We previously lived in a community that was filled with a large number of Native Americans. When we would have our dog, Dixie, in the car with us she would go ape shit over men who were not white- this was like everyone in the town. On walks and when company would come over she would make a huge ongoing scene barking and lunging at them.

Often a good Mexican/ republican friend of ours (don’t worry it is a loving reference that is an inside joke between us) would come over and she would loose it even after we introduced them. Sometimes she would calm down and forget he was there, then all of the sudden get startled and start going crazy again. We weren’t sure we could trust her with company because of her racism.

On the other hand her racism and aggression is a benefit for us. It warns would be intruders of her presence and advises them to stay away.

A Hispanic man just came to the door selling stuff and I was happy to have my racist dog here protecting me. Although he was polite and harmless I am still weary of solicitors in this town simply because of the number of home invasions that take place so frequently here.

I wearily opened the locked door (only because we were expecting a package delivery) but did not step outside while he talked to me. I was struggling to keep the dog inside because I would hate for her to push past me and attack some poor non-home-invading solicitor.

I am glad to have her, racism and all. Who knows one day we might need her to save us!

Now I want to know your door locking and answering habits. Also, have you ever had a racist protective pet? Do you lock your doors all the time? When you are home alone do you answer the door when someone comes a knocking? Spill!

The post I love having a big scary dog, even if she is a racist! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

It worries me because cat litter can’t be good for a dogs digestive tract plus the process of eating cat poo somehow results in the poo and litter being strewn about the bathroom and the house (which is bad because I am not allowed to handle cat feces while pregnant) plus it just makes you want to vomit.

Sometimes I wonder how much of the poo she actually eats and how much just gets thrown about in the process. Either way poo eating is bad business in my opinion.

Yesterday while I was in the bedroom blogging and watching Desperate Housewives I heard things moving in the bathroom. Since our kitten, Gabby, was acting all psycho at the time I figure she was just tearing through the house knocking stuff over as usual.

Then I heard some major action in the covered cat box. Since 3 out of the 4 indoor cats don’t understand the concept of scratching the cat litter after doing their business I just figured a cat had used the box and was proceeding to noisily scratch the side of the box or some other area that was not the cat litter. Freaking geniuses!

So I continue blogging and I hear the cat box jostling and all that. Then I hear the dogs collar jingle and I realize the dog has her head in the cat box. This makes my blood start to boil because the cat box is so off limits to her and she knows it.

I called her name and sure enough she comes out of the bathroom hanging her head because she knows she is caught and doing something bad. I head towards the bathroom to assess the cat poo mess and I get to see Dixie, our dog, still working to finish off the piece of cat poo that is hanging from her mouth.

You see the cats eat everything they shouldn’t. Like ribbon, string and even my hair apparently because the cat poo that was dangling from Dixie’s mouth was being held together by my hair and she was having a hard time getting it down in it’s weird stringy state.

I was so disgusted to have to witness the cat poo “cookie” eating even after I shooed her out of the bathroom so I reprimanded her and took her down to her room. On the way down the stairs the poo “cookie” she was enjoying came loose from her mouth and fell on the steps. I photographed it just for you so you could share in my disgust!

I wish we had a laundry room on the main floor that we could keep the cat box and cat food in. I would gate the room off with one of those baby gates to keep the dog out and would never have to deal with “cookie” eating ever again. One day I’ll get my wish!

Great blog post for the first of the year huh? Yay for 2009! I just wanted to lighten things up a bit around here. Hope it worked…

Oh I am so taking Teeni up on the speedy meme she posted today:

Meme details: This one is from Speedcat Hollydale. The rules are:

1. Take a picture of yourself right NOW!
2. DON’T change your clothes
3. DON’T fix your hair…
4. Just take a picture.
5. Post that picture with NO editing.
6. Post these instruction with your picture.
7. Tag some people to do this meme.

Here is my photo contribution taken with Photobooth on the MacBook:

I am tagging my close girlfriend, Krystal, who writes over at: http://tapthatmom.wordpress.com/, I am also tagging April for this meme and anyone else who wants to participate!

The post Munching cat poo "cookies" is gross! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

We are not planning any outdoor fun this weekend but the weather surely impacts our lives regardless of our indoor plans… It make the animals crawl the dang walls! I swear it is like we have toddlers gnomes roaming the house at night…

N woke up this morning to Mr. Guy jumping on his face, yep it drew blood and made him rather grumpy since it occurred at 5am. Then N ventured out to the kitchen to get coffee started and the freezer door was open! Our other cat, Jack, has an obsession with walking on the top to the fridge/ freezer and he somehow opens the freezer door leaving the food to melt and spoil.

After N solved the bloody face and freezer door issues he sees that cat sh!t has been strewn all over the hallway. Our dog, Dixie, has to be gated off from the guest bath where the litter box is. She feels cat poo is the most scrumptious treat and she will leave little poo crumbs at and all around the scene of the crime.

After N cleaned up the poo crumbs in the hall he put Dixie outside, she likes to jump around and bark in the mornings to instigate “play time” while I am still sleeping. N puts her outside to keep the house quiet till I wake. Unfortunately it is blistering cold today so leaving the dog out to get frostbite wasn’t a good plan. He brought her inside, she noisily tried to get him to play with her. He turned his back on her and she went off barking. This angered him of course.

N had a rough morning, to say the least. Our animals are grooming us well for parenthood, they give me gray hairs! Jack is a fan of scratching the door jams so we cover them all with clear tape so he can’t grip them. He also can shred a cardboard box in a matter of days so this makes packing, moving or living out of boxes a problem.

Andrew can open doors and switch the lights off and on which makes shower time a blast, he is also great at escaping the house through window screens, doggie doors and more! Oh and he can jump on top of doors, yes on the very top of them while staying balanced in order to get to something he really want (aka the birds).

Hailey makes all the other animals angry at her and they often gang up on her throwing tufts of hair everywhere while over exaggerating loud cat fight screaming and yowling (you would think something was being killed!)

Mr. Guy is our schedule keeper and will loose his mind if we don’t keep the routine going each and every day! He wakes us up and will pace the room crying, getting in your face and triping you till you do what he thinks you are supposed to. This includes shower time for N and feeding time but is known to extend to other tasks from time to time. Oh and he pees in the tub/ sink when he feels the box is to much of a hassle.

Oh and the birds (Zebra Finches) have 19 eggs in their nest today! I know they didn’t lay all 19 recently. Only about 10 are recent but they just keep laying eggs, burying them in the nest and laying more. Guess they are having fertility issues too!

Create your own puzzles at PuzzleBee.com!

Ugh, it is enough to make you crazy! We are so ready for a human child… I think. ;-P

The post Crazy weather makes my animals crazy! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

However, I have received much information from readers about the potentially harmful side effects of Colloidal Silver and I did want to disclose this information to all my readers.

I do not want to give anyone bad advice or only provide one side of the story so I feel it is appropriate to update this post to include some of the potentially harmful side effects of Colloidal Silver. (I added all this stuff to the original post also)

As with anything you should consult your doctor before hand and you should get all the facts! To help you with this I want to share some of the useful information about how Colloidal Silver, when used in excess, could harm you.

I did some reading online today and found a site that explains “The best known consequence of over consumption of silver is argyria. Most authorities state that argyria is disfiguring because of the discoloration of the skin but has no other harmful consequences. With argyria, silver is taken internally in excess and the excess is deposited in the skin, organs and other tissues. This causes the skin to turn a gray or bluish gray color. Upon exposure to strong sunlight, skin of the affected individuals can turn a dark brown or black color. This coloration is permanent. In addition to argyria, the intake of very large doses (far in excess of the amount that causes discoloration of the skin) of silver can cause neurological damage, organ damage and arteriosclerosis.”

Fore more reading on the risks of Colloidal Silver check out:

• From the National Center for Alternative and Complimentary Medicine- Colloidal Silver
• Colloidal Silver Toxicity – How much is harmful?
• Another person turns blue from colloidal silver
• Colloidal Silver- Safe or Scam?

If you have something to share on this topic please don’t hesitate to post a comment below. Knowledge is power, I want to be informed and to provide helpful information to my readers so they can make the best decision for themselves.

Oh, I have a video of my sick kitty that I am posting to help other pet owners recognise an upper respiratory infection in their own pet. Some animal owners actually don’t know what an upper respiratory infection looks like! Basically lots of sneezing, maybe some snot bubbles coming out of the nose, wheezing, watery eyes you know all the symptoms of human respiratory issues would indicate a possible respiratory infection in your furry friend.

[youtube r5rXgAkLfbw Sick Jack]

The post Upper respiratory infections in pets- Day 1 update appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Out here in the rural subdivision we live in people have the tendency to allow their animals and small children to wander about the neighborhood without supervision. I guess they must feel it is safer because we aren’t in heart of a crime ridden city but still that is no reason to let everyone run amok. That is a rant for another day though.

Anyway, we kept the friendly dog out of our house and went about our business moving in. We didn’t bother to try and take her back to her home because we had the feeling she was allowed to run the neighborhood as were most dogs in the area.

A week after we were moved in we discovered that Dixie had a strange eye discharge, her eyes we watering like crazy and the discharge was greenish. We figured she had picked up and eye infection from playing with Lady on move in day (or that one of the cats had scratched her eye). We wiped her eyes out for a week with warm washcloth and eventually the eye discharge cleared up.

Well last week Andrew (one of our cats) began sneezing like crazy and his eyes were watering, he was sluggish for a few days and then back to normal but now Jack and Mr. Guy (also cats) are sneezing and displaying the same symptoms. Except they are much worse that Andrew was. Jack can barely breathe and he seldom eats or drinks anything now.

It appears our household has contracted an upper respiratory infection. In felines this infection is highly contagious and is often treated with costly antibiotics at the veterinarian. We don’t have the money to be taking all our animals to the vet for antibiotics and would prefer not to unless they absolutely need it. Besides we prefer to do things a bit more naturally.

A few years back a coworker gave me a bottle of Colloidal Silver and explained how it is great remedy for many ailments. It’s apparently a naturally occurring mineral that when taken clears up many infections, much like an antibiotic. We have a bottle of it from that worker (she got it at a natural food store) that I have used occasionally with great results! Today I was thinking it may also benefit my sick kitties.

I set out to learn about it’s impact on animals. Obviously I am not trying to give my pets something that could harm them so I did some research on Colloidal Silver and animals.

Lots of people have used it on their animals for various aliments. It is given topically, rectally and orally depending on the problem. It is even administered to treat minor sicknesses in dogs and cats. I found a fellow blogger who has shared his success with Colloidal Silver and his pets.

It appears Colloidal Silver is successful in animals so I gave my furry friends some today to help them get over the respiratory infection. If you are looking for information on how Colloidal Silver is used for pets and/ or it’s safety check out this Google search for Colloidal Silver for pets.

———

Update 1 day later-

Jack’s symptoms have greatly improved and he is acting more himself, I only added a few drops to water and fed it to him via dropper. However, I have received much information from readers about the potentially harmful side effects of Colloidal Silver.

I do not want to give anyone bad advice or only provide one side of the story so I feel it is appropriate to update this post to include some of the potentially harmful side effects of Colloidal Silver.

As with anything you should consult your doctor before taking it and you should get all the facts! To help you with this I want to share some of the useful information about how Colloidal Silver could harm you.

I did some reading and found that a site that outlines that “The best known consequence of over consumption of silver is argyria. Most authorities state that argyria is disfiguring because of the discoloration of the skin but has no other harmful consequences. With argyria, silver is taken internally in excess and the excess is deposited in the skin, organs and other tissues. This causes the skin to turn a gray or bluish gray color. Upon exposure to strong sunlight, skin of the affected individuals can turn a dark brown or black color. This coloration is permanent. In addition to argyria, the intake of very large doses (far in excess of the amount that causes discoloration of the skin) of silver can cause neurological damage, organ damage and arteriosclerosis.”

Fore more reading on the risks of Colloidal Silver check out:

• From the National Center for Alternative and Complimentary Medicine- Colloidal Silver
• Colloidal Silver Toxicity – How much is harmful?
• Another person turns blue from colloidal silver
• Colloidal Silver- Safe or Scam?

If you have something to share on this topic please don’t hesitate to post a comment below. Knowledge is power, I want to be informed and to provide helpful information to my readers so they can make the best decision for themselves!

The post Upper respiratory infections in pets. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.