Made In The USA # Chewy Influencer

Isn't it fun to get a surprise package in the mail, or by Fedex? My dogs think every package that enters the house is for them and this time they were right. Chewy sent us a Made In The USA Goody Box to test out. This was a super surprise to all of us.

So what did we discover inside?

First a peanut butter flavored wishbone chew toy from Benebone. The label says it's for dogs under 30 pounds but my dogs are all over that weight. My big chewer is Mackey who is only a few pounds over and thinks this is a wonderful new addition to her toybox.

Next we have wilderness trail salmon biscuits from Blue Buffalo. These are grain free and full of omega 3 fishiness. You all know how much my gang loves fish and these are a huge hit.

Zukes is one of our favorites. The dogs like them because the taste so good and I like them because they're small and have only three calories, so everyone can have seconds and even thirds.  These are mini naturals peanut butter and oat recipe. These are the very same ingredients I use in their homemade cookies so we're all happy.

Premium grillers with real steak treats by True Chews really hit the spot with my girls. The boys don't get beef due to their sensitive tummies, but the girls like having a special treat just for them.

We always like the treats from Wellness. This time they're grain free lamb and salmon recipe soft and chewy treats. These are a nice size treat and they are soft. My girls get them at bedtime and think they're delicious.

The final item in the Goody Box is happy hips chicken breast jerky treats from Dogswell. This one sent me to the computer to do some research. I don't give my dogs jerky, especially chicken jerky, because of all the recalls due to salmonella. This package says that Dogswell used 100% USA sourced chicken breast, but the company has had recalls in the past from using ingredients from China. I debated for several days, but decided to not use this item. My dogs are seniors and several of them have serious health issues. I can't take chances and so no chicken jerky for us.

We want to thank Chewy for sending us this wonderful Goody Box at no cost to us in exchange for our honest review. These boxes would make wonderful gifts for  holidays or to welcome a new canine member to the family. Chewy offers several types of Goody Boxes, so check them out. They even have one for kitties.

Tummy Troubles? # Chewy Influencer

My three boys have sensitive tummies. Sebastian has irritable bowel syndrome. We've managed to get it pretty well under control but from time to time he has a flare up. When it happens he usually refuses to eat because nothing stays down for long. At one point he was vomiting up every meal. We put him on a strict diet along with medication and he's much better lately.

Fudge had leaky gut syndrome and it took a long time to get him better. Again, we dealt with it by both medication and diet. It took several years before we saw progress. Today he's doing well with no vomiting and good stool, but it was a struggle to get to this point.

Noah has not been as lucky as the others. He has colitis and his stool is a mess. He eats homemade food made with turkey and veggies and any changes in his diet cause a setback. We use a combination of supplements and medications and a probiotic. When we manage to get him stabilized we can't relax because he doesn't stay stable for long.

This month Chewy offered us the chance to try NaturVet Digestive Enzymes Plus Probiotic Dog and Cat Powder Supplement to see if it would help my boys. This  contains some totally unpronounceable ingredients, all of which are meant to help ease their tummy troubles. It's made to support diet change and a healthy digestive tract and helps with sensitive stomachs and flatulence.

 Although the jar isn't very big, the digestive enzyme supplement is a very fine powder and you only use a quarter of a teaspoon at each meal. Be careful opening the jar because it's full of this fine powder.

 I put it on top of their food and they eat it happily, so I guess it tastes good. I do wish they had included a scoop.

It's really too soon to know if this has helped but it certainly hasn't done any harm. Sebastian and Fudge are both doing well and Tess has been getting it because of  some messy poops recently. She has shown improvement. The evening air also seems more breathable so I guess it must be helping that part.

We received a jar of NaturVet Digestive Enzyme Supplement from Chewy at no cost to us in exchange for our honest review. We'll let you know if Noah shows improvement with time.

Cooking Days

Hi everybody,
Don't you think that cooking days are the very best days? Mom doesn't cook every day.  Some days she fixes dinner for her and Dad and some days are do it yourself days for them.  But then there are those wonderful days when she ties on her apron and puts some music on the player and makes special stuff.

Over the weekend Mom caught the cooking bug and made lots of good stuff to eat.  For her and Dad she made an apple pie that smelled like cinnamon. That's a nice smell. She made them some chicken and rice and one night she made pattymelts with French fries. We all like French fries and she made sure there were enough for each  of us to have three.

Then she got to the really good stuff. She made chocolate chip cookies for the peeps. Then she got out the big blue bowl and started making something else. What could it be?  She put in oats and peanut butter.

She rolled out the dough and then she reached for the sprinkles. SPRINKLES!! She must be making cookies for us.

Here they are cooling.

Look a whole jar full of peanut butter oatmeal cookies with sprinkles.

I love cooking days.
Your pal, Fudge

Another Week

Happy Monday. We hope your week is off to a good start.  Mackey's is.

Dad finished the peanut butter and gave her the jar to clean.

YUM!!!!

Long Hot Summer

Remember this?

In case you don't, on January first I started knitting two temperature blankets, one for my hometown of Mexico, N.Y. and one for Springfield, MO. I knit one row for the high temperature each day and one for the low temperature.

We're half way thru the year and these blankets are already pretty big. By the end of the year they'll be huge.

Would I do it again? Yes, definitely and probably next year. But I have learned a few things and will do it a bit differently, making them more manageable.

Stay tuned for another progress report when the temps cool off for Autumn.

Sydney On Strike #Chewy Influencer

When the little hound girls were puppies, Mackey was a poor eater. She was easily distracted and needed to be reminded to eat. Sydney was a great eater and would gobble her kibble and volunteer to help Mac with hers. One of us had to hold Syd while the other encouraged Mac to finish.

Something changed. Now Mac eats everything in sight and I have to watch that she doesn't steal food from the big dogs. Syd doesn't care about food at all. It's much easier to work with dogs that have at least a moderate interest in food and treats. Syd will work for attention and petting but don't bother with treats.

A couple months ago we reviewed a canned food that was filet mignon flavored.  I was only moderately impressed with it but Sydney loved it.  If I put just a spoonful of the wet food on her kibble, she cleaned her bowl.

 Then we ran out and Syd stopped eating. I tried adding homemade food but she sniffed it, then walked away. I tried pasta, but no thanks. Nothing appealed to Syd. She ate about once every couple of days and even then she protested loudly. I told her that if anyone in the house is getting filet mignon daily, it's going to be one of the peeps.

Last week we received some Victor Grain-Free Turkey & Sweet Potato Stew Canned Dog Food from Chewy. When I opened the first can I wondered if Syd would be interested. I filled her bowl with kibble, then mixed in a spoonful of the wet food.

Sydney has finished every meal in record time since she's had a little of the turkey stew. She says her strike is behind her and that this food is great.

Victor Turkey and Sweet Potato Stew gets a 5 star rating from the dog food advisor. It's made with turkey broth, turkey,chicken liver and sweet potatoes plus lots of vitamins and minerals. Sydney says this is great food and she's sure you'll agree.

Chewy sent us a case of Victor  at no cost to us in exchange for our honest opinion.

The Morning After

Hi everybody,
Well, we made it thru another Boomer Day. We're all still here and except for being kind of tired from sitting up all night barking at boomers, we're OK.

 Actually, the booming started last Saturday and has continued every night. Mom says they'll probably keep happening thru the next weekend.

This year Mom has been planning ahead and it's been interesting and sort of worked. Just before it gets dark every night, she takes us outside. Then when we go inside  Mom puts the girls in their crates in the basement. She turns on the lights and the big tv.  She sets it at the station that shows Seinfeld and Friends about 24 hours a day.

When the boomers start we're all so busy laughing at George and Kramer and Joey that we hardly even hear them.

Last night was pretty bad though. The boomers were louder and lasted longer.  Mom slipped Norma Jean and Sebastian some valium which worked for awhile but wore off before the boomers ran out.

Norma Jean has become really goofy about noise lately. If someone sneezes, she jumps up and leaves the room. If she hears thunder she tries to climb up on Mom's shoulder like when she was a puppy. I guess she hasn't looked in a mirror recently. She's a 65 pound puppy now.

Sebastian gets really sad around this time of year. It was on the 4th of July that he got lost and wandered into our lives. When he hears boomers he runs from the door to the window barking, then climbs on Mom's lap. He's a  75 pound lapdog. We feel bad for him because he lost a person that he loved a lot.

So tonight we'll watch Seinfeld again. I hope the soup Nazi is on. "No soup for you".

How do you get thru Boomer Day?
Your pal, Fudge