Honor Your Pet
My love for pets is the reason for making this page. I call this page Honor Your Pet because I believe animals deserve as much love, compassion, and respect as human beings do. They are, after all, sentient beings. They have feelings! I don't know if there's anything that hurts me more than to see an animal being mistreated.
There are many ways in which we honor our pets, and this page contains just some of the ways that honoring occurs, including:
Our pets are dependent on us in a number of ways. I'm still amazed to find so many pet owners feeding their pets conventional foods. While some this may be due to price concerns, most of it is simply not knowing enough about conventional pet foods, and, that healthy alternatives are available at near comparable prices. What we feed out pets is one of the ways that we honor them! It's that simple.
There are many ways in which we honor our pets, and this page contains just some of the ways that honoring occurs, including:
- What we feed our pets (and give them to drink).
- Cat litter and the dangers of the wrong ones.
- Bonding
- Putting a pet to sleep and going through the grieving process.
- Interaction and exercise (interactive exercise is a means for bonding).
Our pets are dependent on us in a number of ways. I'm still amazed to find so many pet owners feeding their pets conventional foods. While some this may be due to price concerns, most of it is simply not knowing enough about conventional pet foods, and, that healthy alternatives are available at near comparable prices. What we feed out pets is one of the ways that we honor them! It's that simple.
Gizmo
Honoring Your Pet By Releasing Them To Life (Putting Your Pet To Sleep)
Some of you have had to do this and know it can be the hardest thing you've ever done. The first time I did this—1999—I learned this action is a supreme act of love! While that's a consoling factor, it still doesn't eliminate our missing their physical presence—the soothing sounds of a cat's purr, the loving eyes of a dog, our playful interactions and the many laughs we had. There's no way around it—releasing our pets back to Life isn't fun. But it is another and important way they depend on us—to relieve them of unnecessary suffering, to be the means by which they gain freedom from worn-out earth suits. Imagine the gratitude they have for us in, what can be for us, a heart-wrenching action. It helps me through it.
NOTE: June 21, 2013, I had to release Sapphire. I made a separate page in honor of her. Go here. Five months later, on November 16, I had to release Gizmo. Her page is here. Rainbow Ridge is a wonderful place to visit for grieving pet owners. The link takes you to the Rainbow Ridge poem, but there's much more to this website. It has a weekly grieving ceremony you can participate in with pet lovers from around the world. Plus you can chat with others who are grieving—or are there to help you through yours. There's a lot to this wonderful website and I highly recommend it! Other websites to help you out: Pet Loss Support Page Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement Honoring Through Interaction and Exercise
There are so many ways to interact with our pets. And that's the bottom line: to interact with them, to spend quality time with them. They love it! I get some of my best laughs in life playing with my cats. And if you're in the grips of stress, your pets are there to help you out—just play with them, or pet them! I won't preach to the choir here. It's just a reminder to take time out each day to give back to them what they give to us.
Exercise and interaction can be two-mints-in-one. I say can be because while my neighbor's dogs get exercise running around their back yard, it is very rare to see any interaction on the part of the owners. The dogs are left outside 24/7 year round and are pretty much left to live lonely lives without much human interaction. The owners are basically dog-feeders. I'm not here to judge the owners; it's just an observation. And maybe having just a feeder is a blessing for the dogs in the great scheme of things. Many dogs don't even get that! But I think you get the point: to find ways to cover interaction and exercise in one stroke . My cats are indoor cats, so exercise can be an issue. So I'll toss their favorite mouse toys up or down the steps so they go chasing after them. A fun interaction for all and exercise for them. Plain old bags and boxes make for free (cheap) toys that cats love at all ages, as Gizmo and Sapphire demonstrate below. Honoring Your Cat With Litter
Cats ingest dust and particles from their litter when they groom themselves. These make their way to their kidneys for elimination—and build-up too. Many litters contain silica and/or sodium bentonite—which can be dangerous to both you and your pet. If I happen to inhale litter dust while cleaning their box, I'd rather it be corn dust than silica, etc.
I've used The World's Best Cat Litter since I heard about it some ten years ago. It's all-natural: ground up whole-kernel corn—perfectly safe for your cats and their kidneys! Great clumping and odor control too! What's more, you'll probably save money because it lasts so much longer. But those are secondary to the health of my furry friends. Cleaning a cat's litter box daily is essential. It doesn't take but a minute and it honors your pet. I learned the hard way—decades ago—that a dirty litter box is an invitation for your cat to find a clean, odor-free spot on the carpet or a piece of furniture. |
Sapphire
Honoring your pet through what you feed them. Soooo, what's the best food for my cats & dogs?
Personally, my cats get what I feel is the best—and nothing less. While everyone answers this question for themselves, maybe my experience can save some of you some time.
When Gizmo and Sapphire were a few years old, I learned the manufacturer of the high-quality pet food I fed them was going out of business. I spent weeks researching the Internet for "the world's best cat food." I made every comparison I could think of! Yep, there are many great companies with great foods and it was hard to decide which one. Given that a few had equal quality, the factors that had me go with Life's Abundance over the others were these:
Listen to Dr. Jane Bicks DVM
Dr. Bicks is the holistic veterinarian who develops the Life's Abundance products.
Learn more about Life's Abundance. If you want to learn more about Life's Abundance, including Dr. Bicks' resume, here's a link to their website: Life's Abundance. Water for your pets: Fresh water every day, and just about any kind of water is better than tap water. Personally, my cats have never drank anything but distilled water. Milk was never even an option. Chocolate? Never, ever. Can be lethal. Milk? Disregard everything you've seen or heard about feeding milk to cats after they've been weened from mom. All dairy products are a big challenge for their digestive systems. Here's a list of no-no,s on WebMD for Pets: Harmful Foods - Cats. Sapphire in a box.
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