Feeding the big and hungry!

I fully plan on giving you a detailed account of all the dry foods (good and bad) I've tried for Ares (pre-Onyx) and both dogs. But, in the mean time, he's my tried and true mixture.

Dry food:

Nature's Recipe Lamb and Rice
About $40 for a 30 pound bag at PetSmart

All the goodies I put in:

• I buy a big pack of chicken thighs each week (about $7). 
• I boil the chicken thighs for about an hour, twenty minutes.
• Once boiled, I save the broth (sometimes I add my apple cider vinegar here, but typically I put it in their water bowl daily).
• I put the cooked chicken thighs in a tupperwear container in my fridge.
• Cottage Cheese
• Flax Seed Oil
• Coconut Oil

Ares - 105 pound, male German Shepherd

Both meals:

• I pour the chicken broth in his bowl (about 1/4 cup) and add in a teaspoon of Coconut Oil, a table spoon of Cottage Cheese and a cap full of Flax Seed Oil. Depending on the glucosamine vitamins he's on, depends on what I do next (for tubed, I squeeze the dosage in - for the chewy kind I put in 3 and for pills, I hide two in cream cheese).
• Next, I take one chicken thigh and pull off the meat and put it in the bowl.
• I add 2 cups of the dry food and mix.

Onyx - 78 pound, female GSD/Lab/Border Collie.

Onyx has the same thing recipe but rather than 2 cups of dry, she gets 1 each feeding.

Many people ask why the cottage cheese and flax seed oil. Have you heard of the Budwig diet? Flaxseed oil and cottage cheese are a great preventative way to prevent cancer! All in all, I do a lot of reading on holistic pet care and am a big advocate of tried and true methods. While I 100% side with raw feeding (I've done it, it is amazing), I don't have enough freezer space to feed 2 dogs raw.


Add-ons:

• I usually split 1 raw egg in their food once a week (it works wonders for their skin and coat)
• If I cook, they benefit. Cutting the fat off of your chicken? Boil it and save it. Trimming a steak? Give them the fat from the steak raw. No cooking needed.
• Raw Tripe is a great add-on. It is very affordable. If they have it at the grocery store, I buy it and share it with them.

Pay it forward! NJ Shelters - what to donate.

Dog enthusiasts consider their animals as family members. They sleep on orthopedic beds, get home-cooked meals and share our furniture with us.

You can keep reading, I won't go Sarah McLaughlin-homeless-puppy-commercial on you. Instead, I am here to help you help the dogs who don't have the spoiled lives ours do. If you're in New Jersey, helping those dogs is quite simple - especially since I am providing you a list of what to donate and where!

Camden County Animal Shelter
125 County House Road
Blackwood, NJ 08012

According to Fox 29 Philly, Camden County Animal Shelter is in SEVERE need of pet food. Grab a few cans or a 10 pound bag of dry food at your grocery store and drop it off. Let's all be honest here, the $10 you spend to help their animals could go to far worse things.

Burlington County Animal Shelter

35 Academy Drive
Westampton, NJ 08060

I have a soft spot for the BCAS. Many of my childhood pets were adopted from there and if there is one thing I can say with certainty, it's that this shelter is always very crowded. What does this mean? It means if you know a good rescue organization or run a foster, reach out - they NEED you! Like CCAS, they also need supplies - food is always needed in a shelter like this!

According to the Friends of Burlington County Animal Shelter website, "There are many ways you can help the Friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter, including walking dogs, playing with cats, grooming the animals, posting pictures and bios of the animals online, fundraising, planning events, and, of course, donating money."



Monmouth County SPCA
260 Wall Street
Eatontown, NJ 07724

If there is one thing to be said about the Monmouth County SPCA it's that they bring a happy vibe to all that they do. Their facility is clean, the staff is friendly and they use social media to make all of their pets very adoptable.

One thing they ALWAYS need (aside from food and treats for their pets) is linens. Gently used, clean linens for their adoptable animals! This is so easy and FREE. Comforters that you don't use for beds anymore have a better place than tagging along with you to the beach! Donate them. While you are there, check out the place. It's one of the few shelters you can enter without feeling horrible guilt if you leave without a new addition to your family!

If you are in NJ, NYC or Philadelphia and know of a shelter in need, contact me! I will add them in. As pet lovers, we are all in this together!

A blog so shiny and sparkly

It's new. I decided to come back to the world of blogging. It's been a few years but it's not my first rodeo. I don't have any kids just yet but I do have two large dogs. One, a german shepherd named Ares that I got when he was 8 weeks old. He's loving, protective, silly and the biggest cuddler in the whole world.

And the other dog, Onyx, a shepherd/lab/border collie mix we rescued when she was 9 months old. We wanted another shepherd and her rescue predates all of the great full-bred adoption resources that flood Facebook. We found her on Craigslist and she has turned out to be the good deed that should somehow result in life-long good karma. She chews, digs, runs away, protects her food with all her will and has good and bad months. She is almost 4.

All in all, I am a jack of all trades. I'm told I'm a great writer but mostly I know I was meant to do something with medicine. I love naturalistic resources and have found great ways to keep my dogs happy, healthy and well adjusted (despite the hand I was dealt with Onyx).

I know a lot about cooking, I love watching terrible TV series, I have spent more money on make-up than I care to share, I love hockey and know more about it than most men and I was raised to only buy American cars (for better or worse). I am partially psychic (though without consistency), I can learn most anything (except sing or draw) and I often have great opinions and poor delivery.

If you want to know about the trials and tribulations of being a Dog Mother like myself, are seeking good advice about make up or are amused by the ramblings of a writer then you, my friend, have found the right blog.