Monday Medical: Animal Blood Donors

Did you know that January is National Blood Donor Month?

Because of this, we wanted to call attention to the fact that it's not just humans who need blood transfusions. Every day someone's pet is in need of life-giving blood as well.

We here in the midwest USA are very proud of the University of Missouri's College of Veterinary Medicine for inaugurating a pet blood donor program called Pets Saving Pets.

If you're interested to learn more about how they're helping save the lives of their fellow dogs and cats, you can follow them on their facebook page.

We learned about this through Squashies' blog when she fell critically ill. Because she had a rare blood type, her local vet in Baltimore was at a loss to help her.

hero kitty, Keeter

But when the folks at MU's Vet College heard about Squashies' need, they found they had a matching donor in veterinary technician Matt Haight's own cat, a Selkirk Rex named Keeter.

Keeter's blood dramatically improved Squashies' condition and enabled her to begin medical treatment that allowed Squashies and her human to share several more precious weeks together.

And there's more good news: MU's College of Veterinary Medicine isn't the only blood bank in the US by a long shot. There are pet blood banks at several veterinary colleges throughout the US. 



Animal blood banks can also be found worldwide, in nations such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and the UK as well.

Just some of the animal blood banks, worldwide

There is even an Animal Blood Registry available for pet owners in the U.S. where you can register your own pet as a potential donor, and possibly give the gift of a life-saving transfusion for someone's beloved pet.


It's a way to help animals in need that's not often discussed - but it's something you might consider asking your local vet about if you think your pet might be a good candidate for donation. 

Who knows? Your pet's blood donation may be just what a veterinary surgeon needs to be able to perform that critical procedure that saves the life of a beloved family member.

Review: The FURminator @ Chewy.com

Recently, the folks at Chewy.com asked us if we'd like to review a new product they now carry - the FURminator - and we said we'd love to.

[Actually mommy and Allie said that - we boyz aren't really that into personal hygiene. But I digress.]

So they sent us links to the FURminator deshedding products they carry and asked us to pick one. We chose the small comb for short hair.

You may have noticed we called them Chewy.com - as opposed to MrChewy.com.





Yep, they've changed their name. But they're the very same company with great customer service.

The FURminator arrived in very short order and Faraday set out to inspect the new package.

To be quite honest, it didn't look like a toy or smell like catnip, so he was a bit unsure what he thought of it, as you can tell by his expression.

But no worries - he's not the one with occasional hairball issues - Allie is.

You see, although Allie is a short-haired tuxedo girl, we were surprised to discover that she has a thick undercoat.

Thankfully, she loves to be groomed. Which is good, since the best way to manage hairball issues is to not have her ingest all their fur in the first place!

So we unpacked the new FURminator and took it for a test spin.


We did offer Faraday first crack at it - and we got airplane ears, so decided to move on.

You aren't seriously going to TOUCH me with that thing, are you?

Allie loved it. She was careful to oversee her spa day, since she is quite particular about how she looks.

Be sure you don't miss a spot, Mother!

I have to say, this is the most effective grooming tool I've ever used. Ever.

Just take a look:

Same number of strokes with each tool. No contest!

After just a few strokes, the comb is full

The FURminator we received has an easy cleaning button at the top that helps remove the accumulated fur.

In all, we can't say enough good about this product - we'd been hesitant to purchase this in the past because it is more expensive than generic cat brushes and combs but it simply blows away all the other products we've ever owned, so we say it's well worth a few extra dollars (they retail for $37- $43).

Allie gives it her full endorsement - and we humans do as well!

UPDATE: 
While technically this doesn't have anything to do with the FURminator, it does have to do with Chewy.com... 

Mommy just ran out to buy a replacement bug for our Neko Flies (SOMEkitty trashed it... ALLIE...) she discovered that our local pet store charges more than Chewy.com!
Since this was a kitteh emergency, she did let her pocketbook take one for da boyz THIS time -
but she'll be ordering all future refills online at Chewy.com.
___________

Many thanks to Chewy.com for the FURminator. By the way, we order our food & litter from them, and shipping from Chewy.com is a breeze. There's free shipping on every order $49 and above, and anything less is a flat, reasonable $4.95. 

Chewy.com graciously gave the FURminator to us to review, but all opinions are strictly our own. 

January Caturdays: The Power Nap

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We're also participating in the Weekend Cat Blogging blog hop...

...and the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop, hosted by Baby Patches, Life with Dogs and Two Little Cavaliers.

"Fun Finds" Friday

If you have a fun find you'd like us to feature, send us a shout-out by clicking on the Contact Us tab above.

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Cats Attack Manhattan! Yes...another Pinterest find. But seriously, how much fun is this to see kitty turn into Cat Kong with this scratching post that you can buy online at Uncommon Goods?

  

The scratcher is $30 plus shipping.

Or you can buy from Amazon - with free shipping if you have an Amazon Prime account.

Thursday Trivia: Hair of the Dog

Not that anyone had need of such a thing after a this week's New Year's celebration.
No, this is pure coincidence that we scheduled this particular phrase for today.
Yep.

Just so you know.

So where does the phrase "hair of the dog" come from?

okay so technically this is Maxie's hair, but you get the idea...!

We get closer to its meaning with the complete saying, "hair of the dog that bit you".
But experts argue the origin of the phrase.

The website Straight Dope suggests it began in Roman times, when it was believed that the best remedy for a dog bite was to salve the wound with the burnt hair of the same dog.

They offer as proof to substantiate this claim a common Roman saying, that similia similibus curantur, or "like cures like."

However, the popular UK website, phrases.org, tells us that the first known reference to this saying was written by John Heywood in 1546:

I pray thee let me and my fellow have
A hair of the dog that bit us last night -
And bitten were we both to the brain aright.
We saw each other drunk in the good ale glass.

Phrases.org points out that "'The hair of the dog' is unusual in that the figurative version is recorded before any known examples of the literal meaning. '

The first literal use of the phrase doesn't appear in print until 1760, in a book by Robert James, entitled A Treatise on Canine Madness: "The hair of the dog that gave the wound is advised as an application to the part injured."

Interestingly, James isn't a fan of the treatment. He recommends another popular remedy of the time - using the ashes of river crabs.

Eww. If it's all the same, we'll pass.

Wordless Wednesday

'Toon Tuesdays: Holiday Edition #2

We hope you had a wonderful holiday...and...

Happy New Year everyone!

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Toon Tuesdays feature cat & dog cartoons made by the peeps over at Shoebox Greetings (a tiny little division of Hallmark) - where our mom works, too!