It’s such fun to watch our I’m-so-special-and-the-only-pet-in-the-house cat, Tigra, react when our daughter brings her medium sized German Shepherd mix dog, Ginny, by the house.

Yesterday’s weather was good, so our daughter walked Ginny over for the exercise (they live about 2 miles from us), and simply came strolling through the front door with Ginny on a leash without warning or announcement.

Tigra was sleeping peacefully on the sofa not far from the front door. Daughter took Ginny into the kitchen for a big drink and a snack, then they returned to the living room. Ginny is intimidated by the claw-bearing cat Daughter has at home, named Dot, so Ginny approaches any cats very cautiously.

But her soft whimper and wet nose near sleepy Tigra was more than enough to wake Tigra up and get her attention.

Happily, the two of them got along with little human intervention. Then my son drove up. Son has no pets (though several neighborhood cats hang around his backyard), and when he comes by for a visit, Tigra just adores his energy and attention. Her problem was that she couldn’t do her routine hop off the sofa and trot to the front door to greet Son — because Ginny was standing quietly between Tigra and the front door.

The situation resolved itself after we all had a few laughs. Tigra the crank walked over to Ginny, glared at her, let out a very, very soft growl, and pawed very gently at Ginny’s nose. Tigra has no front claws, and she didn’t actually HIT Ginny’s nose so much as give it a warning tap. Ginny got the idea, though, and backed quickly away.

Nothing so fun as family and pets on a beautiful spring-time Sunday afternoon, is there?

Technorati Tags: Tigra our cat, Ginny the dog, cats and dogs, family visits, 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.

Technorati Tags: pets traveling by air, airlines and pet travel, for pets and pet lovers

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I think I posted sometime back about our old cat Tigra’s love for lapping water out of the shower hose hooked up to our bathtub. It’s become her favorite method for regular drinking. Oh, she has the necessary water dish which we strive to change regularly, and we have visual evidence that she does drink from it. But the bathtub drink is what she prefers — well, it’s her second choice anyway, we recently discovered. Lapping from puddles in flooded basements appears to be her favorite watering hole.

Yeah, well, of course we don’t allow that — but we just discovered yesterday what a problem it could be. We, as with several million other people between Texas and the mid-Atlantic coast, suffered from that huge nearly-nationwide rainstorm that swept through here on Monday and Tuesday. Our damages were very minimal, thanks to the good old sump pump in our basement. (If you don’t know what a sump pump is, look it up. I don’t have time to explain.).

But we did get some small rivulets of rainwater and seeping groundwater in the old basement. What we didn’t realize until Tigra followed my wife, Shirley, downstairs was that Tigra is intrigued by these tiny rivers of slowly flowing and standing water. She loves to lap from them.

Fortunately, Shirley caught her in the act and we’re now keeping her out of the basement until everything gets dried up and cleaned up.

Darn cat, why can’t she just be cooperative and drink from that water dish I labor to keep fresh and full?? Or at least just the dish and the bathtub drinks — but nasty old basement flood water??

Technorati Tags: Tigra tales, cat drinking from flooded basement, for pets and pet lovers

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I’m doing what I can to make this a useful and entertaining site for all of you pet lovers out there who drop in to hang out here.

I just added a section of “Funny Pet Videos” to our little community. You can get there by clicking on the link in that phrase, or by clicking on the link to it in the navigation bar on the top of the website. I hope you’ll get a check out of it.

If you don’t find something fun and entertaining there — feel free to use the “Search” function on the funny pet videos page and search for something you’d enjoy more.

I appreciate you all. Thanks for stopping in and I hope you’ll be back often!

Technorati Tags: Funny Pet Videos, find amusing pet videos, for pets and pet lovers

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To full appreciate how surprised Shirley and I were by our 12-year-old cat Tigra’s little adventure last evening, you first must understand that she’s just about the stereotypical example of the people who scoff about cats sleeping 20 hours a day, waking up only when she wants to eat or requires our every attention, etc.

My son stopped by on his way home from work just as it was getting dark last night and let Tigra out the door when he came in. She spends time on our porch and in our front yard frequently, so that was no big deal. After our son had been here a half hour or so, he opened the front door just to check on the cat.

Tigra was nowhere to be found.

Rob (our son) looked around and thought he spied a cat lurking around the bushes near the foundation of a house THREE HOUSES DOWN on the opposite side of our street. Sure enough, it was Tigra. She was having a wonderful time sniffing along the bushes and edge of the house foundation. (It currently is an empty, but well maintained, house, awaiting a renter.) Rob reminded us that the previous long-time owner of the house had two dachshunds, and suggested she was “tracking” the scent of the departed dogs.

After a great deal of calling, casual trips across the street rattling Tigra’s kitty treat jar, and some gentle persuasion by Rob, the old cat meandered back to her front yard — then made a quick dash up the front steps, through the open front door, and directly into her covered litter box on the other side of the house. She’s thoroughly box trained and wouldn’t suffer the indignity of going to the bathroom OUTSIDE!!!

One lesson we learned months ago after the first time we saw her cross the street: Never run suddenly toward the cat trying to catch her when she’s over there. She thinks it’s a wonderful game and will lead you on for blocks.

Ornery old cat. I might just ground her and take away all outdoors privileges until she’s, oh, say, about 30 years old. (Always threatened to do that with my two kids. Never worked with them.)

Technorati Tags: cat story, pet adventures, for pets and pet lovers

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I can’t recall right off hand if I’ve ever discussed pets and music before, but it’s been on my mind the last few days. For the most part, our cat, Tigra, responds very little or not at all to music.

But she goes nuts reacting with interest, purring, rubbing, even meowing to just about any sounds that come out of my laptop computer speakers. She reacts that way to my wife’s laptop, too. We discovered that originally when my son found a website with animal sounds. When he played the sounds of kittens meowing in distress, old Tigra became frantic. She ran over to the laptop, rubbed against it, meowing, and trying frantically to see whether kittens were behind or beneath it on my son’s lap.

As far as music, we’ve had dogs that responded happily to trumpets and other horns, and enjoyed the relaxation of what’s now known as “smooth jazz” guitar music.

Tigra dislikes trumpets or horns of any kind, flattening her ears and even leaving the room if they’re too loud or too fast tempo. She seemed to really like an Eric Clapton CD my son played for her a few years ago. She generally likes guitar music and violins.

How do your pets respond to sounds? Especially, how do they respond to music? Do they like or dislike music — and how do their musical tastes compare to yours? Tell us, please.

Technorati Tags: pets and music, pets and guitars, animal sound affects, for pets and pet lovers

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I posted some information and links last week for those of you interested in building your own “cat condo.” This post includes a true-life dog tale, and some quality dog and cat homes you might want to look at if you’re in the market for pet houses.

First the story: About a year ago or so, my daughter and her husband got a beautiful German Shepherd/Chow mix dog from my son’s veterinary girlfriend. The dog, named Ginny, had been abandoned at the pet emergency clinic where my son’s girlfriend, I call her Doc, works overnight shifts.

Ginny needed a lot of calming, a lot of love, and some behavioral training. She’s doing extremely well. But she’s very shy around other pets, and especially frightened by my daughter’s cat. The cat, named Dot, does not like Ginny, and hissed and scratched at her when Ginny first got to her new home.

So, a year ago last Christmas, Doc and my son bought my daughter a crate-cage just the right size for Ginny. It has become routine, when Ginny gets her food, to drag the dish inside her crate-cage sleeping quarters. She feels protected from the cat and can eat in peace. (Ginny also goes into her crate-cage simply when she wants some “me-time,” though she’s now getting along pretty well with Dot the terror cat.)

I tell you this story because the first product I’m offering below is a Cedar Indoor Dog House — also suitable for cats; check the dimensions and functionality for yourself. If you’ve got a dog or cat with timidity problems, maybe it’s something you can use.

NOTE: I am not a merchant and do not sell or ship pet products or pet supplies. I merely market for a variety of online merchants with useful pet products and supplies I’m happy to offer you as a convenience when I find something I think would be useful to you, my good pet lovers.

Enjoy:

Cedar Indoor Dog House in Clear Finish Unattractive dog crates are a thing of the past! At first glance, this elegant piece of furniture looks like an end table, blending seamlessly with your home der. It is actually a spacious indoor h… [Read more] Log Cabin Dog House with Porch Inspired by the idea of country log cabins, this pet house is constructed by aligning half logs together, creating texture, sturdiness, and durability. Your pet can enjoy lying in the sun on the ma… [Read more] The Mansion Dog House From the sturdy craftsmanship to the stylish touch of a chimney, this dog house is perfect for all medium to large sizes dogs. Complete with a spacious, open-air front porch surrounded by elegant l… [Read more] The Virgie Cat Tower Sick of your cat always ruining the furniture? Then we have a solution that both you and your cat will love. The Virgie Scratching Post from Molly and Friends provides your cat more than enough spa… [Read more] Kitty Litter Home in White Disguised as an attractive end table, the Kitty Litter Home is the perfect way to keep your kitty litter box out of sight. This transitional style end table has an easy open door that gives cats in… [Read more] Washroom Pet House Why keep that unsightly litter box on your kitchen or bathroom floor when you can contain it in a stylish pet house? The Washroom can function as a litter box enclosure for cats or an indoor dog ho… [Read more]

Technorati Tags: Ginny the dog, Dot the cat, dog houses, cat houses, pet supplies, for pets and pet lovers

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Do cats and dogs in particular understand when they’re “outsized” by other cats and dogs?

I ask that because I’ve seen large dogs run from small dogs, small dogs run from large dogs, and the same with cats — in most cases I’ve seen little relationship between size and “bravery” or willingness to stand their ground.

We had a wonderful little house dog named Mitzi. We actually “inherited” Mitzi from my stepmother when she died (along with my younger brother, but that’s another story). Mitzi was a cross between a toy Boston bulldog and a toy Pomeranian. She looked like a tiny Pomeranian with slightly shorter hair and the black-and-white coloration of a Boston bulldog.

She was a sweet little dog — unless you were a dog and you came within yards of her house. In fact, she was absolutely fearless about running off other dogs. Any dogs. Any sized dogs. She once went charging off the front steps before we could stop her and took after a Great Dane. She was such a fierce flurry of noise that the Great Dane simply turned around and ran off. Mitzi had the sense not to chase the big dog into the street and came prancing back to the porch, very proud of herself.

I miss Mitzi. That was years ago, but I’ve never forgotten that tiny dog with the heart of a lion.

Technorati Tags: pet stories, dog stories, pet sizes, for pets and pet lovers

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It’s a terrible time when many, many people are losing their homes to foreclosure. I cannot imagine the discouragement and frustration of losing our home because we were unable to pay the mortgage.

So can you imagine the horror of being a dog or cat who suddenly finds itself abandoned because its family lost their home and simply abandoned it??

A few months ago some people living in the country near out city did exactly that. They trashed the house, drove away, and left more than 20 cats to fend for themselves. Happily, a neighbor living a couple of miles away discovered the situation and at his own expense purchased bags of cat food, took the food and some water dishes to the house, and fed and cared for the cats for several weeks. After several weeks of this, with regular updates on the local TV news, the county and city finally worked a way around the various bureaucracies involved to rescue the cats.

But more horrifying are the endings where those who lose their homes simply walk away from their pets, leaving them to starve or die at the hands of mean people, harsh weather, or predatory animals. It’s a horrible, horrible tale nationwide.

I urge you to be alert in your town, city, or countryside — do you see more stray cats or dogs than usual? Do you know people or areas of your community hit hard by foreclosures? If you do and if you possibly can, please think of the pets who may suffer from neglect or abandonment and do what you are able to help them.

It’s terrible when a family faces foreclosure. It only compounds the awfulness of the situation if they visit their hardship on helpless animals.

Technorati Tags: foreclosures, pet abandonment, stray animals, pet rescues, for pets and pet lovers

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Here’s a woman who certainly has found a clever way to market pet paintings, but she seems to have missed the essence of real pets: Her pets are life-like paintings, but they aren’t REAL pets.

Admittedly, her pet paintings might be fun to have around. She apparently thinks her slogan about her “painted pets” will amuse pet lovers: ” She calls them Perfect Pets because nothing goes in, and as a happy result, nothing comes out — not to mention none of those pesky allergy symptoms cats and dogs are wont to trigger.” Those are the reporter’s words, not hers, but they sum up part of the appeal of painted pets. Such “pets” are pretty low maintenance and won’t hold any allergy problems.

So take a look at the story. It’s interesting, just not all that interesting for “real” pet lovers, I would say.

Technorati Tags: real pets, pet paintings, pet allergies, pet news, for pets and pet lovers

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