Previous Animal Updates: December 13, 2007
Bon Appétit!
Little Caesar appears on WCCO morning news with HFL Director Lisa Laverdiere to promote The Faces of Home for Life. Read more on our Press page.
The Faces of Home for Life®, our annual holiday event at the Mall of America, has a special theme this year—Feed an Animal at Home for Life® for a Day. In honor of that event, we highlight our residents' favorite subject—food!
Many of our animals come to us with very inadequate dietary histories. The result of a poor quality diet is evident in the appearance of their coat and teeth, their lack of energy, and other health problems. One of the first benefits many of our new residents realize is a high-quality diet that's tasty to boot! In addition to monitoring the animals' nutritional needs, we pay close attention to their culinary preferences.
Food for a day
It costs $1.75 a day to feed the average dog or cat at Home for Life®, $53 a month and $600 a year.
We strive to secure donations of food whenever possible, but never at the expense of the residents' health or well being. Feeding them donated food that is expired or poor quality is a false economy and penny wise but dollar foolish. An inadequate diet ultimately results in poor health, poor quality of life and more vet bills.
We buy the majority of food that we feed to the cats, dogs, birds, rabbits and our tortoise, although most is purchased wholesale.
We are grateful to the Wysong Corporation of Midland Michigan for their monthly donation of our dry cat food.
Nutrition
A vegetable a day keeps the vet away for Alabama (left), pictured here with her friend Annie. Read more about Alabama's diet under "Profiles in eating" at right.
Many of our animals are on special diets for conditions like diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic urinary tract conditions like cystitis or crystals, and liver disease. Animals that need close monitoring are weighed weekly. New animals are weighed upon entry, and then weighed again weekly and then monthly to ensure that they maintain a healthy weight. Health problems can often be nipped in the bud if weight loss is detected by close monitoring.
Most of our animals eat twice a day, but those that are struggling with a poor appetite may be fed four or five times a day. Our cats have the dry kibble bowls available at all times.
All animals have individual food sheets used to monitor their eating habits. The sheets resemble what you might find in a hospital or nursing home. The staff signs off on each sheet at each meal, indicating whether or not the animal ate well, along with what and how much was eaten. The sheets provide a log so that staff are in touch with each other about any issues so that problems are caught before it is too late to help. This creates a record over time so that any change in the animal's eating pattern can be noticed easily.
What's Cooking?
We have tried many brands of food over the years but have settled on a few that seem to agree with the animals and promote good health. Our cats eat a mixture of Royal Canin and Wysong kibble or Science Diet kibble. The cats insist that the Science Diet stand alone in its own dishes.
The majority of our dogs eat Royal Canin kibble in small-bite size. Many of the dogs suffer from bloat (a painful and potentially life-threatening condition where the stomach twists) if fed large kibble. Other dogs are on specially formulated diets made by Hills and Royal Canin.
We feed a variety of canned or wet food to both the cats and dogs to encourage their appetite. Wet food provides moisture and adds flavor to the kibble. For the older animals—especially the older cats—wet food provides a welcome source of additional fluids to help maintain hydration. Canned food varieties used at HFL include Instinct, Merricks, Wellness, Innova, California Natural, Science Diet, Precise, Solid Gold, and Sensible Choice.
Finicky Eaters
Defending one's meal can make a cat tired. Though she is blind, Celeste senses when another cat has designs on her dinner. A quick swat makes the offending cat think twice.
Getting cats to eat can sometimes be a challenge. Like kids, cats don't always like what is best for them. We believe in making sure that finicky cats eat SOMETHING, so rather than engage them in a battle of wills, we stock a supply of Fancy Feast dry kibble and canned food in every flavor. When all else fails, a treat of baby food or tuna fish will excite the palate of a cat who is holding out and usually get them eating again.
There are also cats who disdain any canned food but can be seen at any time munching on the dry cat food that is always available in the catteries. Among the committed dry food fans are some who eat ONLY Science Diet dry and some who eat ONLY the Royal Canin/Wysong mix. However, members of both dry food camps will eat Fancy Feast Dry. After being assigned to cats for a few days, staff members are always relieved to work with the dogs, who appreciate practically anything that we offer them at mealtime.
When our older dogs need appetite teasing, or when they have an upset stomach, Minute Rice mixed with ground turkey does the trick. The mix is pure and fairly bland, so it settles well in the stomach. Gerber Chicken sticks work almost unfailingly in those rare cases when a dog is not interested in food.
The vegetarians
Goliath spends strawberry season with purple berry stains on his face.
Our bunnies get daily hay piles to munch on, which keeps their teeth trimmed and provides roughage to prevent fur balls which can be deadly. Our rabbits also get Oxbow Timothy pellets and a daily fresh vegetable salad. The bunnies also adore fresh basil, apples (especially Granny Smith and Golden Delicious varieties) and parsley. Our other vegetarians—Goliath the tortoise and our birds—enjoy similar diets of fresh produce and staples appropriate to their species.
Treat time
Many of our dogs need medications, and most of our staff are too dainty to put animals in headlocks at medication time. Necessity is the mother of invention. We discovered that a pill encased in a bit of lunch meat is the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. Medication time thus becomes something the dogs look forward too, and even dogs who do not need medicine like to line up with their roommates to receive a treat (sans pill).
Anyone could set their watch based on the feeding schedule of both the cats and dogs at the sanctuary. They ALWAYS know what time they should be fed and will let the staff know if a meal is even a minute late. The protests are especially vocal among the dogs at treat time.
The dogs enjoy a daily treat after the evening meal and they eagerly anticipate the ritual each day. The bigger dogs prefer the "milkbone" type dog biscuits: all flavors of Old Mother Hubbard treats are the favorite. The small dogs love chewy teats: jerky treats, Puperoni and snausages. Even blind Igor and Polly wait eagerly for their treat each night.
It is amazing that once the dogs have had their treats, they instantly quiet down and turn in for the night.