Sunday, January 21, 2007 , evening

Mia and Miles

Here’s a photo of the two new foster kittens.  I think the grey tabby is a girl, and the the dark grey one is a boy, so we’re calling them “Mia” and “Miles”.  Their owners wanted names that started with the letter “M”, and I defer to their judgment should they want to name the kittens something else.  I kept Derek’s head visible in one picture so you can see how tiny the kittens are.

image

To clarify something I left out of another entry, the mother rejected them when they were reunited with her, which is how they ended up with me.  Maybe mom decided that three kittens was quite enough for a single mother to handle.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/21 at 09:18 PM
The Litterbox • (4) Comments • Permalink

Veterinary Assistant books and study guides for sale

I’ve listed some of my Penn Foster Veterinary Assistant program for sale on eBay">textbooks and study materials from the Penn Foster Veterinary Assistant program for sale on eBay.  The materials are duplicates—a lot of the books in the Veterinary Technician program (which I’m taking now) are identical, so I’ve got some extras to get rid of.  There’s never enough room on the bookshelves for everything!  Bid high, bid often—the textbooks alone are worth about $85.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/21 at 06:18 PM
Vet Tech school • (0) Comments • Permalink

The bottle kittens arrive!

Those kittens I said I wasn’t going to need to foster?  They’re downstairs in the bathroom with Missy Mae smile They’re so incredibly tiny, but noisy.  The people who brought the cats to me are going to keep them, so I’ll have none of my usual worries about finding them good adoptive families (that’s the part I hate most about fostering).  I’ll take a couple of pictures and post them this evening.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/21 at 01:54 PM
The Litterbox • (2) Comments • Permalink

Saturday, January 20, 2007 , late at night

Pet Soup

About 14 months ago, I put a product brochure near my computer because I wanted to remember to write about the product.  Twelve months later, I received a newer version of the brochure, perhaps a subtle reminder that the concept had properly seasoned in my brain, and was now ready to write about.  My desk isn’t quite the visual nightmare you might imagine, but if something ends up on the bottom of the pile, it tends to be overlooked.

Without further ado, I bring you… Pet Soup.  Not a unibreed pet food, or a delicacy in China—“Pet Soup” is the name of a company which manufactures really unique and visually-appealing items like litterboxes, pet dishes, pet placemats, and other stylish items for the fashion-conscious pet owner.  I see new designs of this kind of stuff all the time, but the Pet Soup litterboxes and matching litter trays are really worth a mention because they’re so nice looking.  If you’ve got litterboxes out in the public eye, like I do, these designs could actually complement your decor and even enhance it.  I, unfortunately, can’t use the boxes because of Jackson ("the cat who pees standing up"), but I really, really wish I could.  I’ve thought of at least buying one for downstairs, where the box is mainly just used by Missy Mae and Derek.  I promise I wouldn’t waste your time with just any old litterbox—if you want something nicer than the grey or beige box you’ve got now, take a look on the Pet Soup website.

Ah… in a wonderful twist of irony, the Pet Soup website is currently down!  I was able to find a picture of a litterbox and tray set on someone else’s site, though.  I promise that absolutely no promotional consideration was involved in this post, and there are no affiliate links.  It’s just some encouragement to pretty-up up the world’s litterboxes.

image

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/20 at 11:44 PM
The Litterbox • (1) Comments • Permalink

Foster kittens, almost

We received a phone call from the vet’s office today, about a man who’d found two abandoned, newborn kittens in his backyard.  I called the man and he told me that a cat had given birth to five kittens in his yard, and had moved three of the kittens, but had left two of them behind.  The man had kept an eye on the kittens all day, and began to worry as hours passed with no sign of the mother.  We decided that the man would bring the kittens to me to bottle-feed, and then he and his wife would adopt them in five or six weeks.  I was embarrassed because I had to tell the man he’d need to pay for the kitten formula, as I couldn’t afford it, but he was nice and offered a $100.  I knew that wouldn’t cover the costs of everything (the kittens would need FIV/FeLV tests), but it was a good start.

Long story short, the man was taking the kittens out to his truck to drive them to our house, and a neighbour came out to say she had the mother cat.  So, kittens and mother were reunited, and I assume they’re eating as it’s been a couple of hours and I haven’t heard otherwise.  I don’t know if the cat was a stray or belonged to the neighbour, but hopefully the kittens will be fine.  I was excited to have them (especially because they already had a family to adopt them), but whoa, it’s embarrassing to tell strangers you’re broke.  It makes me feel like a scummy lowlife, when it’s unfortunately just an “ebb” in our financial ebb and flow.

Flippy and I asked one of our employers for a raise yesterday, but haven’t had a response yet.  We get paid “per item” (for lack of a better way to explain it), and I was horrified when I did the math and realized what we’re paid on an hourly basis.  So, we’ve asked for more… we shall see what happens.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/20 at 06:23 PM
The Litterbox • (2) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 , the wee hours

Love connection

Look who’s got a new best friend:

image

At least once a day, TJ runs downstairs to find Missy Mae, and he joins her for a bite to eat.  Then, he snuggles up and naps most of the day away, coming back upstairs to the other cats around dinnertime.  He seems totally in love with her—he practically throws himself at her, and while napping, he wraps his paws around her neck, kneads her, and purrs so loudly you can hear him ten feet away.  Missy Mae was his “foster mom”, and although her temperament can be a little bit prickly, he ignores it when she hisses and continues to cuddle up.  She actually seems to enjoy it most of the time, too.  My only concern has been ear mites, because Missy Mae had a bad case of ear mites that was hard to treat (the mites were deep down in her scarred ear, and it was difficult to get the treatment into the ear canal).  I did a check under the microscope and don’t see anything alive in her ears, so I hope that means the mites are gone once and for all.  The last thing I need is for the upstairs cats to come down with ear mites courtesy of TJ’s rendevous.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/17 at 12:45 AM
The Litterbox • (6) Comments • Permalink

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 , the wee hours

Charities to help with emergency veterinary medical expenses

In the comments in another post, someone asked if there were any charities to help seniors and others on fixed incomes with emergency veterinary bills.  I know of a few, so I thought this was a good chance to list them.  My entry will not be all-inclusive, as I know I’ll miss a few, so feel free to suggest groups I’ve missed by leaving a comment or sending me an email.

  • The first one that comes to mind for me is United Animal Nations.  They have a program called Lifeline Grants.  Their typical grant is $100, but it’s a place to start.
  • The AAHA has a program called the Helping Pets Fund.  Their grants are given directly to the animal hospital providing the care so the money goes directly to the bill, and applications are approved in as little as 24 hours.  You can apply as an individual, but the payout will go to the vet.
  • Angels4Animals.org is located in California, but they will provide grants to applicants in other states.  I don’t see an application form on their website, so you’ll probably have to call or email them.
  • I love whomever started this program, The Feline Veterinary Emergency Assistance Program.
  • Feline Outreach is another charity specifically organized to aid pets and their owners.  An application for assistance is on the website.
  • Here’s another feline-oriented charity, Cats in Crisis.  It’s nice that so many people have dedicated their time to trying to help.
  • Help-a-pet is located in Illinois, and specifically tries to help the elderly, disabled, and the working poor.
  • IMOM.org is an organization which has been around for a long time, but which is currently undergoing changes.  They aren’t accepting applications right now, but check them out when they come back online.
  • The Pet Fund is a lovely organization in Sacramento, who provides financial aid to pet owners whose pets need life-saving medical treatment.
  • I’m not sure if this organization still exists, as I can’t reach their website: Shakespeare Animal Fund.  You can check the link yourself, but I can’t guarantee the website is still around.

If you live in Canada, the only charity I can think of is the Farley Foundation, but I’m sure there are many others.  If you live in the UK, check out the recommended listings on PetLoversOnline.co.uk.  There are also a number of breed-specific programs, and it would take too much time to list them all here.  Just do a search engine check for terms like, “help with vet bills for cocker spaniel” (for example), and hopefully something will turn up.

Before a crisis happens, consider applying for something like Care Credit.  It’s a special line of credit just for medical/dental/veterinary expenses, and if you apply before you need it, you’ll now how much of a calamity you can afford!  They have some pretty good financing programs, too.  Of course, there’s also pet health insurance.  It’s not something that works for us, but it may be a great thing for folks with fewer pets.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/16 at 02:49 AM
The Blog Pound's Greatest Hits • (6) Comments • Permalink

Monday, January 15, 2007 , evening

Organize your computer desktop!

I’ve been writing for a blog which is about free software, and it causes me to keep finding software programs I absolutely must have for my own computer.  One I’ll recommend is called StickyPad—it’s just like having digital Post-It notes that sit on your computer desktop.  I’m a constant note-taker, so StickyPad is a lot tidier than having scraps of paper all over my desk.  The cats can’t run off with a digital sticky note, either.  The program is honestly free, no spyware, and nothing shady about it.  Click here to download StickyPad.  There are some other free programs on the site as well, including a free crossword puzzle generator.

Another program I can recommend to help you get organized is EverNote.  It comes in a free version and a paid version, but the free version is more than adequate to help you keep track of notes and appointments.  This program handles more text than StickyPad—it’s appropriate for working on homework assignments, jotting down ideas for future blog entries, etc.

I probably shouldn’t mention it, but the free downloadable card games at Solitaire 123 are highly addictive.  Highly.  It’s practically evil, and definitely the antithesis of getting organized.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/15 at 09:36 AM
The Litterbox • (4) Comments • Permalink

Sunday, January 14, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

Dealing with pet overpopulation in Albuquerque

Here’s a fairly short article from Time magazine, outlining all the positive changes being made for animals in Albuquerque, NM.  I lived in Abq for 7 years, and it was the one city I’ve lived in where dead dogs and cats were commonly seen lying on the edge of roads in residential neighbourhoods—it was really disturbing.  Martin Chavez is a young, progressive guy who was just elected as mayor as I moved away from Abq, and he’s done great things during his three terms in office.  I miss Albuquerque very much, and it was my favourite city to live in (after San Francisco), and news like this makes me consider moving back there.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/14 at 03:48 AM
The Litterbox • (0) Comments • Permalink

Saturday, January 13, 2007 , early evening

It’s all your fault

You’ve all given me so much encouragement to go and try new things that I can’t find time to blog anymore!  This week we had a great sushi lunch, a couple of doctor’s appointments, a set of vaccinations for TJ, the arrival of birthday gifts from my parents, and a lot of work.  My vet tech program is briefly on hold while I wait for my transcripts to be evaluated, but I’ve tried to get ahead in my reading because my old brain just ain’t what it use to be.  All week I’ve had things I wanted to blog about, and now most of them slip my mind, so I need to make a point of writing when I’m hit with inspiration.

One thing I can write about are two “slightly used” cat toys we received this week after shopping on eBay.  The first one, the Bug Jar, just isn’t as exciting as it should be.  For one thing, it’s noisy, which makes it annoying to run for an extended period of time.  Also, the “bugs” fly around far too quickly—I’d hoped they’d have more of a gentle “flutter”, but they whip around inside the jar so quickly that the cats lose interest. It’s a good idea which needs improvement.  The second toy, the Hartz Poking Fun toy, was better but still suffered from being too powerful.  It’s a small dome with a ball inside, and there are holes in the dome where the cat can reach in to try to poke the ball around.  It also runs on batteries, and the batteries cause the ball to spin rapidly around inside the dome.  It’s supposed to build excitement, but again, it moves so quickly that our cats were bewildered by it and walked away.  They do play with it when it’s shut off, and they like to reach through the holes to poke at the ball, so it’s a toy that needs to be toned down a notch.

One other toy I’ve meant to write about for months is called the Ba-Da-Beam Rotating Laser cat toy.  We bought it because the cats just love the chase a laser beam, but our poor carpal-tunnel hands get tired of holding down the buttons on regular laser beam pointers (can’t someone just make one with a regular on/off switch?!).  The Ba-Da-Beam uses a laser beam which reflects off a mirror to aim the laser at a floor or a wall, and an internal motor makes the laser beam move automatically.  I figured this toy would be perfect, but it was sort of disappointing.  The motor just moves the laser around in a predictable circular pattern at one constant speed, so it’s not very exciting.  If it could slow down, speed up, change direction, or even move in a figure eight pattern it would be more interesting.  Our cats like it, but only for a few minutes and then they get bored and wander off.  One advantage of the toy is that you can hold it in your hand and move it around yourself to make more exciting patterns, and that’s sometimes more comfortable for us than holding a laser pointer.

Long story short, the cats would rather have a crinkly paper bag to play in than fancy toys with batteries.  We received two beautiful snuggle sacks that we got for free from the Paw Points program, and they’re a huge hit.  Bing spends most of the day curled up inside one of them.

Here are some photos to go along with the toy descriptions:  first is the Bug Jar, then the Poking Fun dome, then the Ba-Da-Beam, and finally, the snuggle sack:

image

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/13 at 06:45 PM
The Litterbox • (1) Comments • Permalink
Page 2 of 4 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >

Adopt a Big Dog!