My grandcat, Cricket, under the coffee table, soulfully eyeing dinner. K8 got just the right angel. And M made a beautiful cheeseburger for them. Sorry Cricket, this is the human’s dinner, you will have to wait for your crunchies.
What mischief did you get in today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
As I have reported a million times before, Miss Louise is madly in love with Mojo Rising (he is the Labby Hunk next door). She is different with him than any other being. She has been his girlfriend since she was a puppy (he is about 1 1/2 years older). Look at the smile on her face. That is love if I ever saw it.
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Aunt B was coming to visit, so Mom turned the den couch into a bed (it’s a futon). But the den couch is where we lay and watch TV with Mom, so this must be somewhere for us too, right? Louise jumped up the minute the bed was made, so Mom put our blankets on it.
It looked like a really good idea so I jumped on and made myself comfortable.
Aunt B won’t be able to resist this cuteness, will she? Now we wait! – Sofie Bear (I love company)
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Has it really been 3 weeks since our last post. It is weird taking off that much time after so many years of blogging everyday. Since then Mom has taught 3 blogging courses at the college, did her day job, moved Peanut into her own apartment at university, and taken us for about a million short walks because it is tooo hottt for long one. We are now into the DOG DAZ of Summer! All we want to do is snooze inside the air conditioned house. Sofie won’t go outside half the time because she does not like to sweat (but she does love to swim). Louise thinks maybe the front door exits to a cooler place than the back, so she is always trying a different exit.
It looks like a normal day outside until Mom opens the door. Then…. blast! Heat comes at us like no tomorrow (what does that mean?). You would think we live in the tropics not the mid-Atlantic. Better to stay inside with the cats.
We missed being on the internet for a few weeks, it was hard. But, we are back. Now to go to all your blogs and catch up on our reading.
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
First Mr. Frog came to swim in the pool after a big storm last week.
I caught him and put him on the other side of the fence so that he could head back down to the river.
But, obviously he had other ideas. Our pool, sadly for me but happy for him, was full of leaves and debris due to the daily storms we are having: being more like a pond then a swimming pool, I guess.
When I went to clean the skimmer, he was stuck in the basket yesterday. I scared him and he scared me.
I enlisted Peanut’s friend Felix, the Brave, to get him out of the skimmer.
I netted him again. But this time I put him in a bucket and personally took him down to the river and released him.
If he returns again, I guess we will just have to call it a truce.
What mischief did you get into this week?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
The spray and the Composure Pro and the herbs aren’t working. Now we are going to try Xanax. Maybe a combination of the spray the Composure and the pills will help her get through the daily storms and the fact that sometimes, Mom just can’t take her with her when she leaves. At least the Vet has tasty meatballs for treats.
Oh Sofie Bear! The mischief you get into.
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
I never go out through the laundry room into the garage, but Grammie, who will be 90 next month, was visiting and it was pouring down rain, so I wanted to keep her dry and not make her go down the front steps of the house. I knew a thunder storm was coming (as they tend to every day this time of year) but we wanted to go to dinner and get Grammie back to her place. So I put on Sofie’s thunder vest, added 3 composure tablets to her dinner, feed everyone, and we all proceeded to leave. I knew that Sofie was screaming worse than usual when I left, but what can a Petmom do? I made sure she was in the main part of the house, not in the laundry room, and went on my way. Obviously, since she saw me leave through the laundry room, she thought she would find me if she got in there. She probably started by trying to fit through the cat door. Once that was dislodged, it appears she ate a big enough hole to fit through and get to the other side.
When Peanut got home from dinner (I had to take Grammie back to her place), she found Sofie locked in the laundry room with blood all over her face. When I got home the above is what I found. Thank goodness I have cheap press board doors and not wood. It seems only her gums were irritated (though there was a lot of blood).
This has been a horrible week of storms and I have tried many herbal remedies (which only seem to make her worse). Her separation and storm anxiety appears to be escalating by the day. I am spraying a bandana around her neck with ADAPTIL every couple of hours. She has been getting VetriScience Composure Pro for months (to no avail). And this week we added Min-Chex, which made her go absolutely bonkers (it basically had an antithethical effect).
I fixed the door – but I don’t know how to fix the Sofie.
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
I am a certifibly crazy pet parent, especially around feeding time: 6 animals – 7 different foods
The Food
Food 1 and 2: Louise, with her autoimmune issues, gets Hill’s prescription Z/D (wet and dry). She has been doing really well on it and sadly, I can not find any cheaper alternatives. I feed her in a ‘slow bowl,’ which really works too. (Thanks for the slow bowl idea, Eko.)
Food 3 and 4: Sofie, eats Natural Balance Venison and Sweet Potato (wet and dry). I used to feed it to both dogs before I found that Louise could not tolerate most foods. The dogs also get unsalted veggies with each meal, or pumpkin, depending on what I have in the pantry.
Food 5: Noel eats Friskies wet food. All the cats used to be on this but Nine and Stella started to dislike it (as well as most dry foods), so now only Noel is on it. Wet is my choice and I add a good amount of water. (Dr. L says they would normally eat 4 mice a day, which would be meat and water mostly, so that is what I try for.)
Food 6: Nine and Stella don’t like any wet anymore (no matter how hard I try), so they are on Solid Gold – Indigo dry.
Food 7: The baby, Mini Cooper (who is not a kitten anymore), is on Blue Healthy Gourmet pate (wet only). She does not like Friskies. I haven’t moved Noel to the Blue because it is very expensive and if I can save a few bucks…
The Process
I have feeding down to a science. I open all dog food cans. I make Louise’s food first because I want the fork to be free from contamination of other food. (Yes fork vs spoon, because Lulu’s food is very solid and it helps break it up more.) I mix the wet, dry, and veggies with water. She then licks the fork.
Then it is whinny Sofie’s turn. I mix her dry, wet, and veggies with water and then she licks the fork. Sometimes I make them sit and give them an extra veggie or 2.
I take their food to the dog mat, they say their prayers (really they do) and chow down.
Now that they are busy I move to the counter to feed the cats. I open the cat cans. Mini first because she is a huge pest if I don’t. Then Nine on the other side of the counter, followed by Noel, the patient, in her herb window. The cats have to eat ‘up’ to keep food away from dogs.
The dogs are still busy when I go down the hall to Stella’s room and feed her (she is behind closed doors all the time so she is easy).
Back to the kitchen to make sure Sofie does not cat bowl surf the counter (which she does) and that Mini and Noel don’t gang up on Nine, who is a slower eater, because they do. They sit there and stare him down if I don’t watch.
This routine may explain why it is really hard to get anyone else in the family to help at feeding time. I actually accomplish all this in a matter of minutes, but I have a plan (you have to have a plan at 5 am).
I don’t mind the different foods, it is just the cost that is killing me, and the need to shop at multiple pet stores because the foods are special and only sold at specific places (Z/D at a PetSmart with a Banfield Vet or at a Vet) and Natural Balance at Petco or a specialty store. But I got smart this month, I went on the internet and ordered things direct. Maybe that will make life a little less crazy around pet food.
Feeding time at the Zoo! Oh yeah, I repeat this again around 4:30 in the afternoon. No wonder I am always tired.
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.