a word about WELLNESS

You'll note that this is a photo of Artemis and not Wellness. That's because we're not feeding our puppy Wellness any longer. And that's because of a little thing called the runs.

When we decided to adopt little Gordy we bought tons of things we'll never end up using and ultimately did a lot of research on what food to feed him. Oh, the countless hours I spent not doing work and reading pet food reviews. How I miss thee!

We decided on Wellness Puppy Super5 Mix . We had read (mostly) great reviews, it was readily available in the neighborhood, the ingredients looked great, and it was proudly made in the USA.

Sadly, this food did not work out like we thought it would.... It seemed that the direct ratio of Wellness that we transistioned into Gordy's pre-existing Science Diet kibble diet (from the breeder) equated to the direct ratio of the ...ahem...softness of Gordy's daily business. Nevermind the excessive flatulence, albeit highly amusing.

Anyway, as usual, I took to the Googling and found some disappointing information. It turns out that a lot of dogs are having this problem. And not just because of it's pre-decribed "richness"... moreso because Wellness decided to change the formula a few months back and supposedly neglected to mention it to anyone.

In the end, I am not recommending this food. Their new formula seems to have caused nothing but problems, they actually have been tied into the massive recall (wet food only), they supposedly are continuing to include ingredients which, since their launch, scientists have deemed harmful to pets, and ........the basic fact that Gordy has the runs. If you're doing great with Wellness, I salute you. We have happily switched to Artemis and couldn't be happier. I'll leave you to your own fun with the search engines and potential procrastination that ensues.

GORDY UPDATE: hollywood

I feel the need to describe to you the amount of F-U-N I am having today.

The husband and I are the fortunate participants in what can only being described as Selling Your Soul To The Devil. And we so willingly signed the dotted line, my friends. Because total inconvenience, intrusion, and whoring out mental stability has its price. And yes, we can be bought.

What I am talking about here is ALLOWING YOUR APARTMENT TO BE USED AS A FILM SET. And no, it's NOT fun. It started out with our landlords getting pitched this idea and subsequently agreeing ....and then our eventual compliance to get paid to allow the crew of a Popular Cable Firefighter Drama to use our apartment as a green room. We made money, they used our bathroom. In the meantime, photos were taken and our apartment would also be considered for filming. We had dollar signs in our eyes as we crossed our fingers for what seemed like money raining down on us from the Heavens. Months later, they will call us, pitch us a major character, run days and sums by us, and we will happily agree. What resulted started as minor inconveniences when entire production crews and directors would request walk throughs at all hours of the morning... then a paint crew showing up unannounced just as we're leaving for work and all of our earthly possessions (some no longer in their original state) all pushed to the middle of the living room when we got back... then long days of not being able to return to our apartment because either filming or prepping is going on... and then, OH THEN, the mess and the damages and the weeks it would take to restore it to what felt comfortable to live in, only to know they would only come back and do it all over again.

Which brings me to now. Here I sit, so very grateful to seek asylum at a kind and generous neighbor's home while my apartment is being raped once more. I so humbly called her with sad tales of Gordy and I being homeless for two days and made promises for pee-free floors and she very graciously agreed. How did it happen that this crew would return the very first week I welcome my little dog son into our home? Persistence. On their part. We requested they not come this week, they agreed and then pitched us these very days. We exchanged approximately one dozen phone calls, I got feisty, they bribed me, and let's face it, as I mentioned before - even though I know the hell I am entering - I can be bought. So here we are.

Do you know how much fun it is to have a puppy who's just starting to acclimate to its surroundings and get on a schedule and then take them out of said surroundings and tweak things just ever so slightly? Or to have to walk up four flights of stairs approximately every 10 minutes that he's awake just to be sure he doesn't pee on your friends' floors? Let me tell you, it's awesome.

Meanwhile, the weather sucks, Gordy's totally confused, I'm exhausted, and I'm THAT person who's sitting on your couch when all you want to do is be alone when you get home from work...

old navy ?!

Uh... this is cute...



And so cheap too! This isn't the first time Old Navy Dog Supply has satiated my need for aesthetically pleasing form and function, it's true. But when I went in search of something both affordable and small enough for a nine week old pup, how pleasantly surprised was I?

We were lucky enough to snatch both the collar and leash on sale from the Sixth Avenue store in Manhattan for what amounted to less than $10. There are tons and tons of sale items so if you enjoy a good bargain in the afternoon as much as I do, go now!

Also of note is the attractive chocolate brown quick-release buckle which has thus far proved very convenient when I am suddenly faced with the little mister attempting a number two in my living room. My only complaint is the overall lack of design specifically for the boy puppies. But Gordy seems to particularly keen on pink these days so it looks like we might be all set...

GORDY UPDATE: FOOD

I offer you.... a narrative (in the form of a rant):

Friday we took a trip to the vet. I will call this vet BILL. We go way back with BILL. Which, in our case, means he's the vet in our area that we decided to go to when our little kitty (God rest his soul) became sick. BILL has a real no-nonsense attitude and at the time, we sort of liked it. He's not the friedliest dude, not the chattiest, but he seemed to want to spare us unncessary tests and diagnosed little Michael with anemia from the get go. That would be Chapter One.

Chapter Two is today.

I am very, very sad to tell you that BILL informed me that, and I quote, "Science Diet is a great food". To put it simply, this is false. And we so happen to be at so much of an impasse on this particular subject that I am considering not going back to him ever again.

Is it because Science Diet was involved in the recall? Not really. It might have been nice if BILL had even acknowledged a recall was even happening, however. And, for the record, he so didn't. Would I have felt a little better had he made this statement and then backed it up with fact or at the very least encouraged me to check the dates on the packaging? Sure. But the real issue I take with this is the fact that I am of the belief that dogs are, and you might need to sit down for this...

CARNIVORES!

Here's the list of Puppy Small Bites ingredients as they appear on the bag (and on their website):

Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Brewers Rice, Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

CORN. CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT. SOYBEAN MEAL. ANIMAL FAT. DRIED BEET PULP. CHICKEN LIVER FLAVOR... and so on. Sounds really substantial, right?

Well it's not. Corn sucks. Dogs get virtually nothing out of it and it's hard for them to digest. It's what we call "filler". Chicken by-product.... necks, beaks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines. Soybean meal... more filler. Dried beet pulp? Sugar. And the list goes on.. Sure, there are some good things the further you get into the list but keep in mind, those are listed by order of abundance...

Now you might be all, Since when are you a scientist?... and that's precisely the point. What I am getting at here is that ANYONE can pick up a bag of dog food and formulate good decisions. What we're looking for is MEAT! Be it chicken, lamb, salmon or...okay, beef.... MEAT! NOT corn. NOT rice. And even if you've had dogs all your life that have eaten total crap, that's fine. But now you're a little wiser, a little more educated, and we have this thing now called the Internet. Not to mention you're likely doubling your quota of daily number twos. Nevermind weight gain, nevermind possible side effects from all the chemicals and under regulated by-products. Hell, nevermind the RECALL. Have fun!

And on that note, it's time for some links:

www.api4animals.org
www.thedogfoodproject.com
www.altvetmed.com

Recommended foods:

Artemis
Innova
Merrick
Solid Gold
Wellness

Will we go back to BILL? We haven't decided yet. To be continued....

GORDY UPDATE: first night

We all woke up in a tizzy this morning circa 5am to a symphony of little Gordy's chicken barks. Solitude had finally occurred to him and he was so, so unhappy. I would have cried as I scrambled to put on my jeans but I was too tired. We stumbled out of our room towards his crate and the barking subsided but I still got a little sense of "Who the hell are you?" before he was charmed by the attention. We took him outside which, of course, produced no results. He'd taken care of that but moments before inside. Thanks!

True to form, he passed within minutes of us taking him in and we went back to bed for about two hours only to start over again.

Today has been a lot of peeing inside, a lot of peeing outside. The newspaper in his pen is gone because he was eating it. We have a vet appointment later to make sure all of his bells and whistles are in order and to discuss his vaccine schedule.

And let me say again: ADORABLE! IRRESISTABLE! DREAM COME TRUE!

GORDY UPDATE: DAY ONE

GORDY HAS ARRIVED!

He weighs exactly six pounds and took the trip from Ohio to Brooklyn like a trooper. And by trooper I mean slept the entire way.
We were a little torn on the name Gordon/Gordy on the way home due to the sour lemon face reactions of everyone that we told in the Columbus airport ... but hey, me and the Midwest have never agreed on much. It still seems meant to be.

So far he maxes out at about 20 minutes of activity before he requests private time in order to nap. He loves hair and loves newspaper and basically that equates to contant attempts to consume both. We're of course total fools to the mysterious ways of his pee and poop but we're confident in his ability to be wooed by treats... Oh, treats! How I love your seductive ways...