Remedy for Bloat & Stop and Chew Your Bones!

Hello peeps! Its Apollo Boy here. As you guys know, bloat is a very serious condition for dogs. It can kill so quickly that dogs who bloat when they are alone can be found dead by their owners when they return home.

Kola had experienced bloat before, and M rushed him to the hospital. We were quite disappointed at the conventional treatment actually. The vet told us that Kola would be put on drip and monitored to see if the bloat goes away. They'll administer painkillers and antibiotics as needed. And if the situation called for (meaning the stomach twists), they'll operate on him. (St Kola: Thank God I don't have to go through that again.. but that's cause i'm already dead isn't it?)

We were pretty shocked at the treatment, but since we aren't educated in veterinary science, what did we have to say?

Anyway, remember Auntie J from the land of far far away? She recommended M a product called Parvaid.

Its main purpose is to treat Parvovirus actually, but since parvovirus attacks the gastro-intestinal tract, parvaid can do wonders for vomitting, diarrhea, fever, dehydration and of course, bloat, just to name a few.

This is an all-natural product made of organic herbs, and the best part of it is.... IT WORKS! M gave Candy 10 drops of Parvaid for every 15mins she was bloated and she started burping till she was no longer bloated.

M brought Candy and the box of Parvaid to Dr Hsu the next day and it turned out that Candy was bloated because she gulped in alot of air. Dr Hsu agreed that she was no longer bloated and the Parvaid was probably the reason the bloat went down.

More bloat info: http://www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm

Parvaid info: http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/parvaid.html

Ok, the reason Candy gulped in alot of air was because she was holding her pee pee in the whole night (about 13 hours) and probably got stressed. We found out later, it was because that stupid bitch (Candy: HEY!) didn't chew on the chicken bones long enough and swallowed them. The bones ended up being stuck in her rectum because it was too painful for her to pass it out. Thankfully, Dr Hsu managed to pull the bones out and Candy was fine after that.

So remember peeps, please make sure your poochies chew on their bones long enough and not just swallow! We learnt a very big lesson this time. M feels so guilty Candy went through all that pain because she didn't supervise enough. =(

Nutro Cat Food Recalled - Singapore

Dear Kitty pawrents and friends,

Nutro Cat Food has just been recalled by AVA. Please STOP feeding Nutro to your cats immediately!

The news article is below as we're afraid the link may be broken in future.

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Taken from: Straits Times, http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_381120.html?vgnmr=1 Cat food recalled By Serene Luo

CAT food under the Nutro brand of products has been recalled by the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority here.

Mars Petcare, the parent company, had earlier this week announced a voluntary recall of the products in the United States, due to excessive zinc levels and under-supplements of potassium.

It said there had been a production error by one of its US-based premix suppliers.

The two affected mixes are: Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Dry Cat Foods and Nutro Max Cat Dry Foods.

The two mixes come in 28 different product varieties, and have 'best before' dates of between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010.

Pet owners who have bought the products are advised to stop giving their cats the food immediately, and should monitor their cats for symptoms such as lack of appetite, weight loss, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Should their cats show such symptoms, the owners are advised to take them to a veterinarian for medical treatment.

The AVA is also working with supermarkets and pet stores to pull the products from shelves, a spokesman said.

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List of Pet Foods Recalled: http://www.ava.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/6E2A85C7-1551-4AE7-B73E-841AE6C3317D/24062/RecallofNutroCatFood.doc

Afterthoughts by The 5 Rascals:

See! Many kibble companies claim their product to be 100% nutritionally balanced, and to be fed for life. This is exactly how nutritionally balanced they are.

Granted that the food we eat (though researched as thoroughly as we can) may NOT be 100% nutritionally balanced, at least we know the food we eat, prepared in our very own kitchen, is SAFE.

The Truth About Vaccinations

We do NOT get vaccinated. Not now, not ever.

Vaccinations are highly recommended by many vets in Singapore (and other parts of the world too). They work by introducing a weakened form of the disease you are being vaccinated against (eg. rabies). Thereafter, the body will produce antibodies to fight this weakened 'disease' and this response will prepare the body for the real McCoy in a limited timeframe (usually 1-3 years).

However what most vets do not tell you is that by vaccinating, there is a chance that you/your furkid will contract the disease vaccinated against.

Our Dr E said so himself when explaining vaccinations to M.

Also, Dr Pitcairn has mentioned in his book (Dr Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats):

"Besides the possibility that they [vaccinations] may not work, vaccines might also cause an acute disease or a chronic health problem."

This is especially true when the immune system is already not at its best (eg. when sick, weak, stressed, too young, or when the dog's immune system has been surpressed by previous disease or drug therapy (including steroids & anti-biotics)).

So, what our family recommends is to save your money and buy more foodies for your furbies! NATURAL foodies please!

PS: its 3am now and we cant think straight, thus this article is not completed yet.

Credits: Dr Pitcairn

FDA Confirms Investigating Nutro, Reasons not to feed Natural REBUTTED!

Hello furbies and hoomans. This is a piece of news we read from DoggieSite and would like to share with all of you.

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Title: FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
Copyright 2009 © All Rights Reserved

The lead:

April 20, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed that the agency is investigating NUTRO pet food, following a series of unexplained illnesses and deaths. Consumers have been complaining for more than two years that their pets have become ill after eating NUTRO products; many have recovered when they were switched to other foods. The company has steadfastly denied that its food is to blame.

Please read the entire article @
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/04/nutro_foia.html
especially if you are feeding your furbie killer crap in a bag commercial pet food!!


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Auntie J from the land of far far away has warned us about consuming Nutro pet foods before but we were already on BARF and thus was not worried for ourselves. However, we worry for all the other millions of pets world wide that are still eating killer kibble!

We are really SURPRISED to hear that the investigation has JUST been CONFIRMED. The charge if any, will come probably much much later. Meanwhile, many pets may still fall sick =(


M can never stress enough, the importance of feeding NATURAL foods. Foods prepared in your own kitchen. Foods you can eat yourself. Although we eat raw food, we understand that some people may feel squeamish about it (Apollo: I dont! Its the best thing since.... tennis balls and bread), home cooked foods will do as well. At the VERY LEAST, you KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR FOOD.

Reasons not to feed Natural - REBUTTED!

Lets tackle some of the excuses reasons why people do not want to feed natural foods but feed crappy killer kibble instead, or feed PARTIAL natural only.

Reason No 1: Home cooked food/BARF?!?! But I cant ensure that the diet will be 100% balanced! I rather feed kibble.

Solution: In our very honest opinion, we would rather an UNBALANCED NATURAL DIET rather than kibble which may kill us. Besides, look at all the rubbish in kibble. Salt, by-products preservatives, food coloring.... Is that ensuring 100% balanced nutrition? Puh-lease. What my M gives me is way better. Besides M did alot of research before embarking on the BARF diet. If my lazy lazy M can do it, so can anyone.

Reason No 2: I give partial HCF/BARF and partial commercial rubbish. That way i wont be afraid if I cant balance the diet because the commercial crap will be balanced.

Solution: Absolute rubbish. The BEST way to ensure a balanced diet is to feed ALL NATURAL.

Reason No 3: My pup is still very young! She wont be suitable to eat HCF/BARF at such a tender age. Wait till she's older.

Solution: Excuse me, we dogs plus our ancestors wolves have been eating all NATURAL foods since the day God created us. Kibble was only created about 50 plus years ago. Kibble is the un-natural diet that we were not meant to eat at all.

Reason No 4: I've got no time!

Solution: We dogs are your kids too. Just like your baby. Please tell me if you will feed your baby commercial food and NEVER home cooked for the rest of its life. Having cute furkids like us to shower love on you requires commitment.

Besides, have you got no time to relax? No time to sleep? No time to bathe? No time to eat? EXCUSES! Time can ALWAYS be found if YOU MAKE IT.

You can simply buy frozen meats once every month (or even every 2 months) then pack and freeze so every meal all you have to do is take out 1 serving (that you already packed) and defrost it. How hard is that? You can even defrost it in the fridge the night before!

For home cooked meals, you can even cook once a week and freeze the rest of the meal IF you really really have no time.

Reason No 5: I cant afford it! Look at the food bills your M has to pay!

Solution: If my M who works part time can afford it, you can! Okok, I know. You got housing bills, car bills, electricity bills, fine dining bills, buy Hugo Boss bills yada yada.

Frankly, natural feeding costs only just as much if not LESSER than commercial.

Our food bills are expensive cos M always buys free-range and organic whenever possible, even then it is cheaper than what we cost on a commercial crap diet.

Our commercial food bill was at $380/month for Apollo and I only! It was cause we were so fussy that M had to buy a very expensive wet food, as well as supplements for our skin problem.

NOW, our food bill is $300/month including occasional organic and quite a substantial bit of free range organs/bones/meats!

This is already on the high side although not as high as The Natural PawPals who feeds an ALL ORGANIC diet. Their M is not earning 10k/month as well but she does give them the best she can.

It usually costs only $30/month to feed a small dog and $100-$150 a month to feed a big dog. Just know where to go and get your meat. Dont be lazy and get from supermarkets. Tekka has pretty good bargains from what everyone tell us.

Natural is GOOD and CHEAP now. What other excuses have you got? Bring it on in our comments page. We would appreciate it very much.

Run To The Other Side Of The Rainbow Bridge, Kola

M: This Christmas, Kola woke me up at 0530 with his whines. His stomach was bloated again.

Both of us rushed down to MP Hospital as that was the only vet open, and he was put on drip. Doctor suspected something was wrong with his pancreas although blood tests showed it was ok.

At 8am, the other vet came in and did the ultrasound for Kola. They suspected telescoping of the intestines (where one part of the intestine sucked the other part in) and found pus in Kola's stomach. That means an infection in the stomach, and also the telescoped part of the intestines will have to be cut off. The stomach has to be opened to be cleaned and drained of the pus and gas as well. Chances of survival were 50/50 with the op, and 0% without the op. He would die today without the op. We gave the go ahead.

1230, the vet called me. Bad news. They found a tumour in Kola's pancreas. It was pressing against the stomach, intestine and liver - which is why he had pus, bloat and liver problems. He had cancer of the pancreas.

The vet said with the most intense antibiotics and medicine, he could last another two days at most. We saw the tumour, 1/4 of it. It was the size of a big meatball, i couldnt imagine such a big lump inside him, he went for tests last week! How come nobody knew?

We all could see his suffering.. It would be selfish to make him hold on for our sake.. We decided to let him go. We decided to let him go to a place where there is no suffering anymore, where he doesnt have to compete with other dogs, get hated by humans. A place without starvation, without hatred and cruelty. Without pain and suffering.

To Kola:

My dear Kola, I'm really sorry. For the past 10months we were together, I tried to give you the best. I know you were jealous of Apollo and Candy, but at least you had a place to call Home. For the past 5 years of your life, you were bounced from place to place because you bit people. You raided rubbish bins and fought with other dogs. But at long last, you were home.

Now, you dont have to suffer anymore. You dont have to endure the pain in your tummy, the pain that no one knew you were going through. You dont have to compete for attention, dont have to get scolded for stealing food.. Just run over the rainbow bridge, look for familiar faces. You can look for your sister Cocoa if you wish.

On Monday, you will be cremated and we will bring your ashes back, to our home. I love you Kola. I always did.

Thank you my dear, for waiting for me. For giving me the chance to say one last goodbye to you.

Yours and Forever,
M

To my Mom: Thank you for giving me your support through this period. I know times are bad, but you willingly forked out the money to go ahead with his treatment although you knew chances are slim because you wanted to save him. I love you Mom.

Koka Kola..

Now Apollo and I finally figured out why the Black One is called Kola.. As you know, there is a drink called Koka Kola (M: thats Coca Cola), and its a fizzy drink. About 5 days ago, M and D had to rush Kola to the hospital because he was bloated (read: fizzy drinks!).

Day One
We went to Sentosa with D and Uncle H earlier in the day, even Tinker came, but no photos as Uncle H forgot to bring D's camera along.

(M: We noticed Kola was bloated and he didnt even sniff at his dehydrated treats. It was worrying!)

Kola was put on drip and had an Xray that night at Mount Pleasant Hospital, as M didnt know that our regular vet, Companion Animal Surgery, had a 24 hour facility now. (M: They are on call after hours.) The bill was a whooping $660+, grrrrrrrrr, that amount could feed us for slightly more than two months! Think of all the good food down the drain, cause of the Black One.

Day Two
M & D woke up at 8.30am to bring Kola to CAS for further check up. Dr Chua allowed M to bring Kola home, and was told that as long as he stopped vomitting and started eating normally (bland COOKED food they say), he should be OK, another check up would be scheduled in the next week.

However, after 2 hours of reaching home, Kola vomitted FOUR times! Poor poor Auntie G had to clean the floor FOUR times!! M offered him yogurt and boiled chicken but he didnt even sniff! Thats crazy, whoever heard of the Black One rejecting food?! M was worried and called Dr Chua, who told us to bring him back.

He was put on drip again, and his temperature hit above 40deg C. Blood tests and haematology showed liver enzymes and white blood cell count higher than usual. They suspect a liver infection.

Day Three
Kola kept biting off the drip line, so the doctors gave him injections instead. It was slightly more painful, but he deserved it!!!! HAHAHA! On the bright side, his fever had subsided and he was eating. The nurses said he was playful (read: naughty).

Day Four
Doctor said Kola was looking good, no bloat and eating. No fever as well.

Day Five
Kola came home!! Not that we're extremely overjoyed about this, we wished M could've booked him in longer. (M: Hello! This stay cost us $1.5k!)

Dr Lee and Dr Chua both said no more raw food for Kola, only cooked. And that awful Science Diet L/D for two weeks. My gosh! M isnt too happy about that though, she says that she has read some of the books she bought and websites that say raw food is especially important for dogs with liver disease. Of course, these books were written by holistic vets like Dr Pitcairn.

M has ordered some natural antibiotics and liver 'remedy/supplement' to be fed to the Black One. According to Auntie J, the lady in the land of far far away (M: thats the USA), the natural antibiotic can be fed in place of the one Dr Chua prescribed. We arent too sure about that though, we really wish there was a holistic vet in Sunny Island! Anyway by the time the natural stuff come, the medicine from CAS has probably finished. Dr Chua gave the go ahead for the natural liver supplement, after M asked her about it by the way.

Although this is the first time M and Kola has been to Dr Chua and Dr Lee, they are really nice people! Unlike the one at the previous clinic where poor older sis Cocoa passed away in.. I hope IF i get sick, nice people like Dr Chua and Dr Lee will be looking after me too!

M is also revising our diet, the nutritional yeast seemed to have made our skin itchy, so she's stopping that. Colostrum is yum yum by the way, we had it just now. I'll post our diet up after she's done with it, i hope SOOOON. I feel hungry just thinking about it!