ClayPaws® Connection

Pet Memorial Day is Around the Corner

September is almost upon us! National Pet Memorial Day is on September 14! I thought I would alert you to this ahead of time so you can plan something to memorialize your pets who have died.

What ideas do you have to memorialize pets? I have lost several pets over the years (Dogs: Beau-Beau, Little One. Cats: Lissy, Bear, Zen, Melvin and numerous hamsters too!) I have ClayPaws® prints for Lissy and Bear. But my other pets passed away before I knew about ClayPaws® kits! (From here on out, I will get prints of my pets. It is a wonderful memory!)

I think, for me, on Pet Memorial Day, I will pull out photo albums and fondly remember my pets. Beau was my first pet. He was a little black poodle. He was not too smart, but he loved me. I had him for most of my childhood (from age 2 until I was 13). Little One was my dad's dog. He rescued her from a puppy mill operation. She was smart, but didn't know how to interact with humans, and was so scared. She learned to play with me though. She got cancer, and we had to euthanize her.

I could go on, but I'd like to hear some of your pet memories! Leave a comment telling us about one (or more) of your pets. Also, if you plan to celebrate the memorial day, how will you do it?

Social Networking for/with pets?

Social networking sites are the place to be hooked in these days. MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Biznik, Twitter... and the list goes on. (Yes, I am a member of all of them I mentioned even! Add me to your network if you are too!)

But, have you heard about social networking for your pets? I hadn't until just recently. There are a number of Internet sites popping up (I actually typed pupping up first... funny slip!) that are either FOR your animals, or for you to network with other pet people.

Doggyspace is the first one I heard of. On the homepage it says: "Doggyspace is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who love dogs. People use Doggyspace to keep up with friends, upload funny dog videos, and to give their dogs their own cyber place."

I haven't joined this one to see what it is about since I don't have dogs at this time. (I love them, but don't own them!) Have any of you dog-loving readers joined Doggyspace? Is it something you would consider?

Another site that I have come across is called PETPeopleMeet. This site isn't about the pets as much as it is about dating another pet lover. It is a dating site where you can specifically meet other pet lovers. In all honesty, I think this is a great idea. I don't know about this site personally since I'm engaged to be married already! But, I did meet my fiance online through another dating service. It was important to me that whoever I met be OK with cats. I had dated one guy that didn't like my cats, and that just didn't work out! So... a screening site where you know instantly that someone will like your pet, that is a good concept I think. Would you try this out if you were looking to meet another pet lover?

There are loads of other pet-related community sites out there. I belong to one called ZooToo.com. Do you belong to pet sites? Others that I didn't mention? What do you think of this new way of connecting online with other pet lovers?

Dog Days of Summer

It is full-on summer here in Colorado at World by the Tail headquarters. We are hitting the high 90s in temperatures every day. For us, that means two things.

First - we worry about pets in the heat. Fort Collins, and Colorado, is a very dog-friendly place! People love to take their pets along with them, but right now, that is NOT safe. Because of the high temperatures outside, inside cars the temperatures skyrocket. This is dangerous, and can be fatal very quickly for pets. We would love to remind you out there of this danger. Losing a pet because of summer heat would be awful! We don't want you to have to deal with that loss! Keep your pets home, in a cool environment until the temperatures come back down to safe levels! If your pet is outside all the time, make sure they have access to water and a shady place.

Also - if you do see a pet in a hot car, don't hesitate to call the authorities. You might save a pet's life!

The other piece of summer that is difficult for us at World by the Tail, is also to do with the high temperatures. ClayPaws® kits are susceptible to heat! If they sit in heat for too long, the clay will be affected! So - two points on this one... Be sure that you are storing your ClayPaws® kits for your clinic in a cool, dry place. Also, know that our shipping time could take a little bit longer than normal. We do our best to ship them to you so that they don't have to sit on trucks, to avoid them sitting in the heat. We will delay your shipping over weekends and ship them on Mondays if that is the best way! This will help avoid problems with your kits! Call us on Friday or Monday to get your kits shipped out early in the week!

National Take Your Dog to Work Day

Tomorrow, Friday, June 20, is National Take Your Dog to Work Day!!

It is cases like this that I find myself wishing I had a dog!! My cats would just NOT cooperate in coming to work with me! Having a dog would be a lot of fun in that I could drag him or her around with me! (And the dog would like enjoy being "dragged around"!)

Working where I do, a dog could accompany me to work IF it was well-behaved! We had a little office mascot who came to work with my co-worker every day for a long time. He doesn't come anymore and we miss his doggy presence in the office. (That's Remi on the left!) Last week, one of our owners brought her cockapoo, Beau, with her! It was really nice to have him here!

Does your work allow pets in the workplace? Will you bring your dog along tomorrow? I'd love to hear about your experiences if you do! (Or pictures even!!)

What kind of mutt do you have?

I love mutts! If I ever have a dog again, it will likely be a mutt! (Probably a rescued one at that!)

Have you ever wondered what kind of dog you really have? Sometimes it is easy to tell that you have certain breeds mixed in. Sometimes, it's not so easy!

I read recently in an email from PetPlace.com that there is now a way to find out what kind of dog your mutt really is! There is a new DNA test for your dog! It is apparently an easy test to do - just swab your dog's cheek and mail in the test. 6 weeks later you can know what mix of do you have!

You can learn more about these tests at www.dog-dna.com. If you do this test on your dog - let us know what you find out! Did your dog turn out to be a completely different mix than you thought? Or were you right on? Does it matter to you if you know or is it OK for it to remain a mystery? 

Cats Home Alone

I have five cats. (Yes, I might be that "crazy cat lady"!) When I saw these ideas, I thought I'd share them with you. Whether you have cats or dogs, they might be of interest!

First, I recently read about the PetCam from Panasonic. This is a camera that you set up in your home, and then you can monitor what your pets are up to while you're away. You can even access your camera from your cell phone! I'm tempted to set one up at home to see if our five crazies sleep all day, or if they are running around and being nuts!

Along these lines, I recently read an article from PetPlace.com about leaving your cats at home alone and how they may actually get bored! I never thought about this! Our cats are home all day every day by themselves. It does seem like they probably sleep a fair bit, but I never thought about them getting bored.

In the article, there are some great, fun suggestions for ways to provide some entertainment while you're away! (I'm sure some of these would work for dogs too!) We have a few of these, and I'm going to try out a few more. We have a great "cat tree" - and all of our felines like it. It is three levels and has many places to scratch. It was our first big "furniture" purchase after moving into our home a couple of years ago.

Another idea that I like is setting up a bird feeder outside a window where your cats can watch. They can't get to it, but watching provides some stimulation!

What do you do to keep your cats busy while you're away? Would you ever set up a PetCam to see what they really do?!

Soothing Sounds

Now, I know from personal experience that music can have a calming effect on me. But, did you know that it has a similar effect on our pets?

While out and about, browsing on the Internet, I came across an article from January on MSNBC. "Pets enjoy the healing power of music". In this article, the author talks to a harpist who is playing specifically for animals. She says, "The structure of the harp is considered to be the most healing instruments next to human voice." She has produced a CD of music for ill pets as well. She also conducted a study in Florida where she said that her music helped to lower heart rates and respiration.

Well, even before reading this article, I knew that music was a good thing for calming pets! We've tried it with our own pets here at World by the Tail! I hadn't heard of this particular harpist, but we carry a number of CDs specifically made for pets and their owners! Check it out! Maybe there is one that will help you and your pet!

If music helps humans relax, I truly believe it will help pets too! Maybe part of the factor is pets will relax if they know their humans are relaxed!