Congratulations to our winner, Elena! I hope your pet loves the food! I spend a lot of time reading pet food labels. I usually have to shoo off at least three well meaning but unhelpful store employees every time I'm at the store. Sometimes I'm reading to make sure it's a good choice for Brody and Koa, and sometimes I just pick up a bag of cheapie food to remind myself of the crummy stuff that's out there. I know I'm not alone in this- it seems like every time I go into the store, from a ... Read more »
nutrition
Giveaway Tuesday: Wellness Cat food!
Today, while we're all digesting the remnants of our Independence Day feasts, I have for you a special giveaway for the kitty in your life. I have to swear you all to secrecy that you won't share the details with Apollo, for if he knows what I had to give away instead of sharing with his sad food-allergic self I'm sure I'd be finding more than a few slimy furballs on my pillow. I have a special place in my heart for the Wellness brand. When my dear old hound Nuke developed a nasty splenic ... Read more »
A look inside a research facility AND a giveaway
One of the main reasons Iams invited a group of pet bloggers to Dayton for Behind the Paw was to show off the Pet Health and Nutrition Center in Lewisburg, Ohio. Before I get into what we saw at the facility, I wanted to give you a little background into the wild and wooly topic of animal research. Background It is obviously a controversial topic. An institution who is going to use animals for research purposes needs to have a clear justification as to the benefit of the research as well as ... Read more »
Behind the Paw: Part Uno
As you all know, last week I spent a couple of days in Dayton, Ohio attending the second Behind the Paw Summit at the invitation of Iams/Eukanuba. When I wasn't leaving computers on buses or throwing gutterballs in a sad attempt to unconvincingly demonstrate my bowling prowess, I actually did learn a lot about the pet food manufacturing process. I'm always a little leery of doing trips like this, because I have two competing agendas when writing about them: mine and theirs. My agenda, of ... Read more »
The Honest Kitchen Giveaway: Brody’s Surf Shack
Congratulations to the winner, Leigh!! When Brody's not catching aerials or checking out Bettys on the beach, he's thinking about eating. At least, I think that's what he's thinking about. And since we just had a big special occasion, we decided to celebrate his surfing success with the penultimate California snack: fish tacos. ... Read more »
Giveaway: The Honest Kitchen
One of my favorite pet food companies has stepped up with a great giveaway: a 10 pound box of Force from the Honest Kitchen! That makes 77 pounds of fresh food when rehydrated! The Honest Kitchen has also decided that they will have Bradyn and 4 Paws be their December Charity of the Month- a portion of their sales for the month will go to Bradyn's service dog fund!! Thank you! Our original grain free dog food, we designed Force for dogs with sensitive stomachs and chronic ailments related ... Read more »
I like big mutts and I cannot lie
I am just so happy to get an excuse to use that line. :) Koa is big, compared to, say, a teacup chihuahua, but we are inching ever closer to that ideal body weight that will make her happier and healthier. She has a pretty large lipoma on her left shoulder. I can't tell if it is growing, or if it simply seems more apparent now that she has less fat covering it. Either way, it will be coming off in the near future. I am, for reasons that should be obvious, pretty gun shy about taking ... Read more »
Nulo Challenge: Skinny Jeans
I don't really know what the dog equivalent is of fitting in a pair of skinny jeans. They aren't vain that way. They lack the human tendencies to feel shame, thus have no issues with muffin top fear or the like. Either way, Koa has lost enough weight that people are starting to notice- which although she doesn't know it is a big milestone. Pets reap the benefits as much as anyone else of a healthy weight. Yesterday, I was watching Koa and Brody standing together and noticed how she is ... Read more »
The Pawcurean Presents: The Chicken Parfait
As you're reading this, I am most likely winging in the skies over the Western seaboard on my way to Denver for BlogPaws West. For those who can't go, there will be plenty of people reporting back. For those of you who are there, look for me at the Be the Change for Pets panel or otherwise wandering aimlessly in the lobby looking for animals to pet. That's my favorite pasttime. In the meantime, here's how I spent the Labor Day weekend: laboring. As I've mentioned before, my Pawcurean segment ... Read more »
The honest truth from The Honest Kitchen
As you all know, I'm always exploring and learning more about pet nutrition. It's one of my favorite topics. I've mentioned on several occasions that I rotate the dogs' food, and one of my regular brands to rotate in is the Honest Kitchen. After reading Made out of Love, their recipe book, I asked founder Lucy Postins if she would be available for a e-mail interview, and she very kindly agreed. Above all, I was really fascinated that in a business dominated by a handful of large pet food ... Read more »
Fun with Math: The Nutrition Game
I was in the grocery store yesterday, and like I always do, sort of did a double take at what some of the brands are charging for their food. Clients come in every day and say that they are feeding their dogs high quality, all natural food- a common example would be something like Beneful- believing it is top quality food simply based on the marketing. But when they go back and read the label, they are inevitably surprised. "I can't afford the really expensive food," is something I hear ... Read more »
Product Review: The Honest Kitchen Embark
Brody's been munching his way through a large variety of food products lately, both good and bad, so I thought this was a good time to share his latest product review. The folks over at The Honest Kitchen sent us a variety of samples from their dehydrated raw food product line to try out, and Brody was more than happy to oblige. The food he chose to sample was Embark, one of their two "All life stages" formulations. 1. It starts off looking kind of like green soup mix (it has that bouillon ... Read more »
