DonnieBrook's Subtropical Adventures 2

Louise, Pixie's Chinook died---she needs some cheering up.

awwwww, that's stinks. Hugs to Celeste.

((((((Celeste)))))))

Been away from this thread for awhile and missed a lot.

Marilyn, so sorry to hear about all your troubles for Doug and yourself on your trip. That was just awful! I'm glad to hear Doug is doing better now that you're home.

Terrible about that home invasion, Louise! I would be be thoroughly terrorized if a strange man crawled into my bed one night. I can't even imagine how scared I would be. I think most women would be traumatized by that.

Louise, have you tried giving the pups some of those rubber toys that you can hide treats in to keep them occupied? That might keep them from wanting to chew the mulch and other things. I don't know if that can be true that ingesting apple seeds can be fatal for dogs. My dog has eaten many of them and never got even sick. I have always given her apple cores. In fact, one time, when we were making apple crisp here, she ate quite a few, as well as skins. I never knew apples could hurt dogs. Maybe I'm lucky and she has a 'cast iron' stomach.

I'm having trouble loading pics on DG. They load but don't look right. All messed up. But it's not just DG for me. Pages load here and on other website wrong, messed up. I can't watch instant movies on Netflix. My entire internet is really messed up. I'm convinced I have a virus or something. Good things all my files are backed up in case my hard drive goes.

Celeste, sorry to hear about your Chinook. So sad.

Karen

Good to hear from you, Karen----sorry about the internet---other folks have been having problems with the photos, too.

Hi Karen. Thanks for the suggestion on the hidden treats toy for the pups. That's a good idea. We're going to rake up the old mulch once the guys here are finished with the new door. They are working on it as we speak. What a great improvement it will be for us!! The digging box is working great. They have limited their digging to that small area alone. They are pretty smart little girls and catch on really quickly to what we are trying to get them to do. Last night when we had company for dinner (my college roommate), we decided to see how they would do if left out loose. I sliced some carrots very thinly and "accidentally" let them drop on the kitchen floor. They discovered them and made off with them to play with/eat them while we had dinner.

Karen - I don't know what to tell you about the poison apple seeds. I was very surprised to read that, but they are mentioned on several "toxic plants" lists that I found. Only the seeds are toxic, it seems. I am happy to hear that they weren't deadly for your dog!

Karen - I read one of the lists of poisons that are fatal for dogs. It says that apple seeds have cyanide in them - the same toxic thing that is in rat poisoning. The amount eaten seems to be the key. Most sites warn about removing the seeds before you feed a dog an apple core.

grapes / raisins are bad too

I had lots different treat toys for Lily... they still love those things.. kong is a good one.. don't waste money on the spray in the can though... and everlasting treat balls are good too .. I only give my girls one in that thing though... lily takes about 20 mins to get it out and it's gone.. Jily could have it for days if I didn't break down and take it out for her

http://www.google.com/products?q=everlasting+treat&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=3OV-S8P0A42PtgeVltieDw&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CDAQrQQwAg

The limitation I have for most "treats" is that our girls cannot have any grains and most treats are loaded with them as cheap fillers. EVO makes a great grain-free "biscuit" treat that they LOVE. Wellness also makes good quality grain-free treats. Not cheap, of course, but much better for the liver over the long run. Our girls are doing great on Orijen kibble, EVO grain-free canned food twice a day (for moisture, mainly) and the treats I mentioned above, along with a small amount of Greek yogurt each day for developing strong teeth and puppy bones and some raw veggies added in slowly. They are quite muscular and their eyes and fur and gums are good signs of their health, so we are happy with our vet's advice on this.

I feed the girls Evo's Ennova small red meat bites... they love it and it's good for them.. and they love the treats too

Allison, I had heard about the grapes/raisins being bad for dogs, though, there again, it's a matter of how much they get. I had a dog once that I used to give chocolate covered raisins to, not knowing both chocolate and raisins were bad for dogs. He never got sick, though. I guess with Patches it won't matter her having an apple core once in awhile. I can't believe she didn't get sick that night I gave her so many when we were making apple crisp.

Hey, watermelon isn't bad for dogs, is it? My dog loves it, even the rind, though she likes the meat best. She loves avocado, too. My sister likes eating those, and she gives Patches the rind, and she eats what's left out of it, but doesn't eat the whole rind. I usually don't let her eat all the watermelon rind, either. She works at getting all the juicy meat out of it, then I toss the rind in the compost.

Louise, I didn't think grains were bad for dogs other than corn. Corn is hard for them to digest, and, unfortunately, most dog foods have corn as the main ingredient, and the good stuff is really pricey.

We have too much corn in human diets, too. Sooooo many things have high fructose corn syrup, which is not just empty calories, but also hard for the liver to process, and it gets turned into fat in the body and raises triglyceride levels. So if anyone has trouble with high cholesterol, and they've cut out all the transfats and cholesterol fats from their diet, and still have high cholesterol, then they may want to look at what foods they may be eating that have high fructose corn syrup in them. Juices, sodas, energy drinks, candy, cereals, and many, many more processed foods have it in them. It's cheap, that's why, cheaper than sugar or other natural sweeteners. I have been buying only juices that have 100% juice for Dad. Been really trying to stay away from the HFCS as much as possible. Good thing I don't drink sodas.

Karen

Randy once left a chocolate / chocolate muffin in his coat pocket.. hung it on the chair and took a shower.. came out and Lily had eaten the whole thing and some of the wrapping.. take a 14 pound dog and feed it something that size and it's going to get sick.. never mind the chocolate part... we brought her to the vet.. they could not believe she kept the whole thing down and did not vomit once... so they did the charcoal thing.. and she was fine.. Randy almost got beat with the biggest stick I could find

;)

Here's the toxic list
Alcoholic beverages
- Avocado
- Chocolate (all forms)
- Coffee (all forms)
- Fatty foods
- Macadamia nuts
- Moldy or spoiled foods
- Onions, onion powder
- Raisins and grapes
- Salt
- Yeast dough
- Garlic
- Products sweetened with xylitol
Sugarless candies can be toxic to pets

salt???? really???

just yeast dough... but not bread??

differnce between raw dough & cooked (baked) bread?

don't know.. I give my dogs bread all the time.. hope not

Yes dough, not bread. but they don't need bread either.

Our Irish wolfie loved fruit---never knew at that time grapes were bad---she would raid our neighbor's vines, my strawberry & gooseberry patches, and devoured apples---but she was 125, that may have helped.

Karen - I don't know that grains are bad for all breeds, but Bichons and some of the other small breeds do not do well with them. As a result, there are a lot of brands of food now that do not have any grains in them. The problem with the grains and some of the poisonous foods/seeds is that you do not see the damage that is being done to the liver until they get older. Often, the damage manifests itself in what appears to be skin allergies (as Molly's did), but you can always check their liver enzymes in a blood test if you think there may be a problem. Allergies are apparently usually just a symptom of a systemic problem with other organs. Our vet in NH,who has lots of expertise in this, says that the problems in old age begin with what they eat in their younger years. That's why we are being very careful with these girls.

Marilyn - I suspect that the heavier dogs can handle the occasional "problem food" like a seed, just because they metabolize things differently in proportion to their size and weight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrjcLJ2IE0&feature=related

Oh, Allison, that's a good thing that Lily was fine after eating that muffin. We had a dog when I was a kid that ate a whole pound of butter once. Don't remember if he got the runs, but I bet he did.

Hmmmm..... Maybe we shouldn't give Patches avocado then. Guess the watermelon is fine. She loves it! Cantaloupe, too. Didn't know uncooked bread dough would be bad. Maybe cause it would swell in the tummy?

Karen

Well, you don't want children eating uncooked cookie dough. I think the problems might be the same.

I love uncooked cookie dough! LOL I don't eat it anymore, but I could regress at any moment if it were chocolate chip.

I love it, too, Louise!

You have great taste, Karen! LOL

The new door is finished, for the most part. Here's a shot of it, minus the trim work and touch-up painting that will be done next Saturday. I'm thrilled with it! There's a new spotlight (only one bulb in at this point, but functional) and Hank will now be able to put the pavers down outside the door to control the dirt being tracked into our sunroom. There's also a new ceiling fan with a light in the sunroom. Yay!

Life should be easier with the new system.

Very much so, Lucy! Spoiled dogs???? Did anyone say expensive puppies????? LOL Actually, the door was purely for me!!! I'm tired of the neighbors laughing at me!

looking good Louise

Thanks, Allison! We're getting there!

Love the paint color

Looks great, Louise! When can you pencil me in?

very nice louise!

I could settle in there!

I love it, Louise! Will look even better with the addition of the pavers.

Karen

Thanks, you guys!! JoAnn - the house color is Benj Moore, either Desert Sand or Cedar Key. I think the latter. In Florida a lot of homes are tropical colors, but I prefer a very understated neutral color with lots of colorful flowers and foliage around it so that the flowers and plants are the color that stand out, instead of the house.

The next step is the patio pad outside the door so this morning's dirty footsteps won't be a daily occurrence.

We both feel pretty exhausted today, after a week's worth of various guests from the north and 2 long days of construction. I think part of the emotional drain for me is that this is the one year anniversary of our losing Molly. It still hurts, but these little girls couldn't have been better today. Their vet dropped in just now and was so impressed with them. That helped.
Hope you have all had a nice weekend....it's almost Spring!! Hang on!!

Thanks, Karen! I agree!!

benj moore - thought that was a japanese maple at first:)

LOL, Bill. How are things going with the mushrooms today?

actually i just came in from cutting deeper holes in the underside of the stone caps - have a total of four now - need one more can't have an even number

Feng shui, Bill?? Watch your feng!