the little hedgehog

more pet links

Slightly gaudy items but really useful if you like the trashy chic rhinestone thing. Also the best selection of cat furniture I've ever seen...catsplay.com

Some things here are silly but others are kind of cool...In the Company of Dogs

Yuppie pet products

Stylish mostly overpriced but cool-looking pet stuff @ Postmodern Pets. Who says your cat's scratching post has to be butt ugly?

this ultra cool looking scratching post sells for 375 US.

What do you suppose is in this stuff? Poochi and Kitty sushi. I think they'd prefer the real thing.

If you have five thousand extra dollars laying around you can get a custom-built pagoda for your dog from the greatest spa on earth.

There are also preppie rugby shirts for your dog and for the true label whores Gucci and Polo market to pet owners too. And there's always planet dog for the crunchy crowd.

Travel with your dog

We have another wedding to go to next month. All I have to do with this one is show up and it's in New Mexico so we're using this as an opportunity to make it a mini vacation and bring the dog. It's up in the four corners area which I've never been to so I'm hoping we can get to the ruins and stuff and get to drive on rt 666 oooh. *sings Patti Smith to herself*

There's a lot involved in travelling with a pet though so planning in advance is really important.

First off I've been researching hotels in the area that allow pets - there are a lot of sites with databases with that info but I find DogFriendly.com has the most comprehensive list.

I called a few places that looked good to double check on their pet policies because they vary wildly. In this case the Best Western (at 85 dollars a night) requires people with pets stay in a smoking room and they charge a 10 dollar non-refundable fee. The Holiday Inn (at a 50 dollar discount rate) charges a 20 dollar non-refundable fee per night and we can't leave her alone in the room - whether she's crated or not. The La Quinta (at 70 bucks per night from expedia) seems to be the most flexible - no fees, no smoking room required, they just ask we clean up any mess she makes. That Best Western is awfully tempting with its free high speed wireless network though. Some places also won't allow dogs over 50 pounds so that's important to check out too.

Ok so we decided on a hotel. Now what to bring. Since we'll have to leave her in the room while we go to the wedding and stuff we're bringing along a soft sided collapsable crate, her favorite fleece blanket, and some toys to keep her busy while we're gone.

Other things to bring
-a bottle of water from the house and a rubbermaid plastic bowl
-a travel bowl and baggies of premeasured food
-poop bags
-a small bottle of cleaner in case of an accident
-a roll of paper towels
-a fresh fast tag with my cellphone number on it
-an extra collar and leash
-a well-stocked first aid kit

She's really used to riding in the car with us - we drive a cr-v with the back seats down and a nice bed in the back for her. We're trying to get her used to her seat belt now that some cities here have been considering changing city ordinances to require pets being restrained in vehicles.

Now I just have to find out where the dog friendly parks are up there.

Despite all the trouble I'm still glad we just have a dog - even though human breeders can take their babies pretty much anywhere. I'm just not a baby person - they kind of scare me. I usually react with googling to puppies and kittens the way others do to babies. So we don't get to claim the pets as dependants but we can always put the dog in her crate and go out for a bit - people tend to call child services when you do that with a toddler. Nonetheless my anti-PETA rant still applies.

life with hedgehog

Zola the hedgehog managed to tube around and push all her blankets against her downstairs water bottle so the entire recently refilled water bottle dripped out into the bedding. I'm glad I just use sherry liners it was much easier to clean up than cellsorb or carefresh would have been. But it was very stinky and the poop had, um, reconstituted. Yick.

I really should get photos of the house I made for her. I'm very proud of it. I took partial inspiration from the cavycages people, a good deal of inspiration from this house crafting page, and scoured the aisles of home depot for materials to make a three-room two-story hedgehog mansion with sterlite organizer bins of varying sizes connected by colorful ferret tubes topped with closet organizer shelves attatched with zip ties so the cats don't bother her- not that they would they're terrified of her. My secret was using an old soldering iron to cut the holes rather than a craft knife or scissors. No chance of cracking the plastic then and melting the plastic around the edges of the holes added good reinforcement. That degree in sculpture comes in handy again!

So after putting fresh cage liners and new blankets in her rooms zola really needed a bath too. I usually bathe her about once a month and it's surprisingly fun to do. She likes the warm water and this is one of the few times she actively acknowledges that she likes the hand aka me. I keep the water level low enough where she can stretch out on her belly without getting her nose in the water. Hedgehogs hate to get water in their noses. I use a mild puppy oatmeal shampoo and use a dash of olive oil in the rinse water to keep her skin healthy. I use a plastic cup to be sure she's rinsed off well and brush her bristles with an old toothbrush. After a while of letting her run around the tub I cuddle her up in a super absorbent towel until she's dry. Usually she's sleepy and relaxed enough for me to trim her nails too. I'll hold her in a towel in my lap and she'll doze on and off. Such a sweet little pokypants. There's a great site that shows how cute they can be during bathtime.

monthly subscriptions

I don't consider myself an authority on a lot of things. Most of the time I'm just talking crap. But I spend a lot of time and money dealing with pet products so I thought I'd include my take on the best and worst of them so maybe some poor soul can save herself some time and money.

After much research I discovered that even the premium foods at the petsmart aren't good enough for my babies so now I have it shipped in from Wisconsin. Foster and Smith's new pet food line made the top ten list in the Whole Dog Journal within months of their premier. Not too shabby. The dog eats the light adult dog, the cats eat a blend of light adult cat and the hairball formula as well as half a can of their canned cat food. The hedgehog gets some light adult cat food in her dry blend and a tablespoon of canned cat food every few days. The canned food is really, really high quality by the way. It's not nearly as stinky as other canned foods. The costs are comparable to the other premium pet foods and if you sign up for the reship program they waive the shipping fees. Also I like the automatic reship thing so I don't really have to think about them running out.

Another great monthly subscription we use is the monthly greenies service at Dog Toys. Winter loves her greenies and this way she's guaranteed a jumbo pack of them every month. And every few deliveries they include a fun present! For Christmas we got the cutest stuffed toy shaped like a greenie and it is one of Winter's favorite toys! This is a great smaller pet store that gives a nice personal touch to their orders. Their feline counterpart is Cat Toys.com. The people are extremely nice and they almost always include an extra present or treat with orders. It's a little thing but what can I say I'm a sucker for stuff like that. Also- and this is so cool - you can purchase a toy to donate to a homeless or rescued pet and you get a discount on your whole order. Aren't these people wonderful?

*just a note- I don't have an associate membership with any of the places I review. Just want to share the knowledge.