Canuck PetAll about Canadian Pets

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)

A microchip and grain of rice

As Spring approaches and more animals will be outside, have you microchipped your animal?

Microchips may seem expensive at first glance, but in reality, they are close to the fine you pay if animal control picks up your animal without identification, and the number of cats and dogs that come into shelters where you can tell they have worn a collar but do not have it on when they arrive at the shelter is high.

There are six main microchip companies for the US and Canada, and many pet insurance companies offer a discount to people who have microchipped pets.

24PetWatch™ 866-597-2424 www.24petwatch.com
AKC® CAR 800-252-7894 www.akccar.org
AVID® 800-336-2843
Banfield® 877-LOST-PET
HomeAgain® 888-HOME-AGAIN www.homeagain.com
ResQ™ 877-PET-LINK www.petlink.net

Each company has a different price and some have maintenance fees for the database information, so look into which one suits your needs before getting a microchip implanted.

A microchip is no bigger than a grain of rice, and veterinarians can implant the chips into all kinds of pets — from reptiles and birds to cats and dogs. The device carries a number, and this number is plugged into a database that includes the name and contact information of a pet’s owner.  Only someone with a microchip scanner can obtain the number, your details are not stored on the actual microchip and you can choose to have the microchip company call you if your pet is found rather than release your information to the finders.  A microchip is not a GPS, it relies on someone scanning the animal, which all shelters do when new animals come in.

I am sure you have seen the cartoons and email forwards about how to pill a cat, amusing but sometimes not that far off.

Greenies Pill Pockets have been a lifesaver for me, both at home and at the shelter.  A pill gun helps but why bother when they will happily take a ‘treat’from you, ensuring that they take their pill with some food.

I always try the pill in a little wet food first, a small amount of butter etc but at the shelter, Pill Pockets are cleaner and help stop the spread of disease that could be caused by using a spoon of butter or handling something that needs to be broken up into pieces.

You just pop the pill inside the treat and pinch it closed, leaving a happy cat and you not becoming one of those people in the forwards, covered in blood from trying to pill your cat.  They also come in dog sizes for bigger pills.

With male cats, and the increased risk of UTIs, the amount of water my boys drink is important to me – but so is keeping them out of the shower, tub, sinks and toilet (ick)

We have tried most of the fountains now and each cat has their favourite so its hard to recommend one over the other, but here are the basics on our views (both the cats and mine) on each of the major ones

The CatIt is my favourite, while a little harder to clean than some, I found it lasted longer and was quieter and every cat I have brought into the house will use this one in comparison to some of the others where there is a love hate relationship.

It does have space around it for several of the cats to drink at the same time, although we bought a dog one the second time since it was bigger and they could all use it together (everyone knows that cats have to do what the other one is doing).

The filters are inexpensive and easy to clean and the whole thing screws apart for disinfecting / cleaning.

Hagen’s claims:

· Re-circulating flow - Eliminates stagnant water
· Large surface area adds more oxygen (O₂) to water – Beneficial to pet’s health
· Purifying filter - Cleans water
· Greater water capacity (100 fl oz / 3 L) – No more daily refilling
· Whisper quiet

The Petmate FreshFlow was loved by my cats however, I have bought three and every one of them were noisier than other fountains and leaked on my floor.

The leaking seems to come from under the unit although it appears to be moulded plastic with no areas to leak.

However, they do love the design, I guess it reminds them of drinking out of the toilet or something.

Petmate’s claims:

Pets love fresh flowing water! Ultra-quiet purifying pet fountain for multiple cat households or dogs. Charcoal filter cleans the water. Provides naturally cool and oxygenated water. Features include a replaceable filter and a reservoir that adds water automatically. Available in 3 sizes. Multiple colors available in medium.

Drinkwell Platinum (the regular version just seemed to small and cheap looking so have never tried it)

This is the one that my cats seem to have the biggest love hate relationship with, two of them were just terrified of it and wouldnt come anywhere near it.

It has adjustable flow controls so you can allow a faster or slower flow but as it falls it is noisier than the other fountains.

I think it does mimic more closely the type of drinking they are looking for, drinking from taps etc but it is much harder to clean coming apart im several pieces.

For Drinkwell’s claims see this link

A little early but I like to have it in my diary so I dont miss it.  The All About Pets Show is held at the International Centre on Easter weekend.  Admission is only $12 (and there are money off coupons available on their website) with discounts for seniors, under 16s (children under 5 are free) and a family pass available to save you money.

The $10 my ticket costs is easily made up in all the freebies I received, and the shelter did pretty well out of all the foods I was given to sample, mostly 3-4lb bags, not sample sizes.

There is also a Canadian Cat Association Cat Show, where you can see lots of purebred cats, speak to their owners and breeders if you are thinking of adopting a cat of that breed as well as being attended by many dog breeders and shelters / rescue groups for various animals and breeds so there are always lots of animals to see.  The flyball competition is always amazing to watch too.

Some of my favourite things to watch:

• The Search & Rescue Dog Demo
• The Grooming Stage, especially the massage demostrations
• Ask a trainer – get free advice from trainers and animal communicators