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Too much?

Yesterday I saw someone giving away a mini fridge on Facebook. How cool! I thought. I could have my own fridge/freezer for pet food! I grabbed my daughter and we ran out to pick it up before someone else claimed it.

We got home, and I had to pause for a second and wonder if it was a bit too much that I had my own fridge/freezer for the pets. I decided it wasn’t too much, it’s practical! Now the rest of the family doesn’t have to worry about accidentally treating themselves a nice bowl of glider mush, or eating the arugula that I’m saving for the dragon.

The little freezer part is stuffed full: fruits and veggies for the gliders, spare food mix for Hector D. Byrd, and a batch of glider slop. The fridge isn’t as full yet. It’s got an open can of dog food, some wellness herbs for Hector, and a jar of Hector’s food, oh and some meal worms! I forgot to grab the pea shoots and arugula from our regular fridge since those are for the lizard. Does this officially make me the crazy pet lady?

The husband was a little surprised when he came home from work and saw the fridge. Of course I had to rearrange the computer room a bit to fit it in. I guess for most people, what we call the computer room would be their dining room. For us, it has a couple of desks, including my desk I use every day. It also has the glider cage, the lizard tank, and Hector’s cage sits in the open space between the kitchen table and the computer room. I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but I guess this room should be renamed The Zoo!

The husband wasn’t sure about the new fridge. I told him there would be room for a couple of beers or seltzers if he liked since he usually keeps those in the garage fridge. Maybe if he has a use for the fridge he will hate it a little less!

Miney (I think)

The gliders are getting settled. We still have a ways to go before I would say that they like me, but they haven’t tried to bite me, well only once, and they didn’t bite hard, and I was sticking my hand in their sleep pouch so I probably deserved it. The end of last week got busy and I didn’t get to take them out as much as i would have liked, but I did get them out a bit every day. Today I’m going to try to take them out in our stall shower. If I take their pouch away, maybe they will interact with me a bit more.

I’m not perfect at telling them apart, but I’m getting better. One is MUCH bigger than the others, and one is tiny. Last night when I checked on them, The biggest one, Eenie, was stuffing his face in the food bowl. Tiny little Miney was running a marathon on the exercise wheel! No wonder one is a bit chunky and one is tiny!

A couple of nights ago we were all watching TV in the other room, and we started hearing this really strange noise, almost like a small dog’s yippy bark. When I checked on the gliders, one was hanging off the side of the cage where the food bowls usually are making a racket! I’ve been feeding them really late so that their food is as fresh as possible, and apparently he wasn’t happy the food hadn’t arrived yet! As soon as I fed them, no more noise. I guess it isn’t taking them long to train me!

The cats continue to enjoy squirrel “hunting.” I’ve learned that squirrels do NOT eat cranberries, strange because they eat just about everything else I throw out for them!

All three cats went to the vet for their annual checkups last week. It was a really strange thing to have the vet come out to the car to get them. I miss that interaction with the vet! Bean weighed in at almost 16 lbs, Puck is still tiny, not quite 7 lbs. I was worried that Logan was gaining too much weight, but she had only gained a pound.  She’s up to 13 lbs, and the vet said she looked great. The only possible concern is that Logan has a small hole in a back tooth. The vet wasn’t too worried about it, but did say we should keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t have any trouble eating.

Logan isn’t interested in hunting squirrels. She just waits for the food dish to be refilled.

 

The dragon is still brumating. I wake her up about once a week and give her a bath to make sure she doesn’t get dehydrated. She’s not eating much, but she usually does eat a few bugs when I wake her up. I was curious about the difference between hibernation and brumation so I did a bit of research. Apparently the biggest difference is that a hibernating animal shuts down. They don’t need food or water, they go into a deep sleep. With brumation, it’s a lighter sleep. They don’t need to eat, their systems slow down, but they still need water.

Cali is a bit exhausted today. We took her for a hike yesterday, and then she needed a bath afterwards, tired girl! She’s usually really good off leash, but yesterday she couldn’t help herself and went to greet another dog on the trail. She wasn’t very happy that I kept her on her leash for the rest of the walk. I guess I need to bring some extra treats on our next hike to practice recall with her again. She also needs a haircut, but I hate clipping her in winter. She looks kind of terrible right now, but it isn’t long enough that it is getting matted so I’ll let it go for another couple of weeks.

Last but never least, my friend Hector. Hector thoroughly enjoyed being spoiled for her birthday last week. She has started getting more demanding about asking for treats when we are eating dinner at the table. I don’t mind sharing healthy treats with her, but it is hard when we are eating things that she can’t have. I always try to save some plain, unseasoned veggies for her when I cook. I also always have some almonds nearby. Bananas, apples, and sweet potatoes are her favorites!

A friend of mine that teaches kindergarten has asked me to be a virtual guest in her class to introduce all my animals! I’m so excited. Kindergarten is my favorite age, and we all know how much I love pets! I’m not sure when we are going to chat, but I’m looking forward to it.

So does anyone else have a fridge dedicated to their pets?

Gliders Day 1 – Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo!

We are definitely getting to know each other. I’m trying to balance spending time with them, and giving them some peace to adjust to their new home. It’s hard!

I had them in a towel in my lap for a little while last night. They let me pat them, and they only “crabbed” at me a couple of times. I am going to have to get a video of the crabbing noise. It’s kind of a whiny complaint. It’s amazingly loud for such a small creature.

I left them alone this morning, but took them out this afternoon. They were all sleeping on top of each other in a pouch, so I was able to take the pouch out of the cage with all of them at once.  I brought them up to my bathroom and closed the door to see if they wanted to explore a bit. They crawled in my lap a bit, and one climbed up to my shoulder and ran down my back and back up to the other shoulder! I only kept them out for about 10 minutes.

Two of them spent a little time in the bonding pouch that I carried around for a bit. Apparently sugar gliders are very scent oriented, so it’s important for them to get used to your scent.

I took them out a couple of other times, always for short periods. It’s still hard to tell them apart, but when I have all four together I’m starting to see differences. One has a white face. One is much smaller than the others, and one is bigger.

Oh! names! They are Eenie, Meenie, Miney, and Mo! Mo is the one with the white face. Miney is the tiny one. Haven’t decided which is which with the other two yet.

I have to say they are fascinating little creatures. Unlike any other pet I’ve had, but I’ve never had a marsupial as a pet before! Gliders have opposable thumbs on all four of their little hands. When I hold them, I can feel them holding on with little hands. I’ve watched them pick up treats and hold them in their little hands as they munch. So cute!

The boys are about 4 years old. I got them from a glider rescue. Life span of gliders in captivity is 12-15 years. Their food is really interesting. I’ll write more about it next time.

 

New Friends!

I will definitely be posting more details soon, but couldn’t wait to let everyone know that yesterday, FOUR little Sugar Glider Boys joined our family! We are just barely getting to know each other, so there will be many updates to come. For now, enjoy some pictures!

Product Warning – DreamBone

Happy New Year!

I saw this product all over Amazon before the holidays. Sounded good to me, no rawhide, made with chicken. I should have known better. It’s made in China, and for some reason so many pet treats that come out of China seem to lead to problems.

Over the weekend, a friend of a friend shared a story of their 8 month old puppy who had these treats and ended up needing surgery because they blocked the puppy’s intestinal tract. I searched around online and found many similar stories. This is NOT a safe product.

Cali has had a couple of these, and they didn’t seem to cause her any problems, but I just don’t see a reason to take chances. This bag is headed for my trashcan.

Just a reminder to be careful what you buy for your pets.

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.