Your Dog Food Report Card

I spoke too soon.  Miss Jessie Belle just got worse yesterday, so I made an emergency call and got her in to see her favorite Doctor.  He says she's the best little girl ever, as she bats her eyelashes at him.  I told her he says that to all the girls.  She really doesn't have bandages on her, this image is a few months old.  She's rather camera shy, this girl.

I just kept thinking it was the food.  Nowadays it seems you can't trust any of them.  Dog food is forever being recalled for it's detrimental effects.  In the old days, our cattle dogs got kitchen scraps and whatever the cheapest dog food was. We never seemed to have a problem, even when they ate dead skunks and roadkill.  We never let our dogs lick our faces.

Like us old folks however, their diet needs to be watched more closely when they get older AND when they are smaller.  After discussing everything in her life, he came to the conclusion it's probably stress related.  That's right, I not only stress out myself, apparently I stress out my dog!!  Not really.

What DOES stress her enormously are gun shots and fireworks which have been going off the last month or so.  Don't ask me why, I guess the neighborhood behind me likes big bangs, plus it's hunting season.  At any rate, that has set off a chain reaction in her stomach.  You fix that with meds and special food.  Unfortunately, very expensive low fat food!!

That's when the Vet brought out this report card.  He decided to grade dog food so people would know if they were giving their puppies good stuff or not.  He broke everything down by almost every single ingredient.  As an accountant, I can appreciate how much work THAT was.  He put it all on a spreadsheet, including the cost of each brand.

He found that the better the ingredients in the dog food, the higher the cost.  No surprise I suppose.  Here is his latest scaled down version report card as of January 2018.  Prices may vary depending on what part of the country you are in.  Miss Jessie of course, is now living in the upper crust with Royal Canin (THE most expensive) dog food.  She's the Queen and deserves the best.

It's from Europe ... England ... and the one that will soothe her stomach.  Those British have got dog food down to a science.  I wasn't too far off with B rated Iams and her dry food from the A list.  Grades however, don't account for taste, and she refused to eat it.  We have now moved on to Science Diet.  My dog food bill is going to rival MY grocery bill.

So basically, the cheaper the food, the lower the quality, the lower the grade.  If your food isn't listed, look on the bag for the fine print to see who actually made it.

With some pills, something from a tube and new food, Jessie seems to be better already.  She ate her bowl clean this morning, a good sign.  So far, it doesn't appear to have anything to do with her cancer.  YAY for no more cleanups in the kitchen aisle.

In the meantime, I seem to be having a little trouble with the quilt block challenge.  Trying to take my own advice, I've scrolled through hundreds of posts to find the solution.  Yay ... found it!!  I have to take it all apart and start over.  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!!  Right now, I'm going to go snuggle up with Miss Jessie.  And Cooper of course.

I've also got two new recipes to tell you about.  Won't THAT be fun!!