PetFlow: Pet Food Delivered on Your Schedule

So, I'm the resident dog food freak. I get it...crazy, but my dogs definitely have better nutrition than I do. If I look at a food or treat ingredient list, and don't see words that look like the type of food that you or I would buy at the grocery store (e.g. duck, chicken, rabbit, potato, carrot), my dogs aren't getting it from me.

I got my first Westie from a backyard breeder, and as most Westies not professionally bred, she had every allergy in the book. Food allergies are one of the worst, because as anyone who has a dog with food allergies knows, you'll find a food that works, then after a couple of years of smooth going, suddenly, the scratching, the chewing, and out comes all the hair.

I had to educate myself about canine nutrition out of necessity, and luckily, my vet at the time was a fantastic resource. After I had exhausted about everything out there, he suggested that I try the old BARF diet. As unappetizing as it sounds, for us it worked, and I became a true believer. About every 6 or so weeks, I'd take a Sunday, grind meat, fruit, veggies, offal, and all the other ingredients, and freeze enough single portions of food to last her. As a result, all of her skin problems, ear problems, scratching, and misery were gone for the remainder of her life.

We have very healthy youngsters, but now that our dog to human ratio is 2.5:1, home making dog food is a little overwhelming. If time and money were no object, I would probably continue to make the raw diet at home like I did for so many years. But you know, with a full time job and 5 times the mouths to feed, for us, it just isn't feasible. Plus, food selection is different than it used to be, and honestly, there are a lot of great and convenient options. We use biologically appropriate raw kibble, but I still make treats at home.

So, because we have to buy about 60 pounds of dog food every 6 or so weeks, we're trying out this service called PetFlow. The idea is that you can set up food delivery on whatever schedule you choose, and PetFlow automatically ships the grub. The service is available for dogs or cats. There are no commitments and you can change the service at any time. It's kind of like the book of the month club, except it's dog food, and you've told them exactly what you want and how often.

They carry a very comprehensive variety of food, and surprisingly carried pretty much everything we use. As far as price, it was about a wash for us. We blend food because I like a large variety of protein sources, and a couple of the bags were $2 or so less and one was $2 or so more. The shipping is flat rate, $4.95 regardless of quantity, although signing up today got me a free shipping deal, but the absence of sales tax did cut the price back down to slightly cheaper than what I'd buy in the store.

One of the most attractive aspects of it for me though is the fact that we don't have to make special trips out to haul the 60 or so pounds of food from the shop to the car, and from the car to the house. I believe this will be a huge time and energy saver for us. I have learned that a lot of people don't place that huge a premium on their time, but we have no choice, and having dog food show up on my door on a regular schedule should be a huge convenience. I'm pretty happy about the find, but if it sucks, I'll let you know.

Canine Revisions

As I posted earlier today about the Facebook account for Dog V2.0, I mentioned the remaining revisions of dog currently inhabiting YPS Manor. I realize I have not explained the current revision levels.

In the beginning was Dog. Dog, after almost 14 years of faithful companionship, passed away. Shortly thereafter we acquired Dog V2.0. In October of last year, we rescued Dog V2.5. As she was only half the size of 2.0, she didn't get a full rev. She had 4 puppies, of which 3 survived.

Dog V3.0 has serious stability issues due to the inclusion of the poultry visionary feature, otherwise known as "Ooh, look, a chicken!". The phrase ADHD was invented to apply to people like Dog V3.0, but it works for him just as well.

Dog V3.1 is an improvement on 3.0 in that the stability issues are mostly sorted out, but the brain rarely engages. V3.1 prefers to charge through life engaging his brain as an afterthought. This causes an entirely different set of stability issues, but they're minor compared to 3.0

Dog V3.2 is the most stable of the bunch, so he gets the highest rev level. He is the smartest and sneakiest of the latest generation. He and 3.1 are engaged in an intractable and unwinnable struggle.

We have a lovely case of dog sibling rivalry going on. 3.1 feels he should be dominant over 3.0 and 3.2, since 3.1 is the largest of his generation. 3.0, being distracted by, well, everything, cannot hold on to the thought of dominance long enough to establish it over anyone. 3.2 feels, somewhat correctly, that dominance is not always determined by size alone and has decided he will submit to 3.1 about the same time hell freezes over if not a few years after the ice floes appear in Gehenna. Plus, 3.1 and 3.2 just don't like each other much.

Anyhow, that's the state of the dog at YPS Manor. More content when I get more motivated.

Facebook Related Filler

I'm going to claim heat exhaustion as my excuse for no posts for 3 weeks. It's totally plausible, right? Houston, summertime, heat. I can't see why anyone would doubt me.

Anyhow, in lieu of posting substantive, or even interesting, content I give you a link to a discussion of people having Facebook accounts for their pets.

I bring this up because J made a Facebook account for Dog V2.0. (Dogs V2.5, V3.0, V3.1 and V3.2 have no accounts as of yet) At last check, Dog V2.0 has more friends on Facebook than I do. Feel free to draw your own conclusions about the grander meaning of this fact. I would probably include the phrase "anti-social bastard" in there somewhere, but do what you like.

How Many?

So, being a bit amiss in keeping up with my book series, I note the new Robert Jordan & posthumous collaborator book will be out soon. I also note instead of a final volume, we will get a final 3 volumes, bringing the grand total up to 15 volumes if you count the prequel.

15 volumes, each the size of The Lord of The Rings. Seriously, was all the verbiage necessary? Surely some editing could have trimmed it all down to a more manageable number. Deleting the endlessly repeated bromides on women vs. men would have been a great start.

Anyhow, 4 also answers the titular question in regards to dogs. We will have 4 puppies if all goes well.

New Indeterminate Residents

Well, in and amongst all the fuss and furor, I have neglected to mention the latest residents of YPS Manor. After UH beat Tech last Saturday, we got up early in the morning and drove to Carrollton to do some dog rescue for the local breed club. J and I had been discussing getting another dog for some time, and we decided to keep one of the 6 rescue dogs we picked up. So we now have Dog V2.0 and Dog V2.5. The newest dog doesn't get a full rev level, since she's only half the size of V2.

Then the vet called. Dog V2.5 is pregnant with an indeterminate number of offspring. So we are expecting Schrodinger's puppies in roughly another 2 weeks. Once we collapse the waveform and figure out just how many puppies we have, we'll figure out what to do with them.

Bad Presents

I stayed home from work today due to profound gastro-intestinal distress. While I was lying in bed half-asleep, the Dog V2.0 hopped on the bed and started whining softly. I opened my eyes to see him staring at me, holding something in his mouth. I fully opened my eyes and sat up to see what the hell he had in his mouth. Dog V2.0, upon seeing he had my full attention, wagged his tail vigorously, dropped his burden, and hopped off the bed.

Leaving a dead bird on the sheets.

Thanks. Way to cap off an already shitty morning, junior.

Weekend Fun

So, in my slovenly and slothful blogging habits, I have neglected some recent events. Most recent was the Friday night ruckus at the new, improved, statelier YPS Manor. Dog V2.0 came nose to nose with one of these. Yes, a 1 pound snake versus a 20 pound dog. This ended in a draw. Had the referees allowed the match to continue, I'm not sure who would have taken the title. Dog is bigger and theoretically more capable, but has no concept of actual physical agression. He is completely baffled when other canines respond to him agressively, so I'm sure the snake confused him as well. Instead, we separated the combatants and relocated the snake with the help of a pair of welding gloves, a plastic box, and a short trip to the vacant lot behind the new subdivision.

I picked up Thomas Keller's Under Pressure a week or two ago. It has a somewhat singular distinction of being the only cookbook I've purchased recently that has made me feel dumb. I don't have any formal culinary training, but I read a lot of cookbooks. Keller's book is the only one where on average, once a recipe, I find myself going "WTF is that?" in regard to some ingredient, technique, or equipment. I don't know how quickly I will be able to utilize any of the techniques for sous-vide in the book, but it's fascinating nonetheless.

Bitter, Bitter Irony

Once again, the loathsome people over at PETA have crossed my radar. Apparently, being concerned about the number of euthanized animals, PETA decided to upset pet owners through an ad in Dog Fancy magazine. Call a number to receive a free gift for your new dog, and PETA will send you a body bag for your canine friend. Why?

"It is shocking and it is a way to get into people's heads, but we are in crisis and it is time to pay attention to how we can stop millions of animals from being abandoned and euthanized," said PETA spokeswoman Melissa Karpel.

Umm. Yeah. Would this be the same PETA that killed 90% of the animals it received in 2007? That PETA? The irony would be breathtaking if it weren’t so sickening. I realized I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m going to keep hammering the point. I find PETA to be a disgusting bunch of maladjusted morons who have no more idea of how to act ethically than my dog does. Actually, my dog probably acts more ethically. Whatever else he may do, he’s never hypocritical and he doesn’t rack up a body count in the thousands every year. That’s a lot more than PETA can say.

Beep

Today is the 50 year anniversary of the little satellite that could.

In more from the YPS newsfeed, which is apparently 5 years out of date at times, here's the real story of the plucky little dog that didn't.

As a side note, I wonder just how much more weirdness is buried in Soviet archives waiting to be brought back into the light. I'm guessing it's quite a bit.