Bison Bison

We made a trip to our favourite pet shop a few days ago, after deciding that a diet change was in order for all of our animals. After chatting to the lovely people over at my favourite chihuahua forum (yeah, I'm one of those people), we've decided to switch to a mostly wet food diet for both Odie and the cats. After being educated on the lack of moisture (which is needed for healthy organs) in kibble, I'm becoming more confident that we're making the right choice. That information was confirmed by our vet, who suggests that cats be switched to an entirely wet food diet as they get older, to support their kidneys. One of our cats has an issue with urinary crystals, and apparently a lack of moisture in a diet can lead to this.


A lot of dog and cat owners are switching to a raw only diet. Some people swear by it, and some against it. Anyway, we're not at the point where we're confident we could balance a raw only diet, which is essential. However, I like the idea of a dog's teeth being cleaned naturally by chewing on a bone. Cooked bones are a definite no, as they can splinter and cause serious health issues or even death.


I'm not familiar with the meat department (I can find the turkey leg stand at Disneyland though), so I thought it might be a good idea to buy something for her from the pet store so it was a sure thing. These were the smallest that we could find, and they're fairly local...

Yummy!

This is probably going to be a weekly thing, and once I learn a bit more about what's safe and what-not,   i'll switch it up a bit. The bison was a definite hit! She LOVED it. At first, we put it on a towel in her kennel, but after she realized it was something worth protecting, she grabbed it and took it onto our rug. Gross! Next, I tried a towel on the ground, but the second a cat came to investigate she took off with it again. Once again, our makeshift gates saved the day.

It kept her contained, and also kept the cats safe. Both of them wanted to check out to see what was going on, and Odie was in full protection mode. We heard her make a sound we've never heard before. She didn't seem to mind when we came by, but look out cats. Yikes.

She seemed to be more interested in what was attached and in the bone, rather than the bone itself. I'm hoping next time she'll get more into it. It might help if we got something a bit smaller. She wasn't a big fan of having to put her paws on it, and was trying to avoid it until there was no other way around it. When she had enough, she started wiping her face on the towel. We have a really clean dog. I was a little worried about the affect of this on her tummy, but there were no issues what-so-ever. It kept her busy for a good 45 minutes--great enrichment! Definitely something we'll do again. 

Thanks, Mom!