FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Beekissed]

You didn't hijack the thread...you enriched it! I'm not usually emotional about animals either and they have their place in my life, I'm pretty set on that. But, I also know that God sends us messengers at times when we need them the most and sometimes they are animals. Your old dog is beautiful and my Lucy had pins and plates in her leg also from a car hitting her, funny that similarity between the two. I can tell just by looking at her what a powerful animal she must have been once upon her youth.

I too experienced much comfort from the dogs that God has sent to me at certain times in my life and it makes those dogs seem to have much more significance than most other animals we may have. I'm crying as I read about the loss of your child and see the pics of your good dog and I know that maybe you are stronger now, and so are able to let her go with peace in your heart, if not without great sorrow. She performed the function that God needed her to perform, the help in healing your broken and wounded heart and soul, and now she deserves a rest.

What a wonderful story of a dog's life and that's the kind of stories my dogs seem to have too...they weren't just any old dog and I've not had many dogs in my life, but just these few that came into my life when I wasn't really wanting a dog, but God put them there anyway because He knew I needed that dog whether I knew it or not...with wonderful, sweet results for me and my kids.

Thank you for sharing her story and her pic and I will pray that you get through that with the assurance that you are doing the right thing for your friend and companion. I'll pray that God gives you the strength to let her go and the ability to give her a quick and painless end. When I put Jimmy down I couldn't get there before they did it and so I didn't get to hold him when he left this place, but with sweet Lucy I got to hold her and it was over so quickly that I was amazed and grateful. She just sort of gave a little sigh and leaned back on my chest and I thanked God for that mercy and for the gift that was Lucy.

I don't know if this is true or not, but somehow I feel that good and loyal dogs will be waiting on the porch of the home that God has built for me in Heaven and they will run to greet me like they always have when I get Home. This I feel as one true thing and I can almost see it in my mind and it will feel more like Home because they are waiting there.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Other people are fermenting their dog's food and have reported great benefits from it. I think fermented rice would be ideal if that is part of her diet.

There at the end I was feeding Lucy cooked rice, squash, garlic and such and then I put raw organ meats in it and froze it in serving size bags for each day's meal. Her teeth were just too far gone for dog food any longer. I wish I had thought or remembered fermenting animal foods back then.

If you try this, please let us know how it goes and if she will eat it and if it has any good effects?

 

[RoseMarie1]

Thanx Sarah.

 

[RoseMarie1]

What feeders are y'all using with fermented feed?

I use a vinyl gutter that I cut off and put boards on the ends and bottoms on it. I did use the vinyl covers on each end before I put the board on there. I put the board on the ends so I could put a wire over it to keep them OUT of the trough. Some folks cut BIG PVC pipes in half long ways and use that. They make an end for them out of wood. You just can't use metal with the FF so it has to be plastic.

 

[RoseMarie1]

That VetRx looks like something I wouldn't mind using, for sure. Good ingredients, each one.

Now, I don't want you to think I've had to kill birds left and right my whole chickening life, because it's not true...I've never had any illness in my flocks that had to be culled except that one group of birds that didn't recover or show improvement in a week or so. Then, when I got my GB back, I watched the birds and gave them time to improve but I could pretty much tell which ones weren't going to improve a whole lot within 2 wks time...and so they were eventually culled.

I want birds that are naturally healthy and can withstand common illnesses with little, or no, intervention so that I'm not constantly on a forum somewhere saying "HELP!" and so that my birds don't suffer before they get help. This way any bird that would suffer is usually taken out in a yearly cull.

For instance...I have two old hens that are 6 yrs old right now and have been the most wonderful birds anyone could ever want. They are still hardy and healthy to look upon...if one isn't looking real close. But they both have thickened ankles and pendulous abdomens that look like they have chronic cellulitis...pink, sagging, edematous looking,dry and flaky skin on the abdomen. To a nurse, that tells me I'm probably looking at cardiac insufficiency due to old age and a hypotonicity of the pelvic floor muscles....in other words, if these ol' gals were humans they'd have congestive heart failure and they'd be incontinent of bowel and bladder at times. And they do...their vents won't fully close now and their butts are always messy from leaking fluids and feces.

Not so bad...but do I want them to go to the next step? Heart attack, or respiratory distress from ascites? Do I want them to get eggbound because their oviduct has prolapsed downward and prevents good egg delivery? All these things are to be considered in a yearly cull of the flock. Looking ahead so as to head off any potential illnesses. Do I know for a fact they won't go another laying season without problems? I don't. Do I want to take that gamble to prove myself wrong or right? No, I don't.

No point in it when there are other, younger birds coming up in the ranks that need a space in the coop to live....there are always other chickens, dogs, cats, and horses that will be born and need a home and such is the cycle of life on this planet. Everything dies and, if you can make their life a really good one and that death a really quick one, then you've done all you possibly can with what God gave you. But, it takes selflessness and diligence, learning and growing, and fortitude to do the right thing when that time comes.

Everyone loves the fun of chickens and farming but there is a hard side to it all that comes with it that no one seems to want to accept...and so they treat, and they treat and they keep a medicine box full of meds and they fight and claw until that animal's last breath. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose and they feel heroic in the trying of it....but what about the animal? They don't mark days and times on calendars and measure their days like humans and so one good day is better than 10 bad days because, to them, each day is the only day.

That's all my method is....keeping all the good days good, looking down the road to try and prevent bad days, and ending their lives before the bad day can happen, if I can.

Thank you Bee. I'm SO thankful you are here to teach me this stuff. I SO MUCH appreciate you!!!

One of these days, IF God doesn't come back first, I am going to say, Bee taught me this. Bee showed me how to do this even if not in person but online!

 

[RoseMarie1]

Oh Bee, you brought tears to my eyes.

Sarahsunshine, I share your dread for what the future (possibly - or more likely probably - near) holds for a beloved four-legged friend. Our Liberty (a boxer) is also 11.5 years old and nearing her own end. She has some nasty arthritis in a leg she broke as a 6 week old puppy, and we really feared this last winter would be her last. But thankfully it was fairly mild and she fought through. This summer has also been mild. Hot, but not the typical, unbearable for months on end kind of hot that Texas usually sees. I think The Lord is being especially kind to our good old girl in sending us such weather as we've enjoyed this year. We have watched her enjoy a spring in her step that hasn't been very springy for the past couple of years... Now that the summer is winding down, I am very concerned for what the cold temperatures to come will bring for her.

Dogs are not children. They aren't. But she was the first baby of any sort that my husband and I raised together and losing her will feel like a knife to the heart...

yep she brought tears to mine. We also had to make that decision not very long back for 2 of our dogs. I just can not stand to see anything suffer and one had cancer in his eyes and he couldn't breath and didn't know about the cancers in his eyes until he couldn't breath. Vet said it was in his lungs and in his eyes. He was the runt of the bunch but such a good dog. Then the other one was hubbys hunting dog that we named Agitator because he was the most aggravating dog when he was little so I named him that. He was ALWAYS into something and really really really annoyed me but when we had to have him put to sleep it liked to killed us all. So been there done that and it wasn't fun.

 

[RoseMarie1]

You didn't hijack the thread...you enriched it! I'm not usually emotional about animals either and they have their place in my life, I'm pretty set on that. But, I also know that God sends us messengers at times when we need them the most and sometimes they are animals. Your old dog is beautiful and my Lucy had pins and plates in her leg also from a car hitting her, funny that similarity between the two. I can tell just by looking at her what a powerful animal she must have been once upon her youth.

I too experienced much comfort from the dogs that God has sent to me at certain times in my life and it makes those dogs seem to have much more significance than most other animals we may have. I'm crying as I read about the loss of your child and see the pics of your good dog and I know that maybe you are stronger now, and so are able to let her go with peace in your heart, if not without great sorrow. She performed the function that God needed her to perform, the help in healing your broken and wounded heart and soul, and now she deserves a rest.

What a wonderful story of a dog's life and that's the kind of stories my dogs seem to have too...they weren't just any old dog and I've not had many dogs in my life, but just these few that came into my life when I wasn't really wanting a dog, but God put them there anyway because He knew I needed that dog whether I knew it or not...with wonderful, sweet results for me and my kids.

Thank you for sharing her story and her pic and I will pray that you get through that with the assurance that you are doing the right thing for your friend and companion. I'll pray that God gives you the strength to let her go and the ability to give her a quick and painless end. When I put Jimmy down I couldn't get there before they did it and so I didn't get to hold him when he left this place, but with sweet Lucy I got to hold her and it was over so quickly that I was amazed and grateful. She just sort of gave a little sigh and leaned back on my chest and I thanked God for that mercy and for the gift that was Lucy.

I don't know if this is true or not, but somehow I feel that good and loyal dogs will be waiting on the porch of the home that God has built for me in Heaven and they will run to greet me like they always have when I get Home. This I feel as one true thing and I can almost see it in my mind and it will feel more like Home because they are waiting there.

Oh Bee I think so to. I think they will come running to see us.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Other people are fermenting their dog's food and have reported great benefits from it. I think fermented rice would be ideal if that is part of her diet.

There at the end I was feeding Lucy cooked rice, squash, garlic and such and then I put raw organ meats in it and froze it in serving size bags for each day's meal. Her teeth were just too far gone for dog food any longer. I wish I had thought or remembered fermenting animal foods back then.

If you try this, please let us know how it goes and if she will eat it and if it has any good effects?

There's all sorts of info on fermented foods for people on the internet so I bet they are for dogs and such to. I did a bunch of ferments back in the winter and spring for us. I did garlic, carrots, some dill pickles but didn't like the dill pickles. I did at least 2 batches of sauerkraut and hubby loved that stuff. lol Just found the recipes online.

 

[marktoo]

What feeders are y'all using with fermented feed?

I had an old rusty 3 tier fruit basket, took 2 baskets off, just drop a plastic bowl into that & hang it. Works well,easy & cheap but I only have 4 birds.

 

[Beekissed]

I had an old rusty 3 tier fruit basket, took 2 baskets off, just drop a plastic bowl into that & hang it. Works well,easy & cheap but I only have 4 birds.

What a cute idea!!! I love it! Can you post a pic so that others can see it? There will be a run on these old veggie and fruit hanging baskets all over the world or they will be pulled out of some dusty old corner and we'll start to see them being utilized as feeders in other places....I guarantee it!