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Pet Blogging

You are here: Home / Archives for Pet Blogging

Friday Night Diversions Open Thread: Double Dutch, Triple Dogs

by Anne Laurie|  March 14, 202511:35 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Open Threads

Who doesn't love dogs jumping rope

[image or embed]

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 11:59 PM

Didn't realize until my second watch that the lady was using two dogs to swing the ropes lol

— Toilet Atlas (@joxyandsuch.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 12:01 AM

I’m 90% sure the darling in the pink traction boots is a ‘border pap’ — crossbred border collie / papillon, intended to produce a more compact dog who’s almost as smart and speedy as a purebred border collie, but one less driven, more amenable to foolish human whimsies.

Friday Night Diversions Open Thread: Double Dutch, Triple DogsPost + Comments (40)

Friday Catblogging in Memory of Kevin Drum

by @heymistermix.com|  March 14, 20253:28 pm| 21 Comments

This post is in: Pet Blogging

Friday Catblogging in Memory of Kevin Drum 1

Kevin would always post pictures of his cat, and if he didn’t invent Friday cat blogging, he sure perfected it.

So here’s my kid’s cat — Pearl. This is from a couple of years ago where she had a stint at our house. That “Smarty Kat” branding is for the toy, not the cat. She’s quite dumb, I’m afraid to report. She’s also a bit of a misogynist (not kidding). Guys are in. Gals, she’s not so certain about.

I’ve learned from Pearl that either indoor cats aren’t super smart, or maybe this particular cat isn’t. Pearl’s never been outside, and her world is the four walls of wherever my kid is living. We always had indoor/outdoor cats at home. They were just hunting and killing machines who roamed the neighborhood at night and came back with pieces of cat claw embedded in their fur from vicious fights. For them, it was a harsh existence that they seemed to crave. For Pearl, anything outside of the front door is a mysterious land of fearful monsters.

That all said, she likes me when I visit because I’m male and I give her good treats.

This is another cross-post from my new place — heymistermix.com. John graciously invited me to cross post here, with the comments off.  You’ll need to subscribe to comment. Subscriptions are free, and you can just visit the site to read my stuff. I’ll cross-post some of it here.  Kay is also posting there now if you’re interested in her take on things.

Friday Catblogging in Memory of Kevin DrumPost + Comments (21)

Good News in My Backyard

by WaterGirl|  March 4, 20257:55 pm| 85 Comments

This post is in: Pet Blogging, Respite

I went looking for my favorite photo of Miss Willow, but I couldn’t find it.  I did find this one of baby Henry, though!

Anything But the SOTU

This must have been from the first two weeks because we still had the tarp on the hardwood floor.  Pretty sure he weighted 4.5 pounds then!

I found my favorite photo of Miss Willow when I was changing the wallpaper on my iPhone, and now I can’t find that photo of her, so the best I can do is a screen capture from my phone.

Does anyone know if there’s a way to get information about the photo that’s your wallpaper?  Normally I would just poke around, but I don’t want to risk losing this photo, even as wallpaper, since I can’t seem to find it anywhere.  But it has to be on my phone in order to be the wallpaper.

The good news is that after 3 weeks of stress and worry, I got a call from the vet about Willow this afternoon.  Backstory: they had found a tumor on her neck when she went in to have her teeth cleaned.  So she had surgery last Thursday to remove the tumor, and today we got the results back.  This is not something that spreads, and the vet got the whole tumor and good margins, so she said there’s nothing to worry about now.

Whew!  My brain knows it’s great news, but it hasn’t quite sunk in yet; still totally wound up and shaky.

Anyway, yippee!

I know Josie got some great news today, but I’ll let her share that.

How about good news in some of the other backyards?

Good News in My BackyardPost + Comments (85)

Afternoon Open Thread

by John Cole|  February 26, 20252:37 pm| 130 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging

You all appear to be behaving today, so here is a picture of Steve napping doing his best impression of a raw organic turkey:

Afternoon Open Thread 8

You are welcome.

Afternoon Open ThreadPost + Comments (130)

Move Slow and Break Things RESPITE Thread

by Rose Judson|  February 17, 20254:54 pm| 80 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Respite, The Horrors

This place needs a cat photo. Here:

Move Slow and Break Things RESPITE Thread
“Huh, I wonder who did that?”

I don’t know why Monty had something against that silver pothos cutting, but I was going to repot it anyway. The Child suggested Monty was “conducting experiments in gravity,” which made me chuckle.

There was a major meeting of European leaders in Paris today, but I’ll wait until there are more substantial links to share beyond immediate soundbites and reactions. Good noises from Starmer, at any rate.

Meanwhile, here is some news we all missed last week: via Forbes, Opossum Hospitalized After Gorging on a Costco Chocolate Cake

Sometimes, your eyes are bigger than your stomach. That’s what happened to a very relatable opossum in Omaha, Nebraska after it stuffed itself on a Costco chocolate cake. It turns out the furry cake queen’s overindulgence may have also saved her life. Wildlife doctors discovered she was suffering from unrelated lead toxicity and are now treating her for both the cake feast and the lead.

Real estate agent Kim Doggett and her family discovered the opossum on their deck furniture. The family ran out of space to store a Costco chocolate mousse cake. “I always have a house full and we cook a lot and when you run out of room in the fridge you just sit it on the table outside in the winter,” Doggett says over a Facebook chat.

Doggett’s son went to put some homemade peanut butter balls outside to set up and found the opossum with the mostly eaten cake. Chocolate-y footprints pointed to the thievery. The family tried to move the animal along but Doggets says “it just didn’t look right.”

Click through if you need some light relief.

I grew up in the Poconos, so Animals Where They Shouldn’t Be was a regular occurrence. A baby skunk once got itself trapped inside the front entry porch of my parents’ house. It did its best to spray the wildlife rescue person who came to help it, but apparently its stink glands weren’t mature enough to do anything yet, so it just looked like it was aggressively mooning her.

Share your moments of respite below. It’s cold where a lot of you are; anyone making any good winter comfort food?

Move Slow and Break Things RESPITE ThreadPost + Comments (80)

Essential Distractions Open Thread: Puppy Bowl!

by Anne Laurie|  February 7, 20257:12 am| 97 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Open Threads, Pet Rescue, Sports

Pawfect pooches prepare for the Puppy Bowl. pic.twitter.com/aKMmcRc7Uo

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 7, 2025

Who you got? Team Fluff or Ruff?#PuppyBowl XXI kicks off Sunday at 2p ET | 11a PT on @animalplanet. pic.twitter.com/OnqfUddT7D

— YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) February 5, 2025

Tune in to the Puppy Bowl!
www.tvinsider.com/gallery/pupp…

[image or embed]

— Tea4Me (@tea-n-me.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 4:02 AM

The Puppy Bowl XXI, considered one of the cutest competitions of the year, is set to return for its 21st year on #SuperBowlLIX Sunday. The competition's Most Valuable Puppy and winner of the Underdog Award will be named at the conclusion of the event pic.twitter.com/yBMTdcSr3t

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2025

show full post on front page

Watch: Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi took on the role of a coach as he trained Parsnip, a 4-month-old puppy, to make his debut at Puppy Bowl XXI. pic.twitter.com/Q7BgcGsPSN

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 7, 2025

Puppy Bowl is the Super Bowl for some advertisers https://t.co/1GcFiURPFH

— Quartz (@qz) February 7, 2025

… The Super Bowl’s cuter cousin has advertisers interested, as they can move a lot of product for less money. Ad slots for the Super Bowl will run close to $8 million. Puppy Bowl ads are less, but can still reach up to $7 million.

“While the Super Bowl dominates the advertising landscape this Sunday, the Puppy Bowl offers a unique platform for brands that cater to pet owners and family-conscious consumers,” said Y. Greg Song, assistant professor of emerging media at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

If you like the Puppy Bowl, you aren’t alone: 28% of Americans say they are more excited for it than the Super Bowl this year, according to data from tracking firm Ipsos…

“Puppies often trigger two key psychological responses in humans. First, they stimulate an oxytocin release, reinforcing feelings of love and connection, Second, they evoke nostalgia—many Americans have fond memories tied to puppies and their inherent cuteness,” said Michael Barbera, assistant professor of consumer psychology and the chief behavioral officer at consumer consultancy Clicksuasion Labs.

“Nonprofits and brands that emphasize emotional connections or community impact could find this event particularly aligned with their messaging,” Barbera explained.

Jennifer Glen, General Manager at Americas ad Squad, said the Puppy Bowl’s altruistic element also offers a nice contrast to the Super Bowl’s commercialism.

“You don’t have to pay $8M to advertise during the Puppy Bowl, and you get to support 80+ shelters (and 140+ puppies) in the process,” Glen said, noting that while the viewership will be significantly less, the long-term partnership and dollars make sense. She also said the viral elements last far beyond the event…

Essential Distractions Open Thread: Puppy Bowl!Post + Comments (97)

Purr Therapy Respite Thread

by Rose Judson|  January 20, 20253:48 pm| 81 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Respite, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

I moved into my current house during COVID lockdown #1. My cats came with the house. I started sending friends videos of Monty purring on particularly awful news days—the big shiny himbo has quite the motor. (His late colleague, Lola, just sort of silently vibrated.) I am embedding one of his bangers here:

Sound up to hear the Monty Motor, obvs. This was taken this past June.

Not much to say about today. It’s a sad day. I spent slightly too much time checking the USD to GBP exchange rate and scrolling on Bluesky, but it’s time to really rein that in. I intend to do what I did starting in 2017 and never let the president’s voice be heard in my house. The Child didn’t hear him speak until 2019, when we were visiting family in Pennsylvania, and she laughed out loud in disbelief.

Today she asked me why I was looking annoyed and I reminded her that Trump’s new term of office starts today.

“Ugh,” she said. “What a maroon.”

I’m not sure if I’m raising her right or if Bugs Bunny did, but that made me smile.

I now return to writing marketing article #14 of 2025. They’re keeping me busy, the clients, thank God. Talk about whatever—I’m sure there’s no avoiding discussing about the inauguration here, but this is a good space for light topics, recipes, etc.

Purr Therapy Respite ThreadPost + Comments (81)

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