Hi all and welcome to Spring,
 

 Grazing in the Grass

New growing grass.  We dogs just love it.  It tastes so, so sweet.  ‘Course we usually puke it all up after we eat it, but so what.  Mom doesn’t like it, but I can’t just help myself.

A lot of people ask Dad why dogs eat grass.  He said there are a number of theories but most likely the
real reason is that dogs just like the sweet taste of grass.  Some experts say that because dogs are descended from wild dogs (wolfs, coyotes, etc.)  who ate their entire “kill” including the stomach contents of herbivores, which has a lot of grasses in them.

My Dad thinks that dogs will eat grass to make themselves vomit when they have an upset stomach.  Other experts think that dogs aren’t smart enough to think of this by themselves.  Well Huh, we know better don’t we! 

Anyway, it’s OK when we graze on the lawn, except if you humans have just fertilized, or used a bug treatment or some other nasty thing.  This could possibly cause problems for us.

Jogging

Have you ever noticed that around here when the sun first comes out in the spring that all you humans are out jogging? It’s great to watch, especially those pretty girls in the short shorts, when it’s really too cold out for me to even stay warm.  It’s pretty funny, ‘cause the next week it rains again and the joggers are all gone again, but you know, humans never learn! 

The big problem is when you make us poor doggies run with you.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, we all love to go for walks and runs, but the first think in the spring we’re not in shape any more than our humans are.  And the worst thing is that we’re not used to it so our muscles hurt, our feet hurt, and you always make us run too far. Humans forget that we have four feet, so that a mile to you guys is really like four mile to us.  Man, there goes all my precious winter fat.  You humans forget that you didn’t take us dogs to the gym all winter like you did! 

Floyd’s girl made him go running with her on the first sunny day and that night he could barely walk.  Dad had to see him and treat him for a pulled muscle!  See, you people need to think more about the things you make us do with you.  Start us out slower and shorter distances to get in shape easier without sports injuries.

Here Comes The Easter Bunny

I love the Easter Bunny!  I love to help my kids hunt for Easter eggs. My kids get lots of treats and candy and sometimes I can sneak a candy egg! 

But like most of these wonderful holidays I’m talking about, Easter is not without problems for us four-feeted people.

Dad says every year he has to do surgery on pets, especially those cats, whom love to eat thinks out of an Easter basket. The artificial colored Easter grass is pretty and attractive but can cause blockages and even intestinal perforations.  Little Easter toys sparkle but when swallowed can cause choking, or can become lodged in the stomach and intestine and obstruct.  So as much as I hate to say this it is best to keep the Easter baskets away from us kids! 

And how about that Easter Chocolate?

Oh Boy, All that beautiful food!  I love those sweets.  Course they’re a little hard on my girlish figure, but so tasty.  I especially like to sneak chocolate treats.  Dad got mad at Mom the other day for giving me a chocolate cookie.  I heard him say that it could poison me if I got enough chocolate! 
I didn’t like hearing that!  I wish Dad hadn’t said it around me.

The less sweet the chocolate is the more toxic it is.  Toxic symptoms are more pronounced with baking
chocolate over semisweet chocolate over milk chocolate.  Toxic doses for an average 60-pound dog are as
follows:

Milk chocolate:  60 oz.
Semisweet chocolate:  18 oz.
Baking chocolate:  6 oz.

Symptoms can proceed from hyperactivity, vomiting, diarrhea, increased thirst and urination, to lethargy, heart problems, seizures and death.  If your dog eats chocolate make sure you write down exactly what kind of chocolate it was, the amount ingested (In ounces if you can get it from the package), and how much your pet weighs. Then call your pet Emergency Veterinary Clinic.

And speaking of Easter, remember those Easter Lillies.  They’re beautiful but really toxic when we [especially kitties] eat them!  So if you humans have to have Lillies at Easter, make sure we are protected from them!

Dancing Through The Flowers

Oh Boy, I love the smell and taste of those new flowers!  What a treat!  I have to sneak through Mom’s flower patches so she won’t catch me, but it’s worth it.  Ahh.

And sometimes people put cow manure on the garden, and I run out and roll in it. What fun it is!  The only
problem I have is that those chemicals humans put out taste so good also.  It’s like a field of candy! 

But I know that most of those chemicals and even some of the flowers will make me sick.  My Dad tells people to be careful all the time, especially with slug bait.  It’s a killer, and it tastes sweet to me. Why, you might just as well shoot us directly.  

Why do you make them so tasty?  Why we all love slug bait!  Its just candy!

But do you know what it does when we eat it.  It makes us crazy.  Our brain waves start going wacko, firing off indiscriminately and aberrantly.  We start shivering, salivating lakes, and feeling pretty nauseous.  It makes us throw up, have bad muscle tremors so we can’t even walk right, and before we know it we are in another world of full, continuous convulsions.  It scares people to see, but think how it scares us!

Then Dad has to use drugs to put our weird brain waves to sleep, giving us bizarre dreams.  When we finally
wake up we still have delusions, can’t really tell up from sideways, and our mouth is very dry from the drugs
used to save our lives.  Usually we are still nauseous, and often throw up a lot.  If we live through this part, sometimes we have liver, kidney, heart or other internal problems, that can last a long time or even kill us.

And fertilizer.  You all put it on our new fresh spring grass that we love to graze on.
Then we get sick!  Milder chemicals make us have anything from stomach irritation and vomiting.
Stronger chemicals of the “organophosphate” type cause more sever problems ranging from muscle twitches,
tremors, ataxia, seizures, respiratory problems and death.

Just like I like to graze on new grass, sometimes both those garden and houseplants look pretty tasty. 
A lot of these ornamental plants can be very bad for us.  Around here Rhododendrons, azaleas, daffodils,
foxglove, onion, philodendron, dieffenbachia, and lilies (especially to cats) can be a problem. 

One day my friend Floyd ate some of his older boy’s marijuana and got very, very sick.  Gee, I hope
his boy got in a lot of trouble for it. 

Check out this site on the web for a more complete listing of toxic plants:

http://www.aspca.org/site/FrameSet?style=User&url=http://www.aspca.org/toxicplants/M01947.htm       

Check out this site on the web for a listing of non-toxic plants:

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=apcc_nontoxicplants

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc_nontoxicplants

 FLEAS

Scratch, scratch, itch, scratch, it’s driving me nuts!  I hate this! I can’t sleep.  I itch all the time, and
my beautiful hair is not so beautiful any more.  Dad said I have fleas!  Fleas.  I don’t believe it.

I’m clean, and I have a fenced yard. (Ha Ha. Dad said he’s had people tell him their dog or cat
couldn’t have fleas because they had a fenced yard.) 

But my dad cured me!  He likes to apply “Advantage” on cats and dogs because it’s very effective,
safe and easy to use.

My good friend, Floyd, he had fleas so bad that he actually scratched himself raw, got an infection,
lost his hair, and had to take these big pills!  Dad told me about other dogs and cats that had
fleas so bad they got sick, anemic, and almost died! 

Ain’t it gross?

Worms 

While we’re talking about gross stuff how about worms?  And I ain’t going fishing!  Yep, we for-legged
people get into everything, from garbage to “but-sniffing”, so sometimes we get worms.  I mean intestinal parasite.  Kind of makes our tummy tickle, you know. 

But worms can be very serious and cause things like diarrhea to very bad weight loss.  I remember a
few years ago when Floyd had a case of Whipworms so severe that he actually lost 16 pounds! 
He was really weak and sick.

Bottom line is make your humans give you a wormer at least 3-4 times a year in this part of the country. 
Dad prefers a good, broad-spectrum wormer called Drontal Plus.  It kills all the bad worms and is quite
safe and easy to give.

Summer   

Well, spring usually leads to summer, and lot’s of summer fun, picnics, travel, and other stuff, so watch for my summer column to come out in
June ! 

(Dad says I better get to work ‘cause June is only a couple months away.)

More later,

Yours truly,

With belly rubs and puppy kisses,

Kati                                                                                                                                           
                                                               

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RECIPES FOR DOGS

Pet stores are full of dog treats. But did you know that you can make your own healthy treats at home?
Here are some recipes to help you find a way to your dog's heart:

BARK-B-Q

2 cups whole wheat flour

·         1/2 cup white flour

·         1/2 cup cornmeal

·         1/2 cup wheat germ

·         1/2 cup barbeque sauce

·         2 tablespoon honey

·         3 tablespoons oil

·         1 egg

·         1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix barbeque sauce, honey, oil, egg, water.   Add to dry ingredients. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut into 3 to 4 inch pieces. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F. Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

BEG-FOR-MORE PEANUT BUTTER TREATS

·         2 tablespoons oil

·         1/2 cup peanut butter

·         1 cup water

·         1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

·         1 1/2 cups white flour

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine oil, peanut butter and water. Add flour, one cup at a time, forming a dough. Knead dough into firm ball and roll to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 3 to 4 inch pieces. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

CHICK'N FINGERS

·         2 1/2 cups white flour

·         3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

·         1/4 cup chopped chicken

·         1 cup chicken broth

·         4 tablespoons softened margarine

·         1 egg

·         2 T milk

Preheat oven to 325 F. Combine flour, cornmeal, chicken, chicken broth and margarine. Form into a soft dough and knead for 3 minutes. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 3 to 4 inch finger shapes. Beat egg and milk together and apply to top of biscuits with brush. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 F for 35 minutes. Makes 24 fingers.

SPICEY TREAT-BALLS

·         2/3 cup whole wheat flour

·         1/3 cup white flour

·         1/2 cup bran

·         1/2 cup brewers yeast

·         1/4 cup wheat germ

·         1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

·         3 tablespoons honey

·         2 tablespoons corn oil

·         1 egg

·         1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat honey, corn oil, egg and milk. Gradually add mixture to dry ingredients to form a dough. Form into 1-inch balls and bake at 350 F on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes. Makes 18 balls.

 

                                                                                                                                                              
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                     Once again

                 Yours truly,
                          Kati 

                     (with help from Snowy, esp. on the goody parts)