The Impending Arrival

Holy guacemole!! Only a week and a half until I'm hearing the pitter-patter of little paws on my floors. For so long it seemed like P-day would never get here, and suddenly, it's almost here! Let the relaxation at home end and the sleep deprivation begin!

In preparation for the imminent arrival, I've now taken the plunge and converted Ian and Elli over to a completely raw diet. Their first foray into Raw Meaty Bones was a chicken thigh the other night. I gave them each one and stepped back, immediately horrified by what I had just done. "Omigod, the crunching, ew!! It's raw chicken, for goodness sake! Holy crap, Ian downed the whole thing in about 45 seconds! He'll have a blockage! He'll perforate an intestine! I've just killed my dogs!!" Such was my internal monologue. I immediately IM'd Joanna, who conceded that, yes, losing one's virginity is difficult, but we all get through it (with an unspoken but no-doubt heartfelt "calm the #%$& down, already. Sheesh").

Elli, a bit more elegant about eating than Ian, if not about much else, actually chewed pieces off of hers until it was gone, rather than crunching the bones and swallowing it pretty much whole. This was after she looked at it, looked back around the counter at me, licked it, looked back at me again as if to say, "Seriously? This is food?", then finally settled down to eat her chicken.

As it turned out, I did not in fact kill my dogs. The next morning, they had teeny tiny little poops and were bouncing around with their usual vigor. Gee, just like Joanna said they would. Okay, okay! The raw diet is all right. I mean, it's gross, but it's perfectly fine for the dogs. And did I mention teeny tiny poops?

We have a local butcher about two miles from my house, so I stopped in there last night to see what would be available for organ meats. They said they do sell a "dog food" which is a mixture of organ meat and ground beef, but the girl at the counter didn't know what the proportion was of ground beef to organ, so I passed. I asked if they sold beef heart, which they assured me they do. I asked if I could have it cut up, sort of like stew meat. They looked at me funny. I explained that it was for the dogs and me plopping a whole heart up on the cutting board and slicing into was just not. going. to happen. They continued to look at me funny.

They said they could probably do that (though not then, as it was actually closing time), but that it's awesome sliced -- they eat it just like steak, even their kids love it, etc. I looked at THEM funny.

We'll try on Saturday, when they're not closing up.

They also sell tripe, though I'm sure it's of the washed, not unwashed, variety. They can order cases of chicken backs for me, but do not have them as a regular item.

I also bit the bullet and bought a food processor so I can make up the batches of veggie mix. (And also, so I can grind up Nilla Wafers to make my coconut rum balls out of. Mmmmmmm, rum balls...)

So, the household will be all cool with the raw feeding when the little guy comes home. I think the only other things I need to pick up for the puppy are a collar and leash and some new baby blankets for his crate. Also some puppy-sized toys.

Squeeee!! Puppy!!