Moving day: 24 hours

I borrowed this Mutts cartoon from Christine's place.

Al Dubois tells us to expect 23.5 more hours of shitty weather, then spring will really shpring.

Creechman is not the only person to link to weather people.

Got the delivery of my Clic Clacks (no idea how they are meant to be spelled).

Did the Lysol Wipes™ thing on every doorknob and light switch and anything else that might possibly have been handled by strangers. And the humongous mirror in the living room, which I guess at about 10 feet wide, was brown with nicotine.

Even a smoker would be disgusted.

The toilet runs. And I have no door on my bedroom. I’m thinking 60s beads are in order. But no; the cats would be clickety clacking them every time they come in or out.

I will have to think about this. Maybe ask the landlord to give me a door?
What a concept!

Wild goosecat chase

It's high noon, and I'm finished work for the week! WoOt!

Yesterday, Montreal blogger Michel left a comment (or two) and I popped over to his place. That's where the trail 'o links began.

There were pics of his cat Squirrel, then there was Blork's photostream (another Montrealer) and his cat Mini, then the hilarious lolcat , which is a must for all cat lovers. I promise you will giggle at the pictures.

A great way to goof off.

Where's a fireman when you need one?

My cat has been stuck since late yesterday. Not in a tree; stuck on the back porch.

How can this be, you ask?

I would answer, "Simple," but it's not so simple.

I would need to show you a diagram of how the back porch is built, and how he happens to be sitting "trapped" in a 2-ft. space between the screened enclosure and the edge of the actual porch.

He climbed UP the screen siding from the first-floor porch.

You'd think he'd reverse course... but no.

He kept me up worrying half the night, as one does with a teenager who doesn't come home at the stipulated time. Except I knew where he was, because he was clawing at the screen and howling piteously.

::sigh::

I have been outside multiple times, trying to show him how to either walk along one thin railing (very do-able, for a cat) or to jump down into the snow.

No dice so far.

Dummy.

I like this weird picture of him.

UPDATE 1:45 PM: He's still there. Too afraid to use the obvious route, the second railing, just wide enough to get him from there to here. Tuna didn't work as bait, either; I ended up eating it myself. In any case, the Teen said he'd fetch a ladder after school and haul the cat down.

UPDATE UPDATE 4:57 PM: He won't use the ladder to come down. This is turning into a small crisis.

UPDATE SUITE ET FIN 5:30 PM: My son went up the ladder and tried to pick up the cat, pull it toward him. Nothing. The cat is HANGING ONTO THE EDGE OF THE PORCH, won't be dragged off. So my son went up completely, picked him up, and tossed him down into the snow. Halfway down he made the funniest ARRK sound I've ever heard a cat make. And landed on all fours.

Now he's a very happy boy.

Pet-food recall building steam

Further to my post last Sunday...

The number of self-reported (as opposed to "official") pet deaths is on the rise since Menu Foods announced its recall of wet cat and dog food last Friday.

According to Pet Connection Blog, today's statistics are as follows:

From the PetConnection.com database. 6 a.m. PT:
Total reports of sick or dead pets: 1529
Deceased pets: 769

Of those:

Cats, deceased: 460
Dogs, deceased: 309

Says the writer, "in addition to hundreds of anecdotal reports from pet-lovers that were flooding the Internet, we became aware that veterinarians were alarmed. Nearly every veterinary practice we know has a pet affected by this."

Pet Connection has a database for use by American pet owners whose animals have fallen sick or died. The site also has a whack of useful links you can check out.

Our neighbour Christine is now feeding her dog homemade food. Rom is giving her cat salmon, tuna, bacon, beef, pork and whatever else is happily accepted. (The cat may never eat commercial pet food again...) Fortunately, my cats live solely on Hill's Science Diet dry food and very occasional table scraps.

Here's a link to a site that lists recipes for cats and dogs. It can't be any harder than cooking for a teenager, can it ?

Major cat and dog food recall

Menu Foods, the Ontario-based company that produced the pet food, said Saturday it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.

The food was distributed throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.

An unknown number of cats and dogs have suffered kidney failure and about 10 have died after eating the affected pet food, the company said.

Meanwhile, two other companies - Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. - announced Saturday night that as a precaution they were voluntary recalling some products made by Menu Foods.

Purina is a major brand name that has recalled its pet food products as retailers yanked millions of goods off shelves across the continent.

The recall affects a total of 17 of the 20 kinds of pet foods sold in North America.

For now, Menu Foods Fund, the leading manufacturer of private label wet pet food products, is saying that the "undisclosed" number of complaints has been "relatively small" and confined to the United States -- a claim which has been disputed since the Fund sent out a press release on March 16th.

Symptoms include apparent dizzy spells, difficulty walking, seizures and even renal failure. There have been some deaths, also it may be too early to attribute a cause. One of the first signs is a refusal to eat and vomiting.

The company says the product in question is limited to the "cuts in gravy" foods in cans and foil pouches, and specifically batches produced from December to March 6.

The complete list of recalled items can be found here:

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

(UPDATE) Rom immediately stopped feeding her old (almost 17) kitty Friskies and Whiskas cuts in gravy -- talk about a close call. But a neighbour of ours has a young dog who was exhibiting odd symptoms, and a visit to the vet yielded the dreaded answer: it's the food.

If your pet is showing signs of difficulty urinating, refusing food or water, or difficulty walking or maintaining its balance, a urine test should be done as soon as possible, as that is the best way to determine if an animal is in the early stages of renal difficulty resulting from, in this case, diet.