Re: litter wrap up - barf

["Carol Jackson" <thejacksons@dellnet.com>]

Gina:
>From this family in Sandy, OR, you have no idea how thankful we are to you!!
You took on so much with these guys, could have taken the easy route and
threw down garbage puppy food and said "who cares, they will be gone soon".
But you didn't.  You gave our babies your heart and soul treated them with
so much respect and love.  I know that is why they are much easier than a
dog from a backyard breeder.  They have always been treated with respect, so
it is easier to be kind back to the humans around them.  You truly exceeded
your motto of, Temperament and trainability go paw in hand, I never really
thought about that until Hunter came home. But fits so well.  Thank you for
everything again.  You are the best!! you have taught me so much in the last
6 months since I met you. I will forever be grateful for the beautiful baby
you gave us.

Sasha is tapping me on the shoulder, she wants to thank you for saving her
life.  (for those of you that don't know, Sasha came on a visit with us to
Gina's house and after one look at her she diagnosed her with a Thyroid
problem.  I knew she was overweight, 93lbs.  I had taken her in for this
problem but the vet said not to worry.  So with Gina's suggestion we found a
new vet, he agreed and did a blood test.  She was right on, Sasha was put on
medication and in two months has lost 15lbs and is enjoying life a whole lot
more)  One more reason why we send Gina a HUGE HUG.

This note is from Hunter, Grandma Judy are you on this list????? Please give
my dad a good scratch for me and tell him "Happy Fathers Day", I know I
inherited my passion for sticks from him.  Mom got mad at me last night, I
jumped in her friends pond after one!!!!  I decided the water was great so I
stayed in and swam around for a while.  Good thing too, she was laughing
when I got out. I got that stick thats all that mattered to me. -

Well, I better go before you hear from the cat and everyone else too (the
cat would say come get him we don't want him)

Thanks again
Carol and everyone
----- Original Message -----
From: Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>
To: <Raw_Diet_Golden@egroups.com>
Cc: <brierpups@fast.cs.utah.edu>
Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2000 10:32 AM
Subject: litter wrap up - barf


> Hi All,
>
> The " moon dust" has settled here and all the "moon" puppies are now well
> on their way settled in their new homes scattered around the country
except
> our TRiX who is staying put. :-) Meet her and her litter mates/cousins at:
>
> http://www.briergoldens.com/sprite_scarlette_litter_pa.htm
>
> I wanted to share some of my experiences with all of you with the trials
> and tribulations.  I ended up giving in and feeding the puppies kibble/
> modified barf after they all got ill.  We got giardia for the first time
> ever in a litter.  You may recall I was looking for help when I thought
> that I had muffed up the diet with too much ground meat and to high of
> fat.  I even wrote Dr. B who did respond.  Never dealing with giardia in a
> litter before and the pup's not really going off their food eating chopped
> RMB's with gusto I missed the symptoms which I am told are refusal to eat
> among other things.  Hind sight is such a great tool...  These guys had
> rotten stools and we did a litter collective check and treated for
coccidia
> and/or other parasites (nothing was seen in the collective sample but
> sometimes you do have coccidia and not see it or I have...)  Albon  did
> apparently sooth things as the stools firmed back up but after treatment
of
> 5 days they went loose again ( treat for 10 days always).  My vet was very
> much in the loop and while they are not versed on raw feeding they have
> been supportive.
>
> Because the puppies were really active and eating I just kept beating my
> head on the wall and kept going....  Dr. B's advise to me given what I
told
> him  was to go to strictly RMB's cut out all the ground because it is so
> high in fat.  I did that and things cleared up for a day or two, only to
go
> back to icky again.  No one ever refused food or appeared sick till 6
> weeks, which was about 10 days into the bad poop beginnings.   We had one
> puppy who really got sick and did stop eating.  My vet told me when we
> brought him in he thought this guy had some sort of a congenital problem
> such as he out grew his kidneys...  His blood work was in the toilet and
> did indicate renal failure as well as we did get a positive for giardia
via
> Eliza test.  We hydrated him, force fed him and just babied him
> along.  At  8 weeks we repeated the work ups and things were on an up
swing
> but not right... At 10 weeks we repeated his works ups and he was normal,
> thank goodness...  Though he is not the best eater still and has gained
> weight slower than the rest of the litter.  He was not small at birth,
> these guys all weighed exactly 1 pound at birth with the exception of 1 at
> 15 ounces...  Mom was barf fed.
>
> With the majority of the litter we were able to get the giardia under
> control with in 5 days of treatment but we treated for a full 10 days.  I
> had a couple that took a bit more "work" as in they are not the eaters
that
> the rest of the litter are... At 11 weeks now everyone expect Hogan the
pup
> noted above and his sister Riley are "back" on food, most a modified raw
> diet with no problems eating every bit in seconds.  Riley and Hogan are
> still a bit picky as in they eat a few bites and walk away come back
> ect...  Both are gaining weight and looking good but the giardia really
> took it's toll on them as well as the Metronidazole did, Panacur did not
> work, though we tried.  Hogan just went home Friday at exactly 11 weeks
> with my vet's blessing and he is doing great.  These two are also on
> modified barf getting some raw meat and veggies mixed with kibble.  Again
> as noted in my post to Melaine on her bitch not eating I have noticed
these
> guys also want nothing to do with poultry.  They will eat ground beef,
> liver ect but no ground turkey or chicken??? Weird???  TRiX on the other
> hand will clean up a chicken neck or wing in seconds, she never has
refused
> any foods...  She is a porker, 11 weeks and on a reducing diet! <LOL>
>
> Anyway why I ended up giving in and going back to feeding the litters dog
> food was for several reasons:  One being I was so frazzled and concerned
> about Hogan and the rest of them too I just ran out of time.  I literally
> was doing nothing but caring for dogs and puppies from well before sun up
> to well after 10:00 PM daily.  Now don't get me wrong I am dedicated to my
> dogs and always put 120% of myself into litters and the care of the new
> families, Deb Mc Fail, Carolyn Elliott and Linda Shipman all list members
> here can attest to that.  But something had to give...  Most of my litter
> families were wanting to go raw and were reading and trying to work
through
> things but were also leaning on me hard not only for diet help but lots of
> other things as well as in this group of 12 families we had several
> "special needs" families.  Ie: had never had a dog before or had been
> years, or had had dogs with problems previously...  High maintenance
> group...  Great group all willing to learn and receptive to all the info I
> do put out ect, but still just high maintenance...   Also as things
evolved
> for me concerns on interpretation of the diet from each family and their
> capabilities to actually not muff it up and create problems as their
> puppies grew also became a big concern.
>
>   At the same time all this was happening our dear Rocky has been
diagnosed
> with his cancer metastasizing  to his lungs.  He is doing really well
right
> now we are hopeful he will at lest enjoy the summer but beyond that were
> not being hopeful.  Rocky is off BARF and on dog food too as he won't
touch
> raw anything right now...  To top it off SeaJay has been injured in a
field
> accident and we are to the vet on a daily basis for bandage changes. He
> really got his left front foot tore up and pads take for ever to heal and
> infection is major concern with the type injury he has sustained.  He is
> out of action my vet says till probably October/November...  In essence
you
> can equate his injury to getting a foot caught in a steel trap though it
> was not a steel trap but was sharp rusty metal...   Ugg more than my fair
> share...
>
> Now that I have given you all eye strain I want to contribute to the list
> from my hind sight:  Some ideas for the future for me at least...
>
> Raw feeding of litters is great!   But be better prepared than I was.  I
> did make up meals in advance but no where near enough of them.  Besides
> making meals up for your planned litter make up easy meals for your own
> dogs and uh your family as well.  Something I did not do.
>
> If you have a waiting list of people in line for up and coming litters get
> them started reading NOW on the diet and everything else that comes with
> puppies. *Now*  even if the litter is a year out...  I did have a list and
> I did encourage them to read well ahead but not strongly enough
> maybe.  Know that as the time draws closer to when your going to be so
busy
> with care of the litter and if any thing like giardia or cancer or injury
> does happen to you and I sure hope it doesn't  from the bottom of my black
> little heart, your going to have to tell some of these people that if they
> don't get this program it's best they just go to dog food until you can
> mentor them with a clearer frame of mind.
>
> Make sure you have a vet who is at least supportive of the diet.  I think
> it best to find a vet who really believes in the diet though and am
> currently in search of one for "part time help".  I love my current vet
and
> will continue to use them but as I do use a re pro vet at times, I now
know
> I need a holistic vet too.
>
> Hope this helps.  I have copied my own Brier list group on this so let me
> take a minute to say while I am calling you guys needy to some degree some
> of you have been <smile>.  I would not trade anyone of you in your all
> GREAT, and this raw list is too and if your incline to want to learn more
> lurking here is highly encouraged but know you have had to do some reading
> and research on your own before you apply for membership.
>
> Gina
>
>
> Gina & George Heitz
> gina@briergoldens.com
> http://www.briergoldens.com
> Brier Golden Retrievers, where temperament and train ability go paw in
hand...
> And home of one great GSD Tollhaus Hobby's Heart "Haus" meet his family at
> www.24kgsd.com
> Current litters are at:
> http://www.cs.utah.edu/~stoller/newpups/
> http://asoros.tripod.com/rocket.html
> http://www.briergoldens.com/sprite_scarlette_litter_pa.htm
> Our rescue boy at:
> http://www.cs.utah.edu/~stoller/torrey/
> *copyright on all communication reserved. Distribution of communication
> denied.*
>
>
>