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Author: PetMomma
Welcome to PetMomma - I am a lifetime animal lover, wife, and mom. I've had all kinds of pets including horses, snakes, lizards, chinchillas, birds, cats, dogs, etc. The current zoo includes a bossy Morkie, a bearded dragon, four cats, and one African Grey who rules them all! I love to write and realized I wasn't doing enough of it, so this blog was born to combine two of my passions. Contact me at: [email protected] Enjoy!
This article by Dr. Jeff Young, DVM is fascinating. So much interesting information about the overpopulation problems we have here in the United States. While “Adopt Don’t Shop” is a great idea, it isn’t enough. Dr. Young explains why the most important thing we can do to stop pet overpopulation is to spay/neuter, and to educate owners.
What do you think? Do you spay or neuter all your pets? Do you adopt a homeless pet, or do you shop at a Pet Store or breeder? The spay and neuter rates in the U.S. do seem to be improving, but not enough.
An interesting email showed up today. It seems that World Animal Protection has teamed up with Airbnb to provide new animal experiences to travelers.
According to the email from World Animal Protection US, they have created an Animal Welfare policy to guide the new tours. They say there are now over 1,000 opportunities available for animal-friendly events inluding things like hiking with rescue dogs, and having tea with sheep.
As an animal lover, I’m really intrigued by this idea. Of course I would never want an animal to suffer for entertainment value, but if there is truly a way to leave animals in their natural environment and have human interaction, I think it could be a really awesome thing.
The email goes on to state that the activities will all be led by local hosts that include small farmers, rescue groups, scientists, vets, and wildlife photographers. The idea is that there will be experiences for people to enjoy observing animals in natural habitats. Direct contact with any animal is prohibited, marine mammals can not be held in captivity, and there are guidelines for working animals.
“We know people love animals and want to see and experience them when they travel, but we also know they most want to see animals in a setting that respects their well-being.” Alesia Soltanpanah, Executive Director, World Animal Protection US
Thankfully, there will be no elephant rides or dolphin swims. I will be very curious to see what is offered. What do you think?
I am a big believer in Adopt Don’t Shop, but here’s a little twist… the pet you think you want, may not necessarily be the right pet for you. My advice? Go looking for a new friend with an open mind. We no longer have Munk the cat, unfortunately he passed away a few years ago, but I will never forget his story.
Our whole family went to the local humane society to adopt a new kitten. We went into the cat room and played with the loose cat that was wandering around, and we looked for kittens. Unfortunately, no kittens were available for adoption that day. We continued to pat the adult cat that was loose in the room while we looked at the other adult cats that were there. Sadly, none of them caught our eye.
We hung out in a corner of the room for a minute to talk, should we wait until next weekend and check back? Should we try other shelters? As we talked, we all took turns patting the loose cat. The kids were disappointed, but it seemed the right kitten wasn’t there for us that day, so we headed for the door.
Slowly, we headed for the parking lot, then I stopped. My family turned to look at me. “Everything OK,” my husband asked. “Why don’t we think about adopting that cat that was loose?” was my reply. We all patted him, he followed us around the room. If we wanted a friendly, out-going cat, that guy was awesome.
We turned and went back in. The family went to see the cat again, and I went to the desk for an application. Sadly, another family was already at the desk filling out an application for Gunther, the cat we decided we wanted. The woman at the desk told me they always pick the best family for each animal and not the first family and she encouraged me to fill out the application anyway. As I stood there writing away, I heard the other people fighting about the cat. It was a Grandma, a Mom, and a boy. Grandma wanted to adopt a pet for the boy. The boy wanted a dog, the Mom said he could have a cat. Boy started screaming and yelling that he didn’t want a “Stupid” cat.
I finished the application, and the woman at the desk asked to talk to our whole family in the other room. We went with her and she went over our application with us. She told us that she thought we were a much better match for the cat than the other family, and she put him in a carrier for us.
Part of me felt bad for taking the cat from that other family, but I just knew this cat was going to be a perfect fit in our home, and he was. Maybe our taking him gave the other family a chance to figure out what kind of pet they really wanted.
Munk ended up being a super special cat. He loved everyone in the family. He would go sleep on my son’s bed at night, and then when my husband went to bed, Munk would move and come sleep on his feet. Munk taught us that adopting an adult cat could be even more awesome than adopting a kitten. We didn’t have to hope the kitten would grow up and be a good fit with our family. We had a ready-to-go cat that was already perfect.
As you may be able to guess, I’m kind of obsessed with all things pet. I saw a FaceBook ad a couple of weeks ago for “PoochPack.” Sounds cute, the items looked to be good quality, and I could try it out for just the cost of shipping. OK, I’m in!
I paid my $4.95 shipping, and within 3 days, my bright red package arrived. Cali and I were excited, new dog stuff! Well, our PoochPack consisted of one toy. I guess I didn’t read the small print well enough. I thought we got a sample box like the one they wanted me to subscribe to each month, but this is just a single toy.
The tugging bone looks fine. It seems to be well made, but I was a little disappointed that there weren’t treats or any of the other things I saw in an actual PoochPack. Guess I learned my lesson!
The stitching seems sturdy, the rope seems to be high quality, and the little rubber bone is cute.
Although my furry friend, Puck, would like to keep this for himself, we have decided to do a give away!
Give Away Details – share this blog with your pet loving friends, Like our Facebook Page, subscribe to my Instagram, PetMomma.co, and follow me on Twitter: @PetmommaC. Finally, leave me a comment here on the blog about what you like and what else you might like to see here. I’ll pick a winner by the end of October to receive this tug toy.
Does anyone use a pet fountain for their dogs or cats? I always thought they were kind of a silly extravagance, but I have to say I’m a believer now, especially for cats.
I have two PetSafe water fountains, which I will review here soon. The truth is that cats need to drink, and most house cats don’t drink enough. Having had a cat that died from kidney disease, I’ve seen one of the problems of not drinking enough for myself.
Something about the moving water of a fountain attracts cats, and they tend to drink more. That has certainly been true in my house. My cats love the fountain, one paws at the water, and splashes it as it comes down. Logan, loves to dip her paw in the running water and lick it off. I guess it is more lady-like to her than sticking her face in it. Either way, I see my cats drinking often, and that was never true with a regular water bowl.
Let me know if you’ve had any pet fountain experiences, thanks!
Check out an article I found about leaving your dog alone during the day, and the new poll I set up on Facebook about it. How long do you think it is OK to leave a dog home alone?
