Christmas Safety Tips for Pets

With Christmas just a short 2-1/2 weeks away, we ask that you please keep your pets in mind.

Pets do not understand the holidays we celebrate. They do understand our behavior changes, more people coming and going changes in their living areas with new shiny decorations they may see as toys or something really cool to taste. Food left out from candies, sweets and big meals to decorations, packages and wrappings, as well as plants such as poinsettias. These items and more can cause serious harm to your pets.

Remember MOST plants are poisonous to pets.
Here is the number for pet poison control: 800-213-6680

They also have a smartphone app Pet Poison Helpline

Here is a link to their website: http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/

The app is great. I downloaded it today. On Apple's App Store, it costs $1.99. It seems to be worth it. It has a list of items that are poisonous in alphabetical order with an alphabet list on the right side for easy alpha access. You can also do a search by poison. It has instructions on what to do, as well as a "call now" button to the poison center. When you select a poison, it will bring you to a screen with info on it. It will tell you which animals it affects by word & silhouette. It gives symptoms & descriptions. It also provides a photo of the poison. This is helpful when dealing with plants, foods and medications.

Items that your pet may come into contact with that can cause health concerns for pets:

Turkey bones

Candy

Tinsel

Garland

Glass ornaments

Candles

Ribbons

Poinsettia

Mistletoe

Christmas trees

Snow globes

ALL electrical decorations

Opening/closing doors

much, much more…

Remember, your guests are NOT responsible for YOUR pets!

Pets should be kept in a closed off, quiet room far from the activity for peace and safety. If pets are allowed to mingle with guests, be sure someone is in charge of keeping all doors that lead to the outdoors closed. Fearful pets will run outside. Make sure pets have ID tags in case the worse case scenario happens.

Remind your guests NOT to feed your pets. Guests may not know pets can not have certain foods or maybe a pet is on a specific diet due to health such as diabetes. They may not know which foods are poisonous. best to just ask them not to feed the pets. At the very least, it creates bad manners in the pets and promotes begging.

Cats have been known to try to climb Christmas trees and topple them. Trees with glass ornaments can cause potential damage by pets walking on or swallowing broken pieces. Dogs, and some cats that still spray, may urinate on real trees. With electrical lights on trees, this can cause a serious electrical concern. Cats are attracted to the sparkling allure of tinsel & garland. They will try to chew on or eat them causing obstruction. Like string, tinsel can cause many hazards in the gastrointestinal tract. Pets may also try to drink the water for a real Christmas tree, as well as chew on or eat the needles which can puncture their insides. If you opt for a real tree, be sure the area around the tree is kept clean from fallen needles.

Cats sometimes do not make distinction between potted plants and litter boxes. Many plants, such as Poinsettia, Holly & Mistletoe, are poisonous to pets. Please keep these plants out of the reach of pets.

A little known fact is snow globes oftentimes contain antifreeze, which is deadly to pets.

Candles, obviously, should not be left unattended when pets are around. Cats have been known to curiously knock down burning candles. Dogs can easily brush against a table knocking down burning candles either by rattling the furniture or with a wagging tail.

If you are going to be away, please remember to make plans for your pets. If you are taking them with you, make sure your pet will be welcome and observe house rules & etiquette of your host. You and your pet are their guest. Clean up after your pet & keep your pet under control. Do not allow your pet to run through their home or be destructive. Be prepared to clean the backyard of potty places. If you leave your pets at home for a short amount of time, a couple hours, be sure they have fresh water and cannot be injured or become ill feasting on your decorations or food. If you leave your pets for an extended amount of time, many hours or days, be prepared to have a sitter over, family/friend check on them or board them. In any case, make sure professionals (boarding places & sitters) are licensed and bonded for safety and insurance purposes. Make sure you leave explicit instructions with anyone who is caring for your pet. If the pet is on medication, has certain dietary concerns, etc., be sure those caring for your pet are fully aware of all your concerns and put it in writing. Go over it with them. Be sure to provide medications, if necessary.

And, of course, remember pets are NOT gifts. If you are considering giving a pet as a gift, be sure the recipient wants a pet and is capable of caring for the pet. Speak with the recipient & include them in the adoption process. Gift certificates fro pets or pet supplies is a better find under the tree than an unexpected box full of a live, breathing, furry pet.

Obviously, there is so much more to consider, but these are just some pointers and reminders.

Keep your pets in mind this Christmas season; so, everyone on 2 legs and 4 can enjoy this happy, joyful season.

Please share with your family & friends.

Special Thanks to Lyn

I have updated my blog! Whew!

Stayed up 'til all hours of the night fiddlin' with this and that. I can't believe what just a little tinkering can do.

I hadn't fiddled with it in a long time because I wasn't sure of all the changes blogger had made, but now that I have... boy, I could stay up all night doing this! OK, I am getting very tired though; so, I am going to have to call it a night... well, maybe a morning. It is 4:30am.

I just want to thank Lyn Yildi who talked me through some things earlier this afternoon... um... now, yesterday afternoon. Regardless, a special thanks to Lyn, your a sweetheart!

You can shop her store on Addoway by clicking here Turkish Market USA

West Paw Designs® Chew Toy Test

There has been a lot of talk lately about bringing jobs back “home” to the United States. Jobs have been lost for many reasons recently. Jobs have been lost for many reasons over the last couple decades to foreign countries. Jobs gone overseas... China, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, etc. Everywhere you look products sold in many stores have labels which state “Made in ____”. You fill in the blank. People want manufacturing brought back to the United States. People want to buy products that have labels which state “Made in the USA” or “Made in America”.

How many people remember when Sam Walton bragged he stocked his store with American made products. Now, one is hard pressed to find an item that is American made in the store that bears his name. In fact, the store is now known for its unAmerican cheap imported products. Sad. I’m sure Sam would not be happy about that.

Well, Paws4Critters Pet Stuff is dedicated to bringing American made pet products to pet lovers.

Recently, I ordered some American made chew toys from one of our suppliers, West Paw Designs® , for some of my own dogs. I can happily report the dog that loves to chew, Shasta, loves the new toys! She plays with them daily. When they have been picked up, she will hunt for them and steal them from wherever they have been placed. I really need to teach her to stay off the counters! I also tested the stuffable toys, the Tux® and the Twiz®. I stuffed each one with treats & used squeeze cheese to top them off. You can use peanut butter, too. Be sure if your dog has special dietary requirements to only stuff toys with what your dog can have. If you are not sure, please consult your vet.

West Paw Designs®  Zogoflex® toys are:

• “guaranteed to last”
• 100% recyclable
• non-toxic
• float
• dishwasher safe

They are good for chewing, bouncing & floating in the pool. Some are even great for stuffing and tug-o-war.

Some of the Zogoflex®  toys I ordered and tested from West Paw Designs® are:

• Hurley® (bone shaped - can be fetched or just chewed on and all around great fun)
• Tux® (stuffable & chewed on and all around great fun)
• Jive® (ball - can be fetched and bounced and all around great fun)
• Twiz® (stuffable & chewed on, fetched and all around great fun)
• Bumi® (the “u” is a long “u” as in Boomerang. it’s “s” shaped and can be thrown like a frisbee or used as a tug toy and all around great fun)

Here are a couple pics of Shasta playing with...

West Paw Designs® Hurley®

West Paw Designs® Tux®

Here’s a video of Shasta playing with the West Paw Designs® Bumi®

Here's a video of Shasta fetching the West Paw Designs® Jive® Ball 

My hope is to help this great American company, which manufactures American made pet products in Bozeman, Montana with American workers, get their products out to American pet lovers who want to buy American, who don’t want to worry about where their pet products are made or what they are made with.

West Paw Designs®  also offers soft, stuffed pet toys for dogs & cats, pet bedding, clothing and more. They use recyclable materials and recycled/reclaimed materials. Please browse Paws4Critters Pet Stuff for great West Paw Designs®  pet stuff. If previous link does not work, please visit www.addoway.com/paws4critters or www.paws4critters.com

Please remember...

Support your neighbors... support your country... bring jobs back to America... keep jobs in America... BUY AMERICAN!

Thanks for reading, browsing, shopping!

Please feel free to comment.

All "likes", "tweets", "shares", etc. are most appreciated!

Robyn

Paws4Critters Pet Stuff

Shasta Myst is on Facebook!

Hi, I'm Shasta. My full name is Shasta Myst. I told Robyn, she's the one who cares fur me, I wanted to be on facebook; so, my fwiends who like to read m'blog didn't have to wait 'til I wrote another one. I'm so glad she agreed to start me my own page. Now I can post pics of me an' m'fwiends.

I tried to git the name Shasta on Facebook, but it wuz no longer there. Sooo, I went wif my full name, Shasta Myst. I'm named for the Shasta mountains and cuz I got a mist of a creamy color to my whiteness, Myst was added.

Robyn wuz my furst fan... not just in real life, but on Facebook, too! Now, I got a few fans. If you want to follow the world famous woof, Shasta Myst, come on over to www.facebook.com/ShastaMyst.

Hopin' to see y'all there. Got lotsa pics posted of me an' my fwiends and even a story of me going to PetSmart recently.

If ya like my page and you know someone else who also might like it, please spread the word... or bark, whine, whimper... or however you git your message across!

Thanks fur all the likes!
Shasta

A Critter Christmas by Shasta

Christmas started just like any other day. I had no idea what wuz gonna happen. I knew everyone stayed up late wrapping toys in paper. I don’t know why cuz we wuz just gonna rip’em open in a few hours.

After breakfast, Robyn went out and fed d’feral cats & Buck, d’bunny wabbit. When she came back in, she went into d’bathroom t’get d’wrapped packages of toys… like we didn’t know what wuz in’em.

Out she came wif these packages. I saw Hershey get excited; so, I started t’get excited. Robyn had 5 packages in her arms and d’video camera in her hand. She has this thing wif cameras… weird!

Robyn placed all d’packages on one of d’tables in d’living room beside d’sofa. No not d’table I tore into on Christmas Eve when they went t’Christmas Eve Mass. She has that on video too ya’know. I can’t believe it. She posted that t’YouTube and her Facebook page. I do hope other doggies get t’see it. Hee hee! Psst… if you got a doggie, let’em watch it. It’s about 4 minutes long, but it’s non stop action… guaranteed!

So, anywoof, after Robyn placed d’packages on d’table, she would pick one up and call out our names. One by one. I wuz not furst. I don’t know why I wuz not furst. I am d’baby; I shoulda been furst. No, Hershey wuz furst. Pro’bly cuz he’s oldest.

Hershey took his present and laid down on d’floor wif it. He started t’tear into d’paper. I watched t’see what he did; so, I’d know what t’do when it wuz my turn. Robyn went through all 5 of us doggies, and we all went to a spot on d’floor and started ripping into our presents. Well, Tiffany & Cody didn’t. They are a little more nervous than the rest of us. Robyn had t’open Tiffany’s and give her d’toys. Cody had t’have his present opened fur him too. I needed no help wif mine. I know exactly how t’tear into things.

Once d’presents were open, oh boy, did we have fun. I got 2 hedgehog toys. One made a funny pig like noise and a squeak! It’s head even rattled. It wuz great! The other one had 12 squeakers in it! WOW! I like squeakers. Squeak… squeak… squeak… hee hee

Hershey got one wif 12 squeakers, too. Robyn wanted to see how long it took fur him to get all d’squeakers out… 15 minutes later he had about half of’em out. He sniffs’em out and bites’em out. He’s good. I can learn sooo much from him. He’s m’hero. He also got a Bumble. A Bumble is an abom’nable snowman from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Bumble’s bounce and so do Hersheys; so, Robyn got’em a stuffed Bumble. He had d’squeaker in that out early on, too! I helped t’tear up d’Bumble afterwards. We tore all d’arms an’legs off. Now d’cats play wif d’arms an’legs. We had so much fun!

Chico got a couple of tiny little sock monkeys. He played wif’em, flipped’em around and had a good ol’time. He looked more like a puppy playing than a 13 year old Chihuahua!

Cody wuz nervous. He didn’t play too much right away, but after a while, he started to figure out what to do. See, it wuzn’t just my furst Christmas; it wuz pro’bly Cody’s, too, cuz he wuz stray.

Tiffany just likes to lay wif her toys. She’s a very nervous doggie, too, and she never learned how to play wif toys when she wuz a pup.

After all d’toys wuz played wif, it started t’get onto being suppertime. Robyn made lots of great smelling stuff. After they ate, we got t’have some. Italian Pot Roast… have I mentioned how I really like beef? I wish they had sum cows.

Oh, We got to see cows on New Years Day. We went fur a ride. I didn’t see cows; all I could see is Italian Pot Roast walkin’ around! It wuz makin’ me hungry.

OK, back t’Christmas… d’cats got sum inneresting stuff. They got a crinkle sack. They were crawling inside it an’rubbin’ all over it like they wuz on drugs. Robyn says d’cat toy people put catnip in everything; she says it’s like a drug to d’kitties. They sure did act weird! I tried t’help’em play wif their toys, but Robyn kept telling me “no” and taking’em away. Them cat toys had feathers attached to’em even. That was very inneresting.

Oh, speaking of feathers… I started this year off with catching me a bird! Robyn wuz not happy ‘bout that. She made me drop it. It was already dead; what dif’rence did it make? She took it an’buried it in d’St Francis Pet Cemetery out back. Don’t know why; I coulda buried it… in me. People are strange critters!

Well, I think my furst Christmas was great! I had lotsa fun, and I didn’t get any coal like Robyn said I wuz gonna get! I think she wuz bluffin’.

Now, I can’t wait fur snow! Robyn says they usually get it once a season. I don’t know what they’re seasoning, but I just wanna see lotsa snow. We got a dusting of snow in December, but it wuz practically nuffin. I wanna see lotsa snow. Robyn hates snow. I think it’d be fun. Robyn says if it snows, she’s gonna have to take pictures. Always wif d’camera! She has definitely got a problem, an’ she thinks I got a problem just cause I tore up d’stupid ‘polstered table.

Here's sum more videos of sum of us doggies an' sum of d'kitties playin' wif our Christmas presents. Sum of'em are reeeeal short; so, don't blink!

 

 Hershey with his Bumble

Cody with his toys

Shasta with one of her Hedgehog toys

It's a Cat House Christmas

It's still a Cat House Christmas

Jake in a Sack

And that's how The Critter Gang celebrated Christmas!