Canuck PetAll about Canadian Pets

I used to do the rescues from Animal Control for a shelter, it is heart breaking having to choose, having to leave so many behind and knowing you can only help so many. What hurts most is that with our local animal control that has rescues ‘pulling’ from it – they don’t have an adoption centre so you know exactly what happens to those little ones left behind.

I have spoken to friends before about my experiences at Animal Control (and don’t get me wrong, the staff there do all they can with limited resources and limited rescue groups or shelters that have space to rescue from them) but not one of them really got it until one came with me one day. She cried that night and she didn’t sleep but she now volunteers for a rescue too.

Beth, from House of the Discarded, recently posted a video from her latest rescue. I don’t know how she does it every day, the occasional time I went was enough for me. But Beth’s video gives you a flavour of just how overwhelming it is there and why people need to take responsibility for their pets and spay and neuter them.

This just shows one of the rooms at Animal Control, there are many more, they are lined up in the hallways, out in the garage – you get the picture

Beth is always in need of foster homes in the GTA as well as adopters if you want to help!

I have been trying to find a food that all my cats like, will eat (some food they just like to play with) and do well on. Between my little princess who is just a fussy eater when it comes to catfood, and nervous about eating in general to another who throws up many foods, this is not an easy task. I have a senior and a growing 1 year old, an overweight and an underweight but heaven help me if someone gets a different food than another ones does.

Rather than spend a fortune buying and returning bags of food they will hate, I contacted the companies of the foods I was interested in and asked them for samples, which they were all happy to provide. Yesterday I came home from meeting the SmartCanuck ladies to find a ripped open package from Holistic Blend Pet Foods including several samples of their foods as well as a cute save my pets in case of fire sign – we have one here and I was wondering where to get a new one as we are planning on moving so YAY. Anyway, back on track, the older cats have been fed Holistic Blend before, but we stopped when dealing with diabetes and obesity issues with another cat, Scully, who has now passed. So I was hoping they would not have changed the formula much and the newer cats would like it (which they did, another YAY). But one of them likes the new Grain Free All Life Stages so much he decided that I was taking too long to get home and feed it to them that he would help himself. (I say he because chances are it was Quincy, but my princess would never, ever rip apart mail – it is just so un-princess-like and the others are boys so…). He had left some in the little packet so I gave some to the others as treats and they really seem to like it.

Then today, a second package came in from WellPet – this time nicely secured in a bubble envelope where it wasn’t so easy for the brat to open it – but my thoughts on last night’s package thief was confirmed. I opened the package and looked at the contents, leaving it on the table beside the recliner. It should be safe there, they like to sit on the back of the recliner but not the seat of it. Well I was wrong, because I got out of the shower to this:

Once again, he had chosen the Grain Free Formula (in this case, this is called CORE) and he wasn’t giving this one up for the world, he actually growled at me for trying to take it. I swear he thinks he is a dog.

I sent the picture into WellPet in response to the email they sent me saying they would send me samples, I am sure it is nice to get something back rather than the usual complaints customer service have to deal.

They also sent me samples of Indoor Health (yellow bag) and Complete Health (blue bag) which the cats all seem to like but not enough to open the bags themselves this time.

Visit the links for more information on each of the foods (all high quality cat foods that are healthier for your pet than supermarket brands, although usually only sold in pet food stores)

Sweeps4Bloggers is hosting a Loving Pets Bella Bowl giveaway.

Bella Bowls are beautiful! They’re made of stainless steel and have a poly-resin coating on the outside. Each bowl has a cute paw print and bone design on the outside and comes in 10 different colors to match your decor. The different colors also help keep things straight when you have multiple pets with different dietary needs. There are several sizes available and these are the color choices:

Little Miss Autumn would love to win a Paparazzi Pink bowl to counter the blue bowls the boys have (not that you can see the outside of theirs in the raised feeder but, hey, she knows they are blue!

Enter here to win (check out the extra ways to earn bonus entries)

I recently read a reply on a post by House of the Discarded that surprised me. We read a lot of the coverage on Toronto’s new garbage laws as the legislation was debated by City Council but the comment was something I had not thought of (perhaps because we don’t have limits here so I don’t ’see’ the amount of litter we go through – just the hole it burns in my wallet).

Beth, the writer of the blog, was in search of a foster home for a litter of six kittens at a local high kill shelter, and a reply came into her blog that someone was willing to foster, but couldn’t as they were already over their one bag limit of garbage. I don’t know the fate of those kittens, they were not mentioned in subsequent updates so I don’t want to ask (another post I think) .

We were all so caught up in the dumping aspect of the legislation that I didn’t even think about the impact this could have on rescue based groups (most shelters have commercial pickup), despite being involved in animal rescue and on many rescue lists. I hadn’t seen it mentioned but I imagine that it is affecting more than just the person who replied to the post.

Hopefully, someone will supply tags for the rescues to keep doing the great work they do

I have no idea where I bought this, I bought it a while ago and after using it, lost it and could not find it anywhere. One of my cats is not great at grooming himself, and despite regular grooming, often gets matted fur in some areas. This has been a real problem over the last few months since he has taken a real disliking to grooming but likes baths so he tends to cement in the matted fur playing in water.

I have tried numerous dematting tools on him but none worked as well as the tool I knew I had somewhere at home (shown on the right on the image here)

It is hard to see from the image, but these dematting rakes are not straight edged like many, but curve under making it easier to get the matted fur and giving you a small area between the skin and the matted fur to hold as you work the rake through the matted fur.

This obviously hurts him less than many of the other tools we have tried with him, we can use it for a good 15 minutes before he starts hissing at us, with many of the tools, he would hiss almost as soon as we touched him with it.  After two 10-15 minute sessions, we have dematted one whole side with no real pulling leaving bald spots as happened with another brush and he seems much happier minus the matted fur and enjoyed his furminator grooming this afternoon.  Hopefully now we found the brush again (and I blogged it so I can remember who made it this time, walking into a pet store and saying it had a nice soft handle and a curved blade and is blue and grey did not find me my favourite tool) we can keep up on the matts before they get bad again.

These comfortable grip, extremely durable grooming tools are perfect for in-home and/or professional use. Softly cushioned non-slip handles provide cushion and control while absorbing pressure and reducing fatigue. These tools have been carefully designed to minimize effort and maximize efficiency. The durable ABS plastic reduces breakage. All ComfyCare Products are packaged for resale. Razor sharp, serrated blades tackle unmanageable mats and tough tangles quickly and efficiently while maintaining coat length. Non-slip handle for more comfortable grip. Allows greater control for safe, effective mat removal with minimal effort.

Edit: now I know the brush name, it is sold at Ren’s Pet Depot for less than $9