Category: Pets

Ash Kit

Ash Kit is doing well — he stays in Anya’s room at night, and I’m trying to train him to pounce on Anya to wake her up when the alarm starts in the morning.

Ash’s Age

We’re trying to figure out a birthday for Ash — On August 08th, we thought there was a bigger Cali-Kitty … but that was probably just Patches being pregnant. Patches didn’t look pregnant anymore on September 05th, and on October 11th we first saw the kittens. There are just over five weeks between these two dates. Five or six weeks old (per a quick Internet search) is about the time kittens have good enough vision & are coordinated enough to be running around and starting to play.

That means he was probably born a few days before September 5th … now we have to figure out a cake for cats … tuna cake? Well, we’ve got about nine months to figure it out 🙂

Bath Time for Kittens

Ash had his first bath today — he was pretty calm. He wasn’t super thrilled to be walking around in a tub full of water, but he loved her rubbing soap into his pelt. Getting rinsed off wasn’t awesome, but he was happy to be snuggled in a fluffy towel and dried off.

Kitten Returns

Anya got Ash back in the house! She fed him a big dish of tuna, and he let her pet him as he ate. She was petting his face and moved back down to pet his shoulders … and she picked him up and brought him back inside. I know she’ll be a lot more careful in the future so he doesn’t get outside until he really trusts us!

Kitten Snuggles

Ash is still a very snuggly kitten. Anya spends a lot of time holding him — she will read a book while he sleeps (and sometimes she naps too … I always tell her you know you are getting old when a nap sounds like a good idea, so now she tells me she’s getting old!)

Chicken Food

I’ve found a few good ideas for things chickens will feed themselves — include the compost area in the chicken pen, the chickens will turn the compost for you, eat fresh veggie scraps, and eat bugs they find.

Put a board or rubber mat down on the ground – let it sit there for a day or two, and a bunch of bugs will move in under it. Flip the board/mat into a new location & the chickens will go after the bugs that have been uncovered.

I also plan to grow a “chicken garden” in their coop — buckwheat, millet, flax, red clover, and forage peas. Hopefully they won’t confuse their garden with our garden. I want to try allowing them to roam in our raised bed garden to eat bugs … but I may end up fencing that off so they don’t eat our veggies!

Homemade Dog Food

In case we do get a dog, I wanted to have a few recipes for homemade dog food because I really don’t want to feed a dog fat coated grain nuggets.

Liver Brown Rice

  • 2 lbs raw chicken livers (3 containers) – remember, you can also use beef liver
  • 2 cup of cooked brown rice, set aside
  • 1 cup of chopped carrots
  • 1 chopped broccoli,
  • 2 cup of water
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil for pan

Chop veggies and liver into bite sized pieces. Saute liver. Add water and simmer until liver is cooked. Add veggies and cook for a few more minutes. Cool and refrigerate/freeze.

Beef Sweet Potato

  • 1 pound of beef
  • 1 small sweet potato
  • 1/2 cup of carrots, diced
  • 1/2 cup of green beans, diced
  • 1/2 cup of flour
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for frying

Microwave the sweet potato until mostly cooked and chop into bite sized pieces. Dice beef and saute in olive. Remove meat from pan. Add flour and water to make a gravy. Add in veggies, sweet potato, and meat. Cook over medium-low heat until carrots are cooked (5-10 minutes). Cool and refrigerate/freeze.

Lots of Veggies (my own)

  • 3 lbs beef offal
  • 1 cups brown rice
  • 3 cups spinach, shredded
  • 1 zucchini, chopped
  • 1 cup peas
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup meat stock
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon ground egg shells

Dice everything into bite sized pieces. Saute meat for a few minutes until mostly cooked. Add in flour, egg, and stock to make a gravy. Stir in veggies and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Cool and refrigerate/freeze.

Apples!

  • 3 lbs turkey/chicken
  • 1 cups brown rice
  • 2 apple
  • 2 cup carrots
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 2 tablespoons tapioca powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup meat stock
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon ground egg shells

Dice everything into bite sized pieces. Saute meat for a few minutes until mostly cooked. Add in flour, tapioca powder, and stock and heat make a gravy. Stir in fruit/veggies and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Cool and refrigerate/freeze.