Goodbye Brisbane

I had to say goodbye to Brisbane yesterday. The cancer had gotten extremely aggressive, and the bad days were starting outnumber the good days. I knew we were near the end when he stopped eating a couple of weeks ago. Briz was always an incredibly food motivated dog, and his entire life I've said that if he ever refuses to eat it will be a medical emergency.

On Saturday we had lots of cuddle time. He ate more than he had in the last week. I took him to our favorite dog beach and we played Chuckit. He was happy to play in the water, happy to chase the ball, happy to be with me. It was the best day he had had in weeks. I could have canceled the appointment and waited for another bad day, but I wanted to end our time together on a high note.

Even though he still got excited for things, I knew that when it was time to settle down he had a lot of trouble resting comfortably. That's the way he always was. No matter how injured, no matter how miserable, he was ready to push it all aside to have a good time. Whether he was lure coursing, herding sheep, or chasing tennis balls, he just wouldn't quit.

Brisbane was probably the greatest dog I will ever own. He made me the person I am today. He was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, and now I have to figure out what life looks like without him.

It's Caturday! Here's Some Cats!

There are a lot of really neat and innovative cat products out there, so I've decided that James and Solstice can do some product testing. Collectively known as The Hellions, my cats are eight year old littermates that I've had since they were around five weeks old. The Hellions are...quirky. I know, I know, every cat is quirky. Mine are just a little bit special. How special? Solstice meows every time you touch her. Every. Single. Time.

Baby Hellions!

James has a variety of health issues that have been described as Cat Asthma and Cat Acne. He has wheezy breathing problems when he uses dusty litter, and his face breaks out in horrible scabs when he eats from a dish that isn't clean. He may also have some food allergies, as he started getting scabby behind his ears last time I introduced him to some new foods. The cats have been eating Taste of the Wild's Canyon River Feline Formula for years now, and I think it's time to add some variety.

Tiki Cat

I met some representatives for Tiki Cat at SuperZoo, and they were very excited to share their new Velvet line of cat food. It's a mousse. I was raised by cat people and have lived with a ridiculous number of cats in my lifetime, and I've seen a whole lot of canned cat food. I have never seen anything like this. It's like a super mushy pate, or a very thick broth. Somewhere in the middle of those. You know how some cats like to lick all the gravy off the canned cat food and leave all the solids? These are basically all gravy. Know how some cats will only eat wet food in pate form? This is pretty much pate too. It's a beautiful thing.

Fresh out of the pouch.

James thoroughly enjoyed the pate, he licked the bowl clean (for a given value of clean, it's still going through the dishwasher...). Solstice declined to participate in Caturday and has been snoozing on top of tall furniture instead. 

My mother's weird little Persian cat is a diehard gravy licker. I'm hoping he likes the Velvet Mousse too. 

The texture of this stuff is really unique. It's actually perfect for force-feeding a sick pet. Brisbane isn't eating well right now, and it has been a struggle to get him to swallow his pills. Today I ground

James tastes the mousse.

them into powder, mixed them with a little Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse cat food, and loaded the whole glob into a syringe. I was able to squirt the goop into Brisbane's mouth, and it was thick and sticky enough that he couldn't spit it back out. Win!

SuperZoo Day 3

Well, SuperZoo 2016 is over, and I am back home with my dogs, cats, and a giant pile of stuff. Many of the vendors were unbelievably kind, loading me up with all sorts of new foods, treats, and toys to try. (Ok, maybe some of them just didn't want to haul everything back home again...) I met some wonderful people, saw some amazing new products, and spent three days geeking out as hard as I can possibly geek.

Bravo Pet Foods is now making canned foods. They've come a long way since I started buying chubs of their frozen premade raw food for Brisbane nine years ago. They also have some freeze dried raw foods, and all sorts of neatly packaged animal parts like duck feet. Everything is super allergy friendly, and I'm hoping the cats like the new stuff better than their current canned food.

Open Farm Pet Foods is probably my new favorite pet food company. They take ethically and sustainably sourced pet food to a whole new level. I think the best part is that you can trace your pet's food all the way back to the farm by entering the product code on their website. They even use Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch information to source the most plentiful and sustainably caught fish. If you're worried about the collapse of world fisheries (and you should be!) this is a company you will love.

I got a Freeze Tag silent pet tag holder to aid in my quest for the perfect tag holder. Soda Pup gave me some new toys to try, and I got to see some of their upcoming products inspired by retro goodies. This was definitely the place to check out pet products unlike anything I've seen before. Silverfoot had some unique leather collars with decorative ribbon overlay. I got to see a Tikr windup puzzle toy in action, and now I need to preorder one. Puppy Paws had some delightful birthstone jewelry for pet parents, and some neat art and memorial pieces as well. Their formula of popular jewelry concept + paw is remarkably effective.