Possibly the easiest free pet food, is to adapt Freegan methods for finding food your pets can eat. Freegans are not adverse to dumpster diving. For your pets, dumpster diving can be a cheap  food source. In the case of pet food those dumpsters you may wish to look in are not dumpsters most Freegans would be looking in. You are looking for food your pets can eat, not food for yourself.

I would try looking in dumpsters or fast food places, smaller restaurants, and convenience stores. After closing is best, because any left over food is usually thrown out as it won’t keep until the business opens the next morning.

At first it may feel a little odd to  be out dumspter diving, but when compared to spending money for pet food that is in short supply will make foraging easier to get used to.

Another possible pet food source are neighbors and friends. Most of us have leftovers in our refrigerator that we really should not be eating any longer, and usually throw into the trash. If your friends or neighbors know that things are tough for you and you would gladly take any food items that would be thrown out to feed your pets, they may be willing to help you by donating.

Any food you find should be cooked or reheated again because you do not want your pets getting sick. Either use an old pan used for nothing else or buy an old pan from a second hand store. I would not recommend you feed your pets on scavenged food alone, as their diet may not be to well balanced. They will need access to their regular food to for a more balanced diet.

If you have discovered any sources where you acquire cheap or free food for your pets, please share. Having to give up a pet that you can no longer afford is akin to putting one of your kids out on the street for some people.

Advertise! Craigslist , grocery stores, your church, or any other place you can put up a request for free food your pets to eat is an option. I am sure many people would be willing to give you a call if  they believe your request is genuine. Also check with your local human society, or city shelters. Here in Albuquerque, they city and possible others have started giving out free pet food.

One last thought, is it is now hunting season in most states. Perhaps someone you know is either going or has gone hunting. Find out where they are getting their butchering done. That may be a good sourse of scraps for you pets. Good luck, be creative, and and happy foraging!

I helped feed our dogs for a couple of years on rough fish. We were fortunate as we had a stream close by that was over run with rough fish. The fish were mostly suckers, and chubs, but there were a lot of them. In the summer months I would go down to the stream every couple of days and fill a bread bag or two with fish.

When I caught enough fish, I took them home and put them in a coffee can or two on the stove. I then added water and brought them to a slow boil. I would boil the mixture until the fish had fallen apart, and all that was left was a fish stew of sorts.

Once the soupy fish stock cooled down enough the dogs had a banquet they would gulp down rather quickly. In the fall and winter, there were small animals that could be hunted that the dogs could eat. Usually animals that were considered pest animals were easy to find. Of course the occasional rabbit may have fallen into the mix.

There were never enough fish or small animals that the dogs could live off of what I provided, but between what I caught or scrounged up, and the scraps and dog food they were given, they did not know things were tough in the house. They may have not been as full as they would have liked, but we managed to keep them through the hard times.

If you are fortunate enough to live near a body of fresh water, odds are that it has an abundance of rough fish. Generally Carp are everywhere, but sometimes there are other rough fish that you can catch an almost unlimited supply of. Of course there is always the possibility that you will catch a fish you would like to eat too.

It is hard to pretend that these are the good times, and I read or hear daily of another family forced to part with their pets. If you have a river or lake close by, and are willing to spend some spare time fishing, you can feed your pets for free, or at least spend less for their food. You do not need to invest a lot of money, and one day of fishing a week may keep your dog or cat in food for a long time, saving you money in the process. Food for thought any way, no pun intended, smile….

Now farther down the road, I know it is the same with relationships. If you go to any blog web listing, say wordpress.com for instance, there is a number of recent blog posts written every few minutes about a relationship that has ended. What confuses me however is I don’t read about how grief stricken some of the hapless bloggers are. I read some of the posts a second or third time and I do not see where they are overwhelmed by the situation.

What I do read is they are stricken over the effect someone leaving is having on them. They are overwhelmed that someone could not be in love with them. They are grief stricken that the relationship is over. They can not fathom the idea that someone could possibly want to be somewhere else than with them.

I could be wrong in my thinking here, but by the time they get to this point in their lives it should be clear that the world does not revolve around them. It should be apparent that the other person had a life before them, and they will are going out to find their life again with someone who thinks about life the same way they do. I have met a few people that are really heartbroken, and have been for years that someone they loved with all their being left them, but that is not what I read in most blogs.

They are not crying about the relationship, or what happened in it. They are generally sad for themselves, and how this effects them. For those of you who have solid relationships you understand what I am getting at. A good relationship is not all about you, a good relationship is all about direction.

If someone enters a relationship for themselves, they better find someone with no self worth who thinks they only exist to make someone else happy. For any relationship to work, there must be a few things going in the same direction.

First you have to forget about looks. They are a relationship built on sand. Looks only last a short time, and then most people start to forget that they were first drawn in over looks, and start looking for something more in the relationship. If you are the jealous type, you better look for a homely person…

Secondly, it is important to share the same thoughts on the most important things in your life. If you can not find agreement on those things most important to you, you are heading for a breakup. Write down the four or five most important things in your life and find out if they feel the same way before you get serious.

Find out how you both feel about time away from each other and what you expect from each other as boundaries. For example if you are the quiet type, and they like to be with many people, one of you is going to be hurt. Remember too, what you see is what you get, people do not change because you want them too.

I am by no means an expert, but these things will help. If you enter any shallow based relationship , do not expect it to last. When it does end, do not be surprised, and remember, it is not all about you. They invested part of their life too. If you feel like crying over the relationship, think about what you are crying over. Usually you will find it is all about how you feel. When that happens be happy, you are one of the lucky ones in it is over quickly.

The distinction is pretty large. I read on Yahoo (I think), that among preteens in America, kids think other kids are poor if they do not have a cell phone! Come on, what does a ten year old child need with their own cell phone? And who is putting these thoughts into children’s heads to start with?

The great divide when I was a preteen was color television. After that it moved to cable television, then play stations, computers, and until recently ipods. Now it appears to be cell phones that determine a child’s self worth? Does anyone else see something missing in this picture?

In the American ghettos not to long ago people started showing their underwear off as their pants hung down below their underwear. Much of America thought it was disgusting. I thought it was very clever. The first people to do this, I am sure had their underwear showing for a couple of reasons. First they were wearing pants that belong to an older brother, or maybe father. Secondly, they had achieved a new level of success in their neighborhood. They actually had money to buy underwear with! Talk about social climbing for a few dollars. Young women are spending how much on thongs these days? Back to reality…

Since when did a thing or a couple of things determine a child’s, and more likely some adults self worth? Do parents from poor families show up at their case workers office, and complain that their child can not feel equal because they do not have a cell phone to flash in front of their friends? Do they feel as inadequate because many poor kids in America can not read or write at their grade level? Are the more important problems of poverty left unsaid because it would cost more to fix than buying a kid a cell phone to use?

I have a couple of cats. I imagine these cats cost between forty and fifty dollars a month to keep alive and to feed. I find it so sad that I need to spend the amount for the care and feeding of two or more of the poorest children somewhere on earth for a month, on two cats. Some days it shames me when I am standing in line waiting to buy a plastic bucket of ground, treated clay for sixteen or more dollars, just so two cats have a place to crap.

Those cats aren’t even the status symbols of animals. You have to be up in the very large dog breeds, or own horses to have your pets be status symbols. Which reminds me, there is a very prominent property here in town where they keep horses. There horses are kept in a five thousand foot air conditioned temperature controlled stable. Maybe cell phones are required gear for kids after all, and I am a lot closer to poor than I realize.

I had turtles when I was very young. I only remember because I did not know how to take care of them when it was time for them to hibernate, they started to stink instead of sleep like I was told they would do. While I never learned how to create a place for turtles to hibernate, I did have a quick lesson in death.

Next it was Guppies I had in a glass one gallon aquarium. I was given some weeds to put in so the guppies had some place to hide. They hid so well, when my Mom decided to clean the aquarium we counted over ninety guppies in various stages of growth. Deciding there was too much weed, the population was quickly reduced by guppy cannibalism. I learned about predatory behavior from Guppies.

We also had dogs over the years. One was a Spaniel/Labrador mix who had been hit by a car as a pup. His stomach muscles were hurt, and his belly was very low to the ground. One of the neighbors accused him of jumping a six foot fence and breeding with their Chihuahua. I was too young to understand about sex, but I did learn that sometimes people tried to pass off stories that were not completely true. That poor dog could barely climb stairs without dragging his belly let alone jump.

A few years later another dog who had made into his late twenties was dying in a painful way. My Mom and Dad talked it over, and decided the best thing to do was put him down. Put him down meant a bullet in the head in those days. My Mom took out the vacuum cleaner, and furiously started vacuuming an already clean floor as my father went outside with the dog, and did what had to be done. He was gone a while, but when he came in my Mom and I knew the dog was asleep, never to waken again. I learned about sorrow, and loss from that dog.

Next was a horse my folks had bought me. He was a Tennessee Walker colt. I could not ride him as he was too young, so he roamed the pasture with my sisters horse. One week we had some friends horses in our pasture, along with our own, and they were close to fighting. It was cold outside, so I dressed in a jacket with a hood and went out into the pasture among the horses. My horse picked me up by the hood of my coat and shook me all the way to the fence, and then threw me over the fence. I did not know it at the time, but I was given a harsh lesson in love by animals for their human family members. I do remember crying for about thirty minutes though….

Some years later the Spaniel/Labrador was at the end of his life. He was arthritic, and moving even slightly was very painful for him He could no longer walk, and did not care to eat or drink water. A family discussion was held, and it was decided that I would be the one to put him down. I had to carry him from the basement to the appointed place. I remember how hard it was to see where I was walking, stumbling at times. I said what I could manage to get out, and pulled the trigger. As much as it hurt, I knew what I did had to be done for his benefit. I learned about life, and love that day – and the pain of loss.

Many more animals came and left over the years, all of them leaving me with those special lessons that only a pet can give. I am grateful for all of them, and hope there are many more pets waiting for their turn in my life.