Search Results for: blog your cats eyes what can they really see

Glam Shots for Shelter Animals

Do I look cool/cute enough to take home? I have a horrible addiction: I love to look at pictures of dogs and cats on petfinder.com. I know I shouldn’t, but sometimes I just can’t resist. I’ve always been an avid Petfinder follower. I’ve spent time looking at it since I was in high school, and I found the first two pets of my adult life through the site. At this stage I can reasonably say I’m a Petfinder expert. One thing I’ve learned from Petfinder is the importance of creating a good profile for the pets. I’ve seen some pet … Continue reading →

What to Consider When Getting a Potbelly Pig

Over a year ago I looked at the teacup pig as a rare pet. But what if you want to adopt a potbellied pig as a pet? What do you need to know before bringing one into your home? First: check your zoning laws. For some reason potbelly pigs are sometimes not allowed in certain areas, so be absolutely sure that your local zoning laws allow you to keep a potbellied pig as a pet. Potbellies live for 10-15 years, so be sure you can make that commitment. Be careful from whom you buy or adopt your pig. You want … Continue reading →

Grooming Doom

The sulk face Yesterday evening was a dreaded night in our home, one that left my husband and me stewing in the heavy reproach that afterward permeated throughout the house. We’d perpetrated grooming night. Because each of our pets makes such a fuss, albeit in their individual ways, about grooming we figure it’s easier to do it all at once. They each get their coats brushed and nails clipped all in one go. Lately we’ve been doing the former outside, which keeps our hardwood floors cleaner and the house freer of dander allergens. It’s this outdoors grooming that really upsets … Continue reading →

A Really Odd Couple: Dog and Capybara

I’m afraid you’re going to get a number of these stories here on the pets blog, every time I find one. At least I did sit on this story for a while, waiting until more time had passed until the last time I talked about an unlikely animal friendship. Human interest news website tonic.com has the tale of the recently developed friendship between a domesticated dog and a capybara. For those who don’t know, the capybara is the world’s largest rodent. It’s native to South America, particularly the wetter/more tropical eastern half. Charlie the capybara bonded with Pacho, a shepherd … Continue reading →

Pets on Steroids

Last week, I took my dog Lally to the vet for help with a major allergy attack. She had been itching her face so badly that the hair around her eyes was gone and the skin was raw. Benadryl alone wasn’t doing enough to relieve the itching, so the vet brought out the big guns: steroids. Steroids are very useful for reducing inflammation, and they’ve really helped Lally with her allergy attack. Almost immediately she stopped scratching at her face and ears! She’s got a ten day course of prednisone, and the vet told me to keep up with the … Continue reading →

Sarah Palin’s Future Son-in-Law Breaks His Silence

The Juno of Juneau’s baby daddy is talking. Levi Johnston (a.k.a. the teen who impregnated Sarah Palin’s daughter) is finally setting the record straight. In a new interview conducted by the Associated Press in the driveway of his family’s home in Wasilla, Alaska, Johnston is spilling the beans about marrying the governor’s daughter, Bristol, and becoming a dad at 18. In the interview Johnston maintains that he was not forced by the Republican vice presidential candidate and her husband to marry their pregnant 17-year-old daughter. Rather, the hockey-loving teen says he intended to spend the rest of his life with … Continue reading →

Animal Rummy Cards

I fell for the eeBoo Animal Rummy cards as soon as I saw them. The cards are a bit bigger than average so they are easier for small hands to hold. They are also laminated , and nice and thick so that they will hold up to those small hands. What is really so great though, are the illustrations on the cards. They are done by book illustrator Melissa Sweet. You can see of the books she has illustrated here. The pictures on the cards are of fish, giraffes, raccoons, foxes, lions, cats, birds, bats, dragonflies, elephants, and bears. All … Continue reading →

What a Hairball Looks Like

It looks a lot like poop, doesn’t it? For the first six years of living with Mr. Meow, every time I found one of these piles I thought he’d had an upset belly and hadn’t made it to the litter box in time. It wasn’t until 2005 that I learned what it really was: a hairball. “That’s a hairball?” In 2005, shortly after we moved to Nashville, the neighbor across the street befriended us. Her little boy loved Murphy and always begged her to stop by so he could say hi. Usually in the afternoons after they came back from … Continue reading →

And Here’s to You! – David Elliott

This fun children’s picture book is a celebration of life. Each page is illustrated with rich, saturated color, a treat for the eyes. Words of gratitude are frequent, and the reader can feel the joy that comes from going outside on a brilliant spring day and just enjoying nature. The author raises a salute to birds, using his young female narrator to say, “Here’s to you!” She calls them “feather people,” and gives special mention to the birds who whooo, cockadoodledoo, the ones who have red breasts and the ones who sit on telephone wires. She appreciates all of them … Continue reading →

Tips and Techniques for Photographing Your Cat

Cats are finicky, they also love to move. Getting pictures is hard because of their independent nature. Here are a few quick tips on helping you take some pictures of your cat. Be patient – the first tip is simply to be patient. Cats are animals and animals, no matter how sweet and trainable, are not always going to be cooperative. Take photographs at a time when your cat is less active. Perhaps when it is first waking up from a nap, or right after it eats as it is cleaning itself. Tilt your camera slightly to an angle to … Continue reading →