Saturday-morning errands: Who shops for me?
By Gina Spadafori
August 11, 2007
Saturday morning errands:
1) Target, for a plastic sweater storage box to serve as a litter box. (That’s a pet tip, folks: Storage boxes are bigger and much cheaper than a “real” litter box.) Clara is going to be a big, big cat — half-grown, she’s already the size of an “average” cat — and she has outgrown the average-sized box from the pet-supply store. (Which now goes into the rabbit litter box rotation — yes, rabbits use litter boxes!)
2) Feed store, for the cat litter Clara and I like and a bale of sweet timothy hay. (Rabbits need grass hay daily, all they can eat. Most people don’t know that! The roughage is essential to their digestive health.) Hay is a lot cheaper to buy by the bale, and the quality’s better, too, than what’s in those tiny pet-store packages. How much cheaper? $20 for an entire bale vs. $11 for a tiny package at the pet-supply store. (It’s even cheaper for Dr. Becker, who gets hay from his own land at his home in Idaho. I’m so jealous! But then, his horses eat more hay than my rabbits do.)
3) Launderdog, to pick up an order of this-and-that I placed last week. Launderdog started as as self-serve dog wash (which it still is) and had morphed into one of the best pet-supply stores in Sacramento (if not THE best). All the stuff I like to recommend is stocked, including my books! (Thanks, Pamela!)
4) The Bird Shop, general parrot supplies, plus three new copies of the toy Eddie the parrot really, really likes. (He shreds them with glee, and quickly, too. Which is a good thing — channeling that destructiveness is good for all.)
5) Soil Born Farm, to pick up my weekly fruit and veggie box, plus … free greens for the rabbit and parrot, trimmings from the harvest. Yes, the only errand for me also is for the pets.
Anyone see a trend here? Good thing I have a job to keep these animals in the style to which they’ve become accustomed, huh?
And now I’m home, typing with a kitten on my shoulder. Ah, the pet-centered life!
Today I went and bought cat food for my kitties at $1.49 a can. I had a bologna sandwich for dinner. My big guy has totally destroyed his Kitty Pueblo (cheap cat condo) in under six months. A really good cat tree/condo will set me back over $100. I bought some lingerie on sale today to replace some almost 10 year old stuff for a lot less than that. Go figure.
Comment by Andrea 2CatMom — August 11, 2007 @ 7:24 pm
I love the image of the chihuahua pushing the grocery cart!
Thanks for the idea about alternative litter boxes, although the ones I found online are no bigger than the average pet-supply store type (cheaper, tho). Once I considered using alternatives, I found a suggestion for using the long under-bed containers — that might be a bit of over-kill, but I might try it.
I’m glad to find that I’m not the only one who looks at the “groceries” purchased and sees a lot of food for the animals — I have sometimes looked down at the basket and realized that I forgot to get anything for MY dinner. Of course, I could happily snack on junk food that night, but the cats/dogs have to have their nutrition.
Comment by shadepuppy — August 12, 2007 @ 12:38 am
I have to make do with my “nieces” and “nephews” these days and making recommendations for them. Gone are the many hours of animal related activities within the home—which is working out with my current schedule and since I am still grieving my last pet loss.
I had a good cry yesterday as I was clearing out the office during my fall cleaning…I stumbled upon a card sent to me after my parrot passed away and then dusted two of her favorite toys that I kept. It has been a little over a year but it doesn’t hurt any less.
Comment by Diana Guerrero — August 12, 2007 @ 7:58 am
I too find myself putting more fresh food in my grocery cart for my dog and than think - what to feed the humans! Funny thing is; now that we share some of the same food - the other night I forgot to take meat out to thaw for the human meal so I “stole” some of my dogs chicken tenders (cooked the previous night)and cut them up into a pasta dish. She “saved” our day!
Katie
Comment by Katie — August 12, 2007 @ 12:33 pm
$20 a bale?!! We’re upset in the Great Lakes region b/c the price of hay shot up to $7 a bale.
Comment by Deanna — August 13, 2007 @ 6:53 am
City prices. :)
Actually, I think it gets lots lower if you buy by the ton or whatever. I just buy one bale at a time, which lasts my “little livestock” about five-six months.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 13, 2007 @ 7:43 am
I just picked up a $32 Food Dehydrator for $8 (floor model 75% off closeout). So - am I thinking “Dried apple slices and apricots”?
Heck no!
Somewhere I’ve read that they’re great to use for making dog treats! (Now I just gotta dig up that reference again . . . . . . . )
Comment by The OTHER Pat — August 13, 2007 @ 5:20 pm
it’s funny that you should mention the storage box cat litter pan, because I recently purchased a very large storage bin and modified it so that my tall (14” high) and somewhat elderly tiger tabby would have a better bathroom. his arthritis makes it difficult for him to squat, and because he’s tall he would often miss the pan when urinating. he was quite upset about it and it wasn’t doing my floor much good either. i bought a large storage bin, 32” long by 18” wide by 13” deep, cut a foot wide section down to 3 inches high so that he could step in and out easily, covered the rough edge that the cutting created with heavy duty duct tape and filled it with litter. I was worried that he wouldn’t like the high sides, but he loves it! not one drop of cat pee has hit the floor since he got his new pan, his dignity is restored and my floor is clean. these bins make great litter pans for big cats, especially elderly cats whose aim isn’t what it used to be.
Comment by explodinghed — August 14, 2007 @ 4:31 am