<?xml version='1.0' encoding='windows-1252'?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267</id><updated>2008-09-05T20:32:36.940-07:00</updated><title type='text'>La Vida Fresca</title><subtitle type='html'>Life with a raw-fed dog! I advocate the natural care and feeding of dogs. Here you can follow how I feed and care for my dog, Vida, and maybe learn a little something about it. Fresh food for all!</subtitle><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.html'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default'/><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>41</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-7278606539304293975</id><published>2008-09-05T20:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-09-05T20:32:31.682-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Back from vacation, and of course the dog is fine</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;I'm sure everyone who travels away from their dogs worries. I tried really hard to think positive thoughts about Vida for the two weeks we were apart (sheesh, we sound waay too close! haha!) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;I know I have a bad habit of running through negative scenarios, and I'm really working hard at shortcircuiting that when it happens and turning it around to running positive scenarios. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;I do believe our pets tune into that sort of thing, and it can only be detrimental to aim those negative filmloops their way. So I've been making a concerted effort to visualize good health, no stress, etc (for myself too). I know it's corny - these days everyone is putting out books about the power or positive thinking, but in this case I'm specifically putting it in terms of how our pets sponge up our stress.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Everyone needs to watch what they're thinking. Dogs are experts at living with us. For most dogs their job is to adjust to our emotions. We certainly don't want them taking on our negativity and absorbing that stress from us.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;I consciously waited a couple of hours after getting home to peek in at her mouth. And it looked just like when I left - hooray! Of course I'm still going to take a photo in the next day or so just to confirm and track - but I swear,  no changes! [I just took "yet" out of that sentence! See what I mean?] A good day! (dog got up on the bed during the night - aahhh.)&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/09/back-from-vacation-and-of-course-dog-is' title='Back from vacation, and of course the dog is fine'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=7278606539304293975' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7278606539304293975'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7278606539304293975'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-5871610852824461788</id><published>2008-08-25T07:33:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-25T07:42:51.251-07:00</updated><title type='text'>A Weekend of Plant Love!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wow&lt;/strong&gt;! I just got back from the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.womensherbalconference.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;New England Woman's Herbal Conference&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt; in Peterborough, NH. 48 hours of herbs! It was very inspiring. Probably more about inspiration than education this weekend, actually. It's always hard to choose what workshops to attend when you have so many overlapping. Unfortunately the two animal-focused ones were profoundly disappointing, adding nothing to my knowledge. In fact, it solidified my belief in the need for my continuing my education and becoming a better dog practitioner and advocate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;I did attend a great session about adrenal fatigue, and how stress can, through this physical issue it causes, be the cause then of further health problems. It was really educational to learn the science of that. I wished I'd done more of those advanced workshops.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;It was a fun weekend, lots of food, evening dips in the pond before dinner, nighttime performances, and an exhibition tent full of intriguing products. I bought a set of nine flower essences made from at-risk medicinal plants that seemed to be a good set of traumatized and troubled animals (weird how that worked out). Everyone should hear about &lt;a href="http://www.unitedplantsavers.org/"&gt;United Plant Savers&lt;/a&gt;, by the way, which advocates for endangered and at-risk medicinal plants.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;I really hope I can attend this conference again (and maybe even teach at it some day).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Verdana;"&gt;I'll be updating folks with my new learning, don't worry.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/weekend-of-plant-love' title='A Weekend of Plant Love!'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=5871610852824461788' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/5871610852824461788'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/5871610852824461788'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-1481698586724197813</id><published>2008-08-19T21:45:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-19T22:15:16.803-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Visual Records.... Visual Art</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouthB8-19-08-782517.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouthB8-19-08-782516.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouthA8-19-08-784177.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouthA8-19-08-784176.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I know, more clinical photos of my dogs front teeth.... but now I'm kinda gettin' into these mouth photos.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today's kinda came out cool. The one on the right especially.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The artist side of me is coming out. And really, that's not so unusual - make art out of what you're faced with (probably why I like them so much  is that they're a little blurry.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I took these because I won't see Vida for two weeks, and I want to have a visual record of how things look. That's really the only way over time to be sure what's going on, if something starts growing back abnormally.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She was very nice about letting me take them too - lips squished up, camera close-up in her face, waiting patiently for me to finish.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm going to our camp in New Hampshire for two weeks. I'm also going to the &lt;a href="http://www.womensherbalconference.com/"&gt;New England Women's Herbal Conference&lt;/a&gt;  a couple days after I arrive. Three days of herbal learning, including two pet specific workshops. I'll post about that as soon as I can - internet via the local library when I'm in NH.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vida'll be hangin' here with my mom, who has to follow this list of diet guidelines (which really is easier than it looks:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Treats:&lt;br /&gt;only dried fish skins or the dried turkey heart of buffalo liver pieces that are in the treat jar (had to discuss again the issue of starving cancer cells by avoiding sugars, even in fruit).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Each Meal:&lt;br /&gt;two patties (8 oz total) Bravo Balance, turkey or beef&lt;br /&gt;Half-tablespoon Wholistic Pet Canine Complete&lt;br /&gt;Half-tablet In Clover Connectin&lt;br /&gt;8 Drops (strictly!) Quantum Herbal A/T Blood Cleanser&lt;br /&gt;2 teaspoons (approx) Liquid Health Glucosamine&lt;br /&gt;1 tablespoon (approx) Animal Essentials Omega 3 Oil (Fish, E, Borage)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That, and I'm forcing my mom to take her to the dog park (my dog is much more social than my mom). Not that she plays a lot, but it's still a good social visit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I guess Vida takes after me with the worrying thing, hehe.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/visual-records-visual-art' title='Visual Records.... Visual Art'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=1481698586724197813' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/1481698586724197813'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/1481698586724197813'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-6527379341102990147</id><published>2008-08-17T20:13:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-18T19:50:08.725-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Wooly Balls!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/WoolyBalls-769822.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/WoolyBalls-769785.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Vida's 1st flock of wool balls. Yes, flock. She likes to collect them back together after they've been flung about the room, and takes pride in ownership.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;The white one is a bit bigger than a tennis ball. Some of the others are a bit smaller than I like - I forgot about shrinkage (though of course that's how they're made all tidy).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;They're 100% wool, the colors are natural wool colors, no dyes or bleach. Some of them have squeakers (though it's harder to get those ones made just right).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She hasn't gone beyond a little textural exploration with them yet, but if she does destroy them I can just save the wool and reuse it as stuffing for a sewn or crocheted toy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No more synthetic plushies in her mouth, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;oh no&lt;/span&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/wooly-balls' title='Wooly Balls!'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=6527379341102990147' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/6527379341102990147'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/6527379341102990147'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-7633079864479143997</id><published>2008-08-15T20:34:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-15T20:52:22.104-07:00</updated><title type='text'>A nice non-clinical photo</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/vida8-15-08-779437.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/vida8-15-08-779427.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;I figured I should post a nice non-clinical photo of Vida. Here she is hanging out at the dog park today  - &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" &gt;not&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt; looking at the camera.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For those who don't know her she's 8 years old, just over 40 pounds (she looks like a big dog without a person there for context).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, not a super action photo (there are a couple swimming ones on &lt;a href="http://www.dogster.com/dogs/44560"&gt;her Dogster page&lt;/a&gt;, where you can get all the 411 on her, in decorative Dogster style), but more  of a reiki-dog one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/nice-non-clinical-photo' title='A nice non-clinical photo'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=7633079864479143997' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7633079864479143997'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7633079864479143997'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-4466912969532565745</id><published>2008-08-15T10:22:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-15T10:59:24.653-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Is West Nile A Danger to Dogs?</title><content type='html'>It seems that we've got another scare on our hands. People are asking about how to protect their dogs from West Nile Virus. Though I don't consider this a threat for my dog, I decided I'd go looking for the official word.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People need to remember to put things in perspective - risk from nature vs. risk from chemicals. Science can bridge this gap if (a) people are willing to learn a little bit and (b) are aware enough to see the propaganda of the chemical industry that wants to sell you toxins to "protect" your pet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You can see how this can apply to many other issues - fleas (which now are seen as some super-danger), food, vaccines, snakes, mosquitos, etc., etc. But I digress.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's my take on West Nile. It poses very little risk to dogs (a tiny bit more to cats). The main reason is that most dogs will show no ill effects at all, and the rest will show only slight ones. They seem to absorb the virus and develop antibodies easily.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And there is no risk of you or your horse contracting it from your dog, so rest easy on that account.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The following is from &lt;a href="http://www.cchealth.org/topics/west_nile/animals.php"&gt;Contra Costa County Health Services:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;h4 style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;h4 style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Can West Nile Virus cause illness in dogs or cats?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, West Nile Virus can cause illness in dogs or cats. Most dogs or cats infected with West Nile Virus do not show signs of illness and most will recover from the infection. Experimentally infected dogs showed no symptoms after being infected with WNV, and some infected cats exhibited mild, nonspecific symptoms during the first week after infection.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;h4 style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Can an infected dog or cat become a carrier of the disease?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;The evidence suggests that dogs do not develop enough virus in their bloodstream to infect more mosquitoes.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;Cats develop slightly higher levels of virus in their bloodstream, but it is unclear if this would be enough to infect mosquitoes. It is very unlikely that cats would be important in furthering the spread of the virus.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;h4 style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/h4&gt;  The information closely matches that from the &lt;a href="http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/wnv_dogs_cats.htm"&gt;CDC website&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I find it funny that they say the animals can get sick when they then go on to describe pretty much nothing, especially for dogs. They manage to plant that seed of doubt that people latch onto when they are not comfortable dealing with health naturally.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'd be way more concerned in my area about &lt;a href="http://www.greyhoundlist.org/ehrlichia_infosheet.html"&gt;Ehrlichiosis&lt;/a&gt;, which is much more common (and passed by ticks, by the way). Never heard of it? Yep, neither had I, until last year! This is your chance to do a little internet research, ok. Teach yourself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So do the usual - fresh food diet, supplements (antioxidents, trace minerals, EFAs, aromatics), and natural pest deterrents and controls as needed (I spray with essential oils when going on a trail in warm months). Don't freak out!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/is-west-nile-danger-to-dogs' title='Is West Nile A Danger to Dogs?'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=4466912969532565745' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/4466912969532565745'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/4466912969532565745'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3458875677372133941</id><published>2008-08-08T18:31:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-08T18:59:21.664-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Killer Herb, dude!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;Cheesy, I know - what can I say, I live in Leucadia.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;Last night I started Vida on the blood tonic from &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.quantumherbalproducts.com/pets.html"&gt;Quantum Herbs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;. The dosage for her is about 10 drops each meal (twice a day), so I started her on 3 drops last night, 4 this morning, 5 this evening..... it's important to give the body an adjustment period.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are the ingredients: Red Clover, Graviola, Venus Fly Trap, Burdock root and seed, Oregon Grape root, Blood root, Poke root, Yellow Dock, Chaparral, Lobelia herb and seed, Periwinkle, Prickly Ash bark and Apple Cider Vinegar.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wow, right! Lots of stuff. You'd really need to look each one up to get the picture of how it works (maybe I'll add that one of these days, or to the next issue of my zine, &lt;a href="http://margaratnee.com/zines/rp.html"&gt;Radical Pet&lt;/a&gt;). Basically it's designed to help the body remove toxins, and create an environment in the body that's unfriendly to cancer cells.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This same idea is behind feeding dogs diets that are high in protein and fat, and low in carbs. Fat in particular provides energy to the dog, yet starves cancer cells. So Vida's already on a good diet with raw. I just increased her fish oil a bit (back to where it used to be actually), and cut out the biscuits and pancakes. Here treat jar is now filled with freeze-dried turkey heart and buffalo liver.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm not expecting an herbal cure, but wouldn't it be a nice surprise if nothing weird grows back! I do think this will slow down progress, maybe even a lot. I'm definitely feeling confident about this for the next little while.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'll post a new photo in a few days, it's healing up well, though still a bit tender.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/killer-herb-dude' title='Killer Herb, dude!'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3458875677372133941' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3458875677372133941'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3458875677372133941'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-7760886578798601768</id><published>2008-08-04T20:00:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-04T20:07:34.577-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Gone for now (photo)</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouth8-4-08-757702.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouth8-4-08-757694.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here she is, 3 days post surgery. The spit bubbles are obscuring the emptiness where the vet cauterized the flesh between the teeth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She's a little pink today, and seems a little sore there, but no real swelling. Not interested in having it exposed - this photo was the third try to get one without the tongue flicking out.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/gone-for-now-photo' title='Gone for now (photo)'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=7760886578798601768' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7760886578798601768'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7760886578798601768'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3636308491276346432</id><published>2008-08-04T12:39:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-04T13:20:00.770-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Bad News....</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;It's a Plasma Cell Tumor, or Plasmacytoma.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;Excision works well for these, apparently, but I'm not jumping into that quite yet. Removing a few small front teeth and the gums would be ok, really, but not more than that. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;First I'm going to start her ASAP on a blood  tonic. I'm going to use one from &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Quantum Herbal&lt;/span&gt; called &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;A/T Blood Cleanser Formula&lt;/span&gt; for pets. I don't expect a "cure", but it's a start at slowing the whole thing down.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;It can't be helped I guess sometimes. Raw food, all the "right stuff" and still cancer. Ugh.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/bad-news' title='Bad News....'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3636308491276346432' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3636308491276346432'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3636308491276346432'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3220331195140110492</id><published>2008-08-01T14:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-01T14:54:13.568-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Growth Be Gone</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Vida had her yucky little tumor thing removed this morning. Her mouth looks lovely now, but I thought I'd spare her and haven't taken a photo yet of it sans bulge.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;She still feels pretty cruddy. I think it's because, despite our conversation about no i.v. sedatives, the vet slipped her a sub-cutaneous ACE shot ("just a kiss" as he put it) right before we started her on the gas. They were worried about her going down on gas-only, but I can't see how the sub-cu shot could've taken effect so quickly as to have any effect on how easily she did go down. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;They cut out the offending tissue and cauterized, and even cauterized on either side of the tooth to try and get what they could without it being too much to sustain her tooth (in the event it's benign.... getting all this?). They also gave her sub-cu fluids as a precaution against dehydration.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;They were very nice, letting me help hold her to go down, and letting me sit with her in the pen while she woke up. By then the ACE had taken effect, and she was super woozy. I sprayed &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Five Flower Formula&lt;/span&gt; on her paw every few minutes, and a homeopathic liquid called &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;"Accident/Rescue" from Newton Labs&lt;/span&gt; (has arnica, hypericum, etc), and did a little bit of acupressure, tui na, and of course reiki. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;She was pretty much napping, but after about 20 minutes I took the leash out of my pocket and the sight of that got her up on her feet. She wobbled out to the car.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That is the thing about sedatives and mixed breeds - you may not get the result you expect. This may point to her having sighthound in her, more sensitive to sedatives. I hope they make a note of it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once she got home she didn't want me out of her sight for the first hour or so, despite her wobbly-ness. She's been napping since then, with a little walking around in between. It's been several hours so I put her water bowl down, but she's not interested yet. Nauseous still, I guess. (her water has a collodial silver and melissa hydrosol additive in it made by AromaDog - called &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Lickity Spritzer&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'll be doing a couple liver points tonight to start her detoxifying the anesthesia, and will give a homeopathic detox tomorrow.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then we wait a few days for lab results, grrrr.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/08/growth-be-gone' title='Growth Be Gone'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3220331195140110492' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3220331195140110492'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3220331195140110492'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3881121557397243345</id><published>2008-07-29T12:45:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-29T12:51:33.848-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Scheduled for Excision</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;Well Vida's scheduled to have her weird sore removed in a few days. I asked for "a conservative diagnostic excision." The actual removal only takes 5 minutes, so I'm going to just have gas used (isoflorine), and no i.v. sedative. It's stressful for the dog at first, but they wake up immediately when the gas is turned off. I'll help hold her for the beginning. If it were a more involved procedure I'd go for the sedative, but for this I think she'll be fine. Reiki will come in handy (for me and her)!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;And I did pick up some wool roving yesterday, and some squeakers today, so it's wool ball time!&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/07/scheduled-for-excision' title='Scheduled for Excision'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3881121557397243345' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3881121557397243345'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3881121557397243345'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-311835271855217913</id><published>2008-07-28T07:04:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-28T07:09:27.508-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Toys as Cancer Culprits?</title><content type='html'>We've all heard about the possible danger of "toys from China", but mainly in terms of vinyl. I read yesterday that oral cancer is the fourth leading cancer in dogs (better fact check that again, just in case). What?? In people it takes something like chewing tobacco - obvious to us, yeah.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well what about those plushy toys for our dogs?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I tell you what, that first thing going are all my dogs plush toys! &lt;a href="http://www.livingfelt.com/freefeltingpatterns/FeltingBallsWashingMachine.html"&gt;I found a website with instructions on how to make felted wool balls&lt;/a&gt;, so I'm going to make some of those.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm also going to look in to sewing some toys - yes, sew my own!  They may not be as brightly cute as store-bought, but I know the dog doesn't care about that.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It may be too late to prevent the start of things in Vida, but I'll be damned if I'm going to keep putting the possible cause back in there!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/07/toys-as-cancer-culprits' title='Toys as Cancer Culprits?'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=311835271855217913' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/311835271855217913'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/311835271855217913'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-6404610226560934538</id><published>2008-07-27T17:31:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-07-27T18:42:50.916-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Yikes! What is that?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouth7-25-08web-700356.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://theartofdog.com/uploaded_images/VidaMouth7-25-08web-700345.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, Vida went to a vet for the first time in about 7 years to have this thing looked at. I noticed it about two months ago or so, a little smaller, after she'd been chewing on a bone (so I thought she'd just hurt it on the bone). Then family problems made me forget to check it and it grew a bit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It looks like she'll have to go under anesthesia and have it removed so it can be sent out for testing, because it's either  nothing (a mouth wound that just won't heal) or cancer. Yep, nothing in between those two extremes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm a little freaked out, to say the least. She's eight years old, and truly, I figured we're only at the half-way point for her lifespan. Now this potential havoc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bloodwork comes back tomorrow to see if she's ok for surgery. Then wait to see the medical outcome. Then the big decisions about how to treat it if it is cancer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;UGH!!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But don't her teeth look lovely! Just a little wear on the ends, but pearly white!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/07/yikes-what-is-that' title='Yikes! What is that?'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=6404610226560934538' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/6404610226560934538'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/6404610226560934538'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-7216468244425739749</id><published>2008-05-01T20:55:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-05-01T21:10:23.920-07:00</updated><title type='text'>"Sprouts on the side please!"</title><content type='html'>Vida didn't appreciate the sprouts mixed in with her Farmore buffalo. She ate it, but with the funny "yuck" face. Tonight I put the sprouts on the side and she ate the meat, then the sprouts, no problem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The yuck face was in evidence a few days ago when she suddenly decided that she didn't like the Bravo turkey undressed (i.e. without honest kitchen added). She managed to choke it down. I don't know why she felt that way, but I wasn't going to waste perfectly good food.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/05/sprouts-on-side-please' title='&quot;Sprouts on the side please!&quot;'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=7216468244425739749' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7216468244425739749'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/7216468244425739749'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3574732126184457747</id><published>2008-04-29T20:26:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-04-29T20:43:04.851-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Sprouts!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I always forget about sprouts. I don't know why, because they're such an obvious choice for springtime. Sprouts are the epitome of Spring. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Is your dog eating lots of grass? How 'bout offering sprouts? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I bought Red Clover sprouts the other day, but you could use alfalfa, or if your dog like greens even the big sunflower sprouts. Don't get onion sprouts. Radish... would depend on your dog. Wheatgrass is good too.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Sprouts, weak-walled baby plants that they are, are easier for dogs to digest compared to adult plants.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;And of course you can eat them too! It's always cool to share food with your dog.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/04/sprouts' title='Sprouts!'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3574732126184457747' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3574732126184457747'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3574732126184457747'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3944351715088126555</id><published>2008-02-29T10:37:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-02-29T11:57:36.929-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Honey! The Magical Elixer</title><content type='html'>I've been a believer in raw honey for awhile, but lately I've become a real advocate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There was a recent article in the New York times about a study on folk remedies for mild burns. The only one that really worked was honey (and I didn't even know that was a use for honey).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Feed your dog and yourself local raw honey on a regular basis. There are so many reasons why - antibacterial, reduces allergies (that's why you want local, for local pollen response), heals skin (topically), great for dogs that are too ill to eat regular food, or as a first food after surgery.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It doesn't take much (so don't go givin' your pup a cup-full), and is so good, and dang it, it tastes good! Why not!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People then always ask where to get raw, local, unfiltered honey. Well, health food stores will often have at least regional honey (if not, ask them to). Farmers markets are usually your best bet. Now, in the age of craigslist, you can find almost anything online.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you can't find local don't give up, any raw unfiltered honey will give you all the main benefits (thinking on allergies is local matches your needs best, but also your support local beekeepers who's bees are pollinating your local plants), and even some mainstream stores will stock it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think wildflower honey is best, but of course seasonal changes are the thing, so you might end up changing crop honeys a few times a year. It's just that wildflower is getting you the best variety of "ingredients" in the honey.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vida now knows the sound of the ceramic honey jar being opened, and comes in for her serving. I just drip some on my finger and put my hand down and she licks it off (she's learned to be quick and not let it drip on the floor).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So there ya go, my rally for honey, y'all.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/02/honey-magical-elixer' title='Honey! The Magical Elixer'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3944351715088126555' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3944351715088126555'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3944351715088126555'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-1615703363306562227</id><published>2008-02-16T19:46:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-02-29T09:26:36.483-08:00</updated><title type='text'>"I want to DIY my pet's meds, but the first $$!!"</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;I just finished the latest issue of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="ttp://margaratnee.com/zines/rp.html"&gt;Radical Pet&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;,  and I have a couple of recipes that use essential oils and other ingredients for dealing with fleas and ear problems. When you only have one pet that initial outlay for ingredients can be big, especially when you're not using much of each one. This simple problem can definitely stop people from making their own remedies, so I want to offer a couple of ideas.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First, get together with friends who have pets and pool your resources. Co-op the production.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another idea to consider (either solo or with friends) is to make extra to donate to rescue groups or people who foster animals waiting for adoption. You may need to form a relationship with a rescue group before they'll accept a "homemade" remedy, or you may be able to find some that already do that themselves. It will help if you can offer a remedy with a recipe from a reputable source. For example, the recipes in RP5 are cited from a reputable book. They may be a bit suspicious if they think you just made it up yourself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So get out there and DIY your pet care, yo!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/02/i-want-to-diy-my-pets-meds-but-first' title='&quot;I want to DIY my pet&apos;s meds, but the first $$!!&quot;'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=1615703363306562227' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/1615703363306562227'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/1615703363306562227'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-4918106049627719036</id><published>2008-02-15T11:07:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-02-15T11:12:48.745-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Two Books Everyone Should Read</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;In Defense of Food&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt; by Michael Pollan - an energetic, entertaining, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt; educational read about to results of the corporate food takeover.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;WIld Health&lt;/span&gt; by Cindy Engel - shows that self-care is something the rest of the animal kingdom seems to be better at than we are. Fascinating.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2008/02/two-books-everyone-should-read' title='Two Books Everyone Should Read'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=4918106049627719036' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/4918106049627719036'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/4918106049627719036'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-576892924967855372</id><published>2007-12-14T10:15:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-12-14T10:28:39.278-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Hot the Pot</title><content type='html'>Brrrr! Chilly weather requires warm food. For raw feeding there are easy ways to warm up a meal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Add a little hot cereal. Just a spoonful is fine. This morning I did this by putting the dry cereal in the bowl on one side, and the ground up raw food on the other side, boiled up some water and poured it over the cereal, as well as over the raw food. This cooked the cereal and took the chill off the raw food (which of course had come from the refrigerator). I didn't have the food soupy, though, which would dilute the stomach juices too much.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Add supplements after warming, as some might be negatively effected by the hot water application.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(by "cereal" I mean flaked grains for making hot breakfast cereal for people, of whatever kind you and your dog prefer).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Can't add cereal? Just omit that step from the above description. It helps to chop in crevasses for the water to penetrate and warm up more surface area.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You can also just "hot the pot" by pouring hot water into the empty bowl to warm up the container, pouring off the water before adding the food. If I were doing it that way I would probably float the raw food container in hot water too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When it's dry and cold out it's not a bad idea to add that little bit of warm water to the food, but experiment and see what works best for your dog.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2007/12/hot-pot' title='Hot the Pot'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=576892924967855372' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/576892924967855372'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/576892924967855372'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-845296342910062389</id><published>2007-12-09T17:39:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-12-09T17:42:54.188-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Forgot about the rabbit</title><content type='html'>I was just looking back at previous posts and saw "Miss Thing Doesn't Do Rabbit", and discovered I need my own blog. Just a couple of weeks ago I tried to feed her rabbit, completely forgetting about this last attempt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Again, I got dropped food and looks of disgust. She'd try to eat it and just couldn't, it was so obvious that she was completely grossed out, poor thing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vida, I promise not to try and feed you rabbit again.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2007/12/forgot-about-rabbit' title='Forgot about the rabbit'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=845296342910062389' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/845296342910062389'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/845296342910062389'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-151876547058218065</id><published>2007-12-09T16:56:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-12-09T17:23:40.099-08:00</updated><title type='text'>a chill in the air means time to warm the tummy</title><content type='html'>Even here in San Diego it's been chilly. Rain on the coast, snow in the mountains, and for us, cold temperatures. Just like people, I'm pretty sure animals acclimate to where they're living, and out here we feel cold.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today Vida and I spent several hours outdoors with chilly temps and wind. I already "warmed up" her meat (in the chinese medicine sense) by switching to venison for the storms, but tonight I'll be doing half venison (raw brand: Nature's Variety), and half Honest Kitchen, with a bit of flaked grains (a home mix), so she'll get a warm (in the actual sense) dinner.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was already adding warm veggies by using Honest Kitchen Preference - I like it because the process of preparing it makes it kinda like veggies from a freshly killed animal. Gross, maybe, but we are talking about feeding dogs.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2007/12/chill-in-air-means-time-to-warm-tummy' title='a chill in the air means time to warm the tummy'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=151876547058218065' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/151876547058218065'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/151876547058218065'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-2101122258812984452</id><published>2007-10-26T12:51:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-10-26T13:17:38.361-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Feeding in Fireland</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Luckily we were not terribly effected by the local fires. We didn't have to evacuate, but the air and ash on the ground was terrible for several days. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Vida and I both started taking  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://fesflowers.com/yarrow-formula.htm"&gt;Y.E.S., or Yarrow Environmental Solution from Flower Essence Services&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt; to help with the crap in the air and in the ash. This remedy was originally developed for nuclear fallout and radiation, but I think it's good for any environmental toxin. With the chemicals used in modern life I wouldn't discount anything when it comes to fire air. Just so you know, the taste is very abrupt - one doesn't dilute it for use, and it has both brandy and sea salt - so I don't recommend giving directly in the mouth for pets (eww!). Just spritz their food before mixing it up, and mist them with it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;We'll both start a bit of homeopathic detox too for good measure.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;I added a little cooked grain to her breakfast this morning to moisten her a bit, as well as a fingerful of local raw  honey to moisten the lungs. Keeping up with the coconut oil and the usual supplements.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;She's finally getting a little stir crazy from the lack of exercise (we're both trying to stay inside), but finally today the air in our neighborhood is clearing enough to do some exercise outdoors. This morning I was washing ash off the house and Vida was playing with the spray.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2007/10/feeding-in-fireland' title='Feeding in Fireland'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=2101122258812984452' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/2101122258812984452'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/2101122258812984452'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3938483405016118382</id><published>2007-10-12T20:19:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-10-12T20:28:24.217-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Autumn Sort of Arrives</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Weird weather, still very warm. Wore long sleeves to the dog park for the first time in months today, the breeze was cool.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Feeding changes for Vida? Less fish, a dab of honey every couple of days, the last of this year's poor figs before breakfast this week, turkey, duck, honest kitchen, coconut oil. All these small adjustments.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Autumn is the season of the Lungs and Large Intestines - the Metal Element in Traditional Chinese Medicine.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Honey moistens the lungs. Raw local honey of course (local as in within 100 miles). I have some good Alfalfa honey from Orange County. We're both eating more honey. Don't want the dry autumn wind to start any trouble.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Coconut oil - haven't given it since last Fall, seemed a need. not too much.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Oh yeah, giving a Eye remedy, chinese herb spheres designed for animals. A couple weeks in her eyes look more moist, which is good. Not treating an acute problem, just the slight development of cataract mist at an early age.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2007/10/autumn-sort-of-arrives' title='Autumn Sort of Arrives'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3938483405016118382' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3938483405016118382'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3938483405016118382'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-5174657514698277161</id><published>2007-05-18T11:27:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-10T13:13:39.655-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Flea Free</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Ok, let me first state, I don't panic about fleas, even though I live in Coastal Southern California (otherwise known as Flea Central). First of all, my dog rarely has fleas. Second, I'm more afraid of the nerve toxins people are using on fleas than I am of fleas.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;It wasn't too long ago that a few fleas were considered normal on a dog. Now if the dog itches the owners reach for the chemicals, even if they haven't found a single flea! So let's run down a list of ways to limit and deter fleas:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;First - diet! The healthier the animal the less attractive they are to parasites. This doesn't happen overnight, so start now. Fresh, preferably raw food is #1. Certain foods added to the diet can help to condition the skin to be less attractive: small to moderate amounts of garlic (some people like the ease of garlic and yeast tablets) up to one clove a day for large dogs, a small amount of raw organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar to balance the pH, fish oil for omega-3 fatty acids, and even tonics like nettle, burdock, and dandelion for a round of detox.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Any soap kills fleas!! There is no need for flea dips or anything else. Just plain dog shampoo is fine. If you need to wash frequently get the gentlest you can (labeled hypoallergenic).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;The flea comb is your best friend! Even heavily coated dogs can be combed on their belly. Just have a small dish of soapy water and push the fleas from the comb into it (keep the comb dry for ease of use on the next pass).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Treat the environment. If you must have carpet spend an afternoon scrubbing a boric acid product deep into it for longlasting help (buy one designed for this). No matter what kind of floor, when you vacumn suck up a little borax to dry out anything that my sprout in your vacumn bag. Use diatamacious earth under baseboards or other dark nooks. Pyrethrum powder (the real thing, from flowers, not pyrethrine the chemical) is another deterrant, though it is dark orange in color so be careful if that matters. Wash bedding at least every two weeks.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Use topical deterrants that won't harm you or your pet. BIG CAVEAT  - essential oils can be dangerous to cats, so if using packaged products only use those that are labeled for cats). Use sprays before walks, they don't last long so daily use is needed.  Neem spray is one option (works great for mosquitos too).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are a couple recipes you can make yourself, these are from &lt;a href="http://theartofdog.com/articles.html#aromatherapy"&gt;"Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals" by Kristen Leigh Bell&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Dog Flea Spritz &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;(makes 8 oz, store in dark bottle, shake well before use).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1 tsp vegetable glycerin&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1/2 oz grain alcohol or vodka&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1 tsp sulfated castor oil&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;10 drops grapefruit seed extract&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;7 oz distilled or spring water&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;4 drops Clary Sage essential oil&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1 drop Citronella essential oil&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;7 drops Peppermint essential oil&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;3 drops Lemon essential oil&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;If you want to use just drops rather than a spray, use the essential oils above in 1/2 oz of carrier oil (like sweet almond or hazelnut oil).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;Cat Flea Spritz (note: this uses hydrosols, not oils!)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1 oz Lavender hydrosol&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1 oz Lemon Verbena hydrosol&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1 oz Rosemary hydrosol&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;1 oz Vodka (or 1/2 oz grain alcohol)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;4 oz spring or distilled water.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Notice I didn't get into ticks - that's another story!&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2007/05/flea-free' title='Flea Free'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=5174657514698277161' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/5174657514698277161'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/5174657514698277161'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262267.post-3530490977909421274</id><published>2007-04-23T20:06:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-23T20:11:18.616-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Shame on them? Shame on you too!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Today I had a shopper wagging her finger at a dog food company, yet buying their kibble. She wagged her finger and said "Shame on them!" but still bought their food! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;She doesn't want to read the labels, she doesn't want to feed fresh, but she wants to have an opinion nonetheless.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Too many people still want the easy way out when feeding their pets. That's what started this whole mess in the first place - No one was paying attention!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt;Complacency is already on its way back.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://theartofdog.com/2007/04/shame-on-them-shame-on-you-too' title='Shame on them? Shame on you too!'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5262267&amp;postID=3530490977909421274' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://theartofdog.com/vidablog.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3530490977909421274'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5262267/posts/default/3530490977909421274'/><author><name>Margarat</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry></feed>