‘Tis the season to celebrate the animal kingdom! Christmas music through the ages makes references to animals in the titles and/or the lyrics. Here’s a compilation of classical/traditional and popular Christmas pieces and tunes, courtesy of fellow musician/cat lady/blogging partner, Meri Dolevski-Lewis, in our joint cybercorner of the world, The Freethinkers. (Note: edits are mine.) Continue reading
Best Unique Holiday and Anytime Staycation Spots and Ideas in Southern California and Beyond
It’s the holidays, and you’ve got a hankering for a getaway or even a pretty bad case of cabin fever. But maybe you’ve already blown your budget on a Black Friday mad shopping dash or you simply don’t have the slightest idea on what to do. Look no farther than your own backyard for some low-cost or no-cost festive fun 24/7/365—or 366 in a leap year, which happens to be just two months away at the time of this post! Continue reading
Pet Safety Tips for a Merry Holiday Season
The holidays are upon us. Stuffing, parties, tree lights, camera, action!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year to break out a few of your favorite things, but some of them aren’t safe for your furry kids. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up singing the blues instead of some Christmas carols and pop tunes!
Just like Santa, you’ll do well by checking the below list twice—or more—for your own and your furry family’s well-being and enjoyment this season. Continue reading
Bringing up Furry Baby: Best Ways to Welcome a New Cat
Surprisingly, cats are popular choices for pets, even more so than dogs, probably because of their independent, low-maintenance nature. However, for the uninitiated, cat care isn’t exactly easy-peasy as cats have special needs, thanks to their quirky personality. Whether you’re a first-time pet owner or a longtime pet parent bringing a kitty home for the first time, here are tips to make the transition much smoother for you and your feline friend. Continue reading
9 Reasons Why Cats Need Daily Pet Sitter Visits—and Not Lose All 9 Lives!
Cats just love doing their own thing, whenever, wherever, all by themselves. Everything seems to be on their own terms. They may be independent, self-sufficient, and can land and stand on all fours, but obviously, they can’t pick up the phone to call you to come over, fix themselves some chow, get their own water, and clean up their own mess.
You probably think that you can save more than a few bucks by having cat sitting visits every other day or longer, but don’t dare break Murphy’s Law. Anything can and do happen within the 24-hour period. Unless your cat is one of the video game characters with unlimited tries and 1-ups, he or she only has one life per lifetime.
Game over. Period. Continue reading
10 Random Geekified Facts on Pet Breeds
Pico “Piccolo” declares and celebrates the Chiweenie Heritage Month.
I enjoy a great deal of cross-cultural, linguistic, and literary geekery, especially when paired with the animal kingdom.
That said, I’ve compiled a few fun facts on that intersection. Impress your fellow critter lovers with this trivia list of artful doggery! Continue reading
Best 7 Natural Products for You, Your Pets, and Your Home
Keeping our living space clean is one of those duties that we pet owners especially can’t avoid. You can use any old products to clean, but typical products don’t clean well or are even harmful. Adding more harmful stuff to get things extra clean definitely won’t help matters.
My friend and I previously worked in facilities that required some hazmat training. When you work at a factory or for some other type of company where your job involves working with chemicals, the company is legally mandated to post warnings in the form of very detailed manuals—some of which are as thick as phone books—of all the ingredients in those chemicals and all the possible resulting symptoms from their use. The chemicals in home-use cleaning products are the exact same ones that require regulation and warnings in factories. However, there is no such warning requirement placed on chemical manufacturers who sell their products for home use.
Considering the cumulative effect of toxic chemicals seeping into your system when you spend all your time cleaning with typical cleaners and using typical hygienic or grooming products for you and your pets, it only makes perfect sense to switch to natural products, especially if you have four- and/or two-legged kids scampering about in your home. Continue reading
Pet Reading: What’s Your Pet Thinking?
Have you always wondered what your pet is thinking or feeling? Has it ever crossed your mind that he or she has an important message or life lesson for you?
Pet reading gives you insight on your pet’s physical and emotional state or issues, as well as your own. Although pet reading and pet communication are both used together to get a complete picture of the animal’s condition, pet reading is not the same as pet communication. In pet reading, your pet simply tells you his or her thoughts, feelings, and problems, while in pet communication, humans and pets aim to resolve issues collaboratively. Pet communication, combined with pet psychology, are called for pet behavioral issues to correct temper tantrums and potential or existing health problems. Neurotoxins often cause mood disorders and illnesses such as cancer, all of which affect pet behavior. As domesticated animals are evolving and very sophisticated, it’s helpful to use various tools such as pet readings, pet communication, and pet psychology for their well-being.
On the human side, pet reading is a glimpse into our life journey. In the Taoist school of thought, the environment or nature is our teacher. Animals are more than just our companions. They are also our guides and teachers, often sent to work on our problems in this lifetime for the growth of our souls on the earth plane. The behavior of animals often mirrors the internal state of their caretakers. Continue reading
Lost or Found a Pet? 7 Pro Tips to Keep Your Cool and Keep Pets Safe and Comfy
Missing or finding lost pets is an inevitable fact of life. It’s just the nature of the beast—pardon the pun. Continue reading
Dude, Where’s My Spell Checker? The Case for Good Writing
There’s been so much ongoing debate on what constitutes professionalism in the pet care industry. Is it much ado about nothing—nothing more than having certain pieces of paper to prove that you’re legit?
In the words of Grumpy Cat:
A much better (and often unfortunately overlooked) way to showcase our professionalism is having an excellent command of a particular language—English in our case.
This is yet another component in the theme of projecting a professional online image and presentation in the pet industry.
Great communication helps us establish and maintain rapport with prospective and current clients. It’s how we easily distinguish ourselves from the kid-next-door types who can probably only do textspeak! Continue reading
