Finally! I am so glad the FDA has made it easier for us to find out about recalls of pet food products with this searchable database. Here’s hoping they did a good job.
Thrifty Things: Towels & Bowls
I’ve written before about some of the great things you can find for your pets at thrift stores & garage sales and I was reminded today just how much money you can save by recycling or repurposing things you find at thrift stores.
A bunch of the towels we use on the cats & dog had become pretty ragged & threadbare, but the towels we use for ourselves are still too nice to be relegated to the pets. I wasn’t about to go buy new towels for the 4 legged creatures, so I checked my favorite thrift store and found 4 thick bath towels for under $8 total, which is about the cost of one new towel.
I also needed a couple of glass bowls for water and found good sized Pyrex bowls for under $5 total that will be perfect. Pyrex is thick and pretty rugged so these bowls won’t get chipped or cracked. Sweet!
Here are some of the other things I’d try to find at a thrift store or garage sale before I bought them new:
- pet crates (This is probably the best bargain you’ll find. Crates can be pretty pricey ($20-150+), but I see them in all sizes pretty regularly at my favorite thrift store.)
- bird cages
- glass aquariums
- stainless steel pet bowls
- Habitrail components
- kitty condos (you could recover it pretty easily with carpet remnants and a staple gun)
- storage bins with lids (for storing toys or to make your own awesome litterbox)
- blankets for pet beds
Thrift Store Finds
You can save some real money on pet supplies using thrift stores and garage sales. Remember, don’t getting anything that’s broken or questionable. Don’t save money at the expense of your pets. Here are some of things I’ve spotted:
- pet crates (This is probably the best bargain you’ll find. Crates can be pretty pricey ($20-150), but I see them in all sizes pretty regularly at my favorite thrift store.)
- bird cages
- glass aquariums
- ceramic or stainless steel pet bowls
- Habitrail components
- towels (for baths or bedding)
- kitty condos
- storage bins with lids (for storing toys or to make your own awesome litterbox)
Fire At Seattle Animal Shelter
First off, the good news is no animals or people were injured in the fire. However, the shelter did lose their commercial dryer and all the supplies in the laundry room. They would really appreciate donations of:
- blankets
- towels
- cat toys
- dog toys
Take your donations to 15th West – one mile south of the Ballard Bridge at 2061 15th Ave West, Seattle, WA 98119. You can also make a monetary donation.
We’re very fortunate here to have a pretty progressive animal shelter here in Seattle. A new director, Don Jordan, came in 1996 with a plan to move beyond simple animal control & public safety. The Seattle Animal Shelter began focusing on animal welfare too with extensive animal fostering, adoptions doubling, over 600 volunteers, low cost spay/neuter for everyone. As I understand it, they’re are working to make Seattle a no-kill community.
Animal Cruelty Law & Free Speech
The Supreme Court will hear a case that claims a law banning the sale of videos of animal cruelty infringes on First Amendment Rights.
The specific case to come before the Court is that of Robert J. Stevens, who was sentenced the 37 months in prison for selling videos of dogfights. It’s not as simple as it sounds, though, because the videos contained dogfights from decades ago or that took place in Japan, where dogfighting seems to be legal. As the article points out, this means that:
it may well be a crime for an American to sell a video of a bullfight that took place in Spain, where bullfighting is legal, or of hunting or fishing out of season.
Personally, I am unsure of how videos of animal cruelty differs from videos of child pornography or murder. It sounds like the Supreme Court will likely over-turn the law.