Scared About Dog Treats

I assume most dog owners know about the recent report from the FDA in regards to reports of illnesses and deaths associated with jerky pet treats from China.  If you haven't you should read this. 

Some brands of jerky treats have been pulled from the shelves.  They are Milo's Kitchen Chicken Jerky treats, Chicken Grillers, Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch dog treats.

Personally, I am wary of ANY chicken related treats especially as of late.  In the past week, my Chihuahua Pokey has been vomiting several times.  We called our Vet and they told us to give her a tiny bit of Pepto Bismol and don't let her eat for 24 hours.  We had a hunch that either her food was causing her to be sick or the dog treats that she eats.  After the 24 hours, she ate dog food and no treats that day.  She was fine the next day.  The following day, we gave her some treats.  The day after that, she was vomiting again.  Needless to say, we stopped giving her the treats and she has been fine since.

My mom told me that she was giving her dogs Milo's Kitchen chicken jerky and one of her Chihuahua's was having spells where she would lose consciousness.  She took her dog to the Vet and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.  After they took the Milo's Kitchen chicken jerky off the shelves, she obviously stopped giving them to her and she hasn't had a spell since.

With that said, my dog's weren't eating any of the treats that were pulled from the shelves.  This is what they have been eating for years.  

and

My other dog's don't seem to be effected by this at all just Pokey who will be 12 years old in April.

Now, I am completely scared to give my dog's any treats at all.  I don't know what is safe and what isn't.

A couple of months ago, we were thinking about switching to Blue Buffalo treats since our dogs eat Blue Buffalo dog food.  They use all natural real meat in their food.  After further review, we found the treats they offer are really expensive.  When you have 4 dogs that can really add up.

I am so confused about what I should do.  I am even thinking about making my own treats to be completely safe.

I just wanted to share my story.  Please be careful of what you are feeding your beloved pets.  They are a part of our families and need protected.

How To Make a Dog Shirt Out of a Baby Shirt

 

My dogs have more clothes than I do, no lie.  We buy at least 4 or 5 new sweaters, hoodies or T-shirts every year.  We are pretty limited to buying them at Walmart.  The selection can be pretty same old same old.  So I decided to look in the kids department at Walmart to see if I could find something cuter that I could customize to fit the dogs.  Here is what I came up with.

 



I found this onesie and had to have it.  We love skulls on anything.  The shirt was only $3.50.  All you need to customize it are scissors, black thread and a sewing machine.

First, cut off the onesie part with the clasps.

Then cut a little bit off of the sleeves.  They were a tad bit too long.

You can see in this picture that I sewed in three areas.  On the inside of the shirt, I made the sleeve a little smaller.  I also sewed 2 parts of the shoulder to make it less saggy and sewed the onesie flap down.  That is it.

Bubby gets to wear it this week because her birthday is in a couple of days.  So here she is modeling her new long sleeve shirt.  We love the look of long sleeves on her.  It kind of looks like pajamas.  I will definitely try this again with other kids clothes.

The Dog Bedroom

Today we are going to take a look at the dog's bedroom that I promised to show you.  Yes, our dogs have their own room.  When you have 4 dogs, you kind of need a room for them and all of their stuff.

The room has tons and tons of storage.  The green polka dot drawers on the bottom contain their dog food and the top drawer has cleaning supplies for pet stains. The boxes in the center house a variety of things like Halloween costumes, party dresses, T-shirts, hoodies, leashes and their medicines.

This dresser with the upholstered top is a window seat for them.

Here they are enjoying it.

The crates are their individual rooms.  This is where they stay when we leave the house.  Sid and Geno sleep in there at night as well.

There is even more storage space behind the doors of the wardrobes.  Mostly household items, but also contains their sweaters, coats and grooming supplies.

These steps allow the dogs to get up onto the window seat.  Here is the toy box that I blogged about here.  

The room is very comfortable and inviting to them.  It warms my heart to see them sitting up on the window seat just sleeping away or just watching what is happening outside.  The storage in the room is organized and it is very easy to access anything they might need.  This is by far my favorite room in the house.

I would love to hear about your dog's space and/or how you organize your pet's stuff.  Please leave a comment about it.  Thanks for stopping by.

DIY Doggy Toy Box

Hey guys!  Sorry I took a little break from the blog.  The weekend around the 18th, my husband and I celebrate our anniversary of meeting each other every year.  Also, I decided to start remodeling our kitchen last week and have been painting pretty much every day.

Today, I am back to show you how to make a toy box for all your dog toys.  If your dogs are like ours, they have tons and tons of toys.  Now you can put the toys in a stylish box that goes with your room decor.



I posted this over at If It's Not Baroque (my interior decorating blog).  Please click on the link above to view this simple tutorial.

I will be back tomorrow to show you the room where the toy box is.  It is the dog's bedroom so to speak.  So please stop back tomorrow to check out their room.

20 Doggy Halloween Costume Ideas



Here are some of the cutest Halloween costumes for dogs.

 

 

Chia Pet

Hula Girl

costumzee.com

 

Bag of M&Ms

costumzee.com

 

IPug

 

Mummy

family-vacation-getaways

 

Katy Perry

 

cheaperthanashrink

 

Freddy Krueger

 

thefancy

 

Case of Beer

 

thehydrant

 

Headless Horseman

 

Lady Gaga

Costume Kingdom

Spider
 

 Two Tuttles Four Paws

Flower Cart

Squiddo

Snooki

Big Giant Dog

Punk Rocker

Squiddo

 

Construction Worker

Waggit

 

Scuba Diver

Freeduh

 

The Dog Whisperer

hgtv

 

Tank

Trendrabbit

 

Hippie

Statesman

 

Spaghetti and Meatballs

mydisguises

 

Aren't these dogs the cutest?  People are so creative.  I would love to dress up all our dogs and go trick or treating.  It would be total chaos I am sure.  Will you be dressing up your dogs this year?

 



Dog Treat Recipe of the Month ~ Pumpkin Peanut Butter Biscuit

I have never made dog treats at home before.  We were running low on Milk Bones so I decided to make some instead.  I came across a recipe on the Internet for Pumpkin Peanut Butter dog treats.  That sounded like a good fall treat for the doggies.

Here is what you need.

 
2 cups flour (whole wheat flour can be used unless you dog is sensitive to wheat)
1 cup Oats
1/4 cup peanut butter (you can substitute with organic peanut butter with no sugar added if you don't want your dog to have sugar)
1/3 cup pumpkin
1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Mix together until it becomes dough like.

Roll dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap.  Place in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Later on or the next day, take the dough out of refrigerator and dust counter with flour and roll out your dough.

Use your dog bone shaped cookie cutter to cut out the treats.  They should be about 1/2 inch thick.

Put on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Let cool before serving.

Taste test time.

Bubby wanted to hide hers at first, but she eventually ate it and seemed to like it.

Geno (the boy who eats lettuce of all things) did not like these.  I think it may have something to do with the texture.  He is a strange dog.  If he doesn't like the way it feels in his mouth, he won't eat it.

Sid ate hers and seemed to like it as well.

I gave Pokey her bone last because she is very picky.  I thought for sure she wouldn't eat it at all.  But she ate the whole thing and seemed to really like it.

So, I think the pumpkin peanut butter treats were a huge success.  Would you make these for your dogs?  If you do, let me know how it goes.

Stay tuned for a new recipe every month.