You’ll love this video of a black cat named Oscar. The kitty made medical history recently with his groovy new artificial cat feet. Oscar (no, not myOscar!) lost both of his hind legs in a combine accident. Ouch.
Watch to see him wake up from surgery and immediately start walking again. It’s enough to make the Grinch’s heart grow 10 times, plus two. The new prostheses will allow Oscar to jump and run like other cats. Read more about Oscar’s story at CNN.
You read about the reaction of my cats, Choco and Oscar, to Feline Holistic Select wet food. Now, how did the dry food fare with these picky felines?
They love it. While the cats weren’t wild for Holistic Select’s wet food recipes, they were extremely enthusiastic over their dry food: Feline Radiant Adult & Kitten Health Chicken Meal Recipe and Feline Radiant Adult Health Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meals Recipe. (Many more varieties are available.)
My cats used to love Pet Promise cat food, but many of you know that the food, which was sourced from family farms, was discontinued a few months ago. Continue reading »
When asked by email whether they’d like to review a particular cat food, both Choco and Oscar, being the gluttons they are, eagerly agreed. A package of Feline Holistic Select dry food and two cans of wet food arrived shortly thereafter. (Coming up next, the review of Feline Holistic Select dry food.)
They are most ravenous for their wet food first thing in the morning, so that’s when they had the Duck & Chicken Recipe wet food for cats and kittens.
Oscar, a kitten still and the more finicky of the two, took a whiff and walked away. Choco, my seven-year-old darling, dove in and stayed for a bit, but never finished the serving. Oscar returned later for a second whiff and repeat performance. There you have it — one of two cats like the taste.
When the cats tried another variety of the wet food, Salmon & Shrimp Recipe, Oscar went for it and ate the whole serving while Choco hesitated and merely nibbled.
In general, my cats tend to be much more finicky when it comes to wet food, but they liked Holistic Select much better than the last new wet food I offered to them: Halo Spot’s Stew, which seemed to greatly offend them though they like Halo’s dry food. For reasons I don’t understand, my cats regularly turn down more natural and even organic wet food to go for Fancy Feast! I’m encouraged though my their response to this wet food. Plus, there are three more varieties we can try.
If you’re a lover of big cats, as well as our small feline kitty friends, you’d probably benefit from knowing the truth about ligers – created when a male lion and tigress breed. When visiting Big Cat Rescue last year, I snapped this image of their rescued liger, a handsome creature and one of the lucky ones.
While seeing a liger may be interesting, paying to see one at at place that breeds them only supports the inhumane practice. If lions and tigers are kept separate in captivity, as they should be, then there would be no room for the “accident” excuse. I know that Napoleon Dynamite says they’re his favorite, but we’ve too many natural species in this world to protect already without creating new, largely unhealthy ones. Right?
Accredited zoos don’t breed ligers. Lions and tigers don’t cross paths in the wild. If you’re not convinced it’s abusive to breed ligers or keep one as a pet, consider these facts from Big Cat Rescue :
• Ligers suffer many birth defects and usually die young
• Due to the size of ligers, the tigress mom is at risk for requiring a C-section or dying during birth
• They devour around 50 pounds of raw meat in a meal. Not a practical pet!
As part of the Together We Can Recycle campaign, Fancy Feast will donate $2 today (instead of just $1) for every recycling pledge they receive.
If you haven’t pledged to recycle your kitty’s wet food cans, do it now. It just takes a click! Also, please help spread the word on Twitter about the special donation offered today. I’m PeggyR in Twitterland.
I know what you may be thinking. Isn’t it better for the environment to just feed dry food instead of opening up all those cans? I’ve heard that argument several times, but it’s just not what’s best for kitty cat.
Felines aren’t natural water drinkers. They’d much rather eat a juicy mouse or other small prey in the wild. However, since they’re hanging out in your house, where it’s safe, they need help to get more water in their diet. That’s why my cat’s veterinarian said to feed wet food.
After my cat got sick from eating mostly a dry food diet a couple years ago, I’m a big believer in wet food for cats. Yet, those cans do add up. It’s most of what I take to recycling each week! And that’s exactly why it’s important for me to help lighten my cat’s paw prints on the earth by recycling and hopefully encouraging you to as well.
This issue of Saturday’s Stairs is bought to you by my cat in a basket, Choco. I replaced a glass fruit bowl with this wire basket for safety after the vase incident, but Choco thinks it’s his bed.
In case you don’t know, I’m a fan of the always fun and informative “Ask Umbra” column over at Grist. This week Umbra took on the question of how to repel wasps without killing them.
Speaking of the outdoors, would you ever consider adding a cute little prefab OfficePOD to your backyard? It may be what your work-at-home soul needs. SHFT featured them recently. (Yeah, I’m an “Entourage” fan, and that’s how I made my way to Adrian Grenier and Peter Glatzer’s new eco site, SHFT. It’s nice, though it can take a while to load.)
Now that we’re on the topic of work, have you ever considered that your tax dollars may be supporting someone’s bottled water habit? Eek! Find out more at Growing a Green Family.
You may not always be able to control how your tax dollars are spent, but if you’re car shopping soon, you can hopefully keep your dollars green. The Kelley Blue Book is now ranking their top 10 green vehicles for you, and Wallet Pop Green can direct you there. Yeah, it’s a bit strange to see SUVs on a green auto list, but I suppose some families are large enough to actually need them.
Finally, are you, like me, still looking for a very last-minute Mother’s Day gift? Check out a mega list of suggestions at Green Options then figure it out right now. Stop procrastinating.
While most news stations are focusing on the massive flooding which hit Nashville, Tenn., there’s another city a two hour drive from Memphis that has been declared a major disaster area. That city is Dyersburg, Tenn. And it happens to be where I grew up!
Though I no longer live there, I still greatly appreciate the ASPCA for reaching out to rescue more than 70 companion animals and various birds from floodwaters, trees, rooftops and abandoned homes in the Dyersburg city limits.
In case you haven’t been following the news, many Tenn. residents experienced flooding, even though some of the affected areas weren’t considered flood zones. Just as the residents weren’t expecting flooding, they probably also weren’t expecting that someone would need to rescue their pets. This is why groups like the ASPCA and Humane Society are so very important. They’re available for your pets when you can’t be.
The rescued animals in Dyersburg are mostly owned pets, but their owners have been displaced due to flooding from the Forked Deer River. While some of the pets have been claimed, the ASPCA and other groups will keep providing support as long as they’re needed in the area.
“We’re grateful for the ASPCA’s assistance, and to our own staff and volunteers, all of whom have been working non-stop to help animals that are abandoned or lost. We want to save all the animals we can–that’s our job,” said Dr. Carol Feather, president and co-founder of the Dyersburg-Dyer County Humane Society.
A couple of days ago, we talked about encouraging pet food makers to use sustainably sourced fish, but there’s another really big thing you can do to save the earth when it comes to pets.
Recycle those pet food cans. Recycling is so easy, and it’s habit-forming (in a good way).
You can do it, and today — the 40th anniversary of Earth Day — is a wonderful time to start. Visit earth911.com for recycling locations near you.
Friskies® and Fancy Feast®, along with Keep America Beautiful®, are raising awareness about aluminum pet food can recycling, and they want you to take the Together We Can pledge to start making a difference. It’s just a simple click, no annoying forms, but you might also enjoy checking out the rest of the fun and informative website, TogetherWeCanRecycle.com.
Did you know that recycling one aluminum 3oz pet food can saves enough energy to run a 60 watt light bulb for more than two hours? Those cans may be little, but they can make a big difference. Get more recycling facts. And for a bit of fun, check out the gallery of “cats” made from aluminum pet food cans!
The pet painting contest:
After you take the pledge to recycle your aluminum pet food cans, leave a comment on this post. (The pledge requires only a click, no forms!) The lucky winner will receive a beautiful custom oil painting of their family pet. Popular animal artist Alexis Trice will use the winner’s selected photo to create a 12” x 16” painting. Alexis has been featured in Dog Fancy magazine, City Rag and The New York Daily News.
Contest is open to US residents, and the winner must respond to my notification by email within three days. Please check your spam filters so you don’t miss out. Deadline to enter is 11 pm CST on Saturday, April 24, 2010. For more info on contests at Light Green Stairs, see disclosures.
Maybe you’ve gone green in just about every way you can imagine in your personal life and household. But have you taken a look at your pet’s diet? I know what you’re thinking.
Organic pet food can be expensive, but you have other choices if organic isn’t in the budget. For example, you can become an advocate for marine life by encouraging sustainable fishing to keep species from disappearing from our oceans.
Even if you feed organic pet food, it still may not be sustainable for fish. A lot of fish or other marine inhabitants lose their lives only to be tossed aside as an unwanted catch, or bycatch. Fishing can be a destructive practice when it’s not managed properly.
You know that cats love fish, but you may not know that a big pet food company is trying to sustainably source the fish used in their food.
Maggie at EcoSalon just wrote an informative post about the whole fishy pet food problem and how Mars, makers of Whiskas, is working with WWF to get their pet food in Europe certified by the Marine Stewardship Council before the end of this year. The change should be reflected in all of the company’s pet food by 2020. Read more about how WWF is working with the fishing industry.
Ever wonder why products tend to become more environmentally responsible in Europe before America? It may have something to do with demand! Please take a minute to email the company that makes your pet’s favorite food. Tell them you care about sustainably sourced fish.
Here are a few pet food contacts to get you started:
If you’re looking for smart books for kids with pets, especially dogs, then you’ll like the Little Skiff series from author Dany Pierard-Deviche, a former research biologist. I read the first two of five books in the Little Skiff series. Catch my plot summaries below.
Skiff, a one-year-old Shetland sheepdog nicknamed Little Sheltie or Skiff, learns he must leave friends like Kerrie the caribou in Alaska to move to his new home far away in a totally different climate in Arizona. Yet, Little Skiff has kind children to look after him and help him make the move. Before leaving Alaska, they even build him a big snowdog with dog treats hidden inside and give him a chance to say farewell to his friends. The second part of the book picks up with Little Skiff in Arizona, learning the ropes of a very different kind of place. He must get used to water which the children warn is sometimes hidden by “weeds, reeds, rush, papyrus, even algae.”
As Little Skiff is enjoying the beautiful summer in Arizona (except for the occasional dust storm), he gets into a bit of trouble from his digging. Little Skiff’s vet, Dr. Marla, explains that Valley Fever fungus lives in the ground in some areas of Arizona and spores can get into the air from digging. Little Skiff has blood tests that show he has Valley Fever, and he learns his lesson as he begins the recovery process. Readers even get a glimpse into Skiff’s X-rays! The book includes a short glossary of words like spore, fungus, debris and antibody.
My thoughts:
I enjoyed getting to know Little Skiff! He’s certainly the type of loving dog that many kids would be able to identify with. Little Skiff is a fun, respectful main character you enjoy following around. Plus, the illustrations are engaging and very plentiful.
The author explains complicated topics in a way that kids can understand. For example, Pierard-Deviche illustrates causes, symptoms and treatments of disease in Little Skiff Copes with Valley Fever by showing kids noticing their dog’s illness and taking him to the vet and caring for him during his treatment. Continue reading »
Friskies® and Fancy Feast®, along with 
Skiff, a one-year-old Shetland sheepdog nicknamed Little Sheltie or Skiff, learns he must leave friends like Kerrie the caribou in Alaska to move to his new home far away in a totally different climate in Arizona. Yet, Little Skiff has kind children to look after him and help him make the move. Before leaving Alaska, they even build him a big snowdog with dog treats hidden inside and give him a chance to say farewell to his friends. The second part of the book picks up with Little Skiff in Arizona, learning the ropes of a very different kind of place. He must get used to water which the children warn is sometimes hidden by “weeds, reeds, rush, papyrus, even algae.”
gets into a bit of trouble from his digging. Little Skiff’s vet, Dr. Marla, explains that Valley Fever fungus lives in the ground in some areas of Arizona and spores can get into the air from digging. Little Skiff has blood tests that show he has Valley Fever, and he learns his lesson as he begins the recovery process. Readers even get a glimpse into Skiff’s X-rays! The book includes a short glossary of words like spore, fungus, debris and antibody.
