Pet Monologues

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food.

The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack.
Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn’t help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep.

It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest possible extent . I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - canine or feline attendance is not required. Read the rest of this entry »

Pet Monologues launched just as the pet-food recalls were front-page headlines one year ago. The events propelled us into the blogosphere to be sure. A year later it seems fitting to revisit pet-food and diet.

We (PM household) have not yet gone organic but feel fortunate living in a large metro area where there are many choices. However we also find ourselves having to decide daily whether to pay the premium for eating organic. You can find a more in-depth viewpoint on pet diet in our pet-food recipe section.

Let’s think about diet, fitness, and spirit. We are the messenger at this point in time.

The top five benefits of natural organic pet food for your dog:

Whether or not you’ve “gone organic,” you probably know how crucial a role diet plays in your overall health. People who switch to organic foods report a boost in their energy levels. Their complexions improve and rashes clear up. They catch fewer colds, suffer fewer allergies, and recover quicker from illnesses. The health benefits of eating organic seem to last long-term. Read the rest of this entry »

If you think the Pug can clean your monitor, wait until you see the cat clean your monitor.

The cat’s tongue…

When our cat scarfs his moist food placed on his chrome Wetnoz serving-plate, the surface looks like a mirror. There is nothing left, just a haze-free shine. You could not get the same results with sandpaper, yet that is what his tongue can feel like on your face in the middle of the night.

A Grooming Tool and More
A cat’s ability to groom itself is the result of numerous knobs called papillae on the surface of a cat’s tongue. Located at the tongue’s center, the papillae form backward-facing hooks containing large amounts of keratin, the same material found in human fingernails. These hooks provide the abrasiveness a cat needs for self-grooming. Read the rest of this entry »

This post celebrates World Animal Day and Bless the Animals. Follow the links to learn more about PM’s initiative which started on October 4.

Page 1 ad reads: “Juicy Couture. Lift to smell.” Page 2-3 ad reads: “Juicy Crittoure. The first couture fragrance for dogs. Pawfum. Shampoo. Conditioner. Nail pawlish.”

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Photographer: not available at this time. Client: Juicy Couture Ad placed in Vogue Magazine November 2007

This post was placed in response to the World Animal Day 2008 initiative. All images can be seen at Bless Animals.

Warning: though there is a bit of humor in this discussion, this is not a joke. Recklessness can cause injury, even death. Be responsible. Opinions and recommendations should be documented. PM does not endorse nor recommend anything other than the art of conversation.

“At least two thirds of domestic cats “enjoy” the effects of Nepeta, a.k.a. “catnip.” But do they enjoy it enough? If humans were able to isolate the active ingredient in catnip, could we not use it to become omnipowerful CATGODS? Imagine the possibilities! What fool wouldn’t want their own personal cat army? A massive fuzzy force with which to execute your every bidding? A united, unquestioning militia that requires nothing other than unfettered access to the super-powerful catnip products that give their adorable cuddly lives meaning.”— theinstructables.com Read the rest of this entry »

by Sadie Stephens, age 13

so i’ve like this one guy for a while, right? ok, well, today i wrote a note, saying that i like him, and i gave it to him in class. unfortunately, he said that he’d read it after class, and i don’t get to see him for the rest of the day. boys. jeezy creezy. and there’s this boy named will in my class that likes me (i don’t care, really), and we were playing a game where someone yells your name, and they toss a ball at you. if you don’t catch it, you’re out, and if you call someone’s name that’s already been called, you’re out. so my teacher asks us if we’re ready, and then she throws it at will, and he doesn’t catch it, so he’s out. well, he gets kinda upset, and then goes off to sulk. then he comes back in the game just as i get the ball, so i say his name, and throw it at him as hard as i can. he obviously doesn’t catch it, and i hit him just as my teacher’s talking about how he was out, and she’s agreeing that he can come back in the game. then i hit him and she says, “well, now you’re out”. it was so easy. i got him at least twice. and he was threatening me about it too. he even took one of the tennis balls off of the bottom of the chairs, and he threatened to hit me in the face with it. fortunately the bell rang for the end of the day. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a thoughtful and compassionate article by Sarah Hartwell with regard to cats. Dogs, birds, elephants, horses, many animals for that matter, experience these feelings. Knowlege of the grieving process puts us in better touch with feelings, a good thing.

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When a cat dies, owners often notice behavioral changes in their remaining cats. Some of these are due to adapting to a changed hierarchy, but other behavioral changes are due to a sense of loss. Many cats grieve the loss of a close human companion and others show signs of loss when a canine companion ides or goes missing.

It is impossible to say exactly what emotions cats feel, but when a close companion goes missing they are certainly be aware of the absence. It is unlikely that they mourn in the human sense of the word, but there will be some behavioral changes as they adjust to the gap in their lives.

What is grief?

Grief is the result of abrupt or unexpected severing of attachment. Cats are aware that a familiar person or companion cat is absent and may search for that person or cat. The death or absence may change an established hierarchy as well as being the absence of a familiar companion. While this is not the ritualised grief of humans, the sudden absence of something familiar is distressing to many cats. Mother cats whose kittens were taken away and destroyed often looked for their kittens for many days, all the while pacing and crying out. As well as the physical pain of engorged mammary glands, the cats displayed mental pain. Read the rest of this entry »

I was a good boy. I loved my family and always looked out for them.

I always greeted them at the door and showed them my happy expressions.

We exchanged lots of kisses and hugs, especially with younger members of the family.

I was happy. I loved going to the park and run around.

I loved jumping of the docks to water and roll around in the grass.

We all had a lot of fun and we were happy.

That was until my family took me to the woods.

I was beaming with excitement and smelling the unknown, cool misty air and hoping we get to explore the new playgrounds. That would be so great!

As the car rolled to a stop and a silence filled the air, the door opened and I was ordered to jump out. Read the rest of this entry »

Of all cat behavior problems, these are the ones owners complain about the most—and with good reason. Besides the mess and damage, inappropriate elimination is unsanitary and creates an unpleasant (and often malodorous) atmosphere in the home.

Cats have an instinct to dig in loose materials and bury their urine and feces, and many of them adapt this instinct to the litter box with few problems. But it’s still something they have to learn, and they often need help to get the lesson right.

Boxes, boxes everywhere. Litter boxes and litter should be the first things you buy when you decide to get a cat. Get them set up before the cat sets a single paw in your home. Make sure they are clean, easy to find, and numerous enough.

Many cats dislike using a box that another cat has recently used (even if that other cat is herself), so the rule of thumb is: The number of litter boxes in the house should equal the number of cats in the house plus one. Thus, if you have two cats, you should have at least three litter boxes; even households with just one cat should have at least two boxes. Read the rest of this entry »

From a lead role as Eve’s tempter in the Bible to regular appearances in the Harry Potter books and movies, snakes have slithered their way into world mythology and popular culture with tales born of fear as well as respect.

The Cottonmouth snake is also called the Water Moccasin.

In the more than 130 million years since they appeared, snakes have evolved into a highly versatile vertebrate, boasting the ability to climb straight up, dart through water and, in some species, even fly—all without limbs. Combine this mobility with a worldwide presence and a sometimes-deadly bite, and snakes can quickly become the stuff of myths.

In this article, we’ll shed some of their mystique. You’ll learn how snakes get around, how they kill and eat their prey, and how they court and reproduce, making note of some fascinating species along the way. Read the rest of this entry »