Missing Green Gloves

Rusty:  I have a short story for you.  A true story.

Weeks ago, Jan lost the green gloves she likes to use to "brusth" us because we like the massage and it's less work for her than brushing us.  They were here.  She could very distinctly remember the last place she saw them.  It was in a tray on her desk.   In her mind's eye, she could see one of those green gloves sticking out from under some papers.  The image was as clear as glass.

She checked every container of any kind.  Took everything out of each.  She went through our storage containers on the porch.  Several times!  She crawled under the desk, checked the closet, moved furniture, even looked in the fridge. They were here.  But where?

After about three weeks she gave up looking.  She must have moved them and just couldn't remember where she put those green gloves.  They had to show up eventually - she hoped.

Now they were not just any green gloves.  They are not a pair.  They are actually two separate right-hand gloves.  She'd just turn the one on her left hand around so she could "brush" us with both hands.

Then one day a couple of weeks ago, she moved something on the shelves beside the cat tower.  And there were her green gloves.

However, she had one minor detail wrong

Yes, these are her green gloves.


Oh, and I just gotta tell you those new dog safety collars work.  hehe

Yesterday Jan dug out the winter coats for the older dogs Merci and Buddy.   She put Merci's new harness on her and tried to snap on the leash through the small hole.  It didn't reach.  So she reached inside the coat, grabbed Merci's collar and attached the leash to the D ring.

They were quite a way up the road when Marcus yanked hard on the leash and Jan pulled him back.  But something didn't feel right.  She turned and there was Merci some distance back sniffing in the grass.  She looked down and the leash was still attached  to the collar.  Merci's hearing is bad so she just kept strolling and sniffing.  Jan walked back and tried to snap the collar back on.  That's when she realized which collar Merci was wearing and it had TWO D-rings. 

Jan has no idea how far they walked with Merci wandering on her own, but she figures it was a good distance, most likely from when Marcus suddenly tripped Jan and almost sent her sprawling.  So, you can tell your moms the safety collar does work.

Our New Safety Collars

We hope all who are eligible have already voted or will vote today. 

Merci:  If you are familiar with our overly hyper Marcus, he thinks play is a whirlwind activity.  I don't see or hear too well any more, so it's scary when Marcus suddenly screeches in my face and grabs me by the collar.  Jan and I are glad to know there is a KeepSafer® Petsafe Breakaway Safety Collar available to protect me.

Buddy:  The safety buckle is to the left above.  It's used to buckle the collar around the neck or to remove it. Jan opened the breakaway so you can see how the collar would break apart should Marcus yank too hard on Merci's collar.

Merci:  Most collar accidents happen when dogs are playing - even if only one of them is interested.  Did you hear that, Marcus?

Buddy:  Or if Marcus should ever try to jump the pen and get hung up, his collar would breakaway so he wouldn't strangle.    

Marcus:  There they go exaggerating about me again.  I am the sweetest, calmest guy you could meet.  See how quietly I pose in my new collar.  Do I look like I would strangle any dog?  But I could have been strangled when I kept catching my rabies tag on the new stuffed chair and couldn't get loose a while back, although my tag ripped holes in the chair instead.  You can't rip holes if your collar is tangled with something solid.

Buddy:  This is my new collar.  I hope you won't confuse this with an orange jail jumpsuit.  I'm not on the lam.  I'm stylish.

Merci:   A red collar for a red dog. Not that we're the same shade, but red makes me feel cheerful.  I don't look cheerful?  Well, at my age, cheerful might not have the same facial enthusiasm.

Marcus:  Here's a video I put together myself to tell you more about these collars.

Buddy:  You did not put that video together yourself, Marcus!  You are such a fibber.

Marcus:  I am not a fibber.  If I didn't put the video together with this post, no one would get to watch it here, so it's the same result. 

Buddy:  Jan has clipped the leash to both D-rings so if I get feisty and want to chase a squirrel, the collar won't breakaway.

Marcus:  Jan found one problem with my collar.  Not with this harness, but my regular harness was in the sewing pile because I kept stretching it and getting tangled in it.  When Jan put me back in the front clip to collar harness, she had a problem clipping the leash to the harness and the extra D-ring.. 

Merci:  Here I am decked out in my new red collar and my Marcus-decorated duct taped red leash.  And Marcus says he's calm? 

Marcus: You'll like the KeepSafer® Petsafe Breakaway Safety Collar. We do.


Petsafe provided with us with the collars for an honest review.  We received no other compensation and any opinions expressed are our own.

Amber Crown Collars

Cyndi:  Rusty, those are mine and Buddy's new necklace collars.  Why are you photobombing them?

Rusty:  Photobombing?  I'm just keeping them company while Jan takes a picture.

Cyndi:  The little one in the front is mine.  The darker one doubled over in the back is Buddy's.  His neck is a lot larger than mine.

Rusty:  Marcus, what are you doing down there?  You aren't supposed to be in this post.

Marcus:  But my fans will be unhappy if you don't include me.

Rusty:  Oh, okay, but you owe me big time!

Buddy:  The collar in front with the brown stones is my new authentic raw Baltic Amber Crown pet necklace.  It's supposed to repel fleas and ticks for up to one year without toxic chemicals.  Jan tried to get a shot of the actual stones but it was nap time and I wasn't cooperative.

Cyndi:  I have never worn a collar or necklace before and it took some getting used to.  The stones are small and they disappeared into my fur.  The necklace is supposed to release terpenes to naturally repel ticks and fleas.  Plus, parasites are prevented from clinging by static electricity from the friction against fur.

Buddy:  The first photos of the necklaces were taken on 5/17.  According to Amber Crown, "It usually takes up to three weeks of wearing to reach maximum repellent effectiveness."

Cyndi:  It would need to be replaced at the end of the year or when the stones become polished against the fur.  This and the remaining photos were taken on 6/21.  Sadly, you can see how much Buddy's "industrial strength nylon thread" has stretched.  There were wide gaps between stones.

Buddy:  Jan was very careful with my harness on walks.  The only thing she can figure is this happened from me scratching my neck.  She checked my face and there were fleas crawling all over it, something that was not supposed to happen while wearing this collar, so she didn't bother checking the rest of me.  If there were that many fleas so near the collar ...

Cyndi:  She let her contact know there was a problem and there didn't seem to be any concern.  But it bothered Jan so much she went on Facebook and messaged the company.  Seven days later she had an email address for them.  (Actually, one came with the collars, but a kitty who shall remain anonymous - unless he keeps bugging me - hid the individual boxes under furniture and they were only found last night behind some storage.)

Buddy:  She emailed the company her findings and concerns two weeks ago but has not received a response.  Tonight she noticed a graphic that claimed "up to 4 times larger Baltic amber pieces" on their campaign website, so she took a good look at the two collars.  The stones of each are different colors but they are most certainly not of much different, if any, size.

Cyndi:  I am a petite female kitty.  Buddy is a hound dog, several times my size.

Buddy:  They must have sent me one of the older models, not one of the upgraded "bigger, stronger" collars because it did not do anything for me.

Cyndi: On the other paw, Jan is very pleased with my necklace.  She chose me and Buddy for the review because we were both having a problem and she so wanted to for us to repel fleas and ticks naturally.  My coat has grown back silky and flyaway and all the scabs have healed - except, for some reason, the ones around my neck.  Jan thinks either the collar itches a bit or I prefer to go naked.  I'm not saying.

Buddy:  Jan would have liked for Amber Crown.com to respond to the problems with my collar so she could understand why mine failed and Cyndi's is a success.

Repeat:  Cyndi's cat necklace is a success.  The failure is with Buddy's dog collar.

We were given one cat and one dog collar for this review.  We received no other compensation.  Any opinions expressed are from our personal experience with the product. 

Dennis, Saya and Trixie

Saya the Vampire-Hunting Vizsla

MERCI:  Last month we had a giveaway and Dennis the Vizsla from Dennis's Diary of Destruction won.

PERCY:  He won a breakaway safely collar and very generously offered to let his young sister Saya have the prize.

MICAH:  Do you suppose he could have been buttering her up so she'll protect him on future adventures?

MARCUS:  Hmmm.  Dennis gets himself into a lot of trouble and Saya the Vampire-Hunting Vizsla does sound like a heroine to the rescue. 

BUDDY:  Saya chose the color blue and sent us some photos of herself in her new collar.

RUSTY:  She said it's okay to post them.  In fact, Dennis said -

DENNIS:  hello funny farmers its dennis the vizsla dog hay shoor of korse yoo kan do a post showing how pritty saya is in her kollar!!!  altho of korse she is not as pritty as me but wel hoo is???  heer ar sum pikchers dada tuk of her owt in the yard chaysing and poynting at bugs and wotnot for yoo to chooz frum.

CYNDI:  She's a beautiful dog and it was nice of Dennis to let us post her pictures. 

DENNIS: And also a pikcher of me and trixie lukking on disaproovingly!!!  hay kid!!!  git off my lawn!!!  ha ha ok bye.

SAM:  Have you met Dennis, his siblings and friends yet?  We were striving to become more like him since he has perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation, but Jan says we should just be ourselves.

Tug and Chew

RUSTY:  Whose collar is this?  It's been chewed through.

SAM:  It's mine.

RUSTY:  How in the world did you chew it apart while you were wearing it?

SAM:  I'm not a contortionist.  I didn't do that.

RUSTY:  So who did?

SAM:  I'll give you one guess.

MARCUS:  Hey, Sam, tell Jan to hurry up and sew your collar back together so we can have another game of tug.

RUSTY:  What are we thankful for this week?

SAM:  I'm thankful Jan could sew my collar back together so I don't have to run around naked. 

Stop by Pepi Smart Dog and join the Thankful Thursday blog hop.

And stop by Ruckus the Eskie, Love is being owned by a husky, and Barking from the bayou for the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop.

Thankful 4 of July

Well, it's the 4th of July again.  Time to be thankful for American independence. A time to make sure you have a pair of earplugs for each of you so you don't have to listen to the neighbors setting off firecrackers after midnight.

It's also Thankful Thursday and we have a lot to be thankful for this week.  So before we fall asleep at the computer and forget, we want to shout out THANK YOU, KHYRA!  Back in the beginning of March Khyra was one of the winners of 26 pet items.  She decided to share what she couldn't use and we were fortunate to be online the Saturday night she offered some items on Facebook.  Sam Models his Thundershirt posted in April.

The rest of our goodies arrived a few days ago.

A front lead harness for Buddy with a matching leash and a pretty brown and cream collar for Merci.  Khyra threw in a couple of extra items.

Percy:  So the dogs get all the goodies and we cats get ... well, we get to wonder why Miss Khyra would think we need cat litter deodorant.  She must have sent it for the human litterbox.  You think?  Yes, definitely for Jan's litterbox.  Thanks, Khyra.

Buddy:  We tried on our new finery today and Jan said we were the best models she's ever dealt with.

Percy:  Uh, Buddy, her face was kind of screwed up when she said that.  She was poking fun at you guys.

Buddy:  Why would she poke fun at us?  We were perfectly obedient.  See.

Merci:  I don't think this is a very good example, Buddy.  We're a bit uncoordinated here.  How about this one.

Sam:  Um, I don't think this is a good example either.  It's all your fault, Buddy.

Buddy:  Me?  What did I do wrong?

Sam:  You were hovering.  Jan said sit and your butt hovered.

Buddy:  Hovered?  I sat.

Sam:  Look again, Hover Butt.  You only pretended to sit.  And you weren't very good at pretending.  Your butt isn't anywhere even approximately near the ground.

Buddy:  Well, at least Jan didn't need to put our blog name over .. um, a certain part of my anatomy.  A little brazen, weren't you?   And besides, when I sat down the camera couldn't catch my new harness.

Sam:  Merci, if we just ignore him, perhaps he'll go away. 

Merci:  This is my new collar.  Pretty, isn't it!  Take a good look cause my hair keeps covering it over.  At least one of us behaved during the photo shoot.

Sam:  And that one would be you, I suppose?  I don't think so!

Merci:  That's not true.  I did everything Jan told me to.

Sam:  You mean you did everything Jan told you NOT to do!  Sit up, Merci, while I walk around and get a shot.  No, Merci, I told you to face forward.  Stand up.  I don't want a shot of your tummy.  Sit here and I'll walk around you for the umpteenth time.

Merci:  Well, if you hadn't been so jealous you kept stepping on me for attention, maybe I would have stayed still. 

Buddy:  While those two argue, let me model my new harness.  The fit leaves a lot to be desired in this photo.  I seem to have lost a bit of weight since Jan measured me for it and since Jan is all thumbs, she had a bit of trouble making adjustments with me in it.  Once we were home again, Jan made the final adjustments and it's now comfortable.

Merci:  Yes, we had a nice, slow stroll again tonight.  Slow because Jan's ankle and foot have been giving her serious trouble the last couple of weeks and she has been having trouble walking (or sitting),  so we have to practically walk backwards to keep down with her (as opposed to keeping up). 

Sam: She said she really likes the front lead harness on Buddy.  He walked very well in it today.  Little does she know he's waiting for her to stop being an invalid so he can lead the parade again.  Can't wait to see that.

Percy:  It's a bit hot and humid in the house, so I hope you will forgive the canine rivalry. That would never happen between us kitties, would it, Micah?  *devilish grin*

Thankful Buddy and Funny Farmers

Remember Buddy in his ecollar to try to keep him from licking and chewing so his skin could heal?  The collar is heavy and a very thin layer of non-soft material wears off, the plastic and digs into the dog's neck.  This happened with the last one but this is the only ecollar sold in this area. And the only size that covers Buddy's nose so he can't reach any part of his body.  It wraps about 1 1/2 times around his head.  Can you imagine walking around with that heavy thing dragging your head down?  Jan asked the manager at Petsense why they don't carry a softer collar and she said she'd never heard of one.  ????

After walking into things for a time, this is what the outside edge of the collar looks like.

And this is what the part that goes around Buddy's neck looks like. The edge that's all scruffed is not soft. But even though his skin was getting better while he wore this,  his neck and the back of his ears became raw and bloody while waiting for Cardinal Pet to keep their word and send Buddy an inflatable collar to prevent this from happening again.  He has been waiting since January 28th.  .

Of course the moment Buddy was out of the collar, he chewed himself raw and bloody everywhere he could reach. Jan tried pinning him in a towel or in a t-shirt - nothing worked.  He'd pop the pins or get a leg through.

So imagine Jan's surprise when she opened a package Saturday and found this inside.

 It's not a hard plastic and not too thin/soft. It's thick, sturdy and uses velcro.  Can you see how happy Buddy is to be modeling it?  hehehe

Percy:  Buddy, is that you in there?

Buddy:  Of course it's me.  Who else would Jan make wear one of these?

And this arrived with it.  It's a post surgical suit with rows of snaps.  Neat!  Jan asked Buddy to model it but he said not if he has to put his feet through the legs!  (He does not like to be "dressed.") He's been through so much lately Jan didn't make him model it.  But if he was doing as poorly as he was a week ago, he'd have been in the ecollar while his feet were slid though the legs. 

We are grateful to the Slimmer Pugs & Purrs for sending these items.  They will be so useful for Buddy's recurring skin problems.  Buddy isn't happy about it but Jan now has an ecollar to put on him for a bit after she puts the Zymox on his skin so he can't lick it off immediately.

This is supposed to be a photo of all the items we received last week.  You will have to imagine 3 6-pound bags of Whiskas cat food included.  Jan forgot them because they are well-hidden. to keep Percy from opening all the bags and throwing food to the rest of us. 

We are so thankful for each of the items, as well as the funds deposited into PayPal.  Jan was able to order some items which should help Buddy internally.   Buddy doesn't mind Jan putting the Zymox on his skin, as it doesn't burn or make him itch more.  Hopefully, he is on his way to healthier skin.

We learned today that we were supposed to get an email address for each of the items Amazon.com shipped, but we didn't get a single one.  We did get a few pieces of paper ("gift cards") with a name, some with a message, and a couple with the name on the packing slip, but we received 4 boxes with no name and no paperwork at all.  One box had broken open at the bottom.  If there was a "gift card," it was lost.  So if you have not received a thank you email from us, it's only because we aren't aware of your name.  Please let us know if this is the case.  We are not ungrateful.  And we would like to thank you.

Pete was too young to die from thoracic thrombosis, but he did.  And Mo is missing him terribly.  Stop by Purrchance to Dream to leave a comment.

Sanjee of House of the Mostly Black Cats has mouth cancer and Mom Robyn is sad.

Selina of One Eye on the Future.is also sick and could use some encouragement.