Liquid Health: K-9 Glucosamine

Since the discovery of Conker's Luxating Patella I have done a lot of reading on the subject and how joint health could play a role in the ordeal.  While giving a joint supplement is not a cure for LP, it could possibly help by keeping the joints lubricated so when the patella does slip out of place it is less likely to cause damage that will turn into arthritis further down the road. 
I looked into many different supplements, some a combo of sorts, others with only one joint-health ingredient.  In the end I decided upon K-9 Glucosamine, a liquid supplement made by a company who also makes stuff for people and horses.

There are three varieties of the dog supplement.  I got the regular kind, but there is also a concentrated and vegetarian variety.  I avoided the veggie kind since it uses corn as a source for the glucosamine.  It comes in 8, 32 and 128 ounce bottles.  There is also a formula for small dogs.

Active Ingredients per fluid ounce:
Glucosamine Hcl (shellfish): 1600mg
Chondroitin Sulfate (beef and/or porcine): 1200mg
MSM (Methyl-sulfonylmethane 99.9%) :  1000mg
Manganese Chelate: 7mg
Hyaluronic Acid (as Sodium Hyaluronate): 10mg

Inactive Ingredients: 100% Pure Aloe Vera Juice, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Purified Water, Sodium Benzoate, Vegetable Glycerin. 

After opening this product needs to be refrigerated.  The people in my household have gotten used to a plastic box sitting on the bottom shelf in the fridge that holds Conker's supplements and food just in case something spills.  The bottle also says to shake well before giving to your dog since it can settle/seperate if it sits for long enough.


Directions on the bottle say the dosage is:
Under 10 lbs:  1 teaspoon (1/6th oz)
10-24lbs: 2 teaspoons (1/3rd oz)
25-49lbs: 3 teaspoons, 2 in AM 1 in PM
50-100lbs: 4 teaspoons, 2 in AM 2 in PM
Over 100lbs: 6 teaspoons (1/2 oz), 3 in AM 3 in PM

In order to get the supplement out you have to squeeze the bottle and it will squirt some liquid into a small container that's got 1/2 ounce and 1 ounce measuring lines on one side and 1, 3 and 6 teaspoon lines on the other.  Conker gets 2 teaspoons which is about half a cap-full so I don't bother with measuring it out exact every day.

It might just be the increase in exercise (muscle building to help hold the patellas in place) since I found out Conker has LP, or the supplement really is helping in some way.  Conker's patellas went from slipping once or more times a day to once a week then finally only about twice a month since I began giving him this.  I haven't yet tried to see if it really is helping by not giving it to him.  Mainly because I don't want the patellas to slip and have the joint get damaged by the loss of lubrication or something.

Anyways, I bought the 32 ounce bottle for $24.99 and it has lasted quite a while since I only give it to Conker, and I think it is well worth the price.  I don't know what the shelf-life is once you open it, but it appears to still be working after having it for more than three months.  My bottle is due to run out soon and if I don't test the effectiveness by putting off on buying another one for a bit, I'm going to grab another.

I am a weirdo and tasted this since I'm curious about what my dog's stuff tastes like and frankly I found it to be completely disgusting. Conker though, he loves it and will lick it up as quickly as possible.  Due to the odd taste picky dogs may not take to it like Conker did but you can always mix it in with a broth or food.  The instructions do say to give it with or after food to avoid digestive upset (Conker hasn't experienced this even when given it without food.)

All in all I find this supplement to be a great product and highly recommend it to anyone with dog who is arthritic, has joint problems, is very active (working/sports) or jog on hard surfaces.  Even dogs with LP, like Conker, could benefit from this supplement.


Edit:  It's been a couple weeks since I ran out of this and there has been a change in Conker, and not a good one.  After he'd been on the supplement for a while his right knee would only go out about once a month, the left hardly ever.  Now that he's been off it his right knee goes out more often.  He is also less quick to start a game or run.  So, my overall conclusion is that this thing definitely works, and I'll be getting Conker back on it or something similar as soon as possible.

Packing

Cut for hiking nonsense.

CGC Training: Week 1

My local Kennel Club is holding Canine Good Citizen training at the Riverside Park each Wednesday for four weeks.  It's free and open to anyone, so I decided to take Sasha down there and give the training a shot. The test can be taken at a dog even the weekend after the training is done.
I want Conker to get his CGC more than Sasha, but he still has stranger issues while on-leash and I'd like to know what needs to be done in to get the CGC, so I figured I'd take Sasha since she's the most mellow of my three.

There was a good assortment of dogs there, most of them common breeds.  Labs, Golden Retrievers, a German Shepherd and a couple mixes, Rottweilers, Dobermans, too many to count Poodle-oodles, some Doxens... And a couple lesser seen breeds, like the Ridgeback I'd met before, a pair of gorgeous Afghans, a long-haired Corgi, a Newfoundland... It was neat seeing all those dogs there in one place.

The class is taught my some really nice older people, the group I was in anyways.  They used a combination of negative and positive reinforcement.  Meaning, if you dog isn't heeling, give a "pop" so they do, but praise and treat if they listen.  If they don't sit, pull up on the collar or lure into a sit with a treat and praise well afterward.  I don't have a problem with this kind of training, it's actually almost the same as what I already do with Sasha. 
They do want you to use a prong or choke chain until your dog is good, but they let me use Sasha's chain martingale without a problem.

We basically learned what to expect from a CGC test, what they will do with the dogs then learned how to get the dogs to heel, sit and stay.  I guess we'll be learning longer stays, long come and laying down next week.
Sasha did great with everything but when I had to tell her to sit.  See, whenever I'd get her to move so she would stand she's sit before I even told her to, so I was walking around trying to say "sit!" before she did.  The teacher lady laughed and said Sasha was fine, and it was good that she kept sitting automatically this soon in the class.


Anywho, that's all for now.  I'm going to work on Sasha's stay and get her to learn "down" before next week so I'm ready for it.  Next update on the CGC training will be Wednesday the 31st.   

Dogswell: Breathies

I have never tried anything from the brand Dogswell before.  I have heard in the past that they had chicken from China that had some contamination in it or something but that wasn't what stopped me from picking their stuff up.  It was the chicken in general.  You can read more about that here.

So!  I was at Mini Pet Mart and saw little bags of a couple kinds of Dogswell treats.  Since I didn't want to spend another $6.99 on a regular bag, these smaller sized bags were perfect for a trial run.

 The little 4 ounce bag cost me $2.99, not bad for a try-out.  The bigger bags have a fairly normal price.

Ingredients: Oats, Barley, Brown Rice, Chicken, Dried Cane Molasses, Flaxseed, Potato Protein, Sweet Potatoes, Rice Bran, Canola Oil, Brewers Dried Yeast, Natural Flavor, Peppermint, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Parsley Flakes, Chlorophyll, Vitamin E Supplement

First three ingredients are grains, but high-quality grains.  Molasses is often targeted as a bad ingredient by many dog-food review sites but in treats I think it is an okay ingredient.  The rest of the ingredients are pretty typical of this sort of treat and unless your dog has allergies or intolerances to certain grains or chicken, these treats look fine.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein                     15.0% (min)
Crude Fat                          7.0% (min)
Crude Fiber                        5.0% (max)
Moisture                            10.0% (max)
Vitamin E                          100 i.u./kg (min)

The treats are about 1 inch long and quite green.  This is due to the Chlorophyll which is basically pure plant greenstuff.  Conker wasn't nuts for them, instead of his usual scarfing down he sniffed, tasted and crunched slowly.  Sasha liked them and will be getting most of them since her teeth are the worst.
As far as their breath-freshening ability, I have yet to notice any difference in all three dogs, but I give these to them as an after-dinner breath freshener and will edit if I find they do anything.

These treats, unlike the chicken jerky kind, are made in the USA.  If you are still unsure about the chicken then avoid them, but the bag has a little American flag and Made in the USA printed on it so I'm okay with them.

Argh

So yesterday I decided to give that Limpy Creek trail another try since last time I went I didn't have any fun at all due to the poison oak infestation on my legs.
So I get my day-hike gear and Conker into the Jeep and head out.  The drive takes a lot longer than I thought and I missed the turn but we finally got there.  Only to find there was no parking. 

I wouldn't have been as miffed about the parking thing if it were other people who were hiking the trail but no, it wasn't that at all.  Some fatass rednecks had parked their giant-ass RV there which took up at least four spots, then an additional four with their two fucking huge and completely illogical trucks.  And the only other place to park was also taken up by their buddy's gangsterd out suburban. 

Normally I would have waited around to see if anyone was going to come and leave, if the spots were all taken by normal cars, but this time I just turned around (and almost hit one of their trucks) and left.  I was so fricking mad that I'd just wasted an hour and more than two gallons of gas on nothing.   There was nowhere else to park at all, not even on the road since it was one lane and barely wide enough for my little Jeep.

Okay so why so angry about this?  You aren't allowed to camp there.  PEROID.  There are several signs that state no overnight camping allowed, and those assholes were obviously there to stay for a while since they had a ton of shit lying around the parking lot (also taking up parking space) and were downing six packs like it was going out of style.
I've decided that I'm not going to go back to that stupid Limpy creek place for at least two more weeks.  I'm not up for another disappointment and waste of time and gas like this when I could be doing something better.

Conker's Digestive Problems

When I first got Conker he had all sorts of digestive issues.  He didn't have worms so that was ruled out as the cause and had no symptoms of other stomach bugs, it was just plain diarrhea.  He has the issues on the Science Diet he was on at first (shelter gave me a bag) and on Orijen, even though I gradually switched him to it over a period of about two weeks since he was so sensitive to new stuff. 
He couldn't handle new treats much either.  Any treat that contained chicken, wheat, corn or potatoes sent him into explosion mode (chicken, wheat and corn also made him itch like mad.) The only treats that didn't cause problems were the Zuke's Mini and Jerky Naturals.  He could only have very small bits of cooked beef, pork or turkey.  Anymore than a small bite and he'd have a blow-out.  Even most chews causes problems.  Bully stick were okay though.

I decided that instead of juggling around different brands of kibble that I was going to try the raw food thing.  For the first month it was somewhat unpredictable.  His transition wasn't the best, it took him a while to stop having digestive problems.  I added in a probiotic and his problems lessened.  He would still have occasional diarrhea but it basically went away upon starting that. 
I kept Conker on raw foods only for several months with the exception of the Zuke's treats.  Anything else I tried to give him would result in more splosions.  So I stuck to that very strict diet and would harass anyone I caught attempting to sneak Conker something.

Then something happened.  One day I didn't have any food for Conker.  I'd miscalculated the amount of food I'd made up and was a day short and nothing I had frozen was small enough to use.  Crap, what do I do now?  I looked around the house for something he could eat but we had no meat in the fridge, I had no money and I couldn't buy any so I was stuck with a tube of oats, a can of sardines and some eggs.
I had a sudden thought.  What if Conker can eat oats?  He is fine with sardines and eggs, but those together in such a high amount could cause an issue.  But the oats... They are in his Zuke's treats and he's never had a problem with those and if he doesn't they might stop a sardine/egg reaction.

I whipped up a small pot of oats, dumped in the sardines, added an egg, some probiotic powder and his usuals and gave it to Conker.  I instantly regretted it, knowing Conker would have an explosion that or the next day.  But you know what happened?
Nothing bad.
He was fine, perfectly fine.  Better than normal actually.  He digested the meal better than most meat/bone/organ-only meals and didn't have any itchy reactions to the meal like he'd had in the past. (chicken, wheat and corn)

I was amazed, and that's when I decided to mix things up and start trying different treats, even some that contained potatoes and chicken, and adding in other grains (rices, barley).  I still have yet to test anything with wheat or corn in it, but so far everything has gone very smoothly.  I also have yet to give an actual potato or hunk of cooked chicken a try since all attempts in the past were miserable failures.

But this recent development in Conker's digestive system has really caught me off-guard.  I was sure he would never be able to eat anything other than raw meat and fruits and knew that the prey-model diet wasn't entirely complete since I cannot find organs other than liver and kidney.  I figured I was going to have to start supplementing certain vitamins and minerals, something I really don't want to do, and would have to stick to that for the rest of his life.  Unless something like this happened.

I have no idea what made his system decide to work and I'm very glad it did.  However, I will not attempt to feed Conker kibble unless it's a dire emergency.  I really enjoy making food for him and he will continue to eat raw and now homecooked food for as long as he lives.

EVO Wild Cravings: Herring

I've seen these treats a couple times in the past but for some reason I've never picked them up.  I decided today to give them a try.  You can read about them on it's website.

The package is actually teal, not blue.
Anyways, I got these for $4.99 and it contains 10 ounces of treats.  One thing I liked about these was the fish.  They are fish-based treats and fish treats, at least in my area, normally cost a lot more than other treats.  They also have glucosamine and chondroitin in them.

Ingredients: Herring, Herring Meal, Peas, Pea Fiber, Pumpkin, Tomatoes, Sunflower Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a Natural source of Vitamin E), Herring Oil, Apples, Carrots, Potassium Chloride, Cottage Cheese, Dried Chicory Root, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondoitin Sulfate, Minerals (Zinc Protoinate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Protoinate, Manganese Protoinate, Calcium Iodate), Vitamins (Absorbic Acid, Vitamin E Supplement,Betaine Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Ninacin Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Beta Caratone, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Botin, Folic Acid)

I like how there's two fish ingredients, though they are the same, at the beginning of the list.  I think all the vitamin and mineral supplements are somewhat unnecessary for a treat however, on the bag it states that:  "EVO Wild Cravings Herring Formula Baked Dog Treats are formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for adult dog maintenance.  Therefore, you can feed these treats exclusively to your pet as their sole source of nutrition.  If you choose to feed a smaller amount, please reduce your pet's meal size by the same amount you're giving your pet in these treats.  Always adjust the total amount of food and/or treats to maintain or achieve an ideal body condition."
That's pretty interesting.  It's also got this printed below:

Never seen one of those on a bag of treats or food before.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min)        33 %
Crude Fat (min)        13 %
Crude Fiber (max)        3 %
Moisture (max)        10 %
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6 Fatty Acid) (min)        1 %
Carbohydrates NFE (max)        33 %
Vitamin E (min)        250 IU/kg
Vitamin C (min)        250 mg/kg
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (min)        1.8 %
Glucosamine (min)        689 mg/kg
Chondroitin Sulfate (min)        574 mg/kg

There is a fair amount of glucosamine and chondroitin, more chondroitin (compared to the glucosamine) than I've seen in other joint treats so far.  As a food I guess this is okay for somewhat more active dogs but I haven't really looked into that.  Also, I think feeding just this to anything bigger than a Papillon would cost a lot.

There are four shapes in the bag.  Each one is about 1 1/4 inch long, so they aren't really small but aren't huge either.
Taste wise Conker loved these.  They are crunchy but softer than most crunchy treats and are easily crumbled so they may not hold up too well if they are stuck in a pocket.  They don't smell horrid like some other fish-based treats so if you aren't into stinky treats, you might like these.  As a treat the price is good, as a food not so much but I'm basing the price rating on these being treats.

For those of you who care about this, EVO is owned by Natura who sold out to Proctor and Gamble.  If you don't like P&G then ignore these treats but if you don't give a darn then go ahead and buy them.  They don't appear to contain any horrible low-quality ingredients so I think they are safe.

Dog Foods

Last night I made up some rices for Conker.  I cooked 1/2 cup of white and 1/2 cup of brown to make, somehow, 3 cups total?  Okay...  He totally thought he was going to get some right then and there and was surely disappointed when I portioned the rice out into tupperwares and stuck it into the fridge. 

For today's meal I mixed in about 6 ounces of canned fish (I'm all out now, gotta get more), a spoonful of tomato paste, some canned pumpkin, a bit of liver mix (equal parts beef and chicken livers), an oyster, an egg and a dash of olive oil.  He also got a turkey heart, piece of turkey neck and blop of plain yogurt.  And his usuals.

The girls got...

TOTW kibble (buffalo) with plain yogurt, half an egg and a random assortment of treats on top.

You know nothing interesting is going on when I write about this stuff.

Zuke's Hip Action: Peanut Butter

Due to Conker's Luxating Patella I decided to add joint supplements to his diet as a preventive measure against arthritis. This sometimes included treats like these.

The Hip Action treats come in three flavors.  Peanut Butter, Chicken and Beef.  I got the Peanut Butter flavor to try first.

Ingredients:  Ground Rice, Ground Oats, Peanut Butter, Malted Barley, Maple Syrup, Gelatin, Vegetable Glycerin, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Fresh Apples, Fresh Carrots, Ground Flax Seed, Fresh Blueberries, Lecithin, Salt, Phosphoric Acid (a natural acidifier), Garlic Powder, Sorbic Acid (a preservative), Chondroitin Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Sodium Selenite.

The ingredients are similar to the Jerky and Mini Naturals but with a few added things and the Glucosamine and Chondroitin stuffs. 

Guaranteed Analysis – Peanut Butter
Protein	not less than 10%
Fat	not less than 8%
Fiber	not more than 3%
Moisture	not more than 30%
Glucosamine HCl*	not less than 300mg
Chondroitin Sulfate*	not less than 50mg
Calories	Approximately 31 per piece

The Hip Action treats are slightly bigger than the Jerky Naturals which are about 1 inch a piece.  It's also slightly thicker.  There are about 25 per bag and according to Zuke's you should give:

Small dogs (46 lbs. and under)	1 treat daily
Medium/Large dogs (92 lbs. and under)	2 treats daily
Giant dogs (138 lbs. and under)	3 treats daily

So if you've got a smallish dog these will last about a month.

While Conker's joint health has improved drastically since I began adding things like salmon oil and a Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM supplement to his diet, the joints did not get worse when I ran out of Hip Action treats.  My guess is since they weren't adding too much when compared to the G/C/MSM thing that they didn't really make that big of a difference.  But if fed alone I imagine you might notice with a dog who had obvious joint problems when you started/ran out.

I mainly use these treats when I go hiking since I can't take my joint supplement with me (needs to be refrigerated) so I give a couple of these treats instead.  I also like to use them during or around times of high exercise.

Anyways, I really like these treats since they are so similar to the Jerky Naturals.  But with the price increase of $2-3 I don't buy them very often since Conker already gets a joint supplement.  However, for this type of treat the increase in price is pretty typical.  Either way they are a good choice for older or arthritic dogs if you don't mind paying a bit more for them.
EDIT:  I can regularly find these for $6.99 instead of $8.69 but the price is still rated by the higher one since it's more common.

Slow Cooker

Today I decided to make Beef N' Barley soup er, stew.  I found some beef in the freezer that had been there for a bit (not too long but long enough that everybody but me forgot it existed) and thawed it last night.  I also bought a pound of barley at the grocery the other day and some frozen peas and carrots today.

So I got out the slow cooker thingy, forgot what they're called, and filled it with about 6 cups of water and some beef concentrate (a type of bullion) and let it heat for a bit.  I chopped the beef into 1 inch chunks and browned it in some olive oil in a pan then plopped it into the warming beefy water.  Next I added a little over a cup of washed barley, dropped in a couple ounces of olive oil, gave it a stir and let it sit for a couple hours.  After that couple of hours I added about three cups of frozen peas and carrots (slightly more than I wanted) and one clove of finely minced garlic.  Sprinkled in a dash of salt and let it sit for another two or so hours.

Somewhere in the middle of this Younger-taller brother came into my room and asked if the stuff in the cooker was edible.  Yes of course it is, it's food you dumbass.
Anyways, I explained to him that the Beef N' Barley soup/stew was for me but I plan on giving some to Conker, and if he wants he can have some since there'll be enough leftovers.
He went off and microwaved some of last night's steak. 

So this soup... stew... is so far really good.  It's certainly not Progresso Beef N' Barley (which I love) but I prefer homemade to canned anyways.  I can control what goes into it, how much of each ingredient and can tailor it to my taste better than you can with a canned soup.  Besides, with the homemade stuff I have leftovers and can give some to my dog if I watch what I put into it.

I cooked the soupstew for a little under five hours on my cooker's high setting.  I don't have any idea how hot that is, only that it has a 4 and 6 hour time setting for high and a 8 or 10 hour setting for low.  After the selected amount of time it'll switch to "warm" mode and won't particularly cook anymore so I had to turn it on again since I was using the 4 hour setting.  I think next time I'll set it for 6 instead of 4 and see how that does.
I know I'll get to make it again pretty soon since this batch won't last long.

Conker had been waiting all day for this, and was really miffed when I gave his to him while it was still somewhat hot.  He was being very impatient and following me around like mad so I gave him hot food and he'll have to take his time eating it instead of scarfing it down like he always does.
If it hadn't been still fairly hot he would have gone through it in seconds.  Maybe I should feed him more hot food to keep him from bolting it all down.

I added a couple things to Conker's food that I personally wouldn't really want in there.  His joint supplement, a squirt of salmon oil, the chicory/probiotic blend I made some weeks ago and some of that PlaqueOff stuff.  Oh and a bit of powdered eggshell since this meal has no calcium at all.

With the exception of the beef, which was cooked, this entire meal was new to Conker so hopefully he won't have an explosion from it.  I doubt it though, since this isn't his first 100% new meal and the last one he had he did fine with. 

When compared to the price of canned Beef N' Barley soupstew, I saved a ton of money by doing it this way.  A can here, when not on sale, is $2.99.  On sale they are $1.99.  I buy beef for $1.99 a pound or less, so if I'd bought that beef it'd have cost me about $2.  The pound of barley was $1, so were the peas and carrots and I have enough of both to make another batch.  Everything else I put in we always have on hand, so I would have spent a grand total of $4 on this meal and it made about 7 servings or so (comes out to under .60 cents a meal!).  The same amount in canned soup would have cost me $21.