Papu update

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I only have one dog now, Papu. The current trend with dogs and divorces seems to be a joint custody, but I never wanted that and nether did J.R. Papu has always been more like my dog and Niila has always been more his dog. It was the most obvious choice for us to divide the dogs.

Some people were surprised that we decided to divide the dogs though. Apparently it's considered to be cruel to divide dogs who have grown up and lived together. I believe it depends on the dogs. I lived together for three months with my friend after J.R. and I broke up and Papu was the only dog in the household and she seemed to enjoy it tremendously. She was happier than ever before, much calmer and she seemed to enjoy human company more than usually too. I feel that I built a better relationship with Papu too when I was able to really concentrate on her. I even managed to teach her a new trick. I could not see any sign of suffering in Papu, she was just fine. Like Niila never existed in the first place. In a way it's a sad thought, that Papu is able to forget Niila just like that, in a blink of an eye, not being sad for even a day, but on the other hand Papu is a dog and who knows if dogs are really even able to miss something or remember anything. The only thing that matters to me is that she is happy.

My boyfriend also has a dog so now when we live together we have this blended family going on. Papu's new baby brother is called Tomu. I was a bit worried how it would turn out since Papu is pretty bad ass (as miniature pinschers often are) and Tomu is definitely on the softer side of the spectrum. But so far everything has been just great. I think Papu enjoys Tomu's company much more than she ever enjoyed Niila's. Niila was more like a constant nuisance but Tomu understands to keep his distance and have some respect towards Papu too.

Tomu looks mostly like a furry sofa-pillow or something. I can never remember his breed. I just tell people that he has a lot of hair and that he is small. I think I am a bad step-mama for not remembering, but I simply can't remember everything. I can't even remember Papu's birthday (more bad mama points)!

Tomu

Tomu looks quite smart in the picture and almost majestic, and like something that could actually survive alone in the nature. But it's all false. Tomu is most of the time the most retarded dog I know. Just retarded. But not in a bad way though, retarded like in a silly way. And he would definitely not survive in the nature alone. At least that is what I think. Anyway. I think our blended family is doing good. I try to be a good step-mama and Papu enjoys all the attention she gets from the new housemates. I think this has been the best possible outcome of the situation. There could have been problems, like lots of them, but we got lucky. Papu and Tomu get along and Papu accepts all the new housemates as her loyal servants and worshipers.

Maybe over?

Yesterday we visited the vet once again, mostly to make a new blood test to see if Niila's any better. And guess what! She's officially better! Maybe it's over now. Though it's never really over. Not with pancreatitis. She has to eat low fat food for the rest of her life. But that's a small price to pay. But what is not a small price... and the vet bills. We could have bought two new dogs with the money we spent on Niila. But yeah. It's a small price too. Like there's any other option really when it comes to your furry family members.

Niila update & Naval ships

Niila's diagnosis is now final. It's officially pancreatitis. She's also officially off her meds too. No more painkillers, no more antibiotics. The only thing she gets is Pepcid and it's for heartburn. She's still not her usual self, but she's not exactly sick either. Something between. She's eating normally and drinking normally, but she's still somehow weak and sickly. Yeah. It's not over. It's over when it's over.


I have some new macro board game photos too. These are naval ships from a board game called Merchants & Marauders:



The ships are painted by my husband, this was actually one of his first painting projects. They turned great, I love the way they are customized with the flags. It's a shame we don't play it that often nowadays. It's a nice game, good game even, but there are so many other games we rather play. One of these common board gamer problems...

Small things big + Niila update

Niila's condition did get worse. She got sick again. We decided to take her to a new vet. Our 40 minute vet appointment turned to be two hour vet appointment and I also almost passed out. A nice nurse gave me a glass of water and an apple. I wonder if the apple was her snack or something. If it was, it was really kind for her to give it to me. Anyway. Now we are treating Niila for pancreatitis. She got pain killers, so she's visibly better now. I don't know much better she is in the inside - if her intestines are any less inflamed. The vet told us to stop with Synulox antibiotics as they had obviously done her nothing. And to put Niila on a very strick low-fat diet to make the inflamed pancreas to heal. We are going to get the official results for the pancreatitis on Monday. We'll see, we'll see. At least it was a smart move to visit a new vet. Niila is still skin and bones, and weak-ish sometimes, and sleepy, but she eats like a normal pup and drinks like a normal pup. And she doesn't seem to be in any pain now, thanks to the pain killers. But like I've said many times, it's not over until it's over. Anything can happen.

Meanwhile I've taken some new pictures. I love our macro lens. I love love love it. If I would have to choose one lens to use for the rest of my life, it would be my macro lens. Ok. Maybe I might get even a better one, like something crazy expensive and awesome. But macro lens anyway.

These are space marines from a board game called Space Hulk. And they're small. They are miniatures, yet in the pictures they look huge. Almost like human size. Or maybe even bigger than human size. Transformers size? See, that's why I love the macro lens. It makes small things big!

Sick. Sicker.

Two weeks ago Niila got sick. She woke up in the morning and started to vomit. And she vomited pretty much all day until there was nothing to vomit anymore. She was restless, couldn't stay in one place long. But we thought she just had eaten something and didn't worried much. It's not unsual for the pups to vomit because something they've eaten outside or something. We just didn't give her food until the next day. She refused to eat. And she got even worse. I can't remember her being that sick ever before. She spent most of the time in this position, shivering, looking miserable:

She got so sick eventually that we got worried and took her to the vet. She got tested and x-rayed. There was nothing in her stomach, but her instestines were inflamed. We got antibiotics and some medicine to prevent her from vomiting. The meds seemed to help, she got visibly better. She started to eat again. We even called the vet to tell them that she's OK again. But that didn't last long. She started to vomit again, started to get restless.  She got even more sick that the first round. She couldn't sleep because her little body was shivering so much. It was pain to watch. She was so tired that when she did fell asleep it was really hard to get her awake. We actually need to shake her a little. She was still on the antibiotics but clearly something was not working right. She wasn't getting better. Sometimes she even tried to sleep standing up, it was too uncomfortable gor her to sleep on her stomach.

We took her to te vet again. They checked her stomach with ultrasound and told us that her uterus is filled with fluids. That she needed surgery. They booked a surgery time for her the following day. But when we got there the next day, the vet said that he wanted to check the uters again. And this time it was perfectly normal. They took new tests and even though she had been on antibiotics, the results show that her intestines had actually got even more inflamed. They took new x-rays. Still nothing new. We had no clue what was making her sick, even the vet was more than puzzled. She was sick, then she got better, then she got sick again...

And the end result of that vet visit: one really sick dog and new antibiotics on top the old ones. And it takes days to see if the new antibiotics work! She didn't eat anything for two days. She was all skin and bones already. She slept all the time. We didn't know what to do with her. We just waited. The vet told us to come back if she doesn't eat the next day. But she did eat. And she's been eating since for two whole days now! And she looks better. She doesn't shiver anymore. She's still not her usual self but she doesn't appear to be so crazy sick anymore. We still need to get her tested in the vet to see if the antibiotics have really helped this time. I mean she did seem to get better before but not really. The tests showed otherwise.

Niila's medicines are quite impressive at the moment. The antibiotics she are getting are Synulox Vet (the one that didn't help in the beginning) and Trikozol 400mg (this is actually meant for humans!) Then she has Cerenia to prevent her from vomiting. Then she gets Antepsin oral fluid and Pepcid to calm her stomach, and Inupekt Forte to support intestinal well-being. And on top of everything, she is only allowed to eat Hill's Prescription Diet i/d. 

I hope she keeps getting better. She still has some weight to gain back, some energy to gain back... Yeah. It's not over until it's over. At least it looks really promising right now.

A New Theory

Yesterday we visited a vet to get both Papu and Niila vaccinated. And since we were there, we decided to get Papu's eyes checked again. They've been the same for a long time now. They are weepy and watery, but not as weepy and watery as they were once. They don't look as bad but they are not normal either. Anyway. According to the vet her eyes are not irritated or anything, but her tear production was quite low. She tought the dryness might be causing the weepyness and suggested that we start using moisturizing eye drops.

And that's a new theory. Again. I remember that the tear production test have been done before, but I think the result has been more normal. Now it was like borderline normal or a bit less. But we bought a bottle of moisturizing eye drops and started to use them right away. It's too early to say whether they help or not though. We'll see. At least the drops won't do any harm and Papu is OK with them too.

The saga continues...

We visited the vet today with Niila. Her bald spots have been history for quite some time now so she got clean papers for that. She stills has visible spots on her fur but they don't look bald at all. They look like spots... with just less fur. She looks healthier, more normal, better. And the vet said that we can quit using Basiron (acne cream for humans) but that we should keep using Bepanthen (healing cream). Yay.

But we got something else in the change. Last night I noticed that Niila had huge lump on the side of her neck. Huge. We got really worried. Lumps never sound good, or look good, or feel good. Especially on your precious baby girl! But the vet said it's just an inflamed salivary gland and she prescribed antibiotics for two weeks. Nothing serious, thank god.

Miniature pinscher is supposed to be a healthy breed but it doesn't feel like it anymore. I can't remember how many times we've visited the vet already. It feels that there's always something, always something to worry about. It's exhausting sometimes.

Just one and it was dead already

Niila had her second check-up yesterday and it was all clear. The vet took multilpe sample and she was only able to find one little bugger and it was dead already. We no longer have to feed Niila with those ridiculously expensive meds, but we still have to put some lotion to the bald spots. Basiron to help the skin to renew and Bepanthen to help it heal. I wonder when the hair will start growing back.

And here's a completely irrelevant picture:

The check-up

Today we went to a check-up with the vet. The situation is better now. One sample far free of demotex all together and the other sample wasn't bad either. We still have to give her meds at least for two weeks. What ever it takes, I just want my pretty pup back.

I'm little frustrated though with the fact that our pups seem to get only problems that are awfully visible. I felt awful when Papu had her weeping eyes... And now I have a dog that has bald spots! I feel that every other dog owner is judging us.

Poor Niila, allergic to her own tail!

Two weeks ago we noticed a teeny tiny bald spot on Niila's back. We thought they had just been fighting with each other because the spot didn't seem to bother her. She didn't lick it or scratch it. It simply existed on her back. But then the bald spot grew bigger. One day I noticed that her tail usually always touched the bald spot, so I joked that she must be allergic to her own tail.

The bald spot on her back.

But it turned out that I was right. Kinda. Yesterday we talked about how much the bald spot has grown lately and how weird it was since it was only one spot on her body. J.R. decided to examine her just in case we've missed something. And I'm happy that he did. Underneath her tail, where her tail touches her back, he found another bald spot and the bare skin wasn't healthy looking at all. I can't understand how we had missed that. It's not like we're neglecting her. We give her lot's of attention and cuddles. But like you can see in the picture above, her tail curves in a way that hides the bald spot completely.

The bald spot on her tail.

Today we visited the vet. She told us that Niila has a case of demodex canis. The mites had moved from her tail to her back! All dogs have them, but sometimes they get out of hand, like in Niila's case, and cause skins problems such as bald spots.

The skin still doesn't look so bad. The vet took some of her hair so now the spot is even bigger.

The vet prescribed Niila some super expensive mite drugs to get rid of them and some acne cream. Apparently she's going to be fine because she's young and because it hasn't got so bad yet. We'll see. Maybe this starts a whole new series of vet related posts...

This pill costs 10€. She's supposed to eat ½ pill per day.

I felt so guilty for not noticing the bald spot on Niila's tail that I decided to treat her with a new toy; "no stuffing" furry softie with two squekies:

Masked bandit.

But I guess this day turned out just fine for Niila. She got a special walkie with mommy and daddy, some dog biscuits at the vet, some pills that smelles (and probably tasted) like meat fondue.. .and she got a new toy too. 

Happy Birthday Niila!

Today is Niila's birthday, she's finally one year old. It feels like we got her yesterday, like she was a puppy yesterday, but now she's all grown up. You know, she was like this when we got her:

 And they were like this:

And now she's like this:

 And they're like this:

  

Of course Niila got some presents too. We couldn't decide in the pet store what toy we wanted, so we got her both toys we liked. They both make noises and they're crazy about them. Never seen them so excited about new toys!

Eye spy water fun and funny sausages

J.R. and Papu visited the vet yesterday. Her eyes have been quite bad after the last eye drop regimen. This time she was given two different eye drops. They both contain the same antibiotic than the eye drops that helped her while ago, but these new eye drops don’t contain cortisone, so they should be relatively safe to give her. I hope we’re finally on to something. According the vet this antibiotic is very effective one, so effective that they’re supposed to be saving it in case of some epidemic rather than giving it to dogs with eye conditions… But hey, whatever works. I gave her the drops this morning and I think her eyes looked better than they usually in on the morning, but that could have been just a coincidence. It’s way too soon to say anything.

There are some happier news too. Niila has started to show signs that she might enjoy swimming. There’s a brook near the dog park and people let their dogs cool there before they come to the dog park. Couple days ago we let Niila to play in the brook too. She seemed to be pretty excited about it, jumping after the pebble J.R. threw for her. Now we just need to find a lake where we can let her swim properly.

Papu put all her four paws in the water too, even though we didn’t especially encourage her to! Apparently she was appealed to it after she saw how much fun Niila was having. Maybe we’ll even get her to swim once Niila swims first.

We’ve also found a new type of food that works well for our pups. As you know, we’ve always searching for quality food for our pups. We’re currently feeding them with Acana Grasslands, which seems to work really well with both of them. And now we’ve replaced the regular canned dog food with this new raw food. They look like weird sausages when they’re frozen, but they’re nothing like that once they’ve melted and opened.

Nutrition wise they’re nothing but raw minced meat and vegetables. They’re intended for BARF feeding, but I don’t think we’re going for that. You never know though, BARF feeding is getting easier and easier these days.

Visiting dog parks again!

We are finally able to visit dog parks again! First Papu was on heat and then Niila was on heat. Of course we could have taken them to the dog park separately, but neither one of us liked the idea of going to the dog park alone, so that's why there has been a really long break between the visits. But at least the weather favors us now! It's been so warm and sunny in Finland recently, and it's probably gets warmer and warmer as we approach the summer.

Yesterday we visited our regular dog park. It's usually pretty empty after six, but yesterday it was quite busy. Niila made friends with a white bichon frise. They ran couple circles around the dog park. Papu was her usual self, stood distant and minded her own business.

Today we visited a dog park that is located further away. We visited the regular dog park too, but there were some kids running around and Papu wasn't too keen on that. She hates kids and she hates kids than run. So we decided to move on to the next dog park. And I'm happy we did! We met a new dog who was also called Papu, and he looked almost exactly like Papu. Except he was Manchester terrier. The owner of the other Papu was surprised to meet another dog with the same name, but for us it was already a second time. Funnily, all three dogs have been named after different things. Our Papu is named after a can of beans ("papu" is bean in Finnish), her Papu was named after the shape and the color of the puppy, and the third one was named Papu because when he was a puppy he liked to sit on her shoulder like a parrot (in Finnish parrot is "papukaija"). Anyway. Niila played with the other Papu, and our Papu, once again, stood distant and minded her own business. She's not exactly a social butterfly...

And then some other news: Papu is not on eye drops anymore and her eyes still look nice! I think it's pretty safe to say now that her eyes are healthy now. My pretty girl is pretty again!

And Niila... she stills looks stupid:

She sits like that all the time, and it's so embarrassing. Why won't she sit like a dog?!I can't understand how Papu always looks so ladylike and elegant and Niila looks like a... silly joke of a dog.

It's a miracle

Papu's eyes don't weep anymore. I know, it's a miracle. After all, she was on cortisone/antibiotic eye drops for a month, got her tear ducts punctured and tried some super expensive eye drops for dry eyes and they did nothing to her eyes. Absolutely nothing. We had already given up hope. We thought that her eyes would weep forever and that I would always feel guilty for not being able to make her better.

But then after one dry windy day her eyes started to produce yellowish eye discharge. Lots of it, so we took her to a vet again. First the vet wanted to inject her with cortisone and to give us some antibiotic eye drops, but I told the vet that eye drops that only contain antibiotics and no cortisone has rarely worked for us so she then gave us some cortisone/antibiotic eye drops.

She was a full month on cortisone/antibiotic eye drops but they didn't help her. This time however we got different cortisone/antibiotic eye drops... and after a day or two her eyes started to look healthy and completely normal. No more yellowish eye discharge... no more weeping! You can only imagine how happy I am now... though I kinda wish they'd given us those eye drops in the first place as it would have saved us some money. Anyway. We're still on the eye drops so we don't know if the weeping comes back after we stop giving the eye drops to her, but I'm staying positive. At least we know now that there is something that helps her.

And I really thought that I would never see her beautiful eyes healthy again, but here they are:

The fur under her eyes is completely dry! Remember, her eyes used to look like this on a good day:

 What a difference!

"She is a weeping dog, her eyes are meant to weep"

Yesterday we visited a vet with Papu. It was a completely new place, and when we got there, we were greeted by six gigantic mastiffs. They were there for an eye check too. Despite the rush hour our turn came quickly. The vet asked about Papu's eyes, like what kind of treatment she had got already and how had they worked. She then decided they should check Papu's tear ducts. Blocking tear ducts may cause the weeping.

So she was sedated and they took her away. We got her back in less than an hour. The poor baby was so sleepy! They had checked the tear ducts but they were fine and open. Her eyes started to weep as soon as we got her back. The vet gave us some different kinds of eye drops. They're basically for dry eyes, which Papu definitely don't have, but the vet said that the drops may chance the way her tears are. That maybe her eyes weep because her tears are too runny or maybe she does produces too much tears. If these eye drops don't work, then her diagnosis is that "her eyes just weep".

This is how her eyes look... when they're looking pretty good.

It's good to know that there's nothing wrong with her eyes causing the weeping. But I would like to see her pretty eyes again. Now I only see the tearfulness. And I'm afraid that's what other people see too. That they see a dog with seriously weepy eyes and think that I'm a bad dog owner because I don't take care of her weepy eyes. If only I could. I can wipe them, but after a second they're as bad again. No tear drops work.

Still my precious, that's for sure.

 I wish I had taken video of her sleepiness. She looked so funny! Her ears were bent down and she looked nothing but sad, and then she walked around like a very, very tired duck.

Here we go again!

Just when we thought everything would be alright in our dog hairy world... Last time it was Niila's teeth, now it's Papu's eyes. She has had a series of eye infections and her eye problems just keep on coming. First we got an antibiotic eye drop regimen for two weeks. Then week off and the problems came back. Then two weeks with antibiotic cortisone regimen. Teary eyes again. Now we have given her antibiotic cortisone eye drops for a month and guess what? Her eyes are still teary! The vet doesn't have anything else to do, so she suggested we go see an eye specialist. Here we go again...

I'm just worried that it might be something that can't be fixed. My dogs are my babies and I can't stand the idea of losing them. Ever. I hope they live forever. I know that their vet history could be a lot worst. There's one Finnish blog where the min pin owner has described her dog's clinical history and it makes me cry every time. I'm happy that so far we have only had such minor problems. Teeth. Eyes. At least it's not epilepsy or cancer or anything. Probably.

I think I should talk about something happier too. Like the fact that we made the pups to sleep outside the bedroom. Papu was never allowed to go in the bed in the first place, and she never really tried it either. It was like she knew that the bed wasn't her area. But Niila, the stubborn, lovely Niila. She wanted to sleep in the bed. She really, really wanted to. She started sleeping in her own bed like a good girl, but during the night she always insisted to sleep under our duvets. And imagine trying to teach that little dog when it's 3am and you only want to sleep before the alarm bell rings. So she had her way and slept happily in the bed.

But it was unfair to Papu, so eventually she was invited to the bed too. Which was mistake obviously because our bed is ridiculously small. And J.R. started to complain that he doesn't sleep well anymore because the pups are sleeping on him.

But Niila has one embarrassing feature. She likes to pee in our bed. She was quite house trained but this was just a habit she seemed to have. "Yay, peeing in mommy's and daddy's bed is so much fun". Fun for her, but not to us. Especially since we usually noticed it only after we got to bed. Stupid tiny bladders, stupid tiny brains!

Anyway. Since Niila is so eager to pee in our bed, we decided that they're not allowed in the bed anymore. And to make sure that they don't keep us awake with their requests to sleep in the bed, we decided that they're not even allowed to sleep in the bedroom. So now they sleep in the living room in their tiny little beds.

At the first night Niila whined and whined and whined because she wanted to sleep with us, but the next nights after that has been all quiet. It seems that they don't really mind sleeping in the living room. After all, they have each other so they're not completely alone and isolated.

But I miss them. I miss them sleeping in the bedroom with us, not necessarily in the bed with us. But I miss them. They're my babies like I said, and I worry about them when they're not close to me. What if Papu gots an upset stomach and can't wake J.R. to take her out? What if?

But look at their tiny little beds! And they have matching sleeping bags nowadays!

I've noticed that the pups don't prefer much where they sleep, but there's one pattern they have: they always seem to sleep next to each other, cuddling.

I think they're just precious when they sleep like that. They look like best friends or real sisters. When I watch them sleep together it makes me happy. It makes me happy that they seem to like each other genuinely.

They grow up so fast!

Our baby girl is so grown up nowadays. Last month she had her first heat, and today we bought her her first harness and a new leash. No more baby collar, no more pink baby leash!

Niila is now seven months old. It's a funny coincidence because Papu was also seven months old when she got her harness and her leash! Here's a picture of Papu wearing her harness for the first time:

There has also been some progress with Niila's canine teeth. Remember, this is how they used to be:

Then she got all her four canine teeth removed by the vet and today they look like this:

And they're growing where they should be growing. There also used to be a hole in his palatine:

But now the palatine looks like this:

So I think we're safe now. She will have normal teeth she can eat, chew and play with. And bite with. I'm so happy that everything turned out fine, even though it took quite a lot money to get where we are now. Dogs: Even if you get the puppy for free, they're still going to cost you a lot of money.

Funnily, Niila still looks like a baby. Especially when she sleeps.

Dog Food Week Giveaway!

The Dog Food Week is over and it's time for the first ever giveaway in my blog! I have had a whole week to figure out what to "give away" and I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with.

The winner of the giveaway will get an original "humiliate the dog" tube hat in size S or M and the hat will be hand knitted by me. The hat won't look exactly like in the picture, because I don't have that yarn anymore, but the winner will be able to affect the color and the size. There will also be a color print of the hat knitting/crocheting pattern included in case she/he wants to make more hats.

The winner will also get a fresh batch of Papu's Piggie Treats, the recipe to make them and a small cookie cutter. The cookie cutter may not be the same as the one in the picture.

How to win: There is a picture of two different dog foods below. One food is high quality food, rated with six stars in Dog Food Analysis. The other one is rated with zero stars. Guess in a comment which is which.

You don't have to guess right in order to win, because the winner will be selected randomly. If you are a subscriber, whether you are an old one or you just subscribed after reading this post, mention that in your comment too. Subscribers will get one extra entry.

International entries are welcome and I ship on my own expense. The giveaway closes on  Saturday 20.11. The winner will be chosen randomly. I will announce the winner on my blog on Sunday 21.11 and also contact the winner personally. Please make sure I have a way to contact you!


THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

Dog Food Week - Why to feed your dog with high quality food?

This is the third post of my Dog Food Week. The previous post was "How much does the high quality food cost"? If you want to know more about the Dog Food Week or the schedule, read the introduction post.

I think the real question should be "Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you feed your precious family member with the best food possible? People don't eat crappy food, so dogs shouldn't be forced to eat it either. But feeding quality food is more than just a kind act. It will help the dog to live healthier, longer life.

Improves health and elongates life

Think about the ways you can make your dog's life better and the ways you can ensure that your dog stays as healthy as possible. You can teach him tricks to make sure that it he gets to use his brains and doesn't get bored. You can play with him or take him to biking, hiking, jogging, walking or whatever to make sure that he gets plenty of exercise. You can take him to the dog park to give him a possibility to interact with other dogs. You can take him to the vet if he seems sick. So there's basically just activation and exercise. And oh, feeding.

Sometimes you're busy and you don't have time to go out for a long walk, or it's raining too hard, or maybe you don't have imagination to make up new tricks all the time. But you feed your dog every single day, no matter what.

Studies say that dogs will live about two years longer if they are fed with quality food. They will also stay healthier longer. That's what I want for my dogs. I want them to live a happy long life with me as I love them so much. I want them to be here with me as long as possible, and since there aren't so many ways I can ensure that, at least I'm feeding them with high quality food. I also believe that with right diet the dog will stay healthier longer, that even though the dog gets old, it will stay healthy.

And who wouldn't want his or her dog to live a long, happy, healthy life?

Poop is pop

And another very relevant reason to feed the dog with quality food is poop. It is the first thing that changes after changing successfully to a high quality food. The poop looks different and there's less of it. I have witnessed this myself. We spent a week dog-sitting my sister's dachshund and she ate some low quality dog food. Her poop was very dark and very, very smelly and quite loose too. Definitely not something nice to pick up. The same with my mother's dachshund. When our dogs poop (considering that they have not been eating something unusual), it's not unpleasant. The poop is solid, nicely colored (if you can say that from a poop) and definitely not as bad smelling.

We fed Niila with Royal Canin when we got her, because that was what she ate at the breeder's, and we didn't want to change that right away. And she pooped awful, awful poops and awfully lot too. When we changed to Orijen Puppy, the problem was solved. No more smelly piles of poop. I have heard this same story from other dog-owners too; on low quality food the dog poops more often.


So if your dog seem to poop a lot and the poop smells awful, is loose or the color is too dark or gray, it's probably because of the low quality food. Change for high quality food and watch if it changes for better. It's better for you too, since you will be picking it up! Just remember that it takes weeks for dog to adjust to a new food, so the change might not happen overnight.

Why support crap?

As long as people are bying cheap food with suspicious ingredients, dog food manufactures keep making it and less educated people keep feeding it to their dogs. Require quality and we will get more quality. And maybe the prices would become lower too since there would be higher demand for the food and also healthy competition between the high quality dog food brand. Who knows?

The next post will be a giveaway.  If you're worried that you might miss it, subscribe. It's easy and you'll never miss a post again.

Dog Food Week - How much does the high quality dog food cost?

This is the second post of my Dog Food Week. The previous post was "How to detect the quality of the dog food? If you want to know more about the Dog Food Week or the schedule, read the introduction post.

Introduction

In my previous post I said that the dog food with highest meat content is also the dog food with highest quality. Unfortunately the dog food with highest meat content can also be the most expensive one. But is it really?

Let's take an example: In our veterinarian's they sell Hill's Science Diet (Plan) with a high price. And you could rationalize that it's high quality food because a) the price is high and b) it's your vet that's selling it, they should be interested about your dog's health. But even the Science Diet puppy food ingredient list starts with "ground whole grain corn". So despite the high price it's a low quality dog food.

So basically the price tag tells nothing about the quality of the food. The food can be pricey, but still be considered as a low quality dog food.

Quality costs, but so does crap too

The truth is that high quality dog food is not cheap... when compared to food with lower than low quality. The reason they make these low quality dog foods is that they can sell them cheaper and people would rather buy them than the better ones with pricier price tags. And sometimes they have played their cards right and are able to sell crappy dog food with ridiculous price tags like in the case of Hill's.

So to be able to see which dog foods are actually worth the money and which are not, you need tounderstand what makes a quality dog food. I've heard about so many cases in which someone thinks he or she is feeding the dog with high quality food because the food is from the vet or from special pet store and because it's ridiculously expensive! I don't know about you, but I am very willing to pay for dog food, but only when I know it's really worth the money.

The right starting point

Money is probably the first thing that prevents people from feeding their dogs with high quality food. But I think that comparing prices is not the right starting point when it comes to food. Of course everything sounds expensive when you have to pay it at once! Last time we spent 140€ for dog food and people think we are crazy. But instead of thinking about the price, you should evaluate how much you are willing pay for your dog's dinner per day. And if you're on the poorer side, you can think how much you can afford. Then simply find the dog food with most highest quality that falls into that budget.

Example

I decide that I'm willing to pay around 1€ per day and then I start to search for high quality foods that are easily available. Eventually I choose Orijen Regional Red, which has rated with six stars in Dog Food Analysis.

Orijen Regional Red costs 26,99€ per 2.5kg in Zooplus.fi online store. It does sound pricey because it's only two and a half kilos. Then I search for the feeding information from their website:

Daily Ration and Feeding Guide
WEIGHT OF DOG	ACTIVE LIFESTYLE (g/cups per day)	LESS ACTIVE (g/cups per day)
1-10 kg/2-22 lb	75-150g/¾-1¼ c	55-115 g/½-1 c
10-20 kg/22-45 lb	150-275g/1¼-2¼ c	115-200 g/1-1¾ c
20-35 kg/45-75 lb	275-375g/2¾-3¾ c	200-275 g/1¾-2½ c
35-50 kg/75-110 lb	375-500g/3¾-5 c	275-400 g/2½-3½ c
50-65 kg/110-145 lb	500-575 g/5-5¾ c	400-525 g/3½-4¾ c
65-80 kg/145-175 lb	575-675 g/5¾-6¾ c	525-690 g/4¾-6 c

My dog weights about 5.5kg and I think she is "less active". The daily portion would be about 80g.

2.5kg / 80g = 31 days

Now I know that this bag of dog food would last for 31 days.

26.99€ / 31 days = 0,90€

So feeding my dog with this high quality food would cost 90cents, which is less than I was ready to pay!

Size matters

The smaller your dog, the less the quality food will cost per day. However, big dogs win something too. The dog food is usually cheaper in a big bag than in a smaller one, but big bags are inconvinient with small dogs, especially since you should change the dog food every now and then.

But no matter the dog size, you can always aim at the best and then make compromises due the money issue. Maybe your Saint Bernard eats like a horse, but you can still make sure that you're feeding him/her with the best food you possible can.

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