Some fun news....

Today I had another betta spawn hatch out!! YAY! This time, it was a crowntail spawn. I'm eager to see what they turn out to look like; mom and dad were both yellow, so they will be light colored. I'm excited. :) Also, here is a fry from one of my other spawns...

Also, our finches are nesting!! Two of my 3 pairs laid eggs. Then, the "new" pair (the one that has never nested or raised chicks b4) abandoned their nest. I rescued the 5 eggs and put them in with the other pair; they seem to have accepted the extras without question. That pair now has 9-10 eggs, which is a pretty big load for finches!! They're very good parents though, so I think they'll manage it. Here is a pic of one of the eggs....obviously, it's fertile. This is an egg from the clutch that was abandoned.

We're all pretty excited about the finches! Chicks are adorable. :) (Especially as fledglings. That's when they hit the "maximum cuteness" button. ;)) And it's so much fun to watch the parents care for them. Really, it's pretty amazing too. ;)

~E

A loss...

Today I found that two of my best bettas jumped out of their tank and became fish jerky. :( I'm a bit upset; they were so pretty and coming along nicely!! GRR! It was my fault though...I forgot to put their lid back on when I fed them last. So, in memory of Angel and Venus: (Venus is blue, Angel is white.)

I guess I'll have to buy new ones.

~E

Species Appropriate Raw Foods

That's pretty weird sounding, huh?! The basic concept isn't weird though: it simply means "an animal should eat what it's designed to eat". SARF: species appropriate raw foods. For a rabbit, that means leafy greens, vegetables, hay, and other vegetation; they are herbivores. For a dog, that means raw meat and bones; they are carnivores. Let's take a look at a canine in the wild. (Such as wolves.)  What does it eat? Other animals, right? The whole animal; organs, bones, muscles, everything. There is some debate as to wether or not it eats the stomach contents. I, personally, think that it would have to be pretty hungry to eat all that stomach acid. ;) Anyway, that's beside the point. The point is, a wild canine does not dine on grains or vegetables it finds. It eats meat.



So, why do we daily feed our dogs something it's body wasn't created to handle? No, the dog's body wasn't designed to handle the grains and vegetables in the kibble almost everyone feeds their dog nowadays. There are many reason we feed our dogs kibble: conveniance, inexpensiveness, ingnorance....but none of those reasons take away from the fact that the dog's body simply cannot handle the junk we pour into it. Yes, grain is junk to a dog's body. It cannot be used. Vegetables....well, maybe. They're definetly less of an evil!! Most dogs can eat vegetables without problems; however, most dogs are allergic to grains in some way. Cancer, skin and coat problems, ear infections....the list goes on. Most would be cleared up if the grains were exlcuded in a dog's diet. (Cancer, maybe not....but the body would certainly be much better able to fight it!!)

OK, the evils of grain in a dog's diet has been established. What about the other stuff that is in kibble? The preservatives, coloring, the additives.....what about those? Do you find them in the body of an animal? Well, you might find some of that stuff in the meat in the grocery store, but in the wild, you aren't going to find that stuff. So the dog's body can't handle those either.

What about the meat in kibble? Well, it's been cooked past recognition, which isn't found in the wild. Plus, in some of the cheaper kibbles, it probably isn't even muscle meat (which is what the package promises!). Ever seen on the ingredient list "meat and bone meal"? I wouldn't want to find out what is actually in that "meat and bone" meal, let's just put it that way. The dog food industry really isn't regulated all that well, as you can see. And, in order to decode all those weird sounding ingredients (Chicken by-product meal? WHAT IS THAT?!) you have to know how to interpret it. And believe me, the interpretation isn't what you'd really want to hear....to find out more about that, read "Feeding Your Dog For Life" by Diane Morgan. It's very informative and revealing. Made me want to never feed kibble to my dogs again!! :P


Now I've given you reason to not feed your dog kibble. Let me now give you reasons to feed it SARF; species appropriate raw foods.

1) You will save money on vet bills, because your dog's immunity will be up and he won't get sick so much!
2) Your dog's teeth will not get a buildup of tartar, preventing dental disease and staying beautifully white.
3) His coat will be soft and shiny, his skin supple and smooth. No more greasiness, dryness, dullness, or excess shedding.
4) He'll likely live longer and feel much better.
5) He'll keep his proper weight easily, without much effort on your part.
6) He'll have lots of energy and feel great, possibly improving his temperament. Who wants to be nice when they feel sick?


There are many more reasons....those are just six.

I've given you reasons to stop feeding kibble, and I've given you reasons to feed SARF. Now, how do you feed SARF? What is it's cost?

How:

Simple; go down to your local grocery store and buy the cheapest meat there. Your dog doesn't need to dine on filet mignon. Calculate how much your dog needs, and feed him that amount once a day. Bones and all. He'll LOVE it. And it isn't complicated. You might want to weigh his portion the first time, just to get a feel for how much he needs, but after that, just pull the approximate amount of meat outta the bag in your 'fridge and throw it out the door! (It probably won't touch the ground.....;D)

(Side note: this is a simplification of the process, mainly to give an overview.)

 Cost:

 It sounds expensive, but it doesn't have to be. I feed my two 40 lb dogs for $30 a month. Amounts up to just $360 a yr. Really, not too bad!! I mean, if you feed your dog a cheap kibble that costs ten bucks for 50 lbs, yeah, you're going to spend waay more on your dog with SARF. But most people don't feed their dogs that cheap stuff. And if you really spend a bit of time finding the best deals (shop around; your local butcher, grocery store, SuperWalmart...anywhere you can think of. I use Walmart..they have the best prices I've found yet. Their chicken, my staple, is $0.56 a pound) you'll spend even less.

OK, I think I've covered the basics. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to leave them for me in your comments and I'll answer as best I can!!

~E

Fish pictures and Dusty's latest escapade....

Here are some pictures of fish I neglected to post yesterday.

Last night, my sister took Dusty out for his evening potty-break....and as Dusty was running along our porch, he fell down this hole that is in it: (Excuse the bluriness)

Resulting in this:

He did manage to get out of a hole in our lattice, BTW. ;) He's a pretty intelligent little guy....a bit too intelligent, if you ask me. :D

~E

Latest news:

I've gotten 4 new bettas!! YAY! Here are most of their pics:

The first one is a yellow butterfly delta tail male. The second is a royal blue veiltail female. The third is a green crowntail female. The fourth I don't have a picture of; she's a blue and red bicolor female crowntail.

I've been having some trouble with my parakeet, Pal. I'd switched her and Pippen to a diet of pellets instead of seeds, and she'd lost some weight and seems healthier. Then, I ran outta pellets last wk and keep forgetting to get her more. I've been feeding them seeds. Now she's gained her weight back. UGH!! I have to start all over again. I'll get her more pellets tomorrow and start from scratch again. I'm kinda mad at myself right now. :P

Also, mom's dog, Dusty, hit the 8 lb mark today!! They grow too fast. :D

~E

Dusty's first grooming shop experience...

Today Dusty went to the grooming shop (the place I work) for the first time and got his paws, face, and sanitary trimmed up. Plus of course a bath and blowdry. With bows and a bandanna. ;D We just  couldn't resist putting bows in his hair, even though he's a boy!! He looks even cuter and more squishable, if that's possible!

Here he is!! The first is a before pic, the other two are afters.

In Christ,
~E

Other fish

Besides bettas, I also own: several tetras, guppies, mollies, platies, giant danios, gouramis, two plecostomouses, 2 goldfish, and 6 corys. Some pics of my tanks:

This is the 20 gal tank.

This is a side view of my 65 gal tank.

And this is one of my 5 gal tanks.

Besides the ones pictured, I have 3 other 5 gal tanks. I hope to get one for my room...maybe a 30 or 40 gal one. :)

In Christ,
~E

Bettas

Here are some of the bettas. Bear with me on them!! They all have names, but I'm not going to post those. It'll be enough to get all their pictures up here. :D

And that's not all...there are 3 more. Just don't have their pics right now.

~E

The birds

I have two different kinds of birds: parakeets and Zebra Finches. 6 finches and 2 'keets.

The parakeets are named Pal and Pippen. Pal is around 7 or 8 and Pippen isn't older than 1.5 yrs. They are pretty attached to each other. They live in a spacious cage with toys by a window. Pal is all yellow and Pippen has green on him.

The finches all live together in one big cage by a window. I have 3 males and 3 females.
Below is Angie, our fawn female. She's a really beautiful girl! We've had her since she was a chick; she's about 1 now.

This is Jupiter; he's Angie's mate. He's a very impressive pied boy. We've had females fighting over him. :D

This is Jax; he's Angie's brother and is also pied (all of our males are pied, actually). Sadly, he's one of the birds that will get picked on if someone's feeling nasty. Poor guy! (The bird in the back is one of his brothers; we sold him)

This is Princess, Jax's mate. She's sooo pretty and white!! She and Angie fight over Jupiter's attention sometimes.

This pair is Jaimme and Jimmy. They are parents to Jax and Angie. Sadly, Jaimme also gets picked on a lot. Right now, she's separate from the others because they picked the back of her head bald. :P In this picture, they were sitting on a clutch of eggs together.

Other animals coming later!
~E

The cat.

Tommy is a black and white, mixed breed, 7 yr old cat. We got him from a friends friend whose cat had had kittens before the friend could spay her. (BTW, my dogs and cat are neutered/spayed, except for Dusty who's too young.) Tommy is a great cat. He gently teaches the kids that he doesn't like his tail/fur/ears pulled by giving them the lightest of scratches or bites. He only pops them once, then lays back down and allows them to continue playing with/petting him. Never has he bitten or scratched when unprovoked, and he only does it to the ppl who are rough with him.

~E

My youngest dog

And the last puppy, who really is a puppy. :) Dusty is my mom's 3 mo Lhasa Apso. Right now, the world exists to play with him. :D He's soooo cute and floppy! Right now, he doesn't really know any commands. Mom's working on sit, stay, pottytraining, come, and some other basic things such as no bite and no trashcan. :D And also he's learning that grooming is a part of a Lhasa's life.....I don't think he appreciates mom's efforts yet.

The pic below shows him tormenting Pepper....

And that concludes the intro of my dogs....next intro coming soon!

In Christ
~E

Introducing my animals.

I decided to start a blog for my animals so that I can keep one blog for me and my family and one for my animals. I'll introduce my pets one at a time. Or, if I own several of one species, all of that species at one time.

The dogs are first, oldest to youngest.

Pepper is an Australian Cattle Dog that is 12 yrs old. She's not the usual "blue heeler" type of ACD, but a "red heeler" ACD. (Heelers and ACDs are the same breed) She is my personal dog and, of course, my favorite. ;D She can sit, lay down, go to her bed on command, roll over, shake hands, give me a five, find her ball on command, wait, heel, stay, "get them!" ("them" depends on what wildlife shows itself; usually buzzards) and some other things I can't remember right at the moment. Generally, she's calm and sweet, but it's fairly easy to get her to play, too. She's quite a girl. :D

Patsy is a mutt. I'm certain that she has foxhound in her, and I suspect whippet, or some other smaller running breed. She's almost outpaced deer before! Sadly, she can no longer run quite like that anymore; 20 mph is enough for her. :) She's now 11. She can perform many things for me: sit, stay, heel, down, come, drop it, over, roll over, shake hands, give me a five, wave, beg, dance, give me a kiss, roll on her back and stay there, and (of course) get them! I wonder how much longer she'll be with me; she's slowed up a lot in the past 2 yrs. But, she still loves to go for walks and eat her raw chicken, so she can't be getting too old. :D