Monday, April 23, 2018

Don't Be A Dope


Mom keeps the television on for us all day to keep us entertained. We watch lots of news. Stories about making it okay for peoples to have marijuana seems to be getting lots of attention as more and more places say it is okay.

There are stories about making it okay for people who are sick to use marijuana and other stories about recreational use.

We understand that marijuana is good for helping peoples who have nerve pain or bad diseases like cancer. We were wondering what would happen if a dog got curious and ate some of their human’s marijuana or if they smelled some when their human was smoking it.

Like most questions, the answer is, it depends. The size of the dog and how much they ate or smelled is important. A dog that got some marijuana COULD be in real trouble. Marijuana could lower their heart rate and blood pressure and could make them go into a coma or have seizures.

Veterinarians know how to treat dogs for marijuana that eat too much and get poisoned.

Dogs can get high too. Getting high can be a very scary experience because they wouldn’t know what was happening to them. They might stumble around and be scared by sudden noises.

If the marijuana they eat is baked into a yummy treat it can be really bad. Dogs love to eat so they may eat way too much and if it has chocolate baked in, it is really, really bad. We all know that chocolate is poison to dogs all by itself.

Can medical marijuana be good for dogs? Doctors and scientists are checking into it. Medical marijuana would be really helpful for dogs who get cancer but since dogs react differently than humans, there needs to be more checking about how much would be safe.

This subject is way too much for my brain to figure right now and besides,  North Woods Law New Hampshire is coming on the television. It’s one of our favorite programs. They show how Animal Police help humans and undomesticated animals live together better.

If I can get Mom to give us a cookie, we’ll be all set.

Stay healthy,

Love
Zeva

P.S. Blatant self-promotion. For the bestest pet gift baskets in the universe, go to pawpalsboutique.com



Friday, April 13, 2018

A Real Bargain


Some peoples think that they should be able to go to a shelter and get a good dog for free. After all, shelters are full and there are so many homeless animal, they think that the shelters would want to give pets away.

Different shelters in different parts of the country charge different money. Sometimes special needs or senior dogs cost less because they have a harder time getting adopted. Puppies usually cost most because everyone thinks puppies are better to have. I don’t think that is always true. For example, senior dogs are a good match for senior peoples.

There are lots of reasons shelters need to charge money to adopt a pet.

1. The shelter is a home and everyone knows that it costs money to live in a home. The shelters have to pay bills like regular peoples.

2. Even though lots of shelters have volunteers who feed and walk the dogs, some body has to be the boss. Bosses and other employees who take care of the day to day operations need to be paid. These are the people who make sure the animals are taken care of properly and that they get adopted to good homes.

3. Pets need to eat and food costs money. Some pets need special food which costs more.

4. And don’t forget toys! Pets need toys and beds and dishes and leashes and collars and stuff, just like dogs who live in houses.

5. One of the most important thing for an owner to do is to keep their pets healthy and shelters have to do that too. All of the pets need to have shots and be checked to make sure they don’t have heartworm or ticks or mites or any other buggies. They should also be tested for stuff like lyme disease and other diseases.

If a pet has heartworm, or lyme or something bad, then they need to have medicine until they are better. All of that costs money,

6. Some pets enter the shelter in really bad shape. They have been mistreated so bad that they need medical treatment to get better. They may need things like x-rays or antibiotics or other medical things to help them heal.

7. Most shelters make sure that pets are spayed or neutered. More puppies or kittens would only mean more need for shelters. Although many shelters have vets who give reduced rates, surgery and medicines are still expensive.

8. And most shelters microchip all pets before they get adopted. They know how easy it is for a pet to get lost and end up in another shelter.

So, when you pay to get a pet from a shelter, you are giving that shelter money so that it can take in another animal and give it good care until someone comes along to adopt them.

For all the love and affection that shelter pets give, I think you are getting a real bargain.

Love,

Zeva

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Wednesday, April 4, 2018

You Are What You Eat


If you follow our Paw Pals Boutique Facebook page you know that we re-post articles about recalls and other important information about pet food.

I was really upset when I read the one about dog food companies that use dyes to make kibble look better to humans and smell better to dogs. They think that kibble is boring looking to humans so they add colors to make it prettier.

I like pretty colors. We use pretty colored ribbons to make our gift baskets look extra special but I don’t think dying kibbles green and orange to make them seem like peas and carrots is a good thing to do. Science people say that Red 40, Yellow 5 and Blue 2 are dyes that cause cancer. That is BAD.

And where is the meat? Dogs like meat and meat is actually good for dogs. Lots of dog food today is “plant based” or made with “meat by products”. Plant based means stuff like corn and meat by products could dead zoo animals, hooves or other not so good stuff. That’s cheating!

Mom is a label reader. She reads labels on packages. She does it to make sure that the food she buys for our house, for the peoples and for the dogs, has lots of good, nutritious things in them, AND, just as important, does not have any bad things, like dyes in them.

Peoples who sell pet food want to sell more so they try to make their food look better than other kinds you can buy. They use words like “gourmet’ and “natural” which are just words and don’t mean that the food is so special.

One word you can look for is AAFCO. That is actually a bunch of words which are Association of American Feed Control Officials. They have “official” in their name but they are not government peoples. They look at how the food is made and say if it meets basic nutritional requirements. Check your food to see if it says AAFCO.

Keeping our food fresh is also important. We buy a big bag of food that DixieLee and I share and a small bag of food just for me. Mom says I gain weight when I eat too much regular food so I have half of my food be a “weight control” kind. We eat up a bag pretty quick but if you don’t, you should make sure the bag is sealed up tight so your food doesn’t get stale.

All this talk about food is making me hungry. I know Dad is going to tell me I have a big minute until supper but you never know….

Bone appetite,

Zeva

P.S.  Blatant self-promotion. For the bestest pet gift baskets in the universe, check out pawpalsboutique.com