Raw Food and Miscellany
Nov. 23rd, 2013 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blairmacgThe dogs started their raw food diet last week, chowing down on chicken quarters every morning. Yesterday they had rack of lamb as a treat. In the evening, they have a raw apple, carrots, or banana. They both believe this raw food thing is the bestest most wonderfulest idea ever.
Despite all the reading and research I've done on raw feeding over the last year-plus, I still couldn't shake my fear of feeding the dogs raw chicken bones. Thus I sat on the back porch as they ate, ready to intervene at the first sign of trouble.
Hah.
Ty the Wonderdog had no trouble at all--expected, since he lived on the farm for years and dined on... whatever he and the other farm dog sniffed out in the woods. Seriously, there was a patch of meadow up the hill from our house we nicknamed The Bone Yard because it was the dogs' favorite place to stash their treasure when they could eat no more. I once found a... a thing that so grossed me out, I was determined to get rid of it. After a couple attempts the dogs foiled, I decided to dump it in the fast-moving river, figuring the coyotes that roamed in the woods down there would eventually grab it. That was not to be. Instead the dogs swam down the river to retrieve the thing and return it to The Bone Yard.
So yes, Ty is quite accustomed to raw food.
Gambit was another matter. He was absolutely certain he should love-love-love the chunk of raw meat in his mouth, but he couldn't figure out how to eat it. By the time Ty was licking his lips in satisfaction, Gambit was just starting to experiment with tearing off little nibbles. Ty looked on as Gambit went from nibbling to gnawing. I'm sure he would have pitched in to demonstrate technique, if I hadn't been watching. But in the end, Gambit succeeded in finishing his meal.
Seven raw meals later, it's obvious they're not having trouble with bones, or any other part of the meal. Gambit still takes longer to eat his portion than Ty, but danged near any creature would take longer to eat than Ty.
As for the miscellany:
I've been scolded about working my arm too much--a scolding brought about because I was stupid and re-injured it and am back to wearing a soft brace all the time.
Related to the above, I'm sitting on the Black Belt Review Board today--very excited to watch one of my students test, and excited/sad to watch three adults of my own cohort test because I was supposed to be testing with them.
We shall see how much progress I can make on Crossroads before the end of November. Yesterday was my day to believe everything I write is junk. Stupid junk. Stupid, derivative, incomprehensible, boring junk. But I've been here before and, just like my occasional certainty I'm a clumsy and substandard karateka, the feeling passes.
The above feeling was shown the door this morning, when I got a note from a friend that said his coworker liked my first book and wanted to know when the next one would be coming out.
And, in the most important news of all... DEV PASSED THE WRITTEN DRIVING TEST AND NOW HOLDS A REAL LICENSE. This means that, on Sunday, I can hand him the car keys, he can drive himself to and from work, and I can stay home.
It also means the beginning of fret-festivals every time he leaves the house on his own. I'm assuming the edges of that worry will dull over time, much the same way as every other fear.
Lastly, and least importantly, I've been feeling restless again. Truly, I should have figured out how to have a career as a travel writer. It's been months since I've traveled more than 50 miles from home. I'll be heading to Denver in December, but will be staying with family, so that doesn't really count.
Despite all the reading and research I've done on raw feeding over the last year-plus, I still couldn't shake my fear of feeding the dogs raw chicken bones. Thus I sat on the back porch as they ate, ready to intervene at the first sign of trouble.
Hah.
Ty the Wonderdog had no trouble at all--expected, since he lived on the farm for years and dined on... whatever he and the other farm dog sniffed out in the woods. Seriously, there was a patch of meadow up the hill from our house we nicknamed The Bone Yard because it was the dogs' favorite place to stash their treasure when they could eat no more. I once found a... a thing that so grossed me out, I was determined to get rid of it. After a couple attempts the dogs foiled, I decided to dump it in the fast-moving river, figuring the coyotes that roamed in the woods down there would eventually grab it. That was not to be. Instead the dogs swam down the river to retrieve the thing and return it to The Bone Yard.
So yes, Ty is quite accustomed to raw food.
Gambit was another matter. He was absolutely certain he should love-love-love the chunk of raw meat in his mouth, but he couldn't figure out how to eat it. By the time Ty was licking his lips in satisfaction, Gambit was just starting to experiment with tearing off little nibbles. Ty looked on as Gambit went from nibbling to gnawing. I'm sure he would have pitched in to demonstrate technique, if I hadn't been watching. But in the end, Gambit succeeded in finishing his meal.
Seven raw meals later, it's obvious they're not having trouble with bones, or any other part of the meal. Gambit still takes longer to eat his portion than Ty, but danged near any creature would take longer to eat than Ty.
As for the miscellany:
I've been scolded about working my arm too much--a scolding brought about because I was stupid and re-injured it and am back to wearing a soft brace all the time.
Related to the above, I'm sitting on the Black Belt Review Board today--very excited to watch one of my students test, and excited/sad to watch three adults of my own cohort test because I was supposed to be testing with them.
We shall see how much progress I can make on Crossroads before the end of November. Yesterday was my day to believe everything I write is junk. Stupid junk. Stupid, derivative, incomprehensible, boring junk. But I've been here before and, just like my occasional certainty I'm a clumsy and substandard karateka, the feeling passes.
The above feeling was shown the door this morning, when I got a note from a friend that said his coworker liked my first book and wanted to know when the next one would be coming out.
And, in the most important news of all... DEV PASSED THE WRITTEN DRIVING TEST AND NOW HOLDS A REAL LICENSE. This means that, on Sunday, I can hand him the car keys, he can drive himself to and from work, and I can stay home.
It also means the beginning of fret-festivals every time he leaves the house on his own. I'm assuming the edges of that worry will dull over time, much the same way as every other fear.
Lastly, and least importantly, I've been feeling restless again. Truly, I should have figured out how to have a career as a travel writer. It's been months since I've traveled more than 50 miles from home. I'll be heading to Denver in December, but will be staying with family, so that doesn't really count.
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no subject
Date: 2013-11-23 04:48 pm (UTC)Sounds like good progress overall.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-23 06:12 pm (UTC)Very sorry to hear about your arm! I won't scold you because I've re-injured mine too. Hope we will both have more sense and feel more better soon. *lopsided hug*
"Yesterday was my day to believe everything I write is junk. Stupid junk. Stupid, derivative, incomprehensible, boring junk. But I've been here before and, just like my occasional certainty I'm a clumsy and substandard karateka, the feeling passes."
Oh, do I hear that. So nice to get a boost from a fan just when you needed one; fans rock.
Congratulations to Dev, woohoo! how exciting! From everything you've written about him, he sounds like a remarkably intelligent and responsible young man, observant, diligent and resourceful - when the fretting starts, remind yourself of that. Remind him of it too; tell him you're not going to worry about him, because you know you brought him up to have good sense, and you can trust him to show it. This will keep him safer than any amount of fretting would.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 03:27 pm (UTC)Dev is a really good young man, but he can also be overconfident, arrogant, self-important, and short-sighted. He's not quite seventeen, so I figure all of that is right on schedule. ;-)
He just drove off on his own for the first time.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-23 07:06 pm (UTC)Congrats to Dev! How awesome/terrifying for you! I can only imagine what it's like. Some day, I'll share that fear with you. :)
I take it the raw diet is much better for the dogs?
no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 03:38 pm (UTC)The raw diet for dogs is based on the very true notion that dogs (like humans) are not evolved to eat primarily grains, but the overwhelming majority of processed dog foods are made primarily of corn. The meat and fat in dog food is, essentially, the lowest of the low grade, and laden with chemicals.
Ty and Gambit will be getting primarily a mix of chicken, lamb, beef, and venison--meats I have easy access to. They'll also get organs, fruits, and vegetables. Some say vegetables and fruits aren't really a dog's "natural" foods, but I know MY dogs raid gardens for melons, carrots, and tomatoes, so I assume they'd do the same in the wild.
The vet I went to last year absolutely freaked out when I brought up raw food for the dogs, assuring me I'd be killing my dogs with lack of nutrition, rampant bacteria, and bone shards. (Because, you know, the countryside is littered with the corpses of wolves, coyotes, and feral dogs who died from eating things other than manufactured kibble.) I don't go to that vet anymore. ;-)