A Diet for the Whole Family...

This past weekend our dog, Tori, was having a bit of an issue with her back leg so we decided to take her in to the vet to make sure nothing was too wrong. She's getting up there in years (she turns 9 this year!) and has been a bit of an overweight lady ("I'm big boned!") for most of her life, so it's probably better to be safe than sorry. I should note, my wife is the more caring one as I had a bit more of the "Tori will tough it out, she doesn't need a vet!" attitude when discussing going to the vet. She won out, however, which was probably a good thing. I tend to dislike doctors of both the human and animal variety... so I'm usually colored in one direction when it comes to these decisions (and it is also no doubt why I ended up suffering from pneumonia for 6 weeks instead of a couple).  Anyways...

It turns out Tori is pretty good. They think it may have actually been an equilibrium issue since she was continually falling in one direction and was fine the next day. But while we were at the vet, we noted Tori's weight was creeping back up. We'd done a relatively good job of keeping her on a diet and getting her exercise, but the winter and Tori's sad eyes at the dinner table knocked us a bit off track the past couple of months. Since Tori has gained a bit of weight and she has notable arthritis in her back legs, the vet stressed that it would do her a ton of good to shed 10 or more pounds. So we're going to work on getting her slimmed back down the next few months, no matter how good she is at making puppy eyes a mealtime!

Then, as Kristi and I thought about it, we've both also gotten a bit lazy and haven't eaten as well as we should or exercised as much as we should. It probably wouldn't hurt for us to make an attempt to lose a bit of weight too. So the genius idea struck us to have all three of us (myself, Kristi, and Tori) try to actively lose some weight; we'll all shoot for losing 10 pounds.

Obviously Tori will have it the hardest being the lightest of the 3 and I should, theoretically, have it the easiest as I am the heaviest, but I think I also have the worst diet of the 3 and have next to no will power when it comes to snacks, especially chocolate ones... or Oreos... or ice cream... or chips... or pizza... crap... I'm starting to realize this is going to suck.

So, in order to keep me a bit honest in this whole process, I'm hoping to check in on occasion here on how my diet and exercise regiment is coming. I figure if we're forcing Tori to do it, the least I can do is try to do it with her. With that, my goal in the next couple of months is to drop from 215 lbs down to 205, with a stretch goal of breaking back under 200. I'm pretty sure I'm going to hate this. A lot.

A Fond Farewell to a Furry Family Member

Today the pseudo-mom of Stitch, our cat, moved on to the kitty afterlife (one hopefully filled with catnip, scratching posts, and fluffy pillows in the sunlight to lie on). Looking back, it's hard to imagine 13 years of having Mystique as a member of the family have come and gone already. It doesn't seem like all that long ago Stitch was a baby kitten chilling with Mystique (as you can see below) when I still lived with my parents. Since Stitch was rescued from near certain death as an outdoor cat, he didn't have his actual mom to take care of him, but Mystique was always happy (well, maybe not always) to hang with him and be that kinda-sorta-mommy-cat he needed.

Mystique napping with Stitch when he was a kitten

After I moved away from my parents' house, whenever I would come back home to visit, one of the things I most looked forward to was knowing Mystique would sleep with me at night. I love sleeping with pets... it's oddly comforting, and when I'd visit I would stay on the couch with Karma, my parents' dog, sleeping next to me, and Mystique would either lie on top of me or in the crook of my knee. It was quite the packed couch, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm sure my parents thought I was a little nuts for not sleeping in one of the guest room beds, but staying on the couch guaranteed me some quality resting time with the pets.

It's tough getting attached to pets. Everyone who is a pet person says they're just like a member of the family. I've always tried to brush that statement off, trying to listen to the logic that they're "just pets", but I've spent many loving moments, days, and years with each of mine and my family's pets to know logic is simply wrong in this case. There were so many moments that it's hard not to think of them as little, furry additions to the family. Days where I would want nothing to do with the outside world, couldn't talk to anyone (or didn't want to), and was just down for no particular reason, I would (and still do) always feel 100% comfortable sitting with Stitch or Pooh or Tori, nothing being said, just them being with me and I with them, an unspoken comfort shared between us.

There were a lot of days after college, as I was living with my parents, adjusting to the real world and suffering through the post-college doldrums, that I needed unspoken moments of comfort from Mystique and the other family pets. Even though I've not lived with my parents in years and I haven't been able to visit as much as I used to, I still find myself struggling to accept Mystique's passing in part because I fight change with every fiber of my being, partially because death simply sucks, and partially because I hate the thought of her not being at home the next time I visit, which really bums me the heck out. She was a sweet pet, a very much loved family member, and I will cherish the memories and times we shared. Farewell, Mystique...

Mystique tolerating Stitch's hyper kitten tendencies

The two at rest in their favorite chair

Go to the Humane Society Instead

HSUS MySpace Page | Stop Puppy Mills Website

I love animals and most people I do tend to care about them as well. Some people, however, are douche-buckets. Every industry has them--the people more concerned with making money than being humane and considerate. Retail has Wal-Mart. Cable companies have Comcast. The mortgage industry has Countrywide Financial. And the pet industry has puppy mills. Truth be told, though, it's not just puppies that get milled. It happens for most animals that are sold in pet stores.

Personally, I'll never buy an animal from a pet store. There's too many lovable, huggable, so-ugly-they're-cute animals at local animal shelters that there's no reason anyone should have to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for an inbred animal that was produced in an inhumane facility.

I know puppy mills are nothing new, but my mom's been talking about them recently and it never hurts to remind people that there are animals out there being treated very inhumanely so pet stores can make a few extra bucks.

Go Buy a Book

One of my fellow ultimate players, Justine Lee, has published her first book, It's a Dog's Life, but It's Your Carpet. I've ordered my copy and if you're a curious pet lover, I'd recommend you give it a shot. You can order it from Amazon right now for a 40% discount, so get hopping!