Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts

Thursday, June 5, 2014

My Personal Pet Experience - GAP with Eric from Pets Plus Us

We often talk about being ‘pet lovers’ and like to talk about our personal ‘pet experience’ whenever we can. Well, I always thought my pet experience led me to be a dog lover not a pet lover. 

Growing up our family always had cats, sometimes 4-5 at a time plus new litters. We had no less than 30 cats while I was growing up. I can recall the cardboard box my mother used to keep track of the kittens and how we tried to hide them from my dad by keeping them in my brother and I’s bedroom.  It was never successful as after a few days one of those adorable four legged furry curious kitty’s found their way out of the bedroom in into my dad’s lap. He never really took a shining to cats, he was a ‘dog guy’ but those pesky cats and kittens were always attracted to dad. He would rest on the couch and every-time he woke up there was a cat snuggled somewhere on the couch with him. They found their own way there or one of my 3 siblings or me gently placed it to see my dad’s reaction.

The cats always slept on the clothes (believe it or not, I didn’t always put my clothes away when I was younger) on my bed, and I felt I was always trying to fend for myself against those annoying cats in my room.  This led me to become attached to our first dog Toby (a rescue) and this is when I think I started to become a dog lover, not a cat lover, therefore not a pet lover. I think the cats got jealous and one evening while I was sleeping one of the pregnant cats decided that giving birth to four kittens on my pillow while I slept was the ideal location. This was the final ‘cat…astrophe’ for me, I was definitely a dog lover. 28-years and two dogs later, Toby and Kelly (also a rescue) I was definitely an exclusive dog lover.


Bruin
Fast forward a few years and our Pets Plus Office provided a permanent home to a stray FIV cat named Bruin, adopted from the Burlington Humane Society. Bruin has war wounds from defending himself after 18-months of surviving on the streets. He now has a loving home, gets 2-square meals a day, probably gets too many treats and is treated like a princess. He has taken over one of our meeting rooms, now known as ‘Bruins Office’. Bruin has a unique character which makes you fall in love with him. If I am out of the office for a few days he gives me the silent treatment when I return. I now miss Bruin when I don’t see him for a few days and I need to know how Bruin is doing so I keep updated by visiting his personal Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BruinTheCat). Bruin has re-ignited my appreciation of cats and because of Bruin I now call myself a ‘Pet Lover’ not just a ‘Dog Lover’. It took Bruin to show me I really always liked cats but kept telling myself I didn’t. Now if we could only change Bruin’s name to Leaf (as in Toronto Maple Leafs) everything would be good in the world! 

Thank –you Bruin for opening my eyes and for being you!  

Eric from Pets Plus Us                  

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Flying with your pet.

So much luggage! And a kennel!
Reading through the news this morning I came upon the sad story of a cat who escaped from it's kennel at an airport. It left me thinking about my own travel experience with Squish and how positive it was.

Squish generally travels with me every where I go in the car and when it came time for our cross Canada tour in April for the Urban Animal Regional Conferences I decided it was time to add air travel to our options. A great deal of planning and training started more than a month before the trip when I contacted Petland for recommendations on a proper kennel and spoke to the airline about their requirements. After finding the perfect kennel it was time to teach Squish that it was actually a good place to be with at first short and then longer naps in the kennel.


Chilling out in the kennel.
On the actual day of travel I was MUCH more nervous than Squish. To be sure she would be calm during the process we went for a long walk in the morning and arrived at the airport an extra hour early just so we could walk around outside to get used to the sights and sounds. As my vet had predicted, Squish breezed through check-in and the security process and suddenly I was leaving her with the staff and off to my gate. Again, I was more stressed than she ever was.

When you travel with your pet the airline typically comes to give you a 'boarding pass' for them after they have been loaded on the plane so I knew that she was safe up to that point. The flight I chose was a short hour-ish jump from Calgary to Vancouver specifically because it was a great introduction for both of us. When we landed in Vancouver I went down and gathered my luggage and just as I grabbed the last bag, out came Squish's kennel. She was calm and unconcerned with anything, my anxiety was certainly misplaced.
YVR has a great park system
running through the airport.

Our flight back to Calgary was a little more eventful given that her kennel ended up breaking but the airline was great about it and gave me full replacement cost for it with apologies and again, despite this, Squish couldn't have cared less. Obviously bad things can happen to anyone or anything when you travel but certainly in my experience if you are prepared and manage to calm yourself I would suggest you'll have a great experience and get to take your animal to some fun places along the way.
Checking in to the hotel.





Lisa Milton, Squish's Mom,
@summitLisa
lisa.miltonwork



Sunday, January 30, 2011

1.1 Million Homeless Animals Adopted!!

The 2010 Iams Home 4 the Holidays Pet Adoption Drive was a resounding success! In 96 days more than 1.1 million animals were adopted to new forever homes and five million bowls of pet food were donated!

Believed to be one of the world's largest pet adoption campaigns, Iams Home 4 the Holidays resulted in 1,125,667 animal adoptions in 96 days. The campaign ran from between October 1,  2010 through January 4, 2011.

The campaign is supported by Iams and longtime partner, the Helen Woodward Animal Center, along with more than 3,500 animal organizations from around the world once again joined forces to help reduce pet homelessness.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Help Spread the Word About the Farley Foundation

PetLynx is please to share exciting news from the Farley Foundation!

TORONTO, Jan. 19 /CNW/ In celebration of surpassing its first $1 million in disbursements to help people in need pay for the necessary veterinary care of their pets, the Farley Foundation is asking all pet owners and members of the media to spread the word about our amazing charitable work through Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts with the following message:

"Help spread the word. The Farley Foundation has reached a major milestone by disbursing its first $1million to help thousands of pets across Ontario. Learn more at www.farleyfoundation.org"

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Australia Proposes Tough New Pet Purchasing Law

Children under the age of 18 will no longer be able to buy pets without their parents' permission in Victoria (Australia) if the Brumby government is re-elected.

RSPCA Victoria president Hugh Wirth said he was "thrilled" with the government's election package of animal protection measures, which includes a ban on selling pets to minors.

Dr Wirth said the change would make it illegal for children to buy pets without their parents' permission and sellers could face fines of between $1000 and $2000 for doing so.
"The reason we requested the government to do that is by law at age 18 everyone is deemed to be mature enough to make a positive decision and be accountable for that decision," he said today.



Posted by Terri Perrin, Online Communications Editor

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Family Pets: Unseen Victims of the Gulf Oil Disaster

Think about how animals have been affected by the Gulf Oil Disaster and chances are good that the first images that come to your mind will be oil-soaked pelicans and turtles ... not the pleading eyes of forlorn dogs and cats languishing in animal shelters.

According to a recent news segment on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, hundreds of family pets now face an uncertain future because their guardians are no longer able to care for them. Many who have become unemployed have little hope of things changing for them anytime soon. Sadly, they have been forced to choose between feeding their families and providing for their companion animals.