Pet Meds

Yay!!!

The auction is over and thanks to a very generous bid of $100 — the winner of the Kasey The Weener Dog Statue is:

Our Good Friend Wendy From Canada!!!

((((((((( Wendy )))))))))))

Thank you so much for your bid - and thank you to everyone who participated!

Kasey will swim again this Summer! 

Here I am resting up from my surgery...

Dachshund Statue: eBay Benefit Auction

As you may or may not know, our little doxie “Kasey The Weener Dog” ruptured a disk in her neck and had to have major surgery in January 2009.  You can read about Kasey’s saga here:

http://www.petmedications-plus.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=829

On behalf of Jamey and myself we would like to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers for our little girl who has made a full recovery

I have a friend on eBay who is doing a benefit auction to help pay for Kasey’s surgery (thank you Sandy!).   She made a really cute weener dog statue and the auction is here:

http://cgi.ebay.com:80/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120397976927

If you belong to a forum or blog that would allow you to post this link to Kasey’s auction we would really appreciate it.

Thanks again — we appreciate all of you!

Warmest regards from Florida;

Mary & Jamey
((Hanna, Kasey & Maggie))

PS:  Come check out the new forum!  If you don’t remember your password - email me at maryferguson @ comcast.net  and I’ll reset it for you!  Never had a password and want to join?  Registration is free and everyone is welcome on the forum!

http://www.Pet-Speak.com/

Dachshund Statue: eBay Benefit Auction

2009
Happy New Year

Here’s a treasured New Year wish
sent specially to you.
I wish you joy beyond compare,
success in all you do

I wish you goals within your reach,
friendships true and strong.
I wish you gracious wisdom,
forgiveness when you’re wrong

I wish you days of glorious peace,
nights of wondrous rest.
I wish you strength and courage,
persistence to be your best

But most of all I wish for you,
more love than most will find,
the grandest love in all the world,
the everlasting kind

Merry Christmas - “Political Correctness”

I have made a conscious effort to wish everyone
a Merry Christmas this year …
My way of saying that I am celebrating
the birth Of Jesus Christ.

So I am asking my email buddies,
if you agree with me,
to please do the same.

And if you’ll pass this on to
your email buddies, and so on…
maybe we can prevent one more
American tradition from being lost in the sea of
“Political Correctness”.

To one and All…
Jesus is the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas - “Political Correctness”

Finally, “The 12 Days of Christmas”  Explained!

This is the one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me!  What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially a partridge in a pear tree have to do with Christmas?  And although I hate to say this - I must admit this song is also my least favorite Christmas song of all time.  However, now that I understand it and it’s TRUE meaning – I will think differently the next time I listen to it.  I shall listen to it with an open mind and an open heart.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.  Here we go!

-:¦:-  The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-:¦:-  Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-:¦:-  Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-:¦:-  Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness,  Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-:¦:-  The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

So there you have it!  This knowledge was shared with me and I found it both interesting and enlightening. Now I understand how this strange song became a Christmas Carol – pretty ingenious I must say!

¸..• ´¨¨))  -:¦:-

          ¸.•´ .•´¨¨))

        ((¸¸.•´  ..•´   -:¦:-

       -:¦:-    ((¸¸.•´* Merry (12 Days of) Christmas Everyone!

Finally, “The 12 Days of Christmas”  Explained!

Please Don’t Get a Pet For Christmas!

It’s that time of year again when people fall for tugs at their heartstrings… oh the puppies and kitties are sooooo tempting this time of year. And every year I post a caution for those who may be thinking about how wonderful it would be to get a Christmas pet. DON’T DO IT!

Christmas is NOT the time to get a pet and there are numerous reasons to back up this statement. I can’t say it any better than Jon Katz, author of Katz on Dogs: A Commonsense Guide to Choosing, Training, and Living with Dogs. He can be reached at jdkat3@aol.com

Here is what Jon Katz has to say:

Christmas morning. Jimmy and Susie rush down the stairs in their pj’s and shriek with delight. Santa has finally yielded to their incessant requests: A sweet, wriggling puppy is waiting for them beneath the tree, adorable in his big red bow. It’s love at first sight. The puppy slurps the kids’ faces then curls up on their laps. The children beam. The camcorder rolls.This could be a mess.

Even if your kids don’t pester you all year for a dog, which they probably did, TV ad campaigns and treacly movies will make sure you can picture how lovely it would be to bring a puppy home for the holidays. Don’t succumb.

Why is a Christmas dog a mistake?

First, because no animal should be a surprise. The arrival of a dog changes a household considerably—for years. Someone has to take responsibility for their daily needs—feeding, exercise, health care, grooming. The decision should be thought about, talked about, negotiated. A new dog, not necessarily a puppy, either, should be the result of a process, not an impulse.

Kids can be unreliable; kids change. The puppy melts their hearts for a few days or weeks. But then it needs to be walked every day (in the rain). It needs careful attention to its feeding and eliminating if it’s going to be housebroken effectively. It needs to be taught not to jump on Grandma. The kids oohing and aahing under the tree will soon move on to IMing and texting their friends. Few children outside of 4-H programs and Future Farmers of America want to be tied down to conscientious animal care, and their parents are often no more enthusiastic. Reality will soon supersede the Christmas morning fantasy.

The bigger problem with the Christmas pup is that good dogs are usually unavailable for holiday giving. Hardly any ethical dog provider will support the idea of a dog as a surprise present. Good breeders have carefully constructed breeding programs that are rarely tied to the idea of seasonal gifts, unless arrangements have been made with people they know well far in advance. Breeders don’t want their dogs to end up in households where nobody understands the work involved in raising them. Experienced rescue group volunteers and shelter workers hate the whole idea of the Christmas dog because they know many of those dogs will be coming back to them.

The dogs that are readily available at Christmas are the kind you probably don’t want. Puppy mills grind out thousands of puppies to meet holiday demand. They’re the dogs you find in pet stores and malls—cute as puppies but often inbred, poorly socialized, and more prone to genetic health problems like allergies or bad hips or to behavioral difficulties like compulsive barking or chewing.

For Christmas, get the kid an Xbox 360, or an iPod. They’ll love it and use it. You don’t have to clean up after it, and if they lose interest, you won’t have to walk it in the middle of a snowstorm.

If you and your family really want a dog, choose it carefully, and take your time. Get one from a reputable breeder, an experienced rescue group, or an established animal shelter. Ask lots of questions about the dog; expect the breeder or staff to ask you a lot, too. If they don’t, be wary. A store clerk or amateur breeder who simply hands you a dog in exchange for your credit card is not your friend. Experienced dog people know the dogs they sell and the people they are selling them to. And don’t worry if the dog comes to you in April instead of on Christmas morning. It will be just as adorable without the tree and the bow.

Please Don’t Get a Pet For Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Indeed another year has come and gone and I must say it has been a wonderful year for PetMeds-Plus.com and the Pet-Speak.com Forum! The Forum has blossomed with a terrific bunch of folks who all share a love for God’s creatures! We’ve had a lot of fun this year — and as we say goodbye to 2007 let us ring in the 2008 New Year with happiness and joy!  Give your pets an extra special hug for the unconditional love they provide you with day in and day out.

A special thank goes out to all of my beloved Forum Members — because without YOU — none of this would be possible!

I will be in South Dakota visiting my Mom for the next few weeks — but no worries!  I shall return soon and blog away with more Pet Health Info & Pet News! 

Happy New Year 2008

Happy Boxing Day to all my good friends in Canada & the UK!

 I’ll admit I had to do some research on this topic.  I have heard about it for years but never really understood it.  Well my American friends…. let me tell you what they do in the Great White North, Across the Pond, and in many other countries.

According to Snopes.com

Claim:  The name of Boxing Day comes from the need to rid the house of empty boxes the day after Christmas.

Status:  False

Origins:  Few Americans have an inkling that there even is such a thing as Boxing Day, let alone what the reason might be for a holiday so named.  However, before one concludes we’re about the rag on Americentric attitudes towards other cultures, we should quickly point out that even though Boxing day is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada, not all that many in those countries have much of a notion as to why they get the 26th of December off.  Boxing Day might well be a statutory holiday in some of those lands, but it’s not a well understood one.

Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has nothing to do with pugilistic expositions between tanked-up family members who have dearly been looking forward to taking a round out of each other for the past year.  (Darn — I liked that idea!)  Likewise, it does not gain it’s name from the overpowering need to rid the house of excess wrappings and mountains of now useless cardboard boxes they day after St. Nick arrive to turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom of discarded tissue paper.

Click the link below to find out what it’s really all about! 

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/boxingday.asp

happy boxing day

We wish you many CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS from our family to yours!

Oh, and from me and Jamey too!

Merry Christmas

The Perfect Puppy Size
  

I have always loved this story – a special thank you to my Auntie Eleanor for forwarding it to me again. 

“Danielle keeps repeating it over and over again.
We’ve been back to this animal shelter at least five times.
It has been weeks now since we started all of this,” the Mother told the volunteer.

“What is it she keeps asking for?” the volunteer asked.

“Puppy size — I guess she can’t seem to find one the right size!”  replied the Mother.

“Well, we have plenty of puppies, if that’s what she’s looking for.”
“I know…we have seen most of them,” the Mom said in frustration.

Just then Danielle came walking into the office.

“Well, did you find one?” asked her Mom.

“No, not this time,” Danielle said with sadness in her voice.
“Can we come back on the Weekend?”

The two women looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed. “You never know when we will get more dogs. Unfortunately, there’s always a supply,” the volunteer said.

Danielle took her Mother by the hand and headed to the door. “Don’t worry Mommy, I’ll find the right puppy size soon,” she said.

Over the next few days both Mom and Dad had long conversations with her. They both felt she was being too particular.

“It’s this weekend or we’re not looking any more,” Dad finally said in frustration.

“And we don’t want to hear anything more about puppy size either,” Mom added.

Sure enough, they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday
morning. By now Danielle knew her way around, so she ran right for the section that housed the smaller dogs.

Tired of the routine, Mom & Dad sat in the small waiting room at the end of the first row of cages. There was an observation window so you could see the animals during times when visitors weren’t permitted.

Danielle walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling periodically to
take a closer look. One by one the dogs were brought out and she held each one.

One by one she said, “Sorry, you’re not the one “, and handed each puppy back.

Finally she came to the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect pup. The volunteer opened the cage door and the child carefully picked up the dog and held it closely. This time she took a little longer.

“Mommy! Daddy! This is it! I found the right puppy! He’s the one! I know it!” she screamed with joy. “  It’s the perfect puppy size!”

“But it’s the same size as all the other puppies you held over the
last few weeks,” Mom said.

“Yes sweetheart, it is the same size — what makes this pup so different from the rest?”, Dad asked

“No, No, Daddy, don’t you remember?
When I asked you one day what love is, you told me love depends on the sighs of your heart. The more you love, the bigger the sigh!”

“Every time you hold me, I sigh. When you and Mommy come home from work and hug each other, you both sigh. I knew I would find the right puppy if it sighed when I held it in my arms,” she said.

Then holding the puppy up close to her face she said, “This puppy
loves me!  When I held him in my arms, he sighed,” she said.”

Mom and Dad looked at each other for a moment. They didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As they stooped down to hug their child, they each did a little of both.     ****************

~Life is not measured by the breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away~
The Perfect Puppy Size