5 Ways to Keep Your Pet Cool For the Summer

Summer is here and we in the Northern Hemisphere know it. It has been hot hot hot. Yes, we definitely suffer and sweat and commiserate, but what about the voiceless? What about our lovely cats and dogs who are stuck in the house while we are at our air-conditioned offices? Not all of us have central air conditioning at home. In fact, most Angelenos don’t because it’s supposed to be a somewhat temperate environment. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get hot as Hades sometimes (a few weeks ago, it surpassed 100!). It is desperately important to keep your beloved furry friend cool at home. Here are a few ways you can:

Hot dog

Jun202016

Our Last Week(end) in Pics

#orlandostrong

Feb052016

Our Split Week(End) in Pics

This past week, Fit went to Iowa to celebrate her Grandpa’s 90th birthday (yes, wow!) and Hungry stayed home, being a single dad.

Hungry’s Pics

Some workouts with friends

Nov082015

Last Few Weeks in Pictures

Beginning to look a lot like Fall…

Oct052015

Our Last Few Weeks in Pics

Sorry for the lack of posts lately…we’ve been moving!

Moving

Aug182015

Our Past Few Weeks in Pics

Well first, we grew wings

Jul212015

Change.org Animal Cruelty Petition

First, read this.

We don’t do this often; in fact, I don’t think we have ever done this on the blog. For the past few years, we have both been subscribed to a service that allows individuals to petition just about anything online. By garnering signatures, their hope is that they can change something, using those signatures as leverage against the party they are opposing. While neither of us has ever created a petition, nor do we know anyone personally who has used the service, there have been occasions where we have signed other petitions.

In all honesty, it’s hard to know who is right, who is wrong, who is telling the truth, and who is lying. It’s based on different opinions and views of any situation. Still, it’s a relatively civilized way of trying to figure out a solution to a problem. You get the idea and you can decide for yourself what petitions you do or don’t want to sign. I, however, for some reason have decided to share this petition and ask you to consider signing it.

Wet Noke

Apr132015

Our Weekend in Pics

Good food

Dec262014

Our Christmas in Pictures

We got my dad a puppy!

Great loot for Fit (Hungry got a PS4!)

Noke loves her new bed

Good eats

Aug072014

How to Travel in a Car with Animals

As you know, we finally made it to Santa Monica, California! However, it was quite the journey to actually get here from Boulder, Colorado. We have two cats, a dog, and a snake! So basically we packed our car and trailer full of all of our things plus a zoo. It was much different from any road trip I’ve taken because of our animals. It was certainly stressful and worrisome, but we all made it safely. Here’s what to do with each kind of animal:

Dogs

Surprisingly, Noke did the best of all the animals. When she was younger, she would throw up in the car nearly every time she drove with us. After time and time again in the car, her nausea rears its ugly head much less. We were incredibly proud and happy with her over this trip. She kept her cool even with Nymeria howling and trying to poke her. Here are some specific tips for travelling with dogs:

Put your dog on a blanket or something that smells familiar to them
Don’t feed your dog before you drive or feed very little
Make sure your dog can see you while driving
Give your dog enough space to lie down and sleep
Take your dog out every time you get gas to pee and drink water
Make sure the car is cool

Cats

Now here is where the nightmare begun. Sajah is the more skiddish one out of Nymeria and him. I expected him to be wild-eyed and going nuts, but he was absolutely placid. It was probably because he was stressed to death, but he simply found a place to lay and stayed there. After awhile, he got a little less scared and opened up a bit. Now let’s come to the problem child…Nymeria. Oh, Nymeria. Nymeria is very spirited. And that spirit showed during the car ride. She was not about being in the car. She wanted out. She would yowl and cry and get up like a monkey on the bars of the crate and try to escape. She eventually started acting crazy and eating litter so we contained her in a carrier. She was really the only pet who made the trip stressful. Here are some specific tips for travelling with cats:

Keep your cats contained in a small crate or something similar
Keep a small litter tray in the corner of the crate
Make sure your cats can see you and hear you while driving
Put in a blanket or something comfy (and familiar) for them to lay on.
Give water breaks when you can
Make sure the car is cool

Snakes

Well, Dovah was the quietest one on the trip (ha-ha) and we didn’t hear much of a complaint from him. However, he stressed us out somewhat because Dovah’s habitat should be around 90 to 100 degrees F. There was no way to keep his lamp on while we drove so we wrapped his cage up and hoped for the best. He came out fine and is a bit stressed out. We are hoping he will relax as he no longer has to deal with the bumps and vibrations of driving any longer. Here are some specific tips for travelling with snakes:

Try to keep your snake’s area as warm as possible
Keep the cage in a low place in the car so that it has no chance of tipping or falling over
Try to drive as smoothly as possible so it doesn’t get rocked around too much

Driving with animals can be stressful, but there are ways to make it as smooth a trip as possible. Use the tips above to keep your animal family happy and safe. I’m hoping we won’t be doing one of these trips again, but if we do, we know what to do! As always, stay hungry and fit!