Saturday, November 16, 2013

Fukushima and Dog Food

The latest from Bill Moyers on what we need to know about the Fukushima Power Plant problems.  Now, I'll admit, I passed on some bogus information this week on Facebook about the level of contamination in fish on America's west coast due to radiation from the broken power plant.  Clare Kines kindly linked me to Snopes, which I usually check on this sort of thing.  Thank you, Clare.  But that is not to say that there are not serious serious problems with the leakage from the plant, and the possibility of more leakage in the future.  I think the scariest part of the story for me is:
"The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo said earlier this year that there’s a 70 percent chance a 7.0-magnitude or higher quake will strike Tokyo, near Fukushima, by 2016. Should the fourth reactor collapse, Suzuki said, it would be “bye bye Japan,” and “everybody on the west coast of North America should evacuate. Now if that isn’t terrifying, I don’t know what is.”
 Meanwhile, in the thriving burg of Sacramento, I spend my day researching homemade raw dog food and purchasing vitamin/mineral and fish oil supplements.  Feels a bit like fiddling when Rome is burning.  However, my little pooch has grown very very picky about her food, and will not eat much of the store bought variety.  I switched her to white rice (brown is too much for their digestive systems) and ground turkey which she loves.  Gobbles it up.  So, I decided to do a little research and by golly, there are all kinds of recipes out there for raw and cooked food for dogs.  Yes, Virginia, dogs did eat meat before commercial dog food was developed about 1860.  And, oh my, but there is a lot of frothing at the mouth when it comes to advocating various diets for dogs.  Just like foodnazis, there are dogfoodnazis.  Brown v. white rice, veg or no veg, raw or cooked, bones or not.  Shoot.  I'm picking the simpliest (ground raw meat, cooked white rice, hard boiled eggs -shells included- mashed and adding the tiniest amount of nutritional supplements for vitamins/minerals, probiotics etc.)  I kind of feel like those super conscientious moms who made all their own baby food for their little sprouts.  I did a little of that, but was not opposed to popping open a jar of Gerber when needed.

The world may be going to hell in a hand-basket, but while it does, my little buddy is going to eat well.  And I hope it will benefit her health as much as all the pundits say it will.  She is my little miracle*, after all. 


 *A warm living being that adores you and wants to be with you at all times.  A being that will lick your face and make you feel like the most wonderful person on the planet.  A being that radiates JOY.

14 comments:

  1. Today while at Safeway buying cat food, I recalled some online advice on preparing homemade cat food, which went something like this: "cats require fresh, raw meat, preferably small birds and mice. Include all parts of the animal."

    So every week I end up at Safeway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ha! and don't you just love it when they bring their prize into your home?

      Delete
  2. I have often wondered why cat food isn't mouse and rat parts. There's definitely a surplus of them critters.

    I think Fukushima should be spelled Fuckushima.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your modern housecat might maim a mouse and chase it around, but ours have always been confused about actually consuming them.

    How are you storing the dog food? I favor EZ premade, but it's hard when a pet doesn't take it or won't tolerate it, for one reason or another. (We actually had a cat on what I called the "baby food diet" for a while -- gerber's turkey or chicken, mixed with rice cereal -- due to digestive complaints.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. storing dog food in freezer, in 1/2 c portions that I pre-froze on a cookie sheet. When thawed and ready to serve, I add the vit/min mix and a squirt of fish oil.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm not seeing that quote about Fukushima in the linked Time article about the potential for a major earthquake near Tokyo. Fukushima is about 150 miles from Tokyo; although that 9.0 in Fukushima was felt in Tokyo, it didn't really cause major damage.

    The Time story is about the risk of a major quake in the Tokyo area, particularly south and west of the city. (Fukushima is north and east.) Tokyo probably has the best earthquake engineering and preparedness of any city in the world, because quakes are so common.

    I don't mean to minimize the danger of more fallout from the nuclear reactors at Fukushima -- and it truly is troubling that there aren't totally reliable plans for decommissioning nuke plants -- but "bye bye Japan" seems overblown. (Especially linked to the risk of a quake 150+ miles away.) I've read elsewhere, too, both that cleanup on the reactors is ongoing, and that Japan is turning more to other energy sources. (Admittedly, not following the story that closely.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Part of what's behind this response is that I've gotten to a point where I avoid a good many websites, because I cannot function very well in a bath of constant, unmitigated panic. I've only got this one life, and I'm in no position to solve a potential nuclear crisis. But I can put myself behind avoiding that kind of risk in the future, and trying to keep this one as contained as possible.

      A piece of avoiding the panic, too, is sifting out reasoning that doesn't make sense. For example, Japan is a large place, and Fukushima is not close to Tokyo. And also -- the Fukushima quake was huge, 9.0 -- that's why it could be felt at all in Tokyo -- while the prediction for Tokyo is a 7.0 within several years (orders of magnitude smaller, since each step on the Richter scale is 10x the previous step). Sure, there is a non-zero chance of a devastating quake interfering with cleanup at Fukushima -- but the scientific projection for Tokyo doesn't lend any real basis to "sky is falling" drama such as that line about "bye bye Japan."

      Delete
    2. I hear you, Kathy. It is most difficult to get reliable information! The thing about a Tokyo quake, though, if you look at the Loma Prieta quake, 100 miles south of SF Bay Area and see the damage it did in East Bay and SF, well, that gives one pause. 7.0 quake. But yes, it does no good to scare oneself to death, and daily life must go on. I try not to live in panic, and mostly I succeed. But I do see this as very troubling. Just watched a Bill Moyers episode with Jill Stein and another activist doc and they spoke about the fuel rod removal and how dangerous it is. Yikes.

      Delete
    3. Loma Prieta was 56 miles south of SF -- but still, you're right that there was serious damage at a considerable distance. (and also, the 9.0 quake that broke the Fukushima reactors and caused the tsunami was 43 miles off the coast of Japan, so there is that.)

      Removing the fuel rods is fraught with danger; leaving them there is unthinkable, though.

      Delete
  6. Also - -Germany is phasing out nuke for wind/solar: http://truth-out.org/news/item/9932-germany-swaps-nuclear-for-solar-and-wind-power

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Tara,
    Thanks for your kind words re my blog/writing. I'm glad to have found your blog!--I appreciate the update re the Fukushima radiation.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This article talks about the good and bad foods and explains in detail why cats are not built to eat dry kibble Buyers Agent

    ReplyDelete

Short But Sweet

I took a very short getaway with my daughter and grandkids.  We flew to our old stomping grounds in Santa Cruz, CA.  It was supposed to be t...