I have a friend who might come to my house,if things get bad where she lives in another state.I have prepared for that, but not her small dog.I've always known she had one, but until now, it didn't occur to me to make arrangements(sp?) for her the pet.With me having four cats and her dog all in one house should interesting.They are all inside pets,especially in the winter.

I thought I would post this for others who may also need to think of their extra company with pets coming to their house.Also think of your neighbor's pet.

I realize we can't do everything for everyone, but mabe we can do something to help.What would it hurt to put away an extra large bag of dry cat food and/or a large bag of dog food for others in a time of need,mabe $20.00 for for both.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 09, 1999

Answers

Just bought a one year old boarder collie, very well trained and smart as a whip. I was given the container with about 2 lbs. of dry dog food left and will be purchasing a large supply of dog food. Would greatly appreciate your thoughts and ideas on how to keep Fido a live and well. Has anyone tried using dy....earth stuff to ward off the bugs in the food?

-- Judy (Dodgeball@dog.com), November 09, 1999.

Judy,

I have dry cat food (still in its bags) stored in a new trash barrel with a tight fitting lid.I haven't had any problems with bugs,so far.I have it stored in the garage and with winter coming,the freezing cold should help keep out any unwanted bugs.

You might want to take your dog to the vet for a check up and any shots that might be needed.

Don't forget to keep extra water stored for your pet.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 09, 1999.

We have dogs, a cat, guinnea pig (sp?), a rabbit and a bunch of chickens. We are using trash cans for the dog and chicken food and 5 gallon buckets for the other critter's food. We buy the dog and cat food at Wal Mart (their brand), it's pretty cheap, but our dogs have been eating it for quite a while and it doesn't bother them. You should buy the critters the food they are use to, changing their diet, especially to one that has a lot of fillers, can mess up their systems pretty bad. Try a small bag for a week or so to see if they can handle it before buying a lot. Bugs in animal food may not be as bad as you might think, especially the cat food, our eats all the bugs it can find.

-- BH (bh_silentvoice@hotmail.com), November 09, 1999.

We are storing food for our dog, 2 cats, and 16 chickens. We have a bit extra in case a "guest" brings a pet... The only downside was when my wife found out that we had more than enough cat food, she went out and procured another cat...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), November 09, 1999.

For those who have house pets--you might want to consider the "premium" pet foods, like Science Diet or Iams. There's much less filler so that there's much less end-product--important if you have litter boxes and newspaper-trained pets. The pets eat less of it too. We have nine cats (down from ten) and have found that the best litter is Scoop Away. The pine nugget stuff is good too. Those new white crystals are wonderful but too expensive for all our cats. Stay away from the recycled paper litter--very dusty and not very efficient. I threw it away and I hate to throw anything away. With multiple cats, it's also good to have those hooded litter boxes--saves no end of mess. Those little mats to catch litter work too. And if you can stand the way it looks, put your litter box, hooded or not, inside a large cardboard box to further contain the granules. (If the power goes out, no vacuum--you have to think of these things!)

Drs. Foster & Smith have good prices on litter boxes and otehr pet stuff. This is where you can find aquarium antibiotics too. Don't think they're in the on-line catalogue so request the snail-mail version.

One other thing--just let your imagination run a little. Suppose that the worst of the worst happens. You don't want people to know you're feeding pets. If you have healthy pets, you must have lots of food--right? So get some of that dark bronze sunfilm (sold at Lowe's, places like that), and put it on your windows. Providing there's no light on in the room, the film makes it difficult to see inside. It's not as obvious as mirror film and will help hide the fact that you have pets. Do this now so people have time to forget you have a couple of cats or dogs. Just don't let them sit in the window of a lit room at night where their silhouette is obvious.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 09, 1999.

Old Git,

Your right about the film for the windows.I've had it on mine for about a year.Very easy to put up.

If anyone says anything about my cats,I will say they are good mousers.One of them I have to let out when he wants to,other wise he will keep meowing.

If you want real odd looks and comments,buy 8 case of cat food at a small home town rural grocery store,never again.I will drive 20 miles to the closest Wal-Mart from now on.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 09, 1999.

An extra bag or two of food would be a fine idea, but not only for your friend's pet. Suppose in the course of things-Y2K you become attached to an animal or two? Kibble would come in mighty hand if you adopt a dog, cat, bunny or whatever. You'll be able to feed any resonably-sized creature for quite a while if you have several 25- or 50-lb. bags of chow.

My experience with pet food has been that bugs do not get into the food so much as they are already present inside when you purchase it. Freezing the food in small batches at 0 degrees F. for several days should kill the bugs and any eggs. Heating to a steady 150 degrees F. in an oven for a few hours will also do the trick, but will diminishe the nutritive value of the food somewhat. If you want to take your chances and simply store it, I suggest you do so well away from the rest of your provisions so they do not become infested if an outbreak occurs.

-- PKM (.@...), November 09, 1999.

You all might want to look at PetsMart.com. They have a buy one, get one free deal on some foods if you have them home delivered. I got four x 20lb bags of Science Diet Light for about $50. Limit is two offers at one time, four offers total. It's to coerce you into regular home delivery, of course, but you don't HAVE to sign up for it.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 10, 1999.

Thanks Old Git for the info on the great deal of buy 1 get one free!I just bought 2 large bags (got 2 free)of dry food,from PetsMart.com.It saved me not only money,but saved my back from lugging it home.The shipping and handling was less then $5.00 for the whole order and no tax.Now I'm going back to buy the canned cat food.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 10, 1999.

Oh good! And if you got the 20-lb bags they come in individual cardboard boxes, very useful shape for efficiently storing something that insects won't be interested in.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 10, 1999.

Old Git,do you know of any other great deals for other products? This one was great!

You had posted on Lumen Foods before,about their meetless meats.Thinking about the Fines:Heartline Meatless Meats,the are just the smaller size and the price is really good.Do you know if they taste good?

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 10, 1999.

very good reason to be concerned on the bugs in dry pet food. that is the one thing in which i did get bugs!!!! i would say (and you are going to croak) freeze it for a week if you have a freezer big enough. should kill living creatures. make sure after you take it out of the freezer, you let it dry for a few days to make sure there is no moisture from the freezer. then if you are totally insane (i guess we are talking a lot of food depending upon the dogs size) you could pack it in a 5 gallon bucket or mylar bag with oxygen absorbers. i packed a bunch in a good clear plastic cookie container with oxygen absorbers. plus i have some in mylar bags. you could, after you have frozen it, probably just put it in a good hdpe container without absorbers or first put it in freezer bags within the container.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 10, 1999.

Bugs in dog food-

I have never had a problem with bugs being in my dry dog food, but I have had a problem with VERY industrious ants getting INTO the dog food. There were so many I couldn't see the food LOL! Had to throw that out. This time, if it happens again, I will use it in the garden. Gerry Baker says that dog food makes good fertilizer (BEFORE it goes through the dog!).

-- Midnightmom (myhouse@bigfoot.com), November 11, 1999.

I forgot to mention, I am also feeding a possum that made his home under the crawl space of the house.He hurt his rear leg somehow.He comes up on the back deck at night and eats the cat food thats left out.Oh,I've also seen a shunk or two,you can't help but think their cute.

When I had my back yard fenced,they didn't put anything across the bottom of the fencing,it gives too much were a dog could crawl under.Does anyone have suggestions on how to stop this?I was wondering in case I would need to put a dog out there.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 11, 1999.