Updates on the animals *with another update*

[CrissAngelLover12345]

My mom has switched Tigger, Patches and Boots over to Wellness Core Dry food! (though Boots is currently getting the Wellness weight control formula she bought him for his night time meals until that's gone, then he's getting Wellness Core and his night time meals have been eliminated, much to Boots' Dismay (and likely my dad's too...as he insisted Boots get those night time meals...)). They can't afford the canned food right now. We have calculated how long the biggest bag of Wellness Core dry food the store had will last, and it costs about the same as the cheap canned food they were buying for the same length of time. We are adding water to the food so that hydration doesn't become an issue. biggrin They love the food, too! biggrin Can't wait to see how soft their fur gets. biggrin

Charcoal is absolutely loving the Wellness canned food! biggrin Her fur is super soft and shiny. She's not scratching herself so much anymore, and she's a lot more energetic than she was when she was getting the cheap canned food. She also LOVES her cat tree! biggrin Almost every time I go into my room, she's somewhere on it. ^_^

Squirtle is loving the lettuce! He also loves his floating dock. He has found a way to be lazy using the floating dock too, when getting air. He'll go and hang onto it, keeping most of his body in the water, reach his head up and breathe for a while and then resume swimming around lol. Now that I finally have a better job (I was just hired on Friday,and I start on the 16th! biggrin biggrin ), I can start saving money towards getting him a bigger tank. biggrin

Sadly, we had to take Country off of Wellness and back onto the Kirkland's signature food. At least Kirkland's is still a good quality food, not entirely the best, as it has some grains in it (the rice), but it is much better than most foods. biggrin He has also developed some arthritis. sad It only seems to bug him when it's raining, or the temperatures are cooler.

Jonny has arthritis in his spine. sad It was discovered when he was last taken to the vet to find out why he wasn't eating. It turned out to be a small item blocking, and from the description of what the vet said the x-rays showed, it was a piece of a rawhide chew toy, combined with some kind of illness. He was given an antibiotic and something to help the piece of rawhide toy to go through, and he has made a full recovery. biggrin

I am going to look into the Wellness Core dog food for Bandit, and see if I could afford it with my new job. I'll have to see how many hours I'll be averaging and how much money I'll be getting paid before I will actually purchase any and get him onto it.

Sadly, Bandit hasn't lost much weight... Between the last time Bandit was weighed and this past week (which was over a month ago), he hasn't lost any weight, so he's still just over 59 pounds... I'm a bit frustrated... I haven't been able to increase his activity much, between school work and the crappy, super rainy weather (we've had rain every single week ever since I started him on the new program), I haven't really been able to do much. The semester's almost over, so I plan to increase his activity more. Hopefully the weather will cooperate Thursday, so I can take him on a hike up a mountain. biggrin

Sadly, all the swordfish died. sad There was some kind of illness going around... I changed the water and medicated the tank, but it was apparently too late... The betta has returned to his normal self, and the pleco never really showed any signs of being sick. They are the only survivors. I'm gonna do another water change later today.

I got Earthbath Shampoo, and bathed Charcoal with it. I love it! I'll probably give Bandit a bath on Tuesday afternoon/evening. I would give him one today after I get everything else I need to get done, done, but my mom just put Frontline Plus on him last night, and I want to make sure it gets absorbed before I bathe him.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Another update I forgot about: Dad has been giving Boots pieces of what ever meat we happen to have for dinner almost nightly for a few weeks now. gonk It's pointless to argue with him, as he seems to think the only way to show an animal that you love them is by giving them lots of "treats" (i mean lots of treats, they spend almost as much money on treats as they do in food, if not more). It took A LOT of doing to get him to quit giving Bandit so many "treats". Bandit only gets 4 Wellness treats a day now and no human food (except for when my dad "absentmindedly" gives him some... and then rationalizes "it's made of all natural ingredients, right?" when I yell at him for it. When I tell him yes, but it has ingredients that I do not want him consuming, AND he's supposed to ask for my permission before giving Bandit anything other than those Wellness treats, he remarked "I absentmindedly gave it to him". gonk I'm hoping dad isn't giving Bandit stuff behind my back, and that being the reason behind Bandit's lack of weight loss... I'm hoping it's because I haven't been able to increase his activity much...

Country has lost quite a bit of weight and is very close to his ideal weight. He looks really good so far! He also looks much happier and is much more energetic now. blaugh

I didn't give Bandit a bath today. I was way too exhausted by the time I got home from class... I'll hopefully give him a bath later in the week using the Earthbath shampoo.  

[DeeSpark]

Nice update, well almost. Sorry about the fish.

I know how you feel with Bandit though. When my nan and pop were living here, my pop gave my dog Deedee so many treats everyday, and would have a go at me about not feeding her enough. Eventually he got sick of my nagging and stopped the daily treats. There were some occassional biscuits and to be honest, I didn't really mind as long as there weren to many.

Hopefully your dad will get it eventually  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

DeeSpark

Nice update, well almost. Sorry about the fish.

I know how you feel with Bandit though. When my nan and pop were living here, my pop gave my dog Deedee so many treats everyday, and would have a go at me about not feeding her enough. Eventually he got sick of my nagging and stopped the daily treats. There were some occassional biscuits and to be honest, I didn't really mind as long as there weren to many.

Hopefully your dad will get it eventually

I hope so too. I'm trying to get Bandit to loose weight, which is partly why I'm being really picky right now. I'm still going to be picky about what he gets and how much once he gets to his ideal weight.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Yet another update. I didn't feel like starting another new thread, so, I decided to post the update here.

I am switching Bandit's food over to Wellness Core. I just bought a bag of it today, and am going to start the gradual switch tonight. biggrin

So that having both Bandit and Charcoal on Wellness is more affordable to me, I am putting Charcoal on combination feeding for now. She'll be getting Wellness Core dry food (with water added) in the morning, and some canned Wellness in the evening. When I have a full-time job (I am part-time, but working full-time hours at minimum wage. They didn't want to have to switch me down to part-time during the semester and back to full time between semesters), or at least one that pays more than minimum wage, I'll put Charcoal back to getting only canned food. biggrin

Tigger's, Patches', and Boots' fur are already a lot softer and shinier. biggrin  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

My fish finally have names! My Betta's name is Patriot, and my Pleco's name is Ace! biggrin