Health Products I  Highly Recommend
FLINT RIVER RANCH DOG FOOD In 1999, one of my Tibbie girls had her second litter of one dead pup - perfectly formed, no decomposition - just dead. Couldn’t get the pup to breathe no matter how hard I tried. Both pregnancies were normal. My vet ran every test in the book on her & could find nothing wrong. I drove 100 miles each way to see Gary Vanengelenburg DVM. “Dr. Van” is a vet who specializes in acupuncture & herbology. Wanted him to examine her, review the tests & results & to get his opinion & help on what to do next. He said his exam of her had been good & the tests results already run had been good. I was hoping an acupuncture fertility treatment, with the hollow needles heated & the burning Chinese herbs would help her. But he said that would not currently be of any use. He did think she could either be lacking something in her diet or getting something in her diet she did not need. He extolled the virtues of Flint River Ranch & that is the only food he feeds his own Golden Retrievers & he recommends & sells from his vet clinic. He told me how easy it was to become a customer & go off his distributor #. The food is all human grade quality ingredients, oven baked twice for easier digestibility - there had never been a case of bloat on it. When soaked in water, it takes forever to soften, as the baking makes a harder kibble, but it then goes soft - it does NOT expand & swell up like every other dry dog food that is made with the extrusion methods. It is shipped direct to the customer via UPS with free shipping. I had been feeding Pedigree for about 5 years at that time. So I decided to put just this girl on the FRR. She loved it & I liked the hardness of the food, as I have a problem with tartar from my very hard well water. At 5 years old, she looked super & was active & playful. The next year when she came into season I bred her & there were 3 live pups! I was overjoyed & switched all the dogs to it. Some dogs have to be switched to it slowly or they will get loose stools. But that is the best way to introduce any new food, gradually mixing in with their current food. I had Cockers from 1976 to 2006. They are eating machines & seem to poop much more than they eat! I had to cut them back to less than 1/2 of the amount of food they ate on Pedigree to maintain the same weight as Pedigree. Their coats were beautiful. They & the Tibbies were very healthy & active. Less intake of food, but more utilization of a quality food with more digestibility, the less stool. I got an 11 year old male who I saw was having a flat, ribbon-like bowel movement, from the first BM he had here & also the next day before his vet appointment for a full work up & exam. His stool was checked that day & was normal. A couple days later he had a full exam at an ICG vet & was found to have benign prostatic hyperplasia, with his prostate blocking 50% of his colon. I slowly switched him to the FRR. His bowel movements became much smaller & round in diameter, even before he was put on medication & regular exams showed positive response to the meds & shrinkage of the prostate. So the smaller stool is passing out easier & not being smashed down to get past the blockage by the prostate . Flint River Ranch is a hard kibble, oven baked twice & not extruded. If you soak it in water it does not blow up & expand like other dry food. It takes forever to soften & when it does, it just settles down . For puppies I grind it into a powder in the blender & then add water to make mush. On FRR, Pedigree Puppy Food & several others I have tried over 35 years, the pup’s stools tend to be very soft when weaning & until about 3 months of age. Nearly 8 years ago I had 2 Tibbie pups with prolapsed rectums. One was out a tiny bit at 6 weeks of age. I had never seen that before & it looked like a little pink bubble on the anus. My vet says it is common in kittens & he has seen it in puppies & it is either from straining from a loose stool & the pup still feels like she needs to poop. Or from being constipated & straining to pass stool. I knew she wasn’t constipated & had seen her pass soft stools.. Vet suggested I put her on Science Diet Puppy Food to firm her stools up & I bought a small bag. It amazed me that she ate the same amount of food - mixed 1/2 FRR & 1/2 SD Puppy, but her bowel movements were over twice the length & diameter & the odor was worse. But they were firm! I go from making the powdered FRR & SD puppy into a mush, to make it thicker & then stirring in the dry food that I have put in the food processor to make it into smaller pieces. The kibbles are irregular sizes & shapes - like it is baked on a huge cookie sheet & then smashed apart with a hammer. It has to be smaller for the little ones to eat it. I then go to a crumbly consistency with that. I feed the 50/50 mixture of the FRR & SD until about 4 months of age, then gradually increase the amount of the FRR until the pups are entirely on the FRR in about a month. During that time the FRR does not need to be broekn into much smaller pieces. Then feed the FRR straight from the bag. When I started feeding the FRR to everybody, I went from being a customer to being a distributor so I could get rebate checks from the company every month my order went over 100 “points”. It works out to be about less than 1 point for every lb. of food purchased. I sell it out of my groom shop & highly recommend it. The price I pay is the same price as you see on their website for the different formulas. The more you buy, the less per lb. it costs. But I get a rebate check every month that my order, or people on my downline orders, total 100 points or more. My puppy buyers who continue to feed it go off my distributor # & order direct from FRR once they have been set up as a customer. Their order is shipped directly to them, with FREE UPS shipping. Order is by phone, fax or online from their website. I have also signed up other breeders under my distributor # once they have tried out FRR & they want to get the rebates on what they purchase & to develop their own downline. There is an annual fee to become a distributor & you have to have a minimum of 6 months of orders that total at least 100 points. I have been a distributor since 2001. While there is no one food that all dogs do well on, I am thrilled with FRR. A Pom breeder I know tried it & her dogs would pick out just the smaller pieces. I do break apart the larger kibbles for one of my 15 1/2 year olds as she doesn’t have many teeth left & prefers smaller pieces. I do still buy Pedigree & feed it to the boarders whose owners don’t bring their own food. I did give them FRR for about a year, but the owners that don’t bring their own food tend to feed whatever generic food is on sale & would not keep them on the FRR. So why should it cost me more to feed them while they are here - they get Pedigree. I have also found, in trying several dry foods over the years as my “kennel food” for boarders, that there is less digestive upset with that then any other food for dogs who have never had it. I also buy only canned Pedigree for canned food as I have tried many other brands over the years & found Pedigree is the least likely to cause any digestive upsets & has a large variety of flavors & consistencies - from ground dinners to chunks & stews. Will also use the Pedigree dry food for some older dogs who really enjoy eating & who are happier getting a larger quantity of food, as it takes more food to maintain weight than it does with Flint River Ranch. If you would like to try Flint River Ranch, please use my distributor # DPA9 to sign up with to buy direct from the company & get the lowest price. Once a distributor has you as a customer, you cannot change. Many have websites & will try to hook you in with “Free Shipping” (sometimes just on your first order). You get free shipping directly from FRR on every order, unless it is under $8.00. Some distributors want you to order from them after you are their customer & you are stuck paying whatever retail price they decide to charge & may also charge you for shipping. Yet they order it from FRR, pay what FRR actually charges for it & have it sent direct to the customer with the shipping free from FRR. I am thrilled with my rebate checks as that lowers the price of the food. Since you have to have a distributor # to order or go through a distributor to get it - it might as well be me! FRR did not have their own company website until just a few years ago. There are thousands of distributors that have their own website & some mislead people into believing that they are actually the Flint River Ranch company when they are a distributor. The ONLY actually website for Flint River Ranch is http://frrco.com New in 2007, anybody can order direct from them from this website, as long as you have a distributor # as a reference. Marianne Minks Distributor # DPA9. If you would like to become a customer & use fax or phone orders, please let me know & I can get that set up for you. If you would like to become a distributor & receive rebate checks, I can set that up for you & help you out. I always thought these multi-level marketing things were a scam. I only became a distributor as I LOVE the food & wanted to save $ on what I bought for my own dogs & get the rebate checks. It is sure nice seeing monthly your puppy buyers who buy the food & to know their pups are getting top quality nutrition. It does bother me when a puppy buyer I have sent home with the food & literature goes online & orders from the first distributor’s website that comes up & ends up paying more for the food than they would have to. I feed the Original Kibble to my Tibbies & the regular biscuit treats. I keep the Lamb/Millet/Rice formula on hand for boarders with allergies. Also use the Dry Water - it is super! I liked the Original Nuggets for the Cockers - same formula as the kibble, but in a larger, nugget shape. Great for dogs who eat rapidly - gives them more time to enjoy their food & with the eating action of chewing up those hard nuggets, is more beneficial in the cleaning action to the teeth. FRR is a family owned company, with Jim Flint, who developed the foods, still in at the helm. Flint River Ranch is recognized yearly by The Whole Dog Journal as a top quality food. They also make different cat food formulas. Yes, this food is more costly, but when you figure out that you need to feed much less food to keep your dogs in optimum condition & have less stools from it, it actually does not figure out to be as expensive as you might think. Raising a pup correctly is expensive & it pays to do it right! Proper nutrition is so important to overall health & well being. Original Kibble ingredients: Chicken Meal, Whole Wheat Flour, Ground Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Tocopherols and Ascorbic Acid), Ground Wheat, Dried Whole Egg, Lecithin, Fish Meal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Wheat Germ Meal, Dried Kelp, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, DL-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate (Source of Vitamin E), Zinc Oxide, Selenium Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Copper and Cobalt, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid (Source of Vitamin C), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, D-Biotin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Iodate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Vitamin DO Supplement. In 2012 will make 13 years since I began feeding Flint River Ranch. http://frrco.comshapeimage_1_link_0
NuVet Plus Nuvet Plus is a nutritional supplement. This is not just a puppy vitamin - it is formulated for the life of your pet. Even with feeding the best nutritious food possible, there can still be a need for that extra boost. Over my 31 years in breeding & showing dogs, I have tried many vitamins & supplements. They were promised to do all sorts of wonderful things. I gave them a good opportunity to do what was promised - with at least 6 months of use with the dogs & or pups that I tried them on. I saw NO results with any, except with one supplement, the Cockers had a body odor that smelled like the supplement powder - it was especially overwhelming when they were being bathed! That led me to believe it was working, but there was no increase in coat, the coat still blew, no improvement I could see - so for over a year I had my show dogs on it & they stunk! Another supplement proved to be harmful. Added as a top dressing to the Cocker pup’s food, the pups loved it & were active & healthy. The most active & dominant bitch pup was sold to a breeder in New York. She began having excessive urination problems & showed all symptoms of a bladder or urinary tract infection shortly after she arrived in her new home. She was treated with antibiotics with no improvement. Her vet then found bladder stones & she was treated with meds & put on a prescription diet - it didn’t help. The pup then had them surgically removed & the stones were sent for analysis & found to be made of minerals, with no infection at all. But these rough stones caused irritation & pain, the excessive urination & blood in her urine. The only possible explanation was that this pup, who had been the most aggressive eater of the litter, had been devouring a lot more than her share of the vitamin & mineral supplement & the stones were caused by it. After recovery from her surgery, she went back on her regular diet, NO supplement & lived a very long & healthy life with no reoccurrence of stones! So I was pretty turned off the supplements for several years, but then tried a couple more on my adults & the results I saw was just more expense for me. When NuVet Labs contacted me about their NuVet Plus, I was skeptical, rude & laughed at what I thought were inflated claims or lies. How would they think that I would consider using their product & sell it to my board & groom customers! They sent me literature & samples I was asked to give a customer with a dog with severe allergies to try. So I gave them to my only Tibbie who was 11 years old at the time & had developed a contact dermatitis on her tummy & armpits about 6 months prior. I had changed laundry detergent, quit using powdered carpet freshener, etc. - but the only thing that would control her itching & biting herself was steroids. After a month or so on the NuVet Plus I did see improvement where her steroids could be cut to 1 dose, once every 6 to 7 days, instead of once or twice daily. Which was great, but not a CURE. Figured that was due to some of the other household products I had switched to & that her exposure to what was causing her itching had been greatly reduced, but was not gone. She-She was the first of my Tibbies to get the NuVet Plus. She has thus far been my longest lived Tibbie & passed away just shy of her 17th Birthday. Coincidence? At the insistence of Deb Disney, the show dog breeder & NuVet rep who I had been speaking with, & more free samples she sent me, I put my Pearl on the NuVet Plus. Nearly 15 years old, she had made it through 2 small strokes or TIAs, with no permanent damage, but had recently had her 3rd, which left her sight impaired & caused her confusion & her activity level had gone way down. Within a month of her starting the NuVet Plus, she was much more active & playful & in another month was actually her old sparkly self! Friends who visited occasionally were more amazed than I was. So I wanted to start her sister Sue on them, as Sue had congestive heart failure & was on enapril & lasix twice daily & was not doing well. But Sue would not eat the tablets that Pearl thought were yummy treats. I couldn’t even hide them in her morning treat bowl - picky little girl! So I ordered the powdered form, which has twice the amount of dried liver powder in it & Sue was loving it. She also became more active & playful - with a couple daily spurts of running around & bouncing & playing with her daughter. Pearl lived to be almost 16 years old. Sue is pictured at the top of this page, at her 16th Birthday party, with her cake. Her photo on the cake was taken when she was 3 years old. She sure looked great at 16! I had bred one of my 7 year old girls & was just breeding her sister & decided to order more of the NuVet to put them on during their pregnancies. I had tried a couple other vitamins with previous litters, but both girls always had difficult deliveries, with me having to pull pups. 1 had 2 pups in each of her 3 previous litters that were so tiny & weak & despite me tube feeding & doing all possible, I lost them at under a week old. The remaining pups were nice sized & thrived. Both bitches whelped so easily & didn’t even seem to be in hard labor & I was surprised they were actually having pups! The pups were very active & strong. There were 4 pups in each litter, with 1 smaller pup in each litter. I did end up losing 1 pup in each litter, but not the smaller pups & for other reasons. Both girls had more milk than I had ever seen them have. So I knew I would use the NuVet Plus & my plan was to begin any bitch that I planned to breed on them as soon as they came into season. Then 2 of my boys got into a spat & Midnite got nipped right on his eyeball & his cornea was badly ulcerated. His eye was filled with antibiotic ointment, bandaged & taped shut for 36 hours. I put him on the NuVet as it is claimed to boost the immune system. For 2 weeks after, I applied the ointment 4 times daily, gave him his antibiotics & the FRR & NuVet Plus. Then his cornea ruptured. My vet did surgery & stitched the cornea itself & then stitched his 3rd eyelid up to cover & keep his eye shut. His eyelids could not be stitched after the initial injury as his lids were torn by the bite. I was to continue with the ointment 4 times daily & his antibiotics were changed. The stitches to allow his eye to open were removed by my vet after only 5 days, as I was having an eye clinic here the next day & we wanted it open for the vet ophthalmologist to access. Still 4 times daily with drops & blood was pulled & serum spun to put that in his eye 4 times daily, also. When the vet ophthalmologist saw him the next day, he was not pleased that my vet had tried to save the eye when the injury was so severe. He examined Midnite & said that the eye should have been kept stitched shut for 14 days & not opened after 5 days. Then he said he had never seen such a large amount of healing of a ruptured cornea after even 14 days - & couldn’t believe how well it was doing after 5 days! While too early to know if sight would be restored to the eye, he was optimistic that was now indeed possible & he said to leave it open & keep doing what I was doing. It didn’t dawn on me until after the eye clinic was over that the reason for the accelerated healing HAD to be the NuVet Plus. Nothing else made sense! Midnite was 11 years old & no wonder dog - in fact he had a corneal ulceration on his other eye the year before & had it stitched shut & he ripped the stitches out & tore his eyelid 3 times,even wearing an E collar & being confined to an exercise pen & had to have it restitched. In the very few corneal scratches or ulcerations I have had over 35 years, he was the only dog who did not respond to just topical medication & had to have surgery. The first eye finally did heal & after a year, the scar reduced to pinpoint size. However, that eye did develop a cataract exactly where the injury had been noted by the ACVO vet & determined to be from the injury. Midnite is going on 16 years old & has some sight impairment in the one eye, but was Certified clear of hereditary eye defects at nearly 11 years old. I had seen miracles & became a true believer in NuVet Plus! It is now a product I use daily on my Tibbies, beginning with weaning & will continue to use for the life of the dogs. 2012 will be my 7th year of using this wonderful product & I am just as happy with it now as I have always been. I am so pleased with the proven results my dogs have experienced with this, that my written health warranty is valid only with continued use of this product. Reprinted with permission from NuVet Labs website. Please click on the links for more detailed information. We love animals and we know you love them too! Unfortunately, the majority of dogs and cats are not receiving a complete, healthy diet and many become ill and die prematurely. NuVet Labs'™ main purpose is to help increase your pet's longevity and quality of life. Our products provide the very best human grade natural ingredients available and utilize the latest advances in medical, veterinary and nutritional science. We pledge to adhere to the highest standards in products and services. Our goal is to maintain a lasting and caring relationship with our family of NuVet Plus™ customers and their pets they love Our scientists, veterinarians and formulators began with the premise that most pet diets are lacking the proper amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. There are important nutrients that animals once received when they were living in a more primitive environment that are not available in the modern diet. Commercial pet foods contain numerous by-products that can make them poisonous, toxic and incapable of reducing the devastating effects of unstable oxygen molecules, also known as "free radicals." Free radicals have been implicated in more than fifty health problems in humans and animals including various forms of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, cataracts and premature aging. NuVet Labs has been extremely fortunate to assemble an outstanding team of professionals who have vast experience in their respective fields. Our Advisory Board is composed of a veterinarian, a doctor of pharmacy, a pet supplement and pet food formulator, a doctor of optometry, a licensed financial advisor, a litigation insurance administrator and a senior hospital purchasing manager. Their one common bond is that they are all animal lovers and they share the positive goals of NuVet Labs™. Their outstanding leadership and technical expertise makes NuVet Labs™ the leader in new, innovative products for pet heath throughout the world. Our advisory board and scientists are continually researching new developments and cutting edge technology to create new products that will help our companion animals. They are always open to suggestions from our associates and friends. In the world of pets, medical and humanitarian advances are not emphasized as greatly as with humans and therefore often lack necessary funding. NuVet Labs™ proudly pledges to donate 5% of its net income to charities, scientists, veterinarians and other individuals and organizations whose goal is to work for the improvement and well being of the animal population. We are extremely excited about the positive contributions we are making in helping our friends in the animal kingdom. NuVet Plus is a long-term nutritional supplement that should be given to the companion pet daily. Testimonials and independent testing have indicated that using NuVet Plus™ will boost the immune system, thereby presenting a front line defense against the damaging effects of free radicals. Additionally, there are many reports of the remarkable improvements in the skin and coats of the animals using NuVet Plus™. We offer a money-back guarantee if any customer is not happy with the results received from using NuVet Plus or NuJoint Plus. For more information & to order by phone 800-474-7044 ID Code: 76807 To visit NuVet Labs website & order www.nuvet.com Please note that NuVet Plus supplements are required as part of your pet’s Health Guarantee. This is not just a vitamin. It’s an immune system builder with a precise balance of vitamins, minerals, omega fatty acids, amino acids and high-potency antioxidants. That’s why it works so well through all three stages of a dog’s life. For younger dogs (under 2 years old), it strengthens their immune system, while building and strengthening the cardiovascular, skeletal and nerve systems. For older dogs (over 8 years old), it helps reduce and eliminate arthritis, tumors, premature aging, cataracts, heart conditions, diabetes and many types of cancer, while extending the life and improving the vitality of most dogs. NuVet Plus will keep your pet on the path to perfect health! It’s not available in stores, and is only available to the general public with an order code from an authorized pet professional. For your convenience, you may order directly from the manufacturer (at up to 50% off what many vets charge for the product) by calling 800-474-7044 and using Order Code: 76807 or going online to www.nuvet.com/76807 You can receive an additional 15% discount by taking advantage of their autoship program. 15% Discount on autoship orders. Discount also available for qualifying breeders. Please email me for more information. email Marianne Menuhttp://www.nuvet.com/products.asphttp://www.nuvet.com/ingredients.asphttp://www.nuvet.com/freerads.asphttp://www.nuvet.com/freerads.asphttp://www.nuvet.com/testimonials.asphttp://www.nuvet.com/76807http://www.nuvet.com/76807mailto:minkszentao@yahoo.com?subject=Tibetan%20Spanielsmenu.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8
Sue at her 16th Birthday Party!
My little Queen was visited by friends human & canine for a turkey feast to share her special day.
Please note her photo on the cake was taken when she was 3 years old.