Losing a Dog is Beyond Difficult - Dedication to Our Dog

I never believed I would create a dedication page for a dog; I love them, of course; it's just that we've owned cats most of our lives. Only cats. 

However, our life changed in 2009 when we adopted a nine-year-old dog from an elderly family member. She was our first family dog.

The biggest reason we never committed to owning a dog in the past was the realization that a dog was very much like raising a child: As dog owners already know, they require a great deal of attention, and of course, there's a lot of work involved. 

Having raised many kids, we knew only too well what the demands were, and until we could fully commit, we would never just casually jump into dog ownership.

Unfortunately, the inspiration for this article comes from people close to me who recently lost their dog, but mostly from our own hearts ... 

Our precious dog was called to doggie heaven earlier this year (2015). She was elderly, and it was her time, but that didn't make one speck of difference; the pain of losing her was fierce.

We were all present with her as she underwent the procedure to end her suffering. There were seven of us with her: my husband and I, our four sons, and our second son's girlfriend. 

My second son insisted that we all be there for her, he said "she deserved that, she gave us unconditional love for five years" ... he said, "we owe her our presence during her hour of need". I'm not kidding you, that's how he put it. Although I was moved by what he said, I told him it was up to each person whether they could deal with seeing her lose her life, and in the end, everyone decided they could handle it, and everyone wanted to be there, for her.

I called the boys and my husband from the Pet Hospital to let them know it was time, and they showed up with an ice cream from Dairy Queen for her as a final treat. Still breaks me up to think of that.

For those who've been through this, you know only too well how brutal it is. I have never seen so many grown men cry at one time. We went through two boxes of tissue. We stayed in that room with

Here She is, On One of Our Many Christmas Eve's

her for two hours before we could all agree to let her go. We all held her and told her how much we loved her. The boys took it so hard. In typical mom style, I kept it together for them, but later, I wept in my own quiet and private moment at home.

Our 'girl dog' (my nickname for her sometimes) made everyone smile. As soon as the boys walked through the front door, they called her, and she'd come running and barking, and that tail would always be wagging. She was loving and gentle. She was the boss. She had all the power. And everyone loved that. That little Shih-Tzu taught us what it means to love a dog.

When she passed, I couldn't sit at home and work for at least three days. She was my sidekick and very attached to me. Wherever I was in the house, you could count on finding her nearby. She slept in her doggie bed while I worked. She was a sweet girl; I miss her. 

Not one of us could be in the house the day she left us. We all headed to the arena to watch two of the boys play hockey. Sitting in that house without her on that first day may qualify as one of our most empty feelings.

This Christmas will be our first in five years without our girl-dog romping through the holiday wrappings. But we know she'll be running around spreading doggie love in heaven this Christmas.

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Realistic Cat Tree With Leaves

Today (October 29th) is Cat Day and I'm missing my cats. Oreo's been gone over a year now, so our household has been cat-less for some time. I'm not sure when we'll be ready to add a feline to the family, but I have decided that when that time comes, the new kitty will be treated like royalty, as no doubt she (or he) will demand. First order, buy kitty a deluxe cat tree and I've found the one I want. Take a look.

Is this not an awesome accessory for a household with a cat? Frankly, the picture doesn't do it justice so let me describe this for you in more detail.

This realistic cat tree with leaves is approximately 5 feet high with a nice heavy base that's 26 inches in diameter. Hidden among its silk leaves are three platforms on which my future cat (or yours) can sit, recline, play, sleep, or, most importantly, hide as he keeps a close eye on his surroundings. Isn't that awesome?

I already have a spot picked out for our cat's cat tree, next to the window in my office. The room could use a green plant there anyway, even a silk one. It's certainly prettier than a carpeted cat tree or wooden cat condo, but what I like best is that cats can feel hidden and safe as they nestle in the "branches," exercising their instinct for spying.

People who own this tree say that it looks nice in their homes and their cats love it. The cats quickly learn how to go from one platform to the next and they use the bottom of the trunk for scratching, which is definitely a good thing.

The tree arrives in four pieces and assembles quickly and easily. The entire piece weighs 40 pounds, so it should be quite stable even for larger cats.

The tree is a bit on the pricey side but mid-range in the selection of cat trees with leaves that I found and that you can see, too, on the CatsPlay.com site. I would encourage you to check out this page for other alternatives both to fit your budget and your lifestyle. In fact, if you have both more space and a bigger budget than mine, don't miss this large Sapling Cat Tree that is hand crafted from real trees and includes multiple levels, silk leaves, plus a cat-sized covered house at the bottom. Wow, it's amazing!

If you have a cat, be sure to give it some special attention today even if it isn't officially Cat Day when you read this. All pets deserve special treatment every day. Do let me know if you'll be treating yours to one of these fabulous cat trees and which one you like best.

~ Susan Deppner

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Train Your Cat to Use the Toilet

Kitty Toilet Training Kit!

They actually have Training Tools for this!

Back in the 1970's we had a very smart Siamese cat who learned to do this, but believe it or not we DID NOT train him!

True Story

In the middle of the night my dad, the jokster teaser type, woke up to use the washroom in the master bedroom ... before he could do his business, he sees our Cat squatting on the toilet taking a pee-poop (cause the cat did both on the toilet!) .... I can just imagine dad's expression!

The next morning he told Mom and the rest of us about it, and NONE of us believed him, we just thought he was joking as usual.

Well, mom was the next person to see our Cat do his magic, then I was the third.

Our cat learned this simply by watching people in the bathroom. WOW - Now that should scare the heck out all of us.  He was so incredibly smart!

When our neighbor would watch our cat, she only had to flush the toilets. Can you imagine telling your cat sitter, 'there's no litter to change, just freshen up the food dishes and flush the toilets' ... and be sure the lids are always up! When I think back, I can hardly believe it.

I've read online about these kitty toilet training kits featured above, but if your cat is smart enough to learn by watching like ours was, then save the money and just let them in to observe on a regular basis!

Here's a video from YouTube that shows you how to train your cat to use the toilet

I like to think my Cat was a Pioneer, after all, he didn't require training, and mastered this in the 70's before Kitty knew he could get famous on YouTube.

I should add, although we've had many pet cats since this little genius, not one of them was able to duplicate this ... and we've never attempted a training. He still holds the record in our house for the 'most outstanding cat of his and many generations'.

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You Can Own a Rare Richard Burns Print, Signed by the Artist

Richard Burns Art Prints are Available Online

*Click any photo to buy the prints at Amazon.com

Thru the Pass by Richard Burns

I'm totally biased because he's my husband but I love Richard Burns' art. This year he released a few prints from his archives that are now available at Amazon.

All of the prints are from the 1990's when he did a series of wild animals. Each print was created in a batch of from 500-2000 prints only, and signed and numbered.  After the initial run many of them sold out, but somehow we ended up with around 10-20 prints of some of the animals, so Richard released them this year.

My favorite one is his Snow Leopard perched on a rock. The wound up energy is palpable! It's called Winter's Veil and was one of his most popular prints. His other Snow Leopard is also a best seller called Thru the Pass. (yes we know it's misspelled, but that's how it was printed so we're stuck with it now.) It's the one pictured above. Below is Winter's Veil.

Winter's Veil by Richard Burns

We have a friend who has all his "cat prints" as he calls them on one wall of his house. The Snow Leopard ones are my favorite and he has them in the middle of that wall. Then on the end of the wall is a huge print of Tigers, called Icy Courtship. (Another best seller of Rich's.)

Icy Courtship by Richard Burns

Rich seems to have a way with animals as the Los Angeles Zoo had him go into the cages to paint these magnificent animals in their habitat, for a series of cards he did for them. He did coyotes and wolves too, and swans and owls. But the cats were the best sellers and continue to be used on calendars, mugs, puzzles, needlework kits, and t shirts.

Still there's nothing like a wonderful art print on your wall to remind you every day of the animals who used to roam  whole continents.  So just click on any of the prints you see here if you are interested in purchasing. They won't last, so best to get over there soon.

Which cat print is your favorite?

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Reviewing Bats in Time for Halloween

Not-So-Scary Side of Bats

Bats and Halloween just seem to go nicely together. Those wonderful mammals are associated with the spooky side of Halloween. From fright night activities to Dracula's alter ego, bats just lend themselves to the spooky. But are they really so bad? It's time to review the world of bats.

Yes, I am an animal lover and an animal rescuer. Well, you have to love animals to be able to rescue them as a professional. But my passion for animals goes beyond the sweet fluffy ones. All wildlife plays it's part in keeping our entire world in check. That includes those so-called spooky bats.

Can you imagine how hard it would be for you to enjoy a warm summer evening without the benefit of bats? You would be over run with flying insects, literally. Bats have a voracious appetite when it comes to those pesky and biting insects. Enjoying bats in your neighborhood means you don't need to use chemicals to keep mosquitoes away.

Bat Lover Design Mugs by BuckHawk
Browse Bat Mugs online at Zazzle.com

We can also thank bats for helping to keep the destructive insects out of our farms. Which translates into less chemical sprays on our food supplies, higher yields and lower prices in the grocery store.

OK, so now you've gotten just a few of those great reasons to love bats. Well, you don't have to actually love them, but you can tolerate and support them in your world. There are plenty of ways to support the efforts of those saving the bat population. The Not-So-Scary Side of Bats gives you lots of ways along with videos of some adorable orphaned baby bats and how bats use echolocation to find their food source.

Bats for Halloween are fun, but bats in real life more fun. Time to review your own attitude about bats. 

 


Posted by: BuckHawk

About This Contributor

BuckHawk decribes herself as "Basically a lazy person who prefers the easy things in life." So that's what she writes about. Easy home decorating, easy recipes, easy entertaining. But, she is also a lover of animals, gardening and crafting. You'll find her writing all over the Web, but with Review This Reviews! she has the opportunity to write about all of her loves.

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