Iams ProActive Canned Cat Food Recall

This may be old news but it's worth repeating.  Iams has recalled its canned ProActive Health cat food because it doesn't contain the proper levels of thiamine.  If fed exclusively it can lead to death in felines.  Please take note!
Dates stamped on the bottom of the can are from 09/2010 to 06/2012.

My Own Animal Blog

I've moved my blog to AnimalsThatGivePause.Com. The look isn't perfect yet but I'm getting there. Please change your bookmarks if you would. I have to import my blog list, twitter, etc. etc. Please pardon my lack of commenting. If you knew how intimate I'd been with my control panel (NOT MY FAULT) last week you would understand completely. Dispatch has been hanging off of my arm while I type, he's really sad I haven't had much time for him.

Because I'm a glutton for punishment I just had to use wordpress to install another blog on some other webspace I have. The blog is about me and computers, politics, Linux, Mac, html and what I don't know about it and how that is dangerous........
Tresa's Blog

A Road Trip And Random Thoughts As Always

Road trip! I'm going to live with my husband for a steady basis for the first time in over 3 months! Kids and cops next door watching house, I'm leaving sometime tonight or tomorrow. Anyway I'm putting Dispatch (bichon, spoiled dog, thinks he's boss if you are new here) in a crate, we experimented with the crate this morning in the car and it didn't eliminate the banshee howling and barking in the car but it did lessen it considerably, he was quiet in 2 miles instead of 20. I didn't say he stayed quiet. But I couldn't fit the big pink crate in and take what I needed to take so we had to use the little gray one, he can barely stand up in it but he can turn around. We will see how this goes.

Can you see the cat?
Can you see him now?

Do you think Paris the tomcat is trying to tell me something? I will miss him but he will be here when I get back. He is a loyal kitty. The others, not so much. I would like to take Paris and Roof to TX but two cats and a bichon in a camper? Maybe they could stay but I would have to move out I'm sure.

Cats will be fed up here, they will probably migrate next door to my cousins house, the lawns run into each other, roof kitty is already down there, her kitty Nathan is nice to it or he hasn't beat it up yet which is better than the kitten got from these cats. Skeeter the old old dog will move down there, she's a joint custody dog. Roof kitty bit me yesterday, I caught it and it was scared because Fema the schnauzer was there. Roof would come to me before, don't know if she/he will now or not.

Oh and on Roof Kitty, I asked my cousin if I could bring it down, first I asked if it could be an inside kitten, that was a negative. So my cousins awake, I'm awake, we do the waking up email thing, I call down to tell them I'm on my way down with the kitten, her husband answers the phone. I said I'm bringing the cat down, he said CAT??? I said you didn't know about the kitty did you? He said no. I tell him it will all be OK, he won't even know kitty is around. They have had LOTS of cats before he was sort of kidding (I think?). I said if Roof came back to my house I would take it to TX with me. Since it bit me I'm not sure if that was a good thought? Plus I didn't have room for one big crate in the car much less one big crate and one little crate?

Boy I just saved myself some embarrassment!! I thought the counter down @ the bottom said 48,800 and not 46,800, I put it on my facebook that I had almost 50,000, that doesn't count though, they are mostly relatives with a few friends, they know me very well. Sure glad I didn't say anything about how many views I have aren't you?

(But If I'm not on the internet when I hit 50,000 whoo hooo and thank you, now the advertisers need to come out of le proverbial woodwork!)

Did you know if you get one of those handy dandy google page rank things (more commonly known as part of the google toolbar) you can tell how popular a page is or how popular google thinks it is? Mine says 2 out of 10 BTW, I had to have @ least a 1 to join blog explosion I think and it was 1 @ the time and that's how I knew this. But @ least for me the google page rank goes to 7 out of 10 when you go to new post on your blog. That really had me worried for a bit but it does it on all of my blogs so it must be because everyones new post page registers the same, you know what I mean, don't think too hard, it will be OK.

Won't have internet for a few days so.........I'm tethering my phone to my laptop I think, seems to be the cheapest easiest option, don't have it started yet because I want to test it and we barely have wireless service here much less 3G. Other than that my dog is doing the banshee howl because I am eating and he is in the crate. I emptied the the refrigerator of anything that would spoil in a week or two or a month or so, he is not starving, trust me, he had quite a bit of chicken and had cheese for a treat in his crate, plus his normal dog food that sits around ignored. That is how you are supposed to train them, just give them treats in their crate, he's like Ok, I'll go in here and eat the treat but I want out if there's nothing more in it for me and there's something interesting going on outside like food being consumed! He's 6 and he goes in the crate now when I ask, I think he's doing very well. Granted I have to stand by said crate and sometimes I have to plead a bit but I never have to do the shove and shut door anymore which is the only way he used to go in a crate.

Anyway will miss youall, see ya soon!

Bichon Frise, Cockapoo Puppy, Kitten Photos

These photos are of the infamous Dispatch, my Bichon Frise who is 6 now, you can read more about him and how spoiled he is in older posts here. We also have Charlie my daughters Cockapoo. Charlie doesn't sit still much, I was lucky to get this photo. Don't know if all Cockapoos are like this or not, he is 9 months old and he loves to bite Dispatches ears, which puts Charlie in mortal danger of being eaten by a Bichon or @ least Dispatch would like to make Charlie think so? Charlie really is cute, he's rather active compared to how Dispatch was when he was a puppy and all the other small dogs I've had. Charlie is rather active compared to the energizer bunny and can go longer.





This is Dispatch the Bichon. He relaxes quite well, this was his first bed, my brothers enamelware baby bathtub, it was sitting next to a heater which evidently felt good on his belly. Taken in Garage I don't decorate like this! He was about 5 months here. When I cleaned the bed out @ first I found a tennis shoe in it, toothbrush, forks?, assorted doggie treats, paper, and every inkpen we had dropped for months. They were all carefully hidden under the blanket.




This is Dispatch and my children and part of the grandkids Christmas 2003. Notice how I snuck them in here?















This is one tired Bichon Puppy (ungroomed of course, barely had a haircut, he was a Tasmanian devil @ 6 weeks old if you approached with the brush or scissors). Dispatch was 4 months or 5 months here, he was going from cute fat puppy to picky adolescent.







Can you see the kitten? These pictures were taken yesterday.
Can you see it now?

How about NOW?
I can catch it, it would rather be petted than eat. It was going to rain the other day so I took it around to the front steps which are protected. The kitten kept getting in the pickup, in the motor. Not a good deal. I put the kitten back in it's tree. It's eating from the roof. Eventually the big cats will leave it alone I think?

Bichon Frise Puppy Photos And More

I found bunches of bichon frise baby pictures, well they are bichon frise adolescent pictures and one baby puppy picture you haven't seen yet. If you are new here my bichons name is Dispatch and I bought him as a poodle. This dog didn't know the word brush till he was like 6 months old which is obvious, bichons are hard to brush sometimes and he said no way. Me being the wimp that I am said OK whatever you want snookyplum and what we have now is the result of me being said wimp. I think all of these were taken around Christmas of 2003 except for the baby bichon picture, that was taken in September. I'm just so happy I found these and my other pictures.

This is his dog in charge pose, actually he's having withdrawal after I got out of the chair, I thought my office/family room was cluttered NOW, looks great compared to then, notice the microwave behind the door! He's saying hey where'd she go, she might get away and then I will be by myself, help help.........he really does have two ears, don't know what he did with the other one.






He obviously liked to stay on top of things, he looks rather rough here doesn't he, it's cold and snowy. His looks would have been greatly improved if I'd known how to trim a bichon. That's my daughter being supportive. He's saying I am ruler of all I survey, which is one of his favorite sayings I believe, remember this is actually a garage these pictures were taken in. I believe he jumped on her back when she bent over beside a chair and that's how we got the idea for this picture, he climbs.




I guess he was in the tutu when he was smaller too? No wonder he wasn't upset when I put it on him last summer? My granddaughters first Halloween costume, she looked like a marshmallow with a tutu on.











Here we have relaxed bichon frise puppy laying by daddies boots. I adore the fat little tummy too. I didn't have my new camera then so I'm not sure exactly how old he was then but he was smaller like 1/2 or 1/3 that size when we got him. And yes we still have that lovely orange/green furniture, my mother ordered it special when they built this house and it's still with us. I do cover it up though. Couch is COMFY and long enough for two to lay down!





More bichon frise puppy pictures tomorrow or soon after. I found these because I was looking for some other dog pictures to explain a strange coincidence and an interesting story. More about that later in the week. My kitten (whom I'm thinking of calling Roof, see posts immediately preceding this one) now allowed me to pet it, while feeding it canned cat food, it's still on the roof. Tomorrow I hope it comes to me when I don't have canned cat food? We will see. Too much going on to try feeding it @ the door.

Two other things I found today, the Eagles were set to record their Very Best Of Album on September 11, 2001, they didn't obviously. They then wrote There's a Hole In The World due to that experience (maybe you knew that? I didn't know that), LINK.

Also I played this game compulsively for about an hour this afternoon, I did get almost 3000, I think the more points the better? Knock yourself out. Cat Herder Link

The lawn is mowed and I MIGHT get to go to TX to see husband soon for a few days? We will see.

One more thing if you have been following the story of my labrador Mugsey and how he passed away last week. I swear he following is true, dog lovers will believe me, others will call me a liar, I don't know what he was thinking but I know what he did.

I was folding clothes this evening on the bed, usually Dispatch likes to be in the middle of what I am doing, especially folding clothes, I think he likes to get his butt on the dishtowels if you want to know what I think, I usually try to avoid that. He was just laying there looking @ me like he expected me to do something while I was folding, I asked him what? Do you want something? Then I thought, he understands words and simple sentences, have I told him Mugsey is gone? I said Mugsey is no more, he went bye bye, he's dead, gone, no more Mugsey. I know this sounds rather harsh but we are talking trying to get through to a dog here. When I told Dispatch with every bit of the sentence his eyes would narrow and finally he was blinking blinking like he was fighting tears? Boy Scouts honor. He does lift his paw like it's hurt when I leave the house sometimes so I know he knows sadness and how to convey it, I thought I'd seen him cry before but this was just totally weird and sad @ the same time.

A Kitten, A Bichon Frise, And a Ships Captain, Plus Another Dog Blog

I've got a couple pictures of Dispatch my bichon, with his words of wisdom of course down @ the bottom where we talk about dogs. I have semi sad news to report about my "new" kitten. The cat whom I presumed was the kittens mother now hates the kitten and beats up on it @ every opportunity which means the kitten doesn't get down out of tree or off roof much, it will get down if I call it but then the presumed mama cat beats up on it before it can eat (mama cats name is meany and she is living up to it). I've been putting canned cat food in the tree so the other cats can't get it (or they won't because who wants to climb a tree for food when it's so much closer on the cat shelf) I spilled it on myself last night which was cute, have you ever tried to get canned cat food to stick to the top of branches, while on the top of an eight foot step ladder with a fork in the dusk, try it sometime for fun! Tonight I was outside talking on the phone and the kitten followed me around the house on the roof meowing it's pitiful meow so I fed it and gave it some water up there. Hopefully I can catch said kitten tomorrow. Don't know what good that will do but I can probably put it inside to feed it instead of on the roof which looks pretty strange. Said kitten appeared on the day my other dog was put to sleep if you are new here, so I feel kitten MUST stay alive and happy.

Now onto other things I discovered while I was surfing this morning.

This is a really cool link with a story about the ship captain that was held by pirates. LINK NOT what you expect, it's about garbage, neat blog altogether too. The story is about garbage, not the blog, it's a dog blog.

This is a cautionary tale about kids and dogs, well actually about newborns and dogs that are not far from being wolves. LINK

And this is an animal blog that doesn't have many followers that deserves many more and is a wealth of information, it's funny @ times too. LINK

I've been trying to get Dispatch the bichon frise to be shall we say more civilized, before we get a new puppy, IF we get a puppy. So we've started on the crate training again, if nothing else so he can ride in the car in it and all will be fine and we will ride into the sunset (can we say the human is delusional?) He doesn't bother me crawling all over the place (OK I do have buttons for snow or sport mode on the console and he's always pushing them (if he is up front trying to touch MOMMY) but it makes life interesting if the car suddenly lurches, it doesn't really but it does drive differently?) (Oh and he rolls down the windows if I forget to lock them, I swear he knows what he's doing with that one), but I'm thinking if I teach him to stay in the crate and be quiet he will do it in the car too? This is what Dispatch thinks a crate is good for. And yes he is staring out the window, waiting still. BTW the end tables and coffee tables and desks are also good places for a dog to sit or lay or use as a ladder.


















This is the dog saying OK where is the treat now, I'm in the stupid thing, I do get a treat now or I'll quit getting in here.















This is him saying OK I'm in here what more do you want? Is he looking happy? Actually he is much better now. I know the crate is too big but his crate is almost too small, this is Mugseys old crate, he was a tad too big for it. But you can teach an old dog new tricks (I think? unless he's just toying with my emotions which is entirely possible). Have you ever heard the bichon breed is one of the most stubborn? I like to call it determined. Maybe obsessive? I did brush him after these pictures I promise.