Thursday, December 18, 2008

And for our Pets?

Several of us have gone through our lists of favorite books to make gift suggestions. Mine mostly involved books relating to animals.

Now, I’d like to talk about gifts for our pets! Treats? Sure, but we want to make certain not to let our babies gorge the way we’re likely to do over the holidays.

Toys? Absolutely! In fact, I’m thinking of getting my puppy Mystie another squeaky rubber ball similar to the one she adores. It keeps disappearing under stairways and behind furniture, and then she gets all excited chasing flashlight beams when we search for it. Maybe we could alleviate some of her nuttiness if she could fall back on a different ball when this one can’t be found.

For my Lexie? Most likely another set of nylon bones. They’re good for her teeth, and some of our older ones are due to be replaced. She enjoys chewing on them, and also playing keep-away from Mystie.

I’m not one to dress my dogs up, since I think they’re perfect in their fur coats, but there are an awful lot of really cute doggy outfits out there.

But I think the most important gift of all to them will be increased attention--which is exactly what I want from them, too. I’ll give them extra lap time and hugs, and they’ll in turn hug and kiss my face.

What gifts do you expect to give your pets? What will they give you in return?

--Linda

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got my kitty Tara a laser pointer to get her some exercise.

Linda O. Johnston said...

We use a laser pointer sometimes with Mystie, Tara--and since she loves to chase sunbeams and shadows she goes even nuttier! Good gift choice.
--Linda

pwl said...

I'd like to make one more suggestion for a gift for our pets. Mine will get the usual catnip toys,and toy mice, and special food, and lots of love. But something devastating happened close to home a couple of days ago. There was a fire at a local animal shelter, and I believe 160 cats lost their lives. Only 9 dogs and 2 cats were saved. So I would like to suggest a donation to your local animal shelter - money, toys, time - whatever, to ease the lives of those poor pets waiting to find a loving home - or to help a shelter such as this one rebuild.

Betty Hechtman said...

What a wonderful suggestion, PWL. You've inspired me.

Linda O. Johnston said...

Oh, how awful, PWL. All those poor animals. Your gift suggestion is a great one and will hopefully help a lot of sad, waiting pets in many ways.
--Linda

Monica Ferris said...

Our cat Panzi will get a rose. She loves roses, she will carry it around, sniffing deeply, then lie down and slowly eat it, petal by petal. Snaps is harder, because he likes everything, but I suppose a new catnip mouse will do for him. They already have a laser pointer and love it. I have asked my family to give donations to our local animal humane society as their gift to me.

Linda O. Johnston said...

How adorable, Monica. I assume the rose has no thorns and won't cause tummy problems. Catnip mice sound like a good idea, too. And I really love the idea of donations to humane societies.
--Linda

Anonymous said...

Monica, I hope it's an organically grown rose. The vast majority of commericially grown flowers are loaded with pesticides (often sickening the cutters in the fields, often in South America).

One newish danger to dogs is the sweetener, xylitol. It's being put into more and more products (gum, breath mints, toothpastes, mouthwashes, kid's vitamins, etc., and often isn't labeled. I don't know if this is the right way to show the link, but...

dolittler.com/2008/11/29/

(or just GoodSearch with dolittler blog xylitol as your search words)

As for a good gift, many rescue groups and/or shelters bake treats that help them raise money, and will give your pets something to open up on Christmas morning!