Dr Jo's blog

Thanks to my pets and my son I now have a Roman nose. You can imagine what it looks like – the protruding bump at the top, very distinguished looking on the right face; only my Roman bump is not distinguished, it is red!

I went shopping today to my local Pet Barn. Huge Pro Plan bags of cat food and dog food are low to the ground. Bend the knees and lift. Easy! It’s when it comes to Fancy Feast I struggle. Multi-pack boxes are on the top shelves.

I blame my son. He is doing a science experiment at home for a school assignment. He has chosen to look at cats’ preferences for two flavours of Fancy Feat wet cat food – Salmon versus Turkey Prime Fillet.

Turkey Prime Fillet was the problem. The Salmon Prime Fillet multi-pack was retrieved from the top of the packs on the top shelves, no problem. The Turkey pack was sitting at the bottom of the top shelf, under other multi-packs. When I struggled to grab it, down came all the rest, on to my nose.

Even my dog got a fright! Not sure if it was the tumbling of the Fancy Feast or my hopping around, grabbing my rapidly swelling nose. Chilli dog quickly recovered, though with the enticing smells all around her. I on the other hand wondered if I’d ever be able to smell again.

So would you like to know which flavour cats prefer? Stay tuned, I’ll let you know…

Give me your predictions – Salmon or Turkey???

Fancy Feast Turkey Prime Fillet

Fancy Feast Salmon Prime Fillet

“Life’s good. Mum’s home!”

Travel tip: When packing suitcase for your trip, remember to remove your pet!

Is this what my dog is thinking as I return home after a 3 week overseas trip? Or it is just my wishful thinking? What do your pets do when they meet you again after being separated?

I returned home and as I opened the door my dog raced out to meet me, jumped up, wagged her tail furiously, did a mad (typical Terrier mad moment!) dash around my front lawn and leapt up 3 steps and onto me again. Pure and utter expression of joy!

Moving through the house I enountered my 4 cats, one by one, each doing what cats do. My oldest boy Clyde (18yrs) stayed asleep on the sofa. At least he had the courtesy to open one eye. Mew did her smooch rub against me, as she does every day. Ginger stayed hidden until evening, again his normal behaviour. My big Maine Coon boy, Leo, leaped up on the benchtops where his food bowls sat, meowed, demanding to be fed. The cats may have been excited to see me but they sure keep that excitement under control compared to Chilli dog.

As the day progressed, however, the cats began to cling a little more. All 4 tried to sit on my lap and the dog protested that the cats were getting too much attention. Ah – life was back to normal.

What are your experiences of returning home after a break? Did your pets give you the cold shoulder or become super-excited?

I am on the look out for interesting cat facts. Got a few already:

• cats have 30 teeth
• cats have 12 whiskers on each side of their face (give or take a few)
• cats tend to be left pawed
• most popular name for cats in Australia is Oscar
• largest cat breed in Australia is the Maine Coon
• inventor of the cat flap was Sir Isaac Newton

I’m after more fascinating feline facts. What is the most riveting cat detail that you have come across? It need not be earth shattering, just something that you have enjoyed finding out about cats. Please share.

So I took Chilli dog along to the Purina offices with me today. Not her first visit but her first since she was 8 weeks old. Now she is 1.

This was not the first occasional she has been to work with me. Generally, however, wherever I work there are open spaces, grass, fresh air. Great for work breaks. None of that in a corporate office. Walls, ceilings, lots of surfaces to echo barks! Yes, Chilli barked… and barked.

Within five minutes she acted, typical Terrier style, as if she owned the place. Then, of course she had the right to bark at anyone who walked past her. To calm her down I had brought her dog house (a portable dog kennel) which she likes to snooze in and I can close screens to block her view. In her house, she went, as always enticed by the promise of a treat ball within. Today, however, she could still hear the girls in the petcare advice centre answering calls. Every time one of them said “Hello”, Chilli thought someone new was arriving and started to bark!

We managed to limit the barking by providing her with a Purina Total Care squeaky toy. Great – no more barks. Just squeaks, loud squeaks!

Purina is a pet friendly office. People who work there are welcome to bring their pets along to work. It is illegal, however, in our State to take your dog into food preparation areas – thus no trips to the office cafe. How does one survive a stressful day at the office with your dog without caffeine?

Home now and Chilli dog is exhausted! Next time I bring my quiet cat!

You didn’t think I had perfect pets, did you?!

(More misbehaviour from Chilli)

So you think you have pet problems…

Now’s your chance to come along and discuss them. For now, it’s only for those of you in Sydney or willing to come here (everyone else will get a chance in time I hope, if this one goes well). I have just organised (well my friend Cameron from Family Activities) has organised a new event.

I will be talking at Bankstown Sports Centre on April 20th from 6-9pm. Everything you have ever wanted to know about your pet’s behaviour – come and ask me. When you register you will get a chance to tell me exactly what you’d like to know. It should be fun. I will get to meet lots of you and we can all talk pets together.

More here

You can also let me know here is there is any particular topics you are keen to find out more about.

Look forward to seeing you soon. Please pass on to any mates you think might enjoy it.

Jo

Other events here

1.       The interesting friends I follow. Where else can I follow the conversations of a moose, a capybara, a gorilla, a gerbil and her mother? Just as in real life, on Twitter I enjoy the company of cats and dogs and the most followed pet of all is Sockington (@Sockington) who comes up with some fabulous feline life statements such as:

“OH DESPAIR THY NAME IS EMPTY FOOD DISH thy last name is mcglamery WELL EMPTY FOOD DISH MCGLAMERY LET’S SEE IF A YOWL WILL HELP YOU”.

Sockington’s prose has earned him over 500,000 followers.

Sockington 500,000 Followers from Jason Scott on Vimeo.

2.       You can be yourself. It is tempting when you first tweet to try to emulate the style of others. At first I stuck to being a professional, recommending all things pet. Other people were tweeting about the colour of their socks! Now I know, just like real life, Twitter is a balance of both personal and professional. Now I tweet whatever I like. I tweet about how muddy my pup’s paws are or how my cat has woken me again at 5:30am. If my followers don’t like me, easy, simply unfollow. I can do likewise. How many friends can you do that to in real life?

3.       Just because you think something is brilliant, doesn’t mean it is. On Twitter, it is quite a priveledge to be retweeted, Sometimes, you tweet your supposedly brilliant 140 character message and… NOTHING. Not a retweet! Not even a reply. Next, a quick comment and bingo, everyone loves it, retweets it and you get masses of replies.

I once said “Anxiety problems in our pets need to be treated with kindness for both the pets and the owner’s sake.” Nothing brilliant there I thought but the large number of endorsing responses I received showed that my tweet had touched people. Twitter helps me learn what inspires others.

4.       I can find out anything I want to. When I need to know something, such as where to find a book of barking, I can just ask my followers. Yes I could Google but Twitter followers give me their personal recommendations; very valuable. I can return the favour, occasionally giving pet behaviour advice and instead of a 2hr consult and 6months of therapy, all it takes is 140 characters.

5.       Twitter takes you to other worlds. Not only can I find out who twitters in my suburb, I can look for cat owners in Edinburgh or dog owners in Siberia. I can be a mythical creature (if I had the imagination); I can take on my pet’s personality. I can find joy in other’s experiences too. Here is Smudge (@Smudgebestcat), who resides with his people in England, being best cat at Australian Barney to Canadian Alley cats’ Twitter wedding. Only on Twitter?!

If you need more info on pets, visit Pet Problems Solved.

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