Special Delivery

Good evening, everyone!  We had a special delivery tonight.  The guy in the big truck came and dropped one of those great boxes on our doorstep.  Inside were all sorts of special treats that Mom had ordered for us from one of our favorite online vendors - K9Cuisine.com 

All of us fur kids here eat a prey model raw diet, but we still use some commercial food products for treats and stuff.  And K9Cuisine also has great chew items, grooming stuff, toys, and more. 

In tonight's box, we got:

Tripett Green Tripe (green tripe is great stuff and we love it, so since we're out of the raw green tripe that we get from Hare Today and Mom isn't ready to do another raw order for awhile since our freezer is kinda full, she got us this instead)

Addiction Venison & Cranberry  (this is a great dehydrated product - you mix it with warm water - that is nice for when we travel and it is inconvenient for Mom to pack our raw food)

Wet Noses Cheddar Cheese Treats

Catnip Mist

and

Zuke's Natural Purrz

but of course as usual the best part was the box ....

Sleep tight, everyone!

Mad at Mom Monday

Good evening, friends!  My new pal Spitty  just mentioned to Tucker that one of the differences between dogs and cats is that dogs will stay still for their closeups.  True, Spitty, true, and you are wise beyond even your nine lives.

In this evening's post, I'd like to offer up yet another difference ... that being that if you're a dog and your mom leaves you for the weekend, you generally forgive and forget almost immediately.  Whereas, if you're a cat, and your mom comes home and wants to hug and kiss you, you can simply climb to the top of the kitchen cabinets where you are not allowed to be...

look down with a smug expression on your face ... and refuse to move. 

I think that'll teach her.

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we went ...

And now we're back!

We sure missed all our friends, both old and new, during our time away, but though we had the best of intentions, somehow the time just slipped away from us, as time has a tendency to do when there are family and friends to visit and lots of good food to eat, and naps to take (to sleep off the food). 

Sleeping off my Thanksgiving dinner

My sweet face

Wondering when dessert will be served

Ok, Mom, that's enough!

Of course, we did more than eat and sleep ... but the simple fact is that Mom is just not that good a photographer ... and she does marginally better when we're stationary. 

Well, everyone ... it's good to be home.  We hope your Thanksgiving was happy. 

The Story of Me ...

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving, everyone! It's me, Tucker!

Let me start out by first thanking my new pal, Pip for alerting us to Minna Krebbs' The Story of Me contest. 

I think the timing of this contest is particularly apropos, since it was almost exactly seven years ago that I became part of my family.  At the time, the family in question was my mom and my brother, Dakotah.  Dakotah isn't with us anymore, and now I have all these little brothers and sisters to look after.  Although Olivia and I are pretty close in age, and she does help me a little bit with keeping everyone in line.  Anyway ...

THE STORY OF ME

Like that of many rescued dogs, my story has something of a sad beginning.  When Mom found me, I was only about ten months old, and had been abandoned by my previous people.  Who can say why those people decided not to keep me?  I don't even really remember them.  But I do remember that for months after I came to live with Mom, I would whimper and shiver and shake in my sleep, and even when I was awake I would sometimes get really scared and go hide under the bed.  I never hid from Mom, though ... she and I bonded instantly, and even though at first I could hardly believe it, it was soon clear to me that Mom loved me an almost insane amount.  She just could not get enough of how adorable and sweet and good natured and well-behaved I was (and still am).  As for my part, it's hard not to love someone who loves you so much ... and wants to spend almost all their time spoiling you and making goo-goo eyes at you.  I figured out pretty quickly that my luck had definitely changed for the better, and I decided I was going to do whatever it took to make sure Mom would never want to ditch me like those other people did.  As if!  So yeah - call me a mama's boy if you want - I don't care. 

Now, another thing about my story is that when Mom & I got together, I was in rough shape.  Even though I am a Chinese Crested (which Mom didn't know at the time - she thought I was some sort of terrier mix - but I knew what I was the whole time), which of course is a hairless breed, I am a Powderpuff, which means I am supposed to have hair.  But back when I first came to live with Mom, most of my hairs were missing.  I didn't have hardly any hair on my body, and basically none at all on my legs and feet.  And they were all red and scaly and itchy.  So when I first came home with Mom, I had to wear boots like this: Muttluks at  night so that Mom could put this special ointment on my feet to try to heal them up.  That took awhile, and they sure were sore.  But with time and lots of pampering and love I healed up and became the handsome guy I am today.

Over the past seven years, I've been pretty busy.  I joined The Dog Training Club Of Tampa Bay , where I've participated in agility training and taken (and passed) my Canine Good Citizen Test (or CGC).  I have also gotten certified for therapy dog work with Therapy Dogs International and volunteered in the cardiac unit of a local hospital. Of course, I've also had a lot of fun, and I enjoy doing just regular dog stuff, like going for walks, going to the dog park, and dining al fresco at one of Tampa's many dog-friendly establishments.

It's a pretty good life - and all in all I have a lot to be thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and thanks for reading my story!

Little dogs can have big jobs ...

Hi, everybody ... it's me, Phoebe! And I'm taking a break from hiding under Mom's desk!

Taking a break from hiding under the desk.  And for anyone who wonders - yes, we do do more at work than lay on our pillow.  But I think the old rule of thumb to focus on what you're good at (in this case relaxing and looking cute) applies here, don't you?



I decided to come out because the guys hammering outside have decided to take a rest.  About time, too ... all that banging and hammering and drilling and general commotion sets my nerves on edge!  I already told Mom that I'm not coming to work tomorrow - I need a day off! 

Anyway, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some exciting news I just found out about.  It's about Momo, a long-haired Chihuahua living in Japan, who just became the newest member of the police force!

You can read all about it here:  6 lb. police dog

So to all my fellow mighty-mites - let this be a reminder!  Just because you're little, doesn't mean you can't do big things! 

And on that note, the stucco guys are back at it - so I guess it's time for me to get back under the desk! 

Till next time,

Phoebe

Oh my aching head ....

Hi, everybody!  It's me, Tucker!  And even though it's not cold out today, I sure wish I had a pair of earmuffs like this guy does:

(by the way ... Mom found this guy on Getty Images and paid to use his picture here ... thanks, Mom!)

Why do I want earmuffs, you ask?  Well, here's the deal!  As I mentioned previously, the building Mom works in has been sold and their company is moving to a new office very soon.  But meanwhile, the people who bought the building, who are letting us stay and work here for a little while longer (probably for some of the boss's green papers) are having work done on the outside.  They're knocking stuff off the building and Mom says the stuff they're knocking off is called stucco and then they are going to put new stucco on.  That doesn't make a lot of sense to me ... because if you're only going to put something back on again, why waste a lot of time and effort to take it off in the first place?  This is a human thing, apparently.  Dogs are much smarter than this.

So anyway - the point is - all this banging is giving me a giant headache (Phoebe, too) and I think I/we need some earmuffs!  I think Phoebe and I are going to take the day off tomorrow so we can recover.

Happy Tuesday everyone ... just two days till Thanksgiving ... can't wait for that turkey!  Mmm!

Sunday Supper

Peek-a-boo! It's me ... Finn! 

And I just thought you might want to see what I'm having for dinner tonight ... (if you are squeamish about raw meat you might not want to look ....)

If you are curious, what I (and Olivia and Tanner) am having for dinner tonight is chunks of raw pheasant with pork liver.  You can't really tell but some of the pheasant chunks have bone in them.  So this makes basically a complete meal from the prey model raw diet standpoint.  If any of you kitties' humans are interested in learning more about feeding you a raw diet, Mom wrote an informational article about Raw Feeding For Cats - An Overview that is on our friend Alex's website IBD Kitties

Alex is an angel now, but she and her mom are still on a mission - to spread the word about feline IBD and to help kitties who have been diagnosed with it.  So since a raw diet has been known to help kitties with all sorts of problems, Alex's mom asked our mom and our friend BK's mom to write something about raw feeding for the IBD site, and they both did. 

Well ... gotta go - it's time to eat!

Happiness is ...

A big brother to lean on ...

Happy Sunday, everybody!

What the heck is going on?

Hi, everybody!  It's me, Tucker.  And I have to say ... I hate to complain, but Mom is really disappointing me lately.  First of all, she made us miss yesterday's blog post because she said the computer wasn't working right.  Which stinks, because I had a few things I wanted to say.  And then today, we worked all day and I figured we'd have tonight to relax and just hang out, but then Mom put on makeup and fixed her hair and said she was going out to dinner.  That was bad enough.  But then she came home smelling like strange dog stink.  That Mom - she is such a traitor.  If dogs could go to the restaurant, then why couldn't Phoebe and I go, too?  I dine out quite a bit, and am always on my best behavior.  Certainly I would have been a better dinner companion than THIS dog whose picture I found on Mom's camera. 

I mean, seriously?  What kind of restaurant would allow this clown in? 

(Mom says this is Bella, Aunt M. & Uncle M.'s new English Bulldog puppy.  She is kinda cute, I guess.)

Tannerific Toesie Thursday

Hi, everyone ... it's me, Tanner.

And these are my toes ...

Wednesday Whine With Olivia ...

Dear Friends,

It's me, Olivia ... and I'VE BEEN ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some cunning thief has robbed me of my calico-ness!  I stretched out on top of Mom's dresser this morning for a nice grooming session and as I started to give my tummy furs a thorough washing, imagine my dismay to find that all the calico-ness had disappeared from my tummy regions!

SEE?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



ALERT THE MEW-DIA!  I'VE BEEN ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HA HA ... GOTCHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I've never had any calico-ness on my belly furs!  They've always been pure white! 



A sad day ...

Hi, everyone.  It's me, Tucker.  And I'm really sad.  Too sad for Mom to even take a picture of how sad I am.

Rest In Peace, Target  .... you will be missed. 

Excuse me, miss? You forgot my cookie!

Happy Monday, everyone!  Hope everyone's having a good day.  Mine has been ... well ... so-so, I guess.  It was my turn to come to work with Mom, so that was good.  And a couple of my favorite people came by to visit, which was also good!  But at lunch Mom had to go to the bank, and I was really excited because I always get a cookie out of that little plastic tube thing.  Mom zips it up the tunnel with some papers inside, and in a few minutes it zips back down the tunnel and inside is another paper and a cookie for me.  But today ...  NOTHING!  Just the little piece of paper that Mom puts in her purse.  No cookie!  Not even a crumb!  Mom said that they were probably just out, or that maybe they didn't see me and know to put a cookie in.  But I don't see how they could have missed me?  I was sitting right there in Mom's lap, wearing my most adorable expression.  Mom gave me a cookie from the stash in her desk drawer when we got back to the office, and a piece of roast beef from her sandwich at lunch, but still, I wonder ...

Have I done something to offend the cookie gods? 

Sunday Evening News Bulletin

Hey, everybody!  Mom just got an email that the 2011 Unexpected Pit Bull Calendar is now on sale!  This is a great calendar for a great cause ... so get yours today!

And while we're sort of on the subject, we'd just like to give a shout out to all our pittie friends.  You are true ambassadors for your breed, and we love you and admire your gentle spirits and loving hearts in the face of often overwhelming prejudice.

Weekend Wrap-Up With Phoebe

Happy Sunday, everyone!  I hope all of you had as restful a weekend as we did.  The weather was beautiful, and we had Mom all to ourselves (pretty much) for three whole days in a row!  We went to the dog park, took some long walks, and just relaxed together. 

It was a great weekend, and I had fun, and now I'm tired.  But I'm also wondering ... where did the cold weather go and when will it be back so that I can wear my new coat?

Me, dreaming of cold weather. 

Sleepy like Saturday

Hi, everyone!  It's me, Tanner.  And it's my turn to blog today, but unfortunately last night's nip party went kind of late, so this morning, all I want to do is sleep ...

Happy Saturday, everybody! 





Fabulous Friday with Olivia!

Hi everyone out there ... from everyone in here!  (Yep, it's true ... all five of us, and Cosmo, are here together writing to you, but I, Olivia, am doing the actual typing.  See?) 

Hmm ... what shall I blog about today? 

Mom's taking the day off of work so we're all here together, and it's been great so far!  The door to our new "catio" has been open all morning and it's such a beautiful day that we didn't even really want to come in for breakfast.  But then Tucker, who is a way better snooperviser than even we cats could ever be, let slip that breakfast was one of our favorites:  chicken gizzards and hearts!  Mmm, chicken gizzards - so chewy and delicious, and great for keeping teeth and gums healthy!  And succulent hearts - rich with the taurine so critical to feline good health.  So we had to come in and eat, and Tanner, especially, enjoyed his.  See him licking his lips?

Mmm ... swell breakfast, Mom, thanks!  I love being a raw-fed cat.

Mom's been working a little, but mostly she's been paying attention to us, which, let's face it, is exactly how we like it. Right now, she's gearing up for a spa day for the pups, and is brewing up a special mixture of green and chamomile tea on the stove.  After it boils, it has to cool down and then sit for two hours, and it will be an after bath rinse for the pups.  Mom really likes being able to use things on us that are natural and non-toxic, and she's gotten a lot of great tips from Dr. Karen Becker on how to do this.  And in fact, the tea rinse suggestion is one that she got from one of Dr. Karen's videos!

Here's the tea Mom is brewing up right now:   

While it brews, and while I blog, Mom is doing sort of a spa day herself.  She sprayed some fruity-smelling stuff in her hair to condition it and then she put this weird-looking green stuff all over her face.  She says it is a cucumber mask and that it's good for her skin, but I don't know.  If I didn't know better, I'd think she was dressing up for Halloween.  But THAT particular holiday is over for another year, thank goodness! 

Mom actually had a gift certificate to a very fancy spa that she could have used on her day off from work today, but she said she'd rather put the green goop on her face herself and stay home and play with us. Which, I'm sure you'll agree, is exactly as it should be! 

And later, she said she might go out to Home Depot or somewhere and get us a bird feeder and some bird seed to hang out back so that we have plenty of birds to watch.  That sounds great!  And if C. will ever come back here and put the roof on, we'll be able to maybe get Mom to put a cat door in so that we can go out to our catio whenever we want and not have to have Mom out there snoopervising watching us every second!

Purrs, everyone!

Remembering our Veterans

Hi, everybody, it's me, Tucker.  And I don't have a whole lot to say tonight, except that I hope you all had a peaceful Veterans Day and remembered to take just a minute to say a quiet 'thank you' to our men and women in uniform for putting themselves at risk to secure the freedoms we enjoy, even to the point of sacrificing their lives.  Living here in the Bay Area, many servicemen and women are our neighbors, and I always try to make sure to give them an extra special tail wag when I see them, just so they know how much I appreciate what they do.  And for any of you who have a family member in uniform, know that we're saying a special prayer that they stay safe and come home to their families very soon.

Phoebe and me in our patriotic best.

Thanks to PatrioticIcon for the beautiful flag.

Worried Wednesday

Hey, everybody!  It's me, Tucker!  And this is my worried face:

And the reason why I'm wearing my worried face today is because I'm concerned about the pet food industry.  People love their furblings a lot, and the pet food people know this, so they're always trying to come up with new products to sell to people in exchange for those green papers like the ones Mom keeps in her wallet or sometimes you can get them if you zip that little square plastic thing through the machine.  I'm not really sure how that works.  But anyway, new products enter the pet food market all the time.  The problem with that, Mom says, is that only a very few of them are good for us furblings.  The rest of them the companies that make them get people to buy them by putting cute animals in commercials and having their Moms or Dads say how much they like the products and how good they are for them.  And Mom also said that the Moms and Dads in those advertisements aren't even real?!!!!!!!!  I mean, they're real people, but they're not the real Moms or Dads of the animals in the commercials!  Can you believe that?  I couldn't ... I was shocked!

But anyway - there are some really good pet food companies out there that really care about the furblings.  Unfortunately, most of them only care about getting as much of your Mom or Dad's green papers as they can.  I don't know what they do with them once they have 'em, but anyway, that's what they want.  So Mom says that if people have furblings, they need to be really careful about  the products that they buy, and learn how to read labels, and also research the companies that make the products, because sometimes even if the label looks good, you have to check and see who is actually making the food, cause most of the time it's not the same company whose name is on the package.  Mom says that's what happened back in 2007 when all the furblings got sick and died from the Menu Foods recalls - one company (Menu Foods) was responsible for putting together all sorts of different brands of foods.  So all the foods that were made in that plant (which was a whole bunch) were contaminated and a whole lot of furblings got really sick and even died!   

So all you furbling Moms and Dads ... be really careful about the foods and stuff you buy for them.  And try to keep up to date on the recalls that happen.  Here's one website that you can check:

Pet Food Recalls

I can tell you that one recent recall really made me put my worried face on ... because my Uncle Riley AND Cousin Cosmo used to eat that food, and that's the Blue Buffalo recall.  Blue Buffalo recall  So no more Blue Buffalo for my Uncle Riley or Cousin Cosmo! 

But the other day my worried face really kicked into high gear when I heard about this: 

Red Plastic In California Naturals Biscuits

Fellow furblings, this is SUPER scary!  California Naturals is part of the Natura Foods family - which was a wonderful, family-owned company.  Note I said "was."  Because they recently sold out to Proctor & Gamble, and Mom and her other "foodie" friends were pretty sure it wouldn't be long before weird things started happening that could be dangerous to the furblings.  And sure enough, it's already starting to happen.

Now, don't get me wrong ... there are still some good companies out there who make nutritious, safe food for us.  But I'm still glad, and Mom is, too, that all of us here (canines and felines) are now Raw Fed

Well, friends, that's it for me ... it's my day off from work, so I think I'll catch a nap now and rest up for tomorrow.

Applause, applause, applause!

Hi, everybody!  Phoebe here with exciting news ... our new pal, Shiva, just got her glamour shots back from the photographer!  Doesn't she look great?  

Hey ... I wonder why Mom doesn't take me to get some glamour shots of my own?  I think I'm going to go ask her right now. 

Me - wondering why I don't have glamour shots of my own

Tell-All Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, everybody!

I'm here at work with Mom again today - helping her out as much as I can.  I don't like to brag, but I'm pretty much a model employee.  I'm almost never late, never call in sick, and never engage in office politics.  In fact, I'm a great morale booster.  Even the mailman likes me, and you know how mailmen usually feel about dogs! 

Anyway, I have very exciting news!  We've been looking for new office space since our building has been sold, and it's been way harder than we expected to find another office that we liked.  At one point the boss was trying to move us to an office in a big high rise where Mom would have to park in a parking garage and take an elevator and all that stuff every day.  And the worst part of that is that there were NO DOGS ALLOWED!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But now we have two places that we've found, and Mom likes both of them a lot.  One place is really close to our  house which means a shorter commute.  And the other place is right on the water which Mom thinks will be very relaxing to look out at every day when she's feeling stressed.  But the best thing is that whichever place we go, Phoebe and I will be able to keep coming to the office with Mom.  Which is a relief, because I know how much she depends on our help.   

Me - at work - sitting at attention and waiting for my marching orders.  Don't I look smart?

(Wannabe) Man Cat Monday

Hi, everybody!  It's me, Finn!  I'm not technically a man cat yet - I'm still just a baby - but Tucker said I could have today's post anyway.  And what I wanted to do is to share a couple of recent pictures Mom took of me so you can see how handsome I am.  The Halloween picture I posted just doesn't do me justice, I don't think.  And plus that picture was awhile ago and I am getting handsomer all the time, or at least that's what Mom says. 

Stalking Olivia

Look deeply into my eyes ....

BIIIIG stretch!  Gotta keep those claws sharp.  See my man-cat muscles?

My black panther pose

Ok, guess that's it for now.  I can't think of anything else to write.  And Tanner says that I have to turn off the computer and come to bed.  He's sleepy!  See?