On May 5th, the horrible and upsetting news broke that Proctor & Gamble were purchasing the Natura Pet Food company. Word spread like wildfire online, and there weren’t too many dog parents that were happy about the announcement. Most were in agreement that Natura Pet food would not be the same once P&G took over.

From the Natura Pet web site:

Natura Announces Change In Ownership, But Not Philosophy or Commitment to Quality

You may have heard Natura expects to be acquired by The Procter and Gamble Company sometime in June 2010. By joining the P&G family of brands, our intent is that we will have more resources to raise awareness for the benefits of natural and holistic pet foods. Our hope is even more pets will then experience the benefits of Natura’s high-quality, super-premium brands.

P&G has assured us of their commitment to this business and to the people who have been our partners and our advocates over the years. We will continue to deliver the high quality products that have earned consumers’ trust.

For more than 20 years, Natura has dedicated itself to producing healthy, high-quality pet foods, and we will remain true to that philosophy. As we move forward with this change in ownership you can continue to find Natura pet foods at your local independent pet specialty retailers.

Thank you for your dedicated support and advocacy for Natura Pet foods. We have genuinely appreciated your support in the past and we hope we can count you among our valued customers in the future.

Sincerely,
Don Scott
President

My favorite is this line:

P&G has assured us of their commitment to this business and to the people who have been our partners and our advocates over the years. We will continue to deliver the high quality products that have earned consumers’ trust.

Okay, come on! Why on earth would a company that supposedly cared soooo much about pets in the past, believe the same company that destroyed other petfoods like Iams and Eukanuba? Do they think we are stupid? Or is it just that their definitions of “commitment” and “high quality” have changed?

The Natura president even released a video explaining their reasons for partnering with P&G
http://www.naturapet.com/video/don-video-c.swf

It’s laughable. They’re either delusional or plain just don’t care! I can’t imagine how they could think P&G has a commitment to excellence and animal well being. It’s truly a shame!

As soon as I heard the news, I thought, darn, okay, maybe I need to stock up on EVO kibble. I felt relieved that I just purchased a bag the previous day. But as I thought about it more, I became more and more worried.

What if even now, before the sale is even finalized, there was quality issues with Natura petfoods? How could I possibly trust a company that wants to be affiliated with such a poor pet food company. Yes, I totally understand a need to sell or find new partners, but come on, why would you pick the bottom of the bottom?

So, I returned the new bag I bought, and decided to make a clean break from them.

I have been trying to decide which route I am going to take with regards to my two ratties’ pet food. Thankfully, I only feed a small amount of kibble in the morning, their main meal is dinner when I feed commercial RAW (Bravo, Stella & Chewy)

I really would love to try Orijen, but my regular retailer doesn’t carry it, and it’s doubtful she will be able to in the near future. They manufacturer in such small amounts that they keep their retail options lower than most pet food companies. There are at least two other stores in my area that do carry Orijen, and I might look into them in the future.

In the meantime, I have a bag of Petcurean Go Natural on order from my local pet food store. No, I am not 100% convinced that this is the best brand, but I will give them a chance.

I have been using freeze dried Stella & Chewy for their AM meal, which they absolutely love, but it’s expensive. I also really would like to try Honest Kitchen dehydrated. Both are great options for when we travel!

I’ll post regular updates on how their food situation plays out.

Other Links:

• Our Dogs Online forum – P&G acquiring Natura
• Our Dogs Online – What do you feed?

Mindy is such a sweet wonderful dog. I adore her. We were outside in the yard this morning taking photos. I just love when she looks up like this. So regal.

She’s got such lady class!

Well, this is it! Last year I got all sentimental & I didn’t have the heart to let my mindyGirl.us domain name expire. I even registered a new domain name mindyGirl.com!

So one year has passed, and both domains sit unused. So, this year I am just letting go. Time to move forward. TwoRatties.com is all I need for my girls, Lexi and Mindy!

Goodbye sweet mindygirl – oh well. Gotta move on. It’s time.

Disclaimer: This post might be too graphic and gross for some. Please don’t read if you are easily grossed out.

Oh what a morning! We woke up at around 4am this morning to find Mindy compulsively licking her butt area. I checked and it was a terrible ‘hot spot’ sore (dermatitis). We’ve never had to deal with anything like this, but I remember our previous neighbor had an issue with her dog.

I dug out an old Elizabethan collar and we stuck that around her neck, but it didn’t seem wide/long enough to stop her from licking. Also, Mindy is a burrower under the covers, so needless to say, I wasn’t able to sleep, since I was worried about her trying to lick herself, even with the collar.

I was upset and ready to head to the emergency Vet, but DH calmed me down and said we should wait until daytime at least, so we all went downstairs to the family room.

I tried sleeping with Lexi on the sofa and Mindy was settled down with DH on his recliner. She didn’t seem to have any itching or licking issues, which was good! We woke up later, and Mindy seemed to be acting okay, she was a little put off by the collar. We took both girls outside to pee/poo. Mindy pooed a very small amount at first, and then pooed much more a few minutes later. It was not runny at all, very hard in fact, which is normal for her.

Both girls ate, and I ended up taking the collar off of Mindy to see if she would be more comfortable, and she did fine without it.

In the meantime, I did some online research, and found a great page: http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/hot_spots.html. The conscientious was to use apple cider vinegar, so we made up a batch of 50% ACV and 50% water in a spray bottle.

I sprayed a tiny bit on a paper towel to make sure it wasn’t too painful. (Note: there are reports that it will sting like crazy if it’s an open sore). She didn’t seem to be in pain, so I sprayed some on the sore. I kept spraying every couple of hours.

The sore on her butt was definitely oozing. It ranged from brownish to clear to brownish again.

I also tried applying black tea bags (cooled off) – no herbs or other ingredients, just tea. It stated black tea was best, and initially I only had one green tea bag, but I purchased a box of black tea at the store. It seemed to help, and I think it eased some of the itch.

I didn’t want to use any anti-biotic ointment, because I was afraid the petroleum jelly wouldn’t allow it to dry out enough. Vinegar has anti-biotic properties, so it made sense to use that.

The “redness” was definitely spread from the sore (which was right next to her anus) up to next to her tail (she’s bobbed). Her fur is short, but thick, and it was tough to see under, but there was definitely a larger area of redness, but it didn’t look infected or sore like that one spot.

It was suggested to trim the fur in that area. I tried to, I really did. I put on a latex glove and thought maybe I could trim her fur with little scissors, but it really was impossible. Her fur is so short, and we don’t have any electric clippers. I just figured I would leave it as is for now, and try not to stress her.

So, I did calm down a lot. I’m still upset, but I have a better handle on the situation. I realize it’s not a life and death situation so the Emergency Vet isn’t really necessary. Plus, it’s so expensive ($125 just to walk in), so we’re hoping to get through today and tonight, then call her normal Vet in the morning.

Why do these things always happen on Sundays, after the Vet is closed?!

Note: When we came home last night, I recall seeing some strange stains on the blanket covering the living room chair upstairs – looking back now, I think it must have been some sort of oozing discharge. And Lexi kept sniffing the chair and DH saw her sniffing Mindy’s butt area last night when they were outside. I think she must have started oozing last night, but we never noticed because she never licked herself in front of us. I bet she was licking herself for awhile on the chair when we were out.

UPDATE: I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. I didn’t know if she was going to keep trying to lick at the sore, and with the collar/cone on, I didn’t know how she was going to sleep under the covers. I was planning on sleeping with her on the sofa somehow but I didn’t know how that was going to work, since I know that she would want to sleep in the bed with DH. I started by putting towel and sheet on the sofa, and true to form, she ran upstairs to sleep in our bed instead. So, I figured I would see how she would do under the covers in bed. I was thrilled that she actually did okay. At first, I was skittish with her every move. But it looked like she didn’t even attempt to lick, so we both got a decent sleep. I gave her 1/2 a Benedryl at around 8pm, so I think that might have made her a bit sleepy too.

So, in the morning, I checked her sore, and it was a little oozing still, but not as bad. Plus I was really happy that the redness all above the sore (under her fur) seemed to be gone. I applied another couple of cooled black tea bags, but I didn’t spray on any apple cider vinegar & water mix. I didn’t know if it was stinging her, so I didn’t want to upset her.

I called the Vet and made an appointment, and we went in. The vet said it was an infected anal gland, which was what one of my Facebook friends thought! They trimmed a bit of the fur around the sore, and expressed both of her glands. He prescribed Clavamox (anti-biotic) for 2 weeks (twice daily) and Carprofen for 3 days (twice daily) for pain and inflammation. Both are to be taken with food. It was also suggested to spray warm water once a day to clean out the area. He said that it would take about a week for her to heal.

When we left it was horribly read and oozing blood and pus. It looked very swollen. The poor baby. We also left with a larger Elizabethan collar (cone) that should stop her from any licking. It’s pretty big on her head, so I am very nervous about her walking around alone tomorrow while I am at work, so I will hopefully be able to shut our bedroom door so she won’t be able to move downstairs. I just don’t want her to fall! I know she would hate to be crated, so the closed bedroom would be the best option I think.

Well, I don’t know why, but I wanted my little Lexi to sleep with us last night. She’s snuggled under the covers many times before, when I have been napping, or early in the AM, but never all night long.

It was fine, she snuggled by my belly (I was on my side facing toward the middle of the bed) and she stayed there until around 7ish this morning. Each time she woke up (three times) I told her to go back to sleep, and she settled back down. I got up out of bed around 7:20.

It’s not going to be an every night thing, but on the weekends, it might be okay. I am always worried that I will accidentally kick her or roll over on her somehow. Mindy is bigger, so she’s not a problem, but Lexi is just so tiny in comparison. But we both did okay!

Note: Mindy stayed on Mike’s side all night! hahaa

It’s so surprising how much this little girl can eat! I think our little Lexi would eat 24/7 if we let her, but what’s really amazing is that I don’t think there’s anything she doesn’t like.

Most dogs don’t enjoy leafy green veggies, but she just loves baby spinach leaves! She was begging for them today when I was cooking. And the other day, I brought home some beets and they were in the shopping bag on the kitchen floor, and she started chewing on the beet greens hanging out of the bag! Such a riot!

Awesome! Mindy went to the vet to get her nails trimmed and she is down to 13.2 lbs. She’s lean and mean!

Yay!

She didn’t like being at the vet at all today. I made the mistake of bringing both lexi and her last time and it was chaotic! I think I ruined her for good!

Lexi was still very young when she experienced snow last season, so I am not sure if she remembers it. Plus she was sick for so many months, that I don’t think she got outside for too long.

Last night, the first snow of this season fell.

Lexi was out in the yard for a little bit last night, while it was first snowing, but she stayed by the door/porch where it was drier. There was about 4 inches on the ground when we took the dogs outside this morning. Lexi went out into the yard cautiously, but she seemed okay.

I saw her pee, and while I was taking some photos, I thought I might have saw her poop, but I am not 100% sure.

By the end, I think her feet were very cold, and she just wanted in the house! I tried to keep her outside for a little bit, to make sure she didn’t need to poop, but she just wanted to go inside. Just as suspected, Lexi is not a cold weather doggy! hehee.

Mindy doesn’t mind the snow, but she hates when there’s freezing cold ice under her paws. Last night, Mike said that while Mindy was outside, she went crazy running around playing in the snow (on leash). She likes when she can kick up the flakes! I tried to get her to run around this morning, but she wasn’t in the mood I guess.

Outside today, Lexi peed then was sitting at the pine tree by the door. I noticed her and it looked like she was pooing or peeing again. Her leg was kind of “up”.

Then I realized that she was sitting down and her right leg was hurt. I immediately picked her up and held her for a bit. When I put her down she seemed to be alright. She was running around chasing her ball just like usual.

I don’t know what was up but I hope it was just a one time thing and not a problem like with Mindy.

We started a new ritual every morning. Right after we do bizness outside, Lexi is asked to “stay” at the bottom of the stairs, while I run upstairs to hide somewhere.

My favorite place to hide is right at the top of the stairs behind a GLASS door in our living area. I call to her “Come find mama” and she races up the stairs, and down the hallway away from me. It’s a riot! She can’t see me through the door, EVER! It’s really a wonderful hiding spot, because I can see her and her reactions perfectly.

Eventually, she will see me behind the door, when she’s searching through the living area. It’s so cute. Both Mindy and Lexi love “Hide and Seek” – we play with food kibble too!