Food and Medications: Sweetie and Sam are currently the two canine members of our household. Sammie is a seven year old Great Pyrenees (with a haircut) that is mostly a house dog these days. Sweetie Pie, thirteen, is a darling little mix of unknown origins and Sam's charge to protect. Both dogs are quite healthy and require little in the way of medications. As older dogs they do get a little mild diarrhea from time to time for which they take metronidazole, a med which always seems to quickly clear it up. The also have food allergies so we have had to switch over to the prescription diet Ultra ZD dog food from Hill's. They do very well on this. We have on a few occasions tried to switch back to other foods - organic, all natural, high dollar and so forth - but every time the food allergies kick in and we have to switch back to the ZD. Ultra ZD can be a little expensive but it is still a lot less money than having to pay the veterinarian bills for the skin problems and itchy infected ears that allergies can bring to dogs. When they do require medication we find pill pockets to be a very helpful aid when it comes to giving them their meds.

Treats, Toys and Other Things: Because of the food allergies we have to be careful when it comes to treats, but we have found a few that do not have the allergy side effects, at least not in small amounts. They love the Hill's Prescription Diet Hypoallergenic Canine Treats and also seem to enjoy joint treats too (a source of glucosamine). When it comes to toys, both dogs can obliterate any toy that comes their direction but we have one that has stood up to the challenge for many years. The stuffed latex dinosaur pictured left. It is latex and it is soft so why it doesn't get shredded into a million pieces we don't know, supposedly it has something to do with the latex being "stuffed". Another product we've become attached to over the years is the EZ Leash, a leash with a bungee built in that will stop your dog from pulling in a flash - they don't like the consistent resistance the bungee causes when they pull on it.

Allergy Meds: It seems like all of our dogs have had allergy issues of some kind sooner or later, some of them were food based and others were environmental. We even had one outside dog that became allergic to clover and had to be moved inside because of it. We've had two dogs on allergy shots in the past, they helped some but were not a cure all solution. The same could be said for the various antihistamines we've tried. The antihistamine that we have had the most luck with is clemastine, a generic and more affordable alternative to Tavist sold in drug and grocery stores.

Health and Joint Supplements: We have been fortunate to have all of our dogs and cats live long happy lives. However, as could be expected several developed various issues often suffered by aging canines. As our standard poodle Emily got older we noticed her slowing down a bit. Her liver enzymes were just a little elevated so the veterinarian recommended SAMe non-prescription supplements for better liver health. Emily was also starting getting a little stiff from time to time. In the past, cosequin had worked really well for one of our older dog's joint issues. Around that same time a dog trainer we knew told us how much select antioxidant had helped her dogs general health and energy levels. Since each product has its own unique purpose, we decided to giver her all three supplements on a regular basis. The combination of ingredients did wonders for Emily, increasing her energy, stamina, liveliness and general vitality. They made a big difference.

Our cat Twoie has had quite the full life, born a working barn cat she was eventually moved inside due to a torn cruciate ligament in her knee - yes, just like the football players get. She's always been healthy but developed some mild kidney issues and has been on feline kd for several years with much success. For heartworm, flea and tick protection we decided to go with the easy to administer topical spot on revolution for cats, for one product that takes care of all three issues. It works very well but seems to lose its effectiveness immediately when the 4 weeks are up.