PHOTO OP: Sizing Up Dinner
Via Kerri Lee Smith.
Tag Archives: cats
9.9.12 Snack Time at the Zoo
Note to my Readers: Sorry for the rant, but sometimes, I just have to get it off my chest.
Sometimes when I look down and realize that we currently have 5 cats, I worry that I am someday going to be called the crazy rescue lady. I wish I could say that everyone gets along, but lately, with Muffin really getting on in years, and Kitty, losing her mind and peeing everywhere, the multi-cat (multi-animal) household, is not working as calmly as it used to. Over the last 30 year I have always had multiple cats: it went from Rosie & Eddy, add Babydoll & Wussy, subtract Eddy (breast cancer), subtract Wussy (kidney), add Alice & Gertrude, subtract Babydoll (cancer), subtract Rosie (old age), add The Muffin Man, Zackary, & Cuddles, subtract Alice (kidney), subtract Gertrude (old age), subtract Zackary (kidney), add Nine & Stella, subtract Cuddles (brain tumor), and here we are. And then the dogs went from Nikki, add Squash, lose Nikki, add Louise, lose Squash, add Sofie.
With 7 animals, someone is always crying that they are hungry and because Muffin wants to eat all the time (he is down to about 3 or 4 lbs), we feed the cats pretty often. The cost to keep the zoo in dog and cat food is killing me! We just switched the cats to 1/2 commercial brand (9 Lives at $.43 per can) because the good stuff (Wellness $1.65 per can) is so expensive. I am switching the dogs to something different too, but it is harder for them (they are more tummy sensitive). Currently I am moving them from Prescription Hills ID to VeRUS, Lamb and Brown Rice (not cheaper but maybe I will use less in the long run). You almost need a Ph.D. in animal science to figure out the best animal foods at this point, and when you do, you can’t afford them. Oh my!
I will need to take a loan out of the bank to keep up with the 7 animal’s appetites at this point. Whose idea was all these animals anyway? Good thing that I don’t eat much (but how come they always want whatever I am eating too?).
Oh, don’t get me started on the cost of dog treats these days…….
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
9.6.12 Tummy Rubs & Scratch Zones
Tummy rubs. My dogs love tummy rubs. I think that humans like backrubs best, but dogs, well they really like tummy rubs. I guess it would just feel to vulnerable to me to have someone rub my tummy. When I was pregnant, total strangers thought they had some weird right to touch my belly. How Rude! I think that is so invasive of a person’s privacy. But my dogs, they love it and ask for it daily. (Since I have never had a pregnant dog, I don’t know how they feel about it, maybe they don’t like it during that time for the same reasons that humans don’t, it is just to vulnerable.) Louise and Sofie are both submissive animals in my pack, so I figure they get on their backs and just sort of say, ‘Hey, aren’t I cute, please don’t hurt me!’ Come to think of it, I do not remember ever having seen The Muffin Man, our old alpha cat, ever, in all his years, show his belly. All the other cats in the pride do, but not him. The other cats lie on their backs and show their bellies very often, but around here, if you want to keep your hand in one piece, I would not try to rub any cat’s underside (S C R A T C H!).
Tummy rubs are a big deal in our house. I tend to give them in the morning before work and definitely find time for some before the pups go to bed. Sofie is a big one to throw herself on the ground and roll over immediately if she thinks she is going to get yelled at (smart dog). 
Rubbing a dog’s tummy is different than scratching (I look at rubbing more like massage). I like to give all my animals a good scratch in some of their favorite ‘scratch zones’ regularly. Have you noticed that most dogs seem to have a scratch trigger spot down near the inside of the back leg (kind of between the ribs and mid-hip). This makes their back leg kick as a reaction to the scratching motion. I think the dogs like it, but I don’t know for sure. Something tells me it is probably a protective response (more so in male dogs) to protect their private regions. (Is that TMI (To Much Information)?) Louise also really likes to be scratched on her flanks and top of her tail (as I watch the short little black hairs fly). I am still exploring Sofie’s scratch zones, but I know she likes her chest done.
Does your furry have a special scratch zone?
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
9.3.12 DogDaz Milestone: A Labor Of Love
The other day I past a milestone on the DogDaz blog. Over 400 followers and over 22,000 hits. This is incredible to me. I started writing the blog the end of November last year. It was a way to deal with my love of animals but also for me to talk about all the incredible things that I learn from them. I never really thought a lot about how public a blog is and how many people I would interact with on a daily basis. I set myself a personal goal to post everyday. This has not been easy, since I travel a great deal and work incredible hours. But, so far, I am doing it. My posts are not always to the level that I would like them to be, but it seems that the ones I think are the weakest sometimes get the most good feedback and comments. I wish I had more time to read other people’s blogs and many times I want to comment but am reading them on my SmartPhone with limited ability to type something decent, which can be frustrating. I ‘Like’ people’s blogs, which my Phone lets me do easily, but commenting is not as easy. I enjoy visiting so many people’s sites and getting views into their animal world, photo world, food world, and just family life,but it has become a huge task to keep up. I wish I could just do this all day and night, but alas, one must live in the real world to be able to blog about it, and I do not chose to live ‘in’ the blogworld all the time (you know what I mean?)
What an incredible gift this internet is. I wonder if people really understood the power that this tool has to allow us to see incredible sights from far away places that we may never visit physically but can virtually (and interactively and instantly). Don’t get me wrong because I love paper books, and ebooks, and magazines, and photographic essays on nice heavy paper, but I can see the world here from my computer in a way that I could not as a child. The internet has allow me totally new ways to socially interact that I could never have imagined. I have more high school friends than I had in high school and can see all my family pictures instantly, thanks to Facebook; I stay in touch with old and new business associates via Linkedin; I Skype with my family when I am overseas and also now with my college student; I blog on WordPress, and reblog on Tumbler, and even Pinterest; I work with my community service group via GoogleDocs. Though I have been emailing since the technology was launched, I can now instantly answer via my SmartPhone if I want to. Here on my blog, my animals get to be stars and I get to write about what I love. Less than a year ago, I would not have known how important every blog post would be to me.
THANK YOU, whomever is reading this, for an incredible time. Come back again and I will do my best to make you smile, laugh, and maybe think about something you had not thought about before. You are my blessing – and clearly – I am blessed.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
9.1.12 Hang In There, Nine
Dear Nine –
I know that you have been waiting in Peanut’s window but she is not coming back until Thanksgiving in November. You will be older then. Snow may have fallen outside. You will have found many new dragons to slay around the house over the months to come and you will go on many new kitten adventures. You will still play with Sofie and Stella and the rest of the pack but I know you don’t know, that she will not be here to see it. Keep doing those really cute poses and funny antics though because Mommy will do her best to catch you on camera, and we will send it to Peanut so she can see you from far away. I am sorry, Nine. Life is different around here now. You will not be able to help her with her homework or chew on her pencils. But she will come see you again. And when she does she will give you the biggest hug you ever had in your whole short life because I know that she wanted to sneak you into her suitcase and take you with her. But we will have a fun time here at the zoo. It will just be different. But it still will be fun. I promise, – Mommy
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
8.31.12 PJ & Titan
Parker & Titan
While in New York taking Peanut to school, I had the opportunity to visit with my 14 month old grand nephew, Parker Jaxon, and my grand nephew cat, Titan. Titan is a very big guy and has been around many rotations of the earth before P.J. came along. He is a very tolerant cat and seemed to take the baby’s ‘little to hard’ pats, in stride. A few weeks ago I wrote about Madelyn Dawn, my 17 month old grand niece (from my other nephew), and the special relationship she appeared to be having with a nanny goat. Teaching children to be kind to animals is a pattern you set up for their whole life. There is still so much animal (and human) abuse on the planet. We teach by example. We teach others, especially children, by how we live. Taking care of your animals and having the children help feed and walk them can teach respect and compassion. Stopping violence against animals also is being recognized as an essential part of childhood education through a program called, humane education, in the schools. I believe that if you live the life you want your children to emulate and start teaching from the minute they are in your care; then there is a good chance they will grow up to be animal conscious humans – kind and caring. As the saying goes…. “All you need is love… and a cat.”
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
8.26.12 Silly Cat Places
Noel 2012
Kitchen Sink
Nine: Making the bed
Not sure why Noel decided to sit in the kitchen sink but I was lucky enough to catch a picture of her. Animals do the silliest things. Noel is an especially funny cat. You will find her in some really weird places. Now, Nine, he likes to make the bed, which is a very cat thing to do.
Where are some of the silly places your animals like to be?
The Muffin Man
In my pocketbook
Miss Kitty
Watching TV
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
DogDaz Zoo 