pet care Archives - Oh My Dog!

What should I feed my dog?

01•31•14

When you write about dogs, you get tons of questions about everything from grooming to training to the best jackets/collars/treats/Halloween costumes. But the number one question I get over and over again is this: What should I feed my dog?

I used to hate this question.

This is one of the many areas of pet care that is highly contentious, and some people are extremely passionate about their preferred method of feeding. Plus, I’ve always felt like this is one area where pet lovers judge each other, often unfairly or harshly. As someone who gets very uncomfortable with confrontation, I would strive to avoid this discussion altogether.

Well, not anymore!

I now have a new answer that I stand behind!

Someone: “What should I feed my dog?”
Me: “Calculate your monthly budget, and figure out exactly how much you can and are willing to spend on dog food each month. Then, buy the best food you can for that budget.”

Ta-da!

Yep, it’s unspecific. But here’s the deal that I’ve come to embrace in many facets of pet care (and believe me, there’s more on this to come in later posts): Whether someone chooses to feed their pet raw, homecooked, organic kibble, or grocery store brand chow… the important thing is, they’re feeding their dog with love. No, it may not be what you would choose for your family. And that’s okay.

We need to step away from the “OMG, you buy brand X for your dog? I would NEVER! Here’s why it’s bad” or – even worse – “If they can’t provide the healthiest food then they shouldn’t have a dog.” Those sentiments are rampant across the internet, and at best, they make people feel bad about doing the best they can do. But at worst, those judgments and admonitions could deter someone from adopting a pet from a shelter. (“Well, I can’t afford $74.99 for a bag of dog food, so I guess I shouldn’t get a dog.”)

For the record, I feed my dogs kibble and, because of Cooper’s allergies, it is a horribly expensive bag of dog food, which is why we don’t go to the movies and our monthly date night is at Jimmy Johns. But that’s my decision for us and our budget. The food you choose to feed your dog needs to work with your family’s budget.

I don’t know what’s going on this week… Apparently, polar vortexes make me ranty. Anyway, I’d love to know your thoughts. As a super savvy bunch of pet people, I’m sure you get this question and have this debate frequently. What do you think?

Pet Care Organization Part 2: Dog stuff

10•17•13

Last week, in part 1 of the Pet Care Organization series, I talked about the best place to start with any big organization project is with an inventory and clearly defined goals. I photoed all our pet care storage and outlined my five main goals, along with the project goal of not spending any money to complete the organization. This week I tackled the first two goals:

eliminate and donate excess
put everything away so that it’s easily accessible

As you saw in the first post, it was a TON of stuff spread out all over the house. Since many of you commented here and on Facebook that you’re tackling similar projects, I wanted to share my simple steps to get all this clutter eliminated and organized!

It’s a 3 step plan:

Pull everything out of its ~~hiding~~ storage space and lay it all out in one place.
Sort it into piles of like items. One pile (hopefully the biggest!) should be “donate” items.
Put it all away!

It sounds simple – and it is – but don’t underestimate the amount of time it takes! Let me break it down for you a little bit more.

Step 1: Pull everything out of storage and spread it all out!

I brought down the box we had in our storage room, pulled their apparel out of the closet, and emptied all the plastic drawers that held dog stuff. I also got the items out of the cabinet that held their medications and bowls.

pet supplies organization — One corner of the mess. Thank goodness Emmett was there to oversee my work!

This step is so important because if you try to go room-by-room or box-by-box, you won’t get everything assembled and you won’t have a clear picture of what you really have.

Once I had everything in front of me, clear categories emerged, and I was able to move onto step 2.

Step 2: Sort it all into piles of like items.

My piles ended up being: treats, toys, grooming/medication, travel, seasonal, leashes/harnesses, apparel, and DONATE! You’ll note there’s not a “trash” pile – I think it’s incredibly important to throw away as you go so that you eliminate clutter from your visual space. Each time I encountered junk (expired medication, for instance), it went straight in the trash.

I also ended up stowing two other groups items in super accessible places. Poop bags were corralled into a vase by the back door, which is where we already kept our flashlights and paw sanitizing wipes. (And, yep, our house has a built-in telephone ledge!)

Then, I put their crunchy treats in a jar on the counter. The small jar is Newt’s. (And, yep, the house has a speckled laminate backsplash… Oh, the things I would do if we bought this house.)

Step 3: Put everything away!

Since everything is grouped together, it’s super simple to put it all away so that like items live with like items. I reused the plastic storage drawers (but no more storage tub since I got rid of so much!!) but I wanted it to look prettier. These bins live in our kitchen, which is the most used entrance of the house. So I pulled out some scrap paper and tape, and got to work! I also pulled out my trusty label maker to identify the contents of each drawer, which helps keep us motivated to put things back where they belong.

So here’s the top view of the finished drawers, decorated with scrapbook paper and labels added to the lip of the handles.

And from the front – You’d never guess that these drawers are full of brushes, flea medication, leashes, and collapsible travel bowls!

I’m super happy with the results. Everything is clean, organized, sorted, and accessible! And, I eliminated a ton of excess, which – if you’re following along on Facebook – you know I’m giving it all away to anyone who wants it later today! Stay tuned…

Next week I’m going to work through my third goal:

finalize our preparedness plans (first aid kit, hurricane kit, and so on)

Some of you mentioned tackling pet care organization projects. Did you accomplish anything this week? Anything in store for the weekend?

Pet Care Organization Part 1: The Plan

10•11•13

We have a situation over here.

As you may have picked up by now, I’m obsessed with organization. I like things to be neat, clean, and orderly. My label maker is one of my most prized possessions, and don’t even get me started on the beauty of my planner…

But yesterday, as I was attempting to locate Cortisone for Emmett’s feet, I had a realization: Our pet care stuff is a MESS! How could I let this happen?

In our Indiana house, we had a ton of storage space for dog stuff. We had a pantry that had shelves and drawers to cram it all in. Our Louisiana rental, while huge (and haunted.) has very little storage space. And, as a totally honest caveat, we have a LOT of frivolous pet stuff. I mean, if you consider a cape frivolous. Or holiday-appropriate bandanas. Or winter boots.

I digress…

So! I’ve decided to undertake Project Pet Care Organization!

I’m going to share what I do to streamline our stuff and make pet care more accessible. I have five goals:

eliminate and donate excess
put everything away so that it’s easily accessible
finalize our preparedness plans (first aid kit, hurricane kit, and so on)
get their health care stuff organized
create a plan for training (both a schedule and the physical equipment)

My overarching goal, though, is to do it all without spending a dime! I’ll share my progress as I go, and if I stumble upon any great tips, I’ll be sure to pass them along!

In the meantime, I always think organization projects should start with an inventory, so here’s where we’re starting from (I shudder to think these pics are going to be out there on the internet, but I felt like this was the most honest way to start!).

We keep their bowls, Newt’s cans of cat food, daily medications, and the odd bag of treats in this cabinet:

But their bags of food are in this other cabinet:

And then all the “stuff” is crammed into these drawers (toys, treats, monthly meds, grooming supplies, random first aid stuff, the works):

pet care storage — Emmett decided to oversee this photograph.

Our closet is half stuffed with their coats, sweaters, and – yes – costumes:

And if that isn’t enough, here’s this random box in our storage room filled with cones, a cape, and odds and ends:

Sigh. Then their healthcare stuff (I’m dreading this task):

And all that excludes their part of our hurricane box, which is supposed to be hurricane backpacks for evacuation:

Not pictured: Their toy box in the living room, the rack of leashes and harnesses hanging by the side door, Newt’s toys in the big room, the stuff actually in Newt’s room (more toys, litter stuff, etc.), and their stuff in the garage (crate, hula hoop – yep – and bath towels).

Well, that’s it. (HA! “it”) That’s where I’m starting from. Project Pet Care Organization is officially underway. To be reasonable, I plan to tackle one goal per week, and I’ll let you know how it’s going.

Tell me: Do you have all your pet care stuff organized and together? Is it scattered everywhere like our stuff? Do you need to join me in this undertaking?!?! (Come on! Join me!! If you start this week, start with a simple inventory! You can do it!)

Emergency preparedness for pets: Hurricane Edition

07•01•13

Last week I went to the public library to scope it out and get my library card. When I was leaving, I stopped at the community bulletin board hoping to find a book club or something to join. Instead, they had a stack of “Terrebonne Parish Emergency Preparedness” guides published by Homeland Security. I grabbed a copy.

This is something that’s been on my mind since we decided to move here. Hurricanes make me very nervous. So I was excited to have a practical guide – plus checklist – to put a plan in place.

And, okay, it is practical. It has a map of the evacuation routes, and it goes over some what-to-dos in case of injury, fire, and so on. I put together a shopping list so we can make our little hurricane kit, and I have a few tasks on my list (like, photocopying personal documents) to take care of.

But when I got to the checklist, I was disheartened to see this next to a check box: “When leaving pets behind, make sure there is an adequate supply of food and water.”

Sigh.

I know, for instance, that FEMA shelters do not allow pets. That’s a big problem. I also know that many people choose not to evacuate because they don’t want to leave their pets behind. That’s another big problem.

But I also know that there is not a single circumstance I can imagine that would make me leave my animals behind. And this is the part that makes me crazy: Hurricanes don’t just crop up out of nowhere (like, it seems, tornadoes do). There are usually days of warning. So part of our evacuation plan includes, you know, evacuating! When the notice first gets posted, we’re leaving just so that we can get out of dodge WITH all four animals.

Anyway, for anyone else who wants to prepare for leaving WITH their animals instead of following the FEMA guidelines of leaving them with food and water, I put together a little emergency preparedness for pets checklist that I’m using in my preparations.

Download my Emergency Preparedness for Pets checklist.

This is a flexible document, so I’d love to hear from you. How do you prepare for your pets in case of emergency? Anything on the list that I missed? Have you experienced an evacuation with your pets?

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