Take time out for your best friends!
Before you know it, summer will fade into fall, and then winter–enjoy the beauties of the Season!
Cat Themes for Fall
Hey, who ate all the doughnuts?
What will your kitty be asking for this fall? As I shuttle the laundry from bedroom to laundry room, to linen closet and bathroom, and back to bedroom, I find myself being hunted. Stealthy felines carefully concealed behind cabinets or just around the corner make rapid fire advances against my chances of keeping that stack of laundry in tact. After just about enough, I decided it was time to consider the idea that they might be sending me messages. I did a quick inventory of the surviving laundry–always the socks made it (although I’m not counting the dog interference ratio). The sheets and pillowcases were fine, the t-shirts, even all the jeans and blouses. But the sweatshirts–the fleecy ones–they were the most frequently target by those claws jetting out from nowhere. And it made sense. How often did I find Madison, for example, perched on top of my fleece afghans, my fleecey car coat, or Joey’s fleece comforter? And Sandy, once all 25-Garfield-like-pounds of him settles on top of a folded fleece, left on the table til “later,” you might as well forget about getting it. He’ll just purr at you, shield his eyes, and speak silently his thanks for the great comfort you’ve provided him. They want our fleece!
It was then that I decided that should be on the calendar for the Puppydog Cuddles product line–fleece blankets, all sizes, all colors, to suit the whimsy of any of the nine cuddle cats who drop in, set up residence, or claim this as their home. I set about buying blue, and yellow, and pink, and jungle green, and all imaginable patterns of color, in a collection of sizes, with a variety of seam stitches. And I have made my little cat family very happy. Even in the dead of summer!
Don’t you have a kitty looking for a cuddly blanket in your home?
Can I have a Sponge Bob one this time?
Home Breeding, an Introduction
To a large extent, the love and hands-on care of domestic animals extolled in James Herriot’s series, All Creatures Great & Small* has been adopted by the home breeder. The typical home breeder does an entry level study of his or her intended breed, which includes book and video research, internet research, conversation with active breeders, and sometimes discussion with veterinarians. Following, and sometimes during, this period of familiarizing oneself, beginning breeders find their first one or two breeding dogs. This is a very exciting time, and often joyful and memorable. It is during this second phase of breeding, in which the breeder learns exponentially more about their little animals. They learn what bothers them, makes them happy, how to soothe them, how to groom and care for their coats, eyes, and nails. This is also the time during which a new breeder should read about potential problems in whelping, or, in other words, giving birth. There are general ones, such as
- This sweet young thing was born to Bella, my very first breeding mama, who lives with us still as a devoted and much doted on pet.
hypocalcaemia and hypoglycemia, and then others that may be specific to certain breeds. Young breeders stock in a few essentials, such as tubes of gel calcium (Revival Animal is an excellent source), and nutritionals in tubes and/or jars. The third and most exciting phase is reached when the dogs reach breeding age and the females become pregnant. The whelping box or more likely an separate area with a cozy blanket or two, in a corner of the house is established for the expectant mamas, and a birthing kit is ready, and waiting through the thrilling 58 to 64 days before the litter arrives.
*a four-book series, whose first book was published by the St. Martin’s Press in 1972, featured beloved country veterinarian, James Herriot, as first person storyteller. Herriot chronicles his pre-World War II, as well as post-World War II experiences in the Yorkshires Dales in England, specifically in and around Darrowby, as one of the rural area’s few practicing vets. The series relates times and events long gone by of the very special relationship between people, their animals, and their veterinarian.
Welcome to Puppydog Cuddles Blog
Hello and welcome to the official Puppydog Cuddles Blog. In the coming weeks and months, we will be adding all kinds of fun and informative articles and photos of our favorite subject, puppies, cats, dogs and more.
If you would like to contribute blog content, please email us at the following link:
The Queen Mother
This shot from Joey D's collection shows the lovely Queen Mother in one of her favorite outdoor hobbies, testing the wind direction