4/3, Susie, 237 AMPS

Summer and Susie (GA)

Summer and Susie (GA)

Member Since 2020
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/thr...o-the-vet-for-blood-work.245602/#post-2771503

"Bad Night At Black Rock". My sweet foxhound got really sick last night. Legargy and stumbling. I thought about taking her to the Emergency Hospital but decided that maybe she just ate something bad and it would pass. Woke up at 2:45 am to check her and she was almost como-like. Eyes open but wouldn't move. I finally got her up and could see that she was worse so my Mom and I took her to the ER around 3:15. Dr. did blood work and a blood pressure check. She couldn't find anything wrong and was ready to send her home. Kali was almost falling over sideways and I was shocked the vet thought she could be discharged. We opted to hospitalize her for 24 hour observation. I think she had a reaction to her heartworm medicine (Trifexis) or got ahold of my other dogs heartworm medicine too (a double dose). I put it in their feed bowls but should have watched to make sure they both ate their own. Anyway, between Susie at the vet yesterday and Kali at the hospital this morning I am out $1,200. I told my Mom this morning that I would probably be rich if I didn't have pets. Then I said "I am rich in heart". There is nothing we Moms would not do for our children.

Susie has had a couple of bad days. The extra food on Thursday and the vet appointment yesterday have really thrown her glucose out of control. Hoping to get back to "normal" today.
 
I'm so sorry to hear all of what you're going thru with your furbabies! It's tough isn't it? Where's the pet insurance we all need? For me it's way too late with all of Luci's pre-existing conditions and her age...

Sending get well wishes to your entire household!! :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Sue and Luci said:
I'm so sorry to hear all of what you're going thru with your furbabies! It's tough isn't it? Where's the pet insurance we all need? For me it's way too late with all of Luci's pre-existing conditions and her age...

Sending get well wishes to your entire household!! :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
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Thanks, Sue. I actually have pet insurance on Kali but it is accident only. Kali is pretty young. Only 5 1/2 and I couldn't afford the illness insurance too. She is an escape artist and that is why I have the accident insurance. I'm so afraid she will get out and get hit by a car.
 
So sorry about your pup, Summer. Sending vetty vines your way.

Summer and Susie said:
I will definitely keep a log of when she throws up and what she has eaten. Do you have a recipe of what you feed Ruby? Just curious. I probably cannot afford to make it.
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Dr. Pierson has a whole section of her website devoted to homemade food for cats that has inspired many many people to make their own food for their cats: https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/

I feed Ruby ground boneless meat mixed with EZ Complete by Food Fur Life, a meal completing powder that has vitamins and minerals such as taurine to balance out the nutrients. The most economical way to do this is to buy ground meats from the supermarket and mix in the supplement. I experimented at the beginning by buying ground turkey for Ruby from the supermarket. You just have to make sure to look at the label to make sure there isn't anything additional injected in the meat and that the sodium levels are low. I figured that if I spent $1.99/lb for the meat and bought a bag of EZ Complete, it would cost me $30-40 per month to feed Ruby. I was spending more buying her Weruva foods. I'm now having frozen raw meats shipped to me from raw pet food purveyors so that I can get more novel proteins like bison, venison, and duck for her to try and see if we can address her inflammation, and this is indeed more expensive, but so far she loves her raw diet and walks away from low carb commercial food (she still gobbles up her MC and HC foods when necessary!).

Here is the website for Food Fur Life, which is a great resource for transitioning your pets to raw. https://www.foodfurlife.com
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
So sorry about your pup, Summer. Sending vetty vines your way.



Dr. Pierson has a whole section of her website devoted to homemade food for cats that has inspired many many people to make their own food for their cats: https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/

I feed Ruby ground boneless meat mixed with EZ Complete by Food Fur Life, a meal completing powder that has vitamins and minerals such as taurine to balance out the nutrients. The most economical way to do this is to buy ground meats from the supermarket and mix in the supplement. I experimented at the beginning by buying ground turkey for Ruby from the supermarket. You just have to make sure to look at the label to make sure there isn't anything additional injected in the meat and that the sodium levels are low. I figured that if I spent $1.99/lb for the meat and bought a bag of EZ Complete, it would cost me $30-40 per month to feed Ruby. I was spending more buying her Weruva foods. I'm now having frozen raw meats shipped to me from raw pet food purveyors so that I can get more novel proteins like bison, venison, and duck for her to try and see if we can address her inflammation, and this is indeed more expensive, but so far she loves her raw diet and walks away from low carb commercial food (she still gobbles up her MC and HC foods when necessary!).

Here is the website for Food Fur Life, which is a great resource for transitioning your pets to raw. https://www.foodfurlife.com
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Thanks for the info and the links. Sounds easy enough with the ground meat mixed with EZ complete. Do you ever try to add any veggies? I don't think Susie would eat them but just a thought. Will the EZ complete tell me how much ground meat to add for each meal? I'll look it up.
 
Summer and Susie said:
Thanks for the info and the links. Sounds easy enough with the ground meat mixed with EZ complete. Do you ever try to add any veggies? I don't think Susie would eat them but just a thought. Will the EZ complete tell me how much ground meat to add for each meal? I'll look it up.
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We started following Dr. Pierson's recipe as well and i have to say Chico is thriving on it, if Susie is sensitive to some foods definitely cooking for her is a great idea. Dr. Pierson discourages buying ground meat directly because of risk of contamination, she recommends buys chicken or turkey thighs, bake them for 15-20 min and then ground it but I guess any raw meat is better than commercial food in case of GI issues.
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
So sorry about your pup, Summer. Sending vetty vines your way.



Dr. Pierson has a whole section of her website devoted to homemade food for cats that has inspired many many people to make their own food for their cats: https://catinfo.org/making-cat-food/

I feed Ruby ground boneless meat mixed with EZ Complete by Food Fur Life, a meal completing powder that has vitamins and minerals such as taurine to balance out the nutrients. The most economical way to do this is to buy ground meats from the supermarket and mix in the supplement. I experimented at the beginning by buying ground turkey for Ruby from the supermarket. You just have to make sure to look at the label to make sure there isn't anything additional injected in the meat and that the sodium levels are low. I figured that if I spent $1.99/lb for the meat and bought a bag of EZ Complete, it would cost me $30-40 per month to feed Ruby. I was spending more buying her Weruva foods. I'm now having frozen raw meats shipped to me from raw pet food purveyors so that I can get more novel proteins like bison, venison, and duck for her to try and see if we can address her inflammation, and this is indeed more expensive, but so far she loves her raw diet and walks away from low carb commercial food (she still gobbles up her MC and HC foods when necessary!).

Here is the website for Food Fur Life, which is a great resource for transitioning your pets to raw. https://www.foodfurlife.com
Click to expand...
What is Ruby's weight? Looking at "Making a Batch" with the EZ Complete, based on Ruby's weight, how much do you feed her at a time and how many times a day would you feed her this? If all of that info in on the packet I can read it myself. Or maybe it is all mentioned in Dr. Pierson's link which I haven't looked at yet.
 
thebigfuzz said:
I have a dream, that human insurance companies, or employers will one day offer a pet insurance option to their policies. One can dream right? :p
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Yes, one can dream, Tanya. I just wish I had enough money to buy both the accident and illness insurance for all my pets. It is just to expensive when you are living on a limited income. I pay about $24.00 for Kali's accident insurance - a month. If I were to have added illness it would have been about $64.00 which may not seem like much to some people but for me it was. Heck, I can barely afford my own insurance premiums and my deductible is "sky high".
 
Summer and Susie said:
Thanks for the info and the links. Sounds easy enough with the ground meat mixed with EZ complete. Do you ever try to add any veggies? I don't think Susie would eat them but just a thought. Will the EZ complete tell me how much ground meat to add for each meal? I'll look it up.
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You'd need to invest in a small digital kitchen scale. You can mix up to two lbs of meat with a scant ½ cup of EZ or 1.5 oz of meat with a scoop (comes with the bag). I usually mix one lb of meat at a time because my freezer space is at a premium and use ¼ cup EZ with it. Instructions are on the website and the bag. It's about as easy at it gets. Cats don't need vegetables and the carbs wouldn't be good for Ruby or Susie but I do add fiber, usually powdered pumpkin these days, into the food to help with Ruby's constipation.
 
Summer and Susie said:
What is Ruby's weight? Looking at "Making a Batch" with the EZ Complete, based on Ruby's weight, how much do you feed her at a time and how many times a day would you feed her this? If all of that info in on the packet I can read it myself. Or maybe it is all mentioned in Dr. Pierson's link which I haven't looked at yet.
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Dr. Pierson recommends starting to feed 3-3.5% of the kitty body weight, you will have to "correct" the amount based on Susie's weight change.

We feed Chico 176g per day, divided in small portions. It would be good to start with a single source of protein and gradually change to others. The idea is to identify the proteins she won't be allergic/sensitive to. We fed Chico approx 3 weeks chicken, now we changed to turkey (which works better) and so on until you identify what doesn't bother Susie
 
Summer and Susie said:
What is Ruby's weight? Looking at "Making a Batch" with the EZ Complete, based on Ruby's weight, how much do you feed her at a time and how many times a day would you feed her this? If all of that info in on the packet I can read it myself. Or maybe it is all mentioned in Dr. Pierson's link which I haven't looked at yet.
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Ruby weighs about 12 lbs. I feed her between 4-5 ounces of food a day, depending on her appetite, divided into 4-6 small meals a day, 2 or 3 in the AM and 2-3 in the PM. See my Remarks on my spreadsheet. Sometimes she only wants to eat 4 meals. It varies from day to day and I try not to freak out if she's eating more or less on any given day. She knows what she needs.
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
Ruby weighs about 12 lbs. I feed her between 4-5 ounces of food a day, depending on her appetite, divided into 4-6 small meals a day, 2 or 3 in the AM and 2-3 in the PM. See my Remarks on my spreadsheet. Sometimes she only wants to eat 4 meals. It varies from day to day and I try not to freak out if she's eating more or less on any given day. She knows what she needs.
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You are so lucky, i have the feeling that if we gave Chico 20% more food per day he would eat it all )))
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
You'd need to invest in a small digital kitchen scale. You can mix up to two lbs of meat with a scant ½ cup of EZ or 1.5 oz of meat with a scoop (comes with the bag). I usually mix one lb of meat at a time because my freezer space is at a premium and use ¼ cup EZ with it. Instructions are on the website and the bag. It's about as easy at it gets. Cats don't need vegetables and the carbs wouldn't be good for Ruby or Susie but I do add fiber, usually powdered pumpkin these days, into the food to help with Ruby's constipation.
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Thank you, Katherine.
Butters & Lyla said:
Sending healing vines for all your sick furbabies:bighug:
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Thank you, Lyla. My pup is better - according to the hospital. I'll bring her home early tomorrow morning. I also have featherbabies. An African Gray parrot and a visually impaired duck along with his siblings that hang in my front yard and have since they were born. They come to their surrogate Mom for food (me).
 
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Marina & Chico said:
We started following Dr. Pierson's recipe as well and i have to say Chico is thriving on it, if Susie is sensitive to some foods definitely cooking for her is a great idea. Dr. Pierson discourages buying ground meat directly because of risk of contamination, she recommends buys chicken or turkey thighs, bake them for 15-20 min and then ground it but I guess any raw meat is better than commercial food in case of GI issues.
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But then you have to buy a meat grinder, don’t you? And I wouldn’t want to grind up bones because of the extra phosphorus. I guess I could buy boneless
 
Oh, Susie, I am just catching up now on the board and see what happened with Kali. That is scary. I feel your pain about the vet bills, too. I’m glad about Kali coming home and about Susie’s blue!!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
But then you have to buy a meat grinder, don’t you? And I wouldn’t want to grind up bones because of the extra phosphorus. I guess I could buy boneless
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I actually have a mechanical grinder, which made the investment that much smaller and yes, you can grind the meat and then add the Fellini complete in Europe (i think it is called Yez complete in US), like this you avoid having to add bones.
 
Margaret (and Pearl) said:
What a scary day, Summer! Any word on how Kali is? I am sorry Susie has also had a rough couple of days - Pearl can really relate. Maybe it's something in the air, truly. Yes, we truly are rich in heart :bighug:
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Thank you, Margaret. Kali is fine and they sent her home early. She is a wild dog and they probably could not handle her. I had to laugh when they called 12 hours early and told me to come get her. Susie and I are looking forward to a quiet week where we can get her back on track. Blessings to you and your pretty kitties. Happy Easter.
 
Marina & Chico said:
I actually have a mechanical grinder, which made the investment that much smaller and yes, you can grind the meat and then add the Fellini complete in Europe (i think it is called Yez complete in US), like this you avoid having to add bones.
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I'm going to call to see if they can send me a sample packet of EZ Comfort. I don't want to spend $54 on something she will not touch. I'll probably just go to my local butcher for ground turkey and/or chicken. Don't want to deal with the bones or a grinder.
 
Summer and Susie said:
I'm going to call to see if they can send me a sample packet of EZ Comfort. I don't want to spend $54 on something she will not touch. I'll probably just go to my local butcher for ground turkey and/or chicken. Don't want to deal with the bones or a grinder.
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The grind meat is good for mixing the EZ in it but you can try to give her pieces with the mix as well, she might like the new texture. Chico likes his chunks as well
 
Marina & Chico said:
I only know one thing about Georgia: its a swing state :D

so are you just considering to change to home made raw food or you already feed some kind of raw?
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Unfortunately, Georgia did become a swing state in the last election.

I am not feeding raw yet. The last time I tried feeding freeze dried raw commercial food to my cats, they all vomited it up every time I fed it to them — so I gave it up. I’m thinking perhaps I can save money and also increase the quality of my cat food by making my own cat food. I keep toying with the idea, but just haven’t taken the plunge yet. So I like to read about what other people are feeding their cats and how they prepare it.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Unfortunately, Georgia did become a swing state in the last election.

I am not feeding raw yet. The last time I tried feeding freeze dried raw commercial food to my cats, they all vomited it up every time I fed it to them — so I gave it up. I’m thinking perhaps I can save money and also increase the quality of my cat food by making my own cat food. I keep toying with the idea, but just haven’t taken the plunge yet. So I like to read about what other people are feeding their cats and how they prepare it.
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I am so sorry your cats vomited the dried raw before. You can try to introduce it slowly, maybe it would go better. If you intend to use EZ complete it is really very simple, healthier and much cheaper than canned food, no downsides really.
 
Marina & Chico said:
I am so sorry your cats vomited the dried raw before. You can try to introduce it slowly, maybe it would go better. If you intend to use EZ complete it is really very simple, healthier and much cheaper than canned food, no downsides really.
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But you say there is more risk to buying the pre-ground meats? Those pre-made freeze-dried raw diets are very expensive anyway, and I'm looking to save money.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
But you say there is more risk to buying the pre-ground meats? Those pre-made freeze-dried raw diets are very expensive anyway, and I'm looking to save money.
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The idea from Dr. Pierson is that by buying the pre-ground it is a higher risk of bacterial infections, the pre-ground is prepared with the purpose to be cooked not eaten raw. If you buy a muscle then you can bake that for 15-20 min at abt 170C and have it still raw inside but making sure you don’t have the surface bacterias. Here is a link to her recipe if you want to read more abt it.
 
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