Pierre Archives - Page 99 of 131

National Chip Your Pet Month

Pierre: Hey, everybody. Did you know that May is National Chip your Pet Month?

Ashton: Chip your pet? Where? When can we start? I love corn chips! Potato chips too!

Pierre: They don’t mean corn chips. they mean microchips, Ashton. You have one, and so do I. They are to help us in case we get lost. The American Humane Association (AHA) estimates that over ten million dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the United States every year. One in three pets are lost during their life at some point.

Ashton: Those are scary numbers! I don’t want to be lost! I’ll miss the potato chips!

Pierre: A study by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association shows:

52% of microchipped dogs were reunited with an owner versus 22% of unchipped dogs
38% of microchipped cats were reunited with an owner versus 2% of unchipped cats

Ashton: So having a chip means that a lost cat or dog has a better chance of getting home again?

Pierre: It does. We shouldn’t rely on it alone. The AHA recommends that pets wear collars as a primary means of identification. It says right on their web page: “All cats and dogs need to wear collars with ID tags, rabies vaccination tags and city or county licenses (where applicable).” Collars let anyone who finds a lost cat or dog to help them get home by just reading the tag and calling the number on it.

Ashton: So microchips are a like a backup for a collar and tag, since they don’t fall off, and they last a lifetime?

Pierre: That’s right. Even if your we are completely indoor cats, unexpected disasters can strike, like scary weather. Many pets were reunited with owners after hurricane Katrina only because of the microchips they carried. Some as many as five years later!

Ashton: What are people waiting for? They should get microchips now. And potato chips, too.

Pierre: Many shelters, humane societies, and veterinarians have special pricing on microchips for your cat or dog during May in honor of Chip Your Pet Month, so if you’re thinking about getting a chip for your pet, this could be a cost-effective time to do it. Just remember that getting the chip inserted is the first step, and registering the chip is the second step. Without doing both, no one knows how to call you if your pet is lost.

Ashton: And if they don’t know who to call, your cat can never get home in time for potato chips.

Pierre: I think this diet has gone to your brain.

Wordless Wednesday: 3-2-1 Sing Edition

Lupine Collars: Not Just for Dogs!

The head peep had the opportunity to meet the folks from Lupine at Global Pet Expo earlier this year, and she agreed that Pierre and Newton would love to try out their line of cat collars. It was a really exciting day when they arrived.

Newton: Whoa, what are these?

Ashton: I don’t think I like the look of this!

Newton: They’re not for girls anyhow, Ashton. These are mancatly collars, and I think I want this one!

Pierre: That leaves this one for me.

Newton: Check this out! This is my old collar on the top and my new collar on the bottom. See how much thinner my new collar is? That means it’s going to be more comfortable.

Pierre: And if you look really closely, you can see that the stitches themselves are colored. I have had collars where the design was painted on, and it rubbed off after a month or two. This collar is going to stay vivid and colorful for a long, long time.

Pierre: And the collar looks really handsome on me, too!

Newton: Not as handsome as my collar looks on me!

We did run into one problem with the collars. Pierre has always been bad about chewing his collar, and he took the first opportunity to chew his collar into a soggy mess.

This happened because the collars are sized to fit a large cat, so that even on a cat Pierre or Newton’s size, there is a fair amount of webbing that folds back over itself. You can see it gapping a bit in this photo of Newton.

The head peep talked to Scott from Lupine about why they hadn’t chosen to implement a little keeper that would hold the loop of webbing Pierre wanted to sample flat against itself. Scott said that they had not done so because they were worried about it being a safety hazard. The head peep suggested offering multiple sizes of cat collars to minimize issues with cats like Pierre in the future. We aren’t sure whether how seriously they will take her suggestion, but we hope they might implement it even though the core of their business is obviously dogs rather than cats.

But the best thing is that even if you do have a cat who wants to chew up his collar, Lupine offers guarantees their collars, even if chewed. We thought that guarantee was just because they mostly sold dog collars, but Pierre made it clear that the guarantee is for cats, too. Combined with the quality of the collars themselves, the guarantee makes Lupine collars something that your cat will be able to wear for many years. We give them our paws up of approval!

FTC Disclosure: We received these collars at no charge for evaluation, but all opinions expressed in this site are our own.

National Hairball Awareness Day

Pierre: Hey, Newton, do you have a trichobezoar?

Newton: Isn’t that a little personal?

Pierre: Not a… Oh, never mind. A trichobezoar is a fancy word for hairball.

Newton: Have you been reading the internet again? The last time you did that, you ended up telling me about the Nigerian prince who wanted to send you a million green papers.

Pierre: *grumbles* He would have if you hadn’t stopped him.

Newton: So what’s this about hairballs, anyhow?

Pierre: Well, today is National Hairball Awareness day.

Newton: I’m plenty aware of them, thanks. Being the long-haired cat in the house, and it’s springtime. I’m more aware of them than you are.

Pierre: But do you even know what they are?

Newton: They’re the things that make me make this sound. Want to hear it? *breathes in*

Pierre: Oh, no, don’t make that noise unless you mean it! They happen because when you groom yourself, you end up swallowing some hair, and not all of it goes all the way through to the litterbox.

Newton: No, some of it I leave in strategic locations instead. Like right next to the bed where the head peep is sure to step in it first thing in the morning.

Pierre: I’m glad you mentioned her. I have an idea about how she can help you have less hairballs.

Newton: Really? How?

Pierre: She can brush you every day.

Newton: She has to catch me first. Manly mancats do not subject themselves to the brush.

Pierre: But it would mean less hairballs coming back up in the middle of the night when you’re trying to sleep. And the brush feels good. You’ve seen her brush me.

Newton. Yes, but you aren’t as mancatly as I am. No WAY that brush is getting near this beautiful coat.

Pierre: *sigh* That’s why you have to get manscaped, because you won’t have the brush. That’s all right. That leaves more brush for me, then, and no hairballs, either. Hairballs, if you can’t pass them, can cause complications that require surgery, so everyone else, let your peeps brush you for Hairball Awareness Day. Cough up less and play more!

National Chip Your Pet Month

Wordless Wednesday: 3-2-1 Sing Edition

Lupine Collars: Not Just for Dogs!

National Hairball Awareness Day

All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer

Policies