Rainbow River Inn Canines

17/08/2025

Do you know what is in your kibble? In this video the ingredients are discussed. For some of the items, what you think they are, well I expect you will be surprised unless you have researched this.

Remember dogs are carnivores, therefore their digestive system cannot handle non-carnivore items - other than to p**p it out. When your dog has big piles, well that is the kibble you are paying good money for.

This is a good introduction to Kibble.

16/08/2025

This shows how stoic a Kangal can be. They are very much in control of how they respond. This Kangal is a pup from our second litter. He is a gem.

I think this is absolutely hilarious. Such obvious - I want to play with you, up against - you do not even exist!

16/08/2025

They have eaten their bowl of raw bones, meat, eggs, and fish.

Making sure they get any scraps from anywhere.

I like the calmness. I reward calmness.

15/08/2025

Absolute truth

Friday's LGD Fact or Fiction - This week's FICTION is "LGDs don’t need fences."
The myth that LGDs don’t need fences is dangerous and puts livestock and LGDs at risk. While LGDs are bred to protect livestock, they still require boundaries and barriers to keep them within the designated grazing areas. LGDs like to roam and will do so beyond property lines without proper fencing. As a result, they may get into conflicts with neighboring homesteads, get trapped, poisoned, or wander into traffic.

13/08/2025

Hmmmm. So interesting - to me.

If you’re considering adding pack goating to your goats’ resumes, this episode is packed with practical tips and essential insights.

13/08/2025

I have 20 wonderful nesting boxes. Today I check them - zero eggs. I check brooding boxes I get 10. Then I checked their favorite spot, 12 more.

Oh yes, and my seat on the tractor was intact until they started laying eggs on it. A laying hen, is likely a bored hen…

13/08/2025

We really like our goats, and I can see that they would be so good as trail mates on hikes. At my age, and in the tropic climate we are in, the hike is not appealing to me. Coolor crisp air of Alberta - that would be nice.

10/08/2025

Hami is our 6 1/2 year old female from our 1st Kangal litter. Today is the first time that I have had her inside a building. Our Kangals are used to roaming our whole farm at will. She is taking it very calmly - a Kangal trait to be calm in a new situation when well socialized.

She is sticking close to me, but does not run for an open door and push her way out.

Since about 5 weeks ago when one dog got Screw Worm fly larva I have been giving an even closer inspection to our 18 dogs. Yesterday I removed some ticks from Hami’s neck. I noted that there was some broken skin. I put hydrogen peroxide on it.

This morning Hami has a hole with the larva this morning.

- poured Hydrogen Peroxide in the wound.
- 10 minutes later I put in 1% Ivermectin liquid in the wounds and then injected some in the tissue walls in the wound.
- waited 2 minutes and then started using tweezers to get the larva out. Hers are much younger. There were 6 larva. Ki will be checking her over three times a day now to ensure I have them all and that her healing goes well.

- I have her on an antibiotic.

Now I keep her inside until she heals up completely. She might get to like A/C.

So everyone with animals check them daily. These larva are voracious. 🧐

08/08/2025

The Kangal girls are so sucky sometimes. One way is that some days they will only eat if they are hand fed each mouthful.

They really love their attention from us.

Archie, our 120 lb Dobermann boy would really like to get in on the hand feeding.

07/08/2025

Yes, we have working farm cats too.

Just like dogs, cats were domesticated as they naturally performed work that benefited people - so it was a mutual agreement. They are the best at keeping rats and mice away from things. So we have cats in our workstop, and main storage area of the workshop. I am also thinking how we can make the main storage area of our house more cat friendly. Then we can have a couple of cats there too!

Our domestic cats are descendants of desert dwelling wildcats - specifically the African wildcat. They evolved to thrive in hot, arid deserts. Deserts are for the most part devoid of moisture and this has affected the behaviour of our cats. Our desert cat descendants have a low thirst drive. Because of this, they depend on most of their hydration from eating prey, and prey is 70% to 80% moisture.

Lots of cats in the world suffer from lack of moisture in the diet. We know they're not big drinkers.

Many cats suffer - often in silence - from constipation or kidney problems. This can be caused from only being fed dry cat food. By simply serving moisture-rich prey-based foods as their diet can literally be a life saver.

Kibble is at the most 10% moisture... (and probably 50%+ unnecessary carbohydrates which is a whole different issue in itself). The format of Kibble does not benefit our dogs and cats, it benefits the manufactures and their people with long shelf life, and no refrigeration required.

Cats have kidneys highly efficient at conserving water from prey, and produce very concentrated urine to avoid dehydration. Thus why cat urine has such a strong smell.

However, when a cat is only fed kibble, they're in a constant state of dehydration which wreaks havoc on the kidneys.

Think about that for a second, because it may explain why 30~35% of older cats die of CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease), and around 13~15% of younger cats as well (it's not just "bad luck" when young cats fall sick of a diet-related disease)

The solution - Make sure your cat consumes enough moisture in their diet, because dry cat food - despite being "complete and balanced" does not offer your cat anywhere near enough moisture (so not so balanced).

Therefore, in feeding our desert cat descendants, (and the large cats I showed you a few weeks ago) a moisture rich raw food diet - for their health and well being. Of course a balanced diet is important. It is not hard to make a balanced raw diet.

Picture: Our cats like to inspect the food preparation.

07/08/2025

So true

04/08/2025