Month: December 2020

New Arrivals…

BIG NEWS for PetMomma, I’m adding some new friends to the family! I’m not going to give out details quite yet, but I’m curious about how people prepare for a new pet. Do you research the pet? Do you learn about diet, care, housing, etc.? How do you decide what kind of pet you want?

This is a pet I’ve wanted off and on for awhile. I keep seeing posts about friends and neighbors getting Pandemic Puppies. It’s been making me itch for another puppy, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that. In some ways I like having one dog.

I started researching this other pet I want. I’ve been reading all about them!  What kind of diet do they need to keep them healthy? What are the housing requirements? What kind of vet care do they need? Do I have a local vet that would take care of them? How much attention does it need? What kind of maintenance will be needed? Can they be trained?

I learned that this pet naturally lives in community groups, so they shouldn’t be kept alone. I guess we get a pair!

This pet does require a very special diet, and from what I’ve read, there isn’t a good one available commercially, so I’ve got to make my own food. I’ve made my own parrot food for years, so that doesn’t bother me.

I do have local vets, I’m OK with the time commitment, housing requirements, etc. So what do I do next? I start looking for rescue groups. I found one in my state, and I applied, not knowing if they even had anything available at that time. I heard back that my application was approved!

The only animals they had available for adoption, are 4 males. After the research I did, I didn’t have a preference on adopting males or females, so I said great, I’m interested in a pair. Well, apparently this is a group of four bonded males. They all need to go to the same home. Good news, they come with their own cage!

So now I have to ponder, do I want four? They will all live in the same cage, so the work is really the same as a pair. Do I have time to spend time with all of them? Do I wanted the added expense of four?

Check back for another update soon!

 

 

 

Another Pet Fountain Review!

This is Bean in a holiday sweater. It has nothing to do with this post.

For someone who spent years having pets without ever using a pet fountain, I feel like I’ve become a little bit obsessed. This new one is my third. My other two still work fine, but I actually lost a part for my ceramic one recently.

Pet Safe’s website had the part for me. I had to buy it as part of a kit for $6, then I would have had to pay $5.74 to ship it. I hate that. So I went to Amazon to see if they had the part. They didn’t, but I did find a stainless steel fountain for $29.99. I’ve been wanting a stainless fountain for awhile. It’s supposed to be much easier to clean, but they are usually pretty expensive. So instead of paying $11.74 for the part, I just bought the Stainless fountain.

I found this fountain happened to be on sale. Today the price is back up to $45.99, so I’m happy I didn’t wait and I just bought it when I did.

It’s a super simple setup. I literally didn’t need any directions. Very few parts in the box. You get the bottom dish, the filter/motor, and a top cover.

You put the filter on the marks inside the bowl and it suction cups to the bottom. There are two different spouts for it. One makes a small arch of water aimed up, and the other just spills the water into the top.

This is the underside of the top piece. The little plastic area to the right opens and you insert a filter. The white spout on the left side of the picture goes into the bowl over the filter and locks in to suck the water up into the top.

This is the top piece. The white plastic slit on the right is the top of the filter. The water circulates from the fountain, the white nozzle on the left, and gets filtered as it falls back into the bowl through the filter on the right.

Pros, it’s super simple design that is easy to clean. I love that it is stainless and just washes right out. The filter is one piece, easy to swap out as needed. They say it only needs to be replaced every couple of months.

I am using the fountain nozzle, but I like that there is another option. If you have a timid cat, using the nozzle that doesn’t spray the water up might be more appealing to them.

Another Pro is that the majority of the water stays in a covered bowl. Less chance of junk getting into the water, and a better chance of the water staying clean. The basin is a little shallow, but it does seem to stay cleaner that way.

After using this for over a week now, the biggest con to me is that I’m not sure when it needs to be filled. Yes, the pump shuts off automatically when the water level gets too low, but with my other pet fountains I could see into the bowl so I knew when the water needed to be refilled. This one I have just been refilling every couple of days. With three cats and a small dog, every other day is about right for us.

Puck had no fear and checked it out immediately.

It didn’t take long for Bean to come over and check it out himself.

I’m really happy to have a stainless fountain to use. I’m not a big fan of plastic fountains and wouldn’t get another just because of how hard they are to clean. If you are looking for a fountain, this one works out great and is reasonably priced, especially if you can find it on sale!

The Farmer’s Dog

Cali eagerly waiting for me to put her bowl down

A couple of weeks ago I got an offer to try The Farmer’s Dog food for free. As someone always interested in new pet products, I had to try it out. It meant signing up for a subscription to their food, but I could cancel right away.

I went to their website  and filled out a form about Cali, type of dog, size, any allergies or health issues, etc. It was a pretty simple process and only took about 5 minutes.

Six days later a cooler arrived. The cooler was packed with bags of food, a container to store open food packs, and an insulated bag! Really cute packaging!

Insulated bag

Since Cali is a little dog, one pack of food is sized for four meals. It’s easy to use. I just squeeze the food out of the middle of the pack, and cut along the middle. Then I can squeeze half the food out of one side and put it in her bowl.

Clearly the food smells delicious to Cali, as the first time I cut open a pack she started dancing around. There was no transition to this food for her, she just devoured it immediately. I have no doubt this is a high quality food. The ingredients look great. It seems that beef is their standard base. They also have turkey,  pork, and chicken options. I wish they had a seafood or fish option. Cali’s vet recommended a fish based food for her, and that has seemed to help with her dry skin and itchiness. Maybe being on the Farmer’s Dog for a long period would help her skin issues without the fish?

I would definitely consider feeding this food all the time, but it is expensive for me at about $20 per week, and Cali is a small dog. I would pay a bit more for fresh food, but I currently spend about $12 for a bag of high quality dry food, and about $22 for a case of canned food. The bag of dry food lasts me over a month, and the case of canned food lasts me at least two months. So I’m paying roughly $23 a month to feed Cali, and Farmer’s Dog would cost me over $70 per month. 

I do spend about $30 per month on allergy medication for Cali, so IF the Farmer’s Dog eliminated the need for her medication, then the price difference starts to make more sense, but it’s a gamble to risk taking her off of her medication that has been working well for years.

I saw on The Farmer’s Dog website that they have a recipe for homemade food, and they hope to be offering a vitamin supplement at some point that you could purchase and make your own fresh food. I’ll definitely be looking into that when it is available. For now, I’m using one bag of the fresh food at a time, and switching Cali between it and her regular food as a special meal until my trial packs run out. Love the idea, love the quality of this product, just can’t justify the cost to my pet budget right now. Has anyone else tried it?

 

Bird Mister Review

Ok, so this product really isn’t for birds. It’s for human hairspray, but it is by far the best sprayer I’ve used for my African Grey.

Hector doesn’t like baths. I’ve tried the kitchen sink, the bathtub, shower perches, floor of the shower, spray with different bottles, etc. I had an old spray bottle that she came with that sprayed a light mist that she would tolerate.

I mist her pretty regularly, and then give her good soaking baths in the kitchen sink every couple of weeks. It isn’t her favorite, but she tolerates it, and as bird owners know, they are necessary to help keep her healthy.

Recently I saw an Amazon ad that caught my attention for a fine mist sprayer. It’s for hairspray, not birds, but it’s just an empty sprayer so it can really be used for any liquid you chose. I fill it with some warm-ish, water, not too hot, not too cold, and it sprays a lovely fine mist.  The more you use it, the less you have to pump the sprayer as it builds up pressure and just sprays. Hector showed her delight by flapping her wings, spreading them, stretching, and preening.

This little wonder sprayer:  is amazing. Hector actually seems to enjoy the sprays from it. For $8, definitely worth a try if you have a bird that doesn’t love baths.