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orichalcum at 11:51am on 11/10/2007 under dog baby
orichalcum at 11:51am on 11/10/2007 under dog babyApparently, my dependents obey the Law of Conservation of Poop. Eowyn has lately been eliminating solids only about once every 48 hours, sometimes longer, ever since they tore up her park and there are less good local grassy spaces. We're a bit worried, but it does look normal when she does go, and she seems to be eating reasonably regularly most days. (We may try switching her food, since she seems very unexcited by Iams these days.)
Meanwhile, Mac has risen to the challenge. He's up to like 5 times a day, from 1 or 2. Maybe it's because I am drawing a hard line and serving veggies for every dinner. In any case, my brief delight that my cleaning-up-after-dependent duties were lessening has definitely been dashed.
In other icky news, does anyone have any advice as how to get a smell off of a dog easily? On the walk this morning, I was unable to stop Eowyn from getting a brief roll in one of the delights of urban life, a puddle of human urine. (Normally I'm better about this, but I had a baby on my back, which limits manueverability.) Consequently, she's skanky. I've washed her down with water, but it's still pretty smellerific.
curious
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BPAL for dogs would just be disgusting.
Many things to say
If you need to bring out the big guns (say for skunking) I really recommend the Ancient Toller Secret.
As for the pooping
A) add more fiber to her diet - canned pumpkin or green beans are cheap, tasty and will also help keep her weight steady (more food, less kibble).
B) Get the hell off IAMs. That stuff sucks. OK, not sucks. But if dog food were people food, Purina is McDonalds, IAMs is Seven11. There's other stuff that's much better. Try looking into Wellness (which is what I use), Solid Gold, Innova, Wysong or Natures Recipie. All are excellent.
The things you want to see are whole proteins (meat, not meat meal, meat bone meal or God forbid, meat by-products) listed first. Then whole grains for the carbs (oatmeal, barley, brown rice, flaxseed). IAMs uses corn and brewers rice, which are processed grain, and no better than doggie wonder bread. Then look for oils instead of animal fats. Just like people, lean protein, unprocessed grains and oils. Really good foods will use actual fruit and veg to add the vitimins and minerals instead of additives.
Also, more water in her diet will loosen her up. If she's not a big water drinker, you can add a touch of low salt chicken broth or even a splash of fruit juice. Makes it tasty and interesting.
Yay! Poop conversations.
Re: Many things to say
Thanks for all the advice! I hesitated about posting a poop conversation, but felt I'd be likely to get helpful solutions to the problems.
De-skunking
http://www.toller1.com/howtodeskunkyourdog.html
Re: De-skunking