Pet Food [CCR]

This year we had a new puppy join the Daily household. Sammie is a spry Miniature Schnauzer that keeps all of us on our toes. Somehow I don’t think Sammie will make a good coon dog, but he does keep his eye on the squirrels. Having been born in the late fall in Northern Ohio, Sammie hasn’t seen much green grass. It was a hoot watching him jump and skip on the icy snow as his paws froze. At times the snow was deeper than his height which made things difficult for the little dog.

The recent pet food scare that has hit the nation even had us looking twice at what Sammie has been eating. Everything you read points to the scare spreading and makes you realize that you really should pay attention to labels. For me it brings back a different time that actually was a little safer for the pets.

My pets probably ate better than most pets eat today. We grew most of the food our family ate in our garden. Our freezer helped carry us through the winter and what we purchased usually supplemented something from the freezer. With any meal there was a few scraps left. Either my sister or I would carry the pans of scraps out to the dog. As a treat Dad would sometimes pour bacon grease on the scraps. I don’t ever remember the dogs or cats having problems with that food. Well, there were a few dog fights at my Granddaddy Daily’s house between Butch and Guard since they shared a pan.

Food for the cows and the ponies was a different story. Dad kept corn we gathered from leftovers in the fields. We had a corn crib in our little log barn. The cats supplemented their food supply on the mice that might want to venture to the corn crib. Of course that was the primary job for the cats. We kept hay in the barn too. We milked the cows and in the summer that meant fresh ice cream. But when Dad went to milk the cows the kittens would gather around begging for a taste. It is amazing how a cat can catch a squirt of milk in mid air.

Unfortunately our little pastures did not really have a natural supply of water. It was necessary to keep the water pails full for the cows, horses and goats. Dad had a trick for winter when it got cold enough to skim the water with ice. He kept an iron rod in the bucket and we only had to go out and jiggle the rod to free up the water. But each day we also had to carry fresh water out to the field. I always said I would run a water line out to the upper pasture one day, but we never did.

Today people are fretting over the health of their pets, and rightfully so. Some of our pets provide essential services while others are merely vital companions. Either way, we do get attached. I recently heard that web sites and bookstores are selling out of pet cookbooks. What is a pet cookbook? I can save you a lot of money if you just remember the pet doesn’t mind sharing what you have left from dinner. It won’t hurt them.

So I dropped by our kitchen and there is a big pan of a concoction with rice, chicken broth, chicken meat, peas, carrots, and a few other things. It looked good, until I found out it was specifically fixed for Sammie. I’m not sure about this situation. Maybe Sammie and I sure have one of those matches like Butch and Guard at my Granddaddy’s house. Actually, I think I’ll wait. Cindy has a chicken roasting in the oven.