My wife and I are “practicing vegetarians” — she’s got it right, but I’m still practicing and give in to friend chicken or sausages from time to time.

Our faithful old cat, Tigra, is NOT a vegetarian, but she’s learned to live with the lack of mealtime tidbits from us. Sure, we’ve let a bit of lettuce or carrot drop under the table from time to time, but Tigra really isn’t interested. She clearly treats vegetables with disdain, wondering why we put such things into our mouths.

When our son comes over, however, she snuggles up to him like they’re best buddies. He brings salmon, tuna, and chicken. And, when he’s eating his lunch or supper at our house, she makes sure to watch him intently for those occasional dropped bits of salmon. Okay, she stares at him intently until he finally wavers, places a napkin or bit of newspaper on the floor, and puts a bite or two of fresh salmon down for her.

Last night, however, he had something different with him — turkey pepperoni. I don’t know much about meat anymore, and I couldn’t begin to tell you what’s in turkey pepperoni or how it’s made. But our son assured us it was very “mild,” and not spicy enough to be a problem. So Tigra devoured one or two small bites of turkey pepperoni.

Half an hour after Son left, we had to break out the paper towels and spray cleaner. Tigra spit up the turkey pepperoni. Then she settled into a different nook or cranny in the living room — and spit up some more of the turkey pepperoni.

After three times, her stomach settled down. She had some water later on, slept soundly all night, and is her usually frisky self today.

New rule in our household: No more turkey pepperoni for the cat.

Technorati Tags: cat diets, turkey, salmon, turkey pepperoni, for pets and pet lovers

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Does your local fire department, police department, or other emergency responder stock oxygen masks or breathing apparatus suitable to help a pet dog or cat in an emergency? Yes? No?

I just ran onto a story about a Virginia community where a pet lover donated and helped raise money for such pet emergency response kits. It sounded like a worthy idea to me, and I don’t really know whether our local emergency people have such kits or not.

How about where you live? Do they have such kits to help pets in an emergency?

The article I’ve linked to above explain what the kits are and when or where they might be useful. It would be a nice idea if more communities would consider such emergency kits. At something like $85 per kit, I suspect most cities, towns, and counties really could afford one or two if they wanted. If not, why not organize a fundraiser?

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I’ve never understood why some people find the subjects of life insurance, survivor benefits, wills, death, etc., something to be avoided. Surely we all know we all will die some day — why not take steps to care for those we love when we’re gone? Specifically — have you made provisions to take care of your pet or pets when you’re gone.

It’s my understanding that most states have little or no law relating to pets and pets who survive their owners, except that the pets PROBABLY are considered property, not “survivors” in the sense that people are survivors. But I’m pretty sure most states allow you to include specific instructions in a will regarding your pets.

Have you made a will, and if so, does it include some instructions or provisions for your pets? My wife and I made wills many years ago when our kids were minor children, because we were concerned about providing for their guardianship if we both were to die. We didn’t. They’re adults now, so it’s no longer an issue.

But very honestly, we have not revised our wills and they make no mention at all of who would take care of our old cat if we both were to die. So this is an area where we’ve not done anything.

In our case, we assume our daughter or our son would care for the cat, Tigra, if we both died suddenly or were incapacitated. And, since she’s a reasonably healthy, likable little cat who gets along with both our son and our daughter, there’s not likely to be a problem. If she required special, even expensive, care, it would be a different matter, perhaps.

Leave a comment, please. Tell us what you’ve done or not done regarding your pets if you were to die or be incapacitated.

Technorati Tags: pets and wills, pet survivors, pets as property, pets legal status, for pets and pet lovers

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I would be interested in knowing your experiences with air travel and pets. I’ve never really thought much about this issue, because my wife, Shirley, and I do very little travel — and very little of that by air. In fact, we’ve taken only one round-trip flight in the last 10 years, and we left our cat, Tigra, at home for our adult children to take care of.

I thought about air travel with pets because I just saw an Internet story saying that Canadian officials have just reinstated a policy of allowing pets to travel on Air Canada. After looking around several search results for “pets air travel,” I concluded that traveling by air with your pet(s) certainly can be done — but it isn’t easy and it’s complicated by no standard guidelines for air carriers.

So, leave a comment and tell us about your experiences traveling with your pets. Was it good or bad? What would you like to see changed? Tell us, please.

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I’ve posted for the third time here about the old cat, Tigra, and her gimpy leg trouble. Not wanting to bore you, but something happened that was really bizarre. She reacted to the pain medication in pretty spectacular fashion, almost like she was on some human “speed” or something.

The vet who gave her the painkiller warned me that it would do one of two things: Either the cat would become extremely drowsy and sleep a lot — or she would “exhibit really odd behavior.” I didn’t know what in the world that meant. But I found out.

The first hour or so after Tigra got the pill, she sort of wandered off to a hidden part of the house and slept.

Within an hour or two after getting the pill, she reappeared, but wouldn’t let anyone near enough to pick her up. She wasn’t running off, mostly because her right front leg still was not working for her, but she would back into a spot under the kitchen table and just sit there.

Most of the day before yesterday, she alternated between sitting under the kitchen table just staring over at her water dish and hopping around the house 3-legged with her eyes wide open, starting and staring at something that it appears only SHE saw.

She never hurt herself, and we never let her near anything or any situation where she could be harmed — but it was really weird. I was telling my neighbor about Tigra’s behavior and he smiled and said, “Ah. So it was sort of like — here’s your cat; here’s your cat on drugs, huh?”

Yes, it was very much like that. And when it came time for a second painkiller dose, we opted to pass. She finally settled down sometime in the early morning hours yesterday and slept most of the morning away under our bed.

Today, she has almost no limp, is putting nearly her full weight on the troubled leg, and is back to her normally lovable alert personality. She’s spent a lot of time sleeping — which is normal for Tigra — and she’s spent a lot of time cuddling up on “mommy’s” and “daddy’s” lap.

I think she’s back to normal. I KNOW she’s definitely off drugs.

Technorati Tags: cat leg trouble, cat on drugs, for pets and pet lovers

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Yesterday I posted about our concern for Tigra, our 12-year-old cat, because she had started limping and refusing to put any weight on her right front leg.

The bad news is — my son broke up with his veterinary girl friend. The good news is — she has enough bond of friendship with us that she graciously came by the house today (her day off, too) to check out Tigra’s leg.

She’s not certain the cause of the soreness, but it doesn’t appear to be the result of an abscess form a cat bit, nor any detectable foreign object stuck in her paw. She found no evidence from manually probing the area of a fracture. She concluded Tigra may simply have a touch of arthritis — or a hidden would/bite location that’s going to develop into an abscess. She told us if Tigra’s not putting more weight on the leg within a couple of days to bring her by the clinic for x-rays.

Good news for the whole family. It always amazes me how strongly we become attached to our pets. Just as with kids, we feel the pain ourselves when our pets suffer, don’t we?

Technorati Tags: cat injuries, veterinary care, pet care, for pets and pet lovers

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We noticed earlier today that our 12-year-old cat, Tigra, is being very sensitive about her right front paw. She’s not cleaning or licking it excessively such as she might if there were a sticker in the paw. And her leg and leg joints don’t seem to be sore or tender to the touch.

She simply won’t put any weight on her right front paw, although she is very gently using that paw to lick then use to groom her face.

So maybe nothing’s wrong, and we’ll keep an eye on her to see. We’re wondering if she might be experiencing some soreness in the front joint of her leg — arthritis or something, perhaps, due to her aging?

Tomorrow, if she’s still favoring it and seems sensitive, could be a day to take her to the vet.

Technorati Tags: cat care, paw soreness, pet arthritis, pet care, for pets and pet lovers

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Hello out there, all you happy pet lovers, did you miss me? No? I know, the old wisecrack: “Oh, were you gone??”

Well, no, I haven’t exactly been gone. But I’ve had too many things going on and just haven’t been able to get back here as soon or as often as I would like. After all, we all know that pet lovers are the best sort of folks around, right?

Anyway, I’m baaacck, so let’s move on.

I was looking around the Internet today for pet news and saw references to several sites and products for disabled pets. Most specifically, I found a very detailed discussion of dog hip dysplasia, with explanations about how this disease develops (primarily it’s related to multiple gene problems), what sort of treatment is available, and how you and your pet can live with it.

I was interested also to discover that there are many online stores which sell various mechanical supplies and support to help such dogs remain mobile. And those sites sell some useful looking products for other pets facing other disabilities.

Which brings me to my question for today: Do you have or have you ever had a pet with a disability? Dogs, cats, hamsters, birds, whatever, have you ever dealt with any disability issues related to your pets?

I would love to have you leave comments and share your experiences or thoughts about disabled pets.

Technorati Tags: pet disabilities, dog hip dysplasia, supplies for disabled pets, for pets and pet lovers

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I know, I know, that’s an odd title for this post. It came to me as I was remembering a conversation I had with my son yesterday.

He and I were discussing the future and I mentioned that at some point (hundreds of years from now, of course) his mother and I would be more comfortable in a smaller, single-story house, instead of the 104+ year old family home. (We’ve only owned it since 1980, but our two kids grew up here and remember very little about any other homes.) I joking said by that time we wouldn’t have Tigra, our present pet, and simply wouldn’t get another cat after she’s gone.

He joking suggested we would have “automatic” pet cats that require no maintenance, because he has two or three neighborhood cats which live more or less permanently in his large backyard and the crawl space under his house. No cost, no upkeep — what wonderful pet cats those would be.

Which, of course, started me thinking about the frustrating issue faced by almost all towns and cities in our country: feral cats. Those are cats who have “gone wild” for one reason or another. Some were born to “owner-less,” feral cats and are very uncomfortable and frightened to be around people. Some are former pets who were abandoned by their families or strayed away and got separated from their families.

Some communities have a very tough “no-holds-barred” approach to this issue: Feral cats are shot on sight. Others have taken that down a notch and seek to capture feral cats, hold them in case an owner shows up to claim them — then euthanizes them.

But a few communities have adopted a process suggested by the Human Society of the United States (HSUS), known as “Trap-Neuter-Return,” or TNR. The TNR policy means feral cats are captured, vaccinated, and neutered. Their left ear is “tipped” for identification purposes. Then they are returned to “the wild,” and monitored by dedicated caretakers — who also watch for new feral members who show up and repeat the TNR with them.

Do you have any feral cats on your property or in your community? I should modify that to ask if you know of such cats — because you can be assured they are in almost EVERY community.

Tell us your thoughts and post your comments about feral cats, pet neutering, and the other issues related to this post, please.

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As a proud member of the “Baby Boomer” generation, I do NOT appreciate a cautionary news story this week about Alzheimer’s disease. According to the latest predictions, something around 10 million people of my generation will be struck by Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of dementia.

Certainly this news isn’t on a par with that, but I just discovered today that aging dogs and cats can suffer from a form of Alzheimer’s disease. As a matter of fact, the article I’ve linked to is by a veterinarian and says the changes in the pet’s brain involves the same type of beta amyloid plaques that are seen in victims of the human disease.

The veterinarian writing about this, Shawn Messonnier, D.V.M., reports that he’s had good results treating the dog and cat disease with the B vitamin choline supplement CholodinR. I’m not familiar with that at all, and I’m only passing along information you will find if you read the article I’ve linked to.

I urge you to read that entire article. Print it out, or at least bookmark the website so you can return to the information there if you have a pet dog or cat, or friends who do. It certainly is something pet lovers need to prepare for.

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