Sign up and you’ll receive a packet of goodies, a coupon for a FREE self-service bath and your dog will receive a Brookside Barkery bandana to wear on the day of the event.

Registration is only $10 and all proceeds benefit local rescue groups.

Full details, and how to register.

Start protecting your pet very early in the spring so preventative measures can begin to work by the time flea season starts.

Skin problems like fleabite dermatitis can cause dogs and cats to suffer painful, itchy rashes, flaking skin and hair loss. Fleas can also cause anemia and weaken your animal’s immune system, leaving them susceptible to infection and attacks from other parasites.

Take a holistic approach to battling these pests with a variety of products. Repel those pests with shampoos containing natural substances such as rosemary, mint, lavender or cedar – fleas detest the strong pungent odor. Repellent sprays, such as cedar oil, are also available. Natural Defense, a natural spot on treatment, is another choice and is made up of natural oils such as clove, peppermint, lemon grass, cinnamon, and thyme. It works by disrupting the neuro transmitter in pests, killing them. One of the newer options available is Shoo! Tag, a non-toxic frequency pet barrier. It works by creating an inhospitable environment for pests around your pets.

Food grade diatomaceous earth is another effective flea and tick treatment. You can use the product on your pet, in your home or outside. You can even feed this to your pet for worming. Diatomaceous earth kills fleas and ticks mechanically by razoring their bodies causing them to dehydrate and die.

Feed your pet a healthy diet of natural ingredients to keep your pet’s immune system strong. Some supplements also aid in the fight against fleas, such as oils high in omega 3 fatty acids, and brewer’s yeast and garlic supplements. The strong odor of garlic (use a very small amount) acts to deter fleas, while brewer’s yeast makes the animal less tasty to the parasites. Cinnamon also can be added to your pet’s food or sprinkled on the coat. If you want to add it to your pet’s meal, pour ½ teaspoon per 30 pounds of weight.

Help protect your pet while playing outdoors by treating your lawn with Beneficial Nematodes, which are microscopic worms that seek out and feed on flea larvae. When utilizing fertilizer and weed treatments on lawns, be cautious and use them sparingly, water in thoroughly, and restrict pets from being on the lawn after applications. Or, try all-natural fertilizers, like Bradfield, and natural weed killers. Of course, you can always just pull weeds the old fashioned way!

Finally, always check your pet with a flea comb and visually inspect them for ticks. While natural products work well with low to moderate pest populations, major infestations and exposure to high risk areas such as wooded walking trails or dog parks with tall grass can overload even a good flea and tick product. If your pet is exposed to these risks, please consult your vet for options such as Comfortis, a chewable flea killer.

As always, please contact us whatever way is most convenient for you, and let one of our trained associates explore the best options for your pet.

When we think about cleaning our cats teeth with a toothbrush and toothpaste a very distinct image may come to mind. This image may contain a lot of hissing and scratching, possible even some cursing and anger. I know, for me, I wanted nothing to do with that, mostly because I don’t like crying on the floor in pain. So how do you go about cleaning cats teeth? You let the cats natural chewing ability do all the work.

Cutting up a turkey neck into small portions is one way I’ve found that works great. When I first started the pieces were about ¼ of an inch thick, but they have since grown at the demand of my cats. If you have younger cats, not over five to six months of age, wait awhile for their adult teeth to come in. If your cat isn’t to keen on the turkey neck bones try chicken necks, backs, wings and legs. I’ve come to find that chicken bones tend to be a bit softer that the tough turkey bones.

The only supplies you’ll need, if you don’t have them already, is a good and durable meat cleaver. The second item you will need is a good cutting board. It is also optional to cut some plastic bags in half and lay them over the counter. When thawed all the way, the turkey and chicken bones aren’t that bloody, but safe handling is always critical when dealing with raw meat.

Get started now and in no time, your cats will look forward to their raw meaty treat and you will have some cats with gorgeous teeth!

Read our other articles on Feeding Raw Meaty Bones:
Ready for Raw Meaty Bones
Precautions of Feeding Raw Bones
The Benefits of Raw Meaty Bones

As told by Victoria 1.12.12

As told by Jessica Ann 1.11.12

Eating raw bones is as natural as eating fresh meat for dogs and cats. Problem is, we’ve been serving up commercial dry food for the last several decades and our pets have suffered from not having a regular supply of raw meaty bones. And compound that with the added confinement of domestic cats so much so that they do not consume live prey therefore they have a big decline in the consumption of fresh bones. These changes have led to a huge rise in dental disease in dogs and cats and the evolution of a new specialty, veterinary dentistry.

Start them young…a good supply of calcium and other nutrients during early growth stages of early puppies and kittens will help to ensure strong healthy teeth. Puppies and kittens can tackle soft macerated meat and bone pieces as soon as they develop their milk teeth, at around 4-5 weeks. Puppies and kittens can have a bone offered to them daily during their growth phase which for kittens and small breed dogs is from 6 – 12 months. For medium dogs, they can have them daily from 12 – 18 months and for large and giant breeds, at two years old.

Raw bones are nutritionally valuable to our dogs and cats. They provide a natural digestible form of calcium, that is a natural balance to high levels of phosphorous found in raw meat.

This calcium from raw bones can be up to four times more digestible than most common calcium supplements found in commercial and some raw food.

Raw bones play an integral role in dental hygiene for dogs and cats (see article “Ready for Raw Meaty Bones”) and can make trips to the veterinary dentist unnecessary which in turn reduces risks associated with sedation that is generally given in order to clean teeth.

Even more, feeding raw meaty bones actually have a beneficial effect on the dog or cat’s digestive tract. It has a scouring effect providing needed roughage in the diet, and provides bulk for healthy fecal motions that stimulate anal gland expression.

The final reason for feeding raw bones is the pleasure it gives our pets. The act of chewing actually releases serotonin, a stimulant.

There is nothing that pleases me more than watching my border collie tear into a raw bone with such sustained gusto! Outside, wind blowing through her fur, chomping on a bone…it just doesn’t get much better.

Read our other articles on Feeding Raw Meaty Bones:
Ready for Raw Meaty Bones
Precautions of Feeding Raw Bones
Flashy Feline Fangs

Raw bones play an enormous role in providing digestible calcium and other minerals, which are vital for bone health for both dogs and cats. Raw bones also provide the best in dental hygiene. Macerating meat and bones massages teeth and gums cleaning away food residue and tartar buildup. This in turn prevents plaque formation, bad breath, cavities and gingivitis, thus making teeth cleaning and scaling unnecessary.

So it is disheartening when we hear some of our customers swear off bones because their dog or cat experienced some gastrointestinal upset.

Raw meat and bones, introduced properly into your dog or cat’s diet, can become an important part of your pet’s health.

The first thing to understand is that overly processed dry food, especially those high in carbs, grain, and plant protein, cause the gastric PH to rise, making the stomach more alkaline. When that happens, the acidity levels decrease making it difficult for your pet to digest raw bones and meat. This rejection shows up as vomiting, diarrhea, and general gastroenteritis. This reduction in acid also diminishes your pet’s ability to ward off potentially pathogenic bacteria like salmonella and E Coli and greatly slows down your pet’s stomach emptying ability.

So if you want to give your dog or cat the benefits of raw bones and if they don’t already eat a raw diet, then start giving them a little raw meat every day for about 7 – 10 days. This addition to their daily diet will lower their PH thereby raising the acidity levels so they can break down raw bone and meat.

Feed Fido an appropriately sized bone and let him chew on it for about 20 minutes then take it away and refreeze it to give another day. The second or third time you give a bone, restrict chewing time until after the fourth or fifth bone session then let them have it for however long they want. Usually it takes my border collie about two hours to get at all the marrow and the meat. After that she doesn’t want it any more so I just toss it!

As to Fifi…cats prefer smaller and softer bones such as cut up turkey necks, chicken necks, chicken frames and wings. Cats can easily make a meal of these raw and meaty bones.

FAQ:

Are bones messy?
They can be, we recommend you work with your dog to chew their bone on an area rug you can throw in the wash, if your pet takes the bone off, pick it up and put it back on the designated rug. Or if you kennel, this is a great way to keep it to their kennel or let them have it outside, if it gets messy, wash it off and throw it in a baggy.

Will bones break my dogs’ teeth?
Possibly, this is why you test your dog’s chewing activity to monitor how aggressive they are with their bones.

Read our other articles on Feeding Raw Meaty Bones:
Precautions of Feeding Raw Bones
The Benefits of Raw Meaty Bones
Flashy Feline Fangs

Despite the precautions listed below, bones can become an important part of your dog’s diet. When fed responsibly, they can help with their dental, diet and mental health.

Supervise your pet when feeding raw bones and manage your pack if you have a multi dog household. Bones are high value resource and fights can break out.

Never feed cooked chicken bones, or any kind of cooked fowl bones – EVER. They can splinter and perforate your pet’s intestines or stomach and cause severe injuries or death.

Slow Roasted marrow or femur bones offered by some pet manufacturers while okay to give to your dog, offer none of the benefits of raw bones. Your dog might chew off a large chunk, something more easily done with a cooked bone, swallow it and not be able to digest it causing gut pain (colic), scarring of the gut lining and bleeding, choking, impaction, even death. Never feed a knuckle or marrow bone that you have cooked at home….those will definitely splinter and cause harm.

Size the bone right. Large dogs can handle large bones like 5” or larger marrow bones, large knuckle bones, whole chicken frames and wings. Do not give a large dog a small bone ever. They tend to want to try and swallow the smaller bones and they can become lodge in their throat or they can get bones stuck across the roof of the mouth or behind their molars. If giving dogs raw poultry necks, always chop them up…some dogs will try to swallow the whole neck and can suffocate or choke to death. Some bones, like chicken bones, are for consuming quickly while others, like beef and bison bones, take a bit more time.

Do not feed bones to dogs that tend to break their teeth when chewing, or to dogs that have had restorative dental work.

If your pooch has a predisposition to pancreatitis, withhold raw marrow bones as they are too rich. You can however, scoop out most of the marrow and feed a “low fat” bone to that pooch so they can enjoy the other benefits.

Do not feed pork bones. Only feed rib bones to very small pooches. Most medium to large dogs will run into trouble if you let them have rib bones because they tend to consume too much bone which can result in impaction or because the rib bone can be broken into smaller pieces becoming a choking hazard (See size the bone right).

Cats prefer smaller softer bones such as necks, wings and frames. It might take a little while to get a cat to eat bones, that’s why starting them young is important. But make no mistake about it, they are capable of devouring bones, unless they already suffer from dental disease in which case bones would not be appropriate.

Handle raw bones carefully. Always refreeze or refrigerate bones that still have marrow and meat left on them. Put the bone in the refrigerator if giving it back the next day or refreeze it if several days will pass before the bone is given again.

Toss old bones away that don’t have any marrow or meat left. Even though your pooch might enjoy gnawing on it, it can become brittle and break apart.

Knowing the precautions of how to feed raw meaty bones will keep you pets happy, healthy and chewing!

If you have any questions, please call or stop by one of our three locations and let one of our trained associates help you.

Read our other articles on Feeding Raw Meaty Bones:
Ready for Raw Meaty Bones
The Benefits of Raw Meaty Bones
Flashy Feline Fangs

When the spring storm season ended, 4th of July began and our neighbors seemed to think louder and bigger was better. Max was a wreck even having his only house-soiling incident. We had to do something so we went to researching and the Thundershirt came up along with some other options. We bit the bullet and ordered the shirt, bolstered by the guarantee and the knowledge that if it didn’t work the returned shirt would be donated to a shelter pet.

Within a week of receiving the Thundershirt we had a fall storm during the day. We were able to put the shirt on Max and he was calmed down quickly. He’s still clingy but will fall asleep next to a person with him instead of being up all night. We’ve used this in so many “scary” situations that it’s paid for itself 100 times over. He wears it most of the 4th of July holiday, meeting new dogs (he can be crabby), car rides and anywhere he needs a little reassurance. This “shirt”, while a little funky to put on at first, is a lifesaver for everyone in our household. We love it and when it wears out (though it’s been 2 years and still going!) we’ll be getting another one ASAP.

Ashley Cunningham
KCMO