Category Archives: Pet

Cooking for…..

Posted on March 5, 2015 | Leave a comment

kittens? Yes. In 1987 my sister sent a five-week old kitten from CA to NYC on a plane with my brother as a surprise. Surprise, dog gal, you now have a kitten that fell off the 7′ shelf he was born on at two weeks of age and his mother would not feed.

Gorgeous Burmese/Tuxedo talker. I never got the last word until I held him in my arms 13 years later as he was euthanized with heart dysfunction exacerbated by pneumonia.

I knew absolutely nothing about cats. He didn’t even know how to drink water because he couldn’t see it. I left him milk when I went to work, had no A/C so it curdled during the day because it was so hot.

The first day I got a book on cats that told me to only feed him raw kidneys and to keep them in the freezer for four days to eliminate bacteria. OK. Then I got a book I still use (or did, when I lend it out it tends to disappear) that said build a mouse from the ground up.

I bought a chicken, ate the breasts over a couple of days and took off all the other meat for my Nathan. Hebrew for “gift.” My current dog is Zoe, Greek for “life.” Yes, that’s how I name my family, you’re glad right now I don’t have kids.

I mixed it with all kinds of stuff, cottage cheese, lecithin powder, kelp, bone meal. He barely ate it. I finally learned about organics. When he died at age 13 he was on Innova canned. I do much better with what is out there today.

For birthday and Christmas I got him and his little brother, Mickey, each a can of Fancy Feast trash food as a gift. Mick was named Mick Dundee, after Crocodile Dundee, because he was fearless when I adopted him at nine weeks. He took my dog’s bed for a year and then taught himself to fetch crumpled up post-it notes and retrieve them to me. His name morphed to Mickey Mouse and then just Mickey. He liked the twice a year Fancy Feast treats as well. Dogs ran away from home just to play with him.

My dog just turned eleven. She is on frozen raw and dry food. The dry is to prepare her tummy for long road trips. We’ll be moving soon and I can’t get dry ice here to keep her frozen food cold so I’m mixing the two now.

In my life I have “owned” two cats and two dogs. I love all of them but can no longer have cats because my husband is deathly allergic to them. I yearn to live on a farm so all the unowned cats will visit and I can see them outdoors, capture and have them spayed/neutered and if they forgive me for that, feed them. I continue to bathe Zoe every two weeks so her dander doesn’t make my husband sneeze. She loves the bath, not the comb-out 24 hours later.

After my first Nathan surprise, all our animals are from shelters. Please adopt from shelters. I worked with Greyhound Pets of America (GPA) for years and saw pitiful dogs coming off the racetrack of last resort, Caliente, and turning around in two weeks with good food, health care and human care. You may get a diamond in the rough, but it’s your diamond to polish.

I follow the no grain formula, frozen raw and my dog has the softest coat in the neighborhood. Yes, it’s expensive but at 11 our Zoe is happy and healthy. I bet she’d love that chicken mix I made for Nathan back in the day! Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Family, Pet

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Cougar

Posted on January 29, 2015 | 1 comment

I need to add that to dog Zoe’s resume. She’ll turn eleven years old this week, 77 in dog years. She’s taken to flirting with younger and older men, mostly younger therefore cougar. Flirting only, no dates.

Let’s see, there’s Wurli, he’s probably 15 by now, real age. Miko is about three. Marley’s not even two and she had a major flirt going on when he was over for dinner, don’t worry, he had three chaperones.

She did really like Jake, who passed last year, and was exactly her age. Gorgeous Golden Retriever. He and Zoe played for about four hours as he stayed for a weekend when his folks were away. He went missing for a few minutes and I heard panting. He locked himself in the bathroom to get a break! As his health began to fail, I’d go over to walk him sometimes and if I didn’t see him, I knew he was in the bathroom. He knew how to get in and shut the door, not how to get out.

One thing I like about our place, other than the view, is that some people do really care for each other. Singles all over the world, get a dog. You’ll meet some really good people. If you can’t or won’t have one, offer to walk a friend’s dog, a friendly one, even a cougar. I didn’t meet my husband that way but that’s how I found him a home, The Barbie House, 1,000 feet from my place.

When we talked about having kids I said that we had to get a dog first and see how bad he is. I’m the disciplinarian and food wench. He’s terrible, the fun guy. Dog for 11 years, no kids. Dog sleeps on the sofa and on the bed, to which she must be lifted nowadays. Who’s spoiled? The cougar. Cheers! Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial, Pet

Tagged ,

The Best Things

Posted on January 23, 2015 | Leave a comment

The best things we do often involve sacrifice of a sort. Sitting by one’s mother at hospice for a week. Helping euthanize loved pets when they needed it.

Ones we love come with a price. Either they go, or we go, and I’m at that age when things are happening with us and with more elderly family members.

I’m not really good at this. I learned that early on with a field trip to a hospital with a colleague, he was great with the patients, all I wanted to do was cry. Same with organizing carol singing at a local hospital, where I hung back and sang and tried to control tears. I’m better with animals and have helped others, and two of mine, go to their final reward.

I do take solace in St. Francis, and my favorite priest. I worry about my dad and want to see him, even wrote him a blues song and sang it on his voice mail today. I know my pets are OK with me, and need to plan for Zoe when the time comes and make certain my husband is there with us. Again, I can deal with animals humanely, people who are sick or dying require more fortitude and stamina on my part to make them feel comfortable and at ease with their condition and future.

We’ll be married 12 years on Sunday and are across the country from one another. Our dog Zoe will be eleven. Mom would have been 79. Zoe has a gift, in that she has little past and no future plans except the next walk or meal. She doesn’t remember that cousin Val took out her hips at six and nine-months of age, and just loves Val.

I sometimes wish it was that simple for human beings. Then again, my past has allowed me to change things in order to shape the present and the future. That’s where it gets complicated.

Today, I wish all our older family members a great day, weekend, week, year, years, decades. Family or family pets, be there. Let them know you love them. Dee

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Pet

Tagged , , , ,

Shock to the System

Posted on December 30, 2014 | 2 comments

The cold has finally kicked in. With wind chill it was -3 degrees this morning when I took the dog out. She went naked. I went with two coats, polartec headband and knitted Pippi hat, gloves I found in an old box and ski pants. All was well except for my neck, which could have used a scarf.

Zoe was fine but wanted to get home asap. The weather has been so strange that it’s 50 degrees one day and 8 the next. She’s been blowing her coat for months and I just gently combed a lot of it out of her before I bathed her yesterday. Today, after 24 hours, is the comb-out.

I hope the snap in the really cold weather will allow her body to grow a new, warm undercoat for the season. It would also be helpful if I didn’t have to vacuum up her fur every day. Perhaps every other day would be a compromise.

There is lake movement, steam coming up from below and ice forming on the surface. In normal years I believe the ice may have already formed perhaps near enough for the ice fishers to be on it. Not this year. Witness Zoe’s coat.

Every year I bring scones or some treat, along with a six-pack of beer to a group of  ice anglers I see first. Perhaps it’s the only way I’ll walk on water. Last year they landed a big fish moments after I gave them their other catch, and they tried to make me stay as a good luck charm but I demurred.

Happy New Year! We don’t celebrate it or even stay awake for it but are together and that’s celebration enough. Cheers, Dee

2 Comments

Posted in Editorial, Pet

Tagged , ,

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Posted on December 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

Our Zoe is in many REM sleeps, chasing squirrels or whatever is on her mind. She doesn’t know that my husband is coming home tonight because I’ve not told her but she knows, regardless of any verbal cue.

Scientists who say dogs don’t dream and cannot remember anything that happened over 45 minutes ago need to check their subjects. Granted, I’ve had some strange ones.

Dogs who love cats, cats who love dogs and dogs that run away from home to sit outside our windows to visit my cat. Yes, phone calls. Is he there? Let me check. Yep, he’s here. I’ll be there in five minutes.

She’s running, and her eyes are either vacant or opening and closing. I can almost see the squirrel she’ll never catch. The ability to watch a sleeping dog lie and dream is something which  every dog owner should have a chance to see.

It puts things in perspective. Here we have to walk and pick up after this creature and it actually has a life, separate from us. I find that interesting.

Our guests at dinner are all dog owners, by chance if not by fate. Owner of a Retriever I cared for who died a few months ago; owner of a pit mix; owner of the largest Akita I’ve ever seen; and us, owners and caretakers of Zoe the Aussie mix. I hope the dogs will not be here, at least until after the bird is carved.

Zoe’s up now. She’s a herder so it only takes three minutes to awaken and find me and go back to sleep three feet away, while looking at the door for our significant other.

Tomorrow I’ll take her out early and let him sleep ’til noon. I’ll cook and go through my lists and find out which dish goes where. It’ll be a fun day. Cheers, Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Pet

Tagged

Dogs in Heaven

Posted on December 12, 2014 | Leave a comment

My path took me to a Franciscan college before I knew it. I believed in St. Francis of Assisi as a child growing up in the HRC church. Of course there is a place for our loved ones where we’re destined to go.

Pope Francis told a young boy whose dog had died that there was that place. My first cat Nathan (gift from God) never let me get the last word in even as he took his last breath in my arms. He said “I can’t believe they let dogs in.”

Not too soon, but I look forward to seeing my dear friends when I go. Oh, both Nathan and Mick loved dogs. Chani, my first rescue dog, loved cats and raised Mickey; as does our Zoe (Greek for life). Cheers! Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Pet

Tagged , , ,

Pick of the Litter

Posted on December 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

She was, and is, for us. A damaged dog from genetics, we got her at six weeks and already spayed. Too early for me, I’m OK with 8 weeks spay with a really good vet.

I can’t tell you happy she is and how sad I’ll feel when she has to leave us. She misses her Dad, her human one, who we’ll finally join next month. He’s the fun guy. I’m the food wench and disciplinarian. She does love me as well, just not so much as the Fun Guy.

I have supported no-kill shelters before they existed and thank shelters and Maddie’s fund, made up of most of the people I interviewed early on from San Francisco SPCA, for what they’ve done over the years.

Over 2,000 cats would not have been spayed/neutered without volunteers. Maddie’s Fund started funding vets but not their assistants or even providing water for volunteers. For me that was the beginning of the end.  You didn’t see fights between vets and assistants. Unfortunate for the cats who kept proliferating but the FCC did well.

I moved cities and no longer had a cat. He was in love with a neighbor’s Corgi so he went with them when they moved. Shortly thereafter we married and in another year we adopted Zoe. I have to bathe her every two weeks so husband is not allergic/offended to dander.

After over 20 years working with animals I can say our Zoe is the happiest critter I’ve ever met. She doesn’t mind that she has no hips and had to grow her own as a pup from cartilage. She says hello to everyone and even does tricks. Turn around, high five, roll over. Walkers don’t know my name but always know hers.

In the end we decided to adopt a dog who will be eleven years old next month as we celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. The anniversary may go with no fanfare but Zoe will always have a good dinner and walk.

No, she was the runt of the litter but we fell in love with her and took her home, forever. Now when I think of our lives together I only wish that in the end she goes with no pain or suffering. She is not a pet, she is a family member. To canines and felines everywhere, I bid you a good day, Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Pet

Tagged

Birds

Posted on November 17, 2014 | 1 comment

I wanted to title this “Game Birds” but Jim Schiltz would not allow me to do so. I just got off the phone with him in a fascinating interview in which I learned many things about….. birds.

Who is Jim Schiltz? Only the head of Schiltz Foods, Inc. and Schiltz Goose Farm, Inc. He knows his birds. He told me geese were domesticated about the same time as dogs and cattle. My research on dogs says up to 40,000 years. I’d have to check my father-in-law, the rancher and former dairyman, on cattle.

For those of you who know me from the past, yes, I still want a capon and have spent years finding one. While I’ll be at Nanny’s for my 13th Thanksgiving with my husband’s family and am only allowed to bring table snacks, sides and a dessert, Christmas is a different story, to be told later.

One of my favorite girlie movies is the one where the Aussie/Canadian girl learns to fly and takes the geese, from the eggs she found, south for the winter. Fly Away Home, with Anna Pacquin and Jeff Daniels and Dana Delaney. These must be different geese.

The farm began in 1944 and Jim was added to the gaggle in 1962. After tastiness, they had to breed for white feathers because everywhere but France, where the infamous Toulouse geese live and die, people want white down pillows, not grey ones.

Jim said he’d heard of an 82 year-old goose, and that many can live to 25 or even 40, but after maturity they usually go to dog food. Lucky dogs! Mine eats frozen raw rabbit, lamb, turkey, and venison, but I’ll have to check out goose.

Which brings me to capon. It was always a special meal in our home and widely available, even in rural neighborhoods like the one I grew up in. On my birthday I got to choose my cake (Viennese Chocolate Pecan Torte) and dinner, which was capon.

I mis-spoke earlier when I said this was my 13th Thanksgiving at Nanny’s. My husband worked for an online retailer years ago and they wouldn’t let him off for Black Friday so we had to forgo the trip. A month earlier I went to Whole Foods and asked for a capon. No. I asked why? No reason. I asked customer service. No answer. I called HQ. I don’t know why they won’t let me order a capon.

Look up capon on this site. I’ve done my research. Wapsie Farms had capon. Marc and Jim struck up a friendship at industry events and now Schiltz farms has a capon enterprise as well, and you can order from them at http://www.roastgoose.com.

My husband has been off for several months on a consulting contract but of course we’re meeting at his Nanny’s for Thanksgiving. Christmas we’ll have on our own. I’m getting a goose, a capon and a container of goose fat to make Pommes Anna and keep in the frig for good stuff. Jim even told me how to cook a goose (recipes are on the site) but they do have a goose for ‘fraidy cats. Get it frozen and heat it up in an hour. Your family and guests will never know and you can make side dishes instead of basting!

I do shop at Whole Foods Market and everyone is nice to me at this store, but I may have to keep moving around the country to keep that the case when I bring up capon. The store’s protein rules are strict and arbitrary. My father-in-law would love to get his registered Angus cattle into the butcher’s case, and so would raisers of geese and capons.

Principles, not solely marketing, should be the driving force in a market, and that market could be anything from Wall Street to Main Street. The holier-than-thou attitude of Whole Foods Market looks down on anyone not wearing espadrilles and carrying in ten bags then asking if you want to donate a dollar for using the bags you already bought from them, and if you want to donate to their charity of the month.

GIVE ME CAPON! For heaven’s sake, is that too much to ask? Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving. I’m making spicy almonds and cashews, marinated Kalamata olives, cranberry chutney, brussels sprouts and cauliflower gratin, and mincemeat tarts. And driving 1,500 miles to get there.

Many thanks and happy holidays to the Schiltz’s and the Wapsies, who both hail from Iowa. I won’t hit that state or SD en route but got a bunch of quarters to get through the Oklahoma Territory as I messed up and put a dollar bill in the machine two years ago. Oops, almost got a warrant on that one. Caponly yours, Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial, Education, Pet, Recipe Ideas

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Sleep

Posted on November 12, 2014 | Leave a comment

Thank goodness I can’t see myself sleep. I have it on good authority from my husband of many years that I do snore and sometimes mumble in REM sleep.

He does as well and awakens me. At least he did. Now he’s off on a contract for months. If he’s stressed I just place my hand on his back and he goes right into deep sleep, which he needs because he works hard and is always problem-solving while awake or sleeping. I know about problem-solving as it’s my job as well.

Now that he’s been gone for a while I’ve something to say to scientists who say that dogs do not dream, and that they don’t remember anything or anyone after forty minutes.

While I’m up writing this, Zoe’s gotten off the bed to make sure I’m OK and still here for her. She’s had three REM sleeps, I don’t know if she caught the ball, squirrel or bunny. The only one she’s had awake success with is a ball.

I put a hand on her back and she went back to sleep. Now, I will, too. Zoe has taken over the sofa. Back to bed, dear. Yes, I’ll lift you. Bath tomorrow, you always like that. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Family, Pet

Tagged , ,

Lessons

Posted on September 23, 2014 | 1 comment

Over my storied life, I have learned much from my family, school and music teachers, my husband and his family, my work at several venues and of course my dear professors.

There is nothing as educational or wisdom-producing as having responsibility for a life. No, we don’t have children, not our blessing. But I’ve been responsible for the lives of two cats and two dogs in my life over the years.

It’s like being a parent, you watch what goes in and what comes out. Sneezes as a little one and bumps as they age. You choose to adopt and take on a life and at the end, help ease them out of it.

Being responsible for a life teaches care above oneself, humility, joy, and as our Zoe would say ROUTINE. You have to go to the vet for shots, surgeries, even a first senior blood panel and keep your dog quarantined anywhere in the US under the British travel scheme permanently in case you’re sent overseas.

My first dog and cats passed after many happy years over 13 years ago. Now I’ve one old dog, nearly eleven years who we’ve had from six weeks of age. Five walks per day, perhaps six. Creating an indestructible toy. Baths and brushing and her herding us. Deciding to have her hips removed as a pup as she had severe hip dysplasia and going through two recoveries. Oh, she walks just fine and can run fast and corner because she had to grow her own hips from cartilage.

She doesn’t usually bark or whine, just stares until we do what she wants. If she’s over 70 in “dog years” perhaps that is what I should start to do. Just stare at my husband until he does what I want. Ah, well, it doesn’t work with people unless you want a horrible relationship. It does work for a herder, however. Patience is another virtue while caring for another life. It’s 5:00, time for dinner. It’s 5:02, you’re late. Get into the magic room and make my dinner, I don’t care if you’re writing about me on the blog. OK, I’m full, now I need to go for a walk. Stare.

She says “I killed a mouse today. I ate an old dead bird off the pavement and am going to vomit 48 hours later, in a safe place, your bed. Seven loads of laundry later you’ll still love me.” And we do.

Education is key. My first dog was abused for a year then in a shelter for the next. I was a volunteer and met her the first week and we were buddies but she was terrified of men, especially those in uniform, and kids. Even at this no-kill shelter there was word of another meeting to decide her fate. She was home with me the next morning. All it took was a home, love, care and training and she was the best rehabilitated dog in the world. Everyone loved her, and the kids would call out her name from the tot lot and run up to pet her and she adored them.

Did I hear the word sacrifice? No. It’s joy. For many years I was alone, not just single, alone. These were my companions and still are. Our dog Zoe follows me everywhere to make sure her pack is intact, especially as my husband has been off on a work assignment. Trust and loyalty are traits I admire from both me and Zoe. And my old dog’s ashes are in a teddy bear’s heart I move everywhere.

I do not hunt squirrels, however. Don’t worry, she’s on a 6′ leash and couldn’t get them even if she was off it, my dear hip-less wonderdog. Or bunnies. She doesn’t understand why they stay still until she’s 10′ away so they’re just interesting, not prey until they bolt. One thing is that I learn something new every day and that has always been my goal in life in all arenas. Cheers, Dee

 

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial, Education, Family, Italy, Music, Pet, Recipe Ideas, Travel

Tagged