The Shocking Truth of the Ingredients in Commercial Pet Foods: Why Your Pet Might Not Be Living as Long or as Healthy

Originally published on Yahoo.voices February 21, 2010

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-shocking-truth-ingredients-5517811.html?cat=53

It's been three years since the largest recall of pet foods occurred during March of 2007 in which 67 brands of cat food and 64 brands of dog food where recalled. These pet foods had one thing in common, they were all processed and manufactured by the Canadian company of Menu Foods. These brands included not only the lower priced store label brands such as White Rose, America's Choice, Foodtown that that are found in supermarkets, but also included the higher priced brands such as IAMS, Mighty Dog, Nutro Max Gourmet Classics and so forth. The culprit turned out to be an additive known as melamine and contaminated wheat gluten imported from China; thousands of cats and dogs were horribly sickened and many even died as a result. Then, in September of 2008, not only Pedigree, but 13 other brands of pet foods were recalled of more than 50 dry food kibble type pet foods due to salmonella contamination.(1) One has to wonder what is going on with the pet food industry. Not only are we hearing of more and more recalls of food for human consumption due to some kind of contamination, such as salmonella, e. coli and Listeria, but there also seems to more and more pet foods affected as well. After all these recalls, pet owners are naturally very concerned about the food they give their pets since so many pet owners, myself included, view our pets as part of the family, even as "furry" children, and the reason why many of us call our beloved pet companions "furbabies". We want to be ensured that the food we give our pets is not only of optimum quality, but healthy for them. However, with all the recent pet food recalls due to contamination issues, this isn't the only thing pet owners should be concerned about, but what exactly goes into pet foods to begin with. Have you ever wondered, for instance, just what is meant by "meat by products", an ingredient found in all commercially processed pet foods? Do you really want to know? What I found out was enough to make my stomach turn and get queasy, and it's no wonder our pets often beg us for a scrap of the food that we eat.

The true meaning of meat by products:

If you're a pet owner, get up right now and grab a can of the pet food you have and start reading the ingredients. I have a can of Fancy Feast Chicken Feast flavor cat food in front of me at the moment. I'm not going to rattle off all the ingredients but basically here is what it says: Chicken, Chicken Broth, Liver, Meat-By-Products, Fish (yes it says fish for some reason), Poultry-By-Products, Artificial and Natural Flavors and on and on, where it then continues to list all the vitamin and chemical additives including Sodium Nitrate.

Now it doesn't matter whether the flavor of commercially manufactured canned pet food is chicken or beef, the pet owner is assuming that prime cuts of chicken, such as chicken breasts or legs are used in chicken flavored pet foods, just as one might be expecting that prime cuts of beef, on par in what we eat are used for beef flavored pet foods. Not so. Instead, what commercially processed chicken flavored pet foods use are the parts of the chicken we would normally never think of eating, and these are the "Poultry-By-Products", such as chicken heads, backs, feet, intestines, beaks, entrails, lungs, spleens, kidneys, brains, and so forth. Beef flavored pet foods, aren't much better, since instead of USDA prime high quality cuts of beef, what is used are cow brains, tongues, esophagi, viscera and even fetal tissue, so in effect "Beef-By-Products".(2)

Dry kibble type pet food doesn't fair much better either, since the vast make up of dry foods for pets consist of grains. To give an example, I happen to have a 3 lb. bag of Whiskas Purrfectly With Chicken & Salmon dry food. Among the ingredients listed are: ground whole corn, ground whole wheat, gluten meal, and soybean meal. Now just why any kind of grains are added are a mystery since cats and dogs are carnivores and grain products aren't a natural food source for them. What's worse is that the more frequent recalls we've been hearing about with dry foods comes not only as a result of possible contamination from salmonella, but due to the fact that the grains used for dry pet foods are those not used for human consumption due to mold, inferior quality and poor handling practices. (3) There is another concern one should have when it comes to feeding dry kibble type pet food, and that is one should never moisten dry type pet foods as mentioned in the Born Free USA Website. Supposedly any bacteria that may have existed in the processing of dry pet food is killed off, yet can be re-released, and multiply if moistened with water, milk or even adding to canned pet foods. I've know many a pet owner who will mix the dry with wet pet foods thinking that they are giving a more nutritious meal to their pet. (4)

We humans who are getting more and more health conscious would never, ever think of eating such low quality food as this as it would probably be the equivalent of eating nothing but junk foods all the time, and yet, that is exactly what we are doing when we feed our pets commercially processed pet foods, whether canned or dry foods. The bottom line is that there isn't any true nutritional value to commercially processed foods, which is one of the reasons for all those added vitamins in pet foods. We have here the same equivalent of all those added vitamins to the lesser quality, junk type cereals for humans to make people think they are getting a daily recommended dosage of vitamins. The real alarming fact according to the Food Not Fit For A Pet book by Dr. Wendell O. Belfield, D.V.M in which excerpts are quoted at the Shirleys Wellness Cafe website is that that our pets aren't living as long as they should, nor as healthy and more and more pets are developing cancers, arthritis and heart disease more than previously(5)

Now here is where one may get a queasy stomach and you may not even want to read the rest of this article, but I urge you to do so if you want your pet to live a long healthy life. One needs to know what is in your beloved pet(s) food. Among the other ingredients that are used that I've cited are also diseased animals, not only the downed cows at farm factories, but also diseased chickens, ducks, fish, and so forth, however, roadkill is also used, yes roadkill. Also, one has to consider too, the idea that farm animals raised for human consumption are often pumped up with antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones, thus, your pet is getting doses of antibiotics and other chemicals as well in their food. While the ingredients I've cited so far for pet foods, as disgusting as they may sound to you, is nothing compared to the other ingredients that are used and here is the true meaning of "meat-by-products" and it's the pet foods dirty shocking secret. I watched with disgust a YouTube Video that was filmed and taken by an undercover investigator called "What's REALLY In Your Pet's FOOD?

Did you ever wonder what happens to your beloved pet when you take it to the vet to be put down or when it has died of old age? Unless you have arranged to have the pet buried or cremated there are "collectors" who make the rounds to veterinary clinics and hospitals who collect the dead pets that are in body bags that are labeled "regular disposal" and have been kept in freezers. These collectors not only collect the dead pets from veterinary clinics and hospitals, but also the euthanized animals, whether euthanized by injection or from kill shelters that still put animals down by gas chamber as well.

In the video, it cites the West Coast Rendering Plant of Los Angeles, California, but there are rendering plants in every state of America and in every country in the world. I watched as all the bodies of the dead pets are then dumped in large barrels at the "rendering" plant and there must have been over 40 of these barrels filled to the top with the dead bodies of dogs and cats. The workers then remove the body bags and the dead pets are stacked on top of each other at the "pit" as it's called. The undercover investigator filming this video is seen taking off collars of some of the dogs that still have them on. The dead cats and dogs are then placed in "The Grinder"--and it sounds exactly like what it implies, a large grinder similar to a gigantic meat grinder, and yes, its the dogs and cats being ground up.

What is even more sickening is the fact our own US Food and Drug Administration's Center For Veterinary Medicine, while not sanctioning its practice, they are none the less aware of what is going on and of the usage of rendered animals including dogs and cats as part of the pet food industry, yet they don't take steps to stop the practice.(6) Here's a direct quote from the FDA Website itself about pet food products:

"There is no requirement that pet food products have pre-market approval by the FDA. However, FDA ensures that the ingredients used in pet food are safe and have an appropriate function in the pet food. Many ingredients such as meat, poultry and grains are considered safe and do not require pre-market approval. Other substances such as sources of minerals, vitamins or other nutrients, flavorings and preservatives, or processing aids may be generally recognized as safe."(7)

In other words, while to a certain extent, pet foods are regulated by the FDA (as well as other similar government agencies worldwide), the ingredients don't have to have full approval, in other words anything goes and this should infuriate and disgust the pet owner who may have had no idea what was going into their beloved pet's food. Now supposedly, according to an up-date on the Cat Food Uncovered article it states that "many pet food manufacturers in the USA are no longer using sources of meat that had previously given cause for concern." (8) However, note, it says many, not all, so one still doesn't know exactly what is in pet food nor does the pet owner know for sure which commercially processed pet foods still use these horrific ingredients.

So what is the answer? Should one turn to the more organic types of pet foods? This should be up to the pet owner to make such a decision and it would be wise for the pet owner to investigate what organic types of pet foods are available. There is a very good listing of organic types of pet foods here. The main question however, are they safer? Sadly, perhaps not, and even a pet rescuer friend of mine said they aren't much better either. Just recently, on February 10th of this year, the more organic type of pet food made by Nature's Variety began a recall of their Chicken Formula Raw Frozen Diet pet foods for cats and dogs and the culprit was due to possible Salmonella contamination.(9) and this isn't an isolated incident as there have been recalls of other organic pet foods as well over the years.

If you have read this article in its entirety and watched the video I hope it gets you outraged and disgusted. I know I was as I had no idea about what went into commercially prepared pet foods. It was bad enough to find out that animal parts not fit for human consumption are used in pet foods, but the idea that I might be feeding my two cats someone's former pet is a horrifying thought. Hopefully this article will inspire and encourage you to take action in the form of contacting not only the US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine, but also your politicians and voice your opinions for better regulation of the pet food industry. Would you feed your infants or children inferior food? So why should we be feeding our pets such foods?

Maybe as pet owners we should seriously consider going back to cooking food for our pets and giving those scraps from the dinner table. Years and years ago, I used to make my own version of strained meat baby type food. I would cook up chicken (or turkey or beef), then once done, take the meat off the bone of the chicken or turkey, or cut up the beef into smaller pieces and place the meat into a blender then add some of the broth and blend everything. All I can say, is that my cats couldn't get enough of it. I'm beginning to think it's high time I did that again.

Articles About Pet Food Recalls/Contamination:

Pet Food Recall (1)

Pet Food Recall

Salmonella in Pet Food(9)

Salmonella in Pet Food

Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Pet Food Recalls

Articles About What Is In Pet Foods:

Shirley's Wellness Cafe(5) (6)

Shirley's Wellness Cafe

Precious Pets(2) (3)

Precious Pets

Born Free USA(4)

Born Free USA

Pet Foods

Pet Foods

Pet Care/Foods

Pet Care/Foods

Commercial Pet Foods

Commercial Pet Foods

Pet Food Ingredients

Pet Food Ingredients

Natural News

Natural News

Cat Food Industry(8)

Cat Food Industry

Rendered Meats

Rendered Meats

Ingredients in Pet Foods

Ingredients in Pet Foods

List of Organic Pet Foods

List of Organic Pet Foods

The FDA Regulations

FDA regulations in Pet Foods(7)

FDA regulations in Pet Foods

Videos

Undercover Video of Rendering Plant

Undercover Video of Rendering Plant

Video About What's in Pet Foods

Video About What's in Pet Foods

My Own Hearty Minestrone Soup Recipe

I consider myself a well established cook, having gotten involved with French cuisine in particular for over thirty years, however, my culinary skills aren't limited to French cooking, but a wide variety of nationalities, such as Italian, Mexican, and Oriental. During all these years I've always been a stickler for making any meal completely homemade and entirely from scratch, in other words, no "short-cuts". If for instance, I want to make biscuits, yes, I make homemade biscuits and have never used the Pillsbury biscuit dough in that pop-up can.

Among the many types of meals I've made over the years, I love making homemade soups, and now that the weather is starting to turn on the chilly side, what could be better than a nice piping hot bowl of soup? In the past I've made homemade Chicken, Lentil, Pea, Black Bean, Potato, Cream of Celery, Gazbacho, and French Onion soup Gratinée.

Recently, I came across a recipe called Harvest Minestrone with Quinoa & Kale Soup and looking at the photo, I have to admit my mouth began to drool, it looked delicious. I give the link for that recipe here, however, it inspired me to do my own version of the soup and I prepare it in a completely different way than the original recipe. The original recipe, for instance calls for a can of crushed tomatoes, kale and the quinoa, I omitted these three ingredients and substituted my own as you'll see if you compare recipes. Also most of the vegetable ingredients in the original recipe call for them to be diced; I instead cut most of the vegetables such as the zucchini in large cubes or slices.

My Own Hearty Minestrone Soup:

Ingredients:

2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 medium-sized onion diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 celery stalks sliced (not diced!)

2 or three large carrots, pared and sliced

1 large fresh zucchini, pared, thickly sliced and cut into cubes

1 cup of fresh green beans cut into about 1" pieces

1 green bell pepper, sliced and diced

1 large jar of pasta source~~I used a 24 oz. jar of Vito Marcello's Tomato and Basil Marinara Sauce

3 or 4 cups water

1 large plum tomato cut into cubes

1 15 oz. can chickpeas

1 15 oz. can either Cannellini or Red Kidney Beans ( I used the Red Kidney Beans)

1 cup cooked pasta (such as ditalini or elbow macaroni)

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish with pre-grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

In a large stockpot add the olive oil, onions and garlic and sautée till tender (don't let burn!). Pour and add approximately one half of the pasta sauce into stockpot, then add the water. Stir to blend. Add all the vegetables to pot, omitting the beans. Let all the ingredients simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. While the soup is simmering, in a large saucepan, boil a quart of water and add about 3/4 cup pasta and cook until al-dente.

If necessary keep adding a little more of the pasta sauce and water to the soup as the liquid will have a tendency to evaporate. About ten minutes before the soup is done, add the chickpeas, Cannellini or Red Kidney Beans and the pasta and let simmer some more. Ladle in the soup into bowls and sprinkle some of the parmesan cheese on top.

Servings: about 8 to 10 servings

Enjoy!!

Image Source: ©Melanie Neer~my own photo of my Hearty Minestrone Soup

The Original Recipe Harvest Minestrone With Quinoa & Kale Soup as a comparison and what inspired me to do my own recipe:

www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11146/harvest-minestrone-with-quinoa-kale.html (Originally published at bubblews~~October 16, 2013)

How I Got Interested In Cooking French Cuisine

(Article first appeared at Bubblews on April 19, 2013)

Article At Bubblews

It was sometime a little after I graduated college that I took an interest in French Cuisine however, my interest may have started sooner as I had taken a French language course the last term of my college life. The class was entirely conducted in French by the professor, who by the way, actually was from France. On occasion she would break that rule of hers and talk about life in France in English, and among things would give wonderful detailed talks about French food that made my mouth drool.

Then, on one occasion, I happen to tune into Julia Child's cooking show, it was a show I normally didn't watch since to be honest, I just didn't care for her; to me she always sounded as if she had been dipping into the cooking sherry a wee bit too much. However, on that day I happen to catch her show, she was introducing a then up and coming French chef, Jaques Pepin. O la la! Not only was he demonstrating his own techniques for cooking French foods, but hey, he wasn't bad to look at either. Now when I think of it, what then happened next was almost similar to that movie Julie & Julia, where the one character, Julie Powell decides to cook every single recipe in Julia Child's cookbook, but instead of cooking up recipes from Julia Child's cookbook, I began collecting not only Jaques Pepin's cookbooks, but other French recipe cookbooks and began cooking up a storm.

Now you have to realize that in years prior, if and when I did cook something, it would be very basic, mainstream foods, you're typical meat and potatoes type of thing, nothing fancy schmancy. In my childhood and teen years, I relied on whatever food my mother or grandmother cooked up, and let's put it this way, cooks they weren't. If they could have burned water they would have, yes, their cooking was that bad. The only real cook of the family had been my great grandmother, and praise be, there is a God, I must have inherited her skills rather than either my mother or grandmother.

I have to admit I didn't cook every single French recipe in the cookbooks I had, as the idea of say preparing and fixing something like escargot or Tripes à la Niçoise (Tripe stew) just repulsed me. I did however start my journey into French cooking by preparing known classics, such as Crêpes, Boeuf Bourguignon, and yes, I even made the all elusive and difficult Soufflé.

When I realized I had a real knack for cooking French foods, it was like full steam ahead. After a little time had passed by and as I became more confident in my skills, and since Thanksgiving was fast approaching, I ditched the idea of the usual and more traditional Thanksgiving dinner and instead did a full French gourmand feast consisting of French Onion Soup Gratinée, Crêpes filled with chicken and mushroom with Sauce Mornay, Boeuf Bourguignon, and for dessert, Poires pochées au vin (Poached Pairs in Wine Sauce). How I didn’t gain a hundred pounds with that one dinner, I’ll never know.

As the years passed by I would later embark on cooking other types of cuisine as well, such as Oriental, Mexican, Italian, and so forth, but to this day, my first love is to cook French food and while I don’t knock myself out as much as I used to, as I did with that Thanksgiving dinner I had cooked so many years ago, I still love to make up something special from time to time, like my Boeuf Bourguignon which I serve on a bed of Couscous as seen in my photo of it when I made it as my birthday dinner.

If you would like my recipe version of Boeuf Bourguignon you can find it here:

voices.yahoo.com/how-great-boeuf-bourguignon-meal-2294943.html?cat=22Recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon

To coin a phrase Julia Child would say at the end of her show: Bon Appétit

How to Make a Great Boeuf Bourguignon Meal: A True French Culinary Feast

(ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 4, 2008 AT Yahoo.voices however Yahoo.voices no longer exists)

{This first appeared at Ciao.com under my pen-name of pyewacket} This was one of the very first French cuisine meals I made some twenty-five years ago, and make it a point to fix it at least once a year. This can be a great alternative if you're looking for something truly different for a holiday meal, or any special affair. For the past few years, I've made it a point to make this as my special dinner for my birthday, which is coming up soon and I look forward to making it each and every year as my birthday dinner.

UPDATE: I no longer use bacon as I don't eat pork of any kind, nor the beef bouillon cube in my recipe, but if you wish you can still use both)

Boeuf Bourguignon can be looked at as a fancy way of making a beef stew, but instead of adding water or beef stock to simmer the meat, one uses red wine instead. And yes, this is one of those French meals that one uses brandy as well and ignites it. I have a confession too. The very first time I made this I was a bit skiddish about that igniting part, thinking I was going to contend with a really large flame of fire and contend with a potential fire hazard. The original recipe calls for only 2 or 3 tablespoons of brandy, yet I use about a ¼ of a cup--I really don't measure, I just pour it in.

Since you are using wine to cook this meal, be sure NOT to use an aluminum or iron stockpot, but instead use a stainless steel one.

For an added touch I also cook up Couscous to serve as a "bedding" for the Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf Bourguignon

4 ounces of bacon sliced chunky style (that is several sliced pieces of bacon but cut into chunks)

1 medium onion or 3 to 4 shallots, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 or 3 pounds of stewing beef cut in 1 ½ cubes

2 or 3 tablespoons brandy ( I use more about ¼ cup)

Salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons butter

¼ teaspoon thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon parsley

3 cups dry burgundy wine

½ pound mushrooms, washed, stem removed and sliced

1 beef bouillon cube

1 or 2 carrots, washed, pared and sliced

Cooked Plain Couscous

In a stainless steel stockpot, add the chunks of bacon and allow to cook awhile until done. Add the onion (or shallots) and garlic and sauté until done. With a slotted spoon take out the bacon and garlic and set aside on a plate. Add the cubes of beef and let beef brown awhile. Stir the meat as it browns.

When meat is brown, turn off heat from pot and pour in the brandy, blending it in with the meat. Using a match (one of those long wooden kitchen matches works best), ignite the "brandied" meat, and stir with a spoon until flame goes out naturally. Not only does the brandy add flavor to the meat, but by igniting it, will reduce the fat content of the bacon fat.

Put flame back on low and sift in the flour over the meat and stir to blend an even coating over the meat and remove any lumpiness from the flour. Return the bacon bits and onion and garlic to the stockpot, then slowly add the wine. Add the sliced mushrooms, carrot slices, beef bouillon cube, salt and pepper to taste, thyme, bay leaf and parsley. Cover and simmer for at least four hours or until meat is tender. Keep checking as the wine broth reduces and you may add even more wine to it...I do.

When done, to thicken the sauce a bit, add some cornstarch to water and slowly add and stir to a desired consistency as thick or thin as you wish and let simmer for a few more minutes.

While the Boeuf Bourguignon is still simmering, cook up couscous according to the package directions and for the amount you want depending how many people you are serving. I use the 5-minute type of Plain Couscous such as the Near East brand by boiling the correct amount of water with added butter. Once water is boiled turn off heat and add the couscous, cover and remove from heat. It will "cook" in five minutes.

Take a plate and spoon some of the Couscous on it, spreading it out a bit in a circle and making a centered well for the Boeuf Bourguignon. Spoon in a portion of the Boeuf Bourguignon in the center of the Couscous.

Instead of Couscous one can also use noodles or rice, but somehow I much prefer the Couscous as it gives the meal a bit of added elegance and finesse.

Bon Appetít

Hazzard County Squirrel Slam: The Massive Killing of An Animal For "Prizes"

No doubt by the time you read this article, the seventh annual "Hazzard County Squirrel Slam" taking place in Holly, NY on February 16th 2013 will have come and gone, and the world is watching how this will all turn out.

Up until a little while ago, I never even had heard of this "event" which I understand has been a yearly occurrence in Holly, NY for some seven years now. No doubt neither has the rest of America nor the world heard of it either, that is of course, until now and is sparking the outrage of animal organizations, activists and advocates, including myself. There have been huge campaigns and pleas by animal activists and organizations, such as Friends of Animals, for Holley, NY to reconsider and completely cancel what many of us view as a virtual massacre of a species of animal, the squirrel; however, if the event is still scheduled as planned on February 16th, animal activists plan to physically protest against it.

Here's how the "Hazzard County Squirrel Slam" works. The Holly Fire Department "sponsors" this event in the effort to raise money. Tickets are sold for $10.00 as an entry fee for those wishing to participate in this massive squirrel killing. The event is not only open to adults, but children as young as 12 are encouraged to participate as well. Prizes are given to those who kill the squirrels by the most "weight" of the killed squirrels, and a special cash prize is given and awarded to the person who kills the biggest squirrel. Oh, but it gets better. Not only are cash prizes awarded, but there is also raffle to win guns.

Now some people might wonder, well why all the fuss over killing "mere" squirrels? The squirrel is of the rodent family, they aren't exactly an endangered species, are highly populous not only in suburban areas, but in cities as well, and many consider them a nuisance and can be destructive. Gee, I think I just described the human species, after all, we're not an endangered species either, we're highly populous all over the world, we can be considered a nuisance species and yes, the human species is also highly destructive.

Here is how animal activists and advocates, such as myself however, view such a massacre killing of the squirrels in Holly, NY, and why we're outraged. Point blank it's sending a very negative message, especially to young children, that in essence it's okay to go on a massive killing hunt and to be awarded such an act by winning cash prizes and guns no less. With the December 14, 2012 tragedy that occurred at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, CT, this event is actually going to raffle off guns to win as a prize? Are you joking me?

Not a week goes by when I'm made aware of some horrific case of animal abuse via the internet: stories of young children dousing an innocent young kitten or puppy with flammable liquid, then setting the kitten or puppy on fire; stories of people who create "crush videos", where some woman literally crushes an young animal to death with high stiletto heeled shoes and tapes the whole thing; stories of people who take "fun" in mutilating an animal and perhaps skinning it alive; stories of trigger happy cops who shoot family pets in front of their owner, and the horror stories goes on and on. And lets not forget the horrific conditions we subject farm animals in farm factories.

These are stories that are not going to be on the mainstream news media, why I don't know, but then perhaps the news prefers to focus on really "important" news subjects, such the latest escapade of Lindsey Lohan, or Kim Kardashian, oh, and lets not forget that Justin Beiber was photographed with a marijuana joint! Now that's news folks!

Still, In a time when those of us are aware of such animal abuse atrocities and we shake our heads and wonder why we're hearing of so many more animal abuse cases, then for anyone then to condone the outright massive killing of any animal is, as I said, truly sending the wrong message and especially to the younger generation. Children given the go-ahead and that is all right to kill animals in mass, and for prizes no less, might think it's all right to kill other animals as well, including cats and dogs.

I'm not against hunting per se, that is, I'm not against those who genuinely hunt for food, and many people still do. Ironically, an expert hunter will kill an animal in one shot which I almost view as being more humane, if you want to call it that, then how animals are kept in farms factories and live their lives in misery, pain, neglect and are killed usually by slitting the animals neck and let it bleed to death and often butchered while still half alive.

I am however, against hunting animals as trophies, or those who kill animals such as retired zoo or circus animals like lions and tigers in canned hunts, and I'm most certainly against any kind of massive slaughter of hunting any animal for prizes. The whole premise of this "Hazzard County Squirrel Slam" is to raise money and is a fundraiser event. Sorry, but I think there are more constructive ways to raise money than having a massive killing spree of animals.

Sources: Articles About "Hazzard County Squirrel Slam"

Examiner Article About Squirrel Slam

Daily News Article About Squirrel Slam

Joe Mason's Article about Squirrel Slam

LIFE WITHOUT A COMPUTER: OR HOW NOT TO GO INSANE

Life Without a Computer: Or How Not to Go Insane

By Melanie Neer

This article of mine has appeared on Yahoo.voices and in one of my notes over at Facebook.

The link to my Yahoo.Voices article is here

Life Without a Computer Article

Before I begin my article here, please bow your heads and join me in a few moments of silence in memory for all computers that have met an untimely death and have left our lives. (Bows head and remains silent).

Thank you all for joining me in silence. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there, where somewhere along in your life, you too have had the demise of your beloved computer. First, I would like to give a bit of a background about myself and my introduction to computers in the first place.

Nowadays children are learning computers as part of the school curriculum at a very young age and are taught how to use them. This wasn't the case in my childhood as I'm a "Woodstock Generation" baby boomer. Personal computers didn't exist, cellphones didn't exist, not even calculators. It wasn't until around 2002 that I finally introduced myself to a computer. Having always been something of a geek I knew eventually I wanted to learn how to use a computer but plain didn't know how to go about it, and just didn't have the funds to take expensive classes, so I at first did the next best thing. I would go to the library and would take out books about computers: PCs For Dummies, Computer For Dummies, Internet For Dummies; well, you get the idea. If there was a "Dummies" book about computers I was reading it. And by the way, I highly recommend the Dummies series of books in general for any topic as they are written in a no frills tech talk and often sprinkled with a lot of humor.

Somewhere long the line I realized that I had to go beyond just reading about computers, that I had to actually make the attempt and put myself in front of one. Two things inspired me to go ahead and make the plunge to use a computer. The first was the library itself: I would often pass by the children's section of the library and see children as young as four pounding away like maniacs in front of the public usage computers. My thought was, gee, if they can do it, so can I. The second reason was believe it or not, the Lord Of The Rings movies. I was a fanatic about the movies and yearned to join the official Lord of The Rings fan club, and one could only do that by joining on-line. So one day at the library I got bold and I went up to the desk to sign up to use a computer.

When my time came and I was called I went to the next available computer and stood in front of it, staring at it like, well, like a dummy. It's one thing to read about computers but another thing to actually use one. Somehow though I managed to putter around with the computer to get the feel of it and found I liked it. For the next few days, I would go to the library and sign up to use a computer, getting a little more daring and bold, however, sometimes when I would get stuck on something and just plain didn't know what to do, I would ask the poor victim person next to me, "How do you do this?" "How do you do that?" I'm pretty sure there were times the person wanted to strangle me with my constant questions. Oh, don't worry folks, with the passage of time tables turned and I became the victim person since someone would ask me questions too about how to do something. And yes, perhaps I myself could have gotten annoyed, but I didn't since I reflected back on those times when I was the nuisance questioner. Also truth be told, I felt happy with myself that I could do a pay it forward type thing and could help a person out.

Well as time passed, I not only liked computers, I loved them and was quickly becoming addicted to them. I found that the term world wide web was so on the spot, for the internet truly does allow a person to connect in a way like nothing else, and if one starts joining forums, discussion groups or networking sites, one can meet people of all walks of life from all over the world. Great bonds and friendships can occur with on-line people; sometimes these friendships can be better and closer than those people we have in our "real" life.

Alas, a frustrating dilemma occurred for me. I now yearned for my own computer; it wasn't enough to go to the library and use their computers for only an hour, or the occasional use of a computer at an internet café when I needed more time. But how? I was on disability benefits (and still am) and there was no way I could afford one. So from 2002 until 2007 I remained stuck using public computers, then something happened in 2006. My mother who had been terminally ill with cancer passed away on August 27, 2006. She had no checking, savings or life insurance, however there were funds I was able to claim, not a vast fortune by any means, yet with that money I was able to pay her funeral costs and other bills and what I had left over I managed to get my own computer. Hallelujah!

So from 2007 when I finally got my own computer system and for the next five years I was a real happy camper. Instead of waiting hours to use a computer for only an hour at the library, I could putter around my computer any time I wanted to for hours on end. Did I want to use my computer after I ate breakfast? I could. Did I want to use my computer until the wee small hours of the morning? I could. Did I want to use my computer when I got up for a bathroom break when I had been sleeping? I could. Come on folks, admit it, don't you do the same thing? Perhaps you even zoom over to your computer to check emails or to quickly find out what's new over at Facebook as soon as you wake up and before you have breakfast? And confess folks, how many of you schlep around in front of your computer in your PJs or any raggedy tag clothes and barefoot? Thank goodness people can't see us when we're in front of the computer!

Then a catastrophe occurred. On June 22nd my computer died. I had decided to shut down my computer for awhile with the intent to reboot later; it was something I had done on and off all along ever since I got my computer. When I decided to reboot, I turned the computer back on expecting it to start up again as always, but nothing happened. I was still looking at a black, lifeless monitor. I thought, oh, maybe it's just an odd glitch, so I shut it off again and waited awhile, then turned it back on. Still nothing, nada, zilch. To say I freaked out would be putting it mildly. My computer had truly became my "world". Being disabled, the computer was my gateway to the world, to feel connected, and while not housebound I do stay home a lot, and had counted on my computer in so many ways, including writing my articles, but now I felt lost, unconnected. I might as well have been on a deserted island.

As I mentioned, the only way I was able to afford my computer at all was with the passing of my mother. I just didn't have the financial means to get the computer repaired if it was at all repairable, and certainly didn't have the means to get a new one. My life without a computer was to begin.

For the next three months I was without my computer. You might be thinking, gee, three months isn't all that bad, but for me it might have well have been three years. Yes, I did on occasion go to the nearby internet café near me, but it was not a pleasant experience for me. Number one, I had totally forgotten how to use PC type computers, mine was a iMac and while I had learned on a PC, it had been five years ago that I had used one. Two, I was tangling with using Windows instead of my familiar Safari and Firefox browsers. Don't ask how many times I had to stifle using "expressive" language. One of the posted rules of the internet café was "No Cussing" and I've been known to spew out language that would make a truck driver blush. Three, NYC at the time was having it series of heat waves, and guess what? Ninety percent of the time the internet café didn't have the air-conditioning on. This didn't go too well for me, since most of the summer I was to experience heat exhaustion related illnesses, and I don't "do" hot weather well to begin with. And four, I just plain wasn't used to being "formally" dressed and wearing shoes while in front of a computer. So bottom line, I didn't go to the internet café all that often.

So how did I fill those hours upon hours without a computer? Anyway I could to keep my sanity.

Now, first of all, please understand, I'm a very clean, neat, organized person. If you were to come into my home you would see everything clean, nicely arranged and organized, yet I'm not exactly a Felix Unger of the Odd Couple Show OCD type either. Without my computer however, I was finding "chores" to do to keep me busy. What chores you may ask? Oh, you know the kind, the kind that are as exciting to do as watching water boil, or paint dry. Oh, and there's something I must add. I have a cat named Kissy who has a tendency to hide whenever I clean to begin with. Smart cat! Now that I was doing all this rather maniacal cleaning I could swear she was rolling her eyes up and thinking, "Oh, yeah, my mom's gone nuts." Only a pet person will understand this.

Here's my top ten list of things I did to keep my sanity while without a computer:

10). Organizing Papers: I think a lot of us are guilty of having piles and piles of papers around, and I'm no exception, so I decided to go through my massive piles of papers I had to see what I could finally throw out and for the papers I decided to keep I re-organized them into labeled folders. I didn't do this just once or twice, but several times, you know, just to make sure they were totally organized. I could hardly contain myself with the joy and excitement I had while doing this. Sure, right. Picking lint out of my belly button would have been more thrilling.

9). Dusting: I have always found the chore of dusting to be one of the most futile of all household chores going. One gets everything nicely dusted, but before you know it, one has to do it all over again, therefore, I have to admit I don't do it that often. Mind you however, just to make it clear, I would dust before I could write my name in the dust. Now with all this extra time on my hands I was doing more dusting and on a much more regular basis. For the first time in my life, I could have proudly passed any white glove test.

8). Laundry: I was also doing a lot more laundry than needed to be done. I was washing everything and everything I could think of, even washing my numerous stuffed animal toys or clothes in my closet that while not dirty by any means, my rationale was that they needed "freshening" up.

7). Cleaning and Reorganizing Kitchen Cabinets: This wasn't exactly a chore that needed to be done either as all my kitchen cabinets have always been organized, but yes, I was going through all of them, little by little at at time, taking everything out to reorganize.

6). Reorganizing Storage Containers: I live in a very small apartment which of course means I lack storage space. Over the years I've gotten those plastic-type storage containers, from the rather small to store my jewelry making supplies, to the very large tub-sized containers where I keep my numerous archival files of my 35mm slides and negatives. Well of course! I just had to reorganize them too, don't you know?

5). Closets: Ah yes! I decided to completely reorganize my closets, not that they really needed to be done either.

4). Computer Desk: I have an enormous computer desk, complete with a little filing cabinet and a hutch with nooks and crannies to store stuff, and again, like everything else, it wasn't exactly disorganized, but I decided to go through the filing cabinet and nooks and crannies to reorganize everything. Actually this was a beneficial chore as I came across a lot of things that I was able to throw out. Have you ever come across something that you were obviously saving for some reason, but then years later when you came across again you scratched your head and wondered why the heck you were saving it?

3). Bureau Drawer: Yes I decided to clean out and reorganize my bureau drawer too.

2). Windows: Egad! I must have been really desparate as I actually was washing my windows! But hey, at least my windows were now wonderfully clean; all the more for nosy neighbors in the apartment building across the street to spy on and see me better. And it works both ways for now I can spy on and see THEM better as well.

AND..DRUMROLL PLEASE. THE NUMBER ONE MEANS TO KEEP MY SANITY WITHOUT A COMPUTER IS: So folks, this is how I spent those three months without a computer to keep my sanity, or upon reflection maybe lost it?

As you can surmise, by the mere fact that I'm writing this, I'm back on-line again as I now have a new computer. I'm still hoping to repair my old one, if anything to retrieve my data, especially my document and photo files, but at least I'm up and running again. And how did I get my new computer? Well that is nothing more than a miracle, and maybe the topic of another article.

The Author In Me

Writing is by no means a new adventure to me, as I've been writing for a long time. I don't seem to be plagued by writer's block by any means, in fact I have just a bit too many ideas, and this is especially true with short stories and novel ideas. My hindrence seems to be time. Well, I do hope to remedy that somehow, even if it's only to type in one or two pages of any of my stories.

But now I've ventured out a bit and have delved into the world of article writing, and like many who are also writers, have discovered such sites as Associated Content. Now I did join some time ago, submitted my first article and it was rejected. This didn't deter me too much as, with anyone who is in the art or creative fields, one has to get used to rejections, not that its a great feeling, but it does come in the territory of being an "artist" of any kind.

Well then only a few weeks ago, I decided to give Associated Content another go at it, and just rattled of two articles, of very different genres. One was an overview of the whole Harry Potter phenomenon, while the other about my SSI problem I had. Talk about two different subjects. To my amazement, the Harry Potter one got accepted almost right away, and a few days later the other article was accepted and published. Now I was pumped...and did another, plus submitted one of my short stories. Well they are published as well now, and I now invite you to go over and read my articles.

Here is my general Content Producer page:


Content Producer Page



Here is the first article published by them:

First Article

You can also access and read any of my articles in general just by clicking to my Content Producer Page, which will allow you to read all my articles there.


So I invite you to read my articles...and while there, if you're so inspired please leave a comment of what you though of my articles.


Happy reading!