SIDEBAR #53 - Travis Alexander forum

[GigiG]

I think you may be onto something here, Bernina. Kind of like how they don't want to give us too many antibiotics because we become resistant to them and they don't work? My son had a black lab hat supposedly had heatworms. After the initial treatment he never gave him monthly pills, and the dog lived a healthy, hairy life for at least another ten years. Did he really have heatworms? We don't know.

I kmow when my kids were little our dogs rarely had any problems, lived a good 15 years or more, and fleas were easy to get rid of with baths, and occasionally a flea collar (I have heard too many bad things about the, so hesitate to try them now ..... does anyone use them, and if so, what brand?). Now, it seems everyone's dog has skin issues, or food into,erances, or allergies, or other maladies that are costly. I wonder sometimes if it is the food.... we used to give all our dogs basic Purina and nothing else. Now the vets want us to feed pricey prescription foods that I cannot afford. Have we bred all their tolerance out of them?

The only shots my dogs get are their rabies because that is required to get their licenses. I do use liquid flea/eggs med occasionally, but not every month. Overall, except for one instance of bladder stones in one dog, we have not had issues.

BBM

I'm would wager that if you could go back in a time machine and compare the list of ingredients for Purina dog food from what it was back then to what it is today, it would be very different.

During the last 20 years or so, companies have become so focused on profits, to the detriment of maintaining the integrity of their products.

Cheaper ingredients have become the rule. Not just with pet food, but with people food, too. That's why I stick to "whole foods" (not referring to the store, but in terms of ingredients).

Sometimes when I'm hungry or lazy or just want something fast, I'll peruse the frozen food aisle. But after reading a half dozen lists of ingredients on those packages, I just say, "no." On those rare occasions that I do buy a frozen meal, I invariably regret it. They don't taste anywhere near how nice they look on the packaging.

And seriously, if I wind up buying a pound of grass-fed beef and some artisan bread rolls, it's still only about $10, and will provide 3-4 servings.

Saturated fat, yeah. I'm okay with that. It can't be any worse than all the chemicals and artificial ingredients in frozen foods. Plus, red meat provides many essential amino acids and B vitamins. I'll take my chances. And, it actually tastes good!

ETA:

I am also very much against flea collars. We had an adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was almost catatonic after we put a flea collar on her (couldn't walk, was listless, etc). We rushed her to the vet and they decided that it was a reaction to the toxic elements in the flea collar. After a few days without the flea collar, she was back to her normal self, i.e., peeing all over the floors. Oh well, for a while we were so relieved that it didn't seem so bad...

 

[ILikeToBendPages]

I think you may be onto something here, Bernina. Kind of like how they don't want to give us too many antibiotics because we become resistant to them and they don't work? My son had a black lab hat supposedly had heatworms. After the initial treatment he never gave him monthly pills, and the dog lived a healthy, hairy life for at least another ten years. Did he really have heatworms? We don't know.

I kmow when my kids were little our dogs rarely had any problems, lived a good 15 years or more, and fleas were easy to get rid of with baths, and occasionally a flea collar (I have heard too many bad things about the, so hesitate to try them now ..... does anyone use them, and if so, what brand?). Now, it seems everyone's dog has skin issues, or food into,erances, or allergies, or other maladies that are costly. I wonder sometimes if it is the food.... we used to give all our dogs basic Purina and nothing else. Now the vets want us to feed pricey prescription foods that I cannot afford. Have we bred all their tolerance out of them?

The only shots my dogs get are their rabies because that is required to get their licenses. I do use liquid flea/eggs med occasionally, but not every month. Overall, except for one instance of bladder stones in one dog, we have not had issues.

Down here in the south we have fleas and ticks year round. Dog heartworm is a parasitic roundworm that is spread from host to host through the bites of mosquitoes.

The flea collars I'd check into. My brother works for a company that makes those and the no pest strips.

Flea collars disperse all over the animal’s body and can last for several months. The common ingredient in flea and tick collars is usually pyrethrin, but some will also contain insect growth regulators to reduce flea populations. Flea and tick collars are relatively inexpensive and can provide some protection to your cat or dog, but they can also smell quite strong and can be irritating to your pet.


We use "spot on" flea and tick meds once a month because of all the vermins and varmints we have traveling through our yard. Our dogs haven't had any problems using it so far, and it's been ten years.

 

[Bernina]

Just going back and catching up on some posts I missed. So Bernina, you don't give your dogs heart worm meds? I do even though I fear they may be bad for him, yet I'm afraid not to give them to him because if he got heart worms I would never forgive myself. It's one of those catch 22, between a rock and a hard place situations for me. :gaah: I did find a collar for flea/ticks and am going to stop giving him the other flea/tick medicines on the skin or oral, those really worry me. I mean if it's strong enough to kill fleas and ticks what does it do to his little doggy body ?

Nope, no heart worm.
Would I if I had short haired dogs? I don't know..........
I use flea collars when the monsoon hits, because wolfdogs tend to be a "bus" for fleas. Fleas don't like the WD taste, I guess, so they just catch a ride. Never had ticks in this area, pretty weird.

Catch 22 on a lot of critter things, I think the foundation for all of them is a good diet. JMO.

 

[Bernina]

BBM

I'm would wager that if you could go back in a time machine and compare the list of ingredients for Purina dog food from what it was back then to what it is today, it would be very different.

During the last 20 years or so, companies have become so focused on profits, to the detriment of maintaining the integrity of their products.

Cheaper ingredients have become the rule. Not just with pet food, but with people food, too. That's why I stick to "whole foods" (not referring to the store, but in terms of ingredients).

Sometimes when I'm hungry or lazy or just want something fast, I'll peruse the frozen food aisle. But after reading a half dozen lists of ingredients on those packages, I just say, "no." On those rare occasions that I do buy a frozen meal, I invariably regret it. They don't taste anywhere near how nice they look on the packaging.

And seriously, if I wind up buying a pound of grass-fed beef and some artisan bread rolls, it's still only about $10, and will provide 3-4 servings.

Saturated fat, yeah. I'm okay with that. It can't be any worse than all the chemicals and artificial ingredients in frozen foods. Plus, red meat provides many essential amino acids and B vitamins. I'll take my chances. And, it actually tastes good!

ETA:

I am also very much against flea collars. We had an adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was almost catatonic after we put a flea collar on her (couldn't walk, was listless, etc). We rushed her to the vet and they decided that it was a reaction to the toxic elements in the flea collar. After a few days without the flea collar, she was back to her normal self, i.e., peeing all over the floors. Oh well, for a while we were so relieved that it didn't seem so bad...

When you read labels...........

4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon.

Those granola bars and healthy choice foods aren't that appealing anymore.:scared:

 

[GigiG]

When you read labels...........

4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon.

Those granola bars and healthy choice foods aren't that appealing anymore.:scared:

I had to lecture my kids about how deceptive advertising makes those things seem "healthy" when they are not. Good example of bad food being marketed as good food...

Plus, that money they spend on slick marketing trying to make the product look healthy and cool gets passed on to the uneducated consumer. pfft...

 

[neesaki]

I do believe America is on the eve of destruction

I wish I could say I disagree, but I can't. And for some reason your post brought to mind one of my favorite songs that I haven't heard or thought of in several years. It was my favorite a lifetime ago but I still think it's a beautiful song.
[video=youtube;JBMUCSGhbpY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBMUCSGhbpY[/video]

 

[neesaki]

Down here in the south we have fleas and ticks year round. Dog heartworm is a parasitic roundworm that is spread from host to host through the bites of mosquitoes.

The flea collars I'd check into. My brother works for a company that makes those and the no pest strips.

Flea collars disperse all over the animal’s body and can last for several months. The common ingredient in flea and tick collars is usually pyrethrin, but some will also contain insect growth regulators to reduce flea populations. Flea and tick collars are relatively inexpensive and can provide some protection to your cat or dog, but they can also smell quite strong and can be irritating to your pet.


We use "spot on" flea and tick meds once a month because of all the vermins and varmints we have traveling through our yard. Our dogs haven't had any problems using it so far, and it's been ten years.

The topical is what I've used for years, the only problem with my dog is his coat is short and lays down flat, making it impossible to get it completely on his skin, half of it ends up just sitting there without getting absorbed. The oral flea/tick med upsets his stomach, I'm not giving that to him anymore. So this new collar called "Seresto" is according to my vet, completely nontoxic to anyone. I do question if he really knows what he's talking about, or is it just a sales pitch? I mean, who can you really trust these days to tell you the truth about much of anything? Pretty much no one. Thankfully, we have had almost zero problems with fleas or ticks where we live, so we only use it when we travel to Arkansas and places like that where there are a lot of deer ticks. The Seresto collar is supposedly good for 8 months, but I wouldn't leave it on him all the time as there's no need. So I'm thinking I'll at least give it a try.

 

[neesaki]

See mine loves Peanut Butter, she will do almost anything for it!

My dog loves cheese. Well, he loves food in general, but he really, really loves cheese. In fact tonight I gave him some Benadryl, and I wrapped it in a couple of very small pieces of American cheese because it sticks together easily. He just wolfed it down. So how is your baby doing Linus? Hope much better. :seeya:

 

[daisymae]

Niner ... I hope today gives you some answers for hubby's health! We'd all love to see him feeling better. :loveyou:

 

[LinasK]

My dog loves cheese. Well, he loves food in general, but he really, really loves cheese. In fact tonight I gave him some Benadryl, and I wrapped it in a couple of very small pieces of American cheese because it sticks together easily. He just wolfed it down. So how is your baby doing Linus? Hope much better. :seeya:

She's acting normal and begging, which is hard because her diet is restricted right now. We took her for a long walk tonight and she really enjoyed that! The hardest part is still the stupid schedule of having to feed her 4x/day and give her the Carafate 3x/day. That's going to get really hard in the next 3 days- I have places to go, but her restrictions are easing- no restrictions on the amount of water (just can't give it to her 1 hr before/after the Carafate), and she's done with the anti-vomiting pill and the cottage cheese and rice- tomorrow back to just dry food, her anti-biotic, Prilosec, and the Carafate. I had a really awkward phone conversation though today. The vet who prescribed the Rimadyl and Tramadal called me today to see how she was doing. When I told him I'd made a follow-up appointment with a different vet in the same practice for tomorrow, he got upset and blamed it on the schedulers. (I hadn't planned to go back to him, but he wants to see her), so I let him think it was a scheduling error and he kept the time slot, but changed the appointment to him- so I'm stuck with him. He did admit her emergency visit was due to the drugs, but he said she had Rimadyl 11/2 years ago when she got bitten by the Malamutes. So we'll see...

 

[coffeejunkie]

The topical is what I've used for years, the only problem with my dog is his coat is short and lays down flat, making it impossible to get it completely on his skin, half of it ends up just sitting there without getting absorbed. The oral flea/tick med upsets his stomach, I'm not giving that to him anymore. So this new collar called "Seresto" is according to my vet, completely nontoxic to anyone. I do question if he really knows what he's talking about, or is it just a sales pitch? I mean, who can you really trust these days to tell you the truth about much of anything? Pretty much no one. Thankfully, we have had almost zero problems with fleas or ticks where we live, so we only use it when we travel to Arkansas and places like that where there are a lot of deer ticks. The Seresto collar is supposedly good for 8 months, but I wouldn't leave it on him all the time as there's no need. So I'm thinking I'll at least give it a try.

My daughter uses the new flea collar and has had good results with it. Thinking of trying it on Bubby.

 

[coffeejunkie]

http://s723.photobucket.com/user/coffeejunkie01/library/?sort=3&page=1

 

[coffeejunkie]

USES FOR COCA-COLA

#1 – Rust Removal
Coca Cola’s acidity makes it an excellent rust remover. You can get rid of rust stains on everything from hubcaps to screwdrivers and knives using the stuff.

#2 – Oil Stain Removal
By soaking the stain in coke and then scrubbing thoroughly, you can effectively remove oil stains from your concrete floor.

#3 – Cleaning Car Batteries
Mechanics have been using this technique for years.

#4 – Shine Your Pennies
Tired of having lacklustre coins lying around your house and in your wallet? Give em a soak and wash with some coke, they’ll be shiny in no time.

#5 – Toilet Cleaner
Grab a coke and empty it into the bowl. Let it sit for a little bit and then flush. Then, wham! A shiny toilet.

Still want to down that soda? Most of these cleaning techniques make use of Coke’s acidity – just imagine what the stuff does to your insides.

 

[coffeejunkie]

No Bake Lemon Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients
•Crust:
•1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I buy them packaged as crumbs )
•1/4 cup granulated sugar
•6 TBS. unsalted butter, melted
•pinch of salt
•Filling:
•2 - .30 oz. packages of sugar free lemon Jello®
•1 cup boiling water
•3- 8 oz. packages of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
•1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
•2 cups heavy whipping cream
•Whipped topping and lemon wedges, for garnish, if desired

Instructions
1.Line a 13" x 9" baking pan with foil, allowing foil to hang over 2 sides (for easy removal). Spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
2.In large bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar, melted butter and pinch of salt.
3.Pour graham mixture into prepared pan and press down FIRMLY to form crust. You can bake this at 350 degrees F for 10 min. to help it stay crisp or you can simply pop it into the fridge making it completely no-bake. The fridge crust will be a little softer and looser. I like to bake it for 10 minutes then let it cool completely before adding the filling.
4.In small bowl or two cup glass measure, combine the jello® and the water and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature before proceeding.
5.In large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until creamy.
6.Pour in the Jello® mixture and the whipping cream and beat until completely combined. Mixture will seem very runny at first, but keep beating until it comes together and begins to thicken.
7.Pour cheesecake mixture over prepared crust and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set up.
8.Remove cheesecake from pan with overhanging foil, and cut into squares. Garnish as desired. Store in refrigerator.


Yield: 16 servings

Prep Time: 00 hrs. 20 mins.
Cook time: 00 hrs. 10 mins.
Total time: 30 mins.
Tags: cheesecake, bars, dessert, no-bake, lemon, cream cheese, treat

NOTE: This recipe can be halved and made in a 8" square pan with good results! If you halve the recipe, for the crust, use 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, 2 TBS granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup melted butter. Halving the recipe will yield 9 servings.
http://www.reneeskitchenadventures.com/2015/08/no-bake-lemon-cheesecake-squares.html

 

[coffeejunkie]

Rare 'fire rainbow' caught on camera

ISLE OF PALMS, SC (WCSC) -
If you were looking toward the sky over the Lowcountry on Sunday, you may have seen an unusual and rare spectacle: a "fire rainbow."

According to Meteorologist Justin Lock, a strict set of conditions are required for fire rainbows to appear. First, they only occur in high-level cirrus clouds made up of tiny ice crystals.

"To produce the rainbow colors the sun’s rays must enter the ice crystals at a precise angle to give the prism effect of the color spectrum," Lock said, adding the sun must be at an altitude of at least 58 degrees above the horizon. "Again, it has to do with getting the precise angle."

Lock says we often see the same kind of thing occur with colorful sunsets in which high-level cirrus clouds produce many colors because of the low angle of the sun reflecting and diffracting light, producing brilliant reds, oranges and purples.
http://www.14news.com/story/29803479/rare-fire-rainbow-caught-on-camera

 

[coffeejunkie]

Since my last post...my Little Bubby is undergoing surgery right now. He started throwing up and couldn't poop. In terrible pain. Call my vet and they said bring him in right ASAP. Thank goodness the vet is only 10 minutes away. He has a bowel obstruction. Those who pray. Say a little prayer for Bubby, or send good thoughts his way. Will keep you updated.

 

[Spellbound]

My daughter uses the new flea collar and has had good results with it. Thinking of trying it on Bubby.

For Seresto/Bayer file and tick collar at $50 each ($44 on Amazon) ..... I can't afford that for multiple dogs and cats. Am I finding wrong prices for a collar?

Since my last post...my Little Bubby is undergoing surgery right now. He started throwing up and couldn't poop. In terrible pain. Call my vet and they said bring him in right ASAP. Thank goodness the vet is only 10 minutes away. He has a bowel obstruction. Those who pray. Say a little prayer for Bubby, or send good thoughts his way. Will keep you updated.

Oh no, coffeejunkie! Prayers are coming already. I hope Buddy does all right with the surgery and recovers quickly. You have your hands full lately. We worry so about our furry ones. I am so very sorry about Buddy needing surgery.

 

[Zuri]

BBM

Maybe this will be of help to you!

How to use Windows 8 without signing up for a Microsoft account: use a local account with Windows 8 PC or laptop

Create a Local Account in Windows 8 and Log In Without Internet Connection

I just wanted to thank you for posting the tips about Windows 10. I haven't dared to start up my laptop in fear of not being able to comprehend WTH was going to happen.

Perhaps a thread with all these tips could be formed for easy reference for those of us who have computer illiteracy. Jasper, are you available 24/7/365 for consults?

 

[Zuri]

Since my last post...my Little Bubby is undergoing surgery right now. He started throwing up and couldn't poop. In terrible pain. Call my vet and they said bring him in right ASAP. Thank goodness the vet is only 10 minutes away. He has a bowel obstruction. Those who pray. Say a little prayer for Bubby, or send good thoughts his way. Will keep you updated.

JINGLES being sent up for your Little Buddy. Please let us know how he does. I am so sorry you are going through this. Hugs to you.

 

[Zuri]

YoNo's bandwidth problem apparently started with her computer trying to download Windows 10. It takes a while for the bandwidth percentage to go down as it is carried over week to week and month to month. IIRC, she had posted that she can only post when it goes below 80% or something, otherwise she gets charged extra.

With her son in grad school, I bet she is giving up her use of the computer so he can use his. She is just that kind of mama.