What Is That Noise? A Moaning Cow?

Shortly after the new food arrived so did another box. I tend to pay little attention to the things that Markus brings home, unless it's something for me. He began working in the kitchen and after a little while he took in a bag of my food. Of course I was now interested and walked in to join him. Roo was in his usual position lounging on the couch. All of a sudden there was this horrible sound. Like a moaning cow or something.

Post-Recall Food - What Will I Eat?

With that food recall all of the dry food in my disaster bags had to be destroyed! Well at least there was still the Cesar's in the bag. Adele likes to have some wet food. She says its for the water content. I like it because it's fun to eat that soft sloppy stuff every so often. Seriously though, without the dry food my bags were going to be short some food and I was worried.

Maybe I shouldn't have worried too much though. Those two ran out right away and found a solution. First, our friends at Mud Bay helped out, and Adele brought home some new food. It's tasty and similar to my other food. The only problem I saw was there weren't any small pouches for my disaster bag. I started to worry again.

Natura Pet Recall!

You know, one day you're eating the food you've been eating for what seems like forever and them BAM, you're eating something new without notice. I overhead Adele saying that my food had been recalled and we had to get something else. She called over the Mudbay and she seemed please with their recommendations. They drove off and left us to wait. Oh ya, I haven't mentioned the "us" part, but I'll get to that later. They came home with a bunch of samples of new foods to try. The next few days are going to be exciting. They kept talking about the Natura Pet food recall and what needed to be done to get the GHB's restocked and ready to go. I do like it when we get to play with the disaster kits! If you are currently using any Natura Pet brands go replace that food right away just to be safe. Good Luck.

DZ
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And a few tricks in the 5-Day bags...

So they worked hard on creating my 5-Day bags that night, and a little more now and then, here and there, when they thought about it. In the process they did a couple of things I didn't expect. Now being a Chihuahua I'm not quite sure what I expected. They came up with a way to store nitrile gloves so they wouldn't get damaged. And they came up with a simple container for a first aid kit for me.


Here's how they stored the gloves. They rolled four gloves individually and put them in a plastic Q-Tip travel case. It's easy enough to get a pair of gloves out and keeps them from getting damaged.













 They also took one of those $1 first aid kits and replaced the contents with more useful stuff. It has tweezers, gauze pads, roller gauze, disinfectant wipes, butterfly closures, some antibiotic ointment, and some adhesive bandages. It fits just right too.

DZ
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Finally, organized kits!

So Markus & Adele were grating on each other about how to organize my disaster kits. They couldn't agree on how much food, water, medications, or practically anything to put in the kits.  They practiced now and then, bringing their bags into the house and talking through a disaster. It just wasn't clicking and I was afraid they might just give up. Then one day...

They used to say 3 days of supplies, but now....

A long time ago someone told folks to have three days of emergency supplies. In the western states where earthquakes were common this seemed like a good idea to some. Then around the 2005 Hurricane Katrina catastrophe in New Orleans the recommended amount of supplies increased. So how many days should everyone have? The numbers seem to be a little different from one source to the next. Needless to say, being better prepared is being better prepared. Have a plan and have supplies necessary for your plan. BUT, don't forget that your pets need to be in that plan too. It's just not ok to have 10 days of food and water for yourself and 2 days for your pets. How much do you think Markus and Adele put aside for me? What is their plan?

GHB! What the heck is a GHB for a dog?

What's a GHB? It's a Get Home Bag. For the human-folk they like to fill these with the stuff they might need to get home in a disaster. It has less than they would need to survive the disaster but enough to make sure they can get to their disaster supplies. Since I'm not able to carry my own bag of stuff, Markus and Adele have made my Walk Bag my GHB. It's the bare minimum that I always have when I'm away from home. And don't forget, each of their cars carries one of my disaster bags. Does your pet need a their own GHB? Do you even have one?

Taking a ride in the sling

I know I mentioned my carry sling. I really like it. If I get too worn out to continue walking, or if I have a seizure and just need to rest, I get to ride in the sling. It is not really fancy, but it fits just right. Here's me in the sling. I don't get to ride in it too often, though. It is nice to be able to relax and watch the world from a higher vantage point sometimes.

If I get really tired I can nuzzle down into the sling and go to sleep. Not a bad deal.

DZ
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You never know where you'll be...

You never know where you might be when you need your meds, and something to eat. Just the other day we had to go visit a relative and keep an eye on the kids. It was certainly fun with lots of room to run around. There were other dogs to keep it interesting. The evening ran into the night and then the night went a little long. Before I knew it I had missed dinner and was starving. Well at least I was super hungry. I also needed my meds. I get this feeling of being a little off when I don't get my meds and I felt it coming on. I did the bark-dance and gave Adele my stern look. Then Markus grabbed my meds from the walk bag. Then came the Cesar. What a treat. I normally eat the California Natural grain free dry food. The moist Cesar is fun to eat and it comes in its own bowl. Very convenient when we're not at home. Markus says everything is easier with the walk bag, and there's less to be concerned about. I just hope they don't buy a backpack and make me carry all this stuff. I might be a tough little Chihuahua. I'm still a Chihuahua not some sort of draft horse!

Here's my walk bag

I've been busy adding cool pins to my Pinterest boards. I've added images of my walk bag and disaster bag. Now some folks like to call the disaster bag a "five-day bag" or a "GHB" for Get Home Bag. I'll save that for later. For now let me show you a little more about my walk bag...

I'm on Pinterest too!

Find some more info at Pinterest. I'm adding images as quickly as I can. Sometimes it's really hard to sneak onto the laptop. With a little luck... Maybe I can get Adele or Markus to take a picture of my disaster prep supplies. You know it'll be at Pinterest if they do.

Great "Go Bag" graphic

Here's a great graphic for showing what belongs in a "Go Bag" from aac-rerc.psu.edu. It really caught my eye when I saw it. Markus is coming back, he really doesn't like me using his laptop...DZ

A new item in the bag!

Later that day after my away from home seizure, we talked about what would happen if we were walking and not near the car. Even with the walk bag and a quick recovery, I might not be able to travel very well on my own after a seizure. They came up with a simple sling that Markus would wear like a sash diagonally with me tucked inside it. Adele set about and had a nice one put together in no time. It was cotton with a nice flannel sheet lining. I have to admit I was skeptical of the plan at first. Then Markus gave me a ride in the sling and it wasn't half bad. I could see what was going on around me and he was able to see me if I had a problem. Adele didn't like the feel of the sling. It was a little uncomfortable for her so she put together a different one that wrapped crisscross on her chest and I got to ride looking up at her. It was very reassuring to me. So the rescue sling was permanently added to my walk bag, and it's been put to use more than once too. I like knowing that no matter where we go, we can keep moving even when I'm not well or too exhausted to continue.

Practice pays off!

So we had been practicing what to do when I had a seizure. The drill was pretty straight forward and not unpleasant to practice. I do like to get snuggled. Soon after we were visiting friends with a very stimulating home and I was overcome. It's hard to put it altogether. Before I lost consciousness Markus scooped me up and held me firmly. They figured out this makes the seizure a little less tiring for me and reassures me. I remember him rushing me to the car and sitting on the front seat when I lost it. A short time later I came around with Adele lightly covering my eyes and reassuring me. She must have gotten the meds into my mouth because I had that nasty aftertaste as I calmed down. The world slowly came into focus and I licked Markus' face to say I was alright. Adele set out some water and I washed away the cotton and medicine aftertaste. We all sat quietly and I enjoyed a power snack for a moment. Whew, I thought, it's good to know those drills helped and I feel better knowing they're ready. After that I was good to go the rest of the day. Markus doted on me a bit - he gets a little overprotective sometimes...

Why does my Walk Bag have that in it?

Someone was wondering why my Walk Bag has some of those things - being that I'm a dog and it's my bag. Things like the candy snacks, gum, bandaids, Tums, and Chapstick. Well I do actually use the Tums and Chapstick. Sometimes my stomach gets really upset and the Tums help. They're yummy too! The candy and gum are for my Adele and Markus. Sometimes my seizures can be tiring to them the bag is big enough to hold them. Oh and the 'water pouch' is one of the those survival water things. There's always just the right amount of water available for me. Whoever designed those pouches knew exactly how much I like to have at once. I don't want to forget the treats either. Because seizures are tiring I get special treats for energy and this nice person put together some great information on them.  My walk bag has changed slowly over time as things are added and eliminated - lessons learned. I'll talk about my new bag later on. First I have to tell you a story of one episode...

Maybe it didn't just start

If the truth be told, I had a small seizure once when we visited friends. My companions, Markus and Adele, sprang into action comforting me. The next day I had a "walk bag" with some essentials. Here's the what it had in the beginning.  My companions, were insistent that I inspect each item before it went into the bag. I sniffed and licked everything. There could be no question it was mine! Now my Walk Bag goes everywhere I go, and I insist on it.

The effort started!

Suddenly my companions were building disaster kits for each of their cars and the house. They even talked about what I would need! I sat with them and barked encouragement when they were on the right path. Web searches followed and valuable checklists began to appear. They had Red Cross information like this one and this one, and this one and another from Ready.gov. This was good stuff. They paid attention to my excitement. It's a good think the internet has pictures. Not to mention voice to text software that translates my barking too!

Were they listening?

At first I barked and ran in circles whenever a Ready.gov or American Red Cross commercial came on the television. I was cute, naturally, but not getting my message across. I even tried to type on a laptop left on the coffee table. It wasn't working... Then one day it just seemed to happen!

A bit of background....

The Pacific Northwest is a pretty wonderful place to live. To balance things out a bit it is also ripe for a major natural disaster. Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and routine flooding are on the minds of many here. These things are especially daunting for a small dog. It has take no small effort on my part to get my companions to listen. Being ready for this sort of stuff is important. I have a couple of problems that I need regular medication for and what veterinarian will be available in a disaster? I also get cold easily. Ya, ya, ya... I'm a Chihuahua. I have short hair not fur. I have other problems that need tending to also. As you can imagine I have regular discussions with both my doctor and my companions to keep it all together. Which brings us to disasters. I know I need a little extra effort on a day to day basis, and what will happen when nothing around me is working properly? A dog has to think of these things. I had to devise a plan to get them to think of these emergencies...