Today I’ve been thinking about the value of diet for my 3 doggies. I’ve always bought the top dry foods for them but eased into a complete change of diet while desperately searching for a solution to Jessie’s skin itch affliction. The first thing we did was try a dry food without any grains or unnecessary chemicals. That didn’t help at all in our case. The next thing to try was a homemade mixture of meat, and vegetables. That also didn’t seem to do anything to alleviate Jessie’s itching but I felt like it could only help the dogs’ overall health. Since then we’ve only had variations on a theme. I believe the formula we make up ourselves is excellent for their health. It is based generally on the BARF dog feeding concepts and the recipe is on our website.
But lately I’ve been working almost 50 hours a week and needed to pare down the time spent on household chores. We found a local supplier of a natural meat-based high protein food. She delivers to our door and we freeze enough food to last until she’s back again. That works well but we’ve also found a supplier of the BARF foods in Australia here and if you are interested in BARF and live in the U.S. you can look at BARF World. In the morning we feed one of the formulas just described and in the evening they get raw (always raw) bones.
Joan Weiskopf who wrote Pet Food Nationis an advocate of cooked food but I’m still leaning toward the raw diet. It’s only an intuitive thing but we are the only animal on the planet who cooks food so I continue to believe the raw diet is safe when done with common sense hygiene and that nutrients are retained more completely when the food is not cooked.
I cannot imagine ever going back to a dry formula dog food, especially after reading Pet Food Nation and the many other comments and essays written by authorities around the world. And, of course, my dogs would agree if they could speak. They love their raw meat diet. I’m just glad I don’t have to have they same thing they’re having.

J.B. has a dilemma that I can relate with. I saw in a newsletter this morning that J.B. wants fulfilment in what he’s doing, that he has financial success but doesn’t know his passion. I understand so well what he’s talking about because I was there for years and having come out on the other side of that grey space I have a thought or two about that kind of thing. Not a pat answer but some notions about what happened with me. Of course no one is asking for my advice about how to find their passion and I don’t blame them. I’m not an expert or a psychologist. But I am a person who for years was aware that I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life or where I wanted it to go.
To go off on a bit of a tangent I’ve always been somewhat in awe of people who combine disparate talents and abilities, such as architects. The good ones combine a well-honed artistic and aesthetic sense with a grounded, practical ability to know what will work in the real world. The good ones aren’t designing a pie in the heavenly sky. Their buildings may soar skywards but they are rooted in the earth, they work, and they don’t fall down. I wonder and marvel at what must be going on in their heads (the architects, not the buildings).
Web designers are another example of opposing capabilities. The good ones can make a site look pleasing and inviting and also understand all that practical, numerical mumbo-jumbo that goes on behind the scenes.
In the end my passion came from two quite different life-long interests. I can’t say I found it because I didn’t. It found me after a long period of time and after I quit looking for it. All my life I’ve been intensely passionate about animals and wildlife. And for all of my adult life I’ve been a keen advocate of nutrition and natural health. So, when Jessie‘s extreme itch misery began, two of my great interests meshed to help me create the product to give her relief. And because of my great love of animals I wanted to do the same for other dogs. So Petology just evolved.

I suspect finding a passion cannot be forced or demanded. It seems to creep up on you when you’re least expecting it and wriggles its way in. For me everything finally came together in the right way at the right time and the right situation. Looking back I am stunned at how flawlessly it all went. Friends left the country so I had the time. BJ was also finding new energy and interests after a long illness. Jessie presented the problem that led to the solution. It all has gone so smoothly I feel like a fish running with the tide and I definitely believe this is a gift from the Universe to be treated with total respect and love.

I can easily sympathise with people who are struggling with their life’s direction. For years I listened to the gurus exhort us to do what we love, to become the person we were put here to be, to live our life’s dream. But I wasn’t feeling my life’s fulfilment. If I was lucky I knew what I wanted to do tomorrow, forget the rest of my life’s journey. I was only feeling inadequate in the face of all these strident pleas. I felt more like I was someone sitting on the back row of the seminar who may at any moment jump up and break into loud song, asking Alfie what its all about. And I had a suspicion that walking over hot coals wouldn’t help me find “the true me” either.
But in the midst of this earnest searching daily humdrum life goes on. And some of the daily experiences are more dramatic and weighty than others. One of my most important and immediate goals not too long ago was to find, at just about any cost, a solution to Jessie’s itching. To back up a bit Jessie is not my life partner but my constant, adoring companion, my Australian Terrier. For thirteen years any time I’ve looked down, if I’m at home, I’ve seen my Jessie at my feet. That degree of devotion, especially to a person who has no idea at all what its all about deserves some pay back. And again I was experiencing that familiar feeling, inadequacy. I was not finding any solution to Jessie’s itching. And I didn’t know what it was all about.
But when we search long enough and diligently enough our persistence is usually rewarded. It was a red-letter day for both of us when, after so much trial and error, I found a solution to Jessie’s itching, misery, and bald skin. Petology gave Jessie new healthy skin and gave me a new life direction. Now we are both enjoying our daily lives and I have no need at all to question Alfie about The Meaning of Life. Its a good thing too ’cause I don’t think Alfie ever answers.