Keep Your Pet Cool

This summer has been extra hot! Not only am I suffering from the heatwave but so is Winston when he goes outside. Luckily our house is air conditioned but as soon as that flat Pug face steps into the heat you would think he was dying. Here are some tips to keep your dog/cats cool the rest of the summer.

* Hydration is key! Always have plenty of water available for your pets. Dehydration is easy in such high temperatures and if your pet spends a lot of time outside make sure you keep a big water bowl outdoors as well as indoors.

* If you like to lounge in the outdoors and your dog likes to be right next to you, like Winston is always glued to my hip, make sure you have a shaded area for them and even a kiddie pool for them to lay in.

* Instead of walking your dog in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day, do it really early in the morning or wait until night when the sun has gone down. A good rule of thumb is if you can't handle the heat of the asphalt on your bare feet then your dog can most definitely NOT handle it on their sensitive paws.

* For your cats give them a big box to lay in. The cardboard stays cool and they also have a little play area. I always save a few boxes from Costco and let the cats have free reign of them.

* If you don't have air conditioning a simple hack is to put a tray of ice cubes in front of a box fan and let it blow on them. It mimics air conditioning and will cool down your cats or dogs. I have even taken a cold wash cloth and rubbed Winston's belly with it or used an ice cube. A good investment though is a Cooling Bandana which you can find anywhere from Petco to Walmart. Winston loves his and it instantly cools him down on extra hot days when we go to my parent's house that doesn't have air conditioning.

* In general when you go anywhere with your dog make sure you have water with you and a bowl. These are my necessities when taking Winston places.

Have a fun summer but also a responsible one!

Winston Wednesday: Apple Banana Pumpkin Oh My! Muffins

Are you ready to spoil your dog? Here is a great and easy recipe to do just that! It has been Winston approved as well. I spoiled the cats on Monday with some homemade treats so I figured today I would make Winston some special treats. I literally looked in the pantry and pulled out what seemed like a good ingredient and went with it. So I had no idea if this would work out or not but I gave my makeshift recipe a try and it worked!!! I was thrilled and so was Winston. Now I am going to make it easier for you than it was for me by adding in little tips. So here you go, my made up recipe for my made up treats, which I am calling:

Apple Banana Pumpkin Oh My! Muffins

(Makes about 12-13 muffins)

* 2 cups of oat flour

* 1 Tablespoon of baking powder

* 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree

* 1 ripe banana (smashed)

* 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce

* 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter

* 1 cup of water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and get a cupcake/muffin tin ready by greasing it with non-stick cooking spray (I always use coconut oil spray). Set aside for use later.

2. In a large bowl combine pumpkin puree, banana, applesauce and peanut butter.

3. In another bowl combine the oat flour and the baking powder.

4. Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet ones mixing in a little at a time then when it gets too thick add small amounts of the 1 cup of water. Alternate adding the water and then the flour mixture until its all mixed into the one bowl together.

5. Once it is all mixed together pour it into the cupcake/muffin tins and set it in the oven on 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 

The final result. Not the prettiest things but Winston will be the judge of how they taste!

Winston's final verdict was captured on video just for you guys. Let me know what your dogs think of these if you end up making them! 

Winston Wednesday: It's All About the Little Things

To say it has been a stressful week is an understatement but I have survived my eight days in a row of work and now I have three blissful days off to relax and recover. Working in retail it's easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of crazy shoppers you encounter on a holiday weekend and to say I almost lose it sometimes is another understatement...it's hard to not yell at the people who yell at you and treat you like their personal assistant or the ones who throw clothes on the floor and trash tables. I just don't understand how someone can walk into a store and be so disrespectful to the people working there and create such a mess. Plus it drives me crazy that it was Memorial Day and as a country we choose to ignore the real meaning of the holiday and instead use it as an excuse to bargain shop. Sorry for the rant...I will move on. My point is that when I am having a stressful day or week it's amazing to come home to Winston and see how excited he is to have me home. He immediately grabs the nearest toy and runs circles around me with it in his mouth while he snorts and wags his curly tail. Just that little act of love and excitement he shows me makes everything a million times better. I know on Saturday he is going to be very excited because my husband and I are taking him to a huge Pug Event and I will make sure to take a ton of pictures to post! For now here are a few of him relaxing at home.

Winston Wednesday: Peanut Butter Dog Treats

For today's Winston Wednesday I decided to make some homemade Peanut Butter Dog Treats. I don't usually like buying store bought treats because a lot of the time they have preservatives and unhealthy ingredients. There are only a couple brands I will buy. I figured Winston was due for a special treat. I found the recipe on Whole Foods website but changed it a little because I didn't feel like driving all the way there so I went to Target for ingredients and they didn't have exactly what I needed. It all worked out though. Here is the recipe (with pictures of the process):

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

1 banana, peeled
1 cup of whole wheat flour
2/3 cup of rolled oats
1/2 cup of dried parsley (freshens breath)
3 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

2. Put the banana in a large bowl and mash it thoroughly with a large spoon or potato masher.

3. Add whole wheat flour, oats, parsley, peanut butter and egg. Stir well to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes.

4. Roll the mixture into balls using about 1 tablespoon of dough for each; transfer to a large paper parchment lined sheet tray as they are done. Then use the back of a spoon or the heel of your palm to flatten each ball into a coin.

5. Bake until firm and deep golden brown on the bottom, 40-45 minutes. Set them aside to let them cool completely.

Once they have cooled down go ahead and let your dog try one! To store them put them in an air tight container in the fridge or freeze them and just thaw them before giving them to your dog.

If you're mean like me you can trick someone into eating one...not that they are all that horrible to eat. I did however tell my dad they were healthy cookies I made for us and he ate one and proceeded to spit it out into the sink. Then I proceeded to let Winston try one and he disagreed with my dad. He thought they were delicious! 

Happy Winston Wednesday! 

Winston Wednesday: The Great Outdoors

Living back in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with all the greenery makes it really easy to enjoy taking Winston for adventures outdoors. Winston loves the great outdoors. If he even hears the word "walk" he starts whining and jumping all over the place. He's quite the little character. The exercise is great for both of us and we always make sure we are prepared before we go out anywhere. Here are some tips to protect your dog when taking it outdoors for fun.

First you will need to make sure your dog is healthy enough for the physical exertion by taking it to your Veterinarian. You will want to get a thorough check up and make sure that all vaccinations are up to date. A rabies vaccination is required by law in all states and is extra important in case your dog encounters any wild animals such as raccoons, foxes, skunks or bats because they sometimes carry rabies. It is also important to get your dog started on a regimen of flea/tick prevention because they both can pose serious health risks. Fleas are also just itchy nuisances that multiple and spread throughout your house and yard. Ticks can carry a number of diseases which can also be transmitted to humans.

Once you have all of your preventative care out of the way you need to set aside the basics that are essential to a safe outdoor adventure. These basics include:

- Water and a bowl to keep your dog hydrated.
- ID tags on your dog's collar so that if your dog is able to be let off the leash or somehow got loose,   it can then be identified by whoever finds it and returned to you. Also make sure that your current rabies tag is on the collar as well. It's a good idea to have your dog microchipped as well in case the collar somehow fell off and animal control got ahold of your dog they could then scan for a microchip and all of your information would come up.
- The night before your outing look up information on all the nearest emergency animal clinics to the location you will be at just in case your dog needs Veterinary attention.
- Pet specific First-Aid Kit (you can buy these from your local pet store or online)

This is just a list of the basics. There is always more that could be added depending on your specific surroundings. Stay safe!

Happy Winston Wednesday!

Winston Wednesday: First Time at the Waterfront

Now that I am back in Washington, Alex and I thought it would be a great time to take Winston to the waterfront down in Mukilteo. We stopped at the Mukilteo Lighthouse Park and let Winston experience the beach for the first time. He loved it. He was so curious about the water and wanted to get close to it but every time a wave would get too close he would run away. It was pretty cute. Here are a bunch of pictures and a video.

He was so fast it was hard to get a good video of him! He was cracking me and Alex up though. How could you not love that crazy Pug? Well I hope everyone is having a good day. This will conclude my Winston part of the blog post. I just wanted to put something out there to share with you guys and hopefully gain some support. It's something personal but in order to make it a reality Alex and I need the help and kindness of strangers. On the right side you will see a gofundme badge and if you click on it you can read about mine and Alex's struggle with having a child. Heartbreakingly it is something that is not possible without the assistance of fertility treatments. Please find it in your heart to help our dream of a baby come true. Thank you so much. 

Winston Wednesday: Dental Cleaning

Happy Winston Wednesday! I really wanted to make a Meow Monday post this week but my parent's internet sucks! So it's been really hard for me to put any type of post together because the internet is so ridiculously slow! I am probably going to switch them over to a different provider that is much faster by next week. Today the internet has been working moderately well so lets see if I can get this post out. I wanted to talk about dental cleaning for dogs. Winston who is going to be 4 in April just had his first dental done on February 3rd. He has always had really clean teeth because I have always made sure to brush them regularly and give him dental chews. Let me tell you, Greenies are one of the best dental products out there for both dogs and cats. About a month and a half before I had Winston's dental done my husband and I had noticed a foul odor with his breathe that was unusual and not his normal dog breath. After failing to look in his mouth to see if anything was stuck in his teeth (Winston HATES his mouth messed with), I took him to the Veterinarian and she told me he had a fractured carnassial tooth (diagram below to help you see which tooth that is). We figured he fractured it chewing on one of his hard plastic toys or his antler chew because Winston is a mega chewer. I think all Pugs are. I ended up scheduling Winston for a dental so they could clean his teeth because he was starting to gather some tartar due to his age and how small his mouth is and due to the fact that his teeth are all close together. I actually had his dental done at the Vet office I worked for so they were able to get me in earlier than I had originally scheduled it for. I get the question a lot about whether I was worried about him being under anesthesia, which yes...of course I was but I felt very confident with my co-workers abilities and knew they would take very good care of Winston. I got a call during the cleaning asking me if I wanted them to pull the fractured tooth because eventually it could cause an infection or pain. It was kind of a hard decision though because dogs use their carnassial teeth to chew with so I didn't want Winston to have a really hard time after the surgery because he would no longer be able to chew his food on his right side. In the end I trusted my friend and co-worker who is an extraordinary Veterinarian and she told me if it was her dog she would pull it. I had her pull the tooth and I am glad I did! I brought Winston home that same afternoon and he was definitely out of it from the anesthesia and pain medication but overall he did well and when I gave him his dinner he chewed on his left side. He adapted very quickly and for the first two days afterwards he was on pain medication but seemed like his usual happy self. I have taken away all his hard toys for the time being because I wanted to give his mouth time to heal properly but I am going to slowly give them back to him one at a time and just monitor him more closely. Really you should have your dog's teeth cleaned once they reach two-three years old. After their first dental most Veterinarians recommend a dental cleaning every 6 months to 1 year. The process of a dental is really simple. It is basically the same as getting your teeth cleaned except the dog needs to be anesthetized because they don't understand what is happening and don't like the noise all the machines make. A scaler will be used to remove plaque and tartar from your dog's gum line and teeth. After the teeth are scaled and all the plaque and tartar has been removed the teeth will be polished to smooth out the teeth and keep them sealed so it will be harder for plaque and tartar to reoccur. According to the American Veterinary Dental Society over 80% of dogs over the age of 3 have gum disease. This is large in part due to the fact that a lot of dog owners are just uneducated about cleaning their dog's teeth and also because they feel like it's not something they can do at home. Signs of gum disease are bad breath and a buildup of plaque which will eventually create pockets which get food and debris stuck in them. The buildup can result in possible tooth loss and infection. Other signs include inflamed gums, receding gums or ones that are bleeding or painful. Untreated gum disease can infect other parts of the dog's body such as the liver, heart and kidney because it will spread from the mouth into the bloodstream. There are many ways to prevent gum disease one of which is getting home dental products like Greenies or other generic dental chews. Also I recommend buying a toothbrush and toothpaste so you can brush your dog's teeth daily just as you would brush your teeth. If that is too demanding for your busy schedule then at least try to brush them several times a week. I have found that dental wipes can be easier to use instead of a toothbrush since Winston has such a small mouth. After I finish brushing his teeth I reward him with a dental friendly treat. If you have questions about a dental cleaning for your dog or cat talk to your Veterinarian and see what they recommend. I had a lot more I wanted to put in this post but I feel like I shouldn't push my luck with this internet. I hope everyone has a great week! Pugs and kisses!

Showing which ones are the carnassial teeth

Dental wipes I use for Winston and I love them!

I give Winston Greenies and he LOVES these so much and I LOVE them because they are great at freshening his breath and keeping tartar away.

This is the toothbrush and toothpaste set I have for Winston.

You can buy these products at your local pet store. 

Winston Wednesday: Park Adventure

As I am typing this post Winston is stretched out on the couch next to me wrapped up in his Winnie the Pooh blanket. Of course he is also snoring like a freight train as well. It would be nice to live the Pug life sometimes. This post is later than I intended because I have been at work today and then I got home and was typing up stuff for a meeting tomorrow. I actually really enjoy that kind of responsibility though. I hope all you lovely readers have had a good week so far. I will have up my poison post tomorrow afternoon. I have it almost completely written up except for a few small tweaks I need to make. I wanted to make this another short cute post since my post tomorrow will be a longer one. Alex and I took Winston to the dog park over the weekend and I got a video of him showing off for the camera as well as a very handsome picture. Enjoy and check back tomorrow for my next post! Make sure you sign up for email updates so you will be informed when I put up new posts!

Winston never brings the ball back so he was definitely showing off for the camera! 

Winston Wednesday: Poisonous Foods

How has everyone's week been so far? Winston and I have been good! Today I just wanted to do a quick post on foods that can be poisonous to dogs and cats. Not all dogs and cats will react the same but I still wouldn't give these foods to my pets.

- Alcoholic beverages
- Apple seeds
- Apricot pits
- Avocados
- Cherry Pits
- Candy (particularly chocolate or any candy with the sweetener Xylitol in it)
- Coffee (grounds, beans, and chocolate covered espresso beans)
- Garlic
- Grapes
- Gum
- Hops (used to make beer)
- Macadamia nuts
- Moldy foods
- Mushrooms
- Mustard seeds
- Onions and onion powder
- Peach pits
- Potato leaves and stems (green parts)
- Raisins
- Rhubarb leaves
- Salt
- Tea
- Tomato leaves and stems (green parts)
- Walnuts
- Yeast dough
- Xylitol (artificial sweetener)

This is a list of only the food products that can cause toxicity in your pets. On Sunday I will go over household products as well as plants. I wanted to do that tonight but I am pretty tired after work. I'm going to leave you with this precious video of Winston and I will have some extra cute pictures on Sunday along with my more in depth post! Have a great rest of the week.

Winston Wednesday: Save A Life

Happy Winston Wednesday! Winston and I hope everyone has had a great day. I just got home from work and came home to a clean Winston who was freshly bathed by my husband. Winston loves baths and was definitely in need of one! He's got to be nice and clean for Puggerfest on Saturday. I bought him an adorable shirt today to wear there but I'm not going to give you any details. You will just have to wait for pictures. I brought the shirt home and tried it on Winston and he was so excited.

So October is an important month for the ASPCA and Humane Society. They both have a similar awareness event going on during October which for the ASPCA is Adopt A Shelter Dog Month and really just bringing awareness to people on how much good they can bring into a shelter dogs life by either adopting one or volunteering at a shelter. The Humane Society is using October as Adopt-a-Dog Month. They also want to educate people on what a difference they can make. I would like to aid in this process and to encourage you all to help out at your local shelter. Whether you donate, volunteer, adopt a dog or cat, you are genuinely making a difference and that is what counts. I used to volunteer at my local animal shelter for a couple years back in Washington state and I mostly worked with the cats but it was wonderful and I loved it. I cleaned their cages, fed them, comforted them and even got to name them! It was a really rewarding experience. Yes, it was hard sometimes but I knew that I was doing something wonderful and that I was making life better for these cats and that was all that mattered.

Here is a cute video of Winston with his Winnie the Pooh blanket:

That is it for this Winston Wednesday! Have a great rest of the week and check back probably Sunday for pictures from Puggerfest. Although I might put up a quick picture on Saturday of Winston in his cute shirt.

Winston Wednesday

Today marks my first official Winston Wednesday post! From now on every Wednesday there will be a Winston Wednesday post which will include some pictures and a video of Winston as well as an update. Also there will be another weekly post on Sundays that will be a weekly health post each time about a different health topic in pets. Some will be longer more in depth posts while others will be more brief. And to top it all off on Mondays I will be doing weekly Meow Monday posts giving an update on the three cats which will include pictures and the occasional video. I would also like to do an occasional product review on this blog.

Lets start off the first Winston Wednesday!

First off, I do not have a new video this time around because I got lazy and kept forgetting to charge the camera. Sorry! So here is an older one from about a year ago.

So how has Winston been since my last post? Well, he has started on a diet because unfortunately he has gotten overweight which is really common for Pugs. He started on the Hills Science Diet Metabolic Diet which is high in protein and guaranteed to help him become healthier again. I think he has been on it for about 3 weeks now and he hasn't lost anything so hopefully next week when I weigh him again he has started to lose some! Otherwise he is a happy boy like always and I am hoping to have some time this weekend or next to get him together with the neighbors dogs again to play so I can post more cute pictures of them together. Alright, so this is a brief Winston Wednesday but I am going to leave you with some cute pictures of my handsome boy.

I hope you enjoyed the first Winston Wednesday and check back on Sunday for the first health post!