Peoplefood for Dogs

One night, as I was up to my elbows in chicken grease, I had the idea that If I was cooking for my dogs, and I always had somebody in need of chicken and rice, so must many other people. Thinking about how much work it is to cook this, and then all that clean-up, I thought I might be on to something. What if I cooked and froze and then sold it to people?
The next day I found out about how to make everything legal and than started getting my licenses etc., and Peoplefood for Dogs was born.
Here is what I do:
The very friendly and helpful butcher at Vista Foods agreed to tag my order for bone-less, skin-less chickenthighs on to his own. This way I make sure the meat I use is meant for human consumption and not second grade. When I get the thighs home, I cook them. I drain the broth into seperate pots and put it in the freezer overnight. The meat is run through a grinder and stored in the fridge. Next morning all the fat that now is on top of the broth is thrown away. Then I cook either rice or oatmeal in the broth. Ready to make food!
I have a restaurant mixer and that is how I mix all the ingredients together. I refuse to sell you water, so there are only the ingredients - I do not add water for processing.
The mix is put in plastic cups, weighed and then frozen. Ready for you to buy and for your dog to enjoy!

Our Joy

After some of the eleven puppies I had found on the side of the road were adopted, we got word that 3(!) had gotten away from their new homes.
Our shelter is a county facility (that's why we are working so hard to have our own) and you can not always rely on the staff to know what breeds are there. So, Kevin stopped at the shelter every night on the way home to see for himself. He never did find one of our puppies, what he did find was Joy. He would come home and tell me about this little bitty black dog that would wag at him every time he went there. The note on the door said that she wasn't housebroken and that she would bite.
The day she was scheduled to die he brought her home. Joy had acute colitis and indeed messed in the house without any kind of warning. You would too if your tummy was in that much uproar! Poor thing was in pain and never knew when it was going to hit her! The vet check provided us with the needed answers and med's, as well as the recommendation to feed chicken and rice until she was better. That's what we did. Once her little body (she has maintained a weight of 14 lbs for the last 11 years) was all straightened out, I took her to the shop where I worked at the time to groom her.
This little old (already she was 9 years old) lady turned into a two-headed dragon! I was allowed to shave her back and throat but the rest of her was OFF LIMITS! She bit me, and my friend Annette and I wrestled with her like you would not believe. Finally we succeeded to get a pug muzzle on her and things became less dangerous, if not easier. From then on one of us would hold her and the other would sneak up on Joy from behind and slide the muzzle on her little face - but you had better get it right the first time!
Non of this made me love her any more. If I could have seen a way out of keeping her... That was not to be.
I started taking her places and lo and behold, she was a people person. Strangers could approach her and she would make up to them. She has always liked men of any age. This encouraged me to take her to a Nursing Home. The activity director had to test her first to see how she would respond. Well, maybe I couldn't touch her tail but this lady sure could!
That's how her career as visitor began. Up until a very short time ago, Joy went to a local Nursing Home every night and spread smiles and good feelings along the way.
She has done Hospice work and walked for all kinds of good causes. The only thing she never did, was work with children. In her life before here, somebodies children mistreated her fiercely, to the point of breaking a rib. When children would come to visit us, she would hide under the bed.
I will have you know that she has NEVER bitten anybody but her groomer (me) and the person holding (Annette or Kevin) her during grooming.
Now she is 20 years old, mostly blind and deaf but she still takes part in our daily life. She wants to be close to us and I have devised ways for her to safely do that. There is an ex-pen in my kitchen and a small blanket beside my chair in the living room. That's where she is to be found almost all the time. I have to protect her from the other dogs, who will run her over if I don't. They all act like she isn't even there!
I am glad Kevin brought her home all those years ago. Even if, at first, she wasn't my dream dog, she is now. Her friendly little spirit and fierce independence have taught me many a lesson!
I have been trying a new drug an her and it seems to make her more aware of the things around her (Denestra). I don't know that it has helped any of her other parts but it does seem to make a difference in her awareness.

Polly and the rain

It is bath day today. It is also raining. When the sun shines, Polly loves to take her bath. I take all toys, bowls and whatnots out of the cage, put towels all around it and then she gets a shower with a spray bottle. Of course, the vacuumcleaner is essential. Without it running, there is no bath time. I have talked to lots of bird care givers and we all agree, the vacuum cleaner is a signal for fun times. Polly will sing and hoot and holler, she will strut along the top of the cage with her wings outstrecht and sometimes cover her face with them - as if to hide from the water. She will hang up-side down from the cage and just have a great time. When she is tired, my real work begins. I wipe the entire cage down, she gets clean towels and blankies around it and new toys and stuff. This is when I layer enough newspaper in the drawer to last me the week.
Alas, it is raining. No fun day today. She did rouse a little bit and whistled once or twice but that was the most she would do. After only half a bottle of water she let me know that I could stick it. I still have to do all the work, mind you, but she gets to sit on the corner and kind of look dazed. Her feathers are fluffed and it almost looks like she has her head pulled inbetween her shoulders. And her eyes are almost closed - leave me alone, will you? Ah well, had to be done no matter what

Rashes on hands and feet

I am a nurse and as such I wash my hands a million times a day. I have always been very careful about carrying a little jar of handcream with me. After I dry my hands, out comes the handcream. It has become such a habit that I don't even think about it anymore.
For a very long time (over 20 years) I have had this re-curing rash on the palms of my hands. I always thought it came from the gloves we have (and want to) wear. So I would mix up Neutrogena handcream and Cortisone cream and carry this mix with me wherever I went. Last year I suddenly had the same rash on my foot. I don't wear gloves on my foot, so the cause must be something different.
Seeing my MD for another reason, I did ask her about the rash. She gave me some prescription cream and that was that. It did help for a little while but then became as useless as anything else I had tried.
The wonderful ladies at Fresh Air Natural Foods (434-385-9252) in Lynchburg (organic and natural foods and their ingredients, herbs, teas, supplements etc) told me to try Calendula ceam. I did - and it made the rash go away. I have tried several brands and the one that works best for me is NatureWorks. If you have a similar problem - you have nothing to loose and everything to gain! Try this cream! Anymore I use it as my regular handcream, thus the effect never wears off and I don't have those painful little blisters on my hands anymore!

Pain and the dog

My Dibbs is now 12 years old. She is a Chow-Collie mix and has been foster mom to many , many puppies. She has been my constant companion for all this time minus 6 months - that's how old she was when I found her. This beautiful puppy was directing traffic on the road in front of my house. This is a busy road, through traffic and all that. Cars were stopped coming and going and every now and then a horn would honk. Like that's gonna make the puppy know what to do next! I was in the front yard with my resident dogs as we were watching this drama unfold. Long story short, she has been with me ever since.
This wonderful dog has never met a stranger. She has worked with children at libraries to show them how to approach a strange dog. She has visited Nursing homes and Hospice patients. She has been in 13 Christmas parades and walked for Hospice, Diabetes, MS, any cause that excited me at the time. She was always game.
Dibbs has never growled at another dog unless that dog growled at her first. She has never attacked a dog, though she will defend herself. She does not bark a lot and when she does, I go and look why. She has been my best Buddy for such a long time.
Over the last two months I noticed that she seemed to have trouble getting up. She is getting on in years, a bit of arthritis perhaps? All my dogs get Glucosamine every day with their food, as much to prevent pain as to help treat it. So I didn't really see that this would be bad. HA! The vet check up showed nothing but low thyroid levels. OK. This did not explain why she suddenly refused to eat her dinner. We started on some thyroid meds and will check again in a month.
One week after her check up Dibbs could not let her left hind leg touch the ground. It was kind of dangling there. She had a lot of pain as evidenced by all the panting and the refusal to get up and go outside. Of to the vet we go! X-rays showed major arthritic changes in her spine, hips and knees. There is a loose ligament in the left knee, that's why she can't put weight on it. More meds - this is the second day on some major pain meds. She is alert and cares about what goes on around her but it takes a major effort for her to get up and go someplace. And she does not want to take the meds! I have tried cream cheese (no), Braunschweiger (no), came up with liver pudding (will see for how long). Problem is that I just started giving her Denestra - this needs to be given 1 hour before everything else. The Thyroid med needs to be given 1 hour before other things as well. I e-mailed the contact on the Denestra package but they haven't responded, this is 4 days later. Can I give the two together? Until I know better, I am giving meds every hour on the hour! After the last single med has been given I can feed her something and make her take her pain meds. Right now all she wants to eat is Peoplefood for Dogs - Chicken, Sweet Potato and Oatmeal. Fine with me!
Today seems a little better, she isn't quite as reluctant to get up. Maybe the pain meds are accumulating in her system and working better? I hope so.
We were going to walk in the Christmas parade this noon but it was canceled because of the lousy weather. I am glad. I don't think I could have gone there without her.