#like just because a wild rabbit freezes when you pet it doesn’t mean it wants you touching it lol

[gremlingottoosilly]

Horsin' around (Centaurus!Konig x fem!Reader)

Konig is exiled from his people. You are exiled from yours. Together, you make about 6 legs and a perfect pair. Tags and CW: Size kink (duh), Centaurus!Konig(horse cocks), Konig is awkward, slight dub-con, power imbalance, belly bulge, praise kink, monster fucking. Thanks @kneelingshadowsalome for the prompt! AO3| Word count: 3016

Centaurus are not wild animals. You keep repeating it to yourself as you come deeper and deeper into the forest. You keep mumbling it to yourself as you feel the eyes watching you. judging you. Centaurus are not wild animals even if sometimes they behave like one. Not like you’re any different, any better – you’re a human, invading the sacred forests. You’re a human who is dumb enough to go foraging into the depths of their territory. Centaurus are not wild animals, but you don’t feel that repeating the same sentence over and over makes it sound any more convincing. You feel the danger in the air – with each step you take, with each fallen tree you’re stepping over. With every attempt to simply run ending up not working, you know you got lost. Long abandoned the basket you came with – you don’t recognize a single berry that grows here, not a mushroom or even some edible plant pieces to be found. This place is devoid of animals, of flowers – like something just snatched it all away. Ate it all, maybe. You don’t want to think what kind of creature could cause a migration like this. You don’t need to think though. Because the creature finds you first. 

You yelp in a mix of surprise and horror when the arrow flies right in front of you, the skill of the archer is high enough to make the arrow cut down a few bits of hair in front of your eyes. If you were a mere millimeter closer, you’d be dead. If he wanted you dead, you’d be dead. This much is obvious. You freeze in place, not daring to move an inch when you hear it. Loud, not even bothering to conceal the sound of it – the creature was confident enough that the prey wouldn’t run. Not the creature, you correct yourself immediately. Centaurs are not animals, they are closer to humans than a lot of other monster types – with their strength and warrior culture, you’d say that they are even more humans than citizens of the village who forced you out. 

The centaur doesn’t even bother to hide himself from you, concealing the sounds of heavy hooves on the ground or evading the branches that crunched against his body. This is exactly what made you surprised when you understood that instead of a rough, but mostly handsome face that most centaurus tend to have, you’re met with a black hood which only spared two holes for the icy-blue eyes staring back at you. 

Is he a grim reaper? An executioner for other centaurus? Would that mean you don’t have to worry unless your lower part resembles a horse? 

You take a quick look at your bottom half. Not a horse. 

Centaur reapers the gesture, looking at his bottom half too. Definitely a horse. 

You decide to speak first, hoping to find words that would work just fine to be your last. 

— I am really sorry for intru…

— This is not the sacrifice season yet. 

Ah, well. 

The people from your village believe the centaurs to be sacred – despite them being monsters they knew a lot about, they were still given sacrifices. Food, some farm animals, especially fatty pieces of meat, and fancy jewels along with some weapons. Centaurus kept the worst predators at bay, herding the wolves to be their pets and sometimes driving deer and rabbits away to the village. They kept you protected from werewolves and orcs – with a meager payment of never touching the sacred grounds. 

You just stepped into the deepest, most protected part of the forest. You wonder if you would deserve a peaceful death. 

— It’s not. I…I made a mistake. 

No, you wanted to be here. When the village decided to drive you out, you thought that foraging in the part of the forest, untouched by humans, would be the most profitable thing. Centaurus won’t take berries anyway, right? But they might just take your life. 

— A mistake? 

He tilts his hooded head to the side. It’s such a boyish expression, that you almost let go of a nervous giggle. Perhaps, you were going crazy…but the centaur seemed a bit nervous. As seasoned as he looked – with battle scars covering his body and a bit of silver mixed with his ginger fur on the horse part – he seemed almost awkward standing here. Tapping one of his hooved legs like a nervous child. Squeezing the bow in his hands with vigor that made you scared he will just snap it in half. 

— I just wanted to take some food. 

— Is there a hunger? 

— No. 

— Humans aren’t allowed in these parts. Why would you go if not out of despair? 

You gulp. 

— I…am not allowed back. 

— Why? 

Because you’re a forest witch who will doom them all, according to the village of a horse people worshippers. Because you’re a monster in disguise who keeps straling babies, according to the village that uses the best pieces of food to feed the horse people who can take of themselves just fine, instead of feeding it to the orphaned children. Because you’re a whore who refuses to accept the new type of sacrifices – the virgins of the village as a breeding material for the Centaurus, according to the village filled with people who would gladly push a poor virgin out in the forest once she turned of age, so she could be mauled by horse people. 

— We had…mutual disagreement. 

You stare at the mighty body of the centaur. You fight the urge to get your hands down his torso, play with its short hairs, and…you were always a bit of a horse girl. Wondering if he is strong enough to lift you up and get you somewhere safe, somewhere far far away from here. 

Centaur has this weird, almost boyish tone. Deep and yet, sounds just a bit deranged. Unhinged. Like he is going to maul you any second – and judging by the bow and arrow still in his hands, he might not be wrong. You lick your lips. He stares at them – or at least you think he is. Hood only reveals his eyes and you can already get lost in them. Cold, like the northern sea, Like the snow outside. You thought all mythical creatures were supposed to be warm-blooded. 

— You’re exiled then. 

He isn’t asking. Centaurus are omnipotent and wise, they should know about human affairs more than humans themselves. You made them into sort of gods – you shouldn’t be surprised that this guy knows way more than he should. Somehow, you still feel safer around him than other humans – and maybe, it’s more of a you problem. Maybe, you ended up eating some of the weird berries and it’s just your hallucinations before you die. 

— I am. 

He takes a step back. He is big – all of them are, you suppose, but, somehow, he is bigger than he should be. Giant, muscular torso on top of an already muscular and big horse part – he can pick you up, throw you, and break you with one finger, probably. No, definitely. You don’t want to give him a reason to, so you just stay in place. Hoping he wouldn’t deem your trespassing as a matter worthy of a torturous death. 

— My name is König, human. Repeat, ja? 

The name feels weird on your tongue. Rude, sharp. You don’t want to call him wrong and receive his wrath, so you try your best to repeat this. 

— Ko-nig. Ja? 

You tilt your head to the side, a curious little bird. Centaur – König, König, König – squints his eyes like he is smiling. You made the god smile. The horse god. The horseman. Just…man. If you don’t look down, where you already see something giant and heavy standing between his horse legs, you could forget that he isn’t a man at all. 

Suddenly, you feel light. Suddenly, you feel your legs dangling in the air as you were picked up and bumped into the broad chest. Suddenly, you feel hands everywhere. On your ass, under it, touching your chest, your stomach, trying to get to the best position so you would stop moving constantly and trying to get out. You don’t want to fight him because you’re already in the air and falling right now could result in a broken neck – but you don’t want to be suspended in the air either. You whimper, pathetic sound escaping your lips as you feel calloused hands pressing on your mound. Traveling down your stomach and touching, squeezing, petting your delicate parts. 

You spend so much time without a gentle hand or a soft touch, you can feel yourself dripping on the fingers of a centaur. Embarrassing, yes – but you know that if he were to proceed, you wouldn’t really resist. 

And oh, he proceeds. 

— They finally send us proper sacrifices. 

He mumbles it into your hair, taking in your smell. You’re nice for a human – not scared of him too much, not trying to ran away or fight. Humans are usually just annoying insects under his hooves, but König can feel your face growing on him. Your body, too. Too weird for other Centaurus, never being able to find a proper mate who could take his lack of social awareness, he found himself mounting a human. His tribe would call him pathetic. His tribe would laugh. 

Then again, he is the first to get such a delicate little gift. Who is laughing now? 

You aren’t crying in his hands, and he is a bit surprised. You smell like a proper mate, like a good bitch in heat just for him – yet, you’re not falling on your knees to present your dripping cunt. You’re just trying to whimper to ask him to be gentler, and he is happy to oblige. Calm enough to listen to you. Ripping your pants apart because this is such a useless piece of clothing – concealing your rich smell from him. 

König doesn’t waste any time when he dips his finger across your swollen folds. Playing with the slick running down his wrist, smiling as you are closing your eyes and pressing your head in his chest. He is strong enough to keep you suspended in the air without a care in the world. Weak human, he would have to spend so much time preparing you for him – taking his cock would be a task no sacrifice ever competed before. 

König stares at your dripping pussy that is already clenching around nothing just because his fingers are pressing on the hood of your little clit, and he knows you’d be the perfect wife for him. Taking him properly as his mate, moaning as his cum fills you up. he can’t wait – knows that he should, preparing you properly. His hooves are beating the ground in impatience as his fingers slide in and out of your pussy. You spread your legs, moaning louder. Such a filthy whore for him. 

— Relax, human. Be a good mate. 

— This isn’t what I wa…

— Quiet. Such a good…good girl, Schatz. Will bring me strong children. 

— We can’t have sex. It’s im…impossible.

You whimper, trying to squeeze your legs, to shut his hand. You only moan louder, knowing that you would accept everything he gives you, and ask for more. 

You don’t want to imagine his cock entering you over and over, forcing its way past your walls and making you round and soft with his children. It’s a foreign concept – centaurus shouldn’t mate with humans, it should be physically impossible. Yet, you almost want to try. A breeding mare, made for one and only. 

König gets you on…something. It isn’t exactly a natural thing – a pile of stones and trees, perfect height for you to lay your back on, with some soft leaves and animal skins to rest comfortably. His hands support you on the perfect height and you immediately know what he construction is. A mating stand. Probably for other centaurus – but you feel almost fine laying on it too. Almost normal. Your muscles sting as you try to rest your legs and then spread them wide enough for König to stay between them. He is a big guy, after all. He turns you around, on your tummy. Ass in the air, you don’t like not seeing him. The heavy musk fills your nostrils, making you suddenly aware of what is about to happen – you’re wet, spread enough on his fingers, calloused fingertips scrubbing your gummy walls from the inside. He is fingering you with ease, but it doesn’t feel like a man with experience – he is touching and probing like he doesn’t know what he is doing and, honestly, you kinda like it. He is exploring your body with his and you moan, not caring that you sound like a whore. Humans have already abandoned you as part of society – you might as well just take it. — I will prepare you. 

— It won’t fit… — It will, Schatzen. You’ll get used to it. — What if I break? 

— I will be careful. Trust me, ja?

Even his fingers are a bit much when he enters your body with a third digit. One, two, three – you are about to burst when he is massaging your G-spot, when he is smiling in your hair and gets you so aroused just on it alone. You’re about to cum when he slowly extracts his fingers, deeming your sloppy cunt as explored enough. Your walls are clenching around nothing, a beautiful display of desire – maybe, it was the right call that humanity abandoned you. König looks at the perfect centraius whore on display and he can’t wait to claim you. To make you his. 

He is exiled from other centaurus. 

You are exiled from humans. 

What a beautiful fucking pair. 

He enters your body slowly deliberately. Regrets it immediately – you are wonderful. Too perfect to be this slow, being soft with you is torture. Your walls accept him with a stretch, like a warm glove around his cock. Slowly shifting, softening, straddling his cock with each inch he buries in the depth of your warm, weeping cunt. He can’t touch you, as unfortunate as this is – dumb horse body is making it impossible, even looking at you is hard enough on his neck. He wants to mount you properly, but you’re simply too fucking small. Wants to touch your hair, to whisper some encouragement that human women would probably love to hear – but he can only breath heavily and enter you, one painful centimeter after the other. 

— T…too much, too much, please, I can’t, it’s… You whimper, you cry, it breaks his damned heart because you don’t deserve this. You need to be treated with care, with softness and yet, he can’t give you that. He wants so much to just put you in his arms and hug you, but that would be impossible. König will give you all the coddling in the world after you’re done. After he is sure that you received all the possible breeding and seed he could gave you. 

— Quiet, human. It would be nice soon. 

— It’s not…

— Touch yourself, please, bitte. I can’t…can’t touch you. But you will feel better. 

Your hand goes between your legs, playing with yourself. Spreading your folds around his cock even more, fingers sliding past your clit. Touching the little button and hoping it would be enough to make you aroused – and it is. Your cunt is a mess of your own juices mixed with König’s pre cum, and you already know that you won’t be walking the next couple days. 

König bottoms with a deep sigh, and you feel him in your stomach. Bulging with his giant cockhead, making the outline of his cock visible – you touch it with shock, not understanding how your organs are even in place. 

He starts moving and you finally feel it – the burning pleasure setting fire in the pit of your stomach. the excess liquid pouring from your damp cunt, moans spreading from your lips. You never felt this way with a human before – then again, no human cock would ever be able to compete with König. He can reach the parts of your body that you never knew existed, and the mix of pheromones and musk is making you dizzy. Light-headed. You don’t even need to touch yourself more to feel the height of your orgasm, building in as rapidly as König’s thrusts. 

In, forcing its way to hit your cervix gently, massaging the sore spots of your tight pussy. 

Out, grazing over your inner walls, touching all the buttons. 

In again, filling you up with his pre-cum. Moaning loud enough for the whole forest to hear. 

Out, dragging you back with him, as you’re still impaled on his cock. 

— S…so perfect for me. Scheisse, so pretty… He can’t touch you and it breaks his heart. König goes to praise you instead – words feel awkward on his tongue, but he knows you need to heart it. He wants you to hear it, wants you to fee wanted, entitled. Soft. He smiles when you whimper and moan, milking him for his orgasm. Your cunt is made for him and he wants to spend every waking moment buried inside of it. Gods, you are a perfect sacrifice. 

He is coming embarrassingly fast, pumping his giant cock even deeper into your pussy. Filling you up with hot cum that can’t even stay inside of your cunt. Leaking everywhere, you two are making a mess – you breath heavily, not understanding what is right and wrong anymore. Only knowing, remembering the shape of his cock. Pushing in and out, forcing its way in. God, you feel full. And ridiculous. And so, so perfect with his cock slowly starting to pump you again. And again. Konig came embarrassingly fast, but only because this is just the first orgasm in a row. Forcing its way inside, you are overstimulated already – but you will take him, of course, obviously. You have to.

König is going to enjoy breeding a new clan out of you. 

#cod #konig x reader #konig #yandere konig #cod x reader #monster!konig #yandere cod #tw: monster fucking #call of duty #konig cod #konig x you #cod konig #konig mw2 #konig smut #centaur #monster fucker #monster #monster x reader #monster x you #yandere male #yandere imagines #yandere #male yandere

[great-and-small]

This post is a reminder to all intergalactic citizens but especially those within the fixed universe to please be extremely critical of any “cute” videos that involve humans (bipedal hominid organisms from Earth, Milky Way, Laniakea)

I have noticed a significant uptick in viral content containing this species (probably thanks to Xarqrets Kain’s recent “Universe’s Cutest Aliens: Sol” series 🙄) and I am very concerned with how humans are treated to produce such content. We all love seeing cute human videos, so let’s break down how we can ensure the content we’re consuming is ethical!

Red Flag Human videos to watch out for:

ANY video featuring a human on a planet other than their native home of Earth.

These videos are particularly concerning considering the increasingly pervasive (and highly illegal) human pet trade. Humans are a remarkably adaptable species, but even those who appear well-adjusted to life on another planet are in great danger. Exposure to novel pathogens in humans are not well-studied and any human placed in a new environment could be at risk of death or corruption. These creatures are also highly gregarious and removal from their established social group on Earth can be detrimental to health and well-being. Responsible scientists will only remove humans from their planet as a last resort.

Be cautious of videos that show humans inside their homes

Access inside human domiciles is highly restricted to legitimate research studies only, and bootleg streams from illegally placed monitoring systems are highly unethical. If you are curious about how humans behave in their homes, please seek out streams from accredited research organizations that have collected footage by methods undetectable to humans!

Beware of content that shows captive humans engaged in dangerous situations

 Humans are illegal to own for many reasons, but one of the most crucial is that this species has a dangerous tendency to get into things they should not. Humans are pathologically curious, and captive humans (especially bored ones) WILL find the most dangerous place in their environment to “explore”. I recently saw a video circulating of someone’s pet human approaching a field of Termakhan, solely because it wanted to get a better look at them. I shouldn’t have to tell you how dangerous that situation was.

This one should really be a no-brainer by now but please do NOT share videos where humans are curled into a ball on the ground or producing excessively intense acoustic waves. These are signs of extreme distress in humans!!

 The unfortunate reality of most encounters with humans (by non-trained individuals) is that they are highly frightening to the humans involved. That “adorable” video of a human vibrating the air molecules around it to an extraordinary degree when touched is actually an example of a behavior that is now well documented as an extreme stress response called “screaming”. Just because humans display fear in a way we don’t immediately recognize does not mean they’re not distressed by contact with us.

There is plenty of safe and ethical human content you can find if you look, and there is really no reason to support videos that put this amazing species at risk! Instead, seek out videos of adorable humans exhibiting normal behavior in their natural habitat on their planet- walking along coastlines, interacting with other species’ on their planet, playing with their young (so cute!), sharing meals with one another, and so on. Do your part to limit the human pet trade and avoid media that endangers or distresses these creatures just to make a “cute” video!

#this is so silly #but I kind of am making a real point #like just because a wild rabbit freezes when you pet it doesn’t mean it wants you touching it lol #long post #speculative biology #science fiction #silly #biology #humans #is the human video cute #credit to fantasy name generator for the names! #funny #wildlife #dark comedy #I suppose #unreality

[tommyspeakycap]

Can we get baby little Shelby find a bunny and ask Tommy and John to take it home. And get scolded by Polly when they at home? 💕💕

more pre war Tommy fluff ;) 

Bunny

“Tommy!”

The dark haired man’s heart flies into his throat, his mind immediately kicking into gear as he drops the coin he was about to flip. He was deciding whether or not to buy a horse with a new inflow of cash they had recently gotten. That horse is lost the second he hears the shriek that came from somewhere behind him. The heavy boots on his feet make easy work of crushing through powdery snow, but give a very little to prevent him from tripping and slipping; although the fear coursing through him and his extreme haste may well have contributed to his somewhat uncoordinated limbs.

In the maybe a minute that it takes form Tommy to get from where he was to where he had traced his little sister to, a million and one thoughts race through his mind. He fears every worst case scenario his mind can conjure up and immediately blames himself for bringing you out to the country to play in some fresh snow with John and Finn. The air was much clearer out here and so too was Tommy’s mind. He could think, be free of the city smoke and the harsh environment that appears to be tacked to his work in the family business. There was so much pressure on the raven haired bookmaker to uphold his own personal morals while also living a notoriously immoral life. He tried to keep his hands clean, prevent himself from muddying the line between pointless violence and the necessary survival and protection of his family.

So going with his 5 year old little sister out to the county was something not uncommon for him. And the snow had only given him more reason to. He regretted that now.

“What-” Tommy wheezed out, unable to speak for lack of his breath after attempting to run through the deep, deep snow. “What’s happened,” he coughs, “Are you alri-“

“Tommy!” The little girl whispers harshly, waving her hands at him disapprovingly, “Shhhhh, you’ll scare it away!” Tommy snaps his mouth shut, instead opting to take the five year olds outstretched hand and crouch down as she instructs him. On her other side is John; crouched down with one arm around Finn to keep him still. “What are we looking at?” Tommy asks quietly, his neck craned to try and spot whatever his other siblings had noticed. 

“It’s a bunny, Tom. Look.” (y/n) points with her little hand and Tommy follows the general direction in which her hand is showing him. In doing so, he squints and finds his gaze falling upon a small white rabbit sitting picking a blade of grass that it had pulled through the snow. “They want to take it home.” John states, grinning at Tommy something like a Cheshire Cat because he knows for a fact that man isn't able to say no to the puppy dogs eyes of (y/n) and Finn Shelby when they truly wanted something.

“Hm, I don't think so.” He mumbles, trying to keep his eyes off of the disappointed face of his younger siblings. “You know Aunt Polly’ll go mad.” The second he does turn his head to see his youngest siblings gazing up at him in the desperate way he knows always works, he regrets it. “Please Tommy, pleeeease?” (y/n) begs, clasping her cold little hands together and pulling her most convincing puppy eyes Tommy might've ever seen. “Yeah Tommy, please? Pretty pretty please?” Finn joins in, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement and anticipation at the idea of having the little bunny as a pet. 

“Yeah Tom,” John sniggers, stubbing out his cigarette on the snowy ground. The elder brother puts on a pout to mimic (y/n) and Finn, not serving to make things any easier for Tommy as the youngest two weren't able to pick up on John’s teasing nature and sarcastic reiteration of their words. They took it as encouragement while Tommy knew John would be going home to Martha and his own kids, thus wouldn't have to be on the reviewing end of Polly’s temper. Tommy rolls his eyes and inhales deeply, thinking briefly about how angry Polly would be compared to how much it would make you and Finn giggle to have a pet even if only for a while before Tommy would free it back into the wild and tell some lie about a magic bunny farm. The kids chanting brought his mind back. “Please, please, please!” 

“Alright,” Tommy cuts them off, “Alright. But we’re not chasing it around all afternoon.”

--

How on earth Tommy ended up holding his little sister as he stood in the doorway of the Shelby family home kicking the snow off his boots while said little sister had his big trench coat wrapped around her and her smaller jacket used as a blanket for their new bunny rabbit friend, he will never know. He genuinely felt like if he had been outside for one more minute he would have actually frozen stiff, however it was always his top priority that his littlest sibling was as safe as she could be; so it was suffice to say the idea of her getting frostbite and slash or hypothermia after she insisted on wrapping the little rabbit in her own coat was less than appealing to Tommy, so she could keep his warm winter jacket as long as she desired.

“Right Finn, straight into the living room and not a peep to Pol alright?” Finn nods vigorously in a show of his determination to follow his brothers order as he places the wrapped up bunny into the young boys arms. Finn tries to run as unsuspiciously as he can past Polly in the kitchen to go through to the living room where only Ada sat, reading a book by the fire underneath a blanket. 

“Tommy?” The little girls voice draws an “Mhm?” from him as he battles to get her stiff winter boots off of her tiny cold feet. “What're we going to name him?” She enquires, her voice as inquisitive as any other curious 5 year old is. Tommy hums in thought, tapping (y/n)’s other foot in the way that he does that tells her to put her foot down and lift the other one for Tommy to pull that boot off too. There was a distinct routine between the two that had been established in the last five years of her life with Tommy acting as her primary caregiver.

“I don't know, love. Whatever you want to call him. Just remember to stay quiet about it yeah?” He looks up to see his little sister nodding firmly, placing her finger over her lips just as Tommy had done so many times when secrecy or silence was needed. 

“Alrighty then.” Tommy says, lifting both the pairs of boots easily in one hand and putting them by the other shoes. He moves his hands to under the small girls armpits and hoists her gently back up onto his hip as to avoid her stepping small puddles of water that had collected from the snow on her boots and his by the door. “Shall we go see what your brothers gotten up to with that-” 

“Jesus fucking Christ Tommy.” 

Both siblings turn their heads quickly to face Polly when they hear her speaking with her stern scolding tone turned on. Polly immediately notes how Tommy looks slightly secretive, like he was ready to start either lying or making some form excuse for something for which her niece looked rather guilty. Deer in the headlights kind of expression. “Look, Pol...” Tommy begins, but is interrupted by his aunt firmly shaking her head and marching towards him. 

“I’ve told you a million times Thomas. She’s five. That means you do still need to put her bloody hat on when you take her out in the cold but you don’t need to fucking carry her everywhere.” She huffs, pressing both her palms against (y/n)’s cold rosy cheeks, “Shes bloody freezing.” Her scolding tone never fails to make Tommy feels as though he’s still a young boy who’s been caught misbehaving by his aunt. However now he’s an adult with responsibility for his little sister and somehow, he ends up on the receiving end of that tone far more than the littlest member of the family ever will. Polly peels Tommy’s coat away off the little girl in his arms so she could hang it up to hopefully dry some before he next needs it and (y/n) doesn't mind not wearing her brothers jacket anymore, however the words that Polly speaks about putting her back down only serves to make her cling a little tighter subconsciously. 

“She's only little, Pol.” Tommy defends, “And we had long day, haven’t we sweetheart?” Polly wants to scoff when (y/n) nods her head and offers up that angel smile that wins the hearts of her entire family, but the woman can’t help but smile back and shake her head. “Well,” she huffs slightly, her hand reaching back up to the little girl to to brush the snow off (y/n)’s hair, “I think the very least your brother could do if he was going to have you out in the freezing cold all day would be to put a bloody hat on you.” 

The little girl giggles, flicking her eyes to Tommy to inspect his reaction to their aunts words. 

“Remembered.” He notes flippantly with a grin and Polly knows fully well that it was not remembered because putting a hat on top of that little girls soft locks of hair was something he had never once remembered to do without a reminder since she was merely a little bald baby. 

“Course.” She responds teasingly, “Dinner’s out soon.”

Tommy nods his head before Polly walks away in the direction of the kitchen again, where Tommy had no doubt Arthur is now lingering to pick off the scraps of dinner before its put out on the table for everyone else. 

“That was a close one, Tom.” The little girl on his hip whispers quietly, her wide eyes causing Tommy to chuckle heartily as he takes them both through to the living room to see what Finn and now likely Ada were doing with this rabbit. “Yes,” Tommy agrees, walking into the living room “It very much was. Hello Ada.” Ada immediately rolls her eyes at the sound of Tommy’s voice. 

“Pol’s going to kill you, you know.” She states, standing and crossing her arms firmly over her chest as Tommy sets his youngest sister down on the floor to run over to where Finn sat with the bunny close to the heat the fire was giving off. “Probably.” Tommy nods.

Ada turns away to wrap her blanket around her only sister, the one she had wished and prayed for since she had been merely a little girl herself. Tommy vividly remembers the many occasions when Ada was not only his youngest sibling, but also his only sister and recalls how unhappy she had been about those facts. Finn being born eased only one of those issues, but Ada rested a while for the time that Finn was a baby before again pestering their mother about wanting a little sister again. 

She had been ecstatic when (y/n) was born, and she had been besotted with that sweet little girl ever since. 

“You always forget to put her hat on, Thomas.” Ada chastises, the reprimand drawing a chuckle from her brother who takes a seat down on the couch and crosses one leg on top of the other. “So I’ve heard.” Tommy mumbles under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear and stretch out her leg to kick his when she too sat back down on the couch.

“Twat.” She hisses. 

It was Tommy’s turn to role his eyes at his sisters flippant comment, paying no mind to her words thrown in a light tease that he knew she only ever half meant.

“That’s not very nice, Ada.” 

(y/n) doesn't do so much as turn around when she chides those words in dismay to Ada’s insult aimed at her Tom. There was no hiding how the little girl adored Tommy. “Exactly Ada,” Tommy grins widely, giving Ada the biggest shit eating look he can muster as he tried not to laugh, “And that’s why you're my favourite, aren't you my love?” The 5 year old simply nods her head in response to her brothers words before turning straight back to play with her new pet. 

“Well, she might be your favourite but you certainly won’t be Polly’s once she sees you’ve brought that home. She’ll go mad.” Ada nods her head in the direction of the fluffy white animal in their living room. Tommy shrugs his shoulders indifferently, “They're happy though, aren't they? and quiet. Worth it really.” 

Ada knew very well that Tommy was right, although it was likely that she wouldn't even think to much on that in his vicinity, just incase he even got the sensation that she was thinking he was in the right. They’ve got a big family and a lot of hard work had to go into making business run smoothly to provide for everyone. The younger kids can sometimes go amiss to the elder siblings on particularly busy days. Sometimes playing and talking to them gets overlooked or their clothes go on back to front because everyone forgot they sometimes still needed help with things like that. 

So giving them the simple pleasure of almost a normal childhood - not one living with the Shelby name and subsequently the future of the Peaky Blinders tacked to them - by letting them a pet that they can look after and love on for a few days at least was something Tommy was willing to grin and bare the wrath of Polly Gray for. 

He was a sucker for that little girl, so when she’s happy there are few things in the world Thomas Shelby wouldn't endure to keep it that way. 

#tommy shelby x sister reader #tommy shelby x sister!reader #shelby!reader #shelby sister reader #baby shelby #peaky blinders #peaky blinders blurb

[ma-sulevin]

Chapter two is here! I did say it’s a slow burn, right?

Pairing: Sharky Boshaw/Female Deputy Rating: E, but mostly for swearing Warnings: Canon-typical violence, but nothing particularly explicit I don’t think Word Count: 4717, chapter two of twelve

Read it on AO3 instead and say nice things.

---

She hasn’t spent any significant time in the Whitetails since moving to Hope County. The area is -- was -- mostly controlled by a handful of park rangers with the deputies only called in for the occasional problem too big for the rangers to handle, and Mattie hadn’t had enough time off to make camping in the mountains worth it.

It is beautiful, though. If she hadn’t been walking through the woods on the side of the road in someone else’s shoes, she’d be happy to be up here, maybe looking forward to a three-day weekend to relax after a hard few weeks at work.

Now she’s had a hard week and no rest in sight. She’s had the hardest week and no rest in sight, the evening she spent passed out in the abandoned trailer notwithstanding.

She and Boomer fall back into their habits from Holland Valley, sneaking through the trees that line the road and hiding from pickups carrying a handful of peggies to whatever peggie business they have to get up to, mostly staying out of trouble even after stealing another little car that had been left abandoned on the side of the winding mountain road.

When hunger makes itself known and jerky and old granola bars won’t cut it, she stops at the dock to poke around. She finds a fishing pole, like she hoped she would, and spends a couple hours fishing from the end of the pier with Boomer sleeping at her feet. It’s almost peaceful, if she ignores the occasional helicopter flying overhead and the occasional fast pop pop pop of automatic gunfire from deeper in the mountains.

She catches two salmon and cooks them over a fire, eating one and giving the second to Boomer when she can’t finish it. She curls up inside the boathouse and falls asleep to the gentle lapping of the water and Boomer’s heat against her back.

When she wakes with a pain low in her belly, she’s afraid for half a second she’s given herself food poisoning until she remembers how long it’s been since the last time she woke up with pain low in her belly (29 days, maybe 28, the dying has made it a little confusing) and then she’s sneaking to the closest gas station to see if she can loot any Tampax, guilt at taking from dead shop owners long forgotten.

Dutch passes along a mayday from the FANG Center while she’s drinking a warm Gatorade and waiting for her stolen Advil to kick in, a message from a man she hasn’t met because she never bothered to go see the local attraction, and she heads that way as directly as she dares. Boomer seems excited by the direction they’re going, sniffing the ground with his tail going fast enough to blur as soon as she abandons the car.

Boomer hears it first, head tilting first to one side then the other in adorable canine confusion. After careful consideration, he takes off at speed, leaving Mattie to just curse and follow him, pistol in hand, head low.

She recognizes Staci’s voice before she recognizes his words, and she freezes in place even though none of the peggies are looking even in her general direction, cold horror slithering up her spine and lodging deep, deep in her brain.

“I never wanted any of this to happen. I was brought here under false pre-- pretenses and fed lies about Joseph Seed and his family.”

He stumbles over his words. She’s never, ever heard him sound like that. She’s heard him slurring his words, drunk out of his mind; she’s heard him crying, mourning the loss of a lover; she’s heard him happy and tired and cocky and being a general little shit.

She’s never, ever heard him sound so… broken.

“Oh, Staci.”

She kills every peggie in the FANG Center without a moment of hesitation, without a moment of guilt. She punches a white wolf in the face when it bites her weapon hand, then shoots it between the eyes.

She doesn’t feel bad about that either.

She doesn’t die once.

---

Boomer and Cheeseburger get along better than she was expecting. They took a minute to sniff each other once the last of Jacob’s men died under their combined efforts, then Boomer licked the bear’s face and they took off running together.

She accepts having a bear as a companion (she can’t think of Cheeseburger as a pet, despite the collar and the way he asks for belly rubs) easier than she would have before Everything Went to Shit, and it’s nice having him around to chase off wild animals and keep her warm as the nights turn cold.

She doesn’t even mind when Dutch radios her again and tells her his niece is in trouble at the lumber mill, just heads over that way as soon as she finishes the rabbit she managed to catch and skin for lunch.

She hasn’t been to the lumber mill either, doesn’t quite judge its location right on her map, and she sees it from the top of a hill to the west. She sits on the rocks and watches through her pilfered binoculars for a while, watching the peggies walking around and listening to some bullshit about culling the herd playing over the speakers.

She’ll have to knock those out first. She’s already tired of his voice.

In the end, she’s happy she has Cheeseburger with her. Almost no one notices her sneaking around to kill the alarms when there’s a fucking bear roaring on the other side of the compound. She only has to snap one guy’s neck and gets two more from farther away with her sniper rifle and then… she’s done, the lumber mill is out of the cult’s hands and she’s able to walk around letting people out of the cages they’d been put in.

People.

In cages .

She doesn’t even feel bad for the lives she took. They fucking deserved it.

She wasn’t expecting to round the corner and run right into Jess Black, wasn’t expecting to find such an angry woman staring back at her, wasn’t expecting to suddenly find herself tongue tied and in the middle of what her college friends had called gay panic, but she did and she is and that’s the only thing she actually feels guilty about, especially when Jess starts explaining about the Cook and delves right into a thinly veiled story about her own life.

Mattie decides not to ask Jess about the scars, just follows her silently through the Whitetails, killing peggies and liberating normal people who should never have been put through what they’ve been put through. She tries not to show it outwardly, but Jess’ description of how human meat smells like pork makes her stomach turn.

She silently resolves never to eat pork again.

She doesn’t feel bad for killing the Cook, not even when Cheeseburger rushes in at the last minute and bites the man’s throat out.

Man? He’s a monster . He’s as much of a monster as Joseph and his siblings.

Jess looks miserable when she says, “I thought I’d feel better. Dutch was right.”

Mattie’s instinct is to reach out a comforting hand, it always has been, even when she was little. Joey and Staci had teased her relentlessly about her need for human contact, how she was always in their personal space, but when she took their words to heart and tried to hold back… they’d complained. They liked it.

Jess doesn’t. She steps away, offers to help fight back against Jacob whenever Mattie needs her, then… she leaves.

As soon as Mattie’s alone, an unfamiliar voice crackles over her radio. 

“There's someone out there pretending to be a soldier. They are killing our brothers and sisters and putting this project in jeopardy . ”

Mattie stares up at the paint on the exposed side of the mountain that says SACRIFICE THE WEAK and makes a face. She wonders if Jacob can see her, if he waited for her to be alone specifically to harass her with his unique brand of Seed bullshit.

“I want this coward to know they have my attention.”

“That’s me,” Mattie mutters, a half smile on her face despite everything. Boomer blinks up at her and lolls is tongue out; she scratches him behind his ear to thank him for laughing at her joke.

“My hunters are coming for you,” Jacob continues, heedless of her interruption. “There's nowhere you can run.”

Her radio clicks as he signs off.

Okay?

She’s still rifling through the pockets of the dead peggies for cash when a sharp pain lances up her leg and she looks down to see a whole-ass arrow sticking out of her thigh. She barely has time to wrap her fingers around the shaft when her vision sparks around the edges and she collapses.

Fuckin’ bliss.

---

She wakes up again tied  to a chair, groggy, nauseated, with pain radiating up from the arrow wound in her leg and the still-healing bite mark on her wrist. Wherever she is absolutely stinks, it smells like piss and sweat, and she’s coughing and gagging before she realizes it.

A cold hand touches her face, briefly, a caress of familiarity that’s gone before she can fully register it. It calms her down though, no threat in it, and she blinks her eyes open to see Staci standing in front of her.

For half a second she thinks he’s untying her, but…

No.

He’s making sure her bonds are secure.

“You shouldn’t have come for me,” he says, and what the fuck does that mean, of course she was going to come for him, was she supposed to let him stay up here by himself? After what she heard at the FANG Center?

His face is bruised and bloody, and part of the smell in the room is coming from him, and she doesn’t really want to cry right now but the residual bliss in her system is making that hard. He looks like he’s been beaten within an inch of his life, and if it wasn’t for the look of absolute sorrow in his eyes, she’d be convinced he fully abandoned the county in favor of the cult.

“You should have run.” He tightens the rope holding her left hand down so much that her fingers start to tingle, blood cut off, and then he looks over her shoulder and scurries away.

The light in the room goes off, something clicks beside her, and there’s a picture of a dead deer on the wall.

Jacob Seed starts in on his bullshit again, about how the world is weak and soft. There are two other people in the room with her, tied to other chairs, staring at the wall as the deer becomes a wolf and Jacob walks into view.

She jerks in her chair like she’ll be able to kill him right now, and… oh, that’s probably why her ropes are so goddamn tight.

Jacob stands in front of the room, looking for all the world like a college professor on the first day of class, and Staci stands on the other side of the screen like the world’s unhappiest TA.

She’s not watching the slides as they click from one photo of wolves to the next (and, okay, fucking slides? A slide projector? Is this the 70s? What the fuck?); instead, she stares at her friend. He stares right back, hands clasped together in front of the belt buckle he was so proud of, shoulders bowed.

She mouths his name. He shakes his head imperceptibly.

Jacob notices anyway and makes his way to her with steady steps, not pausing in his lecture. This is not the first time he’s given this lecture, in this room, in front of this slideshow.

He leans down so his face is level with hers, rests his weight with his hands on the arms of her chair, fingers bruising over her wrists. If he was any closer, she could headbutt him. She’d probably die for it, but at least she’d go down breaking his nose. He doesn’t move closer.

“The Collapse is upon us,” he says, and he says it just like that, like the C should be capitalized, like it’s the name of an event that will change the whole world. “And this time, the lives of the few outweigh the lives of the many.” She tries to kick at him, an aborted movement that lets her know her ankles are tied up too. His eyebrow quirks in what might be amusement, but it doesn’t break his concentration. “And when a nation that’s never known hunger or desperation descends into madness… we’ll be ready.”

Fuck him and his high horse. God damn fucking fuckface.

There must still be bliss in his system, or she’d be saying all this outloud. Consequences be damned.

Jacob stands and picks something up, winding it up in his hands. “We will cull the herd. We will do what needs to be done.”

He opens what turns out to be a music box and she fucking loses it. It hurts. It hurts more than the arrow and more than the bite and she howls with it, her head splitting apart. She loses Staci, she loses Jacob, she loses her own goddamn self.

What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the f

She’d prefer falling into the painful black-white-red that comes after she dies than this , that same song playing, Jacob’s voice crooning in her ear every time she clears a room, killing militia member after militia member in an attempt to escape the hotel.

Why are they attacking her?

Is that Pratt’s voice saying cull the herd I’m gonna fucking cull him what the fuck what the fuck what th

---

She’s still tied to the chair when she wakes up, but she’s tipped over on her side like she’s fallen over. There are two other bodies, also tied to chairs, and she wants to call for help but her throat is raw. 

Someone’s checking the bodies. Someone’s checking her body, wholly convinced she’s already dead, and he’s so startled to see her looking back at him that he drops her and her already aching head cracks against the floor again.

She’d swear, but she’s too tired.

She passes out as soon as it’s convenient and lets the men carry her wherever they want.

Who the fuck cares.

---

She leaves the Wolf’s Den as soon as she’s able to walk around without feeling like she’s going to faint. Jacob didn’t have her in the cage for that long, but she was running on not enough food anyway. The extra couple days of starvation made her feel… awful.

She’s still waking up with Staci’s face behind her eyes but she doesn’t know what she can do about it.

She needs more help.

She turns east as soon as she can, heading back toward the center of the county, maybe towards Faith’s region. She’s heard there are some survivors over at the jail, maybe she can get some of them to help her fight Jacob?

Christ. She needs someone who’s better at strategy than she is.

She’s been an adult for years but she’s still not ready for this.

She gets a somewhat frantic call on her radio as she gets closer to the eastern edge of Jacob’s region, has to slow her liberated ATV to a stop before she can really make out the words over the staticky line. Once she parses out the message, she almost turns her radio off and keeps heading for the bridge. Dealing with anything coming from Hurk Jr. is going to involve dealing with Hurk Sr., and she’s not sure she’s emotionally ready to handle the Drubmans today.

Boomer whines, though, panting by her side, and she figures that at least helping Hurk will earn her enough favor to borrow a car, or something. She’s been to the property before, and they have more than enough to spare one.

She scratches Boomer’s ears and adjusts her course, heading for the (very nice) house on the lake. It’s beautiful, too beautiful for someone like Mr. Drubman with his general shittiness to deserve, but she pulls into the drive anyway and steels herself for whatever’s about to happen.

She’s survived this far, right?

---

Okay, so liberating a modified campaign vehicle wasn’t really what she was expecting, and Mr. Drubman is exactly as awful as she remembers him being, but Hurk is so goddamn cheerful that she can’t bear to tell him to stay behind with his dad. Even his stories of traveling in India are sort of uplifting instead of irritating, and so she drives the campaign car and lets Hurk sit shotgun while Boomer stretches out across the backseat.

There’s a roadblock at the bridge leading from the Whitetails into the Henbane, but there’s enough of a space between two of the trucks that she doesn’t hesitate to push the accelerator to the floor and fly right through it, ignoring the screams and bullets whizzing past them, laughing along with Hurk when he starts cheering.

He tosses a grenade out the window back toward them and whoops from the moment it lands (miraculously) square in the middle of the bed of bliss flowers to the moment it explodes, taking the flowers and the truck and at least one cultist with it.

“That was fuckin’ awesome, I tell you what.” He grins at her as he hauls himself fully inside the car and settles heavily in the passenger seat. “Those assholes deserved it, too, trying to take those fuckin’ flowers over the river.”

Mattie eases off the accelerator when no more peggies appear in front of her, dares to take one hand off the wheel to turn the oldies station on low. “That was a great toss. I might need you to give me lessons; most of the time I throw something, it goes pretty wide.”

“Oh, man, well, mostly it was a lucky shot, I guess,” he says, apparently embarrassed, but when she glances over at him he’s absolutely preening under her compliment. “I can try to help though; we can probably find some baseballs or rocks or somethin’ that are about the right size for you to practice with, when the peggies are leavin’ us alone at least.”

She nods at him and rests her right hand on the gear shift, fingernails tapping to the beat of the music. “I haven’t done anything to Faith yet, so hopefully they won’t know me as well over here. Seemed like I couldn’t get anything done in the Whitetails without tripping over some of Jacob’s Chosen.”

“Sure, sure. You just gotta look out for the bliss fields over--”

Mattie’s radio squawks to life and cuts Hurk off mid-warning, shutting him up almost as effectively as the hand she holds up to silence him.

“ It’s Adelaide at the marina, honey, ” says the voice, and Hurk lights up with recognition. “ The peggies are all over us! I don’t know how long we can keep these sonuvabitches out! ”

The transmission clicks off. Mattie and Hurk sit silently, the only sound the low rumble of the engine and the almost too-quiet music coming from the car’s speaker, and then they both burst into action at the same time.

“Holy chimpanzee butts, they’ve got Mama’s marina too!” Hurk sounds a little panicked, leaning forward to grab the dashboard as Mattie grabs the steering wheel with both hands and accelerates again. “Deputy, we’ve gotta do something. We’re almost there, it’s just--” He points straight ahead, then to the right, then waves his hand helplessly. “We gotta help her!”

“It’ll be okay, Hurk,” Mattie says, already settling down into that headspace she’s created since Dutch pushed her out of his bunker, the one that lets her kill without remorse and jump into situations she shouldn’t, just because she’ll wake back up before them if something does go wrong.

Their smiles are gone.

Hurk switches off the radio.

The drive really is short, just a few more minutes and they round the last curve before the marina comes into view. Mattie’s been here once or twice, always on official business, but she’s been wanting to come out once Adelaide finishes the cabins she’s building on the property. That might not happen now, but Mattie refuses to think about it.

Now’s not the time.

She parks the car a little ways away, just off the side of the road, and climbs out. Boomer jumps from the back when she opens the door, and they meet Hurk up at the front. He’s holding a RAT4 over one shoulder and, while Mattie’s not sure that’s the best weapon for close combat, she can’t bring herself to care. Her 1911 is on her hip, her knife is on her thigh, and her AR-C is in her hands. 

This is as good as it’s gonna get.

“If you keep an eye on Boomer, he’ll let you know where peggies are hiding. Otherwise, good luck, don’t get shot, try to take out the radio towers before they call for backup, because that’s just a pain in the ass.”

“Cool, cool, very cool, man,” he says, basically bouncing in his eagerness to run ahead. “Can we, uh…” He trails off, eager but polite, and Mattie nods at him. He takes off, running straight ahead without any sort of subtlety -- but what was she expecting, really? -- and she takes the opportunity created by his distraction to sneak around the other side to yank some wires out of the radio towers set up to broadcast both Faith’s music and instructions from outpost to outpost.

The first thing Hurk makes explode earns him the attention of every goddamn peggie in the area, so she breaks the first radio without anyone noticing her, and the second radio is broken after only killing one peggie with a clean shot through the skull before he manages to get his fingers all the way around the mouthpiece.

It’s disgusting how easy killing is now. She doesn’t even flinch when she has to touch the splashes of blood on the radio to disable it. 

She hates what she’s become.

Almost the second the last peggie falls, the marina starts spinning around her, a sickening case of vertigo that has her leaning against the closest fence rail for support. A breeze tickles her face, pushing sweaty hair back from her forehead and cheeks, and it almost feels like a caress.

“I see you searching. Oh, you look lost.”

She sinks to the ground, still holding onto the post, as a woman’s voice she doesn’t know rings in her ears. She wobbles but doesn’t fall, twisting to see who’s speaking to her -- it doesn’t sound like Adelaide, doesn’t sound like anyone in particular, but… 

“When I was younger, I spent years searching. I was a rat in a maze always chasing the same rancid cheese. The Father was the first person to help me realize there’s a life beyond the maze.”

No. No. It can’t be… Faith?

“Hey, Deputy, buddy, I want you to meet my mama!” Hurk’s voice, always too loud, cuts over whatever Faith is saying, making the ringing in Mattie’s ears get louder as the vertigo spins faster. “She’s the best real estate agent in the whole county, probably the world, and -- hey, you okay, man?”

“Are you hurt, honey?” Okay, that’s Adelaide’s voice, closer than Hurk’s, close enough for cool hands to cup her face. Mattie lets her turn her face from side to side but doesn’t open her eyes, still hearing Faith’s voice under everyone else’s overlapping chatter. “Hurk, baby, help Xander get the Deputy to the office so she can sit down. I don’t think she’s bleeding, but we need to check her out.”

Two pairs of hands grip Mattie’s forearms, lifting her to her feet and then slightly higher so she doesn’t have to bear her own weight. She struggles a bit, then more as Faith’s voice drifts away and her head starts to really clear.

“ ‘m fine, I swear,” Mattie says, then repeats herself in a firmer, more official tone once the world is done spinning and she’s reasonably sure she won’t throw up if she has to move under her own power. “Hey, I said I’m fine , I just got dizzy.”

The boys don’t listen until she’s safely deposited in Adelaide’s desk chair, though, not until she has a glass of water in her hand and Adelaide’s full attention. Adelaide is sitting on the edge of her desk, one booted food resting on the chair by Mattie’s thigh, her hands pushing Mattie’s hair out of her face once more.

“You look like you just got blissed, honey,” she says, not without sympathy. “You sure you’re okay?”

She feels like she’s been blissed. She must have been blissed, because what else would explain fucking hallucinating Faith’s voice in the middle of Drubman Marina?

Maybe this whole goddamn thing has been one big bliss hallucination. Maybe she and the rest of the officers got dosed trying to leave Joseph’s compound, and none of this is really happening, and she’ll wake up completely fine soon. She’s pretty sure her insurance covers mental healthcare.

That’s kind of the ideal scenario, here.

“I’m fine, promise. Probably just got grazed by a bliss bullet, or something. That stuff always makes me feel sick.”

Adelaide nods. “Good, because those peggie shitbirds took my Tulip.”

“Your what now?”

“Mama’s helicopter!” Hurk is back in her space, bumping up against Adelaide and resting his cheek against her shoulder while she pats at him absently. “She’s the best helicopter pilot in the County.”

Mattie blinks at them both, silently adding up what Hurk has said about Adelaide. So far, he’s said she’s the best realtor and the best helicopter pilot in Hope County, but she’s getting the suspicion that Hurk would say Adelaide’s the best anything she tries to do.

“She’s the nimblest goddamn bird this side of Montana, and I’ll be goddamned if those fucktrumpets are going to take her from me. I won that bird in my divorce fair and square!”

Mattie blinks again and listens silently as Adelaide finishes explaining the problem (track down her helicopter out of three options, don’t crash it, kill the pilot) with Hurk hanging off her every word. This is slightly more in line with her technical job role, something she’d be expected to do as deputy regardless of the cult situation -- they’d probably send her out with Pratt to track it down, and Pratt would leave her alone in the cruiser so he could fly it back to the marina. He’d come back to the station and complain about Adelaide flirting with him and Joey would say he should take her up on it because no one else wants in his pants.

Christ. Shit. Joey’s locked up tight in John’s bunker, unwillingly the star of some fuckin’ creepy commercials. Staci’s up in Jacob’s compound, brainwashed and barely hanging on. Burke is with Faith, probably, blissed out of his mind, and who the fuck knows where Earl is. 

And what’s she doing? Sitting in a comfy chair in the marina, like she’s on a vacation, resting on her ass while they’re fighting to stay alive.

“I’ll see what I can do about your helicopter, ma’am,” she says. She tries to stand, too, puts the water down on the desk and pushes up on the arms of the chair, but Adelaide gives her a sharp look and clucks her tongue.

“You don’t have to go right now, honey,” she says, sounding absolutely motherly for once instead of flirtatious bordering on sexual harassment. “It’s late, you should sleep here for the night. Let me, let me get Xander to make you something to eat, okay, sweetheart?”

Mattie wants to say no, wants to move as fast as she can to save as many people as she can, but… the temptation of food is too much, and she gives in before she can do more than draw a deep breath to argue.

She’s so tired.

#far cry 5 #oc: mattie covington #My writing

[the-star-named-dowoon]

Stay Warm Part Two

Summary: Got7 are like brothers to you, they’ve always been by your side ever since you could remember. Now on your 17th birthday they have decide to take you on a trip into a forest for the full moon to see them in their true form. Now watching their territory from any danger, leads to trouble that’s unlike anything they have seen before, which brings a strange group of individuals. And you meeting someone like no other.

Genre: Action, Fluff, and angst , and wolf au

Pairings:  Human Reader X wolf Got7 X wolf Astro! Reader x ???

Warnings: violence, cursing and some craziness.

word count: 7,600 + 

PART 1  PART 3                                             MASTERLIST

Something is missing.

What was it? I look up at the sky. It’s the same as I’ve seen it before. Still the same cold feeling and sound. The same quiet calm atmosphere. Then a twig snapping breaks me out of my thoughts.

I look down back at the ground. There it was, the thing that was missing.

The wolf.

I can’t believe it’s all real. As at stare at this animal I can’t help but but be surprised. There it stands, looking exactly how I saw it in my dream. Not one detail different in anyway. How weird, am I psychic? Or I’m a just straight up losing my mind.

Soon the wolf seems aware of my presence and looks up. My blood freezes as it looks deep into my eyes, it’s amber eyes not breaking away. I can’t help but not stare at this beast. I start to grow anxious. I don’t know if this thing will attack me or not. It’s a wild animal, but this is unlike any wolf I’ve seen. It’s 3 times bigger than average. It’s bigger than the size of a freaking bear! And here I am just staring at the thing, possibly the worst thing I could be doing. Haven’t I learnt anything at school?! I learned should you never stare an animal in the eye, that and don’t talk to strangers. But feel like this wolf would like to do anything but talk.

Then it takes a step closer. My heart nearly stops at it’s slight movement. Is it going to attack me?! My hands grip the ends of my sleeves and my breathes turn shakey. It’s starts to move forward once again. I decide to take action and step back for every step forward it takes. This keeps going until my back hits a tree, making me not able to go any further. ‘Tis the that part when I DIE! God I’m so sorry I stole that boys granola bar in the 3rd grade, but in my defense it had me bathroom all day.

I throw my hands up in defense, blocking my face. “Please if you’re gonna eat me, please my face for last. I went to many years of an awkward stage for my face to be ripped off!” Pffft as if that like that would do anything in this situation! I’m talking to a wolf for God’s  sake!

Than a whine like sound is emitted from the wolf, and huffs of air come out of its black nose. It’s big ears push back and is head goes up and down, almost a nodding motion. A whine, is this thing really whining? The wolf starts the pace backwards and forwards in the same little patch. It seemed nervous for some reason. I lower my hands and watch the wolf move in strange ways.

It begins to walk towards me again, but this time it added a little hop in Its step, almost in a puppy like way. It bends it front legs and its tail wags quickly.I couldn't help but smile at it playful movements.The wolf seemed surprised by this and it’s ears stand tall. Soon it’s only a few feet away from me. I don’t feel as scared. The opposite of scared actually, I could feel something trying to focus my attention on this wolf. It walks over to me once again like before but it’s steps are more relaxed.

Then it’s right in front of me. It’s face right in front of mine. I just continue to stare into it’s amber eyes. I couple feel it breathing in my face, it’ warm breath pushing against my face. I hold my breath, but my heart picks up it pace.

“What do you want?” I breath. “ why are you here… “ without me knowing my hand starts to raise. I’m I really going to reach out for this thing?! Am I insane? I mean it was just staring at me, it doesn't seem to have a problem with me.It sees me reaching for it to stroke it, but it doesn't seem to mind. The ends my fingers make contact with it’s soft fur, it was so warm and smooth. It makes a groan and sits down as I continue to pet it. It’s tail swaying back and forth slowly. It pushes it giant hard into my arms. The atmosphere is calm and warm, I feel completely at ease.

“ you're a nice wolf aren’t you? Who’s a good wolf?” I baby voice it, which it doesn’t seem to like very much because it lets out a low growl. With that I stop my movements and retract my hands quickly. But before the wolf could react, I hear voices in the distance. The wolf’s ear pop up again and it stands up quickly.

“__!!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!”

It’s Yugyeom.

I look towards where the sound is coming from. It was from the same direction from once I came. Oh god I’m so dead.I turn back and see that the wolf had disappeared. I look around for any sign of where it could have gone. But nothing, no trace of it what’s so ever, it just disappeared. I go to turn back to we’re the voice was heard .Not before someone grabs my shoulders and turns me around.

“__! Where have you been!?” I see two of my brothers. Yugyeom and on his side was BamBam. “ I told you not to wander off and this what you do!?? Your lucky I was able to pick up your scent or else Jaebum would of had my ass on a platter.” He looks frantic. I could tell both of them ran here, with their heavy breathing and red faces.

“I’m sorry I don’t know what came over me…”  I begin to try and explain but I don’t know if they’d  really believe that I followed a magical path that lead me to an exact moment in my dreams. So of course I want with another reason. “ I just saw a rabbit and I followed it, then here I am now.” Nice excuse, what are you? Five?!

“You’re lying…” BamBam interrupts and grabs my wrist and starts to smell the back of it. “ Yugyeom do you smell that?” He says with a growl. His brows furrow and he begins to walk around looking the the area. Yugyeom sniffs the air and then looks down at my hands. He grabs my wrist out of BamBam’s grip and brings it up to his face to examine. My heart starts to beat at the speed of light, I don’t know why...

“You’re lying! What did you see?! Who was here with you?!” Yugyeom snarls. I yank my wrist out of his grip and hold it to my chest.

“No one I swear! I was just-“

“The why do you your hands reek of a werewolf ___?!” My heart drops. How could I have been so stupid?! Of course that thing was a werewolf! No freaking wolf would be that big! Do you not have a brain?!

“ I - I didn't know! I swear I thought it was just a regular wolf and when-“

“ it was in wolf form?!” I was cut off once again by a steaming BamBam, his pupils shrinking making his stare all the more intimidating. “ Yugyeom, you go take ___ home and I’ll look around the area for any trace. When you get home make sure to tell Jaebum of what has happened-“

“No!” I yelled. They both stare at me as if I’m some crazy woman. I just said no to my older brothers, I don’t know why. I just felt as if this was wrong. The wolf didn’t do anything, and I already knew Jaebum wasn’t going to react well if my two childish brothers are reacting like this. I can’t even believe how he would react.

“What do you mean no?! I don’t think you understand but an unknown werewolf has just walk into our territory and we are unsure of his intentions.” Yugyeom says.

“ I get that! But it didn’t do anything to me… it let me pet him and he didn’t look like he would hurt me.”

“So you pet a stranger?!”

“ well when you put it that way it sounds like it’s wrong!”

“Well it is wrong! For all we know you could have been petting a forty year old man!”

“Enough!”  BamBam scolds. “ since I’m the oldest here, what I say goes. And I say that you will go with your brother and we’ll let Jaebum deal with you and this situation. Do you understand me?” He says sternly. He just doesn’t even hear me out, I don’t understand why he’s acting this way. It’s not like the wolf bit my left arm off.

“But BamBam I have feeling this is wrong, you completely disregarding what I have to say?”

“I don’t give a crap about what you have to say right now! You know nothing so quit trying to act like you know what your saying when you don’t! You can’t understand__” he’s right I probably couldn’t understand. I’ve never seen BamBam this angry before. The immature lovable brother was nowhere to be found at this moment. Instead, there was an angry protective brother in his place. So clearly there is something I’m not understanding. His soft eyes were replaced with a warning red color. By my side was Yugyeom, he didn’t say a word. Clearly this was a situation in which I knew nothing about. I don’t know why BamBam is so angry over some werewolf in their territory and what harm they can inflict. Sure it would be bad if the thing attacked me but it didn’t do anything. They weren’t there so they couldn’t really know.

I chose to stay quiet instead.

“Yugyeom, take her home.” With that said, my brother tosses me over his shoulder like a rag doll. “Aye! Put me down!” I yell and start to punch Yugyeom’s back. I guess my little teenage girl punches do nothing because he isn’t even phased. I look up and see BamBam walk into the forest in which the wolf came. I put my head down and fall limp into Yugyeom hold. Yugyeom just lets out a sigh and he starts to walk to the way we came.

After a few minutes into our walk, I decide to speak up.

“You’ll still keep your promise, right? You won’t tell Jaebum?” I say hopelessly. I already knew the answer.

“ I wish I could, but you don’t know what bad things could come out of this. I’m sorry.” He says. “ believe me when I say I don’t want to tell him, I’ll be feeling his wrath too, after he finds out I let you out in the first place.” He says and lets out a sigh.

“ hey, maybe he’ll let you off easy. I’ll take the blame. That was my promise after all.” I suggest and and he smiles. He lets me down on to my own feet again.

“ I appreciate that ___ , but they won’t be letting anyone off easy with this one.”

I nod and don’t say anything. This seems to be something serious. Something that I couldn’t understand if I tried. Instead I look up into the darkening sky. It was getting late and that meant the boys will be off soon. Probably to run about during the full moon, but after this they be looking for that wolf.

For some reason, I felt sick to my stomach think about them finding it. Like something was going to go wrong somehow. This didn’t seem right at all. Why were they hear if they new this is another wolf’s territory, they clearly weren’t here to attack or else I would have been a goner.

“Yugyeom I have a feeling that something is going to go wrong… and I don’t know what. I think it has something to do with that wolf.”

“ what do you mean?” He asks.

“I don’t know. I feel like it was trying to tell me something. I stared into its eyes and I felt no intention of doing something bad.” I say. Its eyes only showed familiarity and maybe something else. I’m unsure at this point.

“ well you don’t know what it’s true intentions are,so it’s good to just stay away and let us handle it.” After that I knew he didn’t want to hear anything else from me. So I stayed quiet until we made it home. I takes a while for us to get to the house .I walked up the porch, I stop. Being afraid of what’s going to happen next as I walk into that house. Yugyeom is with me, he’s just as scared as I am. We are both hesitant.

As we walk into the house, five pairs of eyes snap right towards our direction. It takes awhile for everything to set in, a couple of seconds pass. Then all at once their eyes shoot wide open.I hid behind Yugyeom and before we know it Jaebum pushed towards the two of us. His eyes are red and his kanines sharped.

“Explain!” He snaps. We both flinch and I move from behind Yugyeom and step in front of him in a courageous manner, but the second Jaebum stared into my eyes. I cower again. Yugyeom sticks his arm in front of me, he looks at me and nods. I know now that he’s wanting to explain the situation.

After explaining everything word by word, I try to help explain but Yugyeom cuts me off every time I try to say something.Jaebum seemed so be steaming by the end of the explanation.  

The alpha soon starts to walk towards the youngest. Yugyeom then backs up until his back meets the wall. His eyes search frantically for any means of escape, but alas nothing could escape jaebum’s wrath. Jaebum then stands in front of Yugyeom, almost nose to nose with him.

“ You’re telling me, that you let our little sister out into the woods alone. WHEN THERE'S A WEREWOLF IN OUR TERRITORY?!” He snarls in Yugyeom’s face. He couldn’t even look him in the eye. “LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!” Jaebum pushes Yugyeom hard into the wall behind him. The youngest flinches and just keeps his head down.

“How was I supposed to know there was wolf around?...” Yugyeom says under his breath. But of course Jaebum heard. “Say that again. I didn’t quite hear you.” Jaebum says in a deadly whisper.I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, a brother doing thing to another. The other boys just sit and watch like it’s nothing . He was baring his teeth at his own kind, his own brother.

“ I’m sorry I wasn't thinking…”

“You weren’t thinking?!” Jaebum raises his voice once again. “Why don’t I knock some sense into you now! See if that will get you into the right mind!” He pushes him again, the youngests back bangs against the wall. This time I couldn’t take it anymore. Jaebum’s anger was out of control. I can’t stand to see one of my brothers get bullied.I march over there, behind me I hear the boys warning me not to.

I squeeze myself between the two wolves. standing in front of Yugyeom, I block him from any of jaebum’s pushing.

“Jaebum you’ll stop right now or so help me will beat you myself.” Of course I knew I couldn’t even stand a chance against a werewolf. I said what I wanted to say in order to make me feel like I was stronger. But I know that anything that I lay on him will feel like nothing.

“Pfft, you? Like you’ll be able to anything. I’m simply punishing Yugyeom, he deserves this and if he can’t take it like a big boy wolf than it’s his fault. So,get out of the way.” He commands.

“No.” As the word left my mouth, everyone’s eyes widen. Even jaebum’s,but I still stand my ground. That was a really bad idea. I’m going to get eaten alive alright. But I had to do what I thought was right.

“It was my fault. Yugyeom has nothing to do with it. I put myself in danger and I deserve whatever punishment you can give.” I argue.

“ you don’t know what you’re talking about. Plus who said you were free from any punishment? I’ll deal with you later, but for the time being I’m dealing with this idiot. So move.” He growls.

“ I said no, Jaebum” It was like I had a death wish or something. He steps forward and bends to my height. His red eyes staring as if it were to scare me. But I still stand. I couldn’t fall that easily.

I could see his hands trembling with anger. How could someone so tiny and weak, clash heads with an alpha of a werewolf pack? It was something so stupid, and anyone else could have been torn to pieces, but this is my brother we’re talking about here. I know he wouldn’t do anything but scold me. Yugyeom steps away not wanting to be apart of our little feud. He joins the rest of the brothers and watches from the side lines. Not it was me against the wall and Jaebum right in front of me, looking down at the tiny human girl that has enough guts to stand out to him.

“ I won’t let you punish Yugyeom when this is all my doing. I was the one who went out side. Yugyeom told me not to wander off and I did. I was the one who didn’t listen.” I say but Jaebum still stands his ground. “I don’t understand why you’re freaking out about this, but taking it out in Yugyeom is a jerk move     Jaebum.” As soon as those words come out of my mouth, his nostrils flare and he takes a step back. But before I could say anything…

His fist meets the wall behind me, only a  half foot away from my face. His hand easily breaks through, like no effort at all. I couldn’t imagine being punched full force by a werewolf. I was glad it was the wall and not me.  The rest of my brothers stand to their feet as if they would jump to action if anything happens. The cracking of the wall right beside my ear.

“Jaebum!” Jinyoung yells and runs over, pulling me away from the angry alpha and takes me into his arms. I stayed still in his embrace. My body felt stiff, I’ve never seen Jaebum so mad, that he had to hit something to release his anger.

Would he have punched me if I got him mad enough? I hate to think that way. He would never hit me, in his sister. Right?

His hand was still in the wall. His teeth were still bared and his eyes a blood red. I couldn’t even look in his direction. His heavy breathing was the only thing heard in the room.

“Jaebum…” Jackson whispers.

“Get her into my room and lock it. Mine is the only one that locks from the outside.” He commands and he slides his arm from the wall. From the hole you could see a bed set. He punched through the other side of the wall. Yet his hand seemed fine. Was that even a full force punch?

“Jaebum I think-“ Jinyoung was cut off.

“She will stay in there until we find this werewolf and she won’t leave until we’re done here. I knew she shouldn’t have came, it was a stupid mistake on my part.” Jaebum says and starts to walk away as if nothing even happened just now.

“What?! No! Jaebum this is unfair!” I argue and release myself from Jinyoung’s grasp.

“I don’t give a fuck about what you think is unfair! you listen to your older brother and you’ll go into that room and wait till I come back!”

“You’re starting to sound more like an alpha than my brother, because I know a brother would listen to what I have to say!” I run up to him and grab the back of his shirt. Immediately I regretted it. He whirls around and grabs the back of my backpack and lifts me off the ground with ease.

He looks deep into my eyes. I couldn’t even look into them, I didn’t want to look at them.

“If I have to be more of a beast to keep you safe than so be it.” He says in a deathly low whisper. He starts to carry me away by the backpack like some puppy.

We make it to his room and he lets go and I quickly fall to my butt, into the carpeted floor. It was dark in the room, the only light was the window and the light from the doorway I which his dark figure stood.

“ we’ll be back later, you will not leave this room until our return.” He demands as he glares at me from the doorway.

“Jaebum please just understand! I feel like this is wrong, I have a feeling going after the wolf I saw is wrong. I don’t know why, but please believe me on this..”

“I’m sorry but any wolf on this territory is a threat! It could have hurt you! Then what would I do?! If something happened to you, I couldn’t  Forgive myself!” My eyes widen. He takes a deep breath and walks out the door and starts to close it. “ I just… I just can’t have anything happen to my little sister.” He says lowly.

“But it didn’t hurt me! You have-“ the door slams shut before I could finish. Ugh! How dare he not listen to me?! What’s jerk! I grab the pillows from his bed and fling them in all directions of the room. Each pillow hitting different surfaces with a soft thud. I yank the blankets off the mattress and throw them across the floor. I know he can hear me throwing a fit and making his room a mess , and I wanted him to know just to spite him. After my tantrum I sit on the bed with my head on my knees.

This seems so wrong, what he’s doing. That wolf, I feel like it doesn’t deserve this. Even though it is a werewolf. When I looked into its eyes it told me something else. They didn’t look like the eyes of a cold-hearted killer.I have to stop him.

But what could I do? I’m here just sitting on the bed with no way to get out of the bedroom. The boys were chattering and shuffling through the hallway. Small whispers can be heard through the door. Soon the the footsteps stop and I hear the front door close and voices outside the window. I lift up my head from my knees and crawl towards the window. I see the boys tuning into the forest. Of course with Jaebum leading them. He calls out demands and the boys scatter in all directions. I slide back onto the bed and curl up on my side.

I couldn’t do anything at this point. I felt useless and left out to say the least. I lay on my back completely and stare at the ceiling. The sun light from the window was the only thing lighting up the room. I can’t really think, I just stare at the roof hoping for something to happen. The room getting darker and darker as the sun starts to set. I still mynhand up into the light, my hands casting a shadow on the wall.  

Then all of a sudden the room gets darker. The shadow of my hand and the orange light from the sun disappears. I turn around to see a black figure, A Silhouette of a person right behind the window. The shadows hiding his face.

“AHHH!” I scream and throw myself off the bed almost faceplanting. I land on my stomach on the hard floor and scurry underneath the bed frame. Luckily I was able to fit but it still didn’t help the fact that I was scared shitless. I curl myself up hoping it was just all in my head, maybe it’s the mailman? Who am I kidding, the mailman doesn’t come to houses in the middle of the forest and looks through their windows! I few seconds pass and just as I think that the person is gone...

I hear knocking on the window. I squeak and cover my ears, my eyes closed so tight that it hurt. My knees come up to my stomach and I go into a fetus position.This couldn’t be happening! My brothers , the only form of protection I have against potential evil forest mailmen, were gone and I’m left alone to fend for myself.

“Hey! Is anyone in there?!” Oh god they can speak!  “Oh wait! I already know you’re in there! But it’s cold out here and it’s getting dark. I don’t really like the dark.” I heard someone say. It didn’t sound like a middle aged man. It is a young voice. It didn’t sound like a grown man and too that I’m a little relieved. But still hella scared.

“Ummm, hello?” He questions.

My head rises quickly, and I feel my head hit the bottom of the bed. My hands fling to the top of my head as I try not to whine.

“ Ok, come on don’t ignore me! It’s not like we haven’t met before. I mean you did see me in the forest. But then I sensed another wolf and I kinda got scared and left.” My eyes nearly pop out of my head. This guy is the wolf from the woods before?! He speaks again.

“ but then I thought, Holy crap I just left a girl alone with a wolf! So I went back and saw that they knew so I was relieved. That would have sucked if you died.” He continues to ramble on, while his chattering keeps going on I slide out from under the bed as quiet as possible.

Halfway through I see a wooden walking stick by the side of the dresser. I continue to crawl on the the floor as he keeps talking.

“But after they took you away I remembered I something!But… wait what was I supposed to tell you?” He asks himself. I’m almost to the stick until “ so why are you crawling to get the stick? Can’t  you use your legs? I mean the floor must be dirty, werewolves aren't the cleanest. I mean I would know, I live with five!” There is hair everywhere, sometimes it even ends up in my soup!”

I give a questioning look, what is this guy? Five? He keeps talking, haven’t even seen the guys face and he won’t shut up.This is even worse than I thought. I roll my eyes and get up and walk over to the walking stick and hold it up in front of me, for any kind of defense.

“ I don’t really see the point of using that thing, I mean I’m outside and your inside. I can’t come in.” He laughs and at that moment I felt stupid. He was right, there was a barrier but I highly doubt that a thin glass panel could keep a werewolf out.

“Well what do you expect me to do? Trust a person with super strength and a thin glass window?! I don’t think so! So I’ll be keeping my stick thank you very much!” I argue back. He silent for a while before he laughs once again.

“ a girl who knows what’s up! I like that! But something you can do is hear me out.” I still feel weird about this, but at the same time I feel like I should listen. Not gonna lie, it was tempting to hear what this kid has to say. But this isn’t what they taught me in kindergarten! Don’t talk to strangers __! You know this!

“How could I hear you out if I can’t even see your face !” I stand my ground and grasp my stick just In Case any sudden moves. His face was hidden in the dark shadows of the afternoon so I could barely see his face.

“ well I guess it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. But trust me, when you see my face. You’ll be surprised I can tell you that.” I just roll my eyes and motion him to step back into the light of day.

A bright yellowish light surrounds the room once again. But I still don’t know if I want to see his face so I stare down. What if he’s some kind of rotting face or worse. I just stare at the bedside table.

“So… are you gonna look up or what? I mean my looks aren’t that bad, trust me.” Trust. Could I trust him? Like I did in the woods? Isn't that what got me here in the first place? My lack of caution is what made this whole mess happen.  My mind is clearly telling me no, but my instincts are telling me yes. What should I be thinking with? My brain or my instincts?

“Alright, but if you’re ugly then don’t expect me to lie and make you feel better, my guy.” He clearly was offended. “Will you just look up already and stop being rude!” He says

I take a shaky breath and then raise  my head towards the window.

At that moment, I felt like time went slower for some reason. He was right when he said I would be surprised. Because dang...

He’s cute. His face is soft and eyes are slightly slanted. Child like face, and short dark brown hair. Oh man was he good looking. He looked around my age, not one blemish on his face even though he seems like a teenager.

“Surprised? Mm I thought you would. “ He gloats with a smile. I nearly drop the stick at that point. His smile was like sunshine on a spring day and feel like a was nearly blinded. Dang that was cheesy but damn, that smile could go toe to toe with youngjae’s. And that’s saying a lot.

He was just a boy. He looked harmless, from any point of view he looked like he couldn’t even hurt a fly. Little did others know that he’s a deadly beast of the night. Then again that’s only a stereotype against werewolves . But I mean this guy is literally the boy of my dreams and I don’t even know his name...

“ are you not going to say anything?” I’m cut from my thoughts. What was I supposed to say? Like holy crap you’re one hot dude! But that’s not happening.

“ what is there to say? I mean I don’t even know you.” Not to mention he’s the one who got me a scolding from my older brother.

“Yoon sanha”

“Bless you.”

“ no that’s my name! My name is Sanha.” He introduces himself. It’s a nice name I guess but nothing that special.He leans in towards the window and says nothing. It’s dead silent.

“Are you not going to tell me your name?” He asks raising a brow. I raise my hand signaling him to stop talking.

“ I think I’m good. But I do have a question. Why are you here and what do you want? It better be good because I practically got my ear chewed off by my brother.” I say and raise my stick and point it towards the window.

“Well you see… ummm this is a pretty funny story actually. Well it’s actually not that funny nevermind…”

“Can you get to it?!” I cut off his off topic rambling. He raises his hands above his head and shrugs his shoulders.

“Ok chill! My senses told me something was up over in this area,and you know werewolf instincts heh. Leading you random places and getting you mixed in the weirdest situations. ”

“ Actually I wouldn’t know, I’m not a werewolf. And what does that have to do with anything, what are there senses of yours telling you?What do they sense exactly?” I ask.

“Well maybe if you let me finish! Then I would tell you…” I just roll my eyes and sit on the side of the bed and pick at the loose stitching. “Proceed.” I say and he huffs.

“As I was saying” he clears his throat. “So my super duper werewolf senses led me here and I don’t really know why… I was just kinda wondering around these woods. But they just kept telling me I had to keep going, like there was something I had to see. After walking for a while longer, I ran into you. After which I’m guessing that meeting didn’t end up well on your end?” He laughs at my sad state and bedroom prison. “Haha very funny. Now keep explaining.” I say with a sour tone, which he chose to ignore.

“So after that whole fun meeting,I wandered off back into the Forest after our  little meeting and saw something alarming. And oh boy was this freaky...I saw a dead rabbit.” He voice goes serious, and he looked out into the forest and looks back in. I give him a look of confusion and being annoyed.

“Really a rabbit? That’s it, there are a lot of dead rabbits in the woods sanha. It’s the woods after all.” I explain but he just rolls his eyes.

“But! This rabbit looked like it had the life sucked out of it! I can just see in its little lifeless eyes,so much fear.” I don’t know what he means by all this, it’s just a dead animal.

“So? It probably just had a heart attack, rabbits get scared to death that the time. It probably saw a cat or something…”

“That’s what I thought too. But I felt something, it didn’t seem right to me. So I had the idea to rip apart the poor animal. Which wasn’t a problem for me, ya know being a big bad wolf and all.” He laughs but he notices that I wasn’t laughing with a very blank annoyed face, and goes back to telling the story. “And I was surprised Alright. I knew my gut was right.”

“ what did you find?”

“ All of his organs… they weren’t there. No blood, no brain, all that was inside was pitch black dust. So I knew that my senses brought me here for a reason and one reason only. I inspected the rest of the area and noticed patches of black snow. Also with a very noticeable smell of death...and that’s how I concluded that you have an very angry forest spirit on your hands.” He says in a serious tone.

“ ok and?What the heck is some ghost going to do? Sure it kills a few rabbits, so what? Plus! Why should I believe you? You’re just some kid.” He frowns at the statement.

“WELL! For one, I’m not just a kid! And two! You don’t even know what these things are capable of! I know how these things go, and I’m the only kind of people who know what to do in this situation.It’s what I do, little girl. So you should really take my advice and consider getting out of here.” He crosses his arms.

“Listen. I don’t know who you are and what you do, and what this ‘spirit ‘ is capable of, but I’m not sure how my brother will react to a boy coming over and telling his sister crazy stories about some ghost and asking me to leave.” I argue “ I mean I can’t just leave without my brothers. Pffft,I couldn’t even leave if I wanted to.” I bite back.

I wasn’t lying, I was trapped here.

“ I know how they would act and I know that they won’t be happy. But please, I know you don’t know me. I just really need you to trust me. This isn’t just some ghost! This could be serious if it’s able to suck life out of stuff even if it’s only to something as small as a bunny! Your brothers could be in danger if we don’t tell them! We don’t have much time until some people who I really don’t want to see right now find me... Then things will get ugly!” He says frantically.

I mean I guess he has a point. This is something I don’t know about. All this stuff about spirits and sucking life out of things. I’m starting to feel like I know nothing lately. This whole supernatural world is something that I’m so unfamiliar with.

I don’t know this guy. But these past ten minutes, he managed to really freak me out with this whole ghost thing.This sanha guy says this think could be potentially dangerous. What  has this guy seen? Could this end up with my brothers insides being turned to dust? My heart drops at the thought.

“What do you mean my brothers could be in danger?! Could this thing could hurt them?!” I scurry to the window without thinking and place my hands on the glass. “ who’s coming to get you?!” Questions rush through my mind but the main priority is keeping my brothers safe. They always come first, even if it meant me risking my life for them.

“Who’s coming for me is important but yes your brothers could be in serious trouble...I’ve seen what these things could do. And sometimes you wish you can unsee it.” His voice almost cracks. I could just feel my blood run cold in my veins, what the hell are we dealing with here ? He seems to see my worries expression and he brightens up again.

“Hey it’s ok! That’s why I’m here! My senses brought me here for a reason and now I know why! This is my first serious mission! Finally!” He yells with joy. Clearly this isn’t a time to celebrate, not when an evils spirit is in the woods. But I can see he is trying to lighten the mood and I smile at his childish ways.

I snap my fingers to get his attention through the glass. “ aye, wolf boy focus!” He Snaps his attention back at me. “ I usually don’t trust strangers, but if this is about my brothers safety then I’m gonna have to trust you, and this might be the stupidest decision I’ve ever made-”

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.” He cuts me off, his face turns to a serious expression. His amber eyes burning into my vision, it feels so familiar. Almost the same feeling  like my brothers eyes, they almost give the same feeling, the feeling of safety. “ I promise.” He ends, I guess this is it.

With that I decide to put my trust in the kid.

“ Ok, so how am I supposed to get out of here exactly? Jaebum Locked the door. And I kinda don’t have the strength to bust open the door.” He thinks for a second,his face shows a sign of an idea and disappears front the window. I stand there for a few seconds and then I hear the front door open door open.

You have got to be kidding me.

“ you know your brothers should really learn to lock the door.” His voice comes out of nowhere causing me to nearly jump out of my skin with a squeak. I turn around towards the wall and I see his face through a hole in the wall. I would be confused but then I remember that my hotheaded brother punched a hole in the wall.

Sanha starts to laugh and I flick his head through the hole in the wall“ Don’t scare me like that! Stop laughing! There’s an evil spirit in the woods and you expect me not to get spooked easily?!” I scold but he still continues while rubbing the middle of his forehead.

“ Ok ok calm down, so think you might know where the key is?” He asks. Oh right! I forgot a light the key...if where I think a werewolf might hide a key. It could be anywhere in the house! We don’t have time for this.

“ I don’t know! It could be anywhere!” I state frantically, what if we don’t fins this key on time? What if it’s too late by the time we find it?!

“You think he put it under the rug?”

“Why would he put it in such an obvious place? He’s not-“

“ found it!”

“What really?!”

“Under the rug, just like I suggested.”

I mentally face palm at the fact that he actually hid the key under a rug. I guess I give him way to much credit. Sanha runs to the door and unlocks it. The door opens slowly with a loud squeak, and once open enough Sanha sticks his head the door. “But the real question is, why would they need the hide the key if it’s just you here?” He had a point.

“Maybe just in case a six foot, cereal for brains werewolf can’t get in.” I say sarcastically. “ but clearly they aren’t much better when it comes to thinking.” He just ignores me and looks around the room.

“ wow, pretty cozy place you’ve got here.” He comments and opens the door completely. Now I’m able to see how he really looks. Not gonna lie, he’s a good looking kid, definitely on the lanky side. But enough fawning over the boy __! You have a mission! I grab my backpack off the floor and walk out the door behind him.

“Oh? We’re already leaving? No real introductions? And what do mean cereal for brains? Like lucky charms?” He asks quickened his pace to keep up with my speed walking. “So do know where my brothers could be? Or where this evil spirit could be that’s planning to kill things might be?” I ask stopping at the front door not even bothering to answer his questions.

“To be honest I don’t know where they are and the same for the spirit…” he scratches the back of his neck. I raise my eyebrows with a questioning look. So we have no trace on this thing or where the heck my brothers are, this is one of the worst case scenarios. But the they key is to remain calm.

“Ok.” I say calmly.

“So… how the heck are we supposed to find them?!” I yell, he jerks back slightly. Clearly I can’t take my own advice.

“Don’t worry I got this!” He reassures. “I am a wolf after all!” He says joyfully and ruffles my hair and walks out the front door.

“ And from this point on, you’re gonna be my partner in crime for this mission.” He states and walks off the porch. Me the partner? If anything, I’m the one who has the brains in this duo. But I guess I might as well just go with it.

He stops and faces the forest, looking at it for a while. Almost like he’s thinking, but I hardly think that’s the case. He claps his hands together and turns around with the same big smile on his face.

“Aight, so in order for me to be able to find them I’m gonna have to need something with their scent. So maybe like a hat or shirt or something.” He requests. I don’t have anything on me currently but this problem could be easily fixed. “Ya, just give me a sec and I can go grab something from inside.” I say and go back to get something but something catches my eye. In front of the porch, is a pile of clothing scrunched up like it was thrown carelessly into the snow.

I walk over to the mysterious pile. The pile consisted of a shirt, pants and underwear. I noticed the shirt right away and it looked familiar alright. Even the smell was familiar, the same smell you could recognize from a mile away. These are Jackson’s clothes.

“ So by the looks of this, one of them is in Wolf form.” A voice come up from behind which scares me once again. He chuckles again as I put my hand over my beating heart.

“luckily this makes things easier.” Sanha picks up the shirt and gives a quick whiff. His face not even a second afterwards scrunches up in disgust. The shirt goes flying onto the floor again and sanha covers his poor nose.

“ That’s vile! Does he even know what showers or deodorant is?!” I laugh and pick up the shirt again. Poor guy, I could hardly handle Jackson’s smell with a regular human nose, I can’t imagine what it would be like with super smell.

“So you got the scent?” I ask and he answers with a disgusted nod. “ ya I kinda wish I didn’t.” He chuckles and begins to sniff the air . After picking up some sort of scent he then starts walking into the woods. Taking that as a cue to follow I walk to his side and we walk into an unknown forest

To be continued.

A/N- yes I know its been a while. School as really been kicking my ass lately and i was testing so much. Not to mention all the teachers in my state were going on strike and didnt grade squat after school. But i was able to finish two chapters and ill post the other later. Hope you enjoyed and i promise the next update wont take as long.

#wolf AU #got7 wolf au #got7 x reader #astro wolf au #astro x reader #werewolf au #kpop x reader #werewolf #kpop fanfiction #got7 #astro #fantasy #got7 jaebum #got7 jinyoung #got7 jackson #got7 bambam #got7 yugyeom #got7 youngjae #got7 mark #astro sanha

[kathydsalters31]

What I Feed My Active Dachshunds to Help Keep Them Healthy

I’ve been asked these questions lot over the years:

“What dog food do you recommend for Dachshunds?” “What should I feed my Dachshund to keep them healthy like yours?” “What do you think about food X or Y for Dachshunds?”

For the most part, I’ve also creatively dodged those questions a lot over the years.

You see, every dog is different. Every owner preference is different. Every budget is different.

There isn’t one right food for every dog.

Also, as we’ve found with the recent Hill’s Pet Nutrition recalls, and the potential grain-free dog food – heart health connection, what we think is good for a while can turn out to be not so great after all.

However, I finally decided it was about time I wrote something about what Summit and Gretel eat though. That way I have a place to point people when they ask in the future.

While I’m still not comfortable recommending specific foods for other dogs, I’ve become more comfortable with the idea of sharing what works best for us and letting you make the decision about what is right for your yours.

Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase.

The Dog Foods That I Feed My Healthy Dachshunds

I’ve fed all forms of dog foods over the years – kibble with grain, kibble without grain, canned “wet” food, pre-made frozen raw food, freeze dried raw food.

Today, no matter what the food type, I primarily choose dog foods that are high in protein.

Protein is important for muscle development, which is really important for active dogs.

Note: High protein works for my dogs. It doesn’t work for all dogs so be sure to check with your vet if you suspect your dog.

Summit and Gretel primarily eat raw dog food now but it’s more of a personal choice.

I give them frozen prepared raw because I’m not interested in learning how to create a balanced diet and making my own raw meals at this time.

However, I do sometimes, for a treat and additional nutrient variety, add fun things to their raw dog food to “dress it up”.

I’m also not a stickler for raw feeding.

I mean, humans don’t eat the same food all of the time. It would make is unhealthy – and, to me, that includes different FORMS of food, not just different brands or sources of protein.

That means, at any given time, Summit and Gretel may be eating a food that is not on this list.

But here are the foods I love and feed the most frequently.

Favorite Frozen Prepared Raw Dog Food for My Dachshunds

Darwin’s Natural Selections

Darwin’s Natural Selections raw dog food is convenient because you can sign up for a subscription and it arrives on your doorstep every 4-6 weeks (your choice) packed in dry ice.

All of their balanced, complete meals – chicken, beef, lamb, turkey, and duck – are made of 75% grass fed or cage-free meat and 25% organic vegetables.

They are also free of gluten, grain, steroids, hormones, and antibiotics.

You can customize your order by choosing the meats you want and the amount of each.

Darwin’s Food can be shipped anywhere in the United States for a $6.50 minimum (shipping costs vary depending on where you are located). If you live in the Seattle or Portland metropolitan areas, you may be in their free home delivery area.

If you’re new to Darwin’s and not sure what or how much to feed you can contact them for a free menu consultation.

Wild Coast Raw

Wild Coast Raw dog food is a “seasonally sourced craft raw food” created with oversight from a veterinarian with 25 years experience.

One of my favorite things about this raw food is that the ingredients are ground but not as small as with most raw foods. You can actually still see chunks of meat in there.

While “flavor” choices can vary by season, their grass-fed beef and free-range turkey meals seem to be available most of the year.

All formulas are made with organic vegetables.

This food is made in Olympia, WA and it appears that it’s only available to purchase in Washington State pet stores.

Steve’s Real Food

Steve’s Real raw dog food is a complete and balanced diet made with grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free meats and poultry.

Steve’s Real Food follows Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (B.A.R.F.) model of 80% Meat/Organ/Bone and 20% Produce.

They source most of the meat and all of the produce from the Northwest.

The meals come in beef, chicken, turkey, turducken, and pork.

You can find Steve’s Real Food at many pet stores around the country.

Nature’s Variety Instinct® Raw

I like Instinct® Raw dog food because it’s high quality and pretty to easy to find in any major city (and some not so major) when we travel.

Their balanced, complete meals are made with 85% real meat and organs and 15% fruits, vegetables and vitamins and minerals.

They use ingredients closest to their natural state like real meat and non-GMO fruits and vegetables.

Their raw meals never include grain, corn, wheat, soy, artificial colors or preservatives.

Meal choices include beef, chicken, and lamb.

You can find Instinct® Raw at many pet stores around the country.

Vital Essentials

Vital Essentials was the first frozen, prepared raw food that I fed Gretel and my previous Dachshund Chester.

Chester was 8 when I made the switch and I saw a huge difference in his energy levels.

That change was likely due to a switch to raw food in general but this Prey Model Raw (PMR) food is unique because it doesn’t contain any fruits or vegetables. Your dog gets all of the nutrients it needs from only meat, organs, and bone.

In the case of Vital Essentials, the ratios are 45% muscle meat, 45% organs and 10% bone content (all from the same protein source).

Vital Essentials raw meat materials are harvested in the U.S.A and they process 100% of our own food in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Meal choices include beef, chicken, duck, rabbit, and turkey.

It’s available in stores around the US.

Favorite Freeze Dried Raw Dog Food for my Dachshunds

There is a disagreement over whether freeze dried “raw” dog food is actually raw. It IS processed and some people claim that the drying process can diminish the benefits of fresh, raw meals.

Personally, I believe that the processing and drying doesn’t make a significant difference in the nutrition, specially if you choose those brands that make an effort to maintain as much of the original nutrients as possible during processing.

However, these foods contain significantly less moisture than raw food so it’s very important to re-hydrate them or at least add a good amount of water to the food when feeding.

Small Batch Freeze Dried Sliders

Small Batch is one of my favorite freeze dried dog foods to use because it’s easier to crumble and rehydrate.

Depending on where you buy this food, it’s either made in a facility in California or Oregon. All ingredients are sourced from those states and/or Washington and Colorado.

Small Batch is made with all-natural, certified, humanely raised and harvested meats that are free of hormones and antibiotics.  They try to use certified organic meat whenever possible.

Vegetables and herbs used are certified organic, non-GMO, and free of pesticides.

Meal flavors include beef. chicken, turkey, duck, and lamb.

All of their formulas are 88% beef, 10% produce, 2% supplements (except for the lamb which is 78% lamb, 20% produce, 2% supplements)

Small Batch is available in stores around the US and on Amazon.

BIXBI Rawbble

Rawbble freeze dried dog food comes in little nuggets so you can “feed it just like kibble”, although I still sometimes smash the nuggets a little so they soak up more water (or I just add water to the bowl and let them float on top).

Rawbble is USA made and sourced with 98% meat, bones and organs.

It’s free of grains, gluten, animal meal, hormones, antibiotics, fillers, artificial flavorings or colors, and preservatives.

Meal choices include pasture-fed beef, free-range chicken, free-range duck and wild-caught salmon with free-range chicken.

Rawbble is available at many retailers around the US and on Amazon.

Orijen Freeze Dried

Orijen freeze dried dog food is one of my favorites just because I trust the really high quality of Orijen foods.

They claim that their gentle freeze drying process allows their food to “provide all the benefits of a raw diet in a convenient dry form.”

This is a “Whole Prey” raw food made with 80% meat/game/fish ingredients, 10% vegetables/fruits/botanicals, and 0% grain/potato/tapioca/plant protein concentrates.

It contains no grains or gluten.

Orijen freeze dried food comes in their Original, Regional Red, and Tundra formulas.

It’s available at many locations around the US and and on Amazon.

Favorite Canned Dog Food for My Dachshunds

Have you looked at the canned food options lately? I feel like there are almost more canned options than kibble and there are a bazillion of those.

To keep it simple for myself, I personally prefer pate style foods that are high in protein.

Identity Canned Dog Food

Identity Canned Dog Food stands out to me for a few reasons.

First, it’s one of the few wet dog foods that I’ve found that, in addition to being grain free, contains no potatoes or legumes.

Second, the company is 100% committed to using only the finest quality ingredients.

All of the flavors – grass fed Angus Beef, free-range quail and turkey, free-range prairie pork, free-range NZ lamb, free-range heritage turkey, free-range Cobb Chicken, and free-range Canadian Duck – use responsibly raised/sourced meats that are never frozen before production.

The meats are also 100% free of added hormones and antibiotics and are 100% GMO & BPA free. The food is manufactured in Canada and the company is US family owned.

A moist it’s a moist, limited ingredient pate that can be fed as a complete & balanced meal or as protein-rich topper to kibble or raw dog food.

I order this food from Amazon.

Hound and Gatos

Hound and Gatos came personally recommended to me by a friend who runs a Dachshund rescue in Florida.

It’s made of 100% Animal Protein (no plant protein), contains no fillers or meat by-products, and is manufactured in the USA in USDA-inspected facilities.

It comes in three flavors – Paleolithic Diet, Pork & Pork Liver, Duck.

Hound & Gatos was awarded, “The Most Trusted Pet Foods” by TruthAboutPetFood.com 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.” It was also included on the Whole Dog Journal approved canned foods list for 4 years.

It’s a pate style grain free canned food that’s a complete meal for all life stages.

I order this food from Amazon.

Instinct Ultimate Protein

Instinct Ultimate Protein is a grain free pate style canned dog food that’s a complete & balanced nutrition from real ingredients to support your dog’s health from puppy to senior.

The meats used in the food are “responsibly sourced” and the food is at least 95% protein (more for some flavors).

It’s made without grain, potato, corn, wheat, soy, carrageenan, artificial colors or preservatives – ingredients known to trigger food sensitivities.

It comes in two flavors – chicken or beef.

This food is available on Amazon and many pet food stores around the country (including Petsmart).

Favorite Dry Kibble for My Dachshunds

Note: These foods are on the “most commonly reported pet food brands named in DCM (heart condition) reports submitted to the FDA” (although lower on the list). See below for more details and my take on that.

Orijen Dry Dog Food

I’ve been a long-time fan of Orijen “Biologically Appropriate & Grain Free” dry dog food.

I don’t stick with just one of their formulas. However, I choose the Regional Red flavor most often.

They also make Original, Tundra, and Six-Fish flavors.

Although we don’t have to use it because Gretel and Summit are so active, I love that Origen makes a high-quality Fit & Trim food.

No matter which of their foods you choose, it’s at least 80% meat/game/fish ingredients, 10% vegetables/fruits/botanicals, and 0% grain/potato/tapioca/plant protein concentrates.

A full 2/3 of their meat ingredients are fresh (refrigerated, without preservatives) or raw (flash-frozen, without preservatives), including the top 10 ingredients.

Zinc is the only added nutrient because Whole Prey ratios of fresh meat (including muscle meat, organs, and cartilage or bone) provide virtually every nutrient your dog needs.

It’s available at many locations around the US and and on Amazon.

Nature’s Variety Instinct Ultimate Protein

Instinct Ultimate Protein Dog Kibble “mirrors the benefits of raw.” Their website says, it’s a kibble “with the highest levels of protein from real meat and unmatched digestibility (compared to other premium natural dog food brands).”

It’s made with up to 2x more real duck and chicken (it only comes in these two flavors) than many other pet food brands and is free of grain, potato, corn, wheat, soy, by-product meal, artificial colors or preservatives.

It does contain guaranteed levels of live, natural probiotics, natural omega oils and antioxidants.

There is a different high-quality formula with less protein (if your dog needs that).

It’s available in many stores around the US and on Amazon.

What About the Recent Grain Grain Free – Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) Connection?

Some people who have seen the foods that I feed my Dachshunds have asked me if I’m worried about Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) or warned me about it.

I’m very aware of the potential grain-free dog food connection to DCM. I’ve been following it since the first stirrings last year.

The issue is very complicated though.

It’s true that more and more dogs are becoming affected by the heart condition DCM.

It’s true that the most likely suspect is related to nutrition. Specifically, a taurine deficiency.

It’s logical that the first place to look for a cause is the kind of food the affected dogs have been eating.

So that is what the FDA has been doing.

There is mounting evidence that the dogs developing DCM have been eating boutique, exotic ingredients, or grain-free – “BEG” – diets high in peas/lentils/potatoes.

There is a theory that somehow those ingredients are interfering with the uptake of taurine from food.

Taurine is an amino acid found primarily in meat. It is important for the function of several body organs, including the heart.

Should I Switch My Dog’s Food from Grain Free?

First, I think it’s important to note that dogs who have been eating grain-free, or BEG, diets and have developed DCM have been eating one single food long-term.

As I’ve stated before, I switch my dog’s food regularly.

My reasoning is that  – as blogger friend who is more versed in dog nutrition than I am summed it up – feeding your dog the same thing their whole life can be bad for them (no matter how “good” the food is).

My current stance on the issue is, “Don’t panic and consult with your vet if you have concerns about your dog.”

You can read more about my opinion, and see what I think are the most important articles to read on this issue right now, on our Facebook page.

However, a few main points of the most recent FDA report are:

The current FDA report is just a compilation of dog breed, the dog food they were eating, and a few other details of each case reported to them in the last year or so. It lists facts of the known cases but there are, at their own admission, many, many other factors that could be involved in the heart issues (DCM).

ALL types of dog food (wet, kibble, raw) showed up in their reports at least once but most of the reports came from dogs eating kibble (this could be because a larger number of dogs eat kibble, not necessarily point to kibble as the culprit).

The food brands the FDA calls out are merely a list of foods reported most frequently. The proportions are influenced by several things like how popular the food is (means more people feed it), the income level and preference of the people who submitted reports (they choose to feed these “high quality” foods and can afford it… and can also afford diagnostic testing for DCM), etc.

The FDA is not saying that these foods are PROVEN to be the cause of heart issue in this specific order (and excluding other brands) but they just want you know the facts so you can make an informed decision. In other words, it’s not a statement that the listed foods CAUSED the heart issues, although they may have played a part in influencing it.

The FDA’s FAQ page about the report further clarifies:

It’s important to note that the reports include dogs that have eaten grain-free and grain containing foods and also include vegetarian or vegan formulations. They also include all forms of diets: kibble, canned, raw and home-cooked. Therefore, we do not think these cases can be explained simply by whether or not they contain grains, or by brand or manufacturer.”

At this time, we are not advising dietary changes based solely on the information we have gathered so far. If you have questions or concerns about your dog’s health or its diet, we suggest that you consult your veterinarian.

Anyway, I’m not changing how I feed Gretel and Summit right now. I already do not feed them much kibble, most of the foods I feed them are high in protein and low in carbs (legumes, potatoes, grains), and I rotate their food at least monthly.

What to Do If You Are Concerned About Your Own Dog

If, unlike me, you are immediately concerned about your dog’s health or diet, here are a two things you can do:

Consult with your veterinarian to check the current health of your pet’s heart, check for a taurine deficiency, and discuss your dog’s diet.

Transition your dog’s food (follow these instructions if you do) to something that is lower in peas/lentils/potatoes. Foods to look into would be ones that are primarily protein (organ, meat, bones) and/or contain low glycemic grains.

You can also do more reading on DCM and taurine deficiency in general.

So there you have it. These are the foods that I have deemed high quality for my fit and healthy Dachshunds (although, like I said, they occasionally eat other dog foods too).

Leave a comment below if you have a question about these foods or our feeding routine in general.

<!– –>

source http://www.luckydogsolutions.com/what-i-feed-my-active-dachshunds-to-help-keep-them-healthy/ from Lucky Dog Solutions https://luckydogsolutions.blogspot.com/2020/07/what-i-feed-my-active-dachshunds-to.html

[barryswamsleyaz]

What I Feed My Active Dachshunds to Help Keep Them Healthy

I’ve been asked these questions lot over the years:

“What dog food do you recommend for Dachshunds?” “What should I feed my Dachshund to keep them healthy like yours?” “What do you think about food X or Y for Dachshunds?”

For the most part, I’ve also creatively dodged those questions a lot over the years.

You see, every dog is different. Every owner preference is different. Every budget is different.

There isn’t one right food for every dog.

Also, as we’ve found with the recent Hill’s Pet Nutrition recalls, and the potential grain-free dog food – heart health connection, what we think is good for a while can turn out to be not so great after all.

However, I finally decided it was about time I wrote something about what Summit and Gretel eat though. That way I have a place to point people when they ask in the future.

While I’m still not comfortable recommending specific foods for other dogs, I’ve become more comfortable with the idea of sharing what works best for us and letting you make the decision about what is right for your yours.

Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase.

The Dog Foods That I Feed My Healthy Dachshunds

I’ve fed all forms of dog foods over the years – kibble with grain, kibble without grain, canned “wet” food, pre-made frozen raw food, freeze dried raw food.

Today, no matter what the food type, I primarily choose dog foods that are high in protein.

Protein is important for muscle development, which is really important for active dogs.

Note: High protein works for my dogs. It doesn’t work for all dogs so be sure to check with your vet if you suspect your dog.

Summit and Gretel primarily eat raw dog food now but it’s more of a personal choice.

I give them frozen prepared raw because I’m not interested in learning how to create a balanced diet and making my own raw meals at this time.

However, I do sometimes, for a treat and additional nutrient variety, add fun things to their raw dog food to “dress it up”.

I’m also not a stickler for raw feeding.

I mean, humans don’t eat the same food all of the time. It would make is unhealthy – and, to me, that includes different FORMS of food, not just different brands or sources of protein.

That means, at any given time, Summit and Gretel may be eating a food that is not on this list.

But here are the foods I love and feed the most frequently.

Favorite Frozen Prepared Raw Dog Food for My Dachshunds

Darwin’s Natural Selections

Darwin’s Natural Selections raw dog food is convenient because you can sign up for a subscription and it arrives on your doorstep every 4-6 weeks (your choice) packed in dry ice.

All of their balanced, complete meals – chicken, beef, lamb, turkey, and duck – are made of 75% grass fed or cage-free meat and 25% organic vegetables.

They are also free of gluten, grain, steroids, hormones, and antibiotics.

You can customize your order by choosing the meats you want and the amount of each.

Darwin’s Food can be shipped anywhere in the United States for a $6.50 minimum (shipping costs vary depending on where you are located). If you live in the Seattle or Portland metropolitan areas, you may be in their free home delivery area.

If you’re new to Darwin’s and not sure what or how much to feed you can contact them for a free menu consultation.

Wild Coast Raw

Wild Coast Raw dog food is a “seasonally sourced craft raw food” created with oversight from a veterinarian with 25 years experience.

One of my favorite things about this raw food is that the ingredients are ground but not as small as with most raw foods. You can actually still see chunks of meat in there.

While “flavor” choices can vary by season, their grass-fed beef and free-range turkey meals seem to be available most of the year.

All formulas are made with organic vegetables.

This food is made in Olympia, WA and it appears that it’s only available to purchase in Washington State pet stores.

Steve’s Real Food

Steve’s Real raw dog food is a complete and balanced diet made with grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free meats and poultry.

Steve’s Real Food follows Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (B.A.R.F.) model of 80% Meat/Organ/Bone and 20% Produce.

They source most of the meat and all of the produce from the Northwest.

The meals come in beef, chicken, turkey, turducken, and pork.

You can find Steve’s Real Food at many pet stores around the country.

Nature’s Variety Instinct® Raw

I like Instinct® Raw dog food because it’s high quality and pretty to easy to find in any major city (and some not so major) when we travel.

Their balanced, complete meals are made with 85% real meat and organs and 15% fruits, vegetables and vitamins and minerals.

They use ingredients closest to their natural state like real meat and non-GMO fruits and vegetables.

Their raw meals never include grain, corn, wheat, soy, artificial colors or preservatives.

Meal choices include beef, chicken, and lamb.

You can find Instinct® Raw at many pet stores around the country.

Vital Essentials

Vital Essentials was the first frozen, prepared raw food that I fed Gretel and my previous Dachshund Chester.

Chester was 8 when I made the switch and I saw a huge difference in his energy levels.

That change was likely due to a switch to raw food in general but this Prey Model Raw (PMR) food is unique because it doesn’t contain any fruits or vegetables. Your dog gets all of the nutrients it needs from only meat, organs, and bone.

In the case of Vital Essentials, the ratios are 45% muscle meat, 45% organs and 10% bone content (all from the same protein source).

Vital Essentials raw meat materials are harvested in the U.S.A and they process 100% of our own food in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Meal choices include beef, chicken, duck, rabbit, and turkey.

It’s available in stores around the US.

Favorite Freeze Dried Raw Dog Food for my Dachshunds

There is a disagreement over whether freeze dried “raw” dog food is actually raw. It IS processed and some people claim that the drying process can diminish the benefits of fresh, raw meals.

Personally, I believe that the processing and drying doesn’t make a significant difference in the nutrition, specially if you choose those brands that make an effort to maintain as much of the original nutrients as possible during processing.

However, these foods contain significantly less moisture than raw food so it’s very important to re-hydrate them or at least add a good amount of water to the food when feeding.

Small Batch Freeze Dried Sliders

Small Batch is one of my favorite freeze dried dog foods to use because it’s easier to crumble and rehydrate.

Depending on where you buy this food, it’s either made in a facility in California or Oregon. All ingredients are sourced from those states and/or Washington and Colorado.

Small Batch is made with all-natural, certified, humanely raised and harvested meats that are free of hormones and antibiotics.  They try to use certified organic meat whenever possible.

Vegetables and herbs used are certified organic, non-GMO, and free of pesticides.

Meal flavors include beef. chicken, turkey, duck, and lamb.

All of their formulas are 88% beef, 10% produce, 2% supplements (except for the lamb which is 78% lamb, 20% produce, 2% supplements)

Small Batch is available in stores around the US and on Amazon.

BIXBI Rawbble

Rawbble freeze dried dog food comes in little nuggets so you can “feed it just like kibble”, although I still sometimes smash the nuggets a little so they soak up more water (or I just add water to the bowl and let them float on top).

Rawbble is USA made and sourced with 98% meat, bones and organs.

It’s free of grains, gluten, animal meal, hormones, antibiotics, fillers, artificial flavorings or colors, and preservatives.

Meal choices include pasture-fed beef, free-range chicken, free-range duck and wild-caught salmon with free-range chicken.

Rawbble is available at many retailers around the US and on Amazon.

Orijen Freeze Dried

Orijen freeze dried dog food is one of my favorites just because I trust the really high quality of Orijen foods.

They claim that their gentle freeze drying process allows their food to “provide all the benefits of a raw diet in a convenient dry form.”

This is a “Whole Prey” raw food made with 80% meat/game/fish ingredients, 10% vegetables/fruits/botanicals, and 0% grain/potato/tapioca/plant protein concentrates.

It contains no grains or gluten.

Orijen freeze dried food comes in their Original, Regional Red, and Tundra formulas.

It’s available at many locations around the US and and on Amazon.

Favorite Canned Dog Food for My Dachshunds

Have you looked at the canned food options lately? I feel like there are almost more canned options than kibble and there are a bazillion of those.

To keep it simple for myself, I personally prefer pate style foods that are high in protein.

Identity Canned Dog Food

Identity Canned Dog Food stands out to me for a few reasons.

First, it’s one of the few wet dog foods that I’ve found that, in addition to being grain free, contains no potatoes or legumes.

Second, the company is 100% committed to using only the finest quality ingredients.

All of the flavors – grass fed Angus Beef, free-range quail and turkey, free-range prairie pork, free-range NZ lamb, free-range heritage turkey, free-range Cobb Chicken, and free-range Canadian Duck – use responsibly raised/sourced meats that are never frozen before production.

The meats are also 100% free of added hormones and antibiotics and are 100% GMO & BPA free. The food is manufactured in Canada and the company is US family owned.

A moist it’s a moist, limited ingredient pate that can be fed as a complete & balanced meal or as protein-rich topper to kibble or raw dog food.

I order this food from Amazon.

Hound and Gatos

Hound and Gatos came personally recommended to me by a friend who runs a Dachshund rescue in Florida.

It’s made of 100% Animal Protein (no plant protein), contains no fillers or meat by-products, and is manufactured in the USA in USDA-inspected facilities.

It comes in three flavors – Paleolithic Diet, Pork & Pork Liver, Duck.

Hound & Gatos was awarded, “The Most Trusted Pet Foods” by TruthAboutPetFood.com 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.” It was also included on the Whole Dog Journal approved canned foods list for 4 years.

It’s a pate style grain free canned food that’s a complete meal for all life stages.

I order this food from Amazon.

Instinct Ultimate Protein

Instinct Ultimate Protein is a grain free pate style canned dog food that’s a complete & balanced nutrition from real ingredients to support your dog’s health from puppy to senior.

The meats used in the food are “responsibly sourced” and the food is at least 95% protein (more for some flavors).

It’s made without grain, potato, corn, wheat, soy, carrageenan, artificial colors or preservatives – ingredients known to trigger food sensitivities.

It comes in two flavors – chicken or beef.

This food is available on Amazon and many pet food stores around the country (including Petsmart).

Favorite Dry Kibble for My Dachshunds

Note: These foods are on the “most commonly reported pet food brands named in DCM (heart condition) reports submitted to the FDA” (although lower on the list). See below for more details and my take on that.

Orijen Dry Dog Food

I’ve been a long-time fan of Orijen “Biologically Appropriate & Grain Free” dry dog food.

I don’t stick with just one of their formulas. However, I choose the Regional Red flavor most often.

They also make Original, Tundra, and Six-Fish flavors.

Although we don’t have to use it because Gretel and Summit are so active, I love that Origen makes a high-quality Fit & Trim food.

No matter which of their foods you choose, it’s at least 80% meat/game/fish ingredients, 10% vegetables/fruits/botanicals, and 0% grain/potato/tapioca/plant protein concentrates.

A full 2/3 of their meat ingredients are fresh (refrigerated, without preservatives) or raw (flash-frozen, without preservatives), including the top 10 ingredients.

Zinc is the only added nutrient because Whole Prey ratios of fresh meat (including muscle meat, organs, and cartilage or bone) provide virtually every nutrient your dog needs.

It’s available at many locations around the US and and on Amazon.

Nature’s Variety Instinct Ultimate Protein

Instinct Ultimate Protein Dog Kibble “mirrors the benefits of raw.” Their website says, it’s a kibble “with the highest levels of protein from real meat and unmatched digestibility (compared to other premium natural dog food brands).”

It’s made with up to 2x more real duck and chicken (it only comes in these two flavors) than many other pet food brands and is free of grain, potato, corn, wheat, soy, by-product meal, artificial colors or preservatives.

It does contain guaranteed levels of live, natural probiotics, natural omega oils and antioxidants.

There is a different high-quality formula with less protein (if your dog needs that).

It’s available in many stores around the US and on Amazon.

What About the Recent Grain Grain Free – Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) Connection?

Some people who have seen the foods that I feed my Dachshunds have asked me if I’m worried about Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) or warned me about it.

I’m very aware of the potential grain-free dog food connection to DCM. I’ve been following it since the first stirrings last year.

The issue is very complicated though.

It’s true that more and more dogs are becoming affected by the heart condition DCM.

It’s true that the most likely suspect is related to nutrition. Specifically, a taurine deficiency.

It’s logical that the first place to look for a cause is the kind of food the affected dogs have been eating.

So that is what the FDA has been doing.

There is mounting evidence that the dogs developing DCM have been eating boutique, exotic ingredients, or grain-free – “BEG” – diets high in peas/lentils/potatoes.

There is a theory that somehow those ingredients are interfering with the uptake of taurine from food.

Taurine is an amino acid found primarily in meat. It is important for the function of several body organs, including the heart.

Should I Switch My Dog’s Food from Grain Free?

First, I think it’s important to note that dogs who have been eating grain-free, or BEG, diets and have developed DCM have been eating one single food long-term.

As I’ve stated before, I switch my dog’s food regularly.

My reasoning is that  – as blogger friend who is more versed in dog nutrition than I am summed it up – feeding your dog the same thing their whole life can be bad for them (no matter how “good” the food is).

My current stance on the issue is, “Don’t panic and consult with your vet if you have concerns about your dog.”

You can read more about my opinion, and see what I think are the most important articles to read on this issue right now, on our Facebook page.

However, a few main points of the most recent FDA report are:

The current FDA report is just a compilation of dog breed, the dog food they were eating, and a few other details of each case reported to them in the last year or so. It lists facts of the known cases but there are, at their own admission, many, many other factors that could be involved in the heart issues (DCM).

ALL types of dog food (wet, kibble, raw) showed up in their reports at least once but most of the reports came from dogs eating kibble (this could be because a larger number of dogs eat kibble, not necessarily point to kibble as the culprit).

The food brands the FDA calls out are merely a list of foods reported most frequently. The proportions are influenced by several things like how popular the food is (means more people feed it), the income level and preference of the people who submitted reports (they choose to feed these “high quality” foods and can afford it… and can also afford diagnostic testing for DCM), etc.

The FDA is not saying that these foods are PROVEN to be the cause of heart issue in this specific order (and excluding other brands) but they just want you know the facts so you can make an informed decision. In other words, it’s not a statement that the listed foods CAUSED the heart issues, although they may have played a part in influencing it.

The FDA’s FAQ page about the report further clarifies:

It’s important to note that the reports include dogs that have eaten grain-free and grain containing foods and also include vegetarian or vegan formulations. They also include all forms of diets: kibble, canned, raw and home-cooked. Therefore, we do not think these cases can be explained simply by whether or not they contain grains, or by brand or manufacturer.”

At this time, we are not advising dietary changes based solely on the information we have gathered so far. If you have questions or concerns about your dog’s health or its diet, we suggest that you consult your veterinarian.

Anyway, I’m not changing how I feed Gretel and Summit right now. I already do not feed them much kibble, most of the foods I feed them are high in protein and low in carbs (legumes, potatoes, grains), and I rotate their food at least monthly.

What to Do If You Are Concerned About Your Own Dog

If, unlike me, you are immediately concerned about your dog’s health or diet, here are a two things you can do:

Consult with your veterinarian to check the current health of your pet’s heart, check for a taurine deficiency, and discuss your dog’s diet.

Transition your dog’s food (follow these instructions if you do) to something that is lower in peas/lentils/potatoes. Foods to look into would be ones that are primarily protein (organ, meat, bones) and/or contain low glycemic grains.

You can also do more reading on DCM and taurine deficiency in general.

So there you have it. These are the foods that I have deemed high quality for my fit and healthy Dachshunds (although, like I said, they occasionally eat other dog foods too).

Leave a comment below if you have a question about these foods or our feeding routine in general.

<!– –>

from Lucky Dog Solutions http://www.luckydogsolutions.com/what-i-feed-my-active-dachshunds-to-help-keep-them-healthy/ from Lucky Dog Solutions https://luckydogsolutions.tumblr.com/post/624382194787467264

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What I Feed My Active Dachshunds to Help Keep Them Healthy

I’ve been asked these questions lot over the years:

“What dog food do you recommend for Dachshunds?” “What should I feed my Dachshund to keep them healthy like yours?” “What do you think about food X or Y for Dachshunds?”

For the most part, I’ve also creatively dodged those questions a lot over the years.

You see, every dog is different. Every owner preference is different. Every budget is different.

There isn’t one right food for every dog.

Also, as we’ve found with the recent Hill’s Pet Nutrition recalls, and the potential grain-free dog food – heart health connection, what we think is good for a while can turn out to be not so great after all.

However, I finally decided it was about time I wrote something about what Summit and Gretel eat though. That way I have a place to point people when they ask in the future.

While I’m still not comfortable recommending specific foods for other dogs, I’ve become more comfortable with the idea of sharing what works best for us and letting you make the decision about what is right for your yours.

Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase.

The Dog Foods That I Feed My Healthy Dachshunds

I’ve fed all forms of dog foods over the years – kibble with grain, kibble without grain, canned “wet” food, pre-made frozen raw food, freeze dried raw food.

Today, no matter what the food type, I primarily choose dog foods that are high in protein.

Protein is important for muscle development, which is really important for active dogs.

Note: High protein works for my dogs. It doesn’t work for all dogs so be sure to check with your vet if you suspect your dog.

Summit and Gretel primarily eat raw dog food now but it’s more of a personal choice.

I give them frozen prepared raw because I’m not interested in learning how to create a balanced diet and making my own raw meals at this time.

However, I do sometimes, for a treat and additional nutrient variety, add fun things to their raw dog food to “dress it up”.

I’m also not a stickler for raw feeding.

I mean, humans don’t eat the same food all of the time. It would make is unhealthy – and, to me, that includes different FORMS of food, not just different brands or sources of protein.

That means, at any given time, Summit and Gretel may be eating a food that is not on this list.

But here are the foods I love and feed the most frequently.

Favorite Frozen Prepared Raw Dog Food for My Dachshunds

Darwin’s Natural Selections

Darwin’s Natural Selections raw dog food is convenient because you can sign up for a subscription and it arrives on your doorstep every 4-6 weeks (your choice) packed in dry ice.

All of their balanced, complete meals – chicken, beef, lamb, turkey, and duck – are made of 75% grass fed or cage-free meat and 25% organic vegetables.

They are also free of gluten, grain, steroids, hormones, and antibiotics.

You can customize your order by choosing the meats you want and the amount of each.

Darwin’s Food can be shipped anywhere in the United States for a $6.50 minimum (shipping costs vary depending on where you are located). If you live in the Seattle or Portland metropolitan areas, you may be in their free home delivery area.

If you’re new to Darwin’s and not sure what or how much to feed you can contact them for a free menu consultation.

Wild Coast Raw

Wild Coast Raw dog food is a “seasonally sourced craft raw food” created with oversight from a veterinarian with 25 years experience.

One of my favorite things about this raw food is that the ingredients are ground but not as small as with most raw foods. You can actually still see chunks of meat in there.

While “flavor” choices can vary by season, their grass-fed beef and free-range turkey meals seem to be available most of the year.

All formulas are made with organic vegetables.

This food is made in Olympia, WA and it appears that it’s only available to purchase in Washington State pet stores.

Steve’s Real Food

Steve’s Real raw dog food is a complete and balanced diet made with grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free meats and poultry.

Steve’s Real Food follows Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (B.A.R.F.) model of 80% Meat/Organ/Bone and 20% Produce.

They source most of the meat and all of the produce from the Northwest.

The meals come in beef, chicken, turkey, turducken, and pork.

You can find Steve’s Real Food at many pet stores around the country.

Nature’s Variety Instinct® Raw

I like Instinct® Raw dog food because it’s high quality and pretty to easy to find in any major city (and some not so major) when we travel.

Their balanced, complete meals are made with 85% real meat and organs and 15% fruits, vegetables and vitamins and minerals.

They use ingredients closest to their natural state like real meat and non-GMO fruits and vegetables.

Their raw meals never include grain, corn, wheat, soy, artificial colors or preservatives.

Meal choices include beef, chicken, and lamb.

You can find Instinct® Raw at many pet stores around the country.

Vital Essentials

Vital Essentials was the first frozen, prepared raw food that I fed Gretel and my previous Dachshund Chester.

Chester was 8 when I made the switch and I saw a huge difference in his energy levels.

That change was likely due to a switch to raw food in general but this Prey Model Raw (PMR) food is unique because it doesn’t contain any fruits or vegetables. Your dog gets all of the nutrients it needs from only meat, organs, and bone.

In the case of Vital Essentials, the ratios are 45% muscle meat, 45% organs and 10% bone content (all from the same protein source).

Vital Essentials raw meat materials are harvested in the U.S.A and they process 100% of our own food in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Meal choices include beef, chicken, duck, rabbit, and turkey.

It’s available in stores around the US.

Favorite Freeze Dried Raw Dog Food for my Dachshunds

There is a disagreement over whether freeze dried “raw” dog food is actually raw. It IS processed and some people claim that the drying process can diminish the benefits of fresh, raw meals.

Personally, I believe that the processing and drying doesn’t make a significant difference in the nutrition, specially if you choose those brands that make an effort to maintain as much of the original nutrients as possible during processing.

However, these foods contain significantly less moisture than raw food so it’s very important to re-hydrate them or at least add a good amount of water to the food when feeding.

Small Batch Freeze Dried Sliders

Small Batch is one of my favorite freeze dried dog foods to use because it’s easier to crumble and rehydrate.

Depending on where you buy this food, it’s either made in a facility in California or Oregon. All ingredients are sourced from those states and/or Washington and Colorado.

Small Batch is made with all-natural, certified, humanely raised and harvested meats that are free of hormones and antibiotics.  They try to use certified organic meat whenever possible.

Vegetables and herbs used are certified organic, non-GMO, and free of pesticides.

Meal flavors include beef. chicken, turkey, duck, and lamb.

All of their formulas are 88% beef, 10% produce, 2% supplements (except for the lamb which is 78% lamb, 20% produce, 2% supplements)

Small Batch is available in stores around the US and on Amazon.

BIXBI Rawbble

Rawbble freeze dried dog food comes in little nuggets so you can “feed it just like kibble”, although I still sometimes smash the nuggets a little so they soak up more water (or I just add water to the bowl and let them float on top).

Rawbble is USA made and sourced with 98% meat, bones and organs.

It’s free of grains, gluten, animal meal, hormones, antibiotics, fillers, artificial flavorings or colors, and preservatives.

Meal choices include pasture-fed beef, free-range chicken, free-range duck and wild-caught salmon with free-range chicken.

Rawbble is available at many retailers around the US and on Amazon.

Orijen Freeze Dried

Orijen freeze dried dog food is one of my favorites just because I trust the really high quality of Orijen foods.

They claim that their gentle freeze drying process allows their food to “provide all the benefits of a raw diet in a convenient dry form.”

This is a “Whole Prey” raw food made with 80% meat/game/fish ingredients, 10% vegetables/fruits/botanicals, and 0% grain/potato/tapioca/plant protein concentrates.

It contains no grains or gluten.

Orijen freeze dried food comes in their Original, Regional Red, and Tundra formulas.

It’s available at many locations around the US and and on Amazon.

Favorite Canned Dog Food for My Dachshunds

Have you looked at the canned food options lately? I feel like there are almost more canned options than kibble and there are a bazillion of those.

To keep it simple for myself, I personally prefer pate style foods that are high in protein.

Identity Canned Dog Food

Identity Canned Dog Food stands out to me for a few reasons.

First, it’s one of the few wet dog foods that I’ve found that, in addition to being grain free, contains no potatoes or legumes.

Second, the company is 100% committed to using only the finest quality ingredients.

All of the flavors – grass fed Angus Beef, free-range quail and turkey, free-range prairie pork, free-range NZ lamb, free-range heritage turkey, free-range Cobb Chicken, and free-range Canadian Duck – use responsibly raised/sourced meats that are never frozen before production.

The meats are also 100% free of added hormones and antibiotics and are 100% GMO & BPA free. The food is manufactured in Canada and the company is US family owned.

A moist it’s a moist, limited ingredient pate that can be fed as a complete & balanced meal or as protein-rich topper to kibble or raw dog food.

I order this food from Amazon.

Hound and Gatos

Hound and Gatos came personally recommended to me by a friend who runs a Dachshund rescue in Florida.

It’s made of 100% Animal Protein (no plant protein), contains no fillers or meat by-products, and is manufactured in the USA in USDA-inspected facilities.

It comes in three flavors – Paleolithic Diet, Pork & Pork Liver, Duck.

Hound & Gatos was awarded, “The Most Trusted Pet Foods” by TruthAboutPetFood.com 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.” It was also included on the Whole Dog Journal approved canned foods list for 4 years.

It’s a pate style grain free canned food that’s a complete meal for all life stages.

I order this food from Amazon.

Instinct Ultimate Protein

Instinct Ultimate Protein is a grain free pate style canned dog food that’s a complete & balanced nutrition from real ingredients to support your dog’s health from puppy to senior.

The meats used in the food are “responsibly sourced” and the food is at least 95% protein (more for some flavors).

It’s made without grain, potato, corn, wheat, soy, carrageenan, artificial colors or preservatives – ingredients known to trigger food sensitivities.

It comes in two flavors – chicken or beef.

This food is available on Amazon and many pet food stores around the country (including Petsmart).

Favorite Dry Kibble for My Dachshunds

Note: These foods are on the “most commonly reported pet food brands named in DCM (heart condition) reports submitted to the FDA” (although lower on the list). See below for more details and my take on that.

Orijen Dry Dog Food

I’ve been a long-time fan of Orijen “Biologically Appropriate & Grain Free” dry dog food.

I don’t stick with just one of their formulas. However, I choose the Regional Red flavor most often.

They also make Original, Tundra, and Six-Fish flavors.

Although we don’t have to use it because Gretel and Summit are so active, I love that Origen makes a high-quality Fit & Trim food.

No matter which of their foods you choose, it’s at least 80% meat/game/fish ingredients, 10% vegetables/fruits/botanicals, and 0% grain/potato/tapioca/plant protein concentrates.

A full 2/3 of their meat ingredients are fresh (refrigerated, without preservatives) or raw (flash-frozen, without preservatives), including the top 10 ingredients.

Zinc is the only added nutrient because Whole Prey ratios of fresh meat (including muscle meat, organs, and cartilage or bone) provide virtually every nutrient your dog needs.

It’s available at many locations around the US and and on Amazon.

Nature’s Variety Instinct Ultimate Protein

Instinct Ultimate Protein Dog Kibble “mirrors the benefits of raw.” Their website says, it’s a kibble “with the highest levels of protein from real meat and unmatched digestibility (compared to other premium natural dog food brands).”

It’s made with up to 2x more real duck and chicken (it only comes in these two flavors) than many other pet food brands and is free of grain, potato, corn, wheat, soy, by-product meal, artificial colors or preservatives.

It does contain guaranteed levels of live, natural probiotics, natural omega oils and antioxidants.

There is a different high-quality formula with less protein (if your dog needs that).

It’s available in many stores around the US and on Amazon.

What About the Recent Grain Grain Free – Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) Connection?

Some people who have seen the foods that I feed my Dachshunds have asked me if I’m worried about Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) or warned me about it.

I’m very aware of the potential grain-free dog food connection to DCM. I’ve been following it since the first stirrings last year.

The issue is very complicated though.

It’s true that more and more dogs are becoming affected by the heart condition DCM.

It’s true that the most likely suspect is related to nutrition. Specifically, a taurine deficiency.

It’s logical that the first place to look for a cause is the kind of food the affected dogs have been eating.

So that is what the FDA has been doing.

There is mounting evidence that the dogs developing DCM have been eating boutique, exotic ingredients, or grain-free – “BEG” – diets high in peas/lentils/potatoes.

There is a theory that somehow those ingredients are interfering with the uptake of taurine from food.

Taurine is an amino acid found primarily in meat. It is important for the function of several body organs, including the heart.

Should I Switch My Dog’s Food from Grain Free?

First, I think it’s important to note that dogs who have been eating grain-free, or BEG, diets and have developed DCM have been eating one single food long-term.

As I’ve stated before, I switch my dog’s food regularly.

My reasoning is that  – as blogger friend who is more versed in dog nutrition than I am summed it up – feeding your dog the same thing their whole life can be bad for them (no matter how “good” the food is).

My current stance on the issue is, “Don’t panic and consult with your vet if you have concerns about your dog.”

You can read more about my opinion, and see what I think are the most important articles to read on this issue right now, on our Facebook page.

However, a few main points of the most recent FDA report are:

The current FDA report is just a compilation of dog breed, the dog food they were eating, and a few other details of each case reported to them in the last year or so. It lists facts of the known cases but there are, at their own admission, many, many other factors that could be involved in the heart issues (DCM).

ALL types of dog food (wet, kibble, raw) showed up in their reports at least once but most of the reports came from dogs eating kibble (this could be because a larger number of dogs eat kibble, not necessarily point to kibble as the culprit).

The food brands the FDA calls out are merely a list of foods reported most frequently. The proportions are influenced by several things like how popular the food is (means more people feed it), the income level and preference of the people who submitted reports (they choose to feed these “high quality” foods and can afford it… and can also afford diagnostic testing for DCM), etc.

The FDA is not saying that these foods are PROVEN to be the cause of heart issue in this specific order (and excluding other brands) but they just want you know the facts so you can make an informed decision. In other words, it’s not a statement that the listed foods CAUSED the heart issues, although they may have played a part in influencing it.

The FDA’s FAQ page about the report further clarifies:

It’s important to note that the reports include dogs that have eaten grain-free and grain containing foods and also include vegetarian or vegan formulations. They also include all forms of diets: kibble, canned, raw and home-cooked. Therefore, we do not think these cases can be explained simply by whether or not they contain grains, or by brand or manufacturer.”

At this time, we are not advising dietary changes based solely on the information we have gathered so far. If you have questions or concerns about your dog’s health or its diet, we suggest that you consult your veterinarian.

Anyway, I’m not changing how I feed Gretel and Summit right now. I already do not feed them much kibble, most of the foods I feed them are high in protein and low in carbs (legumes, potatoes, grains), and I rotate their food at least monthly.

What to Do If You Are Concerned About Your Own Dog

If, unlike me, you are immediately concerned about your dog’s health or diet, here are a two things you can do:

Consult with your veterinarian to check the current health of your pet’s heart, check for a taurine deficiency, and discuss your dog’s diet.

Transition your dog’s food (follow these instructions if you do) to something that is lower in peas/lentils/potatoes. Foods to look into would be ones that are primarily protein (organ, meat, bones) and/or contain low glycemic grains.

You can also do more reading on DCM and taurine deficiency in general.

So there you have it. These are the foods that I have deemed high quality for my fit and healthy Dachshunds (although, like I said, they occasionally eat other dog foods too).

Leave a comment below if you have a question about these foods or our feeding routine in general.

<!– –>

from Lucky Dog Solutions http://www.luckydogsolutions.com/what-i-feed-my-active-dachshunds-to-help-keep-them-healthy/