Pets #74: Social Petworking

Ok, this is just too much! Blogging for our pets! I don’t even blog for myself! Anyway, it’s fun to see what’s out there and what people are up to. Of the websites suggested, I couldn’t resist registering on Animalattraction.com, since donations are involved. The registration was very straight forward. I’ll try to log on often and encourage family members to do the same. It has cute names for its categories, like “My Den” for my profile and “Pet Pals” for others who would access my blog. Not sure about the feature, “Pet Parent Search”, where you look for other pet owners in your vicinity – if it were breed specific, I could understand it a little better, but…again, it interesting to know what other people are up to.
The other websites were good to know about, especially the ones to do with health and the one for great deals.

Pets #73: Losing a Friend

1. I found the ASPCA website very helpful and easy to use. I really wish I had had this information before we euthanized our last dog. Knowing when the time is “right” is a very difficult decision and this website helped give some pointers. I also really wish I had this website’s information about the actual euthanization process before. You always hear about animals being “put to sleep” and that’s what I expected and I was quite shocked when I did not actually see it happen that way. The ASPCA is a well known organization and I would recommend its website to others.
The Humane Society is also a well known organization and its information about pet loss can be helpful. I would probably refer patrons to this site as well as the ASPCA site for this reason and also because they offer other additional information for pet owners.
2. Dealing with pet loss is very difficult. I was with our last dog, Shamal (Arabic for sandstorm), when she was euthanized and I swore I would never do that again (be present for the euthanization) but now that we have another dog, Karma, I’m sure I would, for her sake. Having a pet is totally worth it in terms of love and companionship, even when the relationship must end.

Pets #72: Pet Health Online

1. My dog, Karma's real age turns out to be 33.6, which DogAge says is 13.9 years younger than the average for her breed. She is actually 8 in actual years. The site is interesting, but as happens with these quizes, sometimes the choices for answers were often limiting. The website does offer what could be useful information in relation to the outcome of the quiz and how to improve your dog's health.

2. Karma is actually pretty fit, mainly because we take her for daily walks (usually daily, anyway) and she walks at a fast clip, considering she is a small animal - sometimes we have to walk a little faster than we want to in order to keep us with her! Sounds like we already do "Power Dog Walks with Intervals", suggested by Petfit.

One of the things I guess we could try that was listed on Petfit was "Fetch Races", where we would try to race and get the fetched item before Karma could - fun!

Pets #71: Finding a Pet

I took the Pet Picker Quiz and found out the suggested pet for me is (drum roll)... a ferret! I am so offended! Well, actually I guess there is a little physical resemblance (furry and cute) to my Shih Tzu.

I did a pet search on Pet Harbor and thought I would search for ferrets - there were none found at all but there are hundreds of rabbits and one hamster.

I found the websites Petfinder and Pet Harbor to be useful for adopting pets in that you can actually see pictures of the adoptable animals and descriptions - that can save alot of legwork for prospective owners.