Kitten Under the House

Hi Everyone!  I just realized that I completely forgot to write about (another!) baby kittycat Mom found!  Mom says a baby kittycat is called a “kitten”.

For a couple of weeks Mom saw a black kittycat going under our dog ramp where there was a hole in the side of the house.   The hole went to the space under the laundry room.  This kittycat kept going in and out through that hole in the wall of the house.  Mom said it was a mama kittycat looking for a place to have her babies.  She was another feral cat.  Mom kept telling Dad to block that hole, but he didn’t do it.  Mom finally convinced Dad that she didn’t want any more kittycats to take care of, and he blocked the hole after he saw the mama kittycat go out. 

A couple of days after Dad blocked that hole in the wall, Mom and the girls came home from shopping and Mom heard a tiny crying.  Mom knew it was a kitten and she looked all around.  Then she saw the kitten scratching at the vent screen under the bedroom, trying to get out.  She popped off that screen and cut through the plastic that was there and tried to help that kitten, but the kitten didn’t like the plastic and wouldn’t come out.  Mom got very annoyed with Dad then, because he didn’t block the hole and the mama kittycat DID come in and have kittens, and now this kitten hadn’t had anything to eat in a couple of days, and this made Mom feel very sad.

Mom rushed into the house and into her closet, where there is a place in the floor that opens up like the one in the laundry room.  She had to move everything out that was on the floor and peel up the carpet to get to the place that opens.  She was very concerned that when she opened the floor the kitten would be scared and run far away across the room where there wasn’t a place in the floor that opens.  Mom opened up the floor very slowly and heard “fizzzzzzzzzzzzzgrrrrrr!!”  The tiny kitten jumped out at Mom and hissed and growled at her!  She grabbed that kitten and snuggled it.  It was a girl kitten.  When Mom petted her, the kitten did something called “purring” that kittycats do.  It is a rumbly sound that means they are happy.

That kitten was crying and crying!  I heard the kitten and wanted to see her, but Mom didn’t let me because she thought I might hurt the kitten.  Well, I might have, I don’t know.  Sometimes my instincts just take over, and since I was bred to chase critters it’s really hard not to.  Usually I do feel like biting critters.  Mom found a box to put the kitten in, and thought she would put the kitten outside to wait for the mama kittycat to come and look for her.  The kitten kept trying to jump out of the box, though, and Mom knew she couldn’t just leave the kitten outside by herself because she could get hurt.  So, Mom decided to take the kitten to the doctor’s office to get something called “formula”, which is milk for kittens, so she could give her something to eat.  Mom wasn’t sure what to do about the kitten.  You can read one of my earlier posts about a kitten I found that Mom took care of last year – she didn’t want to do that again because she is allergic to kittycats.  She likes them very much (well, I don’t know why!) but they make it hard for her to breathe, and she sneezes a lot when they are around.  Mom thought she would have to take the kitten to the Humane Society, because she knew they would be able to find the kitten a good home. 

When Mom got to the doctor’s office, she was telling the desk lady about the kitten.  As she was telling the story, another lady came to pick up some kittycats that had been at the doctor.  This lady was part of a group called “Salem Friends of Felines” and they help kittycats to find a home with someone who will love them.  The lady was so nice and she offered to take the kitten right then and find a foster home for her.  Mom was very thankful that this lady would take the kitten, and she said that God made sure that someone would be at the doctor’s office just when Mom and the kitten got there because God always meets our needs, even the little ones.

Mom left the floor open and waited and listened for the next few days to see if the were any other kittens under the house, but there weren’t any more.  Here is a picture of that kitten.  Mom named her “Little Miss Tuffy”, because she looks just like the daddy kittycat in the neighborhood (Dad calls him Tuffy because he isn’t afraid of anything).  I really don’t like kittycats, but when Mom showed me this picture I had to agree that this kitten was sort of okay. 

Oh, and Mom wants me to add: 

PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!!!

The Doctor…

Hi everyone!  This post is about something that makes me anxious – going to the doctor!  Mom took me to the doctor today because it was time for my shots.  To get there, we had to ride in the car.  I don’t enjoy riding in the car.  Mom has a new van and it was the first time I got to ride in it, but I was so upset that I couldn’t even enjoy exploring in there!  I barked and barked and jumped on Mom and ran all around.  When I was a puppy I didn’t get to go anywhere or do much (see my “About” page!), and it still makes me anxious to go places.  I haven’t been to the doctor since I got my last shots and that seems like a long time ago, so it was sort of new all over again.

We got to the doctor and Mom had to carry me and hold me while she talked to the office lady.  Then Mom took me to wait outside because I was so upset I kept barking.  I’m not sure why I do that.  I guess when I go places I’m not used to I just get overwhelmed by all the smells and things to see, and that makes me feel scared.  And when I bark in the doctor’s office it sounds REALLY loud, and that doesn’t help!  (Mom says that’s because everything in there has a hard surface, because hard surfaces are easier to keep clean and sometimes pets do make messes.)

After we waited outside a lady took us in to a scale to weigh me.  I was too wiggly and Mom finally had to just tell her what I weigh (it’s a rather embarrassing number…!)  We went to a room with a seat for Mom and a high table for me to sit on so the doctor can reach me better.  The room had a trash can too, and a big door to close us in.  I ran around the room and was so upset I could hardly sniff things.  When the doctor came in, Mom told her that I needed my shots and mentioned that I had developed 2 lumps on my tummy.  The lumps don’t bother me and Mom thought they were probably just lumps of fat because I am quite plump, but she wanted to make sure.  The doctor felt my lumps and then talked to Mom, and then took me in to another room.  In that room, she poked me with shots and poked my lumps with something sharp!  The doctor said she had to poke the lumps to test what they were made of.  After that, the doctor brought me back to Mom in the room.  I kept barking and jumping on the door so Mom would know I was ready to go, but she said we had to wait.  I was so anxious that I couldn’t even eat any of the little snacks Mom brought for me!

Finally the doctor came back and told us that my lumps are just fat cells and that we don’t need to be concerned about them.  She gave Mom a paper that showed how much it would cost to have my teeth cleaned.  It turns out my back teeth are very dirty.  It is very expensive to get them cleaned, because they have to make you go to sleep with some special medicine to clean them.  When people have their teeth cleaned, Mom says the dentist (our Aunt Cindy!) or someone in the dentist’s office just has them hold their mouth open and scrubs their teeth with a thing that buzzes; but when dogs get their teeth cleaned we don’t like it, so we won’t hold our mouths open properly and we tend to try to get away.  This is why it is easier to do if we are sleeping.   The doctor said that they are having a teeth cleaning “discount” in September.  That means the price will be lower.  Mom said we will wait until then to do that.

While Mom was waiting for my rabies certificate (have to have that to renew my license!) another mom with a BIG girl puppy came in.  Mom said that kind of dog is a “Saint Bernard”.  Mom noticed that the puppy’s nails were painted pink!  The puppy’s girl had painted her nails.  It looked nice, but I was so ready to go home that I couldn’t pay attention very well.  I think it would be neat to have my nails painted pink to match my collar, but I have a hard time sitting still when someone touches my feet!  It is tickly.  Even if I’m resting and Mom pets my paw I get annoyed!

Anyway, we came home and now I’m resting next to Mom.  I had a drink of water and Mom gave me my blankie, and I am calming down.  Mom tells me she wishes it was easier to take me places because she thinks I would have fun, but I just can’t seem to stop being anxious and a little scared.  I really need to work on that.

Thunder

Today we’re having something called a “thunderstorm” at our house!  We hardly ever have them here.  A thunderstorm means that there is lots of wind and rain, and lights flashing, and REALLY LOUD noises outside.  Mom says the lights are called “lightning” and the noises are called “thunder”.  (Oops, there was another big noise while I was writing!)  Mom says that when the lightning happens, it makes the thunder happen afterwards.  Here is a photo of me looking out at the thunderstorm.  Dillon decided that he would go lie down on his pillow instead of watching what was happening outside, and he asked Mom to cover him up with a blankie so he would feel cozier.

(Note: This post was written a while ago, but didn’t get published until today!)

No Adventures

Hi again everyone!  I was reading through my past blog posts and realized that every time I haven’t written a post in awhile I always say something like “Sorry I haven’t written in so long” or “I’m finally back!”  I really would like to write more, but we just haven’t had much going on around here in a long time so I haven’t had much to write about!

Our boy, Benjamin, has been having a great time playing baseball.  They had lots of games but Dillon and I didn’t get to go to any because it was usually raining or cold. (Mom says she thinks they should start the baseball time later in the year here, since the weather doesn’t really get nice until May.)  The weather wasn’t too bad the last couple of games, but they were at places where there wasn’t really any grass for us to rest on, just pavement and rocks called “gravel”.  Mom really enjoys the games, and she and Benjamin are sad that baseball time is over.

Right now I am lying on top of the sofa looking out the window to try to see Dad.  He is working in his “shop”, which is a little building full of things called “tools” which are toys for dads.  He likes to be out there playing with the tools and making things.  Sometimes he opens the big door or comes outside and I can see what he’s doing.  Dillon is napping on his pillow.  He looks very happy! 

We’ve made some trips down the street to the school field to walk around.  Dillon really enjoys all the smells (lots of dogs go there to play).  He starts at the gate and sniffs around the fence until he comes to the gate again.  He does the same thing at the dog park!  When he comes back to the gate, he is ready to go home.  Mom has been working with me so I feel better about walking on my leash.  She puts the leash on her belt and whenever I pull she stops walking so I have to come closer to her.  That’s called “Close” and she tells me that and gives me a treat when I come closer.  She says she wishes she could find some snacks with less calories, though, because she is concerned that so many of them might be plumpifying. 

Our neighbors across the street adopted another Yorkie into their family, but this one is very very tiny.  Mom had to go rescue him yesterday because he was in the street.  A big truck was coming and she got him just in time!  Our neighbor’s friends open the fence and don’t close it sometimes, so the dogs run out.  Their bigger Yorkie, Chewie, has been very ill.  He has something called “stones” in his middle somewhere and will probably have to go to the doctor and have something called “surgery”, which doesn’t sound good at all.  I hope he feels better very soon!  They also have a Doberman named Trigger, but I don’t see her anymore since she has a fence around her backyard now and spends her time there instead of out front.  I ran over to visit with her once and she seemed very nice (I got out of my yard that day).  I always tell Mom when another dog is out running around, so she can help.  I admit I’m not very social, but I don’t want anyone to get lost from their family or hit by a car!  That would be very sad.

Anyway, that’s about all that’s been happening here!  Here are photos of my boy Benjamin playing baseball.  If you click on them they will get bigger, so you can see him better.  In the first photo he is running to that little white thing on the ground there.  It it called “first base” and when you hit the baseball you are supposed to run there.  In the second photo he is in a place called “left field” where he is waiting to catch the ball if it comes toward him.  Mom says he is really good at playing baseball!  I think I would be good at chasing the baseballs, but sometimes when I get tired I forget to bring them back…

 

 

Info Regarding Oregon’s HB2852

Hi Everyone,

My mom wanted to let everyone know some information regarding insurance, in light of the issue of the proposed HB 2852 in Oregon that, if it passes, would require anyone who has a pit bull dog to carry $1 million dollars of liability insurance.

Mom says that she talked to her State Farm Insurance agent today, and learned that most homeowner’s insurance will cover dog bites.  Some insurance companies already have a limit on the breed of dog that is covered (no “attack dogs”).  State Farm doesn’t have that limit, but does limit their coverage to one bite per dog – if the dog bites another person later that incident won’t be covered.

Mom also asked our insurance agent what the cost would be for $1 million dollars of liability insurance.  The agent said that if our family raised our homeowner’s insurance coverage to $1 million dollars, it would only cost about $50 more a year than Mom is paying now.  Mom didn’t get any info about how much general liability insurance would cost, if you are a renter or don’t otherwise have insurance.

Mom doesn’t agree with this breed specific legislation maneuver and is not expecting the bill to pass, but she was relieved to hear that the cost (at least for a homeowner) would be much less than she expected and wanted to pass on the information.  Of course cost and coverage will be different according to each family, but Mom would like to like to encourage moms and dads of pit bull dogs (and any dog) to talk to their insurance agent to learn about what they might need for their individual situation.

Thanks for reading, Everyone!

Help Oregon’s Pit Bulls

Hi Everyone,

Mom hasn’t been feeling well for awhile, so I haven’t asked her to do much writing.  But, I felt like it was important to tell you all about this issue that could hurt pit bull dogs and their moms and dads here in Oregon.

A senator here in Oregon (that’s a person who helps pass laws) recently introduced a bill that would BAN all pit bull dogs in Oregon.  That bill has been pulled, but now a bill has been introduced in the house of representatives (HB2852) that would require any mom or dad who has a pit bull to carry a MILLION dollars of liability insurance!  My mom says that would be so expensive that most moms and dads couldn’t afford it.  Plus, their definition of a pit bull is:

“Pit bull’ means a dog that:
(A) Is registered or otherwise listed as an American pit bull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier or American Staffordshire terrier with a dog breed club or league, dog fanciers association, breed registry or similar organization; or
(B) Has appearance and physical characteristics that substantially conform to the breed standards of the United Kennel Club for an American pit bull terrier or of the American Kennel Club for a Staffordshire bull terrier or American Staffordshire terrier, as those standards existed on January 1, 2009.”

This could affect many, many dogs – maybe even my brother Dillon, because someone said once that he looked like a pit bull!

Mom says that this is called “Breed Specific Legislation (BSL)” and that this kind of law would hurt lots and lots of great dogs and great moms and dads and kids.  We don’t have any pit bull friends, but Mom says that pit bulls are just as nice as other breeds of dogs, and when they are bad it is almost always because they have parents who don’t love them and take care of them.   Mom says sure, there are some bad pit bulls, and there are bad dogs of many different breeds, just like there are bad people of many different races and cultures.  To single out one breed  for being “bad” isn’t fair or right.   There are lots of other options to help stop dog attacks by any breed.

HB2852 was introduced by Representative Vicki Berger, and it  would be great if any of you reading this would write to her at rep.vickiberger@state.or.us , or you can find contact information for other representatives here http://www.leg.state.or.us/house/houseset.htm .  There is info and a sample letter you can use on the American Dog Owners Association website at www.adoa.org (click on “Sample Letters” at the left, and then #2 “Letter in Opposition to Proposed BSL”).  There is also some more information at http://stopbsl.com/ and LOTS of interesting comments at http://www.katu.com/news/40578707.html about the proposed ban that was scrapped and about this bill.

Thanks for helping our pit bull friends!

Snow Photos!

Hey everyone!   Here are the snow photos I promised!

Here I am looking out at the snow!

Dillon with snow on his nose!

 

Our house in the snow!

Our neighbor's tree that fell down.

Hey everyone, I’m finally back! Thanks for being patient! I haven’t been able to post anything on my blog because for some reason Mom’s old computer ate up something called “Microsoft Office”, which is the thing that lets her type and put things on the internet. Now she has a nice, new computer that sits on her lap, so when she is typing she can be in the living room and sit next to us on the couch when she types and puts things on my blog.

I have some fun adventures to tell you about. The most important one is that we had SNOW! It was snowy here for a whole week and a half and so we had a white Christmas. The snow was so deep that I could hardly walk around outside – boy, was my tummy chilly! Mom says that there was a whole “foot” of snow. This is fun and interesting because we hardly ever get snow here, and never that much, and never at Christmas! Sometimes we get snow later in the winter, but it usually only lasts for a couple of days. My boy, Benjamin, sure had fun in the snow and he and his friend rode their bikes (or pushed them!) to a place called “Round Table”, where there is pizza. I didn’t like being out in the snow much, but I thought it was fun to sit on top of the couch and look out at it. There was a lot of ice too and our neighbor’s big tree cracked in 3 pieces and fell over.

The other interesting thing is that Mom and Benjamin were gone for a few days when they went to Texas to visit some of our family. (Texas is a “state” like Oregon where we live, but it’s very far away.) Grandma and Grandpa took them there and they all had a great time visiting. Benjamin got to learn to play a game called “tennis” with his cousins. Dillon and I spent lots of time with Dad while they were gone, but when Dad went to work we had to stay in the laundry room. Our door is in there and it’s nice and warm in the laundry room, but we felt a little bit “cooped up” as Mom says. We were glad when everyone was finally safely home (well, except Benjamin’s suitcase, it didn’t come until the next day!)

When they went to Texas, they rode on an airplane, which is a big thing people sit in to go places that are far away. Airplanes fly around very high in the sky. Mom has pointed them out to us in the sky before. She likes to see the mountains and all the fields way down on the ground – she says it looks like our quilt we have in the bedroom. Mom says dogs can ride in airplanes too. If you are a very small dog, you can ride in a carrier under a seat with your Mom or Dad in the regular part of the airplane, but if you are a bigger dog you have to ride in a crate in the part of the airplane where they keep the suitcases. When you are at an airport (the place where the airplanes are) you have to wait in a big room to get your suitcases. Mom noticed another mom and dad waiting for their dog to come from the airplane. It took a long time for their dog to come off the airplane and the mom was getting concerned, because the airport people told her that they would bring the dogs out before the suitcases came out. Finally a man brought out a cart with about 6 dogs in crates and the mom was so glad to see her dog! He was a big Labradoodle and Mom says he was very bouncy and friendly when he came out of his crate. The other people were glad to see their dogs too. Mom says she wouldn’t like to take us on an airplane if we had to ride in the suitcase area. She thinks it would be awfully cold and dark and that we would be uncomfortable. But that’s okay, since we don’t really think we need to go far away anyway – we have lots of neat stuff to do around here!

Yesterday, Dillon and I got new collars and special tags with our names and addresses on them, and they are really neat. The collars glow in the dark! That way Dad won’t trip over Dillon at nighttime, ha ha. The tags have Mom’s phone number on them too in case we ever get lost, and instead of hanging from our collars they attach to the collars themselves so they don’t jingle and our names won’t wear off. Mom got me my usual pink collar, and Dillon got his usual royal blue. We really like them!

Well, those are some of our recent adventures! I hope you will be hearing from me a lot more soon!

P.S. I want to show you some photos of the snow we had – I’ll post them soon – Mom doesn’t have them on her new computer yet.

More (and More, and More) Kittycats

Hi, all you great people who read my blog!  I wasn’t going to write because the only interesting thing that’s happened lately had to do with ANOTHER kittycat and I am tired of writing about kittycats.  But, Mom told me she thought people might like to read about this kittycat and since there haven’t been any other adventures happening, I said I would write about it.

 

So, the other day I was out in my yard.  It was a nice sunny day and I was having fun running around.  Then, I noticed that there was a black kittycat sitting on the other side of the fence under a shrub.  I barked and barked and barked and that kittycat wouldn’t run away.  I barked louder and ran around and around the yard and jumped up on the fence.  Dad put up an extra fence in that part of our yard to keep Dillon from sitting next to the fir trees (they drop sticky stuff all over him) so the kittycat was 2 fences away from me and I couldn’t get at it.  I jumped and barked and ran around in circles and that kittycat just sat there.  Finally Mom came out to see what was happening and when she came to  the fence that kittycat ran away across the neighbor lady’s yard and into her shed.  Mom says she wondered why that kittycat would just sit there for so long, but she went inside again because she thought I was done barking.  Then a little noise came from the shrub that sounded like “MEW MEW MEW!”  I barked and barked and barked again, and that little noise kept going.  Mom came out to the fence again to see why I was so upset, and she heard the little noise.  Well, my mom just marched right around into the neighbor lady’s yard and looked under that shrub, and there was one teeny tiny baby kittycat.  It couldn’t even open it eyes.  Mom cuddled up that baby kittycat and took it over to the neighbor lady’s shed.  She did that because the black kittycat was its mama.  My mom saw the mama kittycat hiding in a high-up place in the shed, so she found a chair cushion in the shed and put the teeny baby kittycat on the cushion so the mama could come down and get the baby without being barked at.  Then Mom went around the corner to watch and see what the mama kittycat would do.  Sure enough, the mama jumped down and carried the baby away.  Mom was glad and hopes the baby will grow up safely. 

 

When Mom came back into the house, she said she wished she wouldn’t find anymore animal babies, because it makes her sad when they are alone and scared and crying.  Mom says she is the neighborhood “Animal Rescue” because she is always taking people’s dogs back to them when they get out of their yards, and things like that.  I still think it’s silly that my Mom cares so much about kittycats, but I’m glad she is sensitive to animals because it helps us know even more how much she loves us!

For Hershey!

Hi again everyone!  I got another great comment from Hershey awhile back.  I already talked about some of these things in a return comment, but I thought I would answer his questions and discuss his comments here.  He said:

 

Hi Jackie~
Yes, my boy has turned into a “teenager” too. (Whatever that is). He still plays alot with me though and lets me sleep with him in his bed every night. We spend alot of time in his room. He lets me be in there with him all the time.

My mom takes me for alot of walks. I like to sniff all of the stuff around, but I never see cats.

What kind of food do you get to eat?? My people eat alot of stuff I don’t get to eat.

Hershey, I think when a boy turns into a “teenager” it means that he gets a lot bigger and lays around on the couch most of the time, and he plays with a loud thing called a “guitar” a lot in his room!  I think it’s nice that you get to sleep in your boy’s room.  I don’t sleep on my boy’s bed because my boy sleeps with his bedroom door closed and sometimes I have to get up at night and go outside…I like our special door because I can just go when I need to!  Do you have a special dog door?  Dillon and I sleep next to Mom at night on our big pillow on the floor with our quilt, but Dillon likes to lie on the carpet by the bedroom door.  Mom usually has him lie down on the pillow at first hoping he will stay there because he has a hard time getting up in the morning when he hasn’t been sleeping on something soft, but he gets up after a little while and finds a spot on the floor! 

 

I bet you have a lot of fun on your walks!  What kinds of critters do you see and smell on your walks? What is your neighborhood like, with no cats?

 

About food, Dillon and I eat our regular dog food for meals, and we do get special dog snacks.  When Mom has yogurt we get to lick the little cup the yogurt comes in after Mom is done.  And, sometimes when Mom has ice cream we get to lick the bowl when she is done – if there’s no chocolate in the ice cream!  In the mornings, one of our favorite things to eat is a bit of crust from our boy Benjamin’s sandwich when Mom makes his lunch!  He doesn’t like crust on his sandwiches, so Mom cuts them off and then we get to have a little bite.  I don’t get to eat a lot of extras, partly because Mom thinks it isn’t healthy, and partly because I get a tummyache.  When dad has pizza, he usually will give us some crust, but just a little!  Mom certainly doesn’t give us grapes or raisins (see my recent post Poison!), and she recently heard that avocadoes are bad for dogs too.  We can have green beans (although Dillon doesn’t like them) and Mom has fed me one or two broccolis before but she just read that broccoli can be bad for dogs in large amounts, so she says she won’t give me any more just in case.  Actually, Mom was talking to another mom at a “Flyball” competition, and that other mom said that when her dog is getting chubby she just gives her dog green beans to eat for “a couple of weeks”.  My mom thought that was awfully extreme!  But, I do like green beans and I get to have 2 or 3 when my family has them at dinner.

 

Thanks, Hershey!  I sure like reading your comments.  I hope we can talk more in the future!