Typist: Bethany
Too often, I find myself comparing my current dogs and cat to pets from my past "Oh, Brychwyn leaps onto the bed the same way Tynan did" or "Amelia comes to the door when we get home just like Gryphon used to" are phrases muttered frequently by me to Jason, friends, family, and neighbors. While it does warm my heart to notice similarities in pets from my past and present, I work hard to remember that each pet is an individual and those unique personalities deserve recognition and space to flourish. Yet this is also something I have said about all of my pets, present and past.

When it comes to what I feed Wilhelm, Brychwyn, Huxley, and Amelia, I end up comparing to the past again. The right diet significantly extended the life of Emily and Tynan. So that right diet, raw food, is what I rely on for my pets health today. Similar to how each dog and cat are not the same, each kind of raw food is not the same. It is very important to me that the raw dog and cat food I feed my pets is complete, safe, and convenient. I was thrilled when I learned about Balanced Blends, a new company founded with the simple idea of creating a well-balanced raw diet to cover all nutritional needs of beloved dogs and cats. Balanced Blends has everything I want in a raw cat/dog food and all of my dogs and cat have been enjoying this food for the past couple of weeks. There is no comparison to how happy all four pets and I have been with our Balanced Blends experience.

Complete and Balanced Raw Diets for Cats/Dogs
Complete diets for dogs requires more than just fresh raw meat, bones, organs, fruits and vegetables. Dogs also need just the right blend of vitamins and minerals. Obligate carnivore cats may not need the fruits and vegetables, but they also need proper vitamins and minerals along with their raw organ, bone, and meat mix. Balanced Blends dog food contains a 10% produce, vitamin and mineral mix and the cat food contains a 0.5% vitamin and mineral mix. And the rest is grain, gluten, filler, artificial coloring, artificial preservative free meat, bone, and organ (the cat food also has egg yolks.) Balanced Blends uses chicken that is USDA Grade A, cage free, antibiotics free, with no added hormones, beef that is USDA Approved, naturally raised, antibiotic free, with no added hormones and in the dog food the fruits and vegetables are organic. It's time for another comparison: this natural, simple, and complete diet is comparable to what I strive to feed myself.

Safe and Healthy Raw Diets for Cats/Dogs

Safety is always on the top of my pet care list. Someone who keeps a cat safely on a leash when outdoors and puts goggles on dogs when riding a convertible car, obviously would only feed the dogs and cat the safest of foods. In using all best practices in making raw food, from Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP’s), and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) to applying high pressure processing (HPP) in the final packaging to eliminate re-contamination, safety obviously matters to Balanced Blends as well. As one last precaution, Balanced Blends foods is only released for sale after third party laboratory pathogen test results come back negative. On top of all that, absolutely none of the ingredients, including vitamins and minerals, in Balanced Blends are from China. All of Balanced Blends recipe formulas meet AAFCO nutrient profile for “all life stages." In other words, all pets, those constantly compared to others or those who are undeniably unique, can safely enjoy this healthy food as much as Wilhelm, Brychwyn, Huxley, and Amelia do!

Convenient Raw Diets for Cats/Dogs
Convenient raw dog and cat food is more that just having the food delivered right to the front door. Wait. That is really awesome. I have been feeding raw for over a decade and before Balanced Blends arrived on my porch, I had always trudged to the store, rushed the food home before it defrosted, filled the freezer, then did it all again what seemed like five days later. Balanced Blends offers amazingly convenient online raw cat/dog food delivery subscriptions, easily managed on their website. Two boxes arrived on my porch, I emptied the coolers inside into the freezer, defrosted and served! There is no comparison to how easy Balanced Blends makes feeding raw food. Granted this is coming from someone who defines easy as driving across the country with three dogs as easier than finding a new pet sitter, but still, Balanced Blends is seriously porch, freezer, fridge, dish, happy dogs and cat easy. Having food that makes my pets so happy show up at the door means I have more time to spend with my happy pets!

And happy pets they are. Wilhelm, Brychwyn, Huxley, and Amelia all scarfed down their Balanced Blends beef and chicken meals. The way food disappeared at these meal times could be compared to water rapidly funneling down a drain or a drink being sucked dry by a straw in one quick slurp. But when it comes to raw food, my dogs and cat are not exactly picky. They trust me. I am  the one that has to be choosy and do the comparisons. I have to find perfectly complete, safe, and convenient raw food for them so that I can keep on comparing them to past pets, pets of friends, and each other for many, many years.

What kind of pet comparisons do you make?
Are you ready to compare raw cat/dog food with regular?
Do you want to compare raw food brands?

Early Bird Specials on Balanced Blends Pre-Order Kickstarter Campaign
Balanced Blends is a fully funded company but they are running a Kickstarter campaign to raise awareness for their wonderful new brand and encourage people to try their complete, safe, and convenient foods. Some of the pre-order deals on Balanced Blends Kickstarter campaign include

• “Early Cat/Dog special” price to save $20 to $30 on 10 LB of raw food
• All backers will get 5 LB extra for every 20 LB order of the same item from our website for 3 or 6 months, after the Kickstarter campaign ends, depending on which tiers you backed
• Free shipping for all pre-orders*

The Kickstarter begins today, April 26, 2016 and ends May 27, 2016. Get your Balanced Blends raw cat/dog food deal NOW!

*Shipping only to lower 48 states

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Typist: Bethany
When my brother and I were in school full time, my family did most of our traveling in the summer. The annual forlorn feeling of saying farewell to most of my toys as we packed everything into another storage space quickly gave way to the excitement of a new summer of adventures on the road. While our travels back and forth across North America always included visits to various family and friends, it was when we arrived on the shores of Chautauqua Lake, New York, that young nomadic me felt at home. Once the family van was safely parked near the big white, bat filled barn at Bompa and Nee Nee's house, I didn't waste a second thinking about the stuff in storage thousands of miles away. The dogs and I splashed in the creek, ran in the grass, and lounged on the stone porch. At this young age I learned that every nomad needs a place that feels like home, pets too.

Dogwood Photography Photo Challenge Week 10, Portrait: Environmental
"Show a subject in their natural habitat. Their place of work or hobby is a great start. Tell their story with the environment."

While I do not consider cages and crates to be the pet's natural habitats, they truly enjoy time in their own private spaces, at home or on the road. Photographing the pets in their place of work or hobby, which I hope the dogs, cat and cockatoo would agree is being out on adventures or at sports, is what I do all the time. Don't get me wrong! I love it. But photos of the pets at home, at rest, was more of a photography challenge. Plus, I captured these photos just before Jason and I left on the first pet-free trip we have taken in almost two years. It comforts me to see how relaxed these furry and feathery nomads are just hanging out at home.

Where do you feel most at home?

This post is a part of the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge. Please see more of our photo challenge posts here.

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Typist: Bethany
When I was young, traveling North America in the family van, if we were lucky my dad would honk the horn as we went through a tunnel. Luck was if there was not one else around; my dad was considerate enough not to freak other tunnel goers out just for the giggling pleasure of his kids. I don't remember exactly what our dogs did when the light suddenly changed in the van and my brother and I began to plead to hear a horn echo in the darkness horn. Like my traveling dogs, cat, and cockatoo, those dogs probably slept right through the shadows of tunnel fun. The excitement of passing through a tunnel instilled in me by my dad has the same effect on my current travel pets as my childhood dogs... they keep on snoozing. I do often wonder, though, what road trip tunnel going Wilhelm, Brychwyn, Huxley, Amelia, and Leo would do if they heard that "ah-oooo-gah" echoing until passing into the light at the other end. I wonder because I don't honk. Even if I am all alone for miles. Sorry, dad. It just isn't the same without you, a school bus yellow camper van, and a custom ahooga horn. But I do still so love a good tunnel...

Dogwood Photography Photo Challenge Week 9, Artistic: Shadows
"The opposite of light is dark, the absence of light is shadow. Interpret this into a masterpiece."

What it is about tunnels that is so magical? I know I have wonderful ahooga horn memories but those are unique. Other people and animals, even those who have never heard a crazy family van horn, enjoy tunnels as well. Why? This fascination with light to dark to light is what inspired "The Tunnel of Love" as well as "The Tunnel of Terror." Whatever it is about the echoing of sound, the sudden absence, and the impending presence of light that is just so frightening, fun, and beautiful at the same time, I love it. And even if I don't carry on the family honk tradition when I pass through a tunnel on a road trip, I never want to stop feeling thrilled every time I get to focus on that light at the end of the tunnel and literally get tunnel vision.

This post is a part of the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge. Please see more of our photo challenge posts here.

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Typist: Bethany
The dogs have seen all the road trip gear hauled out so many times, when the dog stuff is getting packed, they get excited. Really excited. So excited, in fact, that they seem disappointed when everything is in the car, ready to go, and we spend one more night at home. I hate packing the day before and having to wait until morning to leave too. I never sleep very well... I am just too eager to hit the road! So, are the dogs truly enthusiastic about traveling or are they just feeding off of my strong wanderlust emotions? When we arrive somewhere, anywhere, the car slows down, and I begin to delightedly look around, Wilhelm, Brychwyn, and Huxley do too. I can't wait to get out and explore! Either can the dogs. Maybe we are the luckiest foursome ever to have found others that share our exploring passion. Maybe my dogs love me so much that whatever makes me happy, makes them happy. Judging by how difficult it is to get the dogs to look away from me for a photo, I thought the latter was probably true. But after viewing the photographs I managed in this weeks Dogwood 52 photo challenge, maybe Huxley, Wilhelm, and Brychwyn just love to travel. 

Dogwood Photography Photo Challenge Week 7, Portrait: Faceless
"Tell someone's story without showing their face."

Capturing photographs of the dogs traveling exhilaration is easy. Sharing their love of travel in photos is one of the reasons we are the Cascadian Nomads! What was challenging for this weeks faceless portraits, is shooting the dogs from behind. Sure they love exploring where we are, but they are trained to turn towards me for photos. I had to be sneaky, and aware of moments that each dog was really enthralled with our wanderings. The most challenging part of all was that I am always invigorated by our journey's surroundings as well! So maybe Huxley, Wilhelm, Brychwyn and I have a passion for travel in common. Maybe because every aspect of traveling, from packing to unpacking, makes me happy, the dogs are happy about travel too. I am not sure I need to know why my dogs love to travel so much. I just care that we get to keep going places together for many years to come.

Does your dog do something just because you love it?
Do you do something just because your dog loves it?

This post is a part of the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge. Please see more of our photo challenge posts here.

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