@Toby Lee Spiegel, we have lots of videos of Pipoy but I don't remember taking a video while he is feeding. But I will try to take one soon. Our suspicion is that he has no molars hence he doesn't chew his food. I don't know if that is characteristic of a pug, having no molars. I don't think that tennis ball trick will be okay with Pipoy. In fairness to Pipoy, he has no qualms when it comes to food so we don't experience a problem unlike Barbie who is very difficult to feed. We need to handfeed her.
@Toby Lee Spiegel, I still have to take a video of Pipoy. But just to give you an idea of how hyepractive our pug is, here is a video that we had uploaded in youtube. Take note that our pug is tied in the terrace. Check what he is going to do and how he does it. Here is the link to youtube -
@Corie Henson THAT is hilarious. Thank you for sharing! He's so smart -- I'm impressed. BTW, he's a very handsome dog. I like pugs... thought about getting one, but decided on Chihuahua because it's the state dog of Arizona. Just Kidding, of course. My neighbor's daughter has a pug. I dated a guy who had two of them, that's when I first became acquainted up close and personal with the breed. Lovable dogs!
I wanted to bring up the topic of fleas and knew that I had discussed it before, so I will elaborate here. In the more than fifteen years that I have been feeding my cats premium foods, we have had zero problems with fleas. My cats go outdoors during the day, and this has included summers in which our next-door neighbor was complaining about the fleas his cat had brought home. Although his experience was that the fleas were really bad that year, my four cats didn't bring these fleas home with them, and I don't treat them with flea poisons either. No flea collars, no flea baths, no anti-flea medications. Prior to this, when I was feeding them Science Diet, which is what vets usually recommend, we had some horrible flea problems. One summer, I didn't see any hope for the future, as the fleas were so bad. However, since we've been feeding them right, they seem not to be susceptible to fleas. This was something we were told while we were being trained to work for Blue Buffalo, although it wasn't a promise that we could make, and I found it to be true. I have a flea comb and a brush, and I would periodically check the cats for fleas when they came into the house, especially when I'd see them scratching, but they never had a problem with fleas. Oh, there were a couple (and I do think only two) times when I found one flea on one of the cats immediately after they came indoors, but that was it. The only thing I can think of is that cats have a natural resistance to fleas that comes into play when they're eating right. I don't know that it's just because they were healthy because, in their last years, I couldn't say that Cutie and Lydia were particularly healthy, because age had caught up to them (Cutie was more than 28 years old when she died), but they could still go outdoors without getting fleas.
We fed our Husky Blue Buffalo, and, when we get our Shih Tzu, we will feed her the best "small dog" dog food available. However, unlike the Husky, our future Shih Tzu (Daisy) will be a house dog/lap pup.
While I still feed Blue Buffalo kibble, primarily, I sometimes mix another premium kibble in with it and I buy a variety of premium wet cat foods, as well. Ella is easier to please than Cutie and Lydia were, and Bubba will eat pretty much anything, so my primary goal is to make sure that I buy them something that will keep them healthy. I came across a brand called Cat Person, which is distributed by Cats LLC. There are multiple choices but, for example, the Mackerel & Bream Recipe is 52% mackerel and bream, 42% fish broth, 2% tapioca, and 4% other stuff, none of which looks scary. I've tried three of the recipes so far and they've all gone over very well, as far as the cats are concerned, and the ingredient list is great, so I'm happy. I just placed my second order.
45 years ago I did volunteer work at an animal shelter that's no longer there, outside of DC. I ended up with a barely-weaned puppy. Then I ended up with a kitten. then I quit. I fed them nothing buy store-brand canned & dry food from a regional chain (Giant Food.) They both lived to be around 21 years old. But I took good care of them. They got their annual vet visits, and were immediately taken in if there were situational health issues.
My friend's cat Amber would never drink directly out of the dish but instead dip her paw into the water and lick it off. I don't know if that's unusual. Ken, you all are reminding me that I'm not taking the best care of Barney regarding food. He gets name brand dry food with only the occasional treat of cheese or meat. He pukes some of it up at least once a day. I used to vary his diet with canned food but I don't anymore. Now that's he's getting older I need to change things. Thanks for the reminders of what I already knew but have been too lazy to put into practice.
I had a cat who did that all the time. Her name was Baby Girl. She died of cancer at 24, but her daughters, Lydia and Cutie, lived to be 26 and 28, respectively. Baby Girl would even cup her paws like someone drinking water out of a stream. I don't know where the picked that up because her mom didn't do that, and she didn't pass it on to any of her kittens.