What A Slacker!

More Animal Food & Treat Recalls

Add comment April 22nd, 2010

I think every pet owner out there remembers the huge pet food recall a few years back that had to affect on every pet owners lives. That particular recall did not just hit one manufacturer or brand, but a huge list.

In trying to keep my fur kids safe from such things I keep an eye out for pet industry recalls when I hear about them and spread the news through every channel available to me.

A few months ago there was the Merrick Dog Treat Recall and this month we have a lesser known brand being recalled.

Advanced Cetyl M Joint Action Formula for Dogs made by Response Products is being recalled for a possible Salmonella health risk. They so no dogs have been reported as sick because of the product and that they are just pulling the product because of lab tests. Not so sure I believe that one completely, but all we have is the FDA press release about the recall.

So if your dog is taking Advanced Cetyl M Joint Action Formula for Dogs please read the recall report and check your supply carefully.

Should your dogs treats be in the recall please handle them carefully and wash your hand throuroughly so you don’t get sick from the Salmonella either.  Stay healthy and enjoy your pets!

32nd Annual Walk for the Animals 2009

Add comment September 28th, 2009

This past Saturday was the Humane Society of Berks County’s 32nd Annual Walk for the Animals and Walktoberfest at the Reading Phillies baseball stadium. The weather was really nice and sunny (first time in a few years for them).  Lots of dogs and their people showed up to walk, have fun and raise money to help the Humane Society. I wasn’t going to do it again this year because I had heard they were leaving Reading, but I spoke with someone at the Dogs Days of Summer Fest and that was not the case. So a week before the event I signed us up for the walk and to raise funds through FirstGiving.com like I did last year. Since I had only started looking for sponsors a week before the walk I did not expect to raise too much money, but thanks to my best bud Boris and his online pals over at Twitter and facebook I was able to raise over $300! ($320 in sponsors + my $20 for registering not a bad contribution if I must say so myself). I am very honored to know these amazingly generous people and their pets here on the net. Thank you all!

Don’t worry if you missed sponsoring my walk the fund raising page online is available and we’ll be taking donations until December sometime. So please consider a donation no matter how small. Every little bit helps.

 There’s even more photos over on facebook.

Kitty Cats and Their Duckie Club

Add comment June 18th, 2009

Boris and his pals on Twitter are at it again! They started a way fun Duckie Club and all you need to join is a Ducky with a rather interesting name.

Boris Named his Kong Ducky Sir Quacky McGee. (He had to have a little Simpson’s in him since he is so yellow.)

These are great, fuzzy little refillable cat toys that kitties and their humans will like since you can refresh the catnip inside the toy any time your cat seems to lose some interest in it. Being so fuzzy gives them a great texture to lick and bite.

Stores like CatToys.com and Supplies Just 4 Pets are chipping in and donating toys to needy cats and kittens in rescues too. How cool is that?

Want to have your cat join the club too and help cats in shelters have fun at the same time? All you have to do is visit either Boris’ Blog or Manxington’s Duckie Club and buy a Kong Duckie through CatToys.com (the links on this blog work too — and you save 10% off your order). For every 25 Kong Duckies sold through those links they will donate 1 ducky to charity. While you are at CatToys.com you can do even more for the charities by adding one of their donation items to your shopping cart as well. You’ll get your items and CatToys.com will ship the donations out to shelters already waiting for toys and treats from animal loving people like us.

Check out the Offical Duckie Club Members list managed by a sweet dog Shawnee the Shepherd.

Even if you don’t join the Duckie Club you should join them on Twitter

What Is All The Hubbub About

Add comment June 17th, 2009

A group of 30 dogs let out the world’s loudest bark the other day according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Their barks reached 115 decibels. Man that’s loud!

The recorded was previously held by a larger group of dogs in the US. Wonder if the number of dogs now factors into the equation for that record? If I wanted to try and break this record would I need to do it with 30 or less dogs and be louder or just be louder?

Guess we’ll never know as I will never be around that many barking dogs to find out. Or maybe I could just call the folks over at the Guinness World Records and ask them (but that’s too much work for me).

Wonder what kind of tail wind you get off a group of doggies like that? Maybe that could be another record. If it isn’t it should be.

from the BBC News via Dogster.com

People Pets and the Internet Pt2

Add comment May 3rd, 2009

People and their pets seem to be flocking to social networks. Most can be found on sites like Twitter and facebook, while many are still holding out over at MySpace although it is dropping in popularity.

Popping up all over the internet is a new breed of social networking sites. These new sites are catering specifically to the pet owner and their pets. Sites like YouPet, Cute as Hell and Pikapet are strictly on Topic pet only sites. And yes, your pet is welcome, actually expected, to have his own profile. There are other sites to like People Pets that are offshoots of the human centric sites. So if your pet, like mine, is so inclined set him up with his own profile on Twitter, facebook or the like and watch his virtual friends pile up.

People Pets and the Internet

Add comment May 2nd, 2009

Pets on the interwebs. Search any social network on the internet these days and you will most certainly find a bunch of pet lovers. Search MySpace, facebook or Twitter just a little harder and you will find the pets that belong to those very same pet lovers. Yes, there is a growing number of pets who blog or have their own web pages, and they connect with each other on these social networks.

Take my big boy Boris for example. I blog about him quite often, what is he does, his new toys, etc. When we first got him I even started a blog about his care and growth. Then we both got sick and the blog fell to the wayside. Recently I started dealing more with facebook and Twitter (as MySpace is yesterdays news) and found myself one night setting up accounts for Boris. So now you can follow the exploits of this kitty cat across the web via his blog (he took it over how), twitter and facebook.

I will continue to write about him here, as he is just too darn cote not too (besides he tends to ignore the fact that he has three older sisters who don’t play on the web — you know how it is for us older folks).

Bad Dogs Shouldn’t Be Put Down Give Em a Job

Add comment May 1st, 2009

Mean dogs are given a second chance at life in Idaho. According to the Associated Press dogs that are too mean to be pets are now patrolling prison grounds.

It is good to hear that dogs that would normally be put down because they are un-adoptable are finding a home in the prison system there. Apparently they are just as good if not better than their human counterparts when it comes to being a prison sentry. This mix of German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Belgian Malinois, Pit bulls and Boxers haven’t allowed a single escape since 1986. No one has even tried since the 90s. Officer Amos was quoted as saying, “What makes them a bad pet makes them good sentries.”

Keep up the good work of being a bad dog and keep those bad humans where they belong prison. My only hope is more states see the value of putting these dogs to good use instead of simply putting them down.

I Want It Wednesday: Zombie Pets

Add comment March 18th, 2009

 I saw these and thought I have to have those. These are just TOO funny. Little Zombie pets for your pockets. Set includes a zombie cat, zombie dog, zombie rabbit, zombie bird and zombie fish. I think they should do even more zombie animals. I would like to see a zombie farm set with a zombie horse, cow, sheep, goat, chicken etc.

So go ahead and run out and buy the Zombie Pet Shoppe figures before I do.

Pet Cemetery Makes It To Top Ten Places of Rest List

Add comment February 27th, 2009

The Hartsdale Pet Cemetery near New York City has made it to the Top 10 Places of Rest list “alongside the Taj Mahal in India and the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt” according to ZooToo Pet News website. Lonely Planet published the list in their book 2009 Best of Travel (I assume it is a book of lists about traveling in 2009). I don’t know about the rest of the book but this list in particular interests me quite a bit and I will be adding it to my TO DO LIST (which may or may not ever get done).

The Hartsdale Pet Cemetery is the world’s oldest operating pet cemetery started way back in 1896 by Dr. Samuel Johnson. It also happens to be America’s first pet cemetery.

Poking around their website they have a war dog memorial at the cemetery that I would really like to see at some point. Maybe this summer we can take a trip up there (if my car can make it that far).

Chasing Dogs on the Highway

Add comment February 13th, 2009

I spent a good part of my morning trying to save some dogs on the highway again! This is the second time in like 2 or 3 months. This time it was on the other end of 176. All of the sudden the traffic came to a screeching halt and I saw two dogs running back across the highway after almost being hit by a truck (who apparently couldn’t care less if he hit the dogs or not).

Three of us stopped and tried to save the scared pups. One was a st. bernard and the other a shepherd mix. We got them off the road but they wouldn’t come to anyone. They finally went through a hole in the fence and ran up through the woods.

There are two things I would like to see happen. 1) People would take better care with there animals and know where they are and 2) people on the roads would be a little cautious around animals no matter if it is a skunk, a deer or a dog.

Warm the Dogs

Add comment December 22nd, 2008

A while back DogToys.com offered up cool camo dog coats for only $1.99 plus shipping/handling (with tax it came to around $8 a coat – not bad at all). I did not realize how cool a deal this was until I actually got my coats (got three altogether for my nephew and niece doggies). Theses coats are weather resistant, have a zip out fleece lining and a reflective strip.

The price has gone back up to their regular sale rice of $16.99, which really is still a steal for the quality of this coat!

Here are the three pups in their coats. As you can see Lily needs to wear a sweater under hers so it fits a bit better. These three little pups will be toasty warm this winter.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry Joins Gene in the Final Frontier

Add comment December 18th, 2008

Roddenberry.com posted this morning that Majel had passed away.

“Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away this morning, December 18, 2008, at 12:27 AM in her Bel Air home. She died peacefully, in her sleep, and was surrounded by family and loved ones.

“My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away.” - Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, Jr.”

They ask that in lieu of flowers or gifts that you send donations to two charities to share in Majel’s love for animals. Here are the two charities they posted.

Precious Paws
18034 Ventura Blvd., #430
Encino, CA 91316
www.preciouspaws.org
(818) 304-5595

C.A.R.E.
P.O. Box 56631
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
www.care4pets.org
(818) 685-9980

Majel will be sadly missed, but she lives on in the hearts of all us Trekkers. According to E Online we will still get to hear her as the voice of the computer in the new Star Trek movie.

The InHumane Society

Add comment November 20th, 2008

A few weeks ago I helped raise money for the Berks Humane Society by participating in their Walk-tober fest. I personally was able to raise $105 (not bad since I had only decided to do the walk the week before the event).

However, I am now having second thoughts. Other than all of their fundraising events I am not sure exactly what the Humane Society’s function is in Berks County any longer. Last year we found a stray (actually lost) cat on our back porch and took him down to the Humane Society, which is only a few blocks from us and an excellent location for anyone in the city to take an animal. They called us the next day to say they had found the owners, who wished to give me a reward. I asked them to just donate the reward to the Berks Humane Society (they must have as I was then added to every animal group looking for money’s mailing lists).

So what makes me question them now? My best friend (who went to the walk with me and works with a dog rescue herself) saved a little dog the other day who was abandoned by his owner who moved to Texas a few weeks ago (some people should not be allowed to have pets or kids). This little Chihuahua was left on his own living in the streets off scraps for at least two weeks. They were finally able to get him, crate him, feed him and take him to the Humane Society who turned them away!

They refused to help this poor little guy get healthy and find a loving home! My friend had to drive miles out of the city to take this scared little doggy to the Animal Rescue League simply because of some stupid bureaucratic crap about some contract (I don’t remember if it was a city contract or county - something makes me think it was county as they told my friend they no longer take in strays found in Berks County). Can you believe that? They no longer take in strays from Berks County? Contract or no contract I think it is the duty of an animal support group to do whatever they can for the strays and lost animals found in the city where they are located. Maybe that is why they really need all this money so they can move out of Reading leaving us to become over run with stray dogs and feral cats. And here I thought the Berks County Humane Society was a good, caring organization, guess I was wrong.