Gyroscopic Investing

Hal wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 11:41 pm Farside comic...

Funny. That's what I think when I see humans.

Think you would like this link Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw3MdwjPyHA

Have to get that first dog toy

Hal wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 1:19 pm Think you would like this link Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw3MdwjPyHA

Have to get that first dog toy

That is SO cute. My plan is to get a Shiba Inu when I graduate school and get back to working full-time!

Miso on her way to Costco.

Some ideas for Miso after you go shopping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ClAcPWjTOM

ps: I could just see my mother doing this. She treated the collies same as her children.

Hal wrote: ↑Sat May 23, 2020 3:36 pm Some ideas for Miso after you go shopping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ClAcPWjTOM

ps: I could just see my mother doing this. She treated the collies same as her children.

Lol Miso is already so spoiled... this would just spoil her rotten!

She's a little too curious for her own good. I remember the first time Miso met Lily. Miso was just curious but Lily swiped and hissed at her like crazy. Almost caught a good scratch from Lily right on her snout.

Happy first birthday, Miso!!!

Smith1776 wrote: ↑Thu May 28, 2020 2:32 pm Happy first birthday, Miso!!!

You're a nutcase Smith!
Great picture.
Mark

Looks very happy
What did Miso get as a present?

So adorable! What's the cake made of?

My cats get a can of Friskies for holidays and birthdays. Their all time favorite treat, the equivalent of going to kitty MacDonalds.

The cake is pretty much the gift haha. She shared it with her twin sister on the big day. The base of the cake is natural peanut butter, coconut oil, pumpkin mash, honey, unsweetened apple sauce, eggs, and of course flour. The icing is plain Greek yogurt and peanut butter blended together!

Here are some more pics of her birthday!

Those are some goddamn adorable dogs.

Kriegsspiel wrote: ↑Fri May 29, 2020 3:43 pm Those are some goddamn adorable dogs.

I seriously can't get enough of Shibas. When I see one I totally flip out and have to pet it.

WiseOne wrote: ↑Fri May 29, 2020 12:42 pm So adorable! What's the cake made of?

My cats get a can of Friskies for holidays and birthdays. Their all time favorite treat, the equivalent of going to kitty MacDonalds.

I'll have to let mine know about that. Between the three of them they eat four cans of Friskies a day! When I took them for the annual visit last year and I told the vet that they at that time were regularly eating six cans a day, she was shocked that they were eating that much food. And, were not overweight.

Food has to be on their plate when I go to bed and by morning one or two of them is waking me up to get more food on the now empty plate.

Vinny

Friskies isn't very nutrient dense. It's cheap on a per can basis but a lot more pricey when you calculate by daily costs.

The raw food I feed my cats is more nutrient dense. My cats are big, 14 lbs and 11 lbs, probably equivalent to your 3. Between them, they eat ~8 oz a day. When I compared this to the cost of canned foods, I was surprised to discover that raw food is generally cheaper, despite its premium price. And especially when you consider the savings on litter due to the small odorless poops. I HATE cleaning up their poop after they've had a can of Friskies...icky.

WiseOne wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 8:59 am Friskies isn't very nutrient dense. It's cheap on a per can basis but a lot more pricey when you calculate by daily costs.

The raw food I feed my cats is more nutrient dense. My cats are big, 14 lbs and 11 lbs, probably equivalent to your 3. Between them, they eat ~8 oz a day. When I compared this to the cost of canned foods, I was surprised to discover that raw food is generally cheaper, despite its premium price. And especially when you consider the savings on litter due to the small odorless poops. I HATE cleaning up their poop after they've had a can of Friskies...icky.

I spent a fair amount of time researching cat food. And, I think Friskies ended up like 3 stars out of 5 stars nutrition-wise.

The main thing I got out of that research is that due to cats having a normal low thirst drive feeding them dry food is asking for later kidney problems, a problem, unfortunately too many of my cats ended up with who were fed all dry food diets.

I started feeding these three cats the Friskies cans rather than the dry food that they'd been eating and they just about have stopped drinking water, getting all their water from those cans.

I buy 20# bags of kitty litter for $4 or $5 each and I go through about one a week. I'm surprised how little I find in them for how much that they eat. And, there is a lot of moisture in them from eating those cans of wet food. I detect a lot of smell from urine but not from other, which is well covered with litter.

My three cats are each in about the 10 lb range. Maybe 9 lbs to 11 lbs? I'll know for certain if I follow through with their annual visit in another month.

They are collectively eating 22 ounces a day -- about 7 1/3 ounces each - at a total cost to me of about $2. With zero food preparation or time spend acquiring the food since I know have Amazon automatically delivering 144 cans each month.

Another item my research revealed was that seafood is not for cats.

Finally, when I first sent to Friskies I bought just about every single different flavor that they had and kept an Excel worksheet of how long it took them to eat each flavor so as to determine which they preferred. Out of that I now feed them four different types.

Vinny

I might be hopelessly out of date, but is there a reason you don't feed your pets fresh food?
Or is it that canned food is much better in the US?

We used to feed the dogs fresh chicken/fish/rabbit or fish mixed in with vegetables.
Believe it or not, the dogs used to jump up and pick fruit off the trees in the orchard, and it was rather funny when they first tried out a lemon

As an aside, our collies coats improved dramatically when we fed them some powdered kelp which is available from farm stock suppliers.

Hal wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 3:31 pm I might be hopelessly out of date, but is there a reason you don't feed your pets fresh food?
Or is it that canned food is much better in the US?

We used to feed the dogs fresh chicken/fish/rabbit or fish mixed in with vegetables.
Believe it or not, the dogs used to jump up and pick fruit off the trees in the orchard, and it was rather funny when they first tried out a lemon

As an aside, our collies coats improved dramatically when we fed them some powdered kelp which is available from farm stock suppliers.

The cats have ZERO interest in the food that I eat! As do probably most people here!

Vinny

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 4:26 pm The cats have ZERO interest in the food that I eat! As do probably most people here!

Vinny

Ok. I laughed. Well played.

Hal wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 3:31 pm I might be hopelessly out of date, but is there a reason you don't feed your pets fresh food?
Or is it that canned food is much better in the US?

My parents always got our dogs dry dogfood, and they hated when we'd feed them other stuff or when they scrounged something wild (our second dog was a much better hunter-gatherer). They both would get diarrhea when they ate a lot of random.

We used to feed the dogs fresh chicken/fish/rabbit or fish mixed in with vegetables.
Believe it or not, the dogs used to jump up and pick fruit off the trees in the orchard, and it was rather funny when they first tried out a lemon

As an aside, our collies coats improved dramatically when we fed them some powdered kelp which is available from farm stock suppliers.

I don't think I'd be feeding a dog fresh chicken breasts, but I suspect if they ate a varied diet all the time, they wouldn't have problems with it.

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 4:26 pm

Hal wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 3:31 pm I might be hopelessly out of date, but is there a reason you don't feed your pets fresh food?
Or is it that canned food is much better in the US?

We used to feed the dogs fresh chicken/fish/rabbit or fish mixed in with vegetables.
Believe it or not, the dogs used to jump up and pick fruit off the trees in the orchard, and it was rather funny when they first tried out a lemon

As an aside, our collies coats improved dramatically when we fed them some powdered kelp which is available from farm stock suppliers.

The cats have ZERO interest in the food that I eat! As do probably most people here!

Vinny

As I recall your diet is mostly plant based, right? That could certainly explain it!

Whenever I cook meat, my cats come running to the kitchen and stare right at me as in: hey, give me some of that. I end up cutting off little pieces for them. They love it. It's kind of convenient actually because they get the pieces with gristle and such that I don't much care for.

The commercial raw food ends up being ~$3/day so I guess Friskies wins in that department. However I also feed them supplemented grinds and fresh chicken giblets (get these locally) that are quite a bit cheaper, so that cuts the cost some.

I'll also admit that what I do requires planning and a bit more work than opening a can. On the other hand, I don't have to lug boxes of cans from the mail room or cart them down to the trash room, so maybe it ends up roughly comparable.

I do spend a bit more than you on litter but that's mainly because I want to avoid using clay. It's not so much for environmental as safety reasons - I am not a fan of breathing in clouds of silica dust. That stuff can damage your lungs over time.

WiseOne wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2020 11:38 am

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 4:26 pm

Hal wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 3:31 pm I might be hopelessly out of date, but is there a reason you don't feed your pets fresh food?
Or is it that canned food is much better in the US?

We used to feed the dogs fresh chicken/fish/rabbit or fish mixed in with vegetables.
Believe it or not, the dogs used to jump up and pick fruit off the trees in the orchard, and it was rather funny when they first tried out a lemon

As an aside, our collies coats improved dramatically when we fed them some powdered kelp which is available from farm stock suppliers.

The cats have ZERO interest in the food that I eat! As do probably most people here!

Vinny

As I recall your diet is mostly plant based, right? That could certainly explain it!

Whenever I cook meat, my cats come running to the kitchen and stare right at me as in: hey, give me some of that. I end up cutting off little pieces for them. They love it. It's kind of convenient actually because they get the pieces with gristle and such that I don't much care for.

The commercial raw food ends up being ~$3/day so I guess Friskies wins in that department. However I also feed them supplemented grinds and fresh chicken giblets (get these locally) that are quite a bit cheaper, so that cuts the cost some.

I'll also admit that what I do requires planning and a bit more work than opening a can. On the other hand, I don't have to lug boxes of cans from the mail room or cart them down to the trash room, so maybe it ends up roughly comparable.

I do spend a bit more than you on litter but that's mainly because I want to avoid using clay. It's not so much for environmental as safety reasons - I am not a fan of breathing in clouds of silica dust. That stuff can damage your lungs over time.

You recollections are correct. For the food I buy I am eating vegan in my house. On the rare times when I bring home some leftover pizza (with cheese on it) all three cats are quite interested in that. Two of them have surprised me, though, by being interested in eating peanut butter. I've been a HUGE peanut butter eater my entire life and I think these two are the first ones I've ever seen eat peanut butter.

Those boxes from Amazon get delivered in front of my garage and it's a short distance from there to this room. I do spend, though, a fair amount of time washing them, putting them in bags, and then recycling them But it's been a HUGE time savings to get them delivered direct from Amazon rather than spending all that time buying them at the supermarket.

And, here is what I do with the used litter. I throw it out my front door!

I used to have this huge bush in front of my living room picture window. I removed it several years ago and have not yet replaced it. So, all that used litter goes into that spot. Eventually it breaks down into being quite dirt-like. It's been drilled in me that one is to never use used kitty litter in a food garden. But it seems like it is "free" fertilizer for either planting flowers or, someday, some replacement bush.

Vinny

it’s amazing to me that our cat never begs. Cries for her own meals early, yes, yet never harasses us for people food. We did catch her noisily eating quinoa once, but if she dares to jump on the counter, it’s nearly always to steal twisty ties.
(oop this is the dog thread. Apologies).

Do all dog people know and agree with this?

"Please note: Xylitol should not be given to animals—particularly not dogs. There are many human foods that are dangerous for dogs—grapes, chocolate, and raisins, to name a few. Xylitol is another of these foods, and it’s best kept away from animals."

I'm not sure I was completely aware. What are the foods not named above that are dangerous for dogs?

Vinny