Sounds good to me. As what you say I said, I did not, we certainly have a failure of communication. That's true Josh some Bonsai sold do include those items. I never advocated using wood, I think this is the third time I said that. For one it's a better mulch, it breaks down too quick, it appears to tie up nitrogen, I'm just not sure that really is much of a problem? As peat and bark are also organic material breaking down. Do they tie up nitrogen? My whole point was that is wood that big a problem in potting mixes? I would not use it, but I don't think I would go to the trouble of removing all sap wood, or should I say I would not go to any trouble, as it is of little concern. It was a rather small point that seems to have been blown out like I'm suggesting using wood, never did that, please don't say I do, or did. I just found it curious if such a problem, growing in decomposing straw, or the other methods I mention should be a problem too. They count on bacteria to break down the material. Are not those bacteria tying up nitrogen? I do find it confusing. Sorry but I see no difference from pine chip to dead roots, wood is wood and both are throughout the soil, no I do not understand how they could be different? Some roots are much finer than wood chips, and will break down faster. Is that what you mean? This post was edited by Drew51 on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 15:12

Always before, the cat never bothered the dog's food, so this new stuff must taste/smell a lot better. I used to feed her dry cat food but as she got older she started doing a lot of throwing up due to fur balls. Since she tends to be on my bed when this happens, it's been worth my while to feed her canned food since she hardly ever throws it up. My problem is, I can't leave her food down on the floor till she's ready to eat it because a) it'll dry out and/or spoil and b) fat chance that'll happen because the dog will sneak in there and eat it first. When she wants to be fed she lets me know. But this morning, her food was available to her yet she had her face in the dog's dish. I wouldn't plan on letting her eat the dog's food exclusively, because of the throwing up thing, and also because of the nutritional deficits, although I wonder if she would start turning up her nose at her food if allowed to eat the dog's. But mostly, I worry about the urinary tract thing and whether eating the dog's food - in any amount - would cause her to have problems in that area.

I completely agree that growing kittens, like Muffin, need to be fed an appropriate amount of high quality food to insure proper growth. If Muffin is pregnant, her nutritional needs are even more critical and must be properly met. I do not, however, equate that with necessarily offering food free choice. It is quite easy to provide proper and adequate nutrition without leaving food out 24/7. Dustin most certainly does not need constant access to food, esp. if he has a tendency to overeat and hold too much weight. Some cats can maintain proper condition on free-feeding, and some can't. Those who can't certainly aren't being done any favors by being allowed to get fat. Lest there be any misconceptions about switching free-feeders to scheduled, portioned meals, let me assure you that my cats do NOT follow me around begging for food all day. They know when they get fed, and they eat enthusiastically at those times. I have no doubt that they'd eat anytime I put food out for them, but that is not in their best interest. I have already most likely permanently damaged the pancreases of a number of my cats by allowing them to spend years of their lives overweight. They are and always will be at increased risk of developing diabetes and other weight-related maladies, regardless of the fact that most of them are now at healthy weights. "Eating all they want" is NOT a recipe for good health in cats with a tendency to overeat. Of course if a feline caretaker is suffering from anorexia and is incapable of accurately assessing proper weight in their cats, then there might be a problem with withholding adequate nutrition from the animals and starving them, but I'm certain that is NOT what we're dealing with here. Sweetchastity's vet would no doubt be saying something if her cats arrived at the vet's office in emaciated condition, so I think we can put that issue to rest. As far as feeding homecooked meals is concerned, I'm unfamiliar with that practice so cannot speak to its potential risks or benefits. The only thing I know about cooking meat is that it tends to cook out some of the essential nutrients that then must be supplemented back into the food after cooking. That's why I have chosen the Raw Prey Model diet as the basis for my cats' evening meal. The guidelines of this diet call for raw, uncooked meat and bones at an approximate proportion of 80% muscle meat, 10% bone (never, EVER feed cooked bones to any animal - raw only), 5% liver, and 5% other secreting organ. These percentages are based on the approximate proportions of these elements in the bodies of prey animals. These proportions are not exact and allow for considerable adjustment based on the cat's (or dog's) individual responses. Also, the proportions do not have to be met at every meal, but rather should be achieved over the course of a week or longer. In other words, if more bone is fed one day, then more muscle meat should be fed the next to level things out. The only supplement I add to this diet is fish oil for omega 3 fatty acids. I do, however, utilize as many different types of meat and organs as possible (chicken, turkey, pork, beef, venison, mutton, etc.) to fill in any nutritional deficits that a particular meat may present. Also, cats can be infuriatingly finicky. They can refuse one type of meat and hope for something more to their liking at the next meal. If you spend time researching raw and cooked meals for pets, you will find endless information on an endless variety of diets. Some are cooked, some are raw, some are just meat and bones, some include vegetables and/or grains, some are based on a single meat type, some advocate variety. It can be overwhelming trying to decide what you believe is best for your own animals. That's the challenge, and good luck! As far as feeding commercial food is concerned, I firmly believe that low-carb, high protein is the way to go for healthy cats, eliminating as many grains from the foods as possible. I suspect that if you read the labels of Iams foods, they will be packed with useless grain fillers that do absolutely NOTHING nutritionally for cats. Also, canned food is much better for them than dry. I see no value or need to purchase canned and dry from the same brand, unless it's the best food available. If you want to feed commercial foods, you might want to consider Innova Evo and Wellnes Core. Be forewarned, though, that both Evo and Core (dry) are VERY calorie-dense and must be strictly portioned or your cats can become obese very quickly. Remember that my cats get only 1/8 c. of Evo dry in the morning in addition to their raw meat and bones meal at night. Laurie

Don't know about cats, but when dogs drag their ass, it usually indicates that there's some accumulation in some pockets inside their butt that's causing them discomfort and need to be evacuated - usually by hand. Another visit to the vet ... unless you want to take care of it yourself: quite likely the vet would offer instructions. You folks worry too much about inconsequentials. I was 10, with two younger brothers, when World War II started and our hired hands left Dad's fairly large (for those days) farm to participate. We had cows, horses, pigs and chickens, a number of them depositing their residues outside at least part of the time during summer, though some were confined for part of the time, even then ... but were inside full-time through the winter. We had the task of clearing out their residues, via a litter carrier running on an overhead track in the cowbarn, or wheelbarrow from some of the pens. Some of the cows and horses were in stalls, so their residue (there's a farm-style word for it: one of those "four-letter" ones) was limited to a small space, but the pigs, chickens and young cattle ran loose in a box stall, so mostly their manure was everywhere, mixed with the straw that we threw in for bedding. Except for the pigs: Dad had built plank platforms in their pens, and we threw a forkful of straw into those platforms. When we kids were running around playing, we could go into the pig pen and lie down in those strawey platforms ... as the pigs slept there, dirtied in another location, and ate at a trough at the front of the pen ... but a cow'll shi! in its own manger: pigs're WAY smarter! You can house-break a pig: don't try it with a calf! Most of our dogs ate their own poo on occasion, also ... which resulted in shrugged shoulders and laughter on our part ... and we were not in the habit of sniffing around the tail ends of our dogs (let alone kissing). I've sometimes wondered to folks who were telling of being kissed by their dogs how long it had been since the dog had been around another fog (that was *supposed* to have been "dog": I swear!), and whether it had been sniffing that dog's hind end. Farmers with animals are used to dealing with manure ... and sometimes they get some of it on themselves. Nowadays ... some city folks even choose to have toy/pet horses ... wonder in what percentage of the circumstances most of them take full care of them? ole joyful