Search Results for: blog are you not your pets favorite person

Not So Smart After All?

Human beings are supposed to be intelligent and smarter than the animal and bird kingdom right? But maybe we’re not so smart after all. Sometimes we could take note and learn from them. For example we have a dog, part Shih Tzu part Maltese Terrier. Whenever Mick and I come home, no matter whether we have been gone five minutes or hours, she is so pleased to see us she lets us know by greeting us enthusiastically and affectionately. Do we show the same enthusiasm when our spouse comes home? Mick and I always kiss and hug before one of … Continue reading →

Boosting Your Immune System With Vitamin C and Echinacea

It never fails. Every time I go on vacation I come back with a cold or a case of the flu. Mike and I just celebrated our fifth anniversary so we spent four days and three nights in Las Vegas. I love going to Sin City, though I honestly don’t do anything I would consider sinful. I’m a frugal person and have a small fun-budget I set for myself and when that’s used up I’m done. I mostly play the penny slots, see the sights, enjoy the free bands that play music from the 80’s, and eat to my heart’s … Continue reading →

The Glitter Box

I got into a funny conversation on a certain social networking site the other day. A few people were talking about sand boxes. Two years ago, I asked my father to make my preschooler a sand box for her birthday. At the time she was very fond of the beach and loved to pour sand and rocks. I thought that it would be a big hit. Unfortunately, the first couple of times she entered the sandbox she sat there playing happily and managed to stuff some sand down her pants. Sand down the pants is rather uncomfortable, and this sand … Continue reading →

Make Your Own and Be Green!

When we purchase products, it is hard to be environmentally friendly. This is because packaging combined with the energy cost of shipping the product and storing the product can use up valuable resources. When you make your own products, your are saving on these types of environmental impact issues. In many cases, you are actually recycling or repurposing as well. There are all sorts of things that you can make on your own. Here are some of the more fun items that will also reduce your environmental impact. Make your own soda. You can purchase a home carbonator or soda … Continue reading →

Dogs and Cats Who Blog

Do your pets keep a blog? Do they tweet? Do they have a Myspace page? Do they chat with other ani-pals on Facebook (or Dogbook or Catbook)? Writing for your pets can actually be a great creative exercise and imagination outlet. Think about it: you’re writing in a voice that is not your own, imagining what a pet’s daily life is like, and even interacting with other imagined animal personalities. If you’ve got a reluctant writer in the house, writing as a pet might be a good way to go. Twitter is fun for the one-liners — you have to … Continue reading →

Diary of a Cat Care B&B: the Worst Part of the Job

It feels like this year has been a rough one for some of our favorite clients at the cats-only boarding facility. Some of our long-time visitors succumbed to chronic health issues or old age. It feels like we’ve been sending a lot of condolence cards. I don’t like it. Not one bit. We said goodbye to another dear friend this week — you may remember him as the biggest cat I’d ever seen. When he first came in to board for a weekend, he tipped the scale at almost thirty-four pounds. On his latest visit, he was down to almost … Continue reading →

Ways to Survive a Car Trip With a Baby

We have lovely friends who live at least an hour’s drive away from us by car. Our extended family is also a short trek away – close enough to make the journey seem feasible, but far enough away to make it seem impossible when you have a child who can’t stand the car seat. I vividly remember the first time we tried to head out to a pre-Christmas dinner with family. Our daughter was about 3 months old, ands she screamed for a good 20 minutes along the way. She screamed so violently that I debated turning the car around, … Continue reading →

Can Pets Sense Our Emotions?

I’ve always believed that animals are sensitive to emotions — in their owners, in new people they meet, maybe even in other animals. But if you try to go looking for proof, you get a whole lot of anecdotal evidence. I am pretty sure that my dogs recognize tone of voice — and that is often related to emotion. They know the difference between my play voice and my serious voice (the one that says “go in the house now, we’re done fooling around and trying to find cats in the landscaping!”) For the record, they listen better to the … Continue reading →

Purina’s Campaign to End Cattiness

Okay, multi-cat households: this one’s for you. Purina’s Tidy Cats litter is running a contest called the Campaign to End Cattiness. The concept behind the contest is simple: if you live in a multi-cat household, it’s time to show the world that you’re not just a crazy cat person. Through stories and pictures, you can demonstrate that sharing your home with more than one cat makes life better! But be concise — you’ve only got 175 words and two pictures to tell your story. (For comparison, the average blog post here at Families.com is 300 words or more. So you’ve … Continue reading →

Dogs Are as Smart as Toddlers (When it Comes to Hand Signals)

Two different studies recently took a look at how well dogs learn and understand hand signals. The first study (from Eotvos University) tested dogs against two-year-old children and three year old children. Testers used a variety of gestures like finger pointing, elbow pointing, and leg pointing to help the kids find a favorite toy… and help the dogs find tasty treats. Both the dogs and the two-year-olds had no problem with the majority of the gestures. Pointing with a knee gave both groups a little trouble, as did an arm pointing one way with a finger pointing a different way … Continue reading →