Another Recall - Pig Ears

Hey Pals,
Another recall hits the doggie world. We're safe cause we don't eat these, but if any of you doggies eat pig ears, please read below:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/petrapport03_07.html

Recall -- Firm Press Release

FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.

Petrapport Issues Recall of Pig Ear Dog Treats Because of Salmonella Contamination

Contact:
Luciana DeLeon
201-854-6157

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- North Bergen, NJ -- March 23, 2007 -- Petrapport, Inc. is voluntarily recalling pig ear dog treats it imported from a Chilean company during the period August 2006 through December 2006 because the pig ears have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism that can cause serious infections in dogs, and, if there is cross contamination, young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

Laboratory testing has confirmed that samples of Full-Cut Pig Ears dog treats sold by BJ's Wholesale Club in 25-count packages under the "Berkley & Jensen" brand with no lot number and only the expiration advisory "BEST IF USED BY 2009" (without referencing a specific month) were contaminated with Salmonella. Additional testing of other pig ear dog treats from shipments during the above time period has not revealed any additional evidence of Salmonella contamination, but Petrapport nonetheless is voluntarily recalling them out of an abundance of caution due to concern that the pig ears imported during this period may not have been effectively irradiated for Salmonella before shipment from Chile.

The voluntary recall includes dog treats sold by BJ's Wholesale Club in its 25-count packages of "Berkley & Jensen" Full-Cut Pig Ears dog treats with no lot number and only the expiration advisories "BEST IF USED BY 2009" (without referencing a specific month) as well as "BEST IF USED BY SEPTEMBER 2009," "BEST IF USED BY OCTOBER 2009," "BEST IF USED BY NOVEMBER 2009," and "BEST IF USED BY DECEMBER 2009."

Also included within this voluntary recall are the following lots of pig ear dog treats sold in bulk by other retailers under the "Petrapport" brand:

ITEM #	PRODUCT DESCRIPTION	RECALLED LOT #S
8915	Bulk Low Fat Pig Ears	101808 & 102108
8772P	Two Pack Bulk Pig Ears	101707
8770P	12 Pack Bulk Pig Ears	101707
8774P	24 Pack Bulk Pig Ears	101907
7416	1 lb. Bulk Pig Ear Strips	101907
7425	24 oz. Bulk Pig Ear Strips	5039

Salmonella can potentially be transferred to people handling these dog treats, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the product or any surfaces exposed to these products. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Dogs that become ill from Salmonella generally will have a fever and diarrhea that may contain blood or mucus. Affected animals may seem more tired that usual, and may have vomiting. Some dogs do not have diarrhea, but will have decreased appetite, fever and excess salivation. If your dog has consumed the recalled product and is exhibiting these signs, please contact your veterinarian.

While there have been no confirmed illnesses to date, consumers should immediately stop feeding these treats to their dogs. These products have been removed from the sales floors and the sales inventories of all retailers.

Consumers who purchased any of the above-identified pig ear dog treats should discontinue use of the products and may return the unused portion to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Consumers who have further questions may contact Petrapport at 800-447-3872 extension 110.

Eat safe!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers

Toto has his own blog!

Hey Pals,
Please go visit our cousin Toto the Terrier. He has his own blog now & has written his first post. The blog is called Toto's Terrier Tails. Mama went over to Auntie C's house today to help Toto & his hooman sis Maranda make his post. Toto's paws are so small that he could barely push down the keyboard keys hard enough. He got pretty tuckered out. Mama also took him over a new toy. It's almost as big as he is. It's a dinosaur and here he is playing with it:

Toto: 'I love my new dinosaur!'

So please go say woof to him & make him feel welcome in the doggie bloggie world! Thanks!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers
PS Hey Boo, check out our latest new award: BLOG OF THE DAY AWARDS-Best Blog Of The Day hehehehe!

New Award & Pond

Lookie, lookie, we won another site award. Look to the right in our sidebar under the Awards section. The award is from the Pet-Health.org website and they have given us the Awesome Pet Website Award! We were so surprised. Mama said we could have an extra treat tonight since we won, hehehehe!

We are bushed. Mama has been making us help her all day outside by the ponds. She told us we'll probably have belly aches tonight cause we ate so many hickory nut shells. hrrrmmmm, she could be right. We usually poop most of them out, tee hee. We helped feed the koi fishies too. If Mama drops some of their food, we eat it! It sure tastes good. We saw some more of the koi that we didn't see yesterday at feeding time. There are also some little tiny baby koi that must have hatched in late Fall. They have some neat colors to them. Mama won't name them until the end of this year once she sees if they make it through the summer. Sometimes they get eaten by the huge bullfrogs that we have.
Some of our pals were asking who was named after who with the names Butchy & Snickers. The koi fish were named after us doggies of course.
Some were wondering what the koi do during winter. Well koi fishies start to slow down in their metabolism and movements when the water temperature drops below 50 degrees. So that's when Mama has to quit feeding them, otherwise their bodies won't process & excrete the food & that can then kill them. The fishies gradually swim closer to the bottom of the pond as the water keeps getting colder. Mama has a cave for them to hide in at the bottom too. It is made from a huge black tiling pipe about 1 1/2 feet wide by 8 feet long. The koi hide in this when it's cold to keep safe from predators as the water plants have all died back and there is no hiding protection for the koi. The water on top of the pond will usually freeze solid, except for the open hole which is created from the air pump that Mama has in the pond. This allows the gases to escape from the water so the koi do not get poisoned. Here is a picture of the pond partially frozen with the hole:
The water under the ice is about 36-39 degrees. Koi can still live in this cold water. They don't move much at all during the cold months. Here in Iowa this is usually at least from November thru March. During these months the koi will also use up about 20-30 percent of their body weight (fat) to keep alive. The pond water is now about 56 degrees here so the koi have started swimming around & begging for food. They were little piggies today. What is amazing is that all of the little 1-2 inch baby koi survived the winter. None of them died. It is hard for small fish to survive through our long cold winters. The ponds look rather boring right now. The plants are barely starting to grow. So here are a few pictures from last summer. It's very hard to get both ponds into one picture because of how large they are, but hope you can at least get the idea of how they look. The largest pond is approx. 56' long X 36' wide, the smaller pond is 41' long X 36' wide. The large one is 5 foot deep and the smaller one about 3 1/2 -4 feet deep.

As the plants start to come up & bloom Mama will let us post some pictures. We have some 4-6 inch koi that need names so Mama said we could maybe name some of them after our bloggy pals, hehehehe! Who would like to have a koi named after them??? Let us know.
Well it's time to hit the sack. Sleep tight!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers

New Pal Koobus & Koi Fish

Hey Pals,
We have a new pal that has just started her own blog. Her name is Koobus & she is a Wire Fox Terrier only 5 months old. Check out her cute picture:
Isn't she just so adorable?? Snickers is happy that there is another girl wire fox terrier blogging. Now she can share girlie tips with her, hehehehe! So please visit her blog & leave her a pawnote! Koobuss's Wiry World

We sure have been busy helping Mama the last few days outside. Since the weather has warmed up a bit here, Mama said is was time to start getting the big ponds ready so that she can start up the pump & waterfall. She has been so busy that she hasn't even taken any new pictures of us! How rude is that??? We already have one big leopard frog that has come out of hibernation and he is hopping around in the smaller pond. The big koi fish are finally coming out of their winter slumber & starting to slowly swim around the ponds. We thought we would post some pictures of a few of the koi from last year.
This is COOKIE: (she is trying to suck in a piece of food)
This is PEACHES:
This is ICE T:
This is SNICKERS:
This is BUTCHY:
This is JASMINE:
This is TANGERINE, FROSTY & TIGER:
This is COPPERTOP:
This is SUNFLOWER:
This is MIKATA with one of ICE T's babies: (yet to be named)

Mama has lots more koi in the ponds. It's hard to get good pictures of them due to glare from light hitting the water. Plus the koi can swim so fast too! Mama has raised all of them since little tiny fish and others from eggs that have hatched in the ponds here from the females. She has names for almost all of them. People make fun of her for naming them. But she can call some of the older ones by name and they will swim up to her, hehehehe! Especially ICE T, COOKIE & PEACHES! They are pigs! Mama says that the koi beg as bad as we do.
Most of the water plants, lotus & lilies are growing now. In about 2 months, we should have water lilies blooming. Does anyone else raise koi??? Mama would love to see pictures of koi & your ponds. Here is a picture of one of Mama's lotus:


HAPPY SPRING!!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers

The Proper Way To Nap

Hey Pals,
How do you take a nap? Here are some ways that we do:

This is Snickers as a wee pup taking a nap, making sure that her chewy toys are nearby:

I Butchy like to make sure some of my favorite toys are with me, see my purple gorilla?

See how I'm using my new blue dino cuz from Dory as a pillow??

If your toys or treats aren't nearby, at least dream about them:

Make sure you always have a bankie on hand:

Bankies come in handy when you are trying to hide....

Always nap in your favorite position:

And last but not least, make sure you are napping with someone you love......

Have a dreamy day!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers

My Adoption Shirt & Toto is 15 weeks old!

Hey Pals,
Some of you doggies were asking about my rescue anniversary pawty, well Mama gave us extra treats that day and some yummy chicken on my supper. Then she made me a special shirt!

See, it has a jungle background with lots of different doggies on it and then it says CANINE SURVIVAL! Mama says that when doggies need rescueing or adopting, it's like a jungle out there for them, hehehehe! So she thought it was fitting for me since I was rescued. Mama still has more of this fabric if any other doggies want to order a shirt. She can also make these shirts with tropical/island fabrics, etc.

Mama left us and went to town today and guess what she did?? She went to see Toto! Toto is 15 weeks old today and he has really grown. He was so happy to see Mama. He gave her kissies all over her face & neck, hehehehe. Mama told Toto that he is a big boy now cause his ear tips stand up now. So Mama trimmed his ear hairs again cause she said the cartilidge still needs to grow stronger. Here are some pics of him showing off his ears:


Here he is barking at Mama:
He sure thinks he is a big doggie. That's because he is a TERRIER!

Mama made sure that Toto modeled some clothes for her too. He even modeled a shirt just like Snickers modeled:

Toto: Am I doing this right Snickers???
Toto: How bout this pose??
Toto: Whew, Auntie L sure gives me a workout when she comes over. We even played fetch for a loooonnnngggg time. I'm getting pretty good at it too.

Toto is no dummy, he asked Auntie L when does he get paid for modeling??? She told him he has to wait until the shirts sell....whah!! (Mama will list these shirts on the auction site soon)
We hope every doggie has a fun & treat filled weekend!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers

SNICKERS DREAMING ABOUT GUSSIE!!

Triumph The Husky

Hey Pals,
Have you heard about Triumph the Husky? You just have to check out her story. She is one brave girl!!!
The Latest from Triumph
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers

Poor Snickers!

Hey Pals,
Mama is not happy and neither is poor Miss Snickers. Snickers has the problem that she had last year in January. She is very embarrassed about this.......her pee pee leaks out. It happens when she is asleep or it can be when she is napping in Mama's lap or other times. So now she has to go back on this medicine called Proin. She had to take it for 2 months last year and it fixed her up. But the vet said if the leaking comes back she would have to go back on it and possibly for the rest of her life. So in a few weeks we see if the vet wants her to take it all of the time. Lots of dogs take this medicine long term and there are no ill effects. It is very safe to use. Snickers is hoping the vet doesn't want to do all of those icky tests that he did last year on her. All of her tests back then were great except for the fact that she leaks. So it's kind of a spayed female thing that is fairly common in doggies. So please, don't tease Snickers about this, she is a very sensitive girl. Mama says I can't call her peepee pants either, darn. Here is Snickers doing her famous top of the couch pose:
Snickers: Here are my bunny wabbit ears......
Snickers: This is my evil twin that pops out if Butchy calls me Peepee Pants! har har har har!
Boy, that picture of Snickers sure is scawwwiiieeeeee, I better not call her names. Speaking of scawiiieeee things, we had some big ugly wild turkeys walking in the yard today. They sure aren't very nice looking. Mama went to take us out to potty and there they were in the corner of the yard. Of course Mama didn't have her camera. But last night we had little deer walking around and Mama took some pictures from the loft window:




We've had quite a few bambi sleeping in our yard again at night. We wonder what they like about our yard, hmmmm. Oooh, remember the darn raccoon that broke our bird feeder??? well he got his payback, hehehehehe! We found him on the road squished like a pancake today. That will teach him to break our birdie's things. Hmmmph.
Guess we better go beg for some more treats now. Have a great weekend every doggie!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers

HAPPY RESCUE ANNIVERSARY BUTCHY! & DINO CUZ SURPRISE!

Hey Pals,
Mama here, today is the 3rd Anniversary of us driving half way to St. Louis, MO to rescue Butchy! We can hardly believe it has been 3 years already. He is the best rescue dog a person could ever have. Papa & I highly recommend that people looking for a puppy, think about adopting a homeless dog first. Not every doggie up for adoption is right for everyone. So please work with the rescue/adoption person and be truthful about what you are expecting, what you can afford for health care, time you can spend with your dog and your previous dog experiences. One of the best places to start searching the shelters in your area is at Petfinder.com. So when you are looking to add a dog to your family, please check out Petfinder first.
HAPPY RESCUE ANNIVERSARY BUTCHY !!!! Luv, Mama & Papa
Hey Pals,
Butchy back here. I had to kick Mama off of the puter so I could post, hehehehe! Snickers & I like to sit together in the puter chair to type our blog as you can see here:
On Monday we got a huge surprise! The mail lady brought us a big box and it was for Snickers & I from Dory & her Mama!
You'll never guess what was inside????
GIANT DINO CUZ TOYS!!!!
A blue one & an orange one....
Hey Snickers, you can have the orange dino and I'll take the blue one.
Orange for me, yippeee! This is great!
Roll over dino!
Hmmmmm, tasty tail....
Here is a video of me Butchy playing with mine. Mama says these dino cuz have passed the Butchy Brutality Test, hehehehehe! She has let me play with my dino for 2-3 hours straight each night and the squeaker still works and there are no holes in him. I get so worked up playing with it that my beard & moustache gets totally soaked with spit and Mama has to drag me away from my dino to make me go outside to potty, hehehehehe!

I make my dino squeak almost non-stop the entire time I'm playing with it. I keep bringing it to Mama and I nudge her with it or lay it on her feet waiting for her to throw it for me to fetch it back, hehehe! I kind of gross Mama out cause dino is totally incased in slimy spit! But boy is it ever fun to play with! Thank you so very much Dory! We can never thank you enough for our fun cuz toys!!! We hope you enjoy your red one as much as we enjoy ours!!!! Well, it's time to go play with dino again, ahrooooooooo!
Wirey Hugs!
Butchy & Snickers