dealing with fleas and ticks
anytime of the year can be a challenge when it comes to flea and tick control, but after a very mild winter i believe this year will be especially hard. fleas and ticks can be the cause of some severe health problems (anemia, lyme disease), so it is very important to check your dog and cat often for activity. some people chose to use topicals and pills to control fleas and ticks on their pets. talk to your veterinarian about potential side effects and health risks related to these chemical/drug products.

if you're like me and prefer to take a natural, chemical & drug free approach, there are many options provided by mother nature that can be safely and effectively used. using products derived from ingredients found in nature may require a bit of discipline and frequency of use on our part, but once a routine is established going this route can be very easy! and knowing that natural products are safer for us, our pets, our families and the environment, and affordable is a great reason to go natural.

first of all a healthy balanced diet (preferably free of corn, wheat, soy, chemical preservatives & dyes) loaded with good quality proteins, beneficial oils, digestive enzymes, and antioxidants can play a huge part particularly in controlling fleas. granulated garlic can be added to your pet's food creating an unpleasant taste to fleas - WARNING, never, never, never feed fresh garlic as this can be deadly, use only granulated (no salt), and remember a small bit goes a long way.

neem oil is one of my favorites, extracted from  the neem tree which grows mainly in india, southeast asia, and africa. neem has many many uses, it is an antibacterial, anti-fungal, mitecide (kills mites/spiders), and does a great job of repelling fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and acts as an anti-inflammatory relieving itching and dermatitis with wound healing properties (helpful with relieving and healing hotspots), works well on ear mites. i keep a bottle of it handy at my front door where i spray my dogs thoroughly once a week and work into their coats, and spritz them every couple days in between. my lab, rudy, runs through a small hay field every day to see his girlfriend next door, and i have yet to pull a tick from him! my cats don't care much for being sprayed so i spray it on a paper towel and rub them down with neem.

peppermint & clove is also a great way to control fleas and ticks. mixed and used as a spray i use it around my house to freshen and kill fleas on carpets, pet beds, upholstered furniture. i keep a spray bottle out on the back porch and use it to keep mosquitoes away, and my husband keeps it on the tractor to use during mowing and hay season. spray your yard with it and it will help control flea and tick activity naturally!

tick removal
if you find a tick on your pet, spray it first with peppermint clove, it will kill the tick and quite possibly the tick will fall off (great way to remove tiny deer ticks). the trick to tick removal is that we don't want to piss off the tick as it will shoot more venom into their victim, and we absolutely want to remove the entire tick. if the tick does not fall away, then remove it using a "tick key", this is one handy dandy tool! once the tick is removed treat the wound with neem oil (killing any germs/bacteria left behind). 

i could go on and on all day long about this topic, but best thing to do is come by the shop where all of these products and more are available or visit the website www.woofville.com for more information about all the great natural products available. woof!

aches & pains

as we age our bodies begin to develop aches and pains, often times from inflammation due to arthritis or joint deterioration. our animals can develop these same problems, causing them to slow down and sometimes becoming grouchy.


diet and supplementation can be very helpful in controlling aches and pains. a diet low/or free of sugars, salts, and chemicals (preservatives and dyes), and the addition of natural supplements like wild salmon oil, yucca, white willow bark, pineapple bromelain, organic coconut oil, condroitin (porcine source) and glucosamine (from shellfish, trachea, etc) are some of the tried and true things mother nature has provided for us to slow down and manage deterioration and chronic pain.


aging is a fact of life, but there's no reason why we can't all age gracefully and enjoy our lives until our last breath is drawn.


want more info and help, come see us!

part 2 of the petfood discussion

ok, so now that you've had time to digest the first part of this discussion, let's move on to the "meat" of the topic. what the heck are byproducts? mmm, heads, feet, feathers, fur, eewwww. i know, in the wild, dogs/cats would eat these things (fur is a great source of fiber), but manufacturers that are putting byproducts in our pet's food are cutting costs, period.

and what about all that corn, wheat, gluten, and soy? not only do they cause a great deal of allergy problems, and health issues, but can be extremely hard to digest and eliminate - especially with cats. if the ingredient list on your bag of food starts with meat followed by 3 or 4 types of grain product, even though the first ingredient is meat, the next 3 or 4 combined outweigh the meat.

i like to feed very simple limited ingredient foods. i look for a food that breaks down into 4 sections - first protein, followed by antioxidants and beneficial oils, followed by pro & pre biotics, and finished off with essential vitamins and minerals. i also like a food that falls in the 22% - 32% range of protein.

if you're going to feed a high quality food, be sure to feed a high quality treat. single protein treats like lamb lung, or chicken strips, etc. are a great way to show the love in more ways than one. generally speaking table food is a no, no, but there are a few things that i eat that i gladly feed my dogs, and that is a topic for another day.

hope you're finding some valuable information here, that is useful either for yourself or someone you know. please feel free to share this link.

thanks for checking in on my blog, come back again soon.

woofs!!!

those first 4 ingredients

now that the initial niceties are out of the way, let's blog. grab your bag and/or can of dog and cat food that you are currently feeding, and let's have a look at the ingredients. many people take the colorful front of the bag (or can) with its fancy graphics, and words like, "healthy", "natural", "complete", blah, blah, blah at face value, never thinking to flip the bag (or can) over to see if the food they're feeding is really "healthy", "natural", well, you get it.

the first 4 ingredients are very telling about the validity of these claims.

the following is generally the first 4 ingredients you will see when you look at a bag of commercial brand dry dog (and in some cases, cat) food - ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour...

believe it or not, none of these ingredients have any nutritional value, and in many cases are the reason why our pets stink, lick their paws, develop hotspots, struggle with their weight, and are constantly sick to their stomachs.

the following is an example of the first 4 ingredients on a bag specialty dry food - chicken meal, turkey meal, lamb meal, brown rice...

omg, is my reaction every time i compare foods. the industry standard is so low that companies can process and package just about anything and market it as healthy, nutritious, complete, blah, blah, blah, and we as consumers think that we are making the best choices for our furry companions based on the colorful, attractive bags with their positive claims.

so, what does your pet food bag (or can) have to say? flip it over, take a minute, check out the first four ingredients, go further, if you dare (we'll be chatting about all the other nasty bits very soon) and then look at your dog and cat, and ask yourself, "what can i do better?".

welcome to my blog

after a great deal of thinking about how i can share more information with customers, friends, fans, and casual observers of woofville & meow town, i have decided to blog. everyday, people come to my store and often in conversation they will share an issue regarding their dog or cat with me. things like, doggie breath, hot spots, paw licking, dull coat, joint pain, naughty behavior, just to name a few. by using this thing called "blogging", my hope is that i can share common issues, and in many cases, easy solutions to some of the challenges of living with a dog or cat.

ultimately, my hope is that woofville & meow town will become your go to place for everything dog & cat, weather it's by visiting my store, website, facebook page, or here.

well, here goes, i'm going to hit the "publish post" button now and take that first leap into the blogosphere ......