Categories
Animals

National Pet Dental Month

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February is National Pet Dental Month. I spent a good amount of time researching and writing a pretty awesome article for work about some important things that everyone needs to know about pet dental health. I would like to share some things about your pet’s teeth that I think are important.

If you want your dog or cat to live a long, healthy, and happy life you must be aware of and address their dental health. Most pets over the age of three suffer from painful and inflamed gums due to infection. Infection under the gumline can spread to the liver, kidneys, and heart. Pets mouths should not smell like they just got done eating all the poop out of the litter box or something worse. Daily teeth brushing is freaking awesome for your pet and it can end up saving you A LOT of money.

Not all people can brush their pet’s teeth, I totally get that. Ask your veterinarian about other options like oral rinses, special foods, and treats. Not all treats, especially dental health related ones, are created equal. Animal bones can can splinter and cause tears in the stomach or intestines and possibly cause intestinal blockages. I’m not even going to go into why I think non-anesthetic dentals suck (and are often illegal) because there are so many reasons. Finally, I am not a veterinarian and will not and cannot offer medical advice for your pet.

Anywho, happy National Pet Dental Month! I hope you found this helpful or interesting. Some days I get too busy or forget to brush my dog’s teeth. I can’t brush my cats’ teeth, they try to shred my face. My goal for this month is to not miss one day of brushing… starting tomorrow. Enjoy this picture of Loki loving on his poultry flavored toothpaste.

Categories
Animals Life

Sucky Bowl

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Super Bowl XLVIII was the most unexciting Super Bowl I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I’m a San Diego Charger fan for better or for worse, but I was quite happy to see the Seahawks and the Broncos in the Super Bowl this year instead of the Patriots and so and so or the Ravens and so and so. I didn’t care too much about who won but I wanted to see a good game. I imagine that most people just want to watch a good game, even if their team isn’t playing.

The most intriguing thing about Super Bowl Sunday this year was when I watched a Great Pyrenees puppy inadvertently kick a ball into the end zone during Puppy Bowl X after tripping over it. This was the first “kicked” field goal in Puppy Bowl history. Being the proud and vain dog owner that I am, I posted this picture of my dogs on Instagram with the puppy bowl hash-tags, to have a chance of having them be featured on air. I immediately regretted posting the picture because I know I could’ve gotten a much better one, with the cats and maybe a prop in the picture too. I asked Garrick if I could post a better one on his Instagram so I could double our chances, but he said, “No” and “Why don’t you post another one on your Instagram?” Then I said, “No (frowny face), that would be weird.”

Categories
Animals Cooking

Super Bowl Dog Treats

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It’s Super Bowl Sunday! This year I wanted to do something for the dogs. Every once in a while I will bake treats or cake for them, but I wanted to keep it as simple as possible today. I brought home a can of wet food; a low-fat food that would be easy on their stomachs. Also, the wet food needs to be all the same consistency and somewhat dense.

I formed the food into small football shapes and baked them at 350 degrees for one hour. In the meantime, I mixed together one and a half tablespoons of non-fat yogurt and all-natural peanut butter with no added sugar or salt. I also added ¼ of a teaspoon of agave syrup (although honey would work just fine) and enough water to get the mixture to the frosting consistency I wanted. I spooned the frosting into a sandwich bag and cut a very small piece off of one corner to create a piping bag. I use this frosting on the cakes and treats I make for them, the dogs absolutely love it!

Categories
Animals

Ewwww lolcatz

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I almost peed my pants at work today because of a slideshow screen saver. I work at a veterinary hospital and we are paperless (or “paper light” if you will), and we have about 25 computers in the hospital. One computer in a treatment center just got replaced by another one for whatever reason. I was giving an animal fluids under the skin and noticed the slideshow screensaver directly in front of me. The new computer had a default setting to play “My Pictures” from the work server on a slide show as its screen saver.

The pictures I saw were 60% adorable dog or cat and 40% disgusting infection, growth, or internal organ etc. I could not stop laughing at the absurdity of it all. One moment I’m looking at a cute puppy and the next I’m looking at an enlarged spleen. I can’t post most of the gross pictures I saw because I do not want to seriously disturb anyone. However, to give you a little taste, here’s part of an x-ray, a weirdo growth, and a cute puppy from the images I saw. My baby, Mr. Kitty, the Siamese mix with his butt in your face, is an added bonus… enjoy!