Doggy Food Article 1- Ingredients and Allergies

Doggy Food Article 1- Ingredients and Allergies

*Disclaimer- I am not a vet (even though most all vets are not taught about animal nutrition). I am not a dog nutritionist. However, I do have experience in the dog food world!

    I have said many times that I think my dogs eat better then I do. They would def eat great if I had all the money in the world because Id be feeding them the Raw diet(which is what they are biologically programmed to eat... just like their ancestors the wolves out in the wild) However, I do not have all the money in the world so I feed them the best that we can for the situation we are put into..... You may ask,"Kim seriously what kind of authority do you have over this topic?" Well I spent a good 7 months of my life last year in the Dog loving area of San Diego working at a healthy dog food store where I read researched and sold these products... (Heck we lived on dog beach the first 2 months I was there!)

First of all a couple topics Ill go over is:
Article 1:
-Looking at ingredients in dog food
-Allergies and a yeast allergy(of which my honey bear has)

Article 2:
-The different types of food (Raw, Dehydrated, Canned, Dry)
-Useful Resources
-And other little dog food facts

Ingredients:
 Most of us tend to look at what ingredients we are eating...correct? Why would we do anything different with our lovable pups that rely on us. Like common sense would tell us the first ingredient on the ingredients list is the most abundant ingredient in the food, and then it goes down the line as far as its order in the ingredients list. We feed our dogs Turkey Zignature. So the first ingredient on the list is turkey. Therefore, that is what most of the food is made up of. The following four ingredients follow: turkey meal, peas, pea flour, chickpeas. The next is a list from a very popular in advertisement but overall a very crappy food. Im not going to name the dog food, I will tell you that its found at walmart and it is widly advertised as a healthy food its top five ingredients are: Ground whole corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat,meat and bone meal. So this dog foods first ingredient is ground whole corn. Yuck. So even though the bag says its complete and balanced... really its not. Corn is not necessary for a dogs diet. All it is is a simple filler. It really doesnt do anything for the dog nutritionally. Many dogs actually are even allergic to corn/wheat. The next component is chicken BY-PRODUCT meal.... thats even grosser. So when it says by product meal basically thats is all the yucky left over parts that didnt make the cut, aka "slaughterhouse waste."  "This stuff can contain almost anything — feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs — anything except quality skeletal muscle which is real meat". Corn gluten meal is next. "Gluten is the rubbery residue remaining once corn has had most of its starchy carbohydrate washed out of it". So basically corn is obviously a uncessesary filler, Gluten is worse. The next ingredient is animal fat. First of all if the ingredient list says "ANIMAL" and does not designate what animal... put it back and turn around and run away. This is on the same lines of by product meal except WORSE! Gosh this turns my stomach... "Since there’s no mention of a specific animal, this item could come from almost anywhere: roadkill, spoiled supermarket meat, dead, diseased or dying cattle — even euthanized livestock." The next ingredient meat and bone meal is along the same lines... you have no clue where this meat is coming from. It could be cattle, roadkill, or even lab room rats. Yuck!!! "This is a rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents." BARF! If you dont care too much about what your dog is eating and none of that suprised you or even grossed you out... stop reading this and you are a lost cause and actually you probably should give your dog to someone that does care.

  * Alot of these quotes come from www.dogfoodadvisor.com   (If you are considering changing dog foods this site is a wonderful site that goes into detail about the ingredients and alot rates the dog food!)

Allergies & Yeast:

   Allergies....sheesh! Thats pretty much what I have to say about them! I never knew that dogs even had allergies! That use to sound crazy to me. However, it is true!!!! Allergies is a immune system overreaction. My honey bear is the perfect example. When we acquired her she had alot of symptoms that aligned with having a allergy. She constantly licked her paws, she was always rubbing her ears, had a ton of discharge with eye boogers, she was constantly hot, her paws actually smelt like cheesy popcorn, and her tummy had red bumps all over it. All of those are symptoms of a allergy. Dogs can have allergies to environmental things like fleas or things around them for example grass. Dogs can also have food allergies of which was honey bears problem. We noticed that every time someone would feed her bread type things her allergies would get even worse.
   So we decided to put her on a grain free diet.(Remember grain is a unnecessary filler. It hold little to no nutritional value to dogs.)  Another great idea besides removing grain is to have a limited protein source, like kangaroo. By doing a limited protein source you can determine if the protein is what the dog is allergic too. Also, alot of dogs whom have had the same food overtime can actually become allergic to it.

•   When looking for a new protein source if your dog had a allergy I would recommend a cool energy sourced food. These proteins are: duck, turkey, rabbit,cod, chicken egg whites, broccoli, etc.
• You could also possibly try a neutral sourced engergy food: beef, pork, tripe, mackerel, salmon, sardines, tuna, catfish, yam, apple, carrots.

   Alot of her symptoms seemed to calm down to a extent. However, every time we would take her in to the vet she would have a yeast infection. (Which is a high possibility in floppy eared dogs.)  After talking to my boss and doing research on my own common sense also clicked in. Yeast are budding, spore-like forms of fungi. It is advised with yeast to get the sugars out of their diets, aka a sugar free diet. It is also advised to avoid any product containing honey, high fructose corn syrup, and even white potatoes and sweet potatoes. These things grow the yeast. Thus, we decided on a grain free potato free diet with the dog food zignature!
*If you believe your dog has a allergy or a yeast problem I would suggest you watch a few videos from Dr.Becker her website is: http://healthypets.mercola.com/
*Also, I love talking about dog food and researching it :)

Sheesh... I feel like  I am leaving things out but, little Noel seems to be waking from her nap. If I forgot anything I will put it in article 2!  <3 Kim

Gardening a Healthy Happy Marriage

Hello again! Let me put the disclaimer out that I am not a marriage therapist in any way shape or form!!!! However, I have about four different reasons to write this post. Here they are....

• 1. I am married and healthy marriages interest me.
• 2. My parents(27yrs I think) and grandparents(51yrs) have/had wonderful marriages that have set a wonderful example for me on how I want my marriage to be. I also have a few examples in my life of the complete opposite of a healthy marriage and what I will not accept in our marriage.
• 3. My husband and I recently did a marriage learning group with our church. (Of which is where the topic came from!)
• 4. I care about my marriage and my husband as my most important person on this earth.

My husband and my relationship was quite rocky in the beginning. Im not going to retell the past but lets just say we were young and dumb. We have been together since July of 2008. And I will say we did not start our relationship off on a foundation of loving the Lord together. Only recently when we moved to San Diego did we find a church we both enjoyed. My husband was raised in a Catholic family. And I was raised in the south in a very prominent Baptist area. Therefore, finding a happy middle has been quite a chore. However, we said that when we had a child. That child would be raised in a church. Thankfully we found Blount Community Church here in town and feel like it is where we are meant to be. There are families and people our age that we are enjoying getting to know.



Anywho, onto my topic... gardening a healthy happy marriage. We met with a group of likeminded married couples who were eager to strengthen their marriages.

The first day of our class we spent picking weed like many would do before you were to start a garden. The instructors gave us a list of weeds that were very harmful to marriages those being(As many as I can remember):

• Not putting the others best interest first
• Not having meaningful conversations
• Not communicating
• Dabbling in lustful images
• Gabbing to others about issues that should stay within your marriage
• Secluding yourself from your spouse
• And extended relationships with the opposite sex
• Surrounding yourself with people of whom do not support your beliefs whether religiously or marriage wise

  I think thats it.....?hmmm..... Our instructors did a wonderful job of explaining to us and using Biblical references for why and how these different weeds could and would hurt your/our marriage. Im not going to get super personal or display different little weeds in our garden, but there were a few weeds we needed to talk out and pick. It is our goal and I will say since that class it has really improved our relationship thus far. We talked it out and are better for it. I would just recommend and say if you feel like your marriage is worth it(of which it should be) I would pick these weeds. Put them to a stop. Talk to your spouse about them and get it worked out. I think we feel so much better about it

The second day of our class we spent time tending the crop. In other words we found out what our spouses top needs were. And I will just let you know I was actually suprised to find out what Christopher felt like were his top two needs. It kind of breaks my heart to think if we didnt go to this class I would have went on neglecting his most important needs. God put us there in that classroom for a reason. The top needs were:

• Affection

Greeting with a kiss. Verbalising "I care for you", "I'm here for you.” Huggingand touching non-sexual and sexual. “I love you.”

Appreciation

Noticing the things that a husband or a wife does and being grateful or complimentary. Not taking things for granted. Looking for the best rather than being ready to point out the flaws.

Approval

Recognising the special things about a husband or wife and thankinghim/her for being who they are.

Attention

Being together, doing things together. Taking time to listen, remembering to tell each other about the day. Interest without criticism.

Comfort

Sensitively showing concern at a partner’s disappointment or hurt. Taking feelings seriously. Hurting with and for another’s pain.

Encouragement

Helping a partner to keep going when enthusiasm has gone. Not rushing in to take over a task from a struggling partner when encouragement would result in the task being completed.

Respect

Honouring each other. Never putting each other down in front of others.Using humour sensitively; being willing to be serious when a joke would be hurtful and imply criticism.

Security

Knowing that security is found in strong, reliable relationships and making apriority of reminding a partner of your long term commitment to them. Doing the“little things” with consistency.

Support

Giving the message to a partner that you can be counted on whenneeded. Noticing times of particular stress and offering help. Sharing tasks.

*Credits: http://www.togetherinmarriage.com/downloads/TN_10_Relational_Needs.pdf

We were instructed to guess what our spouses top 2 were. And then we were to pick our 2 then compare. Honestly, I didnt get either of my husbands top 2. :(  He got only one of mine.  Now knowing what is my husbands top two needs I am going to try my hardest to keep his "LOVE TANK" full! I know he is doing the same also!!! I would highly recommend doing this with your spouse! Talk it over! And then even give a example of when your favorite time was when your spouse met each of your top needs!

Unfortunatly, Christopher went out of town for work (*funny its actually to fulfill one of my needs of security) and we will not be able to attend the last class together. :( However, I am so thankful that God put us in the opportunity to attend these classes to make our marriage stronger. I really feel like marriage doesnt have to be hard. It just needs to be worked on and tweaked. And ultimatly marriage is about putting your spouse before yourself and by working on it that is what your doing. I love you Christopher!!!!

<3 Kim 

My Attachment Parenting Style Part 2

Okay so we have covered bonding and breastfeeding.... The last three Bs are babywearing, bedsharing and boundary building.

Babywearing:
  I believe this kinda touches on the bonding topic.Noel just wants to be close and secure either with me or with her daddy. Babies thrive to being touched. There is research that says that these are a few of the benefits of babywearing; babies cry less, its good for the babies mental,emotional, and physical devleopment,  and it helps mothers whom may be depressed. I personally believe in babywearing just because it is easier on me the mother. (Of course I wouldnt do it if it didnt benefit my LO also!) I can do all of my house chores while carrying Noel around with me. Plus she is able to get out of the normal routine of her usal toys and gets the enjoy the comfort of being with me and gets to experience the sights and sounds all around us. She usually gets danced around and sings with me also. There are a ton of wraps on the market and of course I want the newest and coolest but I have settled for a normal old carrier that is in the picture above and I did get the infintino sash that Im so very excited about!!!!! As much as a like the stroller if you think about it its alot less trouble just to put her in her carrier then put her in her stroller and have to try to fit her inbetween aisles when shopping. Plus I like her close to me. Another plus, when there are a million people around its nice to use so she doesnt get mixed up in the hustle and bussle of things and people, plus I dont like sharing much.

Bedsharing:
  We started baby Noel off in a bassinet next to our bed.... she never slept through the night and I didnt either while she was asleep because I couldnt see her..... her next place of sleeping was in her swing.... she hated that.... thus she ended up bed sharing with us... for the first couple months of this she was put in her boppy pillow in between us because of her acid reflux. She loved this! Until recently where she has decided that she wants to sleep on her back, not propped up. So we have a inbed cosleeper bed she sleeps in until she gets hungry at around 4am. Then she comes out of that and sleeps snuggled next to me nursing as she pleases through the rest of the morning. The constant stimulant of nursing through the night actually helps keep my milk supply up. And having her close where she can just nurse as she pleases keeps me well rested. Alot of things I have seen and heard actually even from family members are; "Your never going to get her out of your bed." "Just put her in her crib or she will be spoiled." "Thats very dangerous what if you smother her." Ughhhh so annoying... I dont personally feel like I need to defend what we decide to do as parents but I will tell you my stance and my opinion. My husband and I follow the bedsharing rules Ive seen. We are very aware of the pillows and blanket on our bed and where she is all through the night. We are never so out of it that it may harm her. And we use the in bed cosleeper for the majority of the night just as a extra precaution. The first statement about your never going to get her out of your bed.... I plan on when she gets to a good age without the worry of acid reflux and such that she will get upgraded to moving out of our bed however, until that time right next to me she will stay close to me. There has been a few times she has spit up in the middle of the night and started coughing and my husband and I were right there to help her. That probably would have never happened had she been in the other room in her crib. That scares the crap out of me. The thought of just throwing in her crib involves the Cry it out method eventually and well we already know that I feel about that one. One of the things I am most afraid of is SIDS. Ugh I have read alot of research that says that by cosleeping SIDS rates go down. Thus cosleep we shall. Also, I dont like sleeping alone. My husband doesnt like sleeping alone. Heck our dog doesnt even like sleeping alone. Why would I think my little one would like sleeping alone? Ehh nah!

   *This is a picture of us attending a duck dynsty day at church. We feel that raising our daughter in church is necessary and apart of who we are. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Boundary Building:
   This is also classified as gentle parenting. This is a perfect example of gentle I found of which I do, "Parents might decide to put breakables out of reach rather than trying to teach their toddler not to touch them because they understand it would be unrealistic to expect the baby to resist touching enticing objects. Attachment parents generally would not use corporal punishment but rather provide guidance, role modeling, rewards for good behavior, and gentle punishments such as timeouts or loss of privileges, always keeping the child's developmental stage in mind." (Credits to this quote is: http://www.ivillage.com/what-attachment-parenting/6-a-127876) I want to say that I believe in this 95%. I was raised differently then this and I do believe that I swat here or there may be necessary. However, every child is fuel is functions differently. I basically want to raise my daughter to be afraid to disappoint us as parents. That is how I feel I was raised. I was raised to think about things before I did them and the consequences that would come along if I were to not follow along with what was the rules. I believe that is the way children should be raised. Holding on to that thought I believe that follows inline with the thought of providing guidance. If little Noel was to do something wrong I am not going to go off the handle and raise my voice and yell at her. I am going to get down on her level and explain to her what she did and wrong and punish accordingly. Most likely punishing will go along the lines of a time out or taking away things for a amount of time before I would ultimatly swat her on the hiney. It says in the Bible, Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This is what we believe the Bible says about disciplining your child. I also find it as a good point to point out that role modeling is a high one on my standards. I want people in my daughters life that are going to be good role models that display acceptable behaviors. For example, I dont believe that smoking is a acceptable behavior. Therefore, I am not going to greatly limit taking my daughter to be around people that smoke.

Attachment parenting is mostly about following your instincts. That is what we are doing and I feel by doing this will benefit our sweet daughter. This is my/our stance on my/our parenting style at this point. You dont have to agree or even like it but, that is our stance on raising our daughter. I hope if anything my opinion answered any question your may have at what we are choosing to do. Thanks! <3 Kim

picture credits to tumblr

My Attachment Parenting Style Part 1

                                     Our Parenting Style: Mod. Attachement

   ***Warning you may not agree with my parenting beliefs.***
     I believe that living in hippie clad Ocean Beach has worn me down to somewhat of a softie. I have worked for many years with children and I felt like I had a good grasp of what kind of parenting I was going to do when I became a parent...... Yea well the view of being a cold, hands off, pro-medicine, disciplinarian is out the window. You have to understand that I as a person before I had Noel was not a very touchy feely type of person. I use to rather have a casual handshake then a hug. Thats where my mind was with my parenting style. There would be no question that I loved my daughter but, I wasnt going to be easy going. YEAAA.....WELL..... Nah Thats went out the window with my new found role as a mommy who loves to research anything and everything. (And a stint in laid back Ocean Beach.) I call my parenting style a little bit of a modified Attachment Parenting style.

     You may ask well what the heck is that???? Alot of you reading this may actually ask that because in my area I feel kind of like the lone ranger... : / So here is the best definition I have found.

   "The term, "attachment parenting", was conceived by pediatrician William Sears and his wife Martha, to describe a highly responsive, attentive style of caring for a child. Attachment parenting promotes physical and emotional closeness between parent and child through what the Sears refer to as the "Baby Bs." The Baby Bs are bonding, breastfeeding, babywearing, bedsharing and boundary building. Attachment parenting advocates encourage parents to hold their baby often in the early sensitive weeks of life to foster bonding. Breastfeeding is promoted because it enhances the mother's natural instincts to respond to her baby through physical closeness, hormonal influences and promotion of attentiveness. Both babywearing, the practice of carrying the baby on the parents' body with an infant carrier or sling, and bedsharing, parents and babies sleeping in the same bed, provide additional opportunities for closeness. Boundary building is a discipline philosophy that entails responding to the genuine, age appropriate needs of the child and using gentle guidance. All of the Baby Bs are aimed at promoting a trusting, intuitive relationship between parents and baby through the physical and emotional closeness that makes it easier to know and appropriately respond to the baby's needs. While some people might see the Baby B's as a set of rules they must follow, they are just recommended tools that can and should be individualized for each family and parenting situation. (http://www.ivillage.com/what-attachment-parenting/6-a-127876)"

    I believe we have followed this model almost to a Tee. The first of the Bs he talks about is bonding.     

  These couple pictures are of our little Noel while still in the hospital after she was born.

Bonding:

  I think alot of people would wonder if Noel is ever going to learn how to walk because she is always being held and cuddled. The preparent me called this spoiling. :o/ The parent me calls this bonding. Its a very instinctual and primal thing. A baby being close not only helps to bond her to her parents but it is very beneficial to breastfeeding. I believe a topic that would fall into this category is the Cry it out method aka CIO. My personal belief is that a baby under the age of 1 cries because they need something. They cry because they are hungry, their hiney is wet, or they are upset and need comfort from their parents. So by letting them cry it out for whatever reason teaches them that they can not trust you for their needs. Here is quote from a article about research into this topic, "In her recent piece for Psychology Today, Darcia Narvaez, an associate professor of psychology at Notre Dame, writes that when babies are stressed, their bodies release cortisol into their systems -- a toxic hormone that kills brain cells. Considering their brains are only 25 percent developed when they're born full-term and grow rapidly in their first year, killing off baby brain cells is a huge no bueno. Narvaez notes that studies out of Harvard, Yale, Baylor and other prestigious institutions show that said killing off of baby brain cells can lead to the higher probability of ADHD, poor academic performance and anti-social tendencies, and that human babies are hardwired for hands-on comfort and care.(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denene-millner/cry-it-out_b_1163864.html)" Call me a softie or call me  wonderful mother for not letting my LO sit and cry and cry I just dont feel like with the research and my personal convictions that the CIO method is the method for us.



-Found this pic on tumblr thats where credits go to.

Breastfeeding:

 Breastfeeding is the next B, and its my favorite! Besides loving your child, I believe breastfeeding is the single most important thing you can do for your child if you want the best for them. I have fought to breastfeed my LO. However, Im saving that for a different post. This post is more about my opinion not my bio. My opinion is that breast is best. (Sorry I have a ton of pics for this topic!)

  As a pro breastfeeding mommy it really strikes a nerve when I hear another mother has went to formula either just because they didnt seek help with breastfeeding or just because(aka they dont have a reason). Im not sitting here saying your a horrible mother for feeding formula, but I am saying there is somethng better you could be doing. In my area, I feel like more mothers are choosing formula because they are uneducated or lazy. Like I said Ive had to fight to breastfeed Ive even switched pediatricians due to wanting to breastfeed. There is very few mothers that can not breastfeed. However, I have known a mother that couldnt... she is one of my close friends... she tried everything; almonds,water,mothers mik tea, lactation cookies, etc, and she could only get half a ounce out when she pumped which was not a possibility because she had to work. This is a momma that tried her hardest and it just didnt work out. Of course for this momma the next best thing is formula and I truly applaud her trying so hard to fight for breastfeeding.  However, what gets me the most is those few other people in my life whom have decided to not breastfeed because of what is best for them not their child. Dont get me wrong you have to be dedicated to breastfeeding. There is a good amount of around 6 weeks of conditioning and pain and alot of patience that is needed to learn yourself and for your baby to learn. However, the pain does go away but the foundation you are laying down for your childs future health is there forever. I know of another momma that quit breastfeeding because of the amount of pain to her nipples. :o/ Honestly, if she would have went to a lactation specialist I bet the odds were that the baby didnt have a good latch. It really makes me sad that these momma didnt find it necessary to fight for whats best. ***Please dont think I am talking down to those who formula feed their babies due to extensive reasons. I just really really do believe breast is best and that mothers should sacrifice for their LO what is best for them. Which is breastfeeding!***


-Found these on the Breast is Best site on facebook

 

There is something so special about my daughters and my time while breastfeeding. I really believe it has strengthened our bond. The feeling to see that your LO has chunky little thighs and a buddha belly due to what you have done for her by breastfeeding is powerful. I plan on BLW, delaying solids, and breastfeeding into her toddler years. (All of that will be covered in another blog) I am posting these next two pictures to show the benefit of breastfeeding as opposed to formula feeding.

-Pictures from Breast is best facebook group

I dont really believe I need to say anything else on that topic of breastfeeding vs formula until a next blog.

I also have one last picture that has a few interesting fact.

Breast is best! Fight for what is best! Sheesh that is alot..... there is alot to cover in a parenting style so I am going to do the next post on the last few Bs and how I approach them. Plus I have errands to run and it is that time! I am going to leave you with a few of my very first Nursing in Public pictures. Photo credits to Lexi Bedford!

-<3Kim



Breast is Best Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/AntiCryItOutCommunity?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/Wemakemilk?fref=ts