Category: Pets

Homemade Dog Biscuits – Cleo’s Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

On By Michel McDonaldIn Pets, Recipes3 Comments

I just saw this on Facebook and had to share it.  This was posted on the Facebook page called The Barking Army.

My dog hates these biscuits from the store, she is a very picky dog, so I’m not even sure she will like these, but I will try it out and she what happens.  Of course I will have to find a smaller cookie cutter because she is a toy Chihuahua.  Also, she knows this shape to be the shape of the ones she hates, so it would have to be something else.

Stop giving your dogs crap from China that is killing our dogs!! Here is a Pumpkin Recipe that is healthy for them 🙂

Cleo’s Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 2 tablespoons dry milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 1/2 cups brown rice flour *
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

In large bowl, whisk together eggs and pumpkin to smooth. Stir in dry milk, sea salt, and dried parsley (if using, optional). Add brown rice flour gradually, combining with spatula or hands to form a stiff, dry dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface (can use the brown rice flour) and if dough is still rough, briefly knead and press to combine.

Roll dough between 1/4 – 1/2″ – depending on your dog’s chew preferences, – and use biscuit or other shape cutter to punch shapes, gathering and re-rolling scraps as you go. Place shapes on cookie sheet, no greasing or paper necessary. If desired, press fork pattern on biscuits before baking, a quick up-and-down movement with fork, lightly pressing down halfway through dough. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully turn biscuits over, then bake additional 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely on rack before feeding to dog.

* Brown rice flour gives the biscuits crunch and promotes better dog digestion. Many dogs have touchy stomachs or allergies, and do not, like many people I know, tolerate wheat.

Makes up to 75 small (1″) biscuits or 50 medium biscuits.

A Golden Retriever Was Hit on H Street in Bakersfield

On By Michel McDonaldIn Pets2 Comments

Tonight at around 6:15pm we were driving along H Street here in Bakersfield going to Hometown Buffet (which we didn’t know is closed for renovation, we ended up going to Denny’s) and we passed the saddest thing.

Among all the speeding cars driving around 40-50mph, there was a Golden Retriever laying on the ground between 2 parked cars. He (or she, I don’t know) seemed to be alive, he was laying down but sitting there panting with his head up. There were 2 people standing by the cars and it looked like they were on the phone.

Since we didn’t pull over I don’t know the full details of what happened but I can only speculate that the dog went out into the street and got hit. I can only speculate that the person I saw on the phone may have either seen the dog get hit or they are the driver that hit him. I don’t know. They may have been calling the owner of the dog if the dog had tags on the collar or they might have been calling for help for the dog. Again, I don’t know.

What I do know is that my heart goes out to that dog tonight. I am a very sensitive person, especially when it comes to animals because they aren’t that bright sometimes. We’re always seeing dogs and cats in the street wandering around confused and lost. I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that they were sheltered in a house then suddenly kicked out into the world that they are very confused by or if they just don’t have a lot going on up there.

I know they run out when you least expect it and if you stop suddenly you could end up causing a huge accident so I understand why they end up getting hit. I just wish people would keep their dogs and cats inside the house or inside the fenced in yard. And if you can’t keep the dog then at least find them a new home so there aren’t so many strays out.

There is a house in our neighborhood on 2nd and Eye st. where the dogs have a chain link fence but the driveway gates don’t close tight so the dogs are always running around the neighborhood chasing and barking at people who walk by.  And they are little dogs which is how they were able to get through the driveway gates.  I saw one of them dead over on Chester and 2nd street in the gutter.  I hate seeing dead dogs in the street, especially when you know that dog has a home, their owners just don’t care enough about them to keep them either in the house or get the fence fixed so the dogs don’t go wandering around.

When we came home from dinner I picked up our dog Flower and hugged her and kissed her. Sometimes you don’t appreciate something (or someone) until they are gone, that doesn’t only apply to people either.

Kitty Grave Stone (Wood Actually)

On By Michel McDonaldIn Animals, PetsLeave a comment

Well I finished making it and I wanted to share it.  It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be.  See my previous post with the template. I had this piece of wood so all I did was traced the cat, words, numbers and the paw print then started doing it.  This was one of the easiest things I have made to date.  I thought that making a Ouija Board would be so difficult but now I know different and as soon as I have that made then perhaps I can use it to talk to my Shanaynay.

Well here it is.  It needs to be stained and have the stuff to protect it from the rain and the elements and from rotting on top of the ground.  Although I may put a stake in the ground and then screw this to the stake to make it look like a cross.

Click to see it full size

shanaynay-wood-burn

Rest In Peace Kitty

On By Michel McDonaldIn Animals, PetsLeave a comment

This morning our cat Shanaynay passed away.  I don’t know the exact time but it was between 6:30am and 8am.  On Memorial Day no less.  So every Memorial Day I will remember her.  She was born some time in October 1994.  I couldn’t narrow down the exact date so I gave her October 31st for her birthday.  She passed away at age 14 1/2.

She was the best kitty anyone could ever hope for.  The day we got her I was actually in bed sleeping and I woke up and saw this little tiny kitten sitting there on the bed and the first thing that I said was awwwww.  Here are some pictures that we took of her the first month we had her.  Click the small thumbnails to open them up full size.

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When she was around 6 months old she started her howling thing because she was going into heat for the first time so we had to have her fixed.  It was so funny to hear her howl but that was the first and last time she had to go through that for the rest of her life.

Some of the memories I have of her are from when I would change the sheets on the bed, she would jump up and she would do her little dance where she would pounce sideways with her ears back and her head cocked to the side.  She also did not like her mirror reflection and she would do the same thing but to the mirror.

There was another thing that she used to do where I’d like have her face in my hand and she would kick and scratch my arm with her back feet.  It didn’t hurt as much though but she loved to play.

Over the years she calmed down and stopped wanting to play and just became a very calm kitty.  She didn’t like to have another animal in the house besides herself so we could never have any more cats or even a dog.  Then one day Darrin found a little kitten inside of a box in the middle of the street.  We took care of her and gradually let the 2 of them see each other until they were living peacefully in the same house.

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This picture was actually forced upon her, she did not like that at all lol.  I had to take the picture as fast as I possibly could.  That other kitty we never did name her but the Vet named her Baby when she passed away.

Then we got Flower last year, our Toy Chihuahua.  Shanaynay didn’t care.  The dog was a little too rambunctious for her though and she would scratch Flower when she got too playful.

Shanaynay mostly lived inside of our indoor patio.  It gave her the feeling of being outdoors while keeping her inside so she was happy.

She was diagnosed with Diabetes 2 1/2 years ago and we were told that she wouldn’t live very long if we didn’t give her insulin shots but they wanted so much money for the blood tests and then we’d have to pay for the insulin.  I think the dollar amount was like $600 the vet said for the tests.  I was ready to have her put to sleep then but Darrin said no, let’s give her a chance to die on her own.

I ended up changing her diet and instead of giving her the dry food which I believe was the Whiskas and the Friskies, I started giving her the canned Friskies and she did a 180.  She was walking on the back of her legs instead of her feet and when I switched her food she started walking normal again.  She didn’t stop drinking like a sailor and peeing a lot though but at least her legs were fine.

But I end this by saying that she was my favorite pet in the whole world and there is no other person or animal who could ever take her place.  I love you Shanaynay.  Take care of yourself wherever you are.

Edit:  Thanks to my friend Alyce for buying me the wood burning kit I have the tools to make a little grave stone (or grave wood).  Here is what it’s going to look like.

shanaynay-grave

Our Cat Is Dying

On By Michel McDonaldIn Animals, PetsLeave a comment

Our cat Shanaynay is dying.  She isn’t walking normal, in fact she is staggering and I saw her getting out of her litter box, she fell out onto her butt.  She has litter stuck to her butt and her tail and it’s already hardened and she gets mad at me when I try to help her get it off.  Her meow isn’t as pronounced as before, meaning it’s shallow.  She has to take deep breaths.  Also she is so skinny now, you can feel her bones when you touch her.  She isn’t eating at all.  I recall refilling her food bowl days ago and she has barely even touched it.

I just saw her drinking some water so at least she’s able to drink.  We can’t afford to have her put to sleep so all we can do is wait and keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t fall off the table (like a coffee table, she sleeps on it) or falls out of her litter box (which I moved closer to where she sleeps).

My Aunt Louise bought our cat this little thing that it’s like a tube with a hole cut on the side and it’s carpeted, you know what I mean.  Anyway, I put that next to the table where she is sleeping right now so she can use it as a step to get on and off the table.

She is a 14-year-old cat.  Well, 14 1/2.  Darrin got her when she was 8 or 9 weeks old and since we didn’t know her exact birthdate I estimated that it would’ve been some time in October so I decided that her birthday should be on Halloween 1994.  So considering that she is so old we have been expecting this to happen for quite some time.  Even though it’s been expected, it doesn’t make it easy.

Anyway, I will add to this post if she passes today.

Hook Worms

On By Michel McDonaldIn Animals, Health, PetsLeave a comment

Well we just came home from the vet at PetSmart.  Our poor defenseless toy chihuahua has hook worms in her.  Poor baby.

The bill was $235.02 YIKES!  But, I guess it’s worth it.  That wasn’t for the medicine though.  The medicine was only $14.  The rest was for all the tests and just to walk in the front door.

Apparently these hook worms live in the dirt and a dog can be walking around in the dirt or even laying in the dirt sunning themselves and the hook worms latch on to the feet and then the dog comes in the house and licks her feet and then the worm gets swallowed.  They drink the dogs blood inside of their intestines.

Here is the link for Hookworms at the Mar Vista Animal Medical Center website.  The medicine that they gave us is called Panacur.  It’s a cheap medicine but it works.

I hate knowing that my dog got this.  I’m going to have to clean out the back yard and just take Flower outside in the front yard with the harness and leash and pick up her poop with a plastic bag for now.  I don’t want her to be in the back yard by herself until I can get out there and clean it up.  I wonder if there is a spray that we can spray on the dirt that will kill all life in the dirt.

I’m also going to have to give her a bath and wipe her paws every time I bring her back inside the house so she doesn’t lick anything that she might have picked up.

Deadly Pet Toys

On By Michel McDonaldIn PetsLeave a comment

We got our Toy Chihuahua last year so we’ve had her for maybe a year and 2 months.  When we first got her we went to PetSmart and bought her this little toy that is a green frog with a squeaker inside of it.  She loves that frog.  She’s always playing with it and her favorite thing is to bite down on the squeaker to make it squeak.

She’s chewed the hell out of that frog and she’s even torn the fabric so that she was able to access the squeaker and she chewed the tip of it off.  This was like 6 months or so ago.  I took the squeaker out and threw it away when I realized what she had one.

About a month ago I found the spare squeaker that came with the frog and there is an access in the back of the frog with Velcro so you can remove the one inside and replace it.  Well, even though she chewed the hell out of the stomach it didn’t occur to me that she might try to chew the spare squeaker the same way.  I don’t know why.  I forgot that she did it to the first one so it didn’t really occur to me to not put the second one in there.

Today Darrin was laying on the couch talking to his brother on the phone and our dog Flower was laying next to his feet just going to town on this frog.  I saw how passionate she was chewing on this thing and it didn’t occur to me that she might have been chewing the tip of the squeaker.

Darrin got off the phone and I noticed that she was clawing at her face.  I went over to her and picked up the frog and she didn’t try to get it back, she was still clawing at her face.  She had this look of horror in her eyes.  I could tell she was in trouble but I didn’t know what to do.  I looked at the squeaker and the tip was gone.  The part that makes the squeaking sound was laying on the couch where she was laying all by itself next to the frog and I realized she was choking on something.

I put my finger in her mouth and I could feel it in her throat but I couldn’t get at it.  I accidentally pushed it in her throat and she was struggling still.  I knew she couldn’t breathe at all.  I told Darrin to blow inside her mouth to help her out but he didn’t know what I meant.  He put his lips up to her mouth and blew on them, I grabbed her and put her entire snout into my mouth and just blew and then chip squeezed her chest and you could hear a popping sound, the plastic piece shot out of her mouth and fell onto the floor.

OMFG!!!  I was in total panic mode, I didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t know what I was doing when I blew in her mouth, I thought I was helping her but at the same time I would’ve been hurting her.  If it weren’t for Darrin squeezing her chest she would’ve been dead.

I immediately threw the frog away and took a picture of the squeaker.  You can see in the picture the piece that she had stuck in her throat, it’s the thing that the arrow is pointing to.

squeeker

I can only imagine what might have happened if we weren’t home to see this happening, what we might have walked in on one day.  I might have been on my bike ride and come home to find a dead toy chihuahua laying on the living room floor or on the couch.  Or we might come home from the movies or from going out to dinner.  I will never ever buy another toy with one of these things in it ever again.  And if I find a toy that has one, I’m going to take it out first.

My aunt Louise takes them out.  When I went to visit her for Christmas in Texas someone bought her dogs some toys and she took the squeakers out but I didn’t know why, now I know.  They are killers.  But her dogs are a lot bigger than mine, like Golden Retriever sized dogs.  Our dog is smaller than a cat.  Like half the size of a cat.  I never even imagined this would happen but now I do and I’ve learned from it.

Gothic Kittens

On By Michel McDonaldIn Animals, PetsLeave a comment

I saw this story in the National Enquirer magazine but looked it up and this is the text from that story from MSNBC but is from Associated Press:

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Humane officers said a Pennsylvania woman marketed “gothic kittens” with ear, neck and tail piercings over the Internet. Officers with the SPCA of Luzerne County removed three kittens and a cat from a home outside Wilkes-Barre.

Officer Carol Morrison said the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals raided the home on Wednesday after getting a tip that the woman was selling the pierced kittens on eBay.

“It’s unbelievable anybody would do this to kittens,” Morrison said.

Charges are likely against the homeowner, whose name was not released.

Morrison said the woman has a pet grooming business in the basement of the home.

That is such a shame that this woman would do such a thing to these poor defenseless kittens.  She was arrested and she should never be allowed to come in contact with any animals unless they are dinner.

gothic-kittengothic-kittens

Dog Fetishes

On By Michel McDonaldIn Animals, PetsLeave a comment

Can someone answer this?  Why do dogs eat cat poop?  That is the most disgusting thing in the whole world.

When we got our little Chihuahua, Flower, one of the first things she did was go for the litter box.  What?  Darrin was holding her and then came into my room and asked me to smell her breath and I said no thanks lol.  I could already tell that she must have done something bad.  Listen, whenever someone asks you to smell or taste something, it’s never a good smell or taste.  Just say no.

So, I had to put the litter box in the bathtub and make our elderly cat jump into the tub to go to the bathroom but she’s old, she craps all over the place because I think she’s losing it.  So we would still smell cat poop on the dogs breath.  I ended up having to put our cat on the patio (it’s an indoor patio, it’s the area between the garage and our house so it’s a patio).  My cat loves being out there so she’s happy, we’re happy, everyone is happy.

When it’s cold I bring her in the house and I have to lock her up in the kitchen because if I don’t the dog will go for her litter box and also the cat might crap all over the house so she has to stay in the kitchen.  I just brought her in and the dog was outside so I brought her back in too and the first thing Flower did was she went to eat some poop on the side of the litter box.  LOL Gross dog.

Chimp Attacks Woman

On By Michel McDonaldIn News, PetsLeave a comment

I just read this story on the AOL news page about a woman who has a Chimpanzee who raised him from a baby and this chimp was treated like a real human being.  This woman’s husband died and he basically put himself in the deceased husbands place I think.  When the woman left the house the chimp would be sad but when she left with someone else he took that like she was cheating on him.

Here is the story: Chimp Was Unusually Close to Owner

Here is my opinion.  Chimps belong in the jungle with other chimps.  They don’t belong on TV shows with truck drivers (Although BJ and the Bear was a good show) and they don’t belong with families with children or with lonely widows.  They belong with their own kind.  You don’t see any human children being left in the jungle to be raised by monkeys do you?  There are no real Tarzan’s or George of the jungles or that kid from jungle story.  The 2 species should never intermingle.  Especially considering we “evolved” from them.

Yes it would be cute and fun to dress a monkey up in your childs clothes and put a baseball cap on him and put diapers on him (although it wouldn’t be fun changing said diaper).

“She gave him the finest food, and wine in long-stemmed glasses. They took baths together and cuddled in the bed they shared.”

That’s sick.  A friend of hers came over to the house and the monkey went ballistic and started ripping her face off and this poor woman now has to have surgery to put her face back together.  The widow stabbed her own pet and was yelling on the 911 tape to SHOOT HIM.  How can you deal with that?  Stabbing your own pet and telling the cops to shoot him.  OMG this is why the laws need to change.  This is a wild animal lady.  You don’t keep a wild animal in your house.