Tag: #petmomma

Gliders Week 1

 

The boys are definitely taking their time getting settled here. They are still pretty timid and I wouldn’t exactly say I can handle them. I can pat them. I’ve been trying to spend time with them, but also give them time to adjust to being here.

This week, they have been out of their cage at least once a day. A couple of days when I had the time, I brought them up to my bathroom, closed the door, and patted them, fed them treats, and tried to convince them to come out of their pouch.

Some days I just bring them with me in one of their fleece pouches while I watch TV and pat them. They are so soft! I’m trying to get them used to my smell.

Today I tried something a little different. I brought them upstairs into my shower stall. It’s a big double shower stall with glass doors. Seemed like an easy place to clean up. The boys pee and poop A LOT! It also seemed like a pretty safe place to play with them where they couldn’t escape me.

I  used some treats to lure them out of their pouch, and then I put the pouch out of the way. The boys were a little bit panicked, but they mostly stayed close to me. I finally got to see what amazing climbers they really are. One climbed up our shampoo shelf.

Another amazed me by climbing up the tube for the shower attachment all the way to the shower head!

 

Making his way up the shower head

 

 

Trying to figure out his next move

The one on the shampoo rack ended up leaping and landing on my head. I guess it’s good he wanted to come back to me?

I was afraid of where the one on the shower head might try to go, so I got him down before he could get into trouble.

The boys got lots of treats, and they climbed all over.

Mo with a yoggie

When all four are out, I’m definitely getting better at telling them apart.

Meanie and Mo

Our “shower” time needed to be short. I didn’t want to scare the boys. After about 10 minutes, I gave them back their pouch and they all cuddled back up. It makes it really easy to carry them around the house! Shower clean up and a shower for me took longer than the time I got to spend with the boys!

Miney was barking again when we were watching TV tonight. I’m not sure why, he did have food tonight. He is so little compared to the others!

They are definitely getting more comfortable in their cage. I’ve seen them jump from the side cage bars onto a fleece pouch a few times now, and they don’t climb around the cage corners anymore, they jump. I look forward to the day when they want to climb on me more!

Gliders Day 1 – Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo!

We are definitely getting to know each other. I’m trying to balance spending time with them, and giving them some peace to adjust to their new home. It’s hard!

I had them in a towel in my lap for a little while last night. They let me pat them, and they only “crabbed” at me a couple of times. I am going to have to get a video of the crabbing noise. It’s kind of a whiny complaint. It’s amazingly loud for such a small creature.

I left them alone this morning, but took them out this afternoon. They were all sleeping on top of each other in a pouch, so I was able to take the pouch out of the cage with all of them at once.  I brought them up to my bathroom and closed the door to see if they wanted to explore a bit. They crawled in my lap a bit, and one climbed up to my shoulder and ran down my back and back up to the other shoulder! I only kept them out for about 10 minutes.

Two of them spent a little time in the bonding pouch that I carried around for a bit. Apparently sugar gliders are very scent oriented, so it’s important for them to get used to your scent.

I took them out a couple of other times, always for short periods. It’s still hard to tell them apart, but when I have all four together I’m starting to see differences. One has a white face. One is much smaller than the others, and one is bigger.

Oh! names! They are Eenie, Meenie, Miney, and Mo! Mo is the one with the white face. Miney is the tiny one. Haven’t decided which is which with the other two yet.

I have to say they are fascinating little creatures. Unlike any other pet I’ve had, but I’ve never had a marsupial as a pet before! Gliders have opposable thumbs on all four of their little hands. When I hold them, I can feel them holding on with little hands. I’ve watched them pick up treats and hold them in their little hands as they munch. So cute!

The boys are about 4 years old. I got them from a glider rescue. Life span of gliders in captivity is 12-15 years. Their food is really interesting. I’ll write more about it next time.

 

Product Warning – DreamBone

Happy New Year!

I saw this product all over Amazon before the holidays. Sounded good to me, no rawhide, made with chicken. I should have known better. It’s made in China, and for some reason so many pet treats that come out of China seem to lead to problems.

Over the weekend, a friend of a friend shared a story of their 8 month old puppy who had these treats and ended up needing surgery because they blocked the puppy’s intestinal tract. I searched around online and found many similar stories. This is NOT a safe product.

Cali has had a couple of these, and they didn’t seem to cause her any problems, but I just don’t see a reason to take chances. This bag is headed for my trashcan.

Just a reminder to be careful what you buy for your pets.

New Arrivals…

BIG NEWS for PetMomma, I’m adding some new friends to the family! I’m not going to give out details quite yet, but I’m curious about how people prepare for a new pet. Do you research the pet? Do you learn about diet, care, housing, etc.? How do you decide what kind of pet you want?

This is a pet I’ve wanted off and on for awhile. I keep seeing posts about friends and neighbors getting Pandemic Puppies. It’s been making me itch for another puppy, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that. In some ways I like having one dog.

I started researching this other pet I want. I’ve been reading all about them!  What kind of diet do they need to keep them healthy? What are the housing requirements? What kind of vet care do they need? Do I have a local vet that would take care of them? How much attention does it need? What kind of maintenance will be needed? Can they be trained?

I learned that this pet naturally lives in community groups, so they shouldn’t be kept alone. I guess we get a pair!

This pet does require a very special diet, and from what I’ve read, there isn’t a good one available commercially, so I’ve got to make my own food. I’ve made my own parrot food for years, so that doesn’t bother me.

I do have local vets, I’m OK with the time commitment, housing requirements, etc. So what do I do next? I start looking for rescue groups. I found one in my state, and I applied, not knowing if they even had anything available at that time. I heard back that my application was approved!

The only animals they had available for adoption, are 4 males. After the research I did, I didn’t have a preference on adopting males or females, so I said great, I’m interested in a pair. Well, apparently this is a group of four bonded males. They all need to go to the same home. Good news, they come with their own cage!

So now I have to ponder, do I want four? They will all live in the same cage, so the work is really the same as a pair. Do I have time to spend time with all of them? Do I wanted the added expense of four?

Check back for another update soon!

 

 

 

The Farmer’s Dog

Cali eagerly waiting for me to put her bowl down

A couple of weeks ago I got an offer to try The Farmer’s Dog food for free. As someone always interested in new pet products, I had to try it out. It meant signing up for a subscription to their food, but I could cancel right away.

I went to their website  and filled out a form about Cali, type of dog, size, any allergies or health issues, etc. It was a pretty simple process and only took about 5 minutes.

Six days later a cooler arrived. The cooler was packed with bags of food, a container to store open food packs, and an insulated bag! Really cute packaging!

Insulated bag

Since Cali is a little dog, one pack of food is sized for four meals. It’s easy to use. I just squeeze the food out of the middle of the pack, and cut along the middle. Then I can squeeze half the food out of one side and put it in her bowl.

Clearly the food smells delicious to Cali, as the first time I cut open a pack she started dancing around. There was no transition to this food for her, she just devoured it immediately. I have no doubt this is a high quality food. The ingredients look great. It seems that beef is their standard base. They also have turkey,  pork, and chicken options. I wish they had a seafood or fish option. Cali’s vet recommended a fish based food for her, and that has seemed to help with her dry skin and itchiness. Maybe being on the Farmer’s Dog for a long period would help her skin issues without the fish?

I would definitely consider feeding this food all the time, but it is expensive for me at about $20 per week, and Cali is a small dog. I would pay a bit more for fresh food, but I currently spend about $12 for a bag of high quality dry food, and about $22 for a case of canned food. The bag of dry food lasts me over a month, and the case of canned food lasts me at least two months. So I’m paying roughly $23 a month to feed Cali, and Farmer’s Dog would cost me over $70 per month. 

I do spend about $30 per month on allergy medication for Cali, so IF the Farmer’s Dog eliminated the need for her medication, then the price difference starts to make more sense, but it’s a gamble to risk taking her off of her medication that has been working well for years.

I saw on The Farmer’s Dog website that they have a recipe for homemade food, and they hope to be offering a vitamin supplement at some point that you could purchase and make your own fresh food. I’ll definitely be looking into that when it is available. For now, I’m using one bag of the fresh food at a time, and switching Cali between it and her regular food as a special meal until my trial packs run out. Love the idea, love the quality of this product, just can’t justify the cost to my pet budget right now. Has anyone else tried it?

 

Bird Mister Review

Ok, so this product really isn’t for birds. It’s for human hairspray, but it is by far the best sprayer I’ve used for my African Grey.

Hector doesn’t like baths. I’ve tried the kitchen sink, the bathtub, shower perches, floor of the shower, spray with different bottles, etc. I had an old spray bottle that she came with that sprayed a light mist that she would tolerate.

I mist her pretty regularly, and then give her good soaking baths in the kitchen sink every couple of weeks. It isn’t her favorite, but she tolerates it, and as bird owners know, they are necessary to help keep her healthy.

Recently I saw an Amazon ad that caught my attention for a fine mist sprayer. It’s for hairspray, not birds, but it’s just an empty sprayer so it can really be used for any liquid you chose. I fill it with some warm-ish, water, not too hot, not too cold, and it sprays a lovely fine mist.  The more you use it, the less you have to pump the sprayer as it builds up pressure and just sprays. Hector showed her delight by flapping her wings, spreading them, stretching, and preening.

This little wonder sprayer:  is amazing. Hector actually seems to enjoy the sprays from it. For $8, definitely worth a try if you have a bird that doesn’t love baths.

Laser Cat Toy by PetSafe

My cats have been playing with the Laser Tail Toy from PetSafe for a few months now, and they love it! I’ve used many PetSafe products over the years; toys, leashes, water fountains, and I find them generally to be good quality and fair prices. This laser toy certainly fits in that category.

The toy is roughly 7″ long and 5.5″ wide. It’s small enough to easily carry around in one hand. The device is very sturdy and can handle the cats pushing it, leaping on it, and even knocking it down the stairs. It has also been fine when I’ve forgotten about it and accidentally stepped on it, whoops!

The unit takes three double A batteries, and honestly they seem to last forever. As you can see above, it has three wheels that move the unit around on the floor. I have used it on linoleum, floor tiles, short carpet, and wood floors, and it seems to work well on all of them. It is able to move more quickly and freely on non-carpeted surfaces, of course, but it does work just fine on short carpet.

So what exactly does this toy do? It projects a laser on the floor. It’s simple and pretty awesome. For whatever reason, cats seem to love chasing laser beams. While it can be very enjoyable for humans to tease a cat with a handheld laser, this toy entertains your cat when you can’t, or when you just want to watch.

See that white circle above? That’s the power switch. Push it on, or push it off. It’s that simple. When it’s powered on, the toy turns on the laser, which projects onto the floor in front of it, and it moves. The toy moves backwards, forwards, left, right, and circles. It moves, stops, and moves again. It knows when it has bumped into something, and it changes direction. It will also turn itself off after a short period of time, so you could turn it on when you need to go out, and leave it to entertain your cats while you escape.

I keep this toy in the kitchen, for those times when the cats get pesty and need my attention, but I need to get something done. I hit the button on the bottom, and the cats are immediately off the counters, out of my way, and interested in what the toy is doing. Sometimes they just sit and watch it, other times they aggressively chase it, bat at it, and sometimes even knock it around.

Bean enjoys watching the laser. I’m not sure he really knows what to make of it. Sometimes he acts as if he is scared of it, but other times he enjoys chasing it. Most of the time, it’s a combination of watching and chasing.

Even though Bean is just a baby at barely a year old, he is still super lazy. A few minutes of play time, and he is ready for another nap!

Summary: I would definitely recommend this product for anyone looking to entertain their younger, more playful cats. My older cat, Logan, isn’t very playful anymore, and she doesn’t have any interest in this toy, but both of my younger boys enjoy playing with it. I do enjoy toys such as feathers on a stick and things like that which allow me to interact with the cats more, but this is a really handy thing to have when the cats need to play and I need to get something done. It’s sturdy, well designed, and long-lasting. I think it would be really fun to add a “tail” or other attachment to dangle off the back, but that might just get tangled up in the wheels. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Happy Fall and a Dragon Update

 

Happy Fall!

I put out some flowers, and a couple of pumpkins, but the beauty was short lived! The chipmunks and squirrels think that the pumpkins were put out for them, and who am I to argue?

They have removed and probably eaten all the seeds. I keep rotating the pumpkin to try and get a bit more enjoyment out of it before it’s gone, but it is slowly starting to cave in. I’m glad to help fatten up the local rodents before the snow flies, but a couple of weeks with my decorations would have been nice!

The Dragon is being really weird recently. She has been in and out of her cave. She isn’t eating well, and she just can’t seem to decide if she wants to brumate, or just be awake. I’ve made sure her tank is the right temperature, and her basking spot is hot enough. Her tank is near windows, so I’m guessing the shorter daylight hours are what have her confused.

The hardest part for me is managing her bug consumption. I usually mail order her staple, black soldier fly larvae, but they take a few days to arrive, and they only last so long. I’ve been lucky enough to have some the last couple of times she has woken up. She’ll eat a few, a bit of her salad, and then she heads back into her cave.

Now I’ve run out, and I’m hesitant to order more. She may sleep for a few days, she may sleep for weeks, or even months. I don’t have anyplace local to buy the larvae, so I guess I will just run out and get her some crickets when she gets up again. Last thing I need is 500 or 1000 black soldier flies! She actually will eat the flies, but they are much harder to deal with than the larvae. The cats love it when a fly escapes in the house; me? not so much.

Check back soon for a review of a fun cat toy!

Silly Dragon

This morning, I watched my bearded dragon try to get into her cave. She’s had this cave for over two years, as long as I’ve had her, and she has NEVER tried to go inside it. She likes to perch on top of it, and often uses it to climb up to her hammock, but I’ve never seen her show any interest in going into it. Honestly, it’s a little small for her. It was a left over from a pet snake we used to have, and I put it in her tank more for climbing and perching than for going inside.

Until today. She ate her breakfast, a lovely mix of arugula, pea shoots, and black soldier fly larvae. Then she basked in her hot spot for a bit. Next I hear her scratching around which usually means she wants out.

I finish what I’m doing so I can go take her out, and I see her trying to get into her cave. She went in, backed out, and then stayed in the position you see above for a good 20+ minutes. I left the room for a bit, and when I came back, I got nervous for a minute. Where was Wena? I didn’t see her anywhere! Hammocks were empty.

Then I realized…

she actually made it inside the cave! She’s been in there all day now. I’m wondering if it is time for her to brumate.   It’s a little early in the season for it, but I do have an almost new container of 1000 black soldier fly larvae, and she usually likes to snooze just as I’m well stocked on bugs for her. I’m going to keep an eye on her, as I’m slightly worried she will get herself stuck in that little cave, but she seems pretty content for now. Sleep well sweet lizard!