First up we have an expanded recall of Diamond dog foods due to potential Salmonella contamination.  (If you have questions or want replacement product or a refund, contact Diamond Pet Foods at 800-442-0402, 8 am – 6 pm EST, Monday through Friday or check out their site www.diamondpetrecall.com.)

1. Diamond Puppy Food (dry dog food)

2. Diamond Naturals Lamb & Rice

3. Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Adult Light Formula (dry dog food)

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Kaytee is recalling 2 types of baby bird food due to dangerously high levels of Vitamin D which can cause kidney failure.  Signs of hypervitamintosis D in birds include:

• Lethargy
• Anorexia
• Crop stasis
• Vomiting
• Dehydration
• Polyuria
• Polydipsia
• Stunting or delayed development

For important information on tests and treatment read Kaytee’s hypervitamintosis D information page for you and your veterinarian.  (Call Kaytee at 1-800 Kaytee-1 (800 529-8331) or email kayteehandfeedingbabybirdrecall@central.com for information on a refund.)

1. Kaytee exact Hand Feeding Formula Baby Bird 

2. Kaytee exact Hand Feeding Formula Baby Macaw 

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Kaytee is also recalling a mouse, rat, & hamster food due to potential salmonella contamination.  This food was widely distributed around the world—states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin; and, into the countries of Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, Dutch Antilles, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Panama, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, and Trinidad.   (Call 1-800-Kaytee1 (800 529-8331) phone number or Kaytee.com for questions regarding pets that have been fed the product.  For a refund, fill out this form on the Kaytee site.)

1. Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health Mouse, Rat and Hamster

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And finally, DuMOR produced for the Tractor Supply Company is recalling a poultry feed due to incorrect packaging.  This one can be confusing if you look at the FDA site, so here it is in a nutshell.  Some packages of DuMOR Poultry Grower/Finisher (which is for chicks) actually contain DuMOR Poultry Layer 16% Crumbles (which is for egg layers).  The adult food can be harmful to chicks.  (For more information contact your Tractor Supply Company location, or Feed Solutions Customer Service at 615-315-4092 or 615-315-4090 (Monday-Friday 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM CDT).

1. DuMOR Poultry Grower/Finisher

And don’t miss these cat stencils and these dog breed stencils. Or you can make a stencil from your own photos of your pets.

Have a fun Halloween and keep your furred & feathered friends safe!

Cats

Rabbit

Dogs

Ferret

Rats

Mice

Birds

Fish

Reptile

Use photos of your own pets to make a nifty stencil for your jack-o-lanterns this year.  These three tutorials show you how to do it.

• Tutorial 1 (photojojo.com)
• Tutorial 2 (photoshoptips.net)
• Tutorial 3 (carvingpumpkins.com)

If that’s too fiddly, there’s a program called Pumpkinshop you can buy that converts your photos into stencils.

If you don’t want to make your own patterns check out these cat stencils and these dog breed stencils.

(via SilhouetteArt)

A reader asked about tutorials for making silhouette pet portraits, so here you go!  You can do this for any pet, so don’t limit yourself to cats and dogs.  A budgie portrait would be really cute!

The video shows 2 techniques—a higher tech version that uses Adobe Illustrator & a robot cutter and lower tech version that uses tracing paper.

Here’s a second tutorial on how to make another version of a silhouette plaque.  Just use your pet’s portrait instead.

More ideas on ways to use pet silhouettes from Martha Stewart.  I think the suggestion to have a custom rubber stamp made of your pet’s silhouette is a great idea.  It would also make a nice gift for a pet lover.

I love this tote bag tutorial—it’d make a cute pillow too!  I think I’d sew the silhouette rather than glue it though.

Larger scale pet silhouettes made from plywood are a unique application.  You’ll need a jigsaw, router, or something similar for this project.

This two-toned silhouette portrait is lovely.  You can use all sorts of colors and patterns to create something really nifty!

An appliquéd onsey or t-shirt is pretty cute.

Amazon now has a dedicated site for pet products—Wag.com.  I wonder if this will have an effect on the specialty pet sites (like PetExpertise.com) I like for finding progressive training tools and books.  I hope it means more people will have accesses to quality foods, tools, and information!

(Note: I’m not connected in any way to either site, other than having ordered products from PetExpertise and Amazon.)

Check out the article to learn more and keep your receipts for next year’s taxes, if you’re fostering or providing some other service.

Spread the word about Paws for Japan happening today.  Be the Change for Pets is working to raise funds for World Vets, who is on the ground in Japan and is already assisting Japanese animal welfare groups.  You can make a donation here.

And Pawcurious has organized a bunch of online business who are donating proceeds from today to World Vets. Check out the post to see the businesses participating, and don’t miss the Blog Hop below it where there are more business listed among the blogs promoting the event. For example, Yarntini is having a raffle of yarn & fabric and the professional pet photographer, Poochie Freak Photography, is having a greeting card auction.