The Holidays!

Hey guys!  Hope you're having a great start to the holiday season!

Penny Update:

Penny's doin' great.  She's gained enough weight that she looks like a normal dog now!  Except for the limp, of course, heh.  We go on longer and longer walks every day to build up her other muscles, and she's still on high protein food so her body will have all the resources it needs to compensate.  She's already turning pit bull haters into pit bull lovers!  She really seems to think of us as family now, too - she's only content when both my fiance and I are in the room (and when she's on the couch!).  She and the cat have progressed to sitting near each other and sniffing, but I still don't trust either of them enough to turn them loose around each other.  It's a start, though!

The weather is getting cold and it seems to really affect her - she doesn't want to move around as much when it's chilly outside, instead opting for laying down and chewing rather than running around and wanting to play.  She also displays a lot of really subtle pained body language on colder days, which seems to be independent of anything else, so I'm guessing it has to do with her leg.  Her surgery is tentatively scheduled for January 3rd, so hopefully in just one month's time we'll have started down the path to a normal puppy dog life - painfree!

If you can help Penny, please give anything you can spare using the paypal button on the right, or check out her own little blog space here.

Anyhoo!

It's gettin' holiday time, and with the holidays comes a lot of food and festivities.  Here's a neat article I just found with ten toxic items and foods to keep away from your pets.  There are of course more than mentioned, and some of the things pointed out are a little more complex than covered (like houseplants, heh), but this is a great spot to start so I wanted to share.  Remember that if you need to know if a houseplant is toxic to your cat or dog, you can check the ASPCA's list here.  For other animals, you can do a google search to determine if something is toxic or not.  If you AT ALL suspect your pet may have gotten to something dangerous, don't take any chances!  Call your vet or local emergency hour vet hospital and ask any questions - nothing is too silly to ask when your pet's life may be in danger.

Now that we've covered what NOT to share with your pets this holiday season, how about a link to something you can?  Yeah?  Yeah?  While looking for ways to fundraise for Penny, I found a huge collection of recipes for baking your own dog treats.  Wouldn't it be sweet if while you baked holiday cookies for friends and family, you could make some for your furry friend, too?  That's not the only place to find them, either, there are dog treat recipes all over the internet - just do a Google search.  I haven't tried any of them, so use judgement when picking out one that is healthy or appropriate for your pet.  You can probably find just as many recipes for cat treats, bunny treats, bird treats...just about anything!  Tis the season to bake!  Did you keep any of your seeds from your pumpkins or squash this Fall, by the way?  Rodents go nuts for pumpkin or squash seeds!  :)

While we're on the topic of the holidays, I found yet ANOTHER article here  (I can't write original content today, can I?) about how to pet-proof your Christmas tree.  I'd write about it, but I haven't risked getting a Christmas tree the past few years BECAUSE of my pets, so I don't have any experiences to lend!  With Penny needing all of our spare...well...pennies...I may have to give some of the suggestions a shot next year rather than this one!


I hope everyone's having a good start to December!
-Miss Mouse
<:3 )~~


P.S. - I was also going to talk about vaccinating your pet at home and what to do if your pet has an allergic response to a vaccine (which can happen even when it's done at a vet, so it's a good thing to know!), but it's sort of a big topic, so I think I'll cover it next time.  Maybe I'll do a video to go with it, yeah?  :)