAIN? Luckily the cat was still locked up. I made some very nasty comments, disguised as “jokes”, both times. What the crap is so freaking hard about CLOSING THE FRONT DOOR WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH IT????? *bashes face on wall* And why does MY cat have to suffer being locked away in the bed room because some idiot can’t close the door? Why do I have to suffer the stress of my cat getting out because someone else can’t function? What happens when my cat get hits by a car because some retard can open a door but NOT CLOSE IT? Do you think they leave the front door open at their house? I can guarantee you they don’t.

[Akari_32]

A spay and a dental in one go?? Poor girl LOL

[Akari_32]

Have you not seen the ingredient list? I don’t need a lawsuit to tell me something is wrong with that food….

[Akari_32]

Poor guy! Hope he starts feeling better soon. My little Ginger is getting a dental done Thursday, provided her blood work comes back on. She’s probably going to come home with no teeth… Lol we’ll be suffering doggy dentals together! Tell that boy to stop giving you such a hard time 🙂

[Akari_32]

The picture of the pug on it, silly!

[Akari_32]

Dori, they are so cute!

[Akari_32]

Thanks girl! 🙂 Working in retail, I’ve learned to just more or less ignore the rude people. They’ll get whats coming to them.

I’m super nervous about Thursday!!! But also happy that its finally getting done. Have to call after 10 tomorrow morning to get the results, and confirm her appointment for Thursday. $140 down, and I don’t even want to know how much more to go! >.<

[Akari_32]

LOL You guys are awesome! You all know this was absolutely a last ditch effort, and I’m glad I went with it. She’s over all much better now. Even the vet tech today, when we went in to get her pre-dental blood work, said she looked so much better just since they had started seeing her several months ago. I wish they could have seen her in September, when I first brought her home. If she wasn’t so lumpy and didn’t have such an attitude, they probably wouldn’t think she was the same dog :p I hope her blood work comes back that she’s healthy enough to have her dental thursday, and then I hope to see even more improvement in her over all health afterwards.

[Akari_32]

Guys. I was looking back through the thread, and it’s been a year since I brought Kitty home!! :O this calls for celebration! I think I’ll get him lamb for his next raw meal :3

Speaking of raw, I’ve got an order of 8oz Reditainers on the way from Amazon! Right now, he’s getting 6oz of canned and 6oz of raw, rotating days. He’ll get either Fancy Feast, Wellness Duos or Wellness Sliced/Minced/Cubed (2x 3oz cans) one day, a 5.5oz can of Friskies Special Diet (randomly replaced with Newmans Own, and a couple other brands) another day, 6oz of balanced raw the next, and then another 5.5oz can the next day, and then it starts all over again. I opted to pull the better brands (Halo Vigor, Halo Impulse, and Natures Variety) out and save them for if I ever go away and whoever watches him cannot do raw. There’s probably 8 cans, none of them expiring until sometime in 2016 (I wrote all the expiration dates down on the tops of the cans). Once the rest of the canned is gone, he will be on 100% raw! I’ve got something like 50 days of canned left, so it’ll be a while, but I’m very happy with his coat and teeth improvements with raw only being a few times a week 🙂 Can’t wait till I’ve used all the canned up 😀

[Akari_32]

Mountainhound, if you don’t like what I absolutely have to do to keep this dog healthy, happy, mobile, and pain free, then move along. I don’t need to explain myself to you.

[Akari_32]

Jennifer H, exactly! It just doesn’t seem right.

SdianeM M, did they tell you the quality of the meat, though? They could be all buddy-buddy with local farmers, but that doesn’t mean they are getting quality, healthy animals from the farmers. The probably are getting 3/4D livestock for a really low price, which is how they sell it so cheaply. Either that, or its very fatty meat (or a comination of the two).

[Akari_32]

Oh she is! She does it on purpose though lol We have this unspoken, never ending game going on how quickly we can irritate the crap out of each other in to hurting the other LOL We getting into a lot of poking matches, which turn into slapping matches, which then turn into hitting matches…. We’re a little vicious…. LOL

And just ask her who Ginger belongs to! She’ll be laying in bed, and I’ll go in there and shes got Ginger on one side and Bentley on the other! I ask her “whatcha got there?” And she’ll say “this is my Bentley *points*, and this is my Ginger! *points* :D”

[Akari_32]

Oh man, that’s dangerous! Lol

[Akari_32]

I’ve never even heard of that brand. Just looked it up, and what concerns me is how cheap it is. Makes me wonder how they source their meat. Could be 4D meat, or something like that. Seems a bit strange for a premade raw diet to be so inexpensive. However, they could just have a really good relationship with local farms and ranches. Who knows for sure, with out actually contacting them and asking where they source their meat from.

That said, dogs don’t need veggies in their diets. They simply lack the ability to fully digest plant matter. It’s not very expensive at all to do a home made, balanced, prey model diet, of 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% other organs. Pretty comparable to the price of a good kibble, and usually a bit cheaper when there are good deals. I use the Raw Dog app for iPhone to help me calculate it all, however, I do not balance every since day like the app does, but over a few days. The dog I’m feeding is so small it would be nearly impossible to give him such a small amount of bone and organ every day lol

Raw helped my yeasty dog a lot. Unfortunately, a good deal of his allergies are environmental as well, so he is not 100%, but is still doing much better on raw than he was on any kibble I ever tried him on. The thing with yeast is you don’t want to give it any fuel, which is carbs. Carbs are found in veggies and plant products, which Allprovide has. It’s best to just make your own diet if your dog have yeast problems. There are several groups on FaceBook that are really great resources for beginners, such as Raw Feeding Community, Prey Model Raw (PMR) for Dogs, and Raw Feeding FRIENDS. You should definitely check them out 🙂

[Akari_32]

I’m glad mom wanted to keep her. She may be a huge pain the butt, but she’s a cutie, and so sweet (when she isn’t trying to eat your face off for waking her up, anyways LOL). Mom was fussing the other night that Ginger was passed out on the couch, and not in her bed with her *rolls eyes* She may complain about how much this dog costs, but she would be very upset if anything happened to her :p

[Akari_32]

Oh my gosh!!! They are all so cute! I especially love the brown one, and the two that are white on top, and black spotted on the bottom :3

Rachels. So. Many. Rachels!!!! :O

[Author]

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