A New Toy.... Oh Boy!

Today I want to talk about something very important. Toys. You might think that toys are just for fun but toys are very important to a pet’s health and happiness. Toys keep us from getting bored and we all know that a bored pet can be can get into a lot of trouble. Boredom can also lead to behavioral problems and nobody wants a misbehaving pet.

Not all toys are the same and not all pets like the same kinds of toys. DixieLee likes all kinds of toys. She likes to carry plush and unstuffed toys around the house and she likes to play tug of war with our rope tugs. I like to shake plush toys until they are died but I like to play catch the ball the best.

The size of toys is also important. Big dogs should have bigger toys than little dog. Balls are great for playing catch but a ball that is too small for the dog’s size can bet caught in his/her throat and make them choke.

Some pets, if they don’t have real toys, will find things like human socks or children’s toys to play with. If they don’t have good toys to chew on they might chew on furniture or a part of your house that you don’t want chewed. Some human toys are okay but it is best to have toys that are made special for dogs. Some children’s toys have eyes or other pieces that can come off and cause choking. Some dogs like to tear apart plush toys but they should never be allowed to eat the stuffing!

Toys that are broken or have stuffing coming out of them should be fixed or thrown away.

Toys should also be washable.

Lots of people like rawhide but dogs should not be allowed to eat rawhide because it can make their bellies sick and dogs have been died because the rawhide gets in their bellies and can’t get out. We do not put rawhide toys in our gift baskets.

We like hard rubber toys like Kongs instead. Dogs like to chew and hard rubber is good for chewing without letting pieces get broken off and swallowed.

Even when we are playing with toys by ourselves, Mom and Dad make sure we are supervised. The only toys we are allowed to have in our crates when no humans are home are caribou horns.

So if you want a healthy dog with good behavior give them good toys to play with.

Your playful friend,

Zeva

P.S. Blatant self promotion. Just a reminder all of our pet gift baskets have lots of toys in them. See them all at pawpalsboutique.com

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Hi, my name is Fo. I am a cat and I love feathers! Feathers are one of my favorite things to play with. To me, feathers are mystical. They feel so silky and they float and I'm told that feathers are very pretty to look at. I say “I'm told” because I am blind. I was born blind so not seeing isn't a big deal for me. Without my sight, I hear better than most other cats and although cats have a great sense of smell, mine is even better. My whiskers help me “see” where I'm going, so being blind hasn't slowed me down at all.

Catnip is another of my favorite things. Catnip is a plant in the mint family and there are about 250 different kinds of catnip. The one thing they all have in common is something called nepetalactone. Nepetalactone is what makes it so special to cats. Because it's the smell of catnip that cats react to, I really enjoy playing with catnip.

Not all cats respond to catnip but for those of us who do (about 50%), catnip is a fun, fun experience. When I smell catnip I love to roll on the floor, rub on the carpet and run around the house. I go, go, go and then, boom, time to crash. But, it's okay. Catnip is not harmful to cats and we know when we have had enough. Sometimes, after I rest, I like to go back and play some more with catnip and sometimes, I don't.

Catnip is best when it is fresh. I like it when my human girl brings me a new catnip toy. Lots of pet stores sell catnip inside toys or in little bags and just a teeny, tiny bit is enough. Catnip is easy to grow so if your human likes plants they can keep a pot growing in the window and you can sniff it anytime you want. If your humans grow catnip they can dry it and sprinkle it on the floor for you or your human can pinch off the leaves, put them in an airtight container and freeze them for later.

One other really good thing about growing catnip is that mosquitoes don't like it! When I told Zeva about catnip keeping mosquitoes away, she said she was going to get her Mom to plant some all around their pen to keep the bugs away.

It's good to know that dogs and people can benefit from catnip even if they don't have the same fun, fun we cats do.

I will be writing for Zeva's blog regularly so if you share your house with a cat or have friends that are cats, please let them know. I would love to meet them and hear all about them. I'd be interested in where they live and how they love to spend their days.

Love,

Your furry feline friend,

Fo

P.S.  If you haven't checked out the cat gift baskets at PawPalsBoutique.com you really should.  They put catnip toys in lots of the gift baskets!

Too Many Toys?!?!?

It’s almost here!  The Holiday Season that is.  Lots of folks don’t like “the holidays” because they feel rushed and stressed out.  Not me, I love them.

 Sure, we work more time at the Studio making our gift baskets, but that’s fun. It’s fun because we are making gifts that make people and pets happy.  I ‘specially like my job when I’m testing new toys or filling the pet gift baskets with them.  I make sure there are lots of toys in them cuz from experience I know you can NEVER have enough toys.  And treats, you can never have too many of those either.

 Different pets like different toys.  Personally, I like toys that I can chase or play tug of war with.  Right now my favorites are the blue ball that makes a flashing light when it bounces and my tug toy made out of a fire hose.  I drop the ball at the top of the stairs watch the blinky light go all the way down.  If I get tired of going after it, I let Mom get it for me and put it back in the toy box.  The fire hose tug toy is really like two toys cuz it’s also a good carry around one.

 Since DixieLee came to live with us, we had to change the kinds of toys that we get.  She didn’t get the nickname Dixie The Destroyer for nothing.  She should work for a pet toy company.  If a toy lasts for more than five minutes with her, they can say it is indestructible.

 When she moved in she ate all my soft cuddly and squeaky toys, but that’s okay since they weren’t my favorites anyway. Now our toy box is filled with toys like Kongs and antlers.  We love antlers.

 I have to admit, I’m still learning what toys should go in our cat gift baskets.  Since we don’t have a cat that lives with us, I have to rely on the cat friends we’ve met on line.  Obviously I like social media. I have this blog, I sometimes write for the company blog, I manage the Laurel Mountain Basket Co Pet Division Facebook page and I have accounts with sites like 3MillionDogs.com and PetPav.com.  There are some really smart cats on PetPav.com so I get good advice from them.

 Cats love treats too so we make sure we put lots of treats in our cat gift baskets.  Cats seem to like shiny things and feathers.  They also like balls that they can hit with their paws and chase.  We have lots of different kinds of balls.  I like to put the little ones with a bell inside them in most of our cat gift baskets cuz those seem to be a favorite with our cat friends.  The best cat toy, I think anyway, is the one that looks like a mouse. It is soooo cute.

 Well, time to check the inventory to make sure we have enough toys for the upcoming Holiday Season. 

 Your Santa Paws Helper,

 Zeva

 P.S. Blatant self-promotion.  Holiday Special! 10% off any of our Pet Gift Baskets, now until December 20, 2014 so act today.  On line ordering, enter the coupon code “Yappy Holidays!”.