The Road To Raw

Today is one month since putting Kort on a raw diet......yes, you have read correctly, I said raw :)

About now you are saying WHAT!!, she hates the raw diet & the raw diet pushers , right? ! Wrong!, I did not like the people that feed raw saying that feeding kibble was wrong or bad for my dog, and that raw feeding is the "only" good way to feed a dog.
What I truly believe, is that every dog is different, & you must feed for the dog as an individual. There is no right or wrong when it comes to feeding dogs, it is whatever works for that particular dog.
Tate for instance will never eat a raw diet, he does not like it, so I will not force him to eat it. He is doing perfectly fine eating his kibble with his yogurt, eggs, & oatmeal. He may get veggies one day as well, we'll see.

Back to Kort....since the day he arrived 2.5 years ago, Kort has suffered from diarrhea on & off. At first I thought, of course, new food, new water, new home. Eventually when it didn't stop I tried switching foods, must be the protein source that is bothering him, nope, not it.
I don't even remember how many foods I have tried, nothing has worked.

Kort has been tested for giardia, & coccidiosis. He has been dewormed for everything including tapeworm.
I have tried natural remedies such as pumpkin & slippery elm. He has had probiotics, acidophilis, & digestive enzymes.
He has been on prescription flagyl & tylosine. The tylosine works, but all that it does is mask the problem not get rid of it as far as I am concerned.
He has not been vaccinated since the puppy series that the breeder gave him, so it's not that.
Sure, I could keep him on medication for the rest of his life, he wouldn't have diarrhea, but he'd have no liver either :(

So, all on my own, after exhausting all other possibilities, I decided to try raw. I told no one but my friends here in Lethbridge. ( Dianne found out :) )
I told my vet, she was not pleased. I have no trouble sticking up for my beliefs, so I said to her " well, if you come up with a better idea, you let me know" I don't think that impressed her :)

I started off using Urban Wolf, but cooking the meat. When that didn't work I contacted 2 of my friends here that I knew fed raw, Liz & Kim. Kim said I would be better to follow Liz's advice as she had been feeding raw for a much longer period.

So Liz, from Blazingstar Flatcoats agreed to take on the challenge :) Liz has been feeding raw for over 15 years & she just happens to be the lady from which I am getting my flatcoat from one day.
I am taking it slow, week one I used rabbit, I wanted a new protein source for him. Week two I used chicken & chicken meaty bones. Today for breakfast he got sardines, talk about disgusting !!! Kort seemed to enjoy them however :)
About the 3.5 week mark his stools started to get soft again, then turned to diarrhea, how frustrating! I stopped the sweet potato as that was something new I had added around the time his loose stools began. I also started giving him slippery elm again. His stools are still not super but have improved.
I am so thankful that Liz is close by. We talk each week at obedience club & she helps to reassure me.

I have chosen to use Urban Carnivore for Kort. I do not want to feed him actual raw pieces of meat, I just can't do it, I myself do not like meat at the best of times, so this is much easier for me & I gag way less LOL!
This whole process has not been easy for me, I did not want to feed raw, it scares me, seriously, everyday I worry that I might make Kort sick.

One downfall though, Kort has gotten way too fat!!! In just this short time he has put on the pounds, so I have had to decrease his meals.
I am reading books that Liz has loaned me & surfing the Internet for information as well. So much information, so many different views. I will continue to do what "I" feel is the best for Kort, & right now it is raw.

So that is it for now, my journey to raw, keep your fingers crossed that this will finally be the answer for Kort.

You may be wondering why I haven't told anyone for a month? It's because I wasn't sure if I was still going to be feeding raw in a months time , so now as we enter our second month I can give more updates as to how it is going with us.
I know you are all just beside yourselves to find out ...hahaha!

Work

I have the best job ever...working with the best people ever !
I took my camera to work on Wednesday just for fun, here's some of the days dogs :))

Utility Taining

Even though Kort has just gotten his CD, & we are not yet competing in Open, I am still training into Utility :)
I really enjoy the scent articles & so does Kort. He is retrieving them very well, & I am just introducing him to holding the metal article which is why there is one there.
Sorry about the darkness of these videos, it was night time & I thought the lighting was better...oopsy :))

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my niece Sherri who turns 25 today.
She has certainly gone through alot of changes over the years......

The little cowgirl as a year old :)......

Sherri as my Junior bridesmaid, 1995......

Sherri,(second from left on top), & her graduating class from Nursing ......

Sherri all grown up(on the left), with her best friend Melissa......

See......

Why I love Super Duper Cooper ? !...
Wendy took this picture of him at work today, laying on the floor :)

Goodbye...

Today my thoughts will be with my Uncle Billy and my family in Thunder Bay as they say goodbye to my cousin Richard.

It's A Plane...It's A Bird.....

It's Super Duper Cooper !!!!!!

The "real" Cooper ♥ ...aka Super Duper......


Cooper is one of my very favourite dogs at daycare .....he is so sweet & loving.....
Thanks Amanda for his drawing, & sending me the "Super" hug when I needed it :)

More Funniest Home Videos :))

Dr Devall wanted me to do cavaletti work with Kort, among other exercises, to help strengthen his core & rear muscles.
This is what I came up with for him, although he is much better when I am not holding the camera in one hand !
Eventually we will lift the bars off of the ground to make it more difficult.....







Seriously though...are my dogs not the most exciting ever !!!! LOL!

Enough

Wow, life is hard, sometimes harder for some then others.

Last night my 49 yr old cousin died of a massive heart attack while snow blowing his driveway. He lives with my Uncle & my Uncle looked out the window & saw him laying in the snow. Richard's German Shepherd Thunder was laying beside him :(
This family ,(my family), has had it pretty rough over the years, slowly loosing everyone in quite terrible circumstances.
It all started in 1991 when my 23 yr old cousin Ronnie fell through the ice on his snow machine, & drowned, out at the family camp.
Then in 1996, on my birthday , my cousin Judy died of a brain aneurysm.
In 2000, my Auntie Mary passed away from colon cancer.
In 2001 my cousin Janet also died of a brain aneurysm.
And now Richard.....my Uncle is beside himself, he thankfully still has one son Robbie.

Thunder, Richard's dog is distraught, he is looking for Richard & when he goes out he sniffs the spot Richard was laying, & won't come back inside.
My Uncle thinks he will give him away, he doesn't listen to anyone but Richard. Thankfully I know the breeder & I called her this morning. She will call my Uncle & help him out, whether it is to board the dog or re home him. My Uncle doesn't understand that you can't just place a dog like this, he is 7 yrs old & he may not be ok for quite some time. Right now he is still waiting for Richard.
At least for the time being he will be back with the breeder until my Uncle has a chance to think things through. Hopefully Uncle Billy will decide to keep him for company, if not I think the breeder is the best chance for Thunder to find another home.

It is all so awful, I'm sad & scared. I don't want to loose anymore family, but it is going to happen whether I like it or not.

Sorry for such a depressing post, but this is a place where I can get my thoughts out & that helps me get through my day.

Flashback

So I am feeling a little nostalgic tonight...
enjoy!

My big brother Brian & me ......

Brian, me & Joanne, 3 little Indians :)......

My brother Brian, my middle sister Joanne, & me sitting on the neighbours steps, 1964....

My Grandma(dad's mom), Uncle Freddy & my youngest sister Debra, Christmas 1966......

Ask And You Shall Receive !

So Diana wanted to see the boys in their booties, as well as me in my winter attire :)) Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the video stopped before you got to see all of me :))
So, here are the not so exciting videos, Enjoy !

Gripes

I'm in a bloggers rut.
I don't know what to talk about lately & that is weird, if you know me at all you know that what I love to do the most is talk LOL!
Maybe it is because I seem to have the winter blues, I hate the cold, wind & snow. I hate that there is no sunshine most of the days. The dogs have to wear boots it is so cold when I walk them, by the time I put all my layers of clothes on, & the dogs boots, I'm sweating !
I did have an orientation this morning with another Assisted Living Facility. Tate & I will be starting there next week. I want to bath him before. He & Kort look so straggly as they did not get their regular Christmas baths this year.
Perkins is coming to stay overnight tomorrow so he will liven things up a bit.
Well that's about it for now, thanks for stopping by to check on me :))
The following picture is for Amanda!
Remember me telling you about how awful I dressed as a kid? Well here I am on my 11th Birthday, with my yellow lab Pepi...my pants & vest were orange floral, & that shirt was royal blue diamonds !!!!!!

Lethbridge Living

This month the Lethbridge Living Magazine has an article about the Therapy dogs.
It is wonderful to get the exposure since we are the first volunteers with the dog program !
The above picture was taken by the magazine photographer....unfortunately the photographer seemed in quite a hurry...he didn't understand dogs either, he just started snapping pictures of Tate & I before I could even think about it.... This was the first time we had seen 2 of the other dogs in the group...Tate was curious about them, being an intact male :), but the picture taking happened immediately & he was rather unfocused to say the least.
I am glad the rest of the picture is awesome, just disappointed by the fact that Tate isn't looking, & he doesn't have his ears up, ick :(

Return Trip

I am so happy to hear that Dr Devall is coming back to Lethbridge at the end of the month.
She is a holistic vet, but also does chiropractic work as well as acupuncture etc on dogs. She is also very well versed in Chinese medicine.
I have taken Tate to her 4 times for adjustments over the last few years.
It is nice that I don't have to make the drive to Calgary to see her again. When she was here last, in November, we were worried about Kort's rear end....specifically his hips. He yelped when they were examined by Dr Devall. Kort has always had a funny hitch to his movement as he changes into a trot, he paces more often then not, & he hates to sit! He also takes FOREVER to go up & down stairs, he really has to think about it before he does. The weird thing is he has no trouble running like the wind !
All this prompted me to get his hips & knees xrayed. They looked great according to my vet, however there was a "slight" possibility of an area on his sacrum that was "off". She called it a tiny boney change. I am going to get it xrayed again in 6 months to keep an eye on it & see if there is any change. It might just be nothing at all because everything else was great !! What a relief that was :))
My regular vet also said that it was most likely nothing & if I hadn't of told her that Kort yelped during the exam she would not have even thought anything of it.
Anyway, I can now take the xrays to Dr Devall to look at as she may look or see things that my regular vet doesn't.
Kort has been off of agility since the diagnosis & I have been working on strengthening his rear end & his core muscles as suggested by Dr Devall.
I had actually forgotten about the no jumping until I had him out on the weekend doing some training. At the end of the training we did some scenthurdle practice & I noticed he was clipping each jump as he came over them, the jumps are only about 6" high. I felt bad, obviously he was fatigued enough that he was having some difficulty.
So it is kind of a mystery, is he lazy ? or is there something there? Why did he yelp during a normal hip exam, yet his xrays show great hips?
Anyway I will be anxious to hear what Dr. Devall thinks this time around.
Paws crossed :))

New Year's Day Walk

This afternoon my friends & I headed out for our yearly New Year's Day walk.. this year Brian & Perkins joined us.
It was another windy, cool day, but all the dogs had a blast running around.
Perkins was quite full of himself as well & barked with his usual attitude at the others :)
Kort kept stealing my mitten away from poor Tate but Tate did manage to get it back once in awhile.
I love this tradition of ours, & Wendy from Crazy & Little, was the photographer as usual on this day.
Thanks Wendy !!