~*How to Go Green for your Pets!*~

Mom was watching on Dateline or something like that tonight. They were showing how the glachers were melting so fast because of us of corse. And how were scientists walked 5 years ago were there was ground is now water, or were there was snow is now green. And how the Penguin and other animal population has decreased by 50%.::o So mom went online to see how she chould help out more! And thought she whould share this with you! And hope you will try to help as well!

For more info go to: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/how-to-green-your-pe t.php

What’s the Big Deal?

Ah, the pitter patter of four-legged feet as they whip through your living room at overclocked speeds or uproot your prize gladiolas with manic fervor. But Snookiepuss and Mrs. Fluffypants are practically family, right? So why should they settle for anything less than top drawer when their health and wellbeing are at stake? Throw the planet a bone while you’re at it; we’ve got the goods on how to reduce your pets’ carbon paw prints—without making your wallet roll over and play dead.

1. Adopt from a shelter

Pet breeders have only one goal in mind—to raise large quantities of purebred animals for profit. They’ve also been pilloried for misdeeds such as overbreeding, inbreeding, poor veterinary oversight, lousy food and living conditions, overcrowding, and culling of unwanted animals. Why buy when you can adopt one of the 70,000 puppies and kittens born every day in the United States? Love knows no pedigree. Check out Petfinder.com to find your perfect match.

2. Spay or neuter your pet

Did we mention 70,000 puppies and kittens are born every day in the United States? That’s 15 puppies and 45 kittens for every hairless biped that slides out of a birth canal. And “multiplying like bunnies” isn’t just any old trope. We don’t need any more homeless animals than we already have. As a bonus, spaying and neutering helps dogs and cats live longer, healthier lives by eliminating the possibility of uterine, ovarian, and testicular cancer, and decreasing the incidence of prostate disease.

3. Rein in your pets; protect native wildlife

Always keep your dog on a leash when outside, and confine your mangy feline indoors. Topped only perhaps by habitat destruction, cats are the biggest, baddest bird killers of all time. Even wind turbines have got nothing on them. While you may poo-poo high cat-related bird-mortality rates as collateral damage in the great Circle of Life, domestic cats do have an unfair advantage. Unlike wild predators, house cats are always well fed, well rested, and in tip-top fighting shape. They’re also present in more concentrated (and rapidly increasing) numbers than say, the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike.

That aside, two out of every three vets, according to the Humane Society of America, recommend keeping cats indoors, because of the dangers of cars, predators, disease, and other hazards. The estimated average life span of a free-roaming cat is less than three years; an indoors-only cat gets to live an average of 15 to 18 years. If kitty needs to heed the call of the wild, an outdoor cat enclosure is a good compromise.

4. Swap out the junk food

Most conventional pet-food brands you find at the supermarket consist of reconstituted animal by-products, otherwise known as low-grade wastes from the beef and poultry industries—you know, inedibles you wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot fork. In fact, the animals used to make many pet foods are classified as “4-D,” which is really a polite way of saying “Dead, Dying, Diseased, or Down (Disabled)” when they line up at the slaughterhouse. Unless that can of Chicken ‘N Liver Delite explicitly states that it contains FDA-certified, food-grade meat, you should know that its contents are considered unfit for human consumption—but apparently good enough for your cat or pooch.

Now, since nutrition is one of the key determinants of health and resistance to disease, ideally you’ll want your pet’s chow to be comparable in quality with what we would eat.

Natural and organic pet foods use meats that are raised in sustainable, humane ways without added drugs or hormones, minimally processed, and preserved with natural substances, such as vitamins C and E. Certified-organic pet foods must meet strict USDA standards that spell out how ingredients are produced and processed, which means no pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, artificial preservatives, artificial ingredients or genetically engineered ingredients.

(Hemp dog beds from Earth Dog)

5. Clean up their poop

Scoop up your doggie doo in biodegradable poop bags so your buddy’s No. 2 isn’t immortalized in a plastic bag, while deep-sixed in a landfill somewhere for hundreds of years. Cat owners should avoid clumping clay litter at all costs. Not only is clay strip-mined (bad for the planet), but the clay sediment is also permeated with carcinogenic silica dust that can coat little kitty lungs (bad for the cat). Plus, the sodium bentonite that acts as the clumping agent can poison your cat through chronic ingestion through their fastidious need to groom. Because sodium bentonite acts like expanding cement—it’s also used as a grouting, sealing, and plugging material—it can swell up to15 to18 times their dry size and clog up your cat’s insides. Eco-friendly cat litters avoid these problems; a happy cat is a cat that doesn’t claw your face off.

6. Give them sustainable goods

Your furry friends can get in on some saving-the-planet goodness, too—and have plenty of fun—with toys made from recycled materials or sustainable fibers (sans herbicides or pesticides) such as hemp. A hemp collar (with matching leash) is a rocking accessory for a tree-hugging mutt. These days, you can even get pet beds made with organic cotton or even recycled PET bottles.

7. Use natural pet-care and cleaning products

You don’t use toxic-chemical-laced shampoos and beauty products, so lather up your cats and dogs (or ferrets, rabbits, or hamsters—we don’t judge) with natural pet-care products, as well. And if your cat horks up a hairball, or Fifi doesn’t make it all the way to the bathroom, clean up the mess with cleaning products that are as gentle on the planet as they are on your critters’ delicate senses.

8. Pets, not fads

Sure, everyone’s ovaries ping when they see a five-year-old moppet cradle a tiny chick or a bunny during Easter, but nature dictates that baby bunnies grow up into rabbits, and little chicks into full-size chickens. Unless everyone involved understands that a pet is a long-term commitment that involves demands on both their time and money, you’re better off giving the kid a stuffed animal. Impulse buying (say, rushing out an grabbing the next available Dalmatian puppy after watching 101 Dalmatians) isn’t a good idea, either, as the large numbers of fad dogs that pass through shelters (often to their death) can attest. Repeat after us—especially you, Paris Hilton: Pets are not fads or fashion accessories.

9. Melt the ice, nicely

Use a child- and pet-safe deicer such as Safe Paw’s environmentally friendly Ice Melter. Rock salt and salt-based ice-melting products, which kids and animals might accidentally ingest, can cause health problems, while contaminating wells and drinking supplies.

10. Tag your pet

It might be a stretch to call inserting an electronic ID chip into your pet an eco-friendly move, but losing your buddy causes extreme emotional distress that turns you into nobody’s friend. Then there’s the paper waste from printing out Missing posters, the fuel cost of driving around your neighborhood trying to find them, the phone bill as you bawl your eyes out to everyone you know … well, you get the idea. Ask your vet for more info. For hanging tags, check out these recyclable (and recycled) aluminum ID tags and these WaggTaggs made from recycled silver.


Wanna Do More?

1. Compost their poop

American dogs and cats create 10 million tons of waste a year, and no one knows where it’s going, according to Will Brinton, a scientist in Mount Vernon, Maine, and one of the world’s leading authorities on waste reduction and composting.

Most of our pets’ poop either winds up in a landfill purgatory, where it’s embalmed practically forever in plastic bags, or sits on the ground until the next rainstorm washes it into the sewer where it can drift on down to rivers and beaches. You can compost the poop—just don’t use it with your vegetable garden, because the compost doesn’t heat up enough to kill pathogens such as E. coli., which could contaminate your homegrown produce and land up in your (very unhappy) belly.

If you have room in your backyard, you can bury an old garbage bin (note: far away from your vegetable garden) to use as a pet-waste composter. Or check out the Doggie Dooley. The makers of the Doggy Dooley also sell an enzymatic “Super Digester Concentrate” for your backyard pet septic system.

2. Be a pet chef

If you want to know exactly what is going into your furball’s food dish, or your pet suffers from allergies, you can always make your own puppy (or kitty) chow. If the idea of becoming a fulltime pet chef is just crazy talk, making the occasional meal or treat is completely doable. Those broccoli stalks left over from your last stirfry also make some tasty morsels for your pup.

3. Get crafty

Your cat will love you forever if you grow your own organic catnip or cat grass. Scrap yarn and fabric you might otherwise toss can also easily be transformed into pet toys with some basic crafty know-how. And they wouldn’t have had to be trucked thousands of miles just to get drooled on.

4. Get ticks off

While you don’t want to douse your pet in toxins, it is also important to keep the bugs in check. Pets can carry ticks, and ticks can carry Lyme Disease, a serious and poorly understood disease that attacks the nervous system. If you live in an area where Lyme Disease is a risk, be very cautious and seek sound advice on keeping ticks off you and your furry friends.

5. Offset your pet

Maybe Scruffy will only drink water from an electric-powered water fountain, or perhaps you have a self-cleaning litter box from before you went green—we all have corpses buried in our backyards. Why not purchase green tags, otherwise known as renewable energy credits, to offset your pets’ carbon emissions. Heck, buy ‘em for the whole family so no one feels left out. Or better yet, check if your state sells green power so you and your furry compatriots can go carbon neutral.


By The Numbers

1. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimates that domestic cats kill more than 39 million birds annually—and that’s just in Wisconsin.

2. There are over 66 million pet cats in the United States; approximately 35 percent are kept exclusively indoors.

3. Certain studies have shown that children who grow up with two or more pets are more than 75 percent less likely to develop allergies later in life.

4. Sixty percent of pet owners have a dog; on average owners have almost two dogs (1.7).

5.Over 5,500 puppies and kittens (compared with 415 human babies) are born every hour in the United States.

6. The U.S. Dept. of Health found that 28 percent of heart patients who were also pet owners survived serious heart attacks, compared with 6 percent of patients without pets.

7.In 1994, Time magazine estimated that as many as 25 percent of purebred dogs were afflicted with serious genetic problems.

8. Shelter workers nationwide are forced to euthanize an estimated 3 to 4 million homeless cats and dogs each year.::o



EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS! Eveing Recycleing!|$|=;

I WON Fancypants Cafe LOOKIN GOOD Enhanced Category CONTEST!

I can't belive it, I think this is the first thing I have won! I whould have to thank my pal Bambi for making this picture for me! If it was it for her I whould it of been able to win! And thank you to Fancypants Cafe for having this contest! And thank you so much for picking me, and what a suprize on my Zealia Package, I did it even know I chould win that. And thank you so much for my star! Thank you so much!

Message from Spanky:
CONGRATS SQUIRTS on yur WIN in Fancypants cafe lookin good pic contest Enhanced Category!!! I am sendin you yur prize of a furever Star and a Zealie Pkg. I will be putting yur winning Pic on FPC homepage fur the month!
Congrats again, its a Great Pic11 Enjoy!
Hugs,Spanky

I won a Tribute Rossete fore the Beautiful_Baby 07 Contest!

Thank you so much it is a honner!

"Congratulations, Squirt! You've won a rosette in the Beautiful_Baby 07 contest! Thanks for entering!
Love,
Otto"


The results have been tabulated and are listed below.
Since we got such generous gifts from Al & his pals,
we decided to break the contest into weight categories -
except for the main prizes. PLEASE NOTE: the rosettes are not
listed in a particular order.

And, we added a special tribute to the Bridge Angels.

It was still a tough call; you were all such little cuties!!!
Thanks for sharing your puppy photos with us.
We loved you all.
So here goes:

Most adorable pup
Zoe Star, rosette & Blingee picture

Cutest pup (large adult)
Tinkerbelle Star & Blingee picture

Cutest pup (medium adult)
Mickey Star & Blingee picture

Cutest pup (tiny adult)
Rosalita aka Rosie Star & Blingee picture

-----------------------------------------------------
Bo ogie Best star
Bambi rosette
Rico rosette
Pirate's Black Pearl rosette

***
11-25 lbs.
Roxi Best star
Mr. Ziggy rosette
Caffrey rosette
Suka rosette

***
26-50 lbs.
Bernadette Best star
Miss Bella NPC rosette
Sizzler NPC rosette
Spice Girl rosette

***
51-100 lbs.
Yukiko Best star
Duce rosette
Nikita Sophia rosette
Raven rosette

***
100 lbs.
Maximus Best star
Bonzer rosette
***

Bridge Angels
Kodiak Bear Best star
Dutchess rosette
Kema rosette
Squirt rosette
Champ rosette
Grizzly Bear rosette

Congratulations to every one who entered. You are all winners!

Tag Your It!

Hey pals! My pal Angel" Sassy 1984-2000 tagged me and now I'm it. I get to choose 7 of my pals to tag.

Here are the rules:

Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Dogs who are tagged, need to post in their Diary the rules & their 7 pawsome facts. Then choose 7 dogs to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to bark them a pmail that they have been tagged and to read your Diary, or, send them a fun Rosette announcing they've been Tagged!

Here are 7 fun facts about me - In Loveing Memory Of~*Squirt*~:

1. I love playing with all my great pals on the bridge!

2. I love watching over my 3 sisters and Mom and Dad, from the Bridge!

3. I love all the belly rubs, I can get!

4. I love my beanie baby goose toy!

5. I hate mean people!

6. I love to play tug of war!

7. I hate people that pick on Mia!


~*In Loveing Memory Of~*Squirt*~

I pick:

Noone yet!

January 6, 2006

Dear Dogydiary,
Well today I pretty much sleep all day with my love Mia. I guess all the playing we did yesterday got to us today. But Missy liked it she got Mommy all to herself today.

And later this afternoon Mommy took us outside for awhile and tried to teach me how to fetch. She said I got the running part down but not the fetching part.

Tonight we are going to watch Aniamal Planet. And Missy is boss, because Mommy is going out. So I guess we better not act up. Well till next time my Dogydiary.

~*Squirt*~

January 4, 2006

Dear Dogydiary,
Well Me and Mia are featured in the Chi Girl Magazine. If you have it read it you should it is really good. They are having a Chi Couple’s contest. Me and Mia are thinking of entering.

Mommy just found out about Doggie groups. They sound like they are really fun. I think Dogster does a great job on pleasing us dog’s. There is a Fashion Contest and a Sportiest Dog Contest going on in one of the group’s. Me and Mia are going to enter Fashion Contest that, and Squirt is going to enter the Sportiest Dog Contest. Well till next time my Dogydiary.

~*Squirt*~

January 1, 2006 (Happy New Year!)

Dear Dogydiary,
Wow my very first Dogydiary entry! Well Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year. We sure did, Mommy made sure we did. We dressed up and watched Animal Planet, and counted down to the New Year. And my new Mommy gave us some new toy's to play with. She spoil’s us so much, but I am not complaining.

Well today being the fist day of the year. Mommy took us out for a walk in the (Squirt: What’s that place Mia? Mia: Woods! Squirt: Oh yeah that’s it) woods. It was so interesting, it was the first time I was out in the woods. And I have never seen so many new things in one day. But I had so much fun. But Mia was right next to me the whole time. I knew she was looking out for me. But I wish she would have gone and done her own thing. I had a lot more fun on the way back though, because Mommy had to carry Mia the rest of the way back, because her feet got cold. So I was on my own. But one thing that surprised me is that the whole time is that Missy knew where she was going and what she was doing the whole time. But Mia tells me she grew up in the woods so she knows all about it. She looked like she was having so much fun.

The rest of the day we relaxed inside and played, while Mommy did some indoor chores. Tonight we are going to sit down and watch a movie together. I will probley fall asleep next to Mia she will probley be sleeping next to my Mommy, because the both of us are really tired from the long day we had. Well till next time my Dogydiary.
~*Squirt*~