Who buys holiday gifts for their pets? Do you buy gifts for all your pets? I have to be honest, I haven’t found a whole lot that excites Wena, my bearded dragon, so unless she needs something for her tank, she usually just gets some extra Horn Worms, her favorite treat, for the holidays.
The cats and the dog always get something, and Hector the bird, LOVES presents! She gets so excited. She even unwraps her own presents. It’s definitely part of the fun for her.
I found a new-to-me website called A Bird Toy, that had some unique toys. I like that they sell parts, and you can create your own toys, and reuse/refill them. Don’t tell Hector, but she is about to get their “hulk bolt” for Christmas. It is a stainless steel bolt that attaches to the side of her cage, and I can refill it with wood blocks, beads, leather pieces, cardboard squares, etc. Hector is often afraid of new things, so I like the idea of the solid base that I can refill with different parts. I’m hoping she might be less nervous about the refills once she gets used to it. I’ll post a review after I’ve had a chance to use it with Hector.
The cats got a giant (taller than me!) cat tree for Christmas last year that they love. This year, they don’t really need anything big, so I’ll probably pick up some plastic springs, furry mice, and maybe a new cardboard scratcher. What are you getting your cats?
I haven’t really decided what Cali will get for Christmas yet. She has so many toys already! She isn’t a destructive chewer, so her toys last forever. Maybe it’s time for a new sweater. Cali loves her clothes! She was so excited to dress up for Halloween! We actually had trouble getting her dress off of her at the end of the night.
I’m hoping to find time to put together a Pet Wish List before the holidays. What kinds of things would like to see on it? What kind of pets are your shopping for?
My cats have been playing with the Laser Tail Toy from PetSafe for a few months now, and they love it! I’ve used many PetSafe products over the years; toys, leashes, water fountains, and I find them generally to be good quality and fair prices. This laser toy certainly fits in that category.
The toy is roughly 7″ long and 5.5″ wide. It’s small enough to easily carry around in one hand. The device is very sturdy and can handle the cats pushing it, leaping on it, and even knocking it down the stairs. It has also been fine when I’ve forgotten about it and accidentally stepped on it, whoops!
The unit takes three double A batteries, and honestly they seem to last forever. As you can see above, it has three wheels that move the unit around on the floor. I have used it on linoleum, floor tiles, short carpet, and wood floors, and it seems to work well on all of them. It is able to move more quickly and freely on non-carpeted surfaces, of course, but it does work just fine on short carpet.
So what exactly does this toy do? It projects a laser on the floor. It’s simple and pretty awesome. For whatever reason, cats seem to love chasing laser beams. While it can be very enjoyable for humans to tease a cat with a handheld laser, this toy entertains your cat when you can’t, or when you just want to watch.
See that white circle above? That’s the power switch. Push it on, or push it off. It’s that simple. When it’s powered on, the toy turns on the laser, which projects onto the floor in front of it, and it moves. The toy moves backwards, forwards, left, right, and circles. It moves, stops, and moves again. It knows when it has bumped into something, and it changes direction. It will also turn itself off after a short period of time, so you could turn it on when you need to go out, and leave it to entertain your cats while you escape.
I keep this toy in the kitchen, for those times when the cats get pesty and need my attention, but I need to get something done. I hit the button on the bottom, and the cats are immediately off the counters, out of my way, and interested in what the toy is doing. Sometimes they just sit and watch it, other times they aggressively chase it, bat at it, and sometimes even knock it around.
Bean enjoys watching the laser. I’m not sure he really knows what to make of it. Sometimes he acts as if he is scared of it, but other times he enjoys chasing it. Most of the time, it’s a combination of watching and chasing.
Even though Bean is just a baby at barely a year old, he is still super lazy. A few minutes of play time, and he is ready for another nap!
Summary: I would definitely recommend this product for anyone looking to entertain their younger, more playful cats. My older cat, Logan, isn’t very playful anymore, and she doesn’t have any interest in this toy, but both of my younger boys enjoy playing with it. I do enjoy toys such as feathers on a stick and things like that which allow me to interact with the cats more, but this is a really handy thing to have when the cats need to play and I need to get something done. It’s sturdy, well designed, and long-lasting. I think it would be really fun to add a “tail” or other attachment to dangle off the back, but that might just get tangled up in the wheels. Check it out and let me know what you think.
I put out some flowers, and a couple of pumpkins, but the beauty was short lived! The chipmunks and squirrels think that the pumpkins were put out for them, and who am I to argue?
They have removed and probably eaten all the seeds. I keep rotating the pumpkin to try and get a bit more enjoyment out of it before it’s gone, but it is slowly starting to cave in. I’m glad to help fatten up the local rodents before the snow flies, but a couple of weeks with my decorations would have been nice!
The Dragon is being really weird recently. She has been in and out of her cave. She isn’t eating well, and she just can’t seem to decide if she wants to brumate, or just be awake. I’ve made sure her tank is the right temperature, and her basking spot is hot enough. Her tank is near windows, so I’m guessing the shorter daylight hours are what have her confused.
The hardest part for me is managing her bug consumption. I usually mail order her staple, black soldier fly larvae, but they take a few days to arrive, and they only last so long. I’ve been lucky enough to have some the last couple of times she has woken up. She’ll eat a few, a bit of her salad, and then she heads back into her cave.
Now I’ve run out, and I’m hesitant to order more. She may sleep for a few days, she may sleep for weeks, or even months. I don’t have anyplace local to buy the larvae, so I guess I will just run out and get her some crickets when she gets up again. Last thing I need is 500 or 1000 black soldier flies! She actually will eat the flies, but they are much harder to deal with than the larvae. The cats love it when a fly escapes in the house; me? not so much.
Hector D. Byrd is definitely fond of swearing. She doesn’t do it often, but when she does, it is clear that she knows what she is doing, and she is stating her opinion. For example, she was yelling at my husband one day “Wanna Come UP! Wanna Come UP!”Over and over again, getting louder each time. My husband nicely told her that he was doing something. She kept is up. Next he tried to tell her he would pick her up later. Her response “A**hole.”
That brings me to this article that Hector thought I should share. Have you ever encountered a foul-mouthed bird?
The Dragon came out of her cave a few days ago, she ate, she basked under her heat lamp, today she went back in the cave. She’s still awake and keeping an eye on me, so I’ll be curious to see if she stays up or brumates again.
This morning, I watched my bearded dragon try to get into her cave. She’s had this cave for over two years, as long as I’ve had her, and she has NEVER tried to go inside it. She likes to perch on top of it, and often uses it to climb up to her hammock, but I’ve never seen her show any interest in going into it. Honestly, it’s a little small for her. It was a left over from a pet snake we used to have, and I put it in her tank more for climbing and perching than for going inside.
Until today. She ate her breakfast, a lovely mix of arugula, pea shoots, and black soldier fly larvae. Then she basked in her hot spot for a bit. Next I hear her scratching around which usually means she wants out.
I finish what I’m doing so I can go take her out, and I see her trying to get into her cave. She went in, backed out, and then stayed in the position you see above for a good 20+ minutes. I left the room for a bit, and when I came back, I got nervous for a minute. Where was Wena? I didn’t see her anywhere! Hammocks were empty.
Then I realized…
she actually made it inside the cave! She’s been in there all day now. I’m wondering if it is time for her to brumate. It’s a little early in the season for it, but I do have an almost new container of 1000 black soldier fly larvae, and she usually likes to snooze just as I’m well stocked on bugs for her. I’m going to keep an eye on her, as I’m slightly worried she will get herself stuck in that little cave, but she seems pretty content for now. Sleep well sweet lizard!
Got a bird? If you do, you know they aren’t easy pets. They require a lot of attention, cleaning, play time, more cleaning, and feeding. I’ve owned birds off and on for as long as I can remember. I posted about my history with birds in the “Before Hector D. Byrd” post if you want to read more.
Every bird I’ve owned has taught me something. With Maverick, my amazon, I started to learn a lot about feeding parrots. I also came to the conclusion that I wasn’t happy with any commercially made parrot foods. I feed commercial parrot pellets, but mostly as a supplement. My birds have always had homemade food. It took Hector some time to get used to my food, but now she devours it. She anxiously waits by her bowl for her breakfast every morning. If breakfast doesn’t come fast enough, she whistles and bangs her bowl.
A Jar Of My Homemade Food
My feeding routine for Hector is that she always has a fresh bowl of pellets in her cage. I’m currently feeding her Zupreem Fruit Blend. Not only does she eat these pellets, and not just throw them, but she also likes to sort them. They pellets are different shapes and colors. Sometimes I’ll check her bowl and find there are only orange pellets left. Other times, she sorts out a different color. Food and entertainment, all in one bowl!
Just recently, I discovered Bird Street Bistro, and it seems to be the first food that can replace my homemade mix. I’m so excited! No more special shopping trip to get all the ingredients, and no more setting aside a couple of hours each month to mix up a batch.
Bird Street Bistro mixes are all natural, no added fillers or preservatives. They have about half a dozen different recipes to add variety to your birds diet. Prices are reasonable. When I first checked out their page, I was thinking their mixes were a bit pricey, but when I started to price out my own grocery list when I buy products to make my own recipe, I realized how reasonable their prices are.
I started with the Parrot Food Sample Pack. Knowing Hector isn’t a big fan of beans, I asked if I could swap out the Cajun Bean Feast flavor, and received their AppleBerry flavor instead. Different formulas need to cook for different amounts of time, but it seems that all can be done in about 20 minutes, and some take much less time.
Knowing that Hector LOVES cinnamon, CinnaSpice Delight was the first flavor I tried. Making this food could not have been any easier. I simply added water and some of the dry mix to a pot, brought it to a bowl, covered it, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. The whole house smelled so good while it was cooking! `The ingredients are wonderful, rice, millet, split peas, barley, couscous, currants, carrots, oats, barley, apples, etc. I love the different grains included in this mix.
After cooking, I let it cool to room temperature, then watched Hector devour it. Since Hector is already eating a similar, homemade version of this food, she had no trouble converting to it all all. I had some of my homemade food available, so I could mix the two foods if needed, but Hector was happy with the new food right away.
For birds that are converting from a different diet, they may need a little encouragement to eat a food like this. It took me MONTHS to get Hector to eat my homemade mash when I first started out with it. Patience is key with parrots. Don’t give up, be persistent, eventually they will give it a try. Don’t stress over wasted food. I always used to remind myself that the cost of vet bills for bad diet in the future would be WAY more than the cost of the food Hector was wasting. There are tips on the back of the bags to help get you started.
The next flavor I tried was the Southern Feast. My favorite part of this one is that it cooks in 3 minutes! Just add the mix to boiling water, stir for 30 seconds and remove from the heat and let sit. Hector also approves of this flavor. This one has couscous, wheat, millet, oats, carrots, peppers, quinoa, almonds parsley, cayenne pepper, basil, cumin, and kelp.
Mixing up one batch of Bird Street Bistro according to their directions gives me about a mason jar full of food, plus another meal. It works out well for me to make it, feed Hector, then store the mason jar of food in the fridge and I have fresh food for 4-5 days.
Instead of Hector having to eat the same batch of food for a month plus, now I can switch up flavors for her every time I make a batch, so she is getting a new flavor every few days. Bird Street Bistro comes in resealable bags, so I can make a batch, then I just put the rest of the dry mix into the freezer for storage. It’s so convenient! I also like that I have less stuff in my freezer since I don’t have a month’s worth of mason jars, I just have a bag of Bird Street Bistro, and the fresh mix in the fridge.
I will be trying the other flavors soon, and I expect that I will definitely be ordering more. With a product like this on the market, I see no reason to go through the time and hassle of making my own food.
The only negative I have about this product, is the veggie content. I feel that my homemade blends contain more veggies than Bird Street Bistro blends that I have tried so far, but it is hard to tell by looking. My homemade blends had bigger pieces of veggies for sure, but I’m wondering if Hector will actually eat more veggies with the new blend because she can’t pick them out. I’ve always supplemented Hector with fresh veggies on top of her homemade mix, so I will continue to do that while using Bird Street Bistro. I also need to check out their Viva La Veggies flavor and the Hearty Veggies. I have Viva La Veggies, but haven’t made it yet. I’ll also check out the Hearty Veggies next time I need to place an order. Based on the pictures on their website, it looks like both of these flavors have more veggies than the flavors I’ve made so far.
Another thought I had on the veggies was to add another product I use which is a chop from a company called Texas Natural Freeze Dried Products. They make a variety of freeze dried foods for parrots and humans. I like to keep some of their Freeze Dried Chop on hand for a quick breakfast for Hector if I forget to make or defrost her normal food. Their chop is a great product that contains a ton of veggies: kale, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sweet peppers, yellow squash, red cabbage, apples, and strawberries. I can easily add a bit of this freeze dried mix to the Bird Street Bistro if I want to add some extra veggies to the mix.
I’m really excited about Bird Street Bistro foods. In the long run, it will save me time and money. I’m impressed with the high quality ingredients and the ease of use. I like the convenience of making up a batch that lasts a few days. I like the variety of grains in the product which not only help balance the birds diet, but also give it different shapes and textures to pick out of the food. Something I know Hector enjoys.
I know a lot of people think of birds and think they eat seeds. In the research I’ve done, I’ve grown to believe that seeds are not a healthy diet for captive birds. They are too high in fat and can cause liver disease and other problems later in life. Hector doesn’t eat seeds. She does get sunflower seeds as a very rare treat, but never as part of her regular diet. Mostly for treats she gets almonds(in the shell), cucumber slices, sometimes a whole grain, unsalted cracker with a little bit of almond butter, carrots, peppers, etc.
I tweak this every time I make it, depending on what I have around, and what’s in season. For example, in the Fall, I tend to use more squash, apples, etc. in summer I may add some berries and fresh carrots.
This recipe makes about a month and a half of food for Hector. I make the one big batch, then freeze in 16 ounce mason jars. One jar gives me about 4-5 days of food, so I just defrost a new jar as needed.
Here’s the basic recipe. Feel free to substitute and change it up to meet your needs.
1 cup of fresh fruit – apples are my go-to, but sometimes it is berries, melon, etc.
1 box of whole grain veggie pasta – I try to buy different shapes for variety
1 can of beans – Hector isn’t a huge fan of beans, so I usually mash these pretty well and mix them in. I change the type of beans, red beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, etc.
1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds, raw and unsalted
1 lb of organic greens – this can be kale, collard greens, mustard greens, etc. sometimes I replace the greens with chopped broccoli
1 lb of frozen organic mixed veggies, usually a standard peas, corn, carrots kind of thing
2 fresh sweet potatoes – sweet potatoes are Hector’s favorite! I leave skin on, but scrub them clean and cut into small pieces
1 cup of other veggies – depends what is in season, cauliflower, squash, I try to add a variety of colors
3 cups of grains – I usually use Farro and/or Quinoa, but Kamut, whole grain oats, etc can all be used to change it up.
1 heaping teaspoon on Tumeric
1 tablespoon of organic cinnamon
I start with a about 1.5 times the amount of water required to cook the grains I’m using, bring it to a boil and cook the grains. They should be a little more watery than usual. I add the sweet potato chunks when the grains are about half cooked. If the mix seems, dry, just add more water. Once that mix has softened up, I add the pasta and mix it in. I don’t really cook the pasta. It softens up enough in the mix and adds a little consistency.
Next I add the fruit, spices, mashed beans, greens, veggies, and mix well. Last, I fold in the pumpkin seeds.
I let the mix cool a bit, then divide it up into Mason jars, not quite filling them to leave room for expansion when they freeze.
When I finish a jar of food, I take a new one out of the freezer and leave it on the counter to defrost for a couple of hours then put it into the fridge. Next morning I just scoop it out and feed. Sometimes as a treat, I’ll add a little scrambled egg to her regular mix, or other fresh fruits and veggies.
Experimenting is key. What does your bird like? What consistency do they prefer? Do they like minced food or big chunks? Is there a veggie that they always pick out and don’t eat?
This is Hector’s main food, but not her only food. She also always has free-choice pellets, and she gets more fresh veggies when I’m making dinner, nothing fancy, just bites of whatever things are appropriate for her like cucumbers, carrots, peppers, etc.
Who knew? Apparently tomorrow is International Bacon Day! Cali and I are both pretty excited.
As a big fan of bacon and Stella and Chewy’s products, I have to thank them for the reminder that tomorrow is International Bacon Day! If you follow @stellaandshewys on Instagram and tag a friend, you will be entered to win their Bacon Prize pack! Go follow them, and tag @petmomma.co and/or @puckthestar Maybe you’ll win yourself a Tee Shirt and some bacon treats!
Hector – She has nothing to do with today’s article other than she is hanging out with me while I’m writing it!
What do you do with your pets when you travel? For me, the dog goes to a friend’s house. The cats, parrot, and dragon stay home with daily visits from a pet sitter. I like to make things as simple and easy as possible for everyone that helps out with my pets.
For the dog, that means making feeding time as simple as possible. At home, Cali gets a spoonful of canned food mixed with some dry food. This works for the pet sitter, of course, but it’s a bit of a pain for her to have to keep canned food in the fridge, measure everything out, and mix it up. I started making mason jars with the food all set and she just had to put it in a bowl, but the jars had to be refrigerated because of the canned food, another hassle.
For my last two trips, I discovered Stella & Chewy’s Dinner Patties, and they are exactly what I needed. The patties are freeze-dried raw, and grain-free. At the advice of my vet, I don’t prefer a fully grain-free diet, but I feed a dry food that has grain along with these patties to balance it out. Since they are freeze-dried, they are shelf stable.
With the Stella & Chewy’s patties, I can make up mason jars, pre-measured for each meal. They don’t need to be refrigerated, and all my pet sitter has to do is add water, shake, and pour in a bowl. Super easy and convenient!
What do I like about this product? The convenience is definitely what brought me to this product, but I’m also really impressed with the quality. These dinner patties are offered in 13 different varieties. I chose the Surf ‘N Turf variety with Beef and Salmon. Cali has allergies, so I find that fish based foods help her with her itchiness. The ingredients in this food are impressive: the first ingredient is beef, and the second is whole ground salmon. Each bag contains 14 ounces which lasts me a LONG time with one 10 pound dog.
Recommended feeding is 3 1/2 patties per day for a dog Cali’s size, but I supplement with regular dry food. For this last trip, Cali was fed 1/2 of a patty, plus a handful of her regular Halo Salmon dry dog food per meal, two meals per day. Two weeks of travel meals and I still have almost half a bag of the Stella & Chewy’s left over. One bag is priced at about $29.99.
If you are interested in a convenient raw diet, or if you want to do what I do and supplement some raw foods, I definitely recommend this product.
Pros: Convenient, Easy to Use, Good Ingredients, Raw food, Versatile (can be used as is or rehydrated,) Liked by my picky eater, great variety of flavors
Cons: I don’t have any real complaints about this product. It is a bit pricey, but all high quality foods are. I don’t like that it is Grain-Free, but that is a Pro to others.
Happy National Dog Day! I hope everyone gets to spend some quality time with their furry friends today. My girl, Cali, is a bit sleepy today, but we’ve been outside enjoying the beautiful weather.
Got a bird? If you do, you know they aren’t easy pets. They require a lot of attention, cleaning, play time, more cleaning, and feeding. I’ve owned birds off and on for as long as I can remember. I posted about my history with birds in the “
I will be trying the other flavors soon, and I expect that I will definitely be ordering more. With a product like this on the market, I see no reason to go through the time and hassle of making my own food.
