Here's mine. I've posted this on the Kitchen forum too many times now, but here it is again. I wanted it accessible, yet out of the way. The other other problem for me was tripping over the dog food bowl, so my dog is ''served'' when she eats. (It's one up from the bottom of the drawer stack.) When she's done I just close the drawer and meal time is over. Because I pour tomato juice on her her food, I wanted a place to put it that was easy to get to, so I just put it in her food drawer. (Tomato juice changes the pH in her urine, so we don't have brown spots in the lawn. It works.) Both trash bins will hold a 40 lb. bag of dry dog food. Obviously, I can't keep her water in the drawer, so I moved it to the front hall foyer which has a tile floor. She doesn't care that it isn't with her food.

I used Iams for over 17 years - then the dogs didn't seem to do so well on it any more. So 1.5 years ago I switched to Nutro dry kibble. In the month or so before the wet food recall, I noticed my dog's coats weren't as nice, they vomited on/off yellow frothy stuff, and they avoided eating it until the last moment before we went to bed. Sometimes I had to encourage them with people food on it. These are dogs that are 12, have always willingly ate dry kibble, live indoors with us, and never over eat. The vet and I attributed it to hunting dogs doing what they like to do on our long daily walks (we live in the middle of nowhere, where there are many tasty temptations on the trails). Then around the first part of March, one of mine had violent seizures for the first time in her life at age 12. There is a family history; her brother has mild seizures 2-3 times year. so mild we don't medicate for them; and I know they can spring up at any age, so truly that is the most likely answer. However, that day I stopped feeding the Nutro, and began home cooking cold turkey. That strange vomiting with both dogs ended that day (despite the fact I thought switching to such a rich home cooked diet would cause some upset). Coats sleeked back up in short order. Please knock on wood for us, but no seizures yet (I still am reluctant to connect that to the food, because of the dog family history, but need to put it out there because I do think there is something less than fatal in this food that was at the least causing the vomiting/tummy upsets. My girl had a cluster of 6 in less than 24 hours, and it took days before she was "normal", ie pacing for hours, some vision issues, couldn't sleep, wobbly legs, etc.) It was a nightmare. Then I heard about the wet food recall. I thought I was a food snob. I did ask questions, but 1) how can I know if I am not told truthful answers re QC and ingredient issues, and 2) frankly, accidents like a bad batch of X can happen - to both pet and human grade food. I don't know what to think now, except that if commercial wet food has issues with rat poison, plastics poison, god-knows-what-else is still in it that is causing problems less than death in it, too much Vitamin D (the Royal Canin lawsuit, which btw, I had tried the cat food years ago and it was simply awesome at the time, but still, they screwed up)... well, I can guarantee that as a home cooker, I can be more careful than that. I am just lucky that I can make the time to home cook - what a burden that would be in other circumstances for a lot of people. The cat would be harder to do a good home job with; so I am trying Felidae dry kibble. P.S. The store and Nutro were very stand up about taking our returned sacks of dry kibble for full credit.

We don't feed dry, but do keep some on hand for bribes or treats-a 5# sack of kibble for treats lasts a while and is much cheaper than buying the junk marketed as treats. So I won't use the start system but will point out some things to help you narrow your choices. 1. Ocean whitefish, aka Whitefish, aka Fish, aka Omega-3 fatty acid (which, for cat foods, is derived from the cheapest source possible-ocean whitefish): they're all the same, a cheap, high-quality protein used as filler in fish-flavoured foods. The group of fish is linked with cystitis in cats. Good to avoid, especially if you feed no wet foods at all. It isn't guaranteed that it will cause cystitis but if there's a potential problem why not just avoid it? 2. Carbohydrates: Since cats are obligate carnivores, why would we even think of feeding them what amounts to cattle food? Substantial carbohydrates are needed in the making of kibbled food-carbs are the 'glue' that hold the kibble together. Without that carb glue, there would be gritty powder in the sack instead of kibbles. Look for the lowest carb load. You might want to avoid grains, too, which may cause or contribute to food sensitivities. Watch out for corn (and all its derivatives), wheat, soy, oats and rice. Those first three are the biggies in the anti-grain movement. Oats and rice haven't yet been linked with problems although it seems that some cats cannot tolerate them any better than they can corn, wheat or soy. It appears that you're already trying to avoid some undesirable ingredients. Read the labels. I've provided a link to a pet food seller. I do not represent the seller in any way but have ordered from them. You can look up ingredient listings for the foods listed and make a decision based on that. It's less awkward than trying to draw comparisons in the store. Oh, and the dry food that my cats know as Very Special Treats? Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Duck & Pea. It's a high-carb food, higher than some dry, but since it isn't a staple then I'm not so worried. Sorry to not contribute to the start system, and I hope this helps a little bit. Here is a link that might be useful: Cat foods

Most drugs we use on animals ARE human meds. Some exceptions are parasiticides, heartworm prevention, things specific to animal diseases. There are very few drugs developed for the sole purpose of use in animals, and most of them are developed for dogs and cats. There is not one drug labeled for use in ferrets for example. Yet we Rx drugs for ferrets all the time. Benadryl is often used to help animals with alleriges. Again, there are not any allergy drugs specific for animals, so we HAVE to use human drugs. If you have any questions about the dose or effects, the vet is the person to ask. But I can say that benadryl is exremely well-tolerated in animals, even with long-term use. To save money just ask for the dose of whatever drug you need and shop around. You have to be careful with things like allergy drugs and make sure you purchase products that are ONLY antihistamines, nothing with a degongestant, or you will have one excitable dog with a heck of a tachycadia. But the stuff the vet sells you is just generic benadryl (diphenhydramine) and s/he may be able to sell it for less than a drug store. I give my dogs glucosamine/chondroitin now. When B'Elanna had hepatitis she got Sam-e and milk thistle on recommendation from the vet; both are OTC. I've never given a dog aspirin of any kind, because of its problems with GI ulceration; I prefer the Rx drugs for long-term use (using Rimadyl on K'Ehleyr now). BTW, Rimadyl was developed for people, but humans had too many reactions so it got sent to the veterinary market. I've given my allergic dogs chlorpheniramine and diphenhydramine. Aleks needed antacids when he was sick- Tagament/cimetidine, and a proton-pump inhibitor -Pepcid. Tatya got a couple doses of Immodium when she had soy-induced diarrhea (won't make THAT mistake again!). If your vet asks what drugs you give your pet, tell him or her everything about everything that isn't food. All the supplements, vitamins, OTC products, EVERYTHING! There are many OTC products that cause serious interactions with other drugs. BTW- if you are using aspirin on a regular basis in your dog and want to switch to an NSAID, the withdrawl time for the aspirin is 2 weeks! That means no pain control for 2 weeks while switching over. Also ANY NSAID (Rx or OTC) plus steroid= GI ulcer, I'd put money on that. So PLEASE tell your vet about ALL the drugs you give your pet, especially when the vet is going to Rx more drugs. S/he might need a reminder to avoid bad interactions.