Pet Shopping

I'm back home after a long day of shopping around town with my Mom. Most of the shopping was pet related (as usual), although some was also for myself. It's ridiculous how excited I get when I find something new and improved for my pets. Remember how excited I was when I bought the automatic self-cleaning litter box? Today was almost as exciting. What I bought today:

Photo: Walmart

1. Bamboo Eco Potty Pads, with adhesive strips! When Odie is at my parent's house, where they have an easily accessible yard, she is 100% housetrained, no doubt about it. She whines at the door to be let out, and does her business quickly. At home, it's a bit of a different story. We don't have an easily accessible yard. In fact, we have no yard. A trip outside means getting a harness and leash on, and wearing "real" clothes so the neighbours don't think we're weirdos. We are weirdos, but they don't need to know that. We have a covered patio, and we've started to put a house training pad out there. It's still technically outside, and she has to go through a door to use it, so we're hoping it will catch on. We're almost there. We've tried the fake grass system, which Odie loved, but we hated. I would love to grow real grass in a garden box for her, but unfortunately the patio is so well covered that it doesn't get any sun. Because it's outside, and sometimes it gets windy, the adhesive strips are going to come in handy. I also like that the pads are made out of bamboo. 


2. Puppy Love small elk antler chew. I can't wait to give this to Odie! There's some debate on whether or not antler chews are safe for dogs. After some research, i've decided that it sounds safe enough to try. Obviously, I will be supervising her chewing, and I won't leave her alone with it. We recently bought her a bully stick that she LOVES. What exactly is a bully stick? Literally, it's bull penis. Not joking. Apparently they are amazing for a dog's teeth. Even if they weren't, they're incredible enrichment, and keep her busy for hours. 

Photo: HeartyPet

3. Zuke's Clean Apple Crisp Z-Bones. They're pricey, but Ode loves them. One of the things I like about this company, is that a percentage of their sales is donated to The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund yearly. These bones are grain free, and are supposed to "freshen doggy breath". We had a miniature schnauzer, Fritz, that had arthritis. To give him a dose of glucosamine and chondroitin (as well as a treat), we would give him their hip action treats daily. I really feel that they made a difference. Which leads me to my next purchase...

Photo: Zuke's

4. Don't think that I left the cats out! I bought them a new kong toy, and some Zuke's Cat Hip Action soft treats. These are basically the same as their hip action treats for dogs, except for cats. Our cats are definitely not old, but they're approaching what could be considered middle age. We don't give them a lot of treats, but I hope that this one will become a daily ritual to ease them into their retirement. 


And there you have it. I also bought a million (not literally) cans of cat food that I've found that the cats love! In case anyone is wondering, they're now eating B.F.F. and Go! canned cat food, with some Grasslands Acana kibble thrown in to beef it up a little. I chose the Acana kibble, and canned food because of the low ash content, which I'm told is related to bladder crystals, which we would like Lance to NEVER HAVE AGAIN! So far, so good. 

Arts & Crafts

This week I made a pillowcase for a cat. I'll tell you why. Our cat Lance is a bit of a weirdo--a recluse, if you will. He spends most of his time in our bathroom shelf. 

Please excuse our ugly shelves

When we moved in, we kept towels in there. When it was down to one towel, Lance made himself at home. Since he wouldn't stop going in there, and no one enjoys cat hair on their towel, we decided that shelf would be his. We had a regular pillow that I was going to just throw out, but instead, I decided to make him a pillow case so he could sleep on something a little more comfy than an old Harry Potter towel. I had some paw print fabric that I never used, and after some quick measuring and what seemed like an entire day of sewing by hand, I turned it into a pillow case. 

Hand sewn

The finished product!

After vacuuming a serious amount of cat hair out of the shelf, I put the pillow in. It fits pretty good, and I'm glad it's a little plump, since it will have a 10 lb. cat on it for approximately 18-20 hours a day. 

The final step was to see if Lance likes it. He was pretty mad at me for having the vacuum out, so don't judge by the look on his face. I put the pillow in about an hour ago, and he's still in there. 

Lance's bedroom

Complete with curtain

Full Bookshelf

I love reading. I always have. I like organizing books on my bookshelf, and I like treating them well. I won't bring a book somewhere if I think it's going to get damaged. If it's a soft cover, I won't open it entirely while reading, for fear of creasing the spine. When I was in elementary school, the library called my mom to say that I damaged a book I returned, and she actually went to the school to fight with the librarian, because it just wasn't possible. I'm a freak. A couple of nights ago, I was a tiny bit mad when I left Odie and my book alone in my bedroom for just a minute and returned to find a couple of chunks missing from my book cover. I should have known better. My dog loves paper as much as I love reading, although she prefers a kleenex over a book any day. 

Wasn't me!

I can't remember very many times in my life when I haven't had a book on the go. I've worked in two bookstores, and the employee discounts made paydays dangerous. I'm mostly into fiction (girly novels and sci-fi), but I can't resist a good biography or true story. We have two bookshelves in our living room that are taller than me, and almost totally filled. For awhile now, I've been absolutely refusing to buy an e-reader. Why would I? There's nothing better than having a real book in your hands, is there? 


Yeah. There is. I caved and bought a kobo last night, and it's pretty fantastic. Please don't tell my bookshelf I'm cheating on it! 

Ooooh Ahhhh

I borrowed my mom's kobo "just to try it out", and I got hooked. I took it with me to a restaurant on my lunch break, and I READ WHILE I ATE! Amazing. I have well over 30 books in my actual bookshelf that I still haven't read (give me a break! some of them are classics and are huge), but now that I own a kobo, my interest is in ebooks. I got the kobo touch instead of the vox because I'm not into the backlit screen thing. I'm the proud owner of the white one with a silver back, by the way. Oh, and I bought some cute accessories too. 

For night reading!

Maybe the accessories are part of the appeal. I remember my friend Meghan and I once had the idea that we were going to start playing tennis (we didn't), and were super excited about having to buy tennis outfits. I also convinced myself that I would love going to school, if only I had an english style leather satchel for my books. As I told Mike today, I wouldn't do well in a commune, or a post apocalyptic world (yes, these are subjects that come up a lot). It's not that I'm totally lost without stuff, but I enjoy shopping and having new things around. Before I bought my kobo, I was reading Robin Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Now that I have a kobo, I'm reading a book for teenagers called Divergent, by who knows. I'm not going to take that as a sign of anything. Happy reading!

My case. Only $5!

Bison Bison

We made a trip to our favourite pet shop a few days ago, after deciding that a diet change was in order for all of our animals. After chatting to the lovely people over at my favourite chihuahua forum (yeah, I'm one of those people), we've decided to switch to a mostly wet food diet for both Odie and the cats. After being educated on the lack of moisture (which is needed for healthy organs) in kibble, I'm becoming more confident that we're making the right choice. That information was confirmed by our vet, who suggests that cats be switched to an entirely wet food diet as they get older, to support their kidneys. One of our cats has an issue with urinary crystals, and apparently a lack of moisture in a diet can lead to this.


A lot of dog and cat owners are switching to a raw only diet. Some people swear by it, and some against it. Anyway, we're not at the point where we're confident we could balance a raw only diet, which is essential. However, I like the idea of a dog's teeth being cleaned naturally by chewing on a bone. Cooked bones are a definite no, as they can splinter and cause serious health issues or even death.


I'm not familiar with the meat department (I can find the turkey leg stand at Disneyland though), so I thought it might be a good idea to buy something for her from the pet store so it was a sure thing. These were the smallest that we could find, and they're fairly local...

Yummy!

This is probably going to be a weekly thing, and once I learn a bit more about what's safe and what-not,   i'll switch it up a bit. The bison was a definite hit! She LOVED it. At first, we put it on a towel in her kennel, but after she realized it was something worth protecting, she grabbed it and took it onto our rug. Gross! Next, I tried a towel on the ground, but the second a cat came to investigate she took off with it again. Once again, our makeshift gates saved the day.

It kept her contained, and also kept the cats safe. Both of them wanted to check out to see what was going on, and Odie was in full protection mode. We heard her make a sound we've never heard before. She didn't seem to mind when we came by, but look out cats. Yikes.

She seemed to be more interested in what was attached and in the bone, rather than the bone itself. I'm hoping next time she'll get more into it. It might help if we got something a bit smaller. She wasn't a big fan of having to put her paws on it, and was trying to avoid it until there was no other way around it. When she had enough, she started wiping her face on the towel. We have a really clean dog. I was a little worried about the affect of this on her tummy, but there were no issues what-so-ever. It kept her busy for a good 45 minutes--great enrichment! Definitely something we'll do again. 

Thanks, Mom!

Litter Box Blues

A new month, and new projects? Nope, still on the litter box. My hunt continues for the perfect piece of furniture to modify. If we had more space for it, it wouldn't be as tricky. I've checked thrift stores, and have been doing some window shopping online, but have come up with nothing so far. I'm thinking that doing some measuring and taking a road trip to Ikea might be in order. Until that happens, this project is moving to the back burner. 


The good news is that this project idea has worked for someone else! My friend Michelle, of Anderson Labour of Love, saw my original post and had a litter box concealer whipped up in no time. Instead of listening to me whinge about not being able to find furniture, go and read her success story here. Mady is a lucky cat.