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Nocans.com, and Feeding Your Pets Homemade Food

Author's note: I must make the assertion here that at the time I wrote this I was very passionate about the subject of feeding raw food to our pets. I'd stumbled across two websites which provided lots of information making an argument FOR the diet ... and I got swept away with it. I confess I didn't do a lot of research into the arguments AGAINST the diet, and so this entry comes off sounding rather one-sided. That's because it is. Read with caution and do your research. 

For the record, I still believe feeding cooked meat is bad, but I give my "little man" carrots and apples as treats, also peanut butter -- the organic kind with no sugar added, just mashed-up peanuts -- and occasionally I'll tear off a corner of a pound of ground beef and give it to him raw. I've never seen him suffer any ill effects from this. At the same time I'm not willing to gamble. 

I'm keeping this post here because I believe it's important to keep the discussion going about what we feed our beloved family members -- both the four-legged and the two-legged kinds -- and to constantly demand nothing but the highest standards of quality from the pet food companies we patronize at our local pet stores. I am fundamentally against abuse of ALL kinds, but to me abuse of non-human animals (and children) is worse because they can't speak for themselves. 

~ Sarah Barres, May 12, 2015

Conducting a search of "are apples good for dogs" I stumbled across this website: No Cans - Make Your Own Pet Food. I poked around the website reading everything the person posted on dogs with interest. Like the author of NoCans.com I too became extremely worried and paranoid about what we were feeding our dogs after the Big Giant Pet Food Recall of '07. I totally sympathize with the author of that website because all the bad things happening to our beloved pets just broke my heart, and I wanted answers. Mostly, I wanted to stop feeding my pets poison, since that's about what it amounted to. Unfortunately it takes a big devastating event like that to bring to light the harm other people will do to each other and pretty much any living creature.

However, I was disappointed to see all the cooked meat in the dog recipes. I looked and looked for a way to contact the website administrator but I found nothing obvious. Many people close to me know that I feed my dogs raw meat and raw organ meat from time to time, and I wanted to direct the NoCans.com author to some of the stuff I found. She/he certainly did her homework and research and I totally relate to what that means, and the desire to share what one has found. Neither one of us wishes to make a profit off our findings; we simply wish to share what we found in the hope that other people can benefit from our hard work and enjoy healthy pets like we are. 

Well NoCans.com, here's what I found, I hope you enjoy it! Pet-Grub.com, a website and administrator that is full of so much compassion it pours off your computer monitor and overflows into your life. NoCans.com, the reason your cats don't like the people food you're giving them is because you're cooking it. Your cats want a whole, entire, raw fish, head, eyes, tail and all. Give them that and see how they respond! They will love it, and you can feel satisfied knowing you're giving them exactly what they need and love. 

If anyone reading this can forward this information to the site administrator of NoCans.com, please do!

Anyone else reading this, I sincerely hope you also benefit from this information. Most people probably can't afford to completely switch their dogs/cats over to a raw meat diet as it is quite expensive nowadays, but giving your pets some raw meat and raw organ meat once in a while is not only safe, it is recommended. 

I am not a veterinarian. But I know several veterinarians who would endorse what I'm saying here. Check with yours first, always, especially when it concerns your beloved pet. 

One word of caution: NEVER FEED PORK OF ANY KIND TO A CAT OR DOG!!!

Here's another fantastic resource, although I should say as a disclaimer that I haven't actually read the book yet, but it gets raves from other raw meat diet proponents: ladies and gentlemen, I give you the BARF diet.  (Bones and Raw Food diet ... get it?)

Here's to good health ... all around! :-)

Nothing at all

Which is precisely what I've posted in nearly a year! What is wrong with me? I'm going to have to turn in my "blogger" status card.

My excuse is that I never have any time. But the truth is that I simply choose not to do it; I can't deny that. I love blogging ... I love writing, about myself, about other people, about subjects that interest me such as camping, human and animal rights, living off the grid, environmental awareness in general, politics, all things Japanese, news broadcasting, news journalism, to name but a few. I've reduced myself to only discussing such topics with co-workers and my husband, but the blog post is always percolating in the back of my mind. I can't help it. I've had a very intimate relationship with words since I was about 4 years old. I don't write because it's "fun" or "cathartic" or because I feel it's good for me to do, nor for any one reason, nor for any combination of reasons. I write because it's what I do. I write. That's me. I'm a writer. What do I do? I write. I don't act, or speak, or build houses, or manage funds. I write.

And ever since I realized my superpower if you will, I've realized how I can either spread hatred or make the world a better place. I keep my hatred posts private; only I see those. (Those are what I'd call episodes of catharsis.) The more edifying journal entries capture the public spotlight on my blog, however. Of course I write such subjects knowing that, like beauty, the message is in the eye of the beholder.

I also enjoy writing fiction, and my absolute favorite thing in the world to do is invent dialogue:

***

"Nuh-uh! You told him??!? Holy crap, I can't believe you did it!" Jenny starts laughing loudly and heartily. All I could do was stand there beaming.

"You told Dustin that you found out about the scam he was running. I can't believe it!! I gotta say, I really did not think you would go through with it, Becca."

"If you think that's amazing, you should have seen the look on his face, AHAHAHAHA!!!" Now I was laughing right along with Jenny. "His face froze, Jenny, like a statue! Like all the life, all the emotion just drained out of him! I had to resist the urge to poke his face to make sure he was still human, hee hee hee!!!" I was almost shaking from giddiness, a nervous giddiness, granted. A month ago I stumbled on some documents on my brother's desk that proved what I'd been suspecting for several months now: that he was actually scamming college students into believing they were paying off loans, when in fact they were paying his personal bank account. I was furious because I myself had student loans once upon a time, but back then I kept the amounts as low as possible and paid them off quickly...

***

Ah, but I digress. That is not the most inspired thing I've ever written so forgive me for the lack thereof.

The point is, blowing the dust off this blog here is hopefully the start of a new leg in my journey. I can't wait to see where it takes me ...