meat's Blog

Two Great Ways to Give Back this Holiday Season!

hmeat — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 01:50:32 +0000

Feeding Hungry Animals is Awesome!

For only $20 you buy a 15 lbs. bag of Solid Gold Millennia which we donate to The Pongo Fund for dogs (and their people) who are in need of free pet food. The Pongo Fund’s function is “Oregon’s Emergency Pet Food Bank. We work for the day when no dog or cat goes hungry simply because their families cannot afford to keep them fed. By providing emergency pet food relief to those in honest need, we succeed in reducing shelter populations and keeping people and their pets together.”

Doggies Need Presents Too!

Our annual Family Dogs New Life donation tree is back! Family Dogs have many dogs who are in need of toys, beds, treats, and accessories this season. On the donation tree you will find a card with a picture of the doggie and what their holiday wish is. Buy it here at Meat and we will donate that item to Family Dogs New Life because Doggies Need Presents Too!

Thank you!

HOLIDAYS!!!

hmeat — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:34:59 +0000

hey, it’s holiday time and that means spoil those cats and dogs. we have some great new fleeces and coats from ollydog. we also brought in some super cool water bottles for you and your pooch that allows you to share water, not slobber.
one of our customers just came out with an amazing bed called Zunii Dog beds, made in the USA out of mostly recycled products. these beds are the only bed you will have to buy because you are able to replace any part that gets ruined via their website. these are super durable beds made for the active family with an active dog. check out the website and then come in to examine them in person. we can show you what they are made of and you can order directly through us with pick up guaranteed in a couple days. http://zuniidog.com/bed.html

also gefilte fish are back for the holidays!!! when you squeeze them they say ” oy vey!” one of the best gifts my dogs were ever given and now i can’t have a december without them at the shop.

that’s all for now, HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and your loved ones furry or not!!!

heidi

What I Feed and Why Pt 1

hmeat — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:26:25 +0000

Howdy, I am the noob of the shop, and as thus I get to write a wonderful blog about what I feed my animals, or as we say at my house, “fuds for Dougs.”

My name is Pong Wolfgun, my research focus is Alltagsgeschichte and social and cultural history of the German Democratic Republic. I play soccer for FC Portlandia, brew beer, roast coffee, and ferment wine. I am vegan and my dogs eat raw.

Now for the important part. Fuds for the Dougs. This is Chicken (full name, Chicken Salad Sandwiches) and Henry (pronounced “Henri”). Both are rescues, love snuggles, and protect the cats and chickens at my house (but will let you steal my bike off the front porch).

Their raw food is portioned into blue and white Tupperware purchased from Ikea. Inside are two meals, or one feeding. I like to mix up the main protein but keep everything else pretty consistent. For example, breakfast is.
2oz duck/guinea hen/ little child/ etc. The protein source is what changes, not the weight.
1oz cow pie or tripe
1 chicken neck
1 chicken foot (for some mildly disturbing reason this is the only part of their meals that my chickens actually run to and try to eat. Zombie chickens?)
Veggies (carrots, zucchini, broccoli, squash, lettuce, kale stems)

It is not uncommon for me to add water to their bowls before the foot/neck and mix/mash the ground with the water just cause.

I am lazy though and have a small freezer. As a result my dougs also eat kibble. At the moment Acana Grasslands. This is their dinner. I add powdered wheatgrass, MSM crystals, coconut oil (the kind I use to fry my food), flax oil, and or nutritional yeast. If you believe in wheatgrass, you know it can cure everything from acne to aids. All I know is that it makes the dogs go crazy for their kibble. They are pits and prone to joint issues, hence the MSM. The oils, especially the coconut, make their coats shiny and keep their skin from drying out and getting flakey, Henry had bad skin until we started feeding raw.

My cats refuse to eat raw. One of them, Nonnies, is the queen of the house and has made it clear that I should not place raw meat near her eating station. Even the chickens know this. The other, Katcat (full name Peanut Butter & Jelly) we found abandoned under my old back porch with her umbilical cord still attached and eyes shut; her first bit of solid food was her namesake – the name came first. Henry raised her and she used to sit in his food bowl and get “dibs” on the good pieces. Every now-and-then she will eat some of the raw food, but most of the time junkyard cat will just pass for curry or Tiger Balm instead. She likes things spicy.

Katcat

September NEWS!!

hmeat — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:22:57 +0000

First off: THE NEW FREEZER IS FINALLY HERE!!
we now carry the whole feline Primal line which includes chicken/salmon, beef/salmon, turkey, quail, rabbit and pheasant. we have Northwest Naturals beef for cats and the Vital Essential Chicken for cats in stock. we are also looking into another brand out of florida called Felines Pride, www.felinespride.com, it is a bit more costly than Rad Cat but is similar in the fact that it also uses no fruits/vegies and offer a cornish hen and a rabbit formula. we are asking customers if this is something they want us to bring in. Nature’s Logic is the last new product that we are carrying, www.natureslogic.com, they are a product that can be used for either cats or dogs and they use no synthetic vitamins and minerals.

Second Bit o News: Chicken, Kaig and Heidi (me) are going to Las Vegas on the 13th-15th to check out new products at SuperZoo ( giant pet product expo). feel free to email and let us know if there is anything in particular you want us to find for you. as of now we will be looking for new collars/leashes, tough toys, long lasting chews, and large training sausages that don’t have grain, sugar or by-products in them.

And Finally: Meat will be closed on September 24-25 for a employee appreciation camping weekend. thank you so much for understanding that we all need a little break together. we will be back open on Monday the 26th at 11:00am to help get you and your pets back on schedule.

I hope that you all have been having a great summer and thanks again for supporting MEAT!!!

It’s baaaaaaack!!!!

hmeat — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 01:13:48 +0000

Attention! Attention! Just as you were giving up hope, Acana Grasslands for dogs has finally returned! After a 3-4 month hiatus, we received our first shipment this week. Hopefully we will no longer have to deal with distribution problems and we can continue to supply you with this wonderful and high quality dog food. Meat would like to thank customers and pups alike for their patience and flexibility in trying new foods while Grasslands was out.

T-Bone

sweet Andi you will be missed

hmeat — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:50:14 +0000

Andromeda Lightner, the much loved best friend/companion/teacher/soul mate/dog of Kaig Lightner, passed away this morning at 3am. Andi was a regular fixture at Meat and guaranteed to be there if Kaig was on the schedule. She was a gentle and patient teacher with young pups and was shameless with customers as they approached the treat bins. I once offered to take Andi out between customers, thinking we would just go to the end of the block, but was swindled into taking her all the way to the park so she could find the perfect patch of grass to relieve herself. She was an amazing dog and i am heartbroken knowing she will only be at the shop in spirit from now on.

We love and miss you Andi xoxoxo

RIP Andromeda Lightner January 30 2000-July 10 2011

raw foods to travel with!!!

hmeat — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:51:24 +0000

well, it’s traveling time folks! once you go raw for your pets traveling is a bit more challenging than just throwing in a bag of dry food and a bowl. not to say it cant be done, a good cooler and some ice can go a long way. if you are going for just a couple days that is the route that is definitely cheapest. some people prefer convenience over cost and for them there are a bunch of options…

Honest Kitchen- dehydrated raw food ranges from $28.50- $ 84.00

Sojos- dehydrated raw food ranges from $14- $ 70

Ziwi Peak- air dried raw is $26 for dog and $14 for cat

Stella and Chewy’s- freeze dried medallions ranges from $11- $27 and $23 for cat

we have samples of most of these and have tried them all so please come in and we can figure out how to get you set up for your trip. woohoo summer!!!

Spring Cleaning is for the Cats

hmeat — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:05:49 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year, Spring Cleaning. While we await summer anxiously, and possibly in vain, we at Meat are giving the cats what they want – their own, new and improved sections.

That’s right, all of our attention for the next month will be on cats. We are bringing in a third freezer completely dedicated to raw cat food. In addition, we will be introducing new lines, such as Stella & Chewy’s for Cats and Vital Essentials. We will keep all of our favorites such as PepperCatz, Primal and Rad Cat.

Not only will the Cats have a whole new freezer, we are revamping our front of the store cat section. Gone will be the akward tables and half-hazard displays. Steve, a crafty customer of ours, will be building benches and shelves to hold all of our Cat goodies. Our newest member of the Meat team, Terrence, will use his display building skills to ooh and aah even the most earnest dog lovers.

Check in on the blog to see our progress or stop in and take a gander of the chaos of the store during construction.

Bok Bok,
Chicken

its been awhile…

hmeat — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:24:04 +0000

hey there everyone, sorry i have been so lazy about posting new blogs, i had a feeling i would be a bad blogger. i have had a few customers email me to see if meat was still open even though i hadn’t blogged in a long time. geez, i will try to be better at this, i promise. so one of my excuses for being tardy is that i was freaking out for a bit due to losing my very first employee, casey. don’t worry she isn’t dead, she just moved to florida. for those of you who can’t think of who miss casey is, she was the taller, pretty lady with long dark hair who most likely bundled up year long and was listening to jazz. casey came to work at meat six months after i opened (5 1/2yrs ago) to allow me to have a day off. SHE IS AMAZING! i owe a lot of what meat has become to casey and of course the rest of the rad meat crew. i wish casey the best and am happy to now have a reason to check out florida.

we now have a new guy named terrance working at meat who is being shared between salty’s dog and cat shop and meat. he is a great fit and i think he will do just fine here.

me and casey in vegas for superzoo 2009

ok, next blog will have to do with animals…

thanks,

heidi

testimonial

hmeat — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:16:16 +0000

i promised you a more intersting post, so i hit up one of my customers, who feeds her two LARGE dogs raw food, to write me a testimonial. so here it is:

Dear Heidi,

Here is the testimonial you asked me to write up for you. I’m sorry it’s so long.

I know you wanted the hard finances written up, so that’s in at the end. If you want me to clarify anything, let me know without a worry.

My 8 year old rott/shephard female mix and my 4 year old male alaskan malamute began shopping at Meat for Cats and Dogs four months ago. Prior to Meat, the mix had been fed Iams Large Breed and the mal tried many different ’natural’ kibbles and diets to manage his painful summer skin rashes. Nothing helped. A friend told me to check out MCD (meat for cats and dogs), so I did some online research into the ‘raw-food’ thing.

I was nervous for three reasons: the change in daily routine, fear of food aggression in my large dogs, and cost. I went in to MCD and talked with Heidi about my worries.

She was wonderful! She asked about the situation and sent us away with kibble samples, suggesting a fish formula for the malamute. It was all the best quality kibble I’d ever seen, and my dogs love their new breakfast kibble. For dinnertime, Heidi guided us through raw meat portions, varieties, and dietary needs. It’s easy–we just thaw during the day or in warm water.

I was nervous feeding such large dogs raw, but it’s been great! Both of my dogs have relaxed since their diet change. The mal’s restlessness and rowdiness is gone, and my rott/shep’s not anxious! Both have really just chilled out into happy little loving porch pets, it was almost shocking. There has not been the slightest hint of aggression in my dogs–only joy!

My mal’s summer belly rash disappeared, and he is quite happy. No longer hyperactive, he seems generally more satisfied. He was confused the first time he ate a neck, because he didn’t know how to use his jaws to eat–now he chomps gleefully on even bones as he should! It seems like he has released a lot of pent up energy with the meat/bones, energy that wasn’t relieved by 25+ mi/wk running. He is now a calm, loving, pack-oriented and delightfully playful boy! His ears/eyes/teeth look great, and his coat has gotten a lot softer and more lustrous.

Additionally, the mix’s ears, often infected, now are perfectly clean and pink. Her teeth are now ideal–after having been covered in thick plaque–and she will not require anesthesia, cleaning and likely extraction now. Her eyes were beginning to get cloudy, and they’ve brightened and cleared also! She looks half her age now, acting more playful and energetic.

My vet is very happy and says they’re doing perfectly. A friend of mine once kept and cared for wild wolves in a rehabilitation facility in WA, and one way to monitor the health status of wild animals in the stool. He says their stools before we switched were too airy, light and soft, indicating digestion problems with the food. Their stools are perfect now, being small, dense, easily passed and everything is well digested.

So it’s been great, but what’s this costing me? I am a grad student, so cost matters. I did the numbers. I spent $100/mo to feed both dogs pet-store kibble before; I now spend $150-160/mo to feed them no-grain fish kibble and raw meats. $50-60/mo extra seemed a lot, so I reviewed my vet bills. I have already saved at least $1,000 in the last 4 months on ear, rash and tooth bills alone! Their health more than pays for their food, even on paper! (I expect avg. net annual savings to run ~$600/yr or higher.)

Add to all of this that the staff at MCD is always friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, that they have the best selection in town at the best prices (I drive from Hillsboro). They are responsible, locally owned, stock many local products, give back into the community, work with charities, and generally devote themselves and the store to pursuing to good causes–so I always feel good spending my dollars there, too.