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Lucy Postins, founder of The Honest Kitchen, offers some sound advice for how to safely include your pets in your holiday feasting. Don't Forget Your Pet When Preparing Holiday Meals is a refreshing departure from the typical advice, which is to steer clear of holiday foods when it comes to your pets. It's not that abstaining from holiday feasts for pets is bad advice, it's just not that much fun. And most of us don't really follow that advice anyway, since we love including pets in our family traditions. So I was happy to see Lucy's article earlier this month about what foods are okay to feed pets during the holidays - and what to avoid - it gives us some framework to help us make decisions. Here's a short summary of Lucy's article:

Turkey, Ham, Prime Rib and other meats. Okay in small amounts / moderation and focus on meat - not fat and gristle. However, never feed any type of cooked bones - they can splinter and damage the GI tract. Too much fat and gristle can lead to pancreatitis - a very uncomfortable and dangerous condition. Stay away from meats with added sodium, nitrates and preservatives - they are bad for you and your pet.

Green Bean Casserole. Okay in very small amounts, but don't include the onion topping. Fresh raw or cooked green beans are okay to add to your dog's food any time.

Sweet Potatoes. Excellent source of beta carotene and highly nutritious. Steamed or baked sweet potatoes are ideal and easy to digest. Avoid serving your pets the traditional holiday version of sweet potato casserole that contains lots of syrup, marshmallows or candied nuts.

Cranberries. A great addition to your pet's bowl any time of year and especially during the holidays. No cranberry sauce or jelly, though, as these can be full of sugar and other things that Fido shouldn't have. Cranberries are good to help prevent urinary tract infections.

Pumpkin & Squash. These are wonderful foods to share with cats and dogs in moderate amounts. Most pets love the taste of these yummy and nutritious vegetables.

Winter Greens. Chard and kale are awesome sources of vitamins and antioxidants. Brussels sprouts and cabbage are also loaded with good nutrients, but they can cause gas in your pet's tummy. These can be added raw, lightly steemed or sauteed, but without added salt, wine, soy sauce or butter.

White Potatoes. Okay in moderate amounts. Avoid serving your pet potato dishes loaded with cream, dressings, oil or butter.

Lucy's List of Holiday Foods to Avoid

• Stuffing and corn pudding
• Desserts and cheeses
• Relishes
• Onions
• Chocolate
• Macadamia nuts
• Grapes
• Raisins
• Candies with xylitol

Lucy also explains that as with any time you change your pet's normal meal routine, it is best to make additions to your pet's bowl gradually so you can ensure your pet is able to tolerate what you are serving. Don't allow your pet to gorge. Gorging can lead to pancreatitis or bloat. If you do experience an incident where your pet over indulges due to counter surfing, or getting into the holiday trash, keep a close watch. If you notice signs of bloating, vomiting or other digestive problems such as diarrhea or constipation, Lucy says a visit to your vet's office is recommended, without delay. Happy Holidays!

We all look forward to the holiday season, and we love to include our pets in the festivities. However, the ASPCAs Holiday Safety Tips warns it is best to keep your pet's eating and exercise habits as close to normal as possible. Plus, there are certain holiday traditions you should steer clear of for the safety of your pets. Here are highlights from the ASPCA's Holiday Safety Tips...

1. Got cats? Say "NO!" to tinsel. Tinsel is the equivalent of sparkly "crack" to the kitties and can lead to obstructed digestive tracts, severe vomiting and possibly surgery. It is best to keep it away from your cats.
2. No big feasts for the Fur Kids. You know not to feed your pets chocolate or anything sweetened with xylitol, but it is also important to resist the urge to let your pets feast along with the family. One splurge can lead to pancreatitis or worse. Ensure pets are kept away from the table and unattended food. Take extra steps to secure the lids on garbage cans. The best way to include your pets in the holiday feasting festivities is to get an extra special treat that you know is safe - so they can enjoy something special while the rest of the family enjoys the holiday meal. Groovy has seasonal baked treats, yummy bones and canned meals you can serve as special treats for your pet.
3. Joy to the Toys. Considering stuffing your pet's stocking with toys? Be sure to select toys that are safe. Not sure which toys are safe? Select toys for your pets much the same way you would select a toy for a small child - no small pieces to break off or chew off. For your cat, choose a toy that you can interact while playing with your feline pal.
4. Holiday plants are dangerous for your pets! Steer clear of holly, mistletoe and certain lillies that are toxic to cats. These traditional holiday plants can cause symptoms ranging from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea up to and including kidney failure. Choose artificial plants instead.
5. No leftovers please! Fatty, spicy and certain foods enjoyed by humans during the holidays are absolute no-no's for pets. Even after the holiday feast has past, continue to keep your pets away from holiday leftovers.
6. Watch that holiday glow. Don't leave lighted candles unattended. Pets can easily burn themselves or cause a fire if they accidentally knock over a burning candle. If you leave the room, put out the candle!
7. Wired up. Keep wires, batteries and glass or plastic ornaments out of paws' reach.
8. Put meds away. Be sure your medications are locked behind secure doors, and be sure to tell your house guests to ensure all their meds are zipped up and packed away, out of pets reach too.
9. Take care with cocktails. If your celebration includes adult holiday beverages, be sure to place unattended alcohol where pets reach. If ingested, your pet could become very sick.
10. A room of their own. If you have the extra space, consider placing your pets in a quiet room where they can retreat -- complete with fresh water and a place to snuggle with their favorite blanket or toy. 

Also, read Five Holiday Pet Safety Tips written by Lucy Postins, founder of The Honest Kitchen, one of our absolute faves!

PHOTO BY INA JALIL

As we've discussed before, music can excite, agitate, or soothe and calm pets, and it's the relaxing aspect of music that most interests us: can music make your anxious dog calmer during or after the storm, or while you're away? Can the right symphony soothe kitty when too much activity or outside interference makes her skittish? Research says yes, and in fact we've discovered a whole micro-industry of sweet sounds for furry friends, including one online shop that actually sells "pet speakers" for purrfect acoustics. If you search Amazon for "relaxation music" or "calming music" for pets/cats/dogs, you'll discover you have a lot to choose from, but there's really no need to spend a lot of money on pet tunes.

Many experts recommend classical music (this article has some specific recommendations), so you could just mine your music collection for Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi and the like for your furball's relaxed listening pleasure. This independent study [PDF] claims that solo piano with simplified arrangements at 50-70 beats per minute is optimal for calming canine anxiety, and this article says, "dogs appear to be calmed by music with slower tempos, fewer instruments and simpler melodies."

But guess what, you don't even have to bother rifling through your stash of tunes, because in the manic, magical wonderland that is the Internet, guess what I've discovered? Yep, radio stations for pets. For reals.

• Dog Radio plays very simple, classical compositions which should please skittish kitties, too. The page operates on auto-start (no controls), and worked for me in Firefox and Internet Explorer, but not Opera.
• Cat Galaxy radio says it plays only cat-approved tunes -- music that the cats of the website owners like, as well as as suggested tunes from other music-loving cats, via their owners. (Article here.) Cats apparently have way more adventurous musical tastes than dogs, according to what I've listened to on this station! :) Cat Galaxy worked for me in FF, IE, and Opera.
• Dog Cat Radio is another station for our furry friends, but it seems stuck on only one song for the moment... perhaps something to check back with later.
  

There's also an inexpensive Pet Acoustics iPhone app "music for your dog, cat or horse from your iPhone, iPod Touch or other music player" that I have not personally checked out.

Perhaps not quite as rare as the African Golden... ladies and gentlemen, the mysterious Bodega Cat:



Very amusing... and very true! Our local bodega has one, though we don't call our local bodega a "bodega" -- we call it Convenience George, to distinguish it from our local small grocer, who we call Grocery George. We have a lot of Georges in our neighborhood. But only one bodega cat -- long may she rule.

Scientists tracking one of Africa's most elusive and poorly understood animals say they've recorded a rare - and possibly the only publicly released - video of the species in the wild.

The video, recorded by a motion-activated camera placed in a Gabon forest, shows an African golden cat: a shy, medium-sized feline that ducks human contact and lives in hard-to-access parts of central African forests. [Info from CNN]

"I don't think I can put (capturing the video) into words," Bahaa-el-din said of the rarity of the footage. "I live and dream golden cats most days. To get back to camp and put the (footage) on the computer and have this cat basically posing for the camera, it's incredible. I watched it five times in a row and pretty much didn't sleep that night."

Aw. What a beauty. More info on the African Golden here and here and some nice photos here. And here is the Panthera blog post, with more great photos.

by Tom Pappalardo. I love it. I just love names and nicknames for pets, and Flossie is such a great dog name -- full of personality, cute, quaint, sweet, easy for the dog to learn and understand (sticking to one or two syllables is usually best), and doesn't sound like anything else that might confuse her (a dog named "Seth" might become confused with the "sit" command; "Noah" might get confused with "No!" etc.).

But speaking of pet names, I have to mention this: I've looked at a lot of pet name generators and pet name lists, and recently came upon a fairly unique one. Pet-o-licious Namerator is a World of Warcraft pet name generator to help gamers to name their WoW game pets.

You can find names both silly and serious (serious in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game sense, at any rate) for cats, dogs, bats, wolves, moths, wasps, crabs, "spirit beasts," "warp stalkers," "ravagers," and more. Need a silly name for a spider? The generator suggests Lollipop, Bluestar, Scuttlebutt, Waterspout, Tickle, Spinnerz, Nuzzle, and Icanhazfly. My next pet spiders are def being named Scuttlebutt and Tickle.

But I also found a great name for a cat here:  Luxray! Oh yeah. Love it. 50 Nicknames for My Imaginary Cat Luxray: Lux, Luxie, DeLux, Luxomatic, Luxolicious, Raygun, RayRay, FayWray, SprayRay, RuxLay... never mind me, I'll be at this for a while...

when they can have ours whenever they need them?
 


via MySmelly.com

KRISTA SPARKMAN PHOTO OF "ARCHER" -- ADOPTABLE CAT AT THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF TAMPA BAY

As pet owners we often find ourselves in conversations with friends and acquaintances who are thinking of adopting or who have just adopted, and most of us are eager to offer our advice and pass on tips that would have been helpful, instructive and reassuring to us back when we were newbie pet parents.

This is fine, as far as it goes, but the problem is that such info is incomplete, not organized, won't all be remembered, and not everyone will face exactly the same challenges. We're usually only a phone call or email away if anyone needs on-the-spot help, but why not help them help themselves with a new rescue owner guide? Here are some excellent PDFs that you can you can download and save and share with anyone who needs a helping hand.

A Commonsense Guide to Selecting a Dog or Cat gives helpful advice on choosing what sort of pet to look for, and where.

Adopting a Cat is a simple one-pager from the Nova Scotia SPCA that covers the points potential owners should review before deciding to adopt a cat, including projected costs (Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar are roughly equal, so this should be fine).

CARE Cat Manual is a very good, extremely thorough guide from an Illinois animal rescue that discusses most every aspect of successful cat ownership. The first two pages can be disregarded since they are about adopting from the agency.

Adopting a Rescue Dog: The First Seven Days covers the pre-adoption period, beginning at a month before adoption, and continues through the first seven days of having a new rescue dog at home.

Adopting a Rescue Dog is another helpful manual for new rescue ownership, from a canine psychologist.

So! That's a good beginning, and enough to give any hopeful but inexperienced new owner some reassurance, and help them to plan for their new family member.

And our award goes to... Puff and Puppet, perfect pals:



Can you guess which one is "Puff"? Hint: the lizard is a Bearded Dragon. I love these adorable little buddies. Elsewhere on YouTube, another Bearded Dragon cross-species relationship is proving a bit more complicated: Puppy is eager to play with Beardy, but Beardy is having none of it:



Awww.

NYT PHOTO BY TONY CENICOLA

A recent question on Ask MetaFilter about indoor versus outdoor cats reminds me that I've been meaning to point out a great New York Times article and slideshow on "Catios" -- patio, balcony or other enclosures that allow some feline outdoor interaction and fascination in the fresh air while keeping kitty safe. Elsewhere online there's even a dedicated blog called Catio Showcase that documents the incredibly creative solutions careful owners have devised to bring a bit of the great outdoors to their indoor cats, as well as no-fuss commercial offerings.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out an excellent answer to a question many of us have wondered about: In the U.K. and many areas of Europe outdoor pet cats are the norm; why don't they seem to suffer the drastically reduced life-span (approx: 5 yrs vs.15 yrs) that cat owners in the U.S. are warned about? Cat fancier "Eyebrows McGee" breaks it down for us:

1) Car traffic in the U.S. is faster and far more prevalent than in Europe. There are few pedestrian footways connecting larger areas, and road crossings are not as pedestrian -- or pet -- friendly. Moreover, it is illegal in most incorporated areas of the U.S. to allow pets off-leash. This includes cats. People are NOT LOOKING for cats and dogs wandering even residential streets, in contrast to my experiences driving in Europe where this is considered quite normal. Pet accidents are much more common over here.

2) Cats have been in Europe more or less since people have been there, and there are few large predators in Europe. Cats have been in the US for 500 years. There are many larger predators here. There are coyotes in downtown Chicago. I have known cats and very small dogs who have been attacked by coyotes, alleged cougars (this one's tricky, big local debate about whether they're around), poisonous snakes, marauding lost BEARS who wandered down out of the mountains and managed to find themselves in a city, even a HAWK who mauled two neighborhood Chihuahuas! (Apparently he was out of rabbits to eat or something.) I have not lived in that many places in the U.S., and always in urban or dense suburban environments, so that's a very small sampling of "all the wildlife that wants to kill your cat."

3) As above, but there are pests, soil parasites, pathogens, etc., common to the U.S. that do not exist in Europe. Because cats are relative newcomers here, they have not evolved defenses to many of them. Furthermore, the United States is not a rabies-free country.

4) As above, but there are native birds and other animals that have not evolved the ability to escape cats. Native animal populations are suffering in many areas in ways that very negatively affect the ecosystem; outdoor cats are a part of that, and responsible owners do not participate in the destruction of the environment. It takes a special kind of lunatic to volunteer to help a species go extinct, I think.

There are other things, but those are the big ones. You can also take a look at how cats' lifespans in the U.S. jumped after the invention of litter so that they COULD be kept indoors -- you'll see the same five-year lifespan given for outdoor cats for the "before litter" kitties and it basically doubles once litter is introduced and cats can live indoors.

Great explanation, Eyebrows -- thanks!