#uploads may be a bit less frequent BUT that’s because I’m cooking up some ideas for these guys >:))

[emile-tb]

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200!!!

Thank you guys sm for all the support!! <33

[centralparkpawsblog]

NomNomNow Review

https://www.centralparkpaws.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Opening-the-Porkalicious-Potluck-4.png

  Of my four dogs I have two very picky eaters. But my oldest, Daisy, is the pickiest of them all.

We’ve tried everything possible to get Daisy to eat. Finally, it got to the point that I started cooking all of her meals.

To ensure I was providing well-balanced nutritious meals I made an appointment with a nutritionist, Dr. Churchill, DVM, at the University of Minnesota.

We left the appointment hopeful, with a specially formulated vitamin/nutrient supplement in hand. We had food recipes specially created just for Daisy and thought this would be the end of our food battle.

It wasn’t.

She wouldn’t eat the homemade food with the supplement, so we were back to our game of “What will Daisy eat today?”

Then I was told to check out NomNomNow. It sounded good, and I’m always up to trying a new food for Daisy.

Looking through the ingredient list I couldn’t help to notice it contained Nom NomNomNutrient Mix. I absolutely understand the necessity of it, but I was no longer hopeful that Daisy would eat this food.

Did NomNomNow pass Daisy’s standards?

What the Heck is NomNomNow (besides a cute name)?

The Food

Simply put, NomNomNow is dog food made from fresh, wholesome ingredients. All food is made to order.

There are 4 varieties to choose from:

Heartland Beef Mash

Tasty Turkey Fare

Chicken Chow-Wow

Porkalicious Potluck

The Service

NomNomNow is food delivered to your door. It’s packed with dry ice and well insulated.

There’s also a Pet Profile Account, which allows you to make changes to your orders, shipping, and general account information.

You also get some nifty bonuses:

They gift you a complimentary variety pack with your first order.

They provide 7 emergency meals (free of charge) with your second delivery

Emergency meals are kept in the freezer, “… life happens, and should a delivery ever get lost or stolen, these will ensure that your dog never goes without their NomNomNow”.

My NomNomNow Experience…

I ordered my variety pack on a Friday which, for my area, is after the deadline, and it arrived two weeks later.

Had I ordered before the deadline, for example on Wednesday, I would’ve received the food in a week.

When the box arrived, there was no guesswork to what was inside.

I was a bit curious as to what method NomNomNow used to keep the food cold.

To ensure the food was kept at the correct temperature, the box contained insulation and a packet of dry ice.

The food was frozen when I received it.

Because I wasn’t sure about exposing it to heat, not knowing if it would change the nutritional content, I let it thaw overnight in my fridge.

I chose to start with the Porkalicious Potluck, the reason being that Sophie has food allergies and the pork variety didn’t contain anything she’s allergic to.

Sophie nomming the NomNomNow

Here’s what the dogs thought:

You can’t see it, but Sophie was scoop shoveling the food into her mouth…

And Daisy (she just got a bath, thus the spiky hair) liked it so much she went over to help Calvin finish his…

Ginger had crazy eyes when she was eating it, so I didn’t feel like sharing that picture, but it was clear the dogs loved the food.

We’ve since opened the other packets and, though they ate them, they were not all received with the same enthusiasm.

Daisy “helping” Calvin finish off his food

Here’s how the dogs would rank them:

Porkalicious Potluck

Tasty Turkey Fare & Chicken Chow-Wow – Definitely well liked, but not as strongly as the Porkalicious Potluck.

Heartland Beef Mash –  Not the favorite. They just picked at it.

Based on my dogs’ reactions, NomNomNow is a winner!

It’s terrific my dogs enjoyed the food, but I still had some questions that needed answers before I placed our first order.

Let’s Talk Ingredients

I love that the food is all human-grade and cooked to order.

Though nutritional supplements still needed to be added, I’m happy to see a lot of the nutrition is coming directly from a fresh source.

After reading through each of the recipes, I learned only one has brown rice and the others use potatoes as the carbohydrate.

I know a lot of people have steered toward grain-free foods, but recent studies are finding that grain-free diets may cause Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Yes, some dogs are more prone to DCM than others, so grain-free food may not be a concern.

I like that the recipe page not only includes the recipes but also indicates the nutritional benefits for each ingredient.

Who Created These Recipes?

It was nice to read about who actually came up with the recipes. With most dog foods you don’t have the comfort of knowing who the nutritionist is and their mission.

The recipes at NomNomNow were formulated by Dr. Justin Shmalberg “…one of the world’s foremost experts in veterinary nutrition.”

I looked into Dr. Shmalberg a bit more to see if this claim was accurate or not and it absolutely is.

He’s published numerous scientific papers in veterinary medicine and frequently lectures on nutritional topics to veterinarians. His credentials can also be found at the University of Florida’s Vet Medicine‘s website.

How Does NomNomNow Compare to a Raw Diet?

For me, it doesn’t compare.

Many veterinarians have warned me away from raw diets.

Raw diets carry the risk of Salmonella, Clostridium, Listeria and other bacteria found in raw meat. In addition to infection, there’s also the risk of broken teeth and internal punctures from the bones.

Also, many raw diets aren’t nutritionally balanced, which can have adverse effects on a dog’s health over time.

Alternatives

I looked into three similar dog food companies, and this is what I found:

Fresh Pet

Pros

Can be found at local grocery stores

Is the most economical

Cons

Not made to order

Less whole food ingredients than the others

Appears to be mechanically processed

Learn More

Farmers Dog

Pros

Bulk discount

Allows for multi-recipe orders without additional Charge.

Cons

The varieties were not listed on the website. I had to call to get a list of recipes and ingredients.

Only 3 formulas: Beef, Pork, and Turkey.

Their website doesn’t provide much information unless you sign up.

Cost. It’s more expensive than kibble.

Learn More

My Ollie

Pros

4 Recipes

Donates 1% of their revenue to a rescue organization

Cons

No Multi-Pet Discount

Cost. It’s a lot like human food; the fresher and healthier the food, the more it may cost.

Learn More

Overall, there were some universal benefits amongst NomNomNow, My Ollie, and The Farmers Dog.

Free shipping

Made Fresh to Order

Excellent Customer Service (I called all three)

No ingredient Substitutions – so, if your dog has allergies, you can’t adjust recipes to accommodate their food restrictions.

Why NomNomNow is the Favorite

Their Emergency Meal feature.

The variety pack so your pet can try all four flavors.

They introduced the nutritionist behind the recipes.

Their website is easy to navigate.

NomNomNow is great for a variety of dog breeds, from Pomeranians to German Shepherds.

Conclusion

I think freshly made dog food is a great idea, as long as you are feeding a balanced diet.

Because a dog’s nutrition needs are different than ours, I would only recommend a fresh dog food if it’s been approved by a veterinarian specializing in nutrition.

If you’ve ever tried making your dogs food you know how time consuming it is, which makes companies like NomNomNow so valuable.

Fresh dog food isn’t for everyone, and I’m not even saying it’s better than kibble.

I do think that it’s a great alternative when you have a dog that’s really finicky or one that needs a more specialized diet.

The post NomNomNow Review appeared first on Central Park Paws.

from https://www.centralparkpaws.net/dog-food/nomnomnow-review/

[thedarkersideofus]

Chapter 22 (New Drive)

[Copy and pasted]

School

SPRING 17 Worlds Art/Culture : C Beginning Sculpture: F Intro to Game Studies: B 3D Modeling and Printing: B

FALL 17 New Media History: B+ Video Editing: B- Nutrition: B- Beginning Painting: C-

Spring semester was a difficult one. I am going to be honest that I was fucking scared of beginning sculpture because of the tools. These tools were loud, sharp, and sparking. I never had a thing for those kind of tools. As the semester went on, I stopped showing up. My projects were terrible in quality too cause it took me a very long time to approach the machines. There isn’t a lot to say about Worlds Art/Culture. Short term memory helped during the midterm and finals. As for 3D modeling and printing, it turned out better than I expected. Most of my projects did not reach my expectation but it managed to reach a passing grade. The class I really enjoyed was the Intro to Game Studies. I was able to partner up with high school friends and met a cool ass guy that I still see from time to time. I was in charge of all the character and weapon design. We decided to do pixel art and I managed to do a decent job with no experience.

Fall was by far one of my most rewarding semester to date. It started off rocky but, after a few weeks of spending it at the library, I picked it back up and managed to pass all my classes. Video Editing was a roller coaster. I didn’t like how my professor taught and it made me less motivated to show up to class. I managed turned in a lot of my assignments in late. My final project was the most fun and the most effort I’ve put in to any of my classes. I’m not completely happy with how it turned out but I can still week it and upload a better one in the future. As for Nutrition and New Media History, I didn’t show up to class often. I only came when there was work to be turned in. Most of the lectures were online and it wasn’t necessarily required to be in class. I did volunteer for my nutrition class and that was quite interesting. My beginning painting was the worse class of the semester. I enjoy painting to some extent but the materials were so expensive. I missed some classes in the beginning and it showed throughout my whole progress. I managed to pass and that’s all that matters.

Dragon Boat Man, Spring was a rough ass time for us. Water was drained because of the storm. We could barely get enough people to come out to practice when we changed location to BIAC. This was our darkest semester yet. We did not race May race because of how little water time our team had. Our retention was at a all time low and our officers were graduating. No one wanted to step up. The only positive that our team had was that we were able to plan out Long Beach.

Long Beach was a fun time. We were able to get our practice site back and we were able to practice a good amount over the summer. I didn’t really get to know anyone new during the trip. I talked with the same people and I never quite reached out to the people I barely knew. We did a lot better than I expected and I’m proud of what we accomplished. We hit II A.

After Long Beach, i brought up the question of ending out team. It was a serious thought that I didn’t want to have. No one was willing to step up and most of our officers were half-assing their position. I joined the 2021 group and looked at the handful of people that wanted to paddle in college that paddled for four years in high school. It resparked something inside me and I wanted to make sure this team lives for another semester. I asked our current officers to stay and only a few were left. That didn’t shock me but at least it’s something.

So remember previously, I mentioned giving it one last chance this semester? It was completely worth it. In the beginning of the semester, we started off with a handful of veterans. We managed to pull off 35 paddlers by the end of the semester. We really focused on bonding and reaching out to these newer people and it really paid off. I got to meet people that I would have never met otherwise. If I didn’t meet them, i would have felt like I missed out on a lot. A lot of changes were made. We had a designated hangout spot, people studied together, and we made an effort to really get to know these people. Most of them reciprocated and really put themselves out there as well. As for competition wise, our first boat was able to place 1st in C division. Our 2nd boat did great as well! They were able to improve their time in every heat. Last but not least, we were able to fill every position in our officer team. It’s almost time for me to step down. I have a lot of faith in this group of people but they still need to be given a push forward into a good direction. I will be officially fading away from the manager position halfway through the semester. I may step into the coaching position for a bit as well. I am very happy about how this semester turned out. On to 2018.

APO This was my 2nd semester active and I was able to pick up. I did the bare minimum of requirements like usual and I was hoping to get something out of the organization. I didn’t get what I was looking for. It made me reevaluate how this organization is. Sure, I made a few good friends but it wasn’t enough. They only represent 1 out of the 3 principles of the organization. I don’t think I learned any leadership during my time here. The only time we are able to be leaders is to take an officer position. “Leadership” workshops were not helpful at all. Most of them were about learning how to cook. As for brotherhood, I definitely do not feel a close connection of brotherhood with anyone. It’s not like I don’t put myself out there. It’s just because they are quite selective and there is a more dominant group in the org. However, I was able to pick up a little. I picked up a wonderful little, Courtney. She is also my little omega. I found out that she was my little after our omega outing. I’m quite awkward cause we don’t have a lot in common but she’s a great and goofy person. I hope to guide her in life like a mentor and be there as a friend!

Job I finally got a part time job thanks to my friend Rachel. I work at a Poki place. It’s basically an assembly line and dish washing.  According to my boss, I am one of the slowest dish washer he has ever hired. It took forever to close. I picked it up near the end of the semester. Although the pay is decent and hours quite flexible, the biggest perk of my work is my boss. He has taught me so much and quite stimulating conversation about life that it makes me want to come to work and bring up these questions. When i first met my boss, he was scary as hell but we got a long well as the semester went on.

Love Life I finally found someone I’m interested in and I actually tried. I’m quite sure she’s not interested in me though so there wasn’t much I can do. I didn’t want to be the guy that can’t take a hint. I “kinda” asked her out to Christmas in the Park but i think she got the wrong idea that it was for my project. I think when she asked if anyone else was going made it quite obvious I was into her. Ever since then, it seems weird between us so I’m asking her to hang out less frequently. It’s been such a long time since I actually caught feelings so it felt quite intense chasing but I’m more in control of my emotion than before. I guess 2017 wasn’t my year, but there’s always 2018.