Category: Pets

Crankypantsing, Meta, Pets

Wake-up Calls

Shelly

I suddenly woke up at 2am and remembered that I had to renew my domain name. Oops! It expired yesterday. All is well, though. Those 2am reminders are a pain in the ass, but they usually make enough of an impression that they stick with me.

Still haven’t decided what to do about my computer. Also, still cranky as hell about it!

A cute Harriet story:

I’ve been letting her hang out on the patio, on a tie-out, while I’m in the living/dining room and can keep an eye/ear on her. This allows her to have time to mooch around, eat grass, lie in the sun, and watch the wee woodland critters, all of which she enjoys tremendously.

There are usually other dogs outside, most of them hanging out on upper balconies. Harriet knows she’s not supposed to bark (I bring her in as soon as she does), so when the other dogs bark at her, she’s taken to MOOOing back at them. She sounds *exactly* like a very small cow. It is crazy cute. You can actually see when she is getting ready to moo, because she stretches out her neck–just like a cow!–, lowers her head, and takes a deep breath. Then, she purses up her lips and MOOOOOOOs.

Pets

More Recalls

Shelly

They’re like the Energizer bunny. It’s Menu Foods again, only this time, it’s foods that do not contain gluten. The company is claiming that it’s a cross-contamination problem, but after ANI’s little stunt with adding gluten to products that were not supposed to contain it, I can’t help but be a bit cynical.

Anyway, if you have a pet, you really need to keep on top of this. Itchmo and the Pet Connection blog are both good sources of information. I’d recommend keeping an eye on the FDA’s website, too, but keep in mind that they are not updating in a timely fashion.

Pets, Photography

Smile!

Shelly

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Harriet and I played a game of soccer with an empty ice cream container. Obviously, she won (and quite pleased with herself, too!), but that’s to be expected. Four feet beat two, right?

For a while now, I’ve been mulling over switching at least some of my Flickr stream to a Creative Commons license. While I was hunting for images relating to the potato famine, I was very happy to find some that were CC licensed. That made up my mind for me. It just seems to be a community minded thing to do. Not that I think my photos are anything special, but if someone did want to use them, now they can. I extended it to artwork, too.

That doesn’t mean I’ve given up my copyright. That’s still mine. It just means that folks may use my images and artwork without asking for permission, given that they A) attribute me, B) the use is not commercial, and C) they share alike.

In other meta-news, lordy! I had a ten-fold increase in unique visitors yesterday. I don’t know what accounted for the spike. Very weird.

Pets, Photography

Cuz-watch 2007

Shelly

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Bad Cuz still has his feet. He’s made of stern stuff, it seems. Harriet has taken to wandering around with him dangling out of the side of her mouth. She also likes to sleep with him, and will occasionally bury him in my bed, under my pillows. Thankfully, he’s a little too big for her to really fit into her mouth, so she can’t squeak him properly. If she could, it would surely make my ears bleed.

Pets

Pet Food Part Deux

Shelly

Just for the record, I ended up going with Evo (turkey and chicken) for Harriet and Felidae Cat and Kitten (chicken and turkey) for Pandora. Evo is kind of wacky, in that it’s meant to mimic a raw diet. It’s super high in protein, but has no grains whatsoever. After I fed Harriet her tea (4-5pm feeding), she sat in front of the cupboard where I store their food, with her ears clamped down tight, and sang to it. She likes it.

Pandora was also happy with the switch. She’s had Felidae before, so I’m sure she’ll do well on it. I opted for the non-senior formula, because I’m not convinced that senior foods are appropriate for cats. At least, most of the senior foods I’ve seen, which have been higher in carbs, and lower in protein and fat. They also tend to be less smelly and palatable. Because cats are super reliant on their sense of smell and taste, and since those senses deteriorate with age, senior cats often turn into finicky eaters. In order to keep them thriving, it’s important to make sure they can smell their food, so that they will eat it.

I also got some good pointers for making homemade food (dog) from one of the dog newsgroup folks. I’ve got some more researching to do, and am going to sign up for a Yahoo group she recommended. I’m seriously considering switching Harriet over to at least a partially homemade diet.

This recall BS scares the crap out of me.

Crankypantsing, Pets

Pet Food

Shelly

If you own a dog or a cat, you’ve been following the pet food contamination story pretty closely. Rice and corn glutens have now been implicated alongside wheat gluten as being contaminated with melamine. The most logical theory I’ve seen so far is that the melamine was added deliberately, in order to make the gluten appear to have more protein than it really does. Higher protein means more money for the distributor. Melamine is apparently added to ruminant feed, but because of their longer and more complex digestive systems, the practice is (relatively, at least) harmless. Cattle can metabolize the melamine without it harming them.

Anyway, I have to buy both dog and cat food today. Harriet got the end of hers this morning, and Pandora is on her last bowl of food. I’m not looking forward to this. None of the foods I’ve been feeding my animals have any kind of gluten in them, but I’m still leery. There have been so many delays and so much politicking involved in recalls so far that I just don’t trust the government or the pet food industry to get information to us in a timely fashion.

So, what to do, what to do? I think I’m going to go with Canidae and Felidae. I’ve fed both in the past, long-term, and was very happy with the general health of my cats and dogs. Canidae does not use glutens of any kind in their feeds, and they claim that all their ingredients are grown and processed in the US. I have no reason to doubt that they are a trustworthy company, but I can’t help but be concerned.

Also, it’s Little 500 weekend, and I have to work tomorrow. Kill me now!

Pets, Photography

Happy Birthday Miss Brown

Shelly

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A day late, but that’s okay, because it’s not a real birthday. I just know she was born around this time.

It’s hard to believe, but Harriet is 8 years old. To celebrate, she had a special breakfast of scrambled egg with cheese and mushrooms on toast. No cake, alas, but I don’t think she minded. After an extra long walk, a game of Fetch-n-Kill the Ball, and some quality rawhide time, she was ready for her beauty sleep.