thepawandfeatherplan

  Unless you want to put it at direct risk of dying prematurely of heart failure.      Yep, you read it right.  There are no 'ifs, ands or buts' about it:               Feeding Dogs a Strictly Grain Free Diet puts them at non-hereditary risk of dilated cardiomyopathy.      Thankfully, Janine, a PAFP foster and adopter, enlightened me to this fact.       Once Janine's 3rd whippet had late stage symptoms of advanced heart disease, she had reached her wits' end.  Her first two whippets had succumbed to heart disease too.  -And she just didn't get it: her dogs enjoyed top shelf dog food, Acana, had plenty of daily exercise, and regular vet visits.       That was it : beloved dog number 3 was going to a veterinarian-cardiologist.  -Enough with unexplained heart disease for Janine's dogs... and heartbreak for Janine!  Janine's foster, June, that almost w...

April 23, 2021  Dear Ms. Sadler and DPFL Team,   Certainly you know how awesome your work is, and must see the benefits of what you guys do on a regular basis.   I needed to take a moment to share how awesome your work is from my perspective too. Way back in 2007 I worked at Louisville Metro Animal Services (hereinafter LMAS) as an ACS. I got a job there after having volunteered for some months (before they even had a volunteer program), and after having completed college and discovering corporate America wasn’t for me.   As an ACS, I worked 2nd shift. I got recently-arrived-dogs off of ACO trucks, mostly alive, but sometimes dead, mostly nice, but all scared. I did intake vaccines, I fed 300+ dogs their afternoon dinner, and what I consider most important during this time: I socialized dogs. Back then our municipal shelter, like many others of that time, was euthanizing more than 60% of what came in, mostly for ‘time/space,’ as would b...

The answer to that question has a lot to do with where you live.     If you're in a rural area in the southeastern part of the United States there are still far more puppies than there are homes for them. There are likely abandoned dogs in public places, and your municipal shelters are likely still euthanizing for time/space.     In 2006, here in Louisville, Ky., I worked for Louisville Metro Animal Services (LMAS).       At that time our shelter, along with the grand majority of shelters nationwide, was euthanizing more than 1/2 of the animals that came in ... and most euthanasia was due to time/space.       This means "time/space" was written on the kennel cards of the dozens of animals that were put down daily as the reason for euthanasia... referring to the lack of kennel or cage s pace  and the lack of time to wait for a kennel or cage to open up.  Simba, a transport dog we fostered ...