Raw Food Diet, Day 536- Where It Comes From

Hey Dudemeisters. My spoiled baby big brother FINALLY let me have my blog back. I'll tell ya that Big Pupi is doing almost shockingly well. He's healing so quickly now that he should be able to wear a harness for a good long walk this weekend. I bet he's excited to get out of the apartment to check his pee-mail!

I had to be Have today on a Good Boy Walk and, well, I was mostly Good Boy... I struggle when there are puddles all over with lots of reflections. We took a break at the bark park and I had a BLAST getting 2 dogs to chase and wrastle with me at the same time. I was SO AWESOME! The sprinkler was on as well and I spent a lot of time exposing the ol' groin to the icy coolness. Once I'm soaked from head to toe I make sure to help cool the humans off and rub against their shins. I'm such thoughtful little man!

Then on my Good Boy Walk home I met Mr. Great Dane who was 7 months old and looked like Big Pupi - but about a bagillion times his size. This dude was AWESOME! I jumped a few times trying to sniff his bum and attempted to start a game of chase, but our humans wouldn't drop our leashes. NO FUN! I wasn't the slightest bit put off by his size. I like the big party animals! I aspire to be a huge party animal myself some day.

Anyway, mom was telling me about the crazy critters that lived here before me, and the times she first learned about the benefits of special, homemade diets. She told me that it not only applies to beasts such as myself, but to all critters big and not-so-beastly. To start, I would like to introduce you to a tasty little niblet named Nutmeg:Mom got Nutmeg (and Pie, but we're missing photos of that lady bird) when mom was 11 years old, and that wacky bird stuck around through grammar school, middle school, high school, college and through mom's first job. Nutmeg was fed seeds for her first few years, but then the vet insisted she be put on a pellet diet. Well, it wasn't long after that switch and Nutmeg and Pie got LEAD POISONING! Can you believe it? They almost died! So it was back to seeds and veggies for them.

At about 5 years old, little Pie passed away from what they thought was a heart attack. It happened right in front of young mommy and she was a tad bit scarred from that whole event. Pie was an obese little bird because seeds are kind of like eating chocolate chip cookies every day and boy did Pie like her feasts! This left little Nutmeg all alone, but she was so bonded to mom that she didn't really mind it. She just followed mom from room to room running about on the ground like a puppy. (That sounds totally bizarre to me. I think mom is making that up.)

When Nutmeg was about 8 years old mom got her a buddy named Bean. He was a strapping young lad:
Bean LOVED Nutmeg and he would sing her Low Rider and other tunes and flash his wings and strut about for her. It was love... but she only loved mommy. Bean was a feisty sort and he never gave up on the quest for Nutmeg's affection.

It was around this time that their vet said that mom should try pellets again. He said that they've improved a whole lot and he gave her a very fancy brand to take home. The birdles ate a mix of this with a little seed, some veggies and fortified treats. Nutmeg actually liked her pellets and would chow down every day. However, at about 10 years old she was diagnosed with renal failure, brought on from Hypovitaminosis A - a severe lack of vitamin A in the diet. WHAT? Where was this "balanced" and "nutritious" fancy food now?? This was the BEST of the cockatiel pellets and here was Nutmeg with a terminal illness. WHAT THE BIRD?!?

They fought the kidney disease for 2 1/2 years until the kindest thing was to send little Nutmeg over the bridge. Bean called for his love for days on end, until he too became too ill to sing. Mom rushed him to the vet who diagnosed him with a rare fungal infection of the crop, and said that birds can become so attached to another being that they can actually die from a broken heart. Bean's love was gone, and so his body was calling it quits.

Until this little bugger came to town:
Meet Little Reggie the Cockatiel (AKA "Reggie"). Mom rushed out and adopted Reggie from a parrot rescue, and there was an instant connection between him and Bean. Within days Bean had made a full recovery and began to sing songs of love for his new brother. Reggie, (whose rescue was a little... em... questionable), almost doubled his weight from a emaciated 80 grams to a healthy 120. (The Regg-meister would like everyone to know that he was a large cockatiel, not a fat one!) That big boy would climb to the highest perch and puff his chest, singing the most horrible renditions of Low Rider you've ever heard. Bean would watch him adoringly from below.

At this point mom and dad had moved to Texas and Bean and Reggie were chillin' in the sunshine. Mom brought them to new vet who was a super duper parrot specialist, and he suggested once again she change their diet. Mom told him the story of Nutmeg, the lead poisoning, the vomiting... To this the vet said that he doesn't believe in these pre-made pellet diet thingies and he gave her a recipe especially for cockatiels that included a mix of grains and veggies and fruits. Mom could make it super duper cheap from the bulk organic grains at Whole Foods! It was crazy easy to make, and it cost 1/2 the cheese money of those silly seed mixes!

And well, the story ends with Reggie and Bean feasting on this new food and thriving. They went into a molt a few months after the diet change, and their new feathers could practically glow they were so brilliant. Their activity level went up, their molts became super easy and they stayed bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

"Hmmm..." she thought, "there might be something to this." And that idea stayed in the back of her mind until my bro and I came around with our health issues. And well, the rest is happy and meaty history.

I think I like those birdles! I would have liked to eat.... er... MEET them!
Stanislaw