I'm Still Here

I know my mommy hasn't posted in a very long time, but I just want to let you know that I am still here.  I'm 13 years old and have been cancer free for 4.5 years now.  I can't run up and down the stairs like I used to, but I still have lots of energy, and people still call me a puppy.

I've been sleeping a lot now that I'm older, and I sleep in odd places.

For example, I like to use the sliding door base for my pillow.  My body is outside, but my head is inside.

I also like to sleep with my head stuck in the small hole between the couches.  It makes me feel like I'm hiding and nobody can see me. 

Budwig Diet & Quark

I had Stage II Mast Tumor in October of 2011 and it was surgically removed successfully. 

To make sure that the cancer doesn't come back, my mommy has been doing several things. One is making me home cooked dog food, and the other is making me Quark as part of the Budwig Diet.

Quark is made from Flaxseed (or Linseed) Oil and Cottage Cheese.  You are supposed to use cold pressed, liquid flaxseed oil, but my mommy uses capsules.  She takes about 2 cups of the cottage cheese and opens up 5-6 capsules of the flaxseed oil which looks like this:
There's one more really important step which is to use the immersion blender and mix both ingredients for about 1 minute. 
Then, it looks like this.  It looks more like sour cream and this blended mixture is what helps to fight cancer.

From the Budwig website: 
Cottage cheese and linseed oil in your blender the fat becomes "water-soluble" and thereby immediately available for use by the body. In this manner, the necessary "spark plugs" are provided for cells to "breathe", optimally detoxify and function, even more so when additionally combining the flax oil cottage cheese mix with an optimised sugar-free diet devoid of respiratory poisons

It's supposed to be made fresh daily, but my mommy makes a batch and gives me about 2 Tablespoons per meal and keeps the rest in the refrigerator.  I like it and it also gives me my daily calcium. It's been used for humans as well as dogs and cats. Happy healing!

http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/pet-cancer-cure-testimonials.html

Troll Under the Desk

 My mommy is always on the computer since she works from home a lot, so she sits at the desk all day.  I like to go under the desk with her and she calls me a "Troll".  That's me under the desk sticking my head out.  I like to go under there because it's like my own little house. 

I even sleep down there and take up all the room so my mommy has to move her feet somewhere else. 

I also use the bottom of the chair as my very own pillow.  It's not a soft pillow, but it will do since I'm a troll. 

Home Made Dog Food Recipe

 My mommy makes me home made dog food every 2-3 weeks because it's much better than the commercial dog food.  Here are the steps.

She uses whatever veggies that are on sale at the supermarket.  She also uses left over veggies that are used for the humans.  Make sure to use all parts of the veggies that you would usually throw away for humans - like the leaf of the cauliflower, core of the cabbage, and the stems of the bell peppers.

 Today, she is using cauliflower (99 cents a pound), green and red bell peppers (3 for $1), old cabbage, bag of frozen spinach (99 cents), ginger, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 pound of ground beef ($1.99), and 3 pounds of chicken breast ($6).
Too much garlic is bad for dogs, but garlic naturally deters fleas, so a little bit is ok. 
 
First, boil the ground beef until it gets brown, and then drain.

Then, boil the chicken breast until cooked.

We're also using a can of chunk light tuna (77 cents) and 1/4 pound of liver.  You should add some sort of offal (heart, liver, etc), and if you look in the meat department, you will often find them on clearance since most people don't like them.  Get them for clearance and then freeze it until needed.  This was $1 for a pound.  Cook the liver the last 5 minutes of the chicken. 

You also need some sort of grains.  But, most commercial dog food manufactures use corn or wheat, which are BAD for dogs.  When is the last time you've ever seen wild dogs eat corn or wheat?  The manufactures use them because they are cheap fillers.  Dogs were not meant to eat grains, so cheap grains may be the culprit to dog cancers.

Check your dog food ingredients and make sure that the first 3-4 items are NOT grains like rice, wheat, or corn. 

Use low glycemic grains, and we mostly use barley for it's cheap (find

them in bulk at Sprouts or Whole Foods for about 99 cents a pound).  

Here is about 1/2 C; rinse it well and then boil it in the same liquid that you boiled the chicken in.  Add some minced ginger (3T) and boil for 1 hour until the barley is soft.  

Cool the chicken and the liver and then cut them into small pieces. 

You can use whatever meat that you find on sale.  Sometimes, we use all beef, chicken, pork, fish, or mixture of all of the above.  I go straight to the meat clearance section and see if they have anything on clearance.  If not, beef or chicken is usually on sale for $1 - $2 and I get 3-4 pounds.


Roughly chop up the veggies including the garlic.  You have to break the cell wall of the veggies (remember that from Biology class?) and lightly cook the veggies because dog's stomach doesn't have the acid to break down the cell walls of veggies.  If you don't, they just come right out the other end.  Have you ever given your dog a piece of fruit or veggie and then saw it the next day whole, undigested in their poop?  It's cause your dog's body could not break it down, so it just passed it right through.

 So, steam the veggies in a little bit of water for about 5 - 7 minutes.  I usually just put it into a pot with about 1/2 C of water and then stir it around every 2 minutes or so.

Combine the meat and the veggies and viola!  You're all done!

I put the food into small plastic containers and then freeze it.  I've found that after 5 days in the frig, it starts to go bad, so portion it so that you only have 3-4 days worth in the refrigerator while everything else is in the freezer.  Hint: use finished containers of yogurt and cottage cheese. 
One batch makes about 3 weeks worth of food for me, but I do still give him very high quality canned dog food (like EVO, Whole Earth Farms) and I use dry dog food (like Taste of the Wild) as treats.  He also gets multi-vitamins, Vitamin E, and enzymes. 


Remember that it doesn't have to be perfect.  Your dog will eat the barley if it's overcooked or if the chicken is dry.  No need to use salt or pepper and the veggies don't have to be uniform in shape.  They will be grateful for whatever you give them!

Here is Ripley licking the bowl.  This is his favorite part.
He's been cancer free for almost a year now, and I think that home cooked, healthy food is one of the reasons!

A Bike That Goes Nowhere

My dad put this bike that goes nowhere near the window.  He goes on the bike for a few minutes and then says, "Whew, that was a workout!" 

The funny thing is that he's pedaling with all of his might, but he doesn't move at all. 


We have another bike that's in the garage and he rides that outside and I get to run next to him on the street.  That bike is fun! 

But this bike, it doesn't go anywhere.  I stare at him when he's pedaling and I wait and I wait, but it doesn't move an inch.  This bike is no fun. 

Soft Like a Teddy Bear

 My mommy's bday was yesterday so I got a grooming as part of her gift.  They called Dashing Doggies Mobile Groomers again since they were so nice to me last time.  I like the fact that I don't have to wait in cages and they come right to my front door!
http://www.dashingdoggies.com/


Here's my front, and here's my back. 

My grammy thought she could cut my butt herself but she gave me a bowl cut so the professionals cleaned it up for me.  I was ashamed walking around the neighborhood with my bowl butt.  The other dogs made fun of me when they came to sniff my butt. 

Now, I'm clean and even.  My mommy said that I was soft like a teddy bear.  That's a human equivalent of my monkey.  I love my monkeys so I guess that's a good thing. 

Digging to China

I like to dig on the carpet before I lie down.  I don't know why I do it and I can't seem to stop.  Every time I do it, my mommy asks, "Are you trying to dig to China?  You don't want to go there.  They're Communists and they eat dogs." 

I hope I don't go there because I'm a Republican and not a Communist.  Go Elephants!