Another new addition!

Sorta ;D

My step-son got a dog. The doggy is an adorable beagle mix. It is so exciting to see how the SS has grown to be such an animal lover. They didn't have pets growing up. Since starting college and having a place of his own he has taken in a stray kitten and taken such good care of it (vetting and everything). Now he has adopted this cute dog from their local shelter.

Have a look at this picture. Such a cute pair!

The Pack has been Elfed!

Our dogs smell so good!

We have found what we consider to be the absolute best dog shampoo and conditioner, Lambert Kay's Oatmeal and Baking Soda. We have used these shampoos and conditioners for about a year now and haven't been disappointed. Not even on the stinkiest and messiest dogs! In fact, we have a cabinet full of puppy and doggy shampoos. Even that scented stuff that's supposed to make them smell like green apples. But, this shampoo has the perfect ingredients if your pet likes to stay outside (and roll around in the grass and dirt) like ours do. We have 5 dogs, you know, so we are usually giving a few baths every week! :)

These shampoos and conditioners have oatmeal and baking soda which make them perfect for us. The oatmeal is great for skin allergies (and most of our dogs have some kind of problem during the year) and baking soda is the best deodorizer you could ask for. The fresh smell seems to last a lot longer than with most other shampoos. You can find them at most pet stores and online. They are pretty reasonably priced too.

Wordless Wednesday

Soggy!

The pumpkin treats didn't turn out quite like I had expected. Guess I think all dog treats should be crunchy and that is what I expected. These aren't. They are soft and I would consider them soggy, if I were eating them. They did smell really good in the oven though! Mmmmm!

As far as how the animals like them. All of the dogs will eat them, of course. :) But only one of our cats likes them. Our youngest cat, Fonzi, really likes them. But I was surprised that our oldest cat, Lucky, wouldn't eat them. He is a big (fat) cat and tries to eat everybody's food. He even tried to eat the dogs food once. That didn't go over too well. But he just smelled of the pumpkin treats and looked up at me. Kinda like he was thinking, "got anything else?". Heehee!

Anyway, here is the recipe if you want to give them a try. Maybe y'all will have better luck than me. If you make them, let me know how it goes. Maybe I did something wrong. :\

Pumpkin Puff Pet Treats

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups oats
1/4 cup applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Drop tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet and press flat with a fork.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes (mine took longer than this) and then cool on a rack before serving.
To maximize freshness, be sure to store the treats in an airtight container.

(Note: If your Pet has a pre-existing medical condition, please consult your veterinarian before introducing a new food into your Pet's diet.)

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Treats in the Oven

We received a Christmas card from our vet today with a yummy sounding treat recipe on the back. We just happen to have all the ingredients. So, the treats are in the oven right now! I'll be sure and let you guys know how the doggies and kitties like them. They are made from pumpkin, vanilla, oats and apple sauce. Sounds yummy to me! Mmmm! I might even give one a try. ;)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I was stuffed!!

Our first Blog award! Yeah!!

Gosh, we received this award a while back and got so busy we forgot. Ooops! Sorry Karen! :\

I received this award from a real sweetheart who loves cats just as much as me! :) Her blog is about her dad and all the cats he loved. Thanks Karen at My Funny Dad, Harry.

Here are the blogs I am nominating:

1. The Cat / Dog Log
2. Nytro Girl
3. Feathers, Fins and Fur
4. Chihuatude
5. Paws 'n' Claws
6. Why Everyone Should Train Dogs
7. K9 Chronicles
8. Casto Creations
9. Stylin Pup Pillows
10. Tatum Tot Spice

Decisions Decisions

I had planned on posting about our favorite dog grooming products today. (check back for those in a couple of days) But I saw this and just had to let everyone know. This is a great cause and fun too!

I'm adding these links to my sidebar so we can all play daily trivia and feed the hungry dogs and cats. They will even send you a daily email. Isn't that fun!?!

So, I'm encouraging, or maybe even challenging, you to add these to your pet blog as well. I know we all love animals. So lets support their effort! Thanks! :)

If you add one or even both of the links somewhere on your site, leave me a comment and let me know. It would surely bring a smile to my face. And I Love to Smile! :D

Life in the Country, with other people's horses (and cows)

After last weekends events, I started to think about what I had imagined this place would be, our cozy little farm house.

I never imagined that we would have vicious wild animals that would be a danger to our pets. In fact, one of the reasons we moved here from the suburbs was for our dogs to have more room to run and play. That was actually the main reason. :) I guess I'm just naive, having grown up in the suburbs myself. I'm not afraid to admit that I was very sheltered as a child.

But growing up in our house was tough. So, I've always considered myself a strong person. My mother never liked for us to cry. It was a sign of weakness. But, along with other recent happenings and the incident with Bobbi, things seem so scary to me now. I cried a lot after Bobbi died. Now I am very skittish whenever our dogs are outside without our constant supervision. I'm always running to the windows if I hear any kind of ruckus at all. To top things off, our neighbors have a Pit Bull puppy. Don't get me wrong, I love Pits. We almost adopted a very loving 6 month old girl. (She loved everyone one of us, except the Jack Russel! That was scary!) But I can see that these people don't care for their animals. Which will most surely lead to a bad outcome with that breed. Pit breeds can be the most loving dogs in the world, if properly raised and cared for. They need a human's love and attention. I can feel that the dog will be trouble and it scares me.

The people who live near us have been here for 20+ years and, well, they fit in. I never thought I would feel like an outsider here. This was going to be our lovely country home. Where we could look out our front door and see horses in the pasture (the neighbors horses, of course). I imagined the neighbors would be friendly country folk and always wave and want to chat. But they are not. They never wave or say hello and will rarely speak at all if we see them out by the fence. My vision of a cozy friendly country home has been shattered. So, what now?

An update on the Pack

Since I had been away for a while, I wanted to give you an update on our pack. As anyone who has followed this blog before knows, we have a few pets. Heehee! Actually, we practically have a petting zoo. Nothing unusual though. Just your basic dogs, cats and fish.

We now have five dogs and 3 cats. In a recent post I talked about cat #4, Bobbi, whom we recently lost to a vicious attack by a wild animal somewhere near our farm house. She was the only outside cat I have ever had or ever will have. We have decided that we just need some good mouse traps for the barn. But we didn't have any luck with that in the beginning. And although Bobbi was a great mouser and loved being outside, I would never do that to another small domesticated animal. Now I even worry about our dogs when they go outside very early in the morning and it's sometimes still dark, since the days are getting shorter.

So, here is the update I promised you. I'm posting pictures of everyone, so you can see for yourself. :) They are all just super pets!!

This is actually a before picture of Rocky. From the day he found us in October of 2007.

Here is the handsome Rocky now! We call him "The Rock Star".

Rocky says "Hi!"

Here is our oldest kitty, Lucky.
He is a big boy, with a little bit of an attitude. :)

Next, is the before photo of Jackie. This was a few days after we adopted her. She had been cleaned up here. You can read about her injuries and her story in these earlier posts.

Here are a couple of pictures of her now. She hates the flash on the camera and it is so hard to get her still enough to take a photo. I usually don't try.

She is in wonderful health now. She still has the lameness on her right side. But most of the time, you wouldn't know it! She also has some arthritis from the injuries.

Now here is a great picture!
This is our kitty Fonzi play biting Jackie. About 6 months ago, Jackie would have really bit him back! They are buddies now. I think we may have actually learned some things from all of the dog training classes! :)

Here is The Fonzi as a tiny little baby!

This pretty lady is Molly, an American Fox Hound. She is Rocky's play pal. She is wearing the underground fence collar.

She LOVES LOVES LOVES to play!!!

Oh, my handsome baby. This is Mommy's baby boy, Quincy.
He was my first puppy and will always be my favorite!
Isn't he handsome?

Quincy turned 7 this year.

Now we are to another sweet kitty. This is Lizzy.
She was rescued by the local firemen from a burning house. I just can't imagine how frightened she must have been.
She is very sweet and loving. But it did take months for her to adjust.

Now, meet The Boss.
Or at least he thinks so! LOL! This is Spike. Spike was my husband's doggy when we got married. He is the only one of our pack that wasn't a rescue or stray. And I just can't imagine life without him. He is quite a character!

Lizzy & Spike hangin' out.

Spike and Rocky playin' in the yard.
Looking at that big yellow snake.
(The garden hose:)

Well, I think I covered everyone. Lizzy, Molly, Jackie, Spike, Fonzi, Quincy, Rocky & Lucky. Yep, that is it! Wooh! So now, any questions? LOL!

Oh, I almost forgot. We have fish too! :D I will have that for another day.

A very sad weekend :(

I need to share a story and photos of another of my precious ones with you.

Our kitty, Bobbi, was rescued by a sweet girl from the WalMart garden department where she worked. I know it sounds strange. She said the kitty had been living there for about a year and even had a litter of kitten that did not survive. So Bobbi, named so because she didn't have (much of) a tail, came to live with us. Bobbi was fixed so we didn't have any kittens. Fattened up, cause she was fur and bones when we got her. She was such a sweet and loving kitty from the very beginning. She liked feet. I had never known a cat with a foot fetish before. :)

Well, last week Bobbi went off and didn't come around for a meal one evening. She had done this a couple of times before and was always back the next day. Probably off playing with a mouse or something. She was a great mouser! But this time Bobbi didn't come back. Three days later, on Saturday morning, my husband found her on our front porch. She was alive, but barely. She had been severely injured. Probably by a wild animal, since we live in a rural area. She was a very fast runner and could climb a tree like it was nothing. So we just don't know how it could have happened. But it was obvious by her injuries that something could run as fast or faster than she could.

The vet actually had a very positive attitude. They even said they thought she would live. She got some IV fluids and antibiotics. She even got up and walked around a very little bit in her crate after a couple of hours. And she would need surgery to repair her injuries. But it was about six hours later when the vet called to say her vital signs were dropping and she would not live much longer. That is a sad decision to make. But we definitely didn't want her to suffer any longer. We didn't really think she had much of a chance from the beginning. But that glimmer of hope was there. I think that's what made it hurt so much. Thinking, just for a little while, that she would live. We hadn't had nearly enough time with her and she was so young.

May she rest in peace, Our sweet Angel.

This was my first experience losing a pet. My doggy, Quincy, is getting older and probably only has a few good years left. I just can't imagine how hard that loss will be.

I'm very sorry to end this post with such a sad story. But I had to make a tribute to this sweet and loving girl who was such a joy in our lives, if only for a little while.

These dogs need your help now!

You can help these dogs by making a donation or by searching for your newest best friend. They have an extensive list available through the website. These dogs are in high-kill shelters and need a loving home now! It is so sad to look through the pages and see how many are euthanized every day. You can search for dogs by breed, state, zip code, and/or radius. Please help if you can.



Please be a responsible pet owner. Get your pets spayed and neutered!

Etsy Shop Open

Please check out my handmade items at Top Cat's Top Dogs on Etsy.com . Thanks and enjoy Etsy!!

Obedience Training Graduation!

Tomorrow night two of our doggies graduate from beginner obedience training. Hopefully!!! I am not really worried about Quincy (the older mixed breed). But our baby, Spike, the Mini-Schnauzer still has a lot of problems. I'm hoping that the intermediate training will help him work through them. The trainer has a doorbell that she uses in the intermediate training! That should be very exciting; since they both freak out when someone rings the bell.

Our new addition, Jackie, is adjusting very well. Her injured tail has healed, and the hair has grown back so the bend in it is barely noticable. She is such a sweet doggy. Except when it comes to the cats. That is another story. But we are working on that too. And things are getting much better in that area all the time.

- T
www.ourlifewithmultiplesclerosis.com

Pets for Life Newsletter

Subscribe to the "Pets for Life" newsletter offered by the Humane Society of the United States. Just click the link below to subscribe.

https://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=14606133

You can also visit my website at:
http://www.ourlifewithmultiplesclerosis.com

All of my Babies!!!

Well, almost. I have a lot of fishes too. But it is hard to get them to be still for the camera. :) You have already seen the newest addition to our family in a previous post, so here are my other doggies and kitties. I love them all so much!!!







Aren't they all just adorable? I'm a proud mama!
So Please...


- T
If you want to know a little more about me, you can visit my website at:
http://www.ourlifewithmultiplesclerosis.com

On CNN.com - Deschanel: The sad truth about dogfighting

I just read an article on CNN.com. It was written by Emily Deschanel of the television series "Bones". She is a human rights activist and spokesperson for the Humane Society of the United States. In the article she conveys feelings I am sure are shared by many animal lovers in America. Dogfighting is wrong!! And we want it stopped!!

We all love animals (or at least most of us do)!

This blog has been created in the wake of the Michael Vick dog fighting incident.

ASPCAs response to the Michael Vick case

Adopt a pet at the ASPCA Adoption Center

I would like to think that everyone in this world loves some type of animal. Whether it be a Schnauzer in your house or a hound in your yard, fishes in your aquarium or reptiles in your terrarium. Animals are a huge part of our daily lives and I can't imagine living without them.

Not necessarily with the Vick incident in our minds, my husband and I recently adopted a rescue dog. She is a sweet Jack Russell Terrier (full blooded) who was obviously abused in some way. She has several injuries that should heal very well and we expect her to be a normal little Jack Russell once she recovers.

Out of all of the scenarios we came up with about what may have happened, I have decided to give her a story. If she could talk I believe this is what she would say. "I used to be a mommy to a bunch of little puppies, but they kept taking them all away from me. Then after I was too old they put me out in the street and told me to fend for myself because I was no longer profitable for them. I was on my own for a while, taking handouts and scrounging in garbage for food. Once I got into a fight with a wild animal and I was injury pretty badly. I recovered from my injuries and was out again, on my own fending for myself. Then I was hit by a car and it hurt my shoulder and broke my tail and I had a really bad limp. Then, finally, someone rescued me from the side of the road and took me in. They cared for me and fed me. They gave me medicine and made sure I had a warm place to rest. They could not keep me, so they gave me to a woman who found me a nice home with other animals to play with and really nice people to love me. Now my life is good." The end...

Here is the little one that we adopted from the rescue.



Always love and protect your friends and companions. - T