PET CARE EDUCATION

Hey, guys! I just found this great blog called "Pet Care Education." You can find them here - be sure to check them out. They have some great information for cat owners and Pieper is even learning something about her relatives!

Thanks to Greendog for inviting us to join in the fun!

Hope everyone has a great day. Pieper and I are off to work on the new website!

SNOW IN THE HIGH COUNTRY?

Woke up this morning, freezing. 50 degrees and rainy. Well, I fell asleep with the window open, which could explain it. Snowflakes reported just down the road a bit. Snow above 8,000 feet tonight. Winter is just around the corner...brrrr....and I LOVE winter...or used to until it got harder to move around! We'll either have a hard winter or none at all, as far as snow is concerned. You just never know.

So, Pieper and I are going to cook a turkey (her favorite) and work on her website, which has been officially named "Catnip-Capers." We are really excited about it and hope to get it published soon. There's so much information we want to include and we're meeting some nice people.

UPDATE ON PIEPER'S VET VISIT: After not being to the vet for more time than should have been, Pie had a few teeth extracted and was given a more palatable food. She's an old-lady now (I'm ducking, as a pencil just whizzed by my head - LOL) at 13 and can no longer tolerate the brand she was eating. She has NOT vomited ONCE in six weeks, so we know this is working! Her coat is so shiny and full and she's calmer than we've ever seen her. AND, she looks like she's put a little weight on her seven pound frame!

Ya'll have a great day and we'll be back soon!

PIEPER ERIN - THE AUTHOR

Howdy folks...I've been pretty busy editing mom's material...she works so hard, you know, that every way I can help her, I do...like last night...I "quietly" walked over her about five times. I wait until I hear her breathing slow and become regular. Then, I delicately jump from one side of her to the other...oh, but I have to take a step in between cause I'm not as limber as I once was. He he.

Anyway, check out her two new articles at E-How. And have a safe weekend!
http://www.ehow.com/members/piepererin-articles.html

PieperErin the Author

Pieper here...well, it was bound to happen. Mom has decided to take all that extra time (yeah, right) and start her article writing career at E-HOW! Her first article, "How to Care for Your Aging Cat" is now pending approval. I'm sure she wasn't talking about 13-year-old moi!

Anyway, wait a few and then jaunt on over (or whatever it is you humans do to hurry) to E-How and look up Mom: PieperErin.

Oh, and I allowed her to use my name as her pen name...after all, I do most of the writing in this family anyway...he he...

I Thought I Was Going to Die!

Hi, there, Pieper here again...mommy is doing laundry, so I'm gonna tell you my tail of terror! Okay, so maybe I'm being somewhat of a drama princess, but really!

I had to go to the vet! I hate leaving my house! I hate my carrier! And at the moment, I wasn't too happy with mommy either! Why?

She left me overnight! Can you imagine? They did bloodwork in the afternoon and then some big machine came down on my little body and made this really weird sound -- the nurse was wearing an apron...I thought it was so I wouldn't scratch her...later I found out it was so they could look at my innards - x-rays I think I overheard Denise say (that was the nurse's name).

Then I got to stay in a nice, cozy little cubicle and watch all the other animals parade by...I really had to laugh at that big old German Shepherd - shaking like a leaf! So cool! Anyway, I digress.

The next morning, Denise came and got me again...I didn't really feel anything for quite a while, but boy! when I woke up my jaw was numb! And my tongue and my tonsils. Unbelievable! The room was spinning a little, so I closed my eyes. Next thing you know, my mommy was there to pick me up.

As soon as we got home, my jaw started tingling and felt really strange...I pawed at it and pawed at it. Finally, after about fifteen minutes I could feel my jaw again and guess what? I was missing two teefers!

Well, I am healed now and happy to be home. So, even thought I don't want to repeat that episode anytime soon, I am glad to be healthy and vibrant - at 13 years, you just can't beat it!

Ut oh...here comes mom...she'll get after me if she sees me on the computer again...the vet said the most interesting thing to her: "Mom, your cat appears to have carpal tunnel...very unusual in a cat...does she play the piano?" I just chuckled.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???

PIEPER'S QUOTE OF THE DAY: "A dog is a man's best friend. A cat is a cat's best friend." (Robert J. Vogel)

While our Rockies are doing fabulous, I'm actually having a little trouble (for a change) getting into the mood for football! Tonight is our first game, new coach, new era and I should be excited, but...rather blah.

Pieper, the silly little girl, is resting up so she can watch tonight. She has a vet appointment on Monday and I'm sure she'll just have lots to tell you then about her indignities!

I survived the latest layoffs, but the rest of the year is going to be tough as the "business model" will be changing, probably on a day-to-day basis; new hours, new days, new shifts...

In the meantime, I am studying at the Wealthy Affiliate University, learning to be a productive, successful affiliate marketer. The first eight-week course is an eye-opener, lots of work, but a focus that I enjoy, especially given the economic circumstances surrounding our country and my employer.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Pieper will be back next week to tell you about her vet visits and some of the interesting pet facts I'm sure she'll learn.

PIEPER, the Senior Cat - Pffffttttt!

“Whatever poet, orator, or sage may say of it, old age is still old age.” Sinclair Lewis

Hi friends, Pieper here. Mom is in the laundry room, so I thought I’d sit my fuzzy bottom right here at the computer and tell you what happened to me!

The vet called me a SENIOR CAT!!! And worse yet, Mom agreed with her!!! I’ve rarely been this insulted, let me tell you!

I’m a proud 13 and one-half years old, almost to the day (supposedly 68 in human years). Sure, I sleep a lot, but my baby cat manual said that was what we cats do 90 percent of the time anyway! Why should I change now??? Pfffttt…

The vet actually gave her a book about “Celebrating Seniors!” This happy flap book told Mom that the most common senior diseases in animals (dogs AND cats) were:

Dental problems
Liver disease
Kidney disease
Heart and lung disease
Joint problems
Endocrine system problems (like diabetes)
Cancer
Ocular (eyes to you, and what the heck, we use them twice as much as humans – better at night even! Pfffttt!
Gastrointestinal

Great, so NOW I have to go back in and have a total workup: baseline blood work (I don’t think I like the thought of THAT much, unless the vet is going to squeeze it out of my toenail or something), identify existing health problems by doing x-rays, hormone testing, and EEG of my heart (and I have no problems with any of these now, but just these tests are enough to assure that I DO have one), and then monitoring me so that means even MORE visits to the vet! Oh, joy, oh, joy!

Okay, that’s it for today. I’m so depressed, I think I’ll go eat a sardine or something, have a clump of catnip and then sleep it off. Mom’s on her way back to the office and we sure don’t want her to know that I type or else she’ll want to test for carpal tunnel syndrome!