Carnivorous

My dog is a carnivore. His digestive system was designed to eat raw meat and raw bones and nothing else. Buzz gets sick if he is given processed dog food. He can consume sticks and vegetables and other whole food items without them causing stomach upset or diarrhea, but they come out his rear in the same condition they entered his mouth, so they clearly don’t nourish him, all he gets out of them is the joy of chewing.

The thing is, the only meat in the house is Buzz’s food. In fact, as I learn more about the dairy industry the human food in the house has become increasingly vegan. To me the connections between being good and careful with pets is extending outward to animals that are typically considered legitimate sources of human nutrition. And finding a way of eating that works so beautifully for my dog has made me realize that perhaps I can feel better if I change how I eat.

To anyone interested in making informed food choices for themselves, I cannot recommend the podcast “Food for Thought” by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau highly enough. The author is incredibly straightforward and kind—not just to the animals she is trying to protect, but also to any of her listeners that may still be eating meat and dairy.

Vegan eats for the human:

(Parsnip-Scallion pancakes + Chana Masala = yum!)

In contrast, here's Buzz with his dinner of two pig ribs.


Buzz appreciates my understanding of his carnivorous ways. “Thank you, lady”


Notice the strange, completely flat way he splays out when he eats.


The funniest thing anyone ever asked after hearing that Buzz only eats raw meat was "Yeah, raw meat, but you cook it first, right?" Ummmm....no.


Months on raw: 6
Ear infections: 0 (Amazing!!!)
Trips to the vet: 0
Choking problems: 0
Pooping Problems: 1 (after he ate all that birthday cake)

Raw feeding a dog takes a little bit of work. Most of it is at the front end of the switch, learning about what to feed in what proportion and how much of it. I was lucky when I started Buzz because I had Bruno, Vinnie, and Gino’s Capofamiglia and the Canadian Who Won’t Give Me Piper, to answer my questions and offer reassurance. I may put together a post on raw feeding information resources. We’ll see…

On pants and poopiness

Growing up, my mom had a habit of calling my brothers and I by the wrong names. Not each other’s names, so much, but by the dogs and cats names. It is understandable, I suppose, all of us being quite dear to her, but also potentially too energetic and noisy. And, lets face it, dogs are a lot like kids. The same training rules apply to both and the same sort of guidance goes out to each “leave it” “good job” “shhhh.” In fact, one of my favorite training books on dogs is actually premised on the parallels between raising a dog and raising a human child.



Which leads me to the reason for this post. If I’m relaxed and not paying much attention to what I’m saying, I’ve been known to call children “Buzz.” Usually, this isn’t really a big deal, because if I’m babysitting, the parents aren’t there to hear it and the kids either don’t notice or just think it is funny. It gets stranger when one of my goofier nicknames for Buzz comes out of my mouth;cute little girls aren’t used to being called things like “Mr. Monkey-breath.”



Well, the other day, I was hanging out with a friend and her 3-year-old


(isn’t she lovely?) While playing a game involving wands and leaping into the air, I called the little girl by a particularly unfortunate nickname of Buzz’s…“Poopy.” And of course, mom was right there when I said this. I was a little worried, but neither mother nor child seemed to notice that I had just called the dear girl by a pretty disgusting name. It turns out that the little one’s Dad refers to her almost exclusively as “PoopyDoopy” or “Poopy.” Thank doG for small favors! Perhaps I should stop calling Buzz such silly things if they are going to come flying out of my mouth while in polite company! They may cut off my donut supply!


On a related note, do you like Buzz’s pants? Long and flowy...


Well, he pooped on his pants one too many times, so he’s got short pants now.


Because Buzz doesn’t have the kind of pants you can launder!


So silly.

Reason #3 Buzz is a supermodel

While Buzz sometimes jumps completely out of the frame in an uncontrolled frenzy of photographic exaltation, most of the time he remembers Tyra Banks advice and just makes small but significant changes from one frame to the next.



A smile in one picture, a kiss in the next.

Buzz is a pretty girl.

Buzz is a pretty girl. People often assume that Buzz is a she and say things like…

“What a happy girl!”


“She is so beautiful!”


“She’s got a lot of energy, huh?”


And usually I don’t correct people, because frankly I don’t care if Buzz is a girl in their eyes, but what I find funny is how EXTREMELY apologetic people get if they figure out that Buzz is a boy. How silly. I don’t care one whit and Buzz…well Buzz says “just don’t call me late for dinner!"


Such a very pretty girl.