HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!
Many of you have been kind and thoughtful in your words of encouragement to me as I continue to paw along my journey to wellness. I hope that if I share all the things we have been doing for me, it might help one of you or someone you know.
Some of you have asked if long distance purchasing of frozen raw food is safe and also you have asked about how to handle the raw food and how to store it.
When it arrives it is best if someone is at home to bring the package inside straightaway. (click photos to bigify to view all that Mom L is doing)
Sturdy box
Styrofoam ice chest
Dry ice in plastic bags
Mom L lets the chubs slightly defrost in the refrigerator until they just indent with a finger touch. Then she gets her gloves and all the items she needs to slice up the raw into separate servings. Once that is done, the servings go right back into the freezer.
Get freezer containers and knife and cutting board ready
Slice chub into patties
Use plastic freezer containers
That’s it until the next shipment! Mom L bought a really inexpensive scale to make sure when she and Dad P measure out our portions for each meal that they are giving us enough, but not too much.
Place raw in the container
Put container on scale!
So that is the process. Now here is a little trick that the folks at Raw Paws suggested to Mom L if I wouldn’t eat the raw.
See that small bag on top of the raw chicken chubs? Can you read what it is?? Freeze dried green beef tripe!!! Crush a little like sprinkles on human ice cream and sprinkle on the raw food and we both go for it…at least I did at first. I am back to ground zero, but TKS still loves having a little tripe added to her food. Actually, you can buy this and add it to any canned food, kibble etc…it is very appealing to both cats and dogs. “Green” tripe doesn’t mean it is ‘green’…even though it is just because of the grass or hay the animal may have eaten, the “green” actually does not refer to its color. Instead, it refers to the fact that the tripe has not been processed – not cleaned, not bleached and not scalded.
Go figure…Mom L doesn’t think it smells that great but TKS and I sure do! The bowl above has some tripe sprinkles, some raw, some canned food and a few kibbles…just trying to get me to eat more raw.
Now for the latest on getting me back to eating raw. Here’s the inside, literally, scoop on my health and wellness.
I do not have IBS and no pancreatitis, and I have not lost any weight. Really, I have something more akin to humans’ ‘acid reflux’. I drink a lot of water right after eating my kibble or my canned food. Not when I was on raw. I also become ‘food averse’ to a particular type of canned food if it has made me nauseous or caused me to vomit. That means Mom L and Dad P were having to constantly find another quality food I would eat. Which, cause me more stress. A never ending cycle. In fact, I am also now ‘dish averse’. If they try to serve me food in a dish which I have eaten out of, and from which I had tummy problems, I won’t eat out of that dish for a while!!
My VET, Dr. Melanie, owner of Civic Feline Clinic, is a feline specialist and expert diagnostician for all things ‘cat’. I think she may be part cat actually…she sure does think and act like us. Scary.
Anyway, I had to return to the VET last week for an enema as I was again constipated. Dr Melanie said she believes my problems are both due to my upper gut and how it processes my food AND due to my emotional health.
Dr Melanie decided to try to ‘trick’ me back to raw! When I had my enema, she also gave me an appetite stimulant. And it worked!! For one meal! MOL!!! I said she was ‘almost a cat’…heh…heh.
This is all about my Journey to Wellness. I have come such a long way with the emotional well being. And now if I can manage my digestive challenges…I will be ready for another NINE LIVES!!
No!! Not the VET!!!
PAW PATS, SAVANNAH
Savannah's Paw Tracks 