Brody's been munching his way through a large variety of food products lately, both good and bad, so I thought this was a good time to share his latest product review. The folks over at The Honest Kitchen sent us a variety of samples from their dehydrated raw food product line to try out, and Brody was more than happy to oblige. The food he chose to sample was Embark, one of their two "All life stages" formulations. 1. It starts off looking kind of like green soup mix (it has that bouillon ... Read more »
Lifestyle
Oh Disney, we were on such a high…
Up was one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time. It might be my favorite Pixar movie to date and one of my favorite films ever. It solidified in my mind the Disney franchise as a solid deliverer of syrupy movie goodness. And since we know they recognize good when they see it, it makes the bad even more of a travesty. As anyone who has been around me for any length of time can attest, I love the holidays. I love the decorations, the cheesy displays, and the specials. Oh, how I ... Read more »
The 2009 Holiday Gift guide is here!
It took me the better part of two weeks to sort through everything, look though all the suggestions, and run a few items by Brody, but I finally came up with what I think is a fun selection of my favorite cat and dog items for 2009! (The Flash gallery is a new addition here, so be sure to click the little "i" in the corner in order to see the accompanying text.) [flagallery gid=2 name="Gallery"] There were so many great items out there that I couldn't fit them all into the gallery, so I'm ... Read more »
Product Review: Biscuits by Lambchop
One of my blogathon sponsors was Annette at Biscuits By Lambchop, who provided 5 prizes for donors. Their specialty is a treat that is gluten free, animal protein free, and low fat, low sodium, and low phosphorous- making them a good choice for dogs who are unable to eat many of the treats on the market. Along with my stack of prizes, she was kind enough to include samples for Brody. She told me I should try them too. I kind of raised my eyebrow at this- I mean, I'm kind of dog fooded out at ... Read more »
Maybe they did have a good idea after all
My daughter is glued to the TV like a barnacle these days, announcing "I wish I had that," and then, "I wish I had that" every two seconds as the generous spirit of Christmas sinks its greedy talons into our daily programming. I suppose I could avoid this by not having the TV on at all, but ha ha, not in this lifetime. I haven't even thought about starting my holiday shopping, which is probably not smart, but that's always been the way I roll. Last minute central. I could only hope she didn't ... Read more »
Hour 18: Brody Reviews Weruva Cirque de la Mer
Brody very politely asked for the opportunity to do a product review, and so I obliged. ... Read more »
Thursday Thank Yous
Here are three things that I love: 1. Dog bone collar charms. I have a weakness for beautiful handmade lampwork beads to begin with- my coworkers will attest to this, as I risk my earlobes every Christmas wearing big gingerbread glass earrings to work because I LOVE THEM SO. So if you take a glass bead, then make it something adorable like a dog bone- or a dog face- or the chickens- I am in love. Seriously, check out the chickens! I've never seen such cute poultry. *love* She made me love ... Read more »
I don’t need no stinkin savings account
Brody arrived at my house with nothing but his vaccine record, a generic collar, and the fur on his back. When I adopted Emmett and Mulan, there wasn't a whole lot by way of internet shopping available- at least not to the extent there is now. While there are certainly myriad options to be found at the local stores, the stuff available if you do a little searching online is so very much cooler. My Brody's wishlist is growing day by day. This dog is going to be spoiled. 1. What dog would ... Read more »
Cat Genie. Hype? Awesome?
Has anyone used this or heard about it? I have a LitterMaid, but I've never hooked it up and we're still going old school Flushable, washable litter. I'm always the last to hear about these things. You hook it up to a water supply and you don't need to clean it or change it or anything. It even looks like a human toilet. Starting at $329, I'm not sure I could convince my husband this is an experiment worth conducting- but given the $10 a week I spend getting litter, it doesn't ... Read more »
Product of the week
Check out what I have decided is the greatest advancement in pet carrier manufacturing since the faux Louis Vuitton totes: the SleepyPod! I saw this while surfing around at Krazy for Pets (way too much internet spending going on here) and immediately decided that it was amazing. Maybe it's the futuristic shape that reminds me of a little Jetsons spaceship. Maybe it's the fact that you can secure it to a seatbelt and the manufacturer has used crash tests to ensure its safety. Maybe it's ... Read more »
The importance of accoutrements
Seeing as how 80% of the entering class at most vet schools is female, I think a sidenote to talk about mascara in a pet blog is OK. And if you're a guy who likes mascara aka Adam Lambert, that is OK too. We do not judge here. Vets are many things, but "fashion forward" does not immediately come to mind. Sure there are some of us who are well dressed, but as a vet school entrance requirement, not so much. I would say it was maybe 50/50 in my class as to how many people wore makeup at all. We ... Read more »
Pets CAN fly the friendly skies! (or, Woo hoo for real!)
How funny that I just posted last week about Southwest's new "pet friendly" policy, and one of the comments was to the effect of how nice it would be to have an airline where all the pets were welcome in the cabin. Ask, and ye shall receive! Voila- Pet Airways! Their prices seem pretty inexpensive to me (in the mid $100 range each way), especially considering the alternatives. Flying a pet in cargo certainly isn't cheap, nor is hiring someone to drive your pet if you cannot yourself. It ... Read more »
No, no, no
I am admittedly a huge perfume-a-holic. I have an entire dresser drawer devoted to fragrances- bottles of various scents smelling of fresh ginger, sweet vanilla, fragrant gardenia. I can't help it. I'm hopelessly addicted. It's not the most practical thing to have on hand, for, much like high heeled shoes and dry clean only blouses, this just isn't something I can use at work. It would be cruel. Dogs, as you know, have noses that are much more sensitive than our own. They can sniff out corpses ... Read more »
Allergy sufferers rejoice
I've spent a couple of entries deconstructing pet food, but I wanted to take a moment to specifically mention a brand that has done something really good. When we suspect a pet of having a food allergy, it can be very difficult to get to the root of the problem. Pets can be allergic to anything, but usually they have a reaction to one specific protein or carbohydrate. Trying to figure out what it is- fish, beef, chicken, wheat, corn- can be difficult. If you read the labels on your pet food ... Read more »
Friday frivolity
It's amazing the weird, innovative, useless, and useful you can find on the internet when you actually look. I'm not sure what category this one falls into: The Porch Potty, a self-contained patch of grass that waters itself. A mini yard for your mini dachshund. Emmett would destroy that with one big pee, so clearly this is intended more for the toy chihuahua apartment dwellers. If I lived on the 5th floor of a walkup in Manhattan, this would seem a very viable alternative to schlepping a 4 ... Read more »
The cat food experiment, Part 1:
It's been over a week since I started this food experiment, and I am ready with the first round of results. Contestant Number One: Grandma Lucy's Grain Free Freeze Dried Cat Food. I picked this one to try first because it looked cool. Freeze dried cat food? Is that like astronaut food but for cats? The answer is, of course, yes, which makes it more interesting and fun than boring old kibble. Ingredients: Chicken, Ocean White Fish, Potatoes, Flax, Carrots, Celery, Apples, Cranberry, ... Read more »
Not all flea products are created equal.
In news that is not exactly news because it's not saying anything we didn't already know, the EPA is investigating whether it needs to more closely scrutinize spot-on products for flea and tick control. Unlike most veterinary drugs, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration, spot on flea and tick preventives are overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency due to their classification as pesticides (the exception being those products that also function as a ... Read more »
Product of the week
Emmett the good sport is currently taking antibiotics and pain meds to combat the swelling and bacteria from Easter Smackdown 09. He usually takes his Rimadyl with no complaint- it's a chewable beef flavored tab- but he's less than enthused about his Clavamox. Normally I just stick the pills in peanut butter and he's happy to take them that way, but my husband is mightily protesting my use of his Jiff stash for such purposes. I've also been known to hide them in aesthetically pleasing swirls of ... Read more »