9:45 PM Sweet Moments & Milestones

If you follow me on Facebook or remember this blog from another time of activity, you know that I adore my pets.  They truly are my Fur kids.  My dog, Bones, occasionally gets to accompany me on costumed events, but the cats have to "suffer" staying home.  They only get to enjoy my costuming hobby by "helping" with the construction.  This video was taken just after Taquita tried to lay down on my hands while I was sewing on the machine.  I had to move her to get anything done, but these sweet moments are my favorites. They balance out the moments when she's picking fights with my foster cat Luna.

Speaking of Bones,  we've hit a new milestone.  The wee Bones has been living with me for about 10 months now - 8 of those as a foster, and two as an official adoptee.  When he came to me he was mostly house trained.  He knew he was supposed to go potty outside, but there were some spots in the spare room where Maizy used to have accidents that confused him.  Once he chewed his last DVD case and dug his last hole in the couch, convincing me of the virtues of crating Every day as regular routine, we were finally able to knock that confusion out.  However, since I kept a very good schedule for taking him outside before he showed signs of needing to, I never saw him ask to go out.  He never needed to learn.  But I believe he knows.
Yesterday he went to the back door, waited a second, then came back to me.  I asked him if he needed to go outside and he got super excited.  So we went out.  I wondered if it was coincidence or not.  Then tonight it rained and he refused to stay out long the first time I took him out.  And sure enough he went to the door again, waited a few seconds, then started to go into the spare room thought better of it and came to me.  I took him out and he immediately went to the bathroom.  And of course came right back in because it was still raining.  I find it funny that he doesn't bark or whine when he goes to the door, but he's obviously put it all together.  I'm very proud!  And he got a treat for being so smart.

This is Bones at our local park waiting for yoga class to start.  Man I can't wait for warm weather again so we can re-start that Saturday park habit!

9:14 PM Household pictures

Efah being silly in the grocery bag. I'm telling you, the paper bag has always been the favorite toy in this household.

This is the one picture I got from Nimue where she isn't dodging my camera. I had to be quick. She dislikes the flash. And she's a smart cookie.

Sweet Taquita Banana. She's like a pretzel.

And Roz and Maizy are enjoying some couch lounging time. They are Both in my spot, but they're just so precious there together, I left them alone.

Lord Dunbar relaxing in his kingdom. Not from his Tower of Power, but from his favorite chair with his favorite afgan.

And the pretty pretty princess Nabisco. Mere moments from this photograph Efah hopped in my lap and plopped down right on top of her. She got really mad. He didn't care.

10:28 AM Holiday shopping for my pets

If you're like me and you love your pets like they are family, you are prone to spending quite a bit of your Christmas budget on the little guys before even realizing what you've done. This year I have made a pact to keep the costs down. At least I'm going to try really hard!

My first obstacle is getting a gift for my aging dog, Maizy.


Maizy is a 13 1/2 year old Catahoula Leopard Dog with arthritis. She is in great health, but her arthritic joints deteriorate a little each year. About a year and a half ago I purchased a very large orthopedic bed for her from Petsmart. She loves this bed because it is huge and she can sprawl out any which way she likes while still sharing the bed with whatever cat decides to bed down nearby. However, within a few months, she began to be uncomfortable on the bed because the foam was breaking down and sagging in the middle. That really doesn't offer much support. So I had decided I was going to just buck up and buy one of those high dollar support mattresses from Dr. Foster & Smith. And then I came across something different.

The Snoozzy OrthoAir Dog Bed.

Image courtesy of dogbedsandcrates.com

This bed looks like it meets all of my requirements and then some for a bed:

1. Supportive
2. Washable
3. Scratchproof

And as a bonus, it is easy to travel with as well as it is accident proof! Maizy has also begun to have little accidents in her sleep, so being accident proof is just about as fabulous as it gets for me. And even better, this bed is much cheaper than even the orthopedic bed I already bought her which is none of the above.

So now I know what Miss Maizy Loo is getting for Christmas. But what to get for the cats?

This idea comes via the Modern Cat website, which was then used to suggest cat gifts on Martha Stewart's website. Meet the Cat Eye Bed.

Image courtesy of dogbedsandcrates.com

I am constantly on the look out for new perches, scratching posts, and beds that the cats in my household will enjoy. They tend to cycle through each one whenever their mood strikes for a change. And since everyone of them will go after my furniture when not stimulated to scratch elsewhere, I am forever trying to keep up! This little bed looks like a lot of fun. And you know what? The price isn't bad either. Sure, it's not as cheap as the modulars I got from Target, but this will actually hold the body weight of one or more of my cats. And in general good scratching areas are always somewhere in the $60 range and above. So the function and price both are just right.

I see my Taquita Banana enjoying this bed most of all with Nabisco in at a close second.

The torti girls

And Roz enjoys scratching beneath her as opposed to scratching on a pillar. She would likely enjoy lounging on the top of the bed.

Sweet Rozaline

My other favored option for pet presents is Etsy. I've never shopped for homemade gifts before, but I've been told that there's some good quality crafts out there for both people and animals. And it sure would be nice to support someone directly as opposed to a corporation.