Exciting Wednesday

It’s another cold, rainy, miserable day in SoPines…NC is getting the hang of this craptastic weather. Its one of those days where the barn looks messy no matter how clean it is and you feel tired no matter how much sleep you get. Alas, it’s always a good chance to do extra things that I usually don’t have time for, such as writing about dog and cat food. I’m not joking, actually, but nice try ;) I have a family of picky eaters. Gretchen (my rescue mutt from the pound who is still learning how to be a dog) will go on fasts that last for days. I had found a semi-solution to that problem with Taste of the Wild, a brand carried by our local feed store. It comes in delicious flavors like bison, but is also $45 a bag. A bit steep, especially with my pocketbook. This time I went out on a limb in Wal-Mart and spend a good 20 minutes taking up the entire aisle with my cart full of delicacies like Snack Cakes and Pizza Rolls and brand-name Pepsi (only because I splurged) while I decided on the right brand to try. Finally, I decided on PurinaOne Smart Blend and only because it LOOKED delicious on the bag and was $21, a fair price. When I emptied it into her feed bin at home, I was tickled pink…it looks just like hunks of deliciousness and she dove RIGHT in and has been eating like a total champ. Yay, yay, yay! Now for the cats. Armani has been vomiting undigested food for about a month and a half now. After countless vet visits and prescription drugs that did nothing, I decided he just eats too fast and upsets his stomach. So I started cooking little pieces of chicken for him…like started giving him just broth to eat…then teaspoons of wet food at a time..and now he’s slowly back up to a semi-normal diet. Jinx, his overweight sister, now has to be locked in the bathroom at meal time so he can’t scarf her food down, too. So I was looking for something that was for digestion and found Purina Cat Chow Naturals, which doesn’t have icky dyes in it and supposedly helps them retain nutrients. Whatever, they’ll eat anything, the proof is in the pudding (er, vomit or lack thereof). So I mixed up a handful of the dry food with 1/3 can of Fancy Feast and ½ can of water and so far, so good…they both love it and haven’t had any vomiting episodes. SCORE! So yeah, after all of that deliberation, I’m feeling pretty darn good about my choices. After $150 on groceries (and one trashy magazine) my pocketbook isn’t feeling so great, but she’ll rebound in no time. ;)