Jason's Story

All of our fur babies have a unique story of how we rescued them...this is Jason's...

In early May of 2011, I was out for a run and as I returned home near dusk, I noticed two glowing eyes in the storm sewer right in front of our house. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a beautiful, buff-colored kitty. I approached, thinking he or she may need help getting out, but as I got closer, kitty was visibly scared so I backed away. I put a bowl of food out on my front porch in case he or she decided to come out - sure enough, after about an hour, I looked outside and there the kitty was, gobbling up the canned food.

This kitty was skinny and seemed to walk with a limp. It was then that I learned that this kitty was most definitely a boy. It's much easier to see the "dangly bits" on a lighter colored male kitty than say, a black male kitty. 

I assumed he had been hit by a car or sustained some other injury and needed to see a vet immediately. The problem was, he was feral - would NOT let me near, let alone pet him. I needed to trap him if I were to get him the medical attention he needed.

I promptly got my trap and lined it with newspaper and put a cozy blankie in there - I needed to make it look inviting so that he would feel comfortable going in it prior to actually setting the trap door. After a couple of days and several very stinky, fishy meals for him inside the trap, he was accustomed to it. Time to set it so that when he stepped on the plate, the door would slam shut and I could get him to the vet. Surprisingly, trapping him was a success on the VERY first try (sometimes it takes multiple times to trap a feral cat). I trapped him on Friday the 13th...so we named him Jason, of course. This proved to be confusing when we had our good, human friend named Jason over to the house.

Jason (the cat) proved the be quite difficult in temperament and as soon as I dropped him off at the vet to be fixed and vaccinated, they called me and said they would have to sedate him to even do an exam. 

After his visit to the vet, we learned that he was FIV/FeLuk negative (there is a blood test given to determine this), approximately six-years-old, and indeed had suffered some sort of trauma to his hind quarters a while back and he had already healed with a dislocated hip and a fractured leg. He would, unless we opted for surgery, walk with a limp - the doc assured me that he was NOT in pain. We decided against the surgery given his temperament and the fact that I planned on releasing him back outside where I would provide shelter and food for him for his remaining days. He was also vaccinated and given his rabies shot. 

After recovering from being neutered for a day, the time came to release him. I chose to release him on my back porch, which was paved and had plenty of bushes for him to hide in and feel protected. I opened up the trap and off he groggily went into the bushes to, I assume, ponder what in the hells bells just happened to him. 

I was careful for the next few days to feed him at the same time so that he would learn that our back yard was his home base. He was a fast learner and very rarely strayed from our lot. I began hanging outside with him in the mornings with my coffee and I would just talk to him and blink slowly at him. For you non-feline experts, a slow blink is a sign of affection and love. Slow blinks all around!!!

This routine continued for a few months and each week brought more progress and trust between both of us - he trusted me not to snatch him up and put him in a cage again and I trusted him not to claw my eyeballs out. Before long, he was rubbing on me and letting me pet him - he was a little love bug. That's the problem with making friends with feral cats - they don't want to live inside, so you are constantly afraid of the dangers that the outside world can pose for a gimpy, slightly old, and weathered kitty.

Winter came and I made him a super cozy shelter out of a Rubbermaid tote lined with hay. I put blankets in there and even built a tarp roof so that if it rained, his home wouldn't get soaked. I sprinkled flea and tick repellant inside and gave him a stuffed teddy bear to snuggle with at night if he wanted. He was thriving :)

One day I heard a commotion outside in the back yard and ran out there to find my poor Jason teetering on the wooden fence that divided our neighborhood from the one directly behind us - two large dogs were trying to get at him. Of course I flipped out and chased the dogs out of my yard then proceeded to walk door to door looking for the dogs owners so that I could chew them out. No such luck. On that day, it was decided that we would get a fence in our back yard to keep Jason safely inside and other, unwanted critters out. We had been wanting a fence for a while due to an incident with one of our neighbors, so this dog issue was the cherry on top of the "Keep Jason Safe" cake. 

Fence went up and things were good. We even screened in a portion of our back porch and installed a kitty door for Jason to go in and out of in case he needed extra shelter. Jason seemed to feel more secure and I felt a sense of relief that he was safer in our care. Our bond continued to grow - Manny was still not able to pet him (this secretly made me happy...I like when our animals love me more).

During the summer, that year, we had a NASTY storm - one of those Florida rains that blows through quickly and leaves a complete mess of tree limbs, standing water, and other debris in it's path. Right as the storm was hitting, I opened our sliding door to the house and offered Jason to come in - the rain was coming in at a sideways, Forrest Gump angle, so even the shelter of the screened in porch was not enough to keep him dry. He walked right in - BOOM! Done...he never went outside again. I thought he would want to, but he immediately got along with our other cats (how many we had during that time is escaping me, but it was at least three). I attribute their friendliness to the fact that all but two of our cats wandered into our back yard and most likely came from the same colony. I imagine they also had been watching each other through the glass sliding door for a while and felt a sense of non-threatening comfort with each other.

As an indoor kitty, Jason was aloof and any time we had company he would disappear for hours and emerge only when he felt the coast was clear. He continued to let me pet him and even smooch on him when I would lie on the floor to give him some extra lovin'. Manny and others were still unable to physically interact with him. But after about two years, there seemed to be a change in him - whether it was that he was getting older or grew more comfortable around humans, he slowly warmed up to Manny and even let the more frequent visitors of our house pet him. A few nights that I slept on the couch, he would jump up and snuggle right in for the night sleeping against my stomach. 

A few times, Jason got sick - allergies, URI, something else minor but serious enough that I thought he needed to see a vet. And here is the other, more challenging issue of having a feral or former feral cat...medicating them or getting them into a carrier is nearly impossible. Manny has suffered many a bloody arm at Jason's hands...er...paws whilst attempting to wrangle him into a carrier. We would give up and luckily whatever seemed to ail him went away on it's own.

We moved houses once during our time with Jason and, holy shit...that was a mess - we HAD to get him to our new house so I got crafty and bought a ton of disgusting canned meats and fish to lure him into a large dog crate. I also caught The Dude, one of our other cats, in the crate during this mission along with Jason, so they made the trek to the new house (only about three miles away) together...Jason pooping in the crate on the way there...imagine me hanging my head out the car window gagging.

We just recently celebrated our one year anniversary of moving and a few weeks ago, during a visit to my house, my sister noticed that Jason looked thin to her. I suppose Manny and I hadn't really noticed since we see him every day. I thought nothing of it...chalked it up to his older age and just started feeding him more soft food in case his old man teeth were no longer capable of crunching up his hard kibble. Then, one day, I noticed that Jason was drooling and seemed to be wincing like he was in pain. I went to him and sat with him, tried to open his mouth to see what was going on but he would not let me. I noticed he was markedly thinner than usual. I immediately got that dreaded feeling knowing that I had to get him to the vet. Out came the dog crate and stinky food. It worked, again...thank goodness.

We got him to the vet and they had to sedate him to even get him out of the crate. They did a full exam (remember, the had only been to the vet once in his life), found that his ears were super dirty, they cut his claws (yay), and recommended doing some blood work to rule out FIV and Feline Leukemia. I told them he had been tested when we first got him, but the doc said he had a hunch so lets do it again. Apparently, the diseases can lie dormant in the body even when you get a negative test result early in life. He also received an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic shot for anything that could be causing issues. His gums were irritated and red (another symptom and sign of FIV).

NOTE - FIV is Feline Immunodeficiency Virus. It's a highly species-specific disease that only infects felines and is not transmitted to humans or other species. It is spread just like the human AIDS virus mainly through blood from severe bite wounds and sexual fluids (although this method of infection is not very common). It can also be transmitted to kittens during the passage through the birth canal or when they ingest infected milk. Cats can live a long, healthy life for years before the disease manifests itself into symptoms.

The test results came back a few days later and Jason was indeed positive for FIV. I immediately had a small panic attack about my other cats that he roamed the house and socialized with for all of the years that we have had him. Then I realized, he's fixed, so no sex...also, he's one of the friendliest kitties ever and I had never seen him fight with his siblings - a bite wound bad enough to spread the infection to another cat in my home was unlikely. Manny and I were sad, but also realized that cats can live long lives with this disease and we were hopeful that Jason was one of those. We were wrong :(

The week after we found out that he was sick, he again displayed signs of discomfort and, most alarming, was that he pretty much stopped eating. I thought it was his teeth bothering him again, so I pureed all of his food in a blender to help him get some nourishment. This went on for a few days and I noticed he was even more thin and would spend most of his days sitting in a corner drooling. This was not the way I wanted my sweet Jason to feel or live. We made the difficult decision to put him down humanely last Thursday. Again, we had to rig the dog crate up and that about killed me because I didn't want his last hour on earth to be stressful for him, but we had to get him to the vet. I wish I had taken a picture of the contraption we set up...it was quite the venture but worked like a charm and our sweet boy actually went in without much of a fight. I think he was "ready."

Once at the vet, they again had to sedate him to pull him out of the crate. I requested to go back and hold him for a little bit before they gave him the life-ending injection. Manny and I were both blubbering messes. Manny was happy because for once he also go to kiss Jason and snuggle him - something he really wasn't able to do as much as I.

We were ready - or as ready as we could be. The doctor gave him the shot and he was gone. We gave him one last kiss before we left his little body and made our way home. Although we had that sense of relief that his suffering was all over, one of the worst parts of losing an animal is coming home and seeing the reminders of them - bowls, his favorite bed, his brush, and even the next morning getting out the usual five bowls for soft food instead of the newly needed amount of four.

Jason was a sweet kitty, he was gentle (unless you tried to pick him up or put him in a carrier), he got along with everyone and was a fantastic baby sitter to the many, many foster kittens we cared for. He is proof that animals can learn to trust and even love again.

We will miss you Jason - RIP, sweet boy!! 

Allison Otero
Owner, AlleyCat's Pet Service
alleycatspetservice.com

Cats and Water - Here Are the Facts!

NEWSFLASH!!!! CATS NEED LOTS OF WATER!!!

Did you know that a cat's body weight is 2/3 water? Although most people don't think of water as a nutrient, it is vital to your cat's health and serves as the center of all chemical processes. To our feline friends, water is the "king of all nutrients!"

No, seriously...they need a lot of it to be healthy. It is common belief that cats were first found and domesticated in Egypt - the desert. They are carnivores. This means that they got their nutrition from killing their prey...fresh, bloody, moist, dead animals. Gross, I know. Their diets consisted of mostly rodents, birds, amphibians, and insects - beings whose tiny bodies contain 70-75% water. Because of their diets, cats don't naturally drink a lot of water. Outdoor cats or indoor cats who eat only canned food do not need as much water as indoor cats who eat dry kibble. Canned food contains a lot of water, and, as long as the water content of the food does not dip below 61%, extra drinking water may not always be needed. And, even with water bowls available to kitties who eat only dry food, they still will not drink nearly enough water on their own to compensate.

Domesticated cats' thirst drive has also diminished, so without feeding mostly canned food, control of water intake and balance can be difficult. When a cat is thirsty or dehydrated, they are slower to initiate drinking and will take up to 24 hours to replenish six percent of their body weight as opposed to dogs, who can take as little as one hour to do the same. Wow!! 

So, how much water DOES your kitty need??? Cats need five to ten fluid ounces of water each day.

Here are some tips and tricks up the water intake in your feline:

• The number one way to ensure your kitty is getting adequate moisture is to feed a mostly canned/raw diet - it's important to know that not all canned food is created equal. Check the product label and the Guaranteed Analysis to see just how much water it contains. 

• If you feed your kitty dry food only, moisten it with water or broth.

• Provide plenty of water bowls throughout their living space to make access easy.

• Fountains will sometimes lure kitties over and prompt them to drink.

• Try adding low-sodium tuna juice or clam juice to your cat's water...you can even get creative and freeze into little ice cubes to add to the water bowls.

• Test different bowls - your kitty may not want to share your dog's water bowl...slobber...ew!

• Embrace your cat's quirky need to drink from the faucet!!!

For more information on this subject and to see where I got all of these fun facts, you can visit: animalendocrine.info/2011/10/daily-water-requirements-and-needs-for.html

Allison Otero
Owner, AlleyCat's Pet Service
alleycatspetservice.com

My Favorite Animal Non-Profit Organizations and Why You Should Donate to Them TODAY!

Local Rescue Groups

Whether human, environmental, or animal-based - you should support local! My favorite local groups are (I have included their web links):

• The Way Home, Inc. - A cat rescue group that works with foster homes to help find homes for many cats and kittens who find themselves dumped, homeless, or at Orange County Animal Services. You can visit their adoptable cats and kittens every Saturday at Pookie's Pet Nutrition and Bow Wow Bakery in Winter Park, or visit their website.
• Polka Dogz Pet Rescue - A small dog rescue dedicated to pulling Chihuahuas, Min Pins, Rat Terriers, Dachsunds, Shih Tzus, and others from kill shelters throughout Florida. You can meet their adoptable dogs every Sunday morning at the West Orange Dog Park, located in Winter Garden off of Marshall Farms Road.
• Candy's Cats - A no-kill cat rescue based in Central Florida with foster homes across four counties. You can visit their adoptable cats and kittens on Saturdays at the Winter Garden PetSmart or visit their website.
• A Forever Home Animal Rescue - A place for homeless dogs to go and be loved, cared for, and trained in hopes of finding their forever homes. Their dogs come from shelters, stray situations, or owners who can no longer care for them.
• Rooterville A Sanctuary, Inc. - Provides a safe and compassionate refuge to hundreds of rescued farm animals. Located in Melrose, FL and founded in 2004, Rooterville is home to over 300 rescued animals, which include: pot-bellied pigs, farm pigs, cows, turkeys, chickens, goats, horses, and honey bees. You should drop what you are doing immediately and call them to set up a date to visit - you will not be disappointed!!

Non-Local, Larger Rescue Groups

If you decide to donate to a larger cause, these are my three, all-time faves:

Paws and Stripes - Paws and Stripes is a non-profit organization providing service dogs for wounded military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury through integrating service dog training and education with mental health support. And the BEST part...their dogs come only from local rescues and teaches the dogs and veterans as a team! How amazing is that?

2nd Chance 4 Pets - If anything happened to you, what would happen to your pets? Did you know that thousands of companion animals are surrendered to shelters and euthanized each year because their human caregivers died or became too ill to care for them? These animals became homeless because their caregivers made no plans for their continued care. 2nd Chance 4 Pets is a unique organization that provides the tools to help you plan for the lifetime care for your pets as well estate planning as a means to effectively plan for your pets' future. They also work with a meals on wheels program called "We All Love Our Pets" that distributes free pet food in all 50 states to elderly pet owners. Pretty cool, right?!

And now....my happy place - the place that changed my life when I visited. It even made me want to move just to be closer - my family wouldn't allow it. :)

Best Friends - I will try not to gush too much about this place, but if you are an animal lover and ever went, you would understand how I feel. 

Thirty years ago, a group of friends decided to take a leap of faith and created a sanctuary for abandoned and abused animals of all kinds. Little did they know that this endeavor would put them at the forefront of what is now known as the "Save Them All" movement to end the killing of 17 million dogs and cats who were dying in our nation's shelters at that time.

To date, Best Friends is the LARGEST no-kill animal sanctuary IN THE WORLD! With their help, the number of animals killed in our shelters is down to about 4 million. WOW! 

While the main sanctuary is located in Kanab, UT in a magical place known as Angel Canyon, Best Friends has several pet adoption centers, spay/neuter clinics and no-kill initiatives in Los Angeles, New York City, and Salt Lake City, as well as a No More Homeless Pets Network of animal rescue groups in every corner of the nation.

Their main focus groups are: 

• Puppy mill initiatives
• Pit Bull Terrier initiatives
• Cat initiatives
• Spay and neuter education
• Promoting adoption vs. buying
• Animal advocacy

Best Friends is, perhaps, most known for taking in 22 of the 47 dogs rescued from Michael Vick's Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting ring. You can't walk into the main building of Dog Town without being reminded of the horrors these innocent beings suffered at his hands...more, you can't help but be reminded of how resilient, forgiving, and trusting these dogs are after reading their stories and meeting them. 

I had the life-changing opportunity to visit Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab two years ago with my good friends, Kelli and Carolyn (fellow animal-obsessed peeps). We rented a cottage right on the property, next to a cliff where we were greeted each morning and evening by deer, coyotes, and other wildlife. Our cottage overlooked Horse Haven and Marshall's Piggy Paradise. We spent the week volunteering in different areas of the sanctuary including: Dog Town (the filming location of Animal Planet's "DogTown" TV show), Cat World, Piggy Paradise, Bunny House, Parrot Garden, and Wild Friends. 

I learned so much and got to do things I never thought I would do like: 

• Take a cat for a walk on a leash and in a stroller
• Prepared lunch for 20 or so hungry piggies
• Cleaned parrot enclosures
• Strolled through the beautiful Angel's Rest cemetery where many of the sanctuary's residents as well as volunteer's pets are buried
• Played with bunnies
• Learned about the local, wild animals who call Angel Canyon their home - crows (known as ravens in UT), minks who escaped a local mink fur farm and now safely live at the sanctuary, a tortoise, a guinea foul, and countless others
• Observe and even help in the socialization of extremely terrified and aggressive dogs who are trying to overcome their insecurities
• Participated in a puppy socialization class
• Rolled around in the mud with pigs
• Hiked up the rock formation where the Lone Ranger exclaimed, "Hi Ho, Silver!" (this is just outside the Welcome Center at the sanctuary)
• Saw original hieroglyphics left behind on the rocks
• Saw where Jackson Galaxy got married
• Hiked Zion National Park (which is just a short drive from Best Friends)
• Had lunch and froze my booty off on the edge of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (on our drive back to Vegas, which is where you fly in/out of to get to Best Friends)
• Explored Las Vegas for one night
• Had slumber parties with dogs who are waiting for their forever family to adopt them and cats who were rescued after being left in a suitcase to die - they are now known as the "Suitcase Kids." 
• Drove the sanctuary at night and saw the Milky Way lights and so many stars that we were speechless
• Had happy hour every night with wine and lavish cheese plates...ok, mostly I had the wine...

It was absolutely incredible and I plan to go back next year and continue to donate money and sponsor different animals at the sanctuary. In fact, Mom's birthday gift this year was the gift of sponsoring Chauncy - a special needs kitty who lives in one of the cat houses at Best Friends.

Ok, ok, so maybe I should have dedicated an entirely separate post to Best Friends, but my point is...pick a cause that is important to you - find groups of like-minded people and volunteer, donate, learn, advocate! You may start out doing it to help others, but you will quickly find that you get WAY more out of it than you could have ever imagined.

If you would like to learn more about any of the organizations I have included in this post, please feel free to contact me via my website below or comment. I hope you enjoy the included photos from my trip - they are some of my favorites!

 Our Cottage and home for the week!

Angel's Rest Cemetary

 Lucas' grave stone - Lucas was the last dog of Michael Vick's dogs who passed away while living at Best Friends

 Morning dog walks

 Dog Town resident

 Bruno - a Dog Town resident who got to have a slumber party with us!

 Slumber party time!

 Blackjack enjoying a walk around the sanctuary - he had to stop to enjoy the view

 Zion

 Parrot Garden resident

 The Suitcase Kids all settled in for their slumber party with us

 Meow - the resident kitty at Piggy Paradise

 Piggy lovin'

 Bounced Bruno out of Dog Town for a slumber party

 Sweet Bruno all tucked in for the night!

 Vegas, baby! This is me ordering a $24 martini at the Monte Carlo

 Kelli and Bruno

 Puppy socialization class

 Hieroglyphs

 Time for a hike with this buddy!

 Me, Carolyn and Kelli at Angel's Rest

 One of the many beautiful views at the sanctuary

 Zion

 Piggy lunch prep

Post by: Allison Otero, owner of AlleyCat's Pet Service

alleycatspetservice.com

Nip Slip!

One hundred bucks says this post gets the most views because of the title :)

So, this happened...today...about an hour ago...I want to die!

We look after a super cute black lab, who is about seven months old. Being the puppy that he is, his manners are not totally up to par yet and my nickname for him is the "Jumping Bean." Important to this story is the fact that (Manny, look away here) this dog's dad is quite handsome. The other sitter who helps take care of this pup and I have had conversations about how handsome he is. I am happily married to an even more handsome man, but I can appreciate another nice looking man or woman when I see one.

Now then, after a brutal winter here in Florida with a few weeks of temperatures consistently dipping into the 60's, the heat has returned. I believe today's high is around 89 degrees. Yesterday, I finally broke out my first pair of shorts of the season and today was the same. I paired my shorts with a tank top...one of those tops that are tight and stretchy at the top and then flowy around the mid-section. It has thin straps, so I didn't even wear a bra, but rather those handy nipple covers to provide some sort of barrier and discretion. 

Can you see where this is going???

This dog's dad works for a construction company and often works jobs very close to his house and will stop by to let the dog out. He still wants us to visit, though, just in case he can't stop by during the day. So, we have run in to him a few times at the house as he's leaving. Super nice guy. 

Today was one of those days; I pulled up and his work truck was there. I see not only him, but three other men (co-workers, I presume) playing with the dog in the garage. Fine. I get out of my car, walk to the garage. The dog sees me, makes a bee-line for me, full on sprint and jumps right up on to my chest. 

Yep, you guessed it...paws/claws get hooked onto my tank top and down it goes. Full-on boob flash for all to see. Awesome. Perfect. Swell. Lovely.

Silence befalls the garage and then some throat clearing and the guys tried to carry on like nothing had happened, no one acknowledged the show. I quickly got the leash and off I went with the dog...as soon as I get out of ear shot (so they thought), the laughing ensued. I mean, roaring. I'm mortified.

Perhaps it's a good thing? Maybe I'll get some new clients out of this. I mean, I DO say that we provide, "dog walking, pet sitting, and other services."

Post by: Allison Otero, owner of AlleyCat's Pet Service

alleycatspetservice.com

  

Locked Out!

And now...let me tell you all a story...

I'm having my busiest day in a very long time due to three of my sitters being on vacation today. Usually, I would pout like a baby since it's Saturday and I want to get my Saturday on with my husband, but husband had a busy weekend with his company (he owns an adventure racing company that puts on days-long races) so it was a good time to do some visits myself...besides, I get to see many furry faces that I miss!

So, I got up at 5:30AM to get my monsters taken care of so that I could be at my first visit by 6:30AM. Get to first visit around 6:45AM, take sweet pibble, Candy, out in to fenced-in backyard, crack door from house to back yard so she can run in and out whilst I prepare breakfast and tend to indoor/outdoor kitties. I go outside to feed kitties and Candy jumped up on the door and slammed it shut. Well, fart...keys to car and client's house are on pool table inside house. I thought, "Perhaps I left the front door unlocked." I go around to front door...locked. My sister is always hounding me about locking the door behind me, lest a serial killer follow me in to a client's house. Curse caring sister!

Ok, now what...ah, yes...call other sitter who has back-up key. FAIL...she's about 2 hours away with 13-year-old son who is taking SAT's (darn you smart, little overachiever!!!). Next step...get next visit covered, b/c this is surely going to take a while. Got next visit covered (love you, Kate!). Call client to see if there is a key hidden somewhere...there is not. Client calls neighbor to see if they have a key...they do not. Call other pet sitting company who I referred once to client when I was solo and too busy to take her last-minute requests...no answer.

Ok, looks like I have to call a locksmith. Call locksmith...will be $20 and then tech will assess sitch and let me know other, additional costs. Locksmith tech comes...large, nice, Russian lad. I actually couldn't understand if he said he'd be there in 15 or 50 mins because of his accent, which vacillated between endearing and annoying throughout this entire fiasco.

I tell him the door in the back will be the easy lock to pick as front door is deadbolt only. Lead him around back and open gate, he see's Candy and says (in endearing accent), "No, no...no Pit Bull...two weeks ago...bit...no...I do front door for $250." Um....how about NO!

I tell him Candy is nice. Nope. He won't budge. I told him to send another tech because I can't do $250. He says I have to pay for his visit out there to the house (endearing accent is quickly turning to annoying). I explain that car keys are inside the locked house, wallet inside car. He says the locksmith company will call me to discuss. Oh, did I mention that every time I leave the back yard, the dog tries to dig out? She dug up the cable line AND a sprinkler head during this whole process. About 10 mins later, he comes around to the back gate...says he will do the back door (I'm assuming the company told him to suck it up and go back there) for $140. I told him fine. I was working on two hours by this time, so I was desperate.

On a side note, I did feel sorry for this guy...being bitten by a dog does do a number on you and leaves quite a mark, physically and mentally. So, he says (accent is returning to endearing), "You sure dog nice? I afraid." I assured him that Candy is sweet, although she lacks some manners and jumps. So, I open the gate, holding on to Candy's collar (no leash in backyard) and let her slowly go to him to sniff him. Her tail was wagging, no threat, she's a good dog, but the dude was visibly scared. Don't cha know...Candy pulls back suddenly and gets out of her flipping collar. Zooooom! Out the gate and proceeds to run about the neighborhood like a crazy dog. I, of course run and as soon as I get near her, she plays "keep away." Ugh...I look up to the sky and audibly say, "REALLY?!"

Meanwhile, large Russian is standing just outside gate and Candy decides she now wants to meet him properly. With a full-on GALLOP, she runs to him and he was, most likely, about to soil his pants. She jumped on him and he gently pushed her away. I yelled, "She's super friendly, don't worry!!"

After large Russian (LR from here on) gathers himself and Candy has lost interest and gone back in to her yard, I managed to find a rope in the yard that I tied to her collar (not safe, I know). I took Candy for a walk while LR does his thing and picks the lock.

BOOM! Not even five minutes and he was in. Great! Good! I get Candy inside and settled, gather my things and I'm out. LR is there waiting to settle up and says (accent now SUPER endearing since he just gained me access to this house), "Will this be cash or credit?" I said, "Credit." He says (endearing-ness is fading here), "6.5% interest with credit, no interest with cash." I say, "Well, sir, I wasn't planning on locking myself out of this house today, so I don't have a cool $150 on me, so credit." Get credit run and have to wait another 20 mins for the company to call him back to say it went through and he can leave.

GOOOOOOD GRIEF!!! Oh, and I know many of you are wondering about the locksmiths needing proof that I had authorization to get into the house. They gave me an e-mail address to have my client send a message stating that I was authorized, but the e-mail didn't work after four failed attempts. So, basically, LR let me in unauthorized. In this case, it was good...I must thank Candy for freaking LR out enough for him to forget this nugget of required info.

Moral of the VERY long story - ALWAYS keep the key ON your person even if in a yard, ALWAYS keep your phone on you...I would have really been up a creek if I didn't have it.

I post this message sitting at a local bar....

CHEERS, everyone!

Post by: Allison Otero, owner of AlleyCat's Pet Service

alleycatspetservice.com

Dog Poo In My Trash?!

Thanks to a good friend and regular bar buddy, Jim, I recently read a hilarious article in the Orlando Sentinel entitled, "Wait, you put your dog poo in my trash?" (click here to read the entire article...and I highly recommend it!). Scott Maxwell, the writer of this article, even cited another story in a fairly fru-fru publication entitled, "The ethics of poop disposal." Wait...there are ethics regarding dog shit? Who knew?

This article discusses one of the "hottest debates raging in America" - while you are walking your dog(s), is it ok to put a bag of poop into someone else's trash can? As a professional dog walker, I have wrestled with this conundrum several times and when I saw the article it made me giggle.

On one hand - why not? Trash is trash, right? But on the other hand - the image of poor Kenneth screaming, "YOU SHIT ON MY HOUSE!" in the movie "Can't Buy Me Love," made me think twice. Granted in the movie, the drama ensued because the feces was actually thrown at Kenneth's front door causing it to splatter everywhere. Gross.

But, nevertheless, a poll of over 400 people concluded that two-thirds of those thought it was OK to drop tied bags of doggie doo-doo in other people's trash cans. I believe the key word in my previous sentence was "tied." I would never just drop a raw, exposed, un-bagged doggie butt goblin into someone's can. How rude!! 

Other variables that come in to play are:

• Whether the garbage can is empty - when dropped into an empty garbage can, even a tied up colon cupcake will splatter when something heavy (such as a bag of garbage from your kitchen garbage can) is thrown on top of it. I think I speak for everyone when I say that even in a garbage can, no one wants smeared sewer serpents on anything!! Only use another's can ON trash day BEFORE the trash crew comes.
• The time of day - we live in Florida, people! I once forgot a tied-up bag of ca-ca in my car, which slid under my seat and baked in the hot, Summer sun for days. Finally, after days of searching for the source of the smell, I found it and....HOLY SHIT BALLS! Did that stink!! Don't put a steaming bag of toxic turds into someone's garbage can...the heat only magnifies the stench.
• The size of the dog - have any of you ever walked a 190 lb Great Dane? I have. You can't imagine the size, I'm talking three bags. And not the poop bags that you see constantly hanging out of my pockets, tied around the stick shift in my car, and occasionally falling out of my husband's work pant leg as he walks down his office hallway...sorry, Babe. I'm talking Publix-size bags. If your dog's logs require more than one bag, better take it home and deposit in your own can.

So, yes...this is truly a first world problem, but I just finished my taxes, my brain is dead, and I needed something light-hearted to think about. What better topic than poop!!

In addition to reading Scott Maxwell's original article from which this blog spawned, I urge you to click here to see all of the hilarious words that people have used for poop...I'm literally crying over here...ass goblin, keester cakes, sea pickle, produce of Uranus - LOLOLOL!!!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!!

Post by: Allison Otero, owner of AlleyCat's Pet Service

alleycatspetservice.com

To Retract or Not to Retract - Weighing the Pros and Cons of Retractable Leashes

I recently had a situation come up with one of my sitters - she was walking two small dogs, both on retractable leashes (provided by the client...we typically use our client's equipment when pet sitting). One of the pups pooped and as she was bent over picking up the steamy treasure (both retractable leashes in one hand), one of the dogs spotted another dog across the street, darted after it and pulled his leash from my sitter's hand. A small scuffle between the dogs ensued, but my sitter was ultimately able to grab the pup and regain control of the situation. Both dogs are fine, but it could have been much, much worse.

There are benefits to retractable leashes: they give dogs more freedom to roam and explore without tugging and pulling on their walker, they fit comfortably in a human hand, and the spring-loaded cord eliminates getting the leash tangled up in the dog's legs.

A typical cord burn from a 
retractable leash

But lets take a look at some of the risks according to healthypets.mercola.com and my personal experiences:

• Some retractable leashes can extend up to 26 feet, allowing dogs to get quite far from their humans, making them able to run into the street or make unwanted contact with other dogs or people.
• The cords of retractable leashes are typically very thin and could snap in an instant should a large-sized dog take off at full speed. Not only can this put the dog (and whatever he is chasing) in danger, but also the human if the cord snaps back at the other end.
• Personal experience has shown me that those cords HURT! Attempts to "reel" a dog in by grabbing the cord can result in burns and nasty cuts. I have suffered many a burn from these cords getting wrapped around my ankles.
• Dogs can be in danger of neck injuries, wounds, lacerated tracheas, and injuries to the spine as a result of the sudden jerk that occurs when they entirely run out the leash.
• The handles of retractable leashes are bulky and can be easily pulled out of human hands, resulting in a runaway dog...see first paragraph of this post!
• Retractable leashes actually encourage dogs to pull while on them because the dogs learn that pulling extends the lead.

What do I recommend? A standard six-foot leash with a loop at the end so that you can put your hand through it. Proper training for your dog to walk politely and properly on a leash is also helpful.

AlleyCat's Pet Service will soon be adopting a "No Retractable Leash" policy. All sitters will be equipped with six-foot, standard leashes (hot pink, of course) to use on all of our dog walks...just another way to keep our furry friends safe and happy!

Post by: Allison Otero, owner of AlleyCat's Pet Service

alleycatspetservice.com