Flynn 11 y/o Foxie Cross - Right adrenalectomy- Good Bye Flynny We will miss you

Hi Naomi - here is the website of the store, not a lot of info on it... but it shows the freezer where I get his meat from :D You don't have to cook it, its raw. Just defrost and eat.

http://www.petessentialsnapier.co.nz...ree-Meats.html

I have not seen the Kiwi Peak dry food, will keep my eyes open. I have been giving Flynn the Hill hypoallergenic treats lately, he likes them. I picked up some of the 'possum and veal' meat so will see how that goes.

I have been at the vets again this afternoon, with Mum and Dad's cat, she had somehow managed to totally rip out a claw. I had noticed it yesterday when I called in for a visit and cleaned it up and put some antiseptic (pet) cream on it, but today it looked more swollen and tender so I drove Mum and puss to the vets for a checkup. She got an antibiotic shot and checked out ok otherwise.

We took Flynn with us for therapy, so he could go to the vet and see they can really be nice people and not hurt him all the time! It was not our usual vet on today, but the one there recognised him by sight and he knew all about him. He made such a fuss of Flynny petting him, giving him a biscuit etc and said it was good to bring him in so he would not be so scared of them hopefully!! But Elle the Siamese did not help, she sqawked and squealed like she was being slowly murdered, crikey what a fusspot :eek::eek:

Trish xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Trish,

We haven't been in to Pet Essentials for a wee while ... last December sometime, but I know at that time the owner said there was a shortage of rabbit at the time. They use hunters in Canterbury from recollection.

We give everything raw and base it loosely on the BARF diet, I add in kelp powder, used to give brewers yeast to Sabre (but Flynn I decided not to after he came out in a rash after I added it to a meal), yoghurt, egg yolks, flax seed oil, cottage cheese and yoghurt. He gets left over salmon skin and salmon leftovers (from the kids). We generally give him chicken necks in the evening (to bring the cost down) then the morning meal can be chicken nibbles, mince, venison, rabbit, possum pieces or possum mince. I am a no grain Mum ..... purely because Sabre used to have terrible ear infections at certain times of the year but we found that grains would make it worse. So, because Flynn is the same breed with nice big floppy ears we have stuck to this. We did use to feed Flynn Orijen Biscuits in the morning but he got totally bored, had gas with a pleasant aroma from his rear end - NOT (ie really stinky farts) and the price went up so we decided to go back to totally raw. We do however find that it is quite hard for Flynn to keep weight on with a raw diet so we are adding a lunchtime snack for him as well!

As for the weather .... we have been having absolutely stunning weather so here's to crossing fingers that it will be fabulous on Friday. I haven't seen the forecast for tomorrow but I hope it will warm as I have to go to the beach with 70-80 kids and probably will get coaxed to help in the water. Beach Education Day .... and lucky me volunteered to help :)

Angela and Flynn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SoggyDoggy

Sabre! A doggy with discerning taste! Good boy, reject that tripe! :D

So I'm really curious about this food that you two are getting, (and I have no objections to possum either, I know they are a pest over there, quite frankly I think they are a pest down south here too! And they stink when they get in the roof space!) Anyway, the food. Is it a raw food or something you cook up? I'm always on the lookout for something preprepared to use as a back up on the occasions when I need something quick. So come on, details please.

Also, wondering if you guys have tried the kiwi peak dry food? The boys love the treats that they do, but I've never tried the biscuits. They are so expensive here and I'm afraid they will turn their noses up and I will be left with a whole bag! They hate the canidae dry, and the only bikkies I can ever get them to eat consistently is Advance - which aren't that wonderful :rolleyes: In the past we've tried Holistic (no go with that), Eukanuba (as puppies, Fraser starved himself in preference to eating that) Pro Plan (ok for a while but then they turned noses up) Hills (would touch it, ended up returning 3 bags at different times) Natural Balance (which they do like - this is a locally made one) Nutro (Fraser will eat it if there's nothing else, Oscar won't touch it) and Advance - which they both eat consistently. So they are not kibble dogs for primary food source, that was just too hard, but I'm ever hopeful to find something else they will like.

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Sabre was a rather snobby boy ... only the best for him :).

We haven't tried the Ziwi Peak dog food but like you have tried to treats. From what I see the treats are pretty much the same as the food but yes they are VERY expensive ... but they do justify this by saying that you need to feed less than you would normally.

Angela and Flynn

Thanks so much Angela - I am going to look at your additives and give it further thought about what he needs. I weighed him today, he went up 1/2 a kilo in the past couple of weeks. :eek: But his weight has been up and down like a yoyo, 13.8kg now. I am cutting back to half a cup of biscuits and only one cube of the meat each day. He is hungry though, I know Mum and Dad give him snacks through the day as well. Mainly healthy ones :D

I tried those Orijen biscuits last month, OMG he STUNK too. He liked them though, but it was gagging stuff! So out they went. I googled the ziwipeak food just now, it is supposed to be in our pet essentials store so will have a closer look next time I am in. Might try him on those treats too and maybe the biscuits to supplement the venison/possum. He does need some carbs I think to help his bowels.

Uh oh, weather is on news while i am typing this, hate to say but it looks like rain tomorrow up your way :eek::eek: will cross fingers they are wrong!

I just realised today it two months since Flynn's adrenalectomy, wow look how far he has come!! It feels like months haha

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2 months!!! my gosh how time does fly. Less vet visits, more time just enjoying life. It all sounds good to me.
I have to say that I am reading this food stuff in your thread and not even sure how to react to possum on the menu, and all these other things. Sort of having an ugh moment.
We definitely can't just walk into our Pet Essentials store (is that like a Pet Mart?) and pick up some possum and rabbit for the nights doggie dinner that I know of.
It's like a whole different world. Wow! I'm just sitting back and learning a whole new culture of dog feeding. :) :) :)

hugs!!!
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Believe me Sharlene, I have had a few ugh moments too with this new food! I did not know it existed either until a couple of weeks ago. But I swear he has got an extra spring in his step, teeth are whiter, both loose poop and lip smacking appears to have disappeared since he started this new wild food! I buy it frozen, it has about 8 meal size cubes in each pack, so just defrost and eat. I will keep it going while he continues to do so well on it. He had possum and veal for breakfast and tripe for dinner! Plus half a cup of gastro Hills biscuits, but I think I might try him off those when I get some of the natural ziwi food this weekend.

I met a reflexologist guy up the beach tonight on our walk, we had quite a chat about our dogs. He recommended I give a Magnesium supplement a try for his tremours, so a bit of googling for me to check that out.

I guess Pet Essentials is like your Pet Mart but we do not have that here so I am not sure. It is a store with everything you need for pets, accessories and food etc. Flynn is allowed in this store, he loves to visit there, he just about wiggles his nose right off with all the delicious doggy smells in there!

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Hey Trish,

The pet essentials food sounds very like a version of BARF (would this be right?). I've tried one brand with the boys, but being the fussy bums that they are, wouldn't eat it again after 3 meals. :confused: I think though you get more variation in what meats they use. The ones I have seen have something like 12 different options, including rabbit, roo, chicken, lamb, beef etc, but not possum or venison. I tried a rabbit one, but it was really fatty I found, in fact I think the fat content of the ones I have seen is just too high anyway! The other thing is, when I heated it up a bit (they don't like anything cold) all this fat started draining out of it! Just gross! Don't know, may look at another brand one day, there are a couple of different types available here, but will be doing a bit of research first. ;) Unfortunately, they don't sell a variety mix pack though, you have to buy 12 of the same ones when you get a box. No point if they won't eat it more than once! (Tonight they got roast beef and turkey. :o)

As for pet places, our options are City Farmers, My Pet Warehouse, Pet Stock, Better Pets and Gardens. There are obviously lots of little places around, but these seem to be the big 4 that have pretty much everything. It's great, with loyalty cards at each, there's usually a sale on somewhere :D and what one doesn't stock, another one will so we are getting more variety around these days. Also, dogs are welcome in all of them. In fact most even have hydrobaths so on weekends it's like a dog club with everyone lining up for a bath. :D:D:D

Ohh, heck, fat content and pancreatitis. I had Zoe on commercial raw turkey patties and then I found out the fat content was sky high- there is a formula to figure it out- cant go by the bag so now I cut her down from six ounces a day to about 3 ounces and add in Honest Kitchen Zeal (dehyrdated fish and sweet potaots, etc). I read really good things about Ziwi Peak food back when I was researching for Zoe. Only thing I would be worried about is if you use up all the exotic proteins and run into any kind of food allergy, you dont want to use up all your protein sources. Save one or two just in case.:D:D:D:D:D

Trish, I cant believe it is two months, where did the time go?

Give Flynie a two month hug for me!!!!:D:D:D:D

Hi Trish

I was busy yesterday and didn't get time to post. I forgot to add the other day that Dr Billinghurst, who supports the BARF diet (Bones and Raw Food), also recommends a "vege mix" which will add those carbs. Flynn is not a fan of this so if we do it we have to mix it in with the mince. We use celery, carrots, brocolli (not too much ... only 1 head in the bulk mixture) and spinach ... he also recommends to add egg yolks and garlic. You could also add the brewers yeast and kelp to this. I make it in bulk and freeze it down to portion sizes. We use the juicer and then mix the juice and pulp back together ... we have also used a food processor in the past.

Naomi .... we don't have the pre-made BARF products here in NZ but Pet Essentials basically stock frozen raw meat in bags - some I don't go near ... like the horse or the tripe!

Angela and Flynn

I read about the nice guy that is your dads reflexologist over on Tina's thread. That was a walk that turned out to be really good even if you didn't Think you wanted to go.
Flynn obviously has quite the social life while you are at work. hahaha Poor dad though with gout and the kitty with the claw.
Have a good day all! I'm going to relax tonight, then I hear maybe some snow tomorrow.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin