VeganMoFo V: Woof, There It Is

I feel like most vegans have cats.  I, however, have dogs.  Ferocious little chihuahua mixes that are seriously fearless of anything...unless we're talking about boxes.  I present to you: Gizmo and Emma.

Name: Gizmo
Aliases: Many
Age: 7
Status: Adopted stray.  Era's niece had a dog who got a girl pregnant and Era introduced us on my 22nd birthday!
Best Friend: Mr. Frog.  He's gone through 3 in his lifetime, attacking the eye balls of each impostor upon introduction.
Vegan Likes: Carrots, frozen peas, nooch, the occasional bell pepper
Strengths: Super tracking abilities.  No human can hide for long.
True Story: Got hit by a truck and walked away with a one inch cut that healed within days.  The vet was amazed.
Dislikes: Anything cold, celery, and when Emma steals his toys.

Name: Emma
Aliases: Fo' dayz
Age: 7
Status: Adopted stray.  When Era was a substitute teacher, he called me up one day saying he found a girl chihuahua.  He waited a few days until he saw her again, and he brought her home.  We took her to the vet and the rest is history.
Best Friend: Ducky, but she'll totally steal Mr. Frog.
Vegan Likes: Carrots, frozen peas, apples, bell peppers, oranges, everything.
Freegan Likes: Straight dumpster dives like a mothatrucka.  Girl gets into everything.
True Story: Super jumping and opening abilities.  She has unzipped my backpack and my purse before.  And...without opposable thumbs!
Dislikes: Zombie sheep, dogs on television, when humans scratch their fingernails on upholstery.

These two chuckleheads are the loves of my life and best friends forever.  So, hope you liked meeting the two  other members of the Martin-Cisneros clan.

Picky Vegetable Loving Dogs

Meet Gizmo and Emma. They're my two chihuahua mix fur babies. Gizmo (the brown one) was a birthday gift from my husband when we first started dating. When I got him, he could fit in the palm of my hand! We had him for a couple of years before we got Emma. She is a dog of the streets, yo. My husband saw her one day when she ran into the school he was working at. He told me about it and I begged him to get her if she came back again. On the third day, he brought her home. We waited a few weeks to see if anybody reported a missing dog or responded to our found dog ad...but nada. It's been one big, happy family ever since! Although, Emma is driving me crazy right now! She is bored with her kibble and refuses to eat it. This happens with them every couple of years.

Lately, the only way I've been getting them to eat their food is by mixing ridiculous amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables in it. They especially love apples, carrots, zucchini, frozen peas, frozen mixed vegetables and broccoli (if it's finely chopped). This is giving me great hope that I can up their intake of fresh produce and purchase less and less kibble. I've also been thinking about making their dog treats as well because it's so much cheaper.

Anyway. To any of you who have vegan dogs...kudos! I started Gizmo out on a vegan diet, but I don't know how I feel about it. Towards the end of Gizmo's trial period of veganism, he would barely eat and his coat was getting brittle. So I tried a variety of dog foods and he settled on Nutro. When he got bored with that, we moved onto Pedigree.

But now Emma is bored with Pedigree. These dogs are killing me. Right now I've been mixing rice into the vegetables until I can transition them into another dog food. Any recommendations for a good brand?

And something that the dogs have been obsessed with recently...sweet potato chews. I always get mine from Target. They are so much better than raw hides which make me want to vomit just touching them. My dogs cannot get enough of these. Though, I suppose they are just as easy to make in a dehydrator....

Speaking of...I will officially begin rawdom tomorrow. I plan to at least eat 95% raw until my birthday (June 6th...27 like what?!). I'm not sure what I will be eating but I am definitely all over some mangoes, bananas, watermelon and raw fajitas. There is lots of posting ahead. Happy Thursday to all!