Brody & Ethel

We planned to post some photos from yesterday's Veteran's Day Observance but they are still in the camera. Jan better get on the catnip ball or she's going to be embarrassed by the performance review we're planning to post before the end of the month.

Instead, we're going to share one of those stories that help tissue sales. A story of love.and friendship that will put a smile on your face and a tear in your eye. It's about 92-year old Ethel and Brody, a 12-year old black Lab.

From the Portland Press Herald
A community's caring tempers painful loss of a companion
by Bill Nemitz.

Every morning at exactly 10 o'clock, Brody would take up his position by the front door to wait for the Meals on Wheels volunteers – Steve on Monday, David on Tuesday, Dot on Wednesday, Bud on Thursday and Ray on Friday. Upon hearing a car door close outside, he'd hop up on the nearby window sill, tail wagging, for a look-see.

"The minute they came to the door, he was the welcoming committee," Ethel said.

He had good reason. First, Dot Cleveland started bringing a doggy biscuit on Wednesdays. Then Ray Gross, a dog lover if ever there was one, started showing up with soup bones on Fridays. Before long, all five volunteers were bringing treats for Brody along with meals for Ethel.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Veteran's Day 2009

We wanted something appropriate as a tribute to our military, past and present, for Veteran's Day. We think this song, "America My Home," performed by Ricky David Tripp one month after 9-11 fits the bill.

We stand behind our military. And we salute them. (A little hard for dogs and cats, but, hey, if Percy can type, we can salute.)

We are especially pleased as we read of those serving overseas whose hearts reach out to help rescue unwanted dogs and cats.



If the video will not play for you, click here.

Chief, Pit Bull Hero

We just read an article where a woman basically drips venom about how she detests animals in the house and just dislikes pets in general. Some readers found her article to be clever and cute, but we found it sad. She is entitled to her opinion, but it's too bad,as she's missing out on a lot of fun. She doesn't need to worry, though, we won't invite her to our house.

On the other hand, many of you have undoubtedly read about the pit bull that saved 2 women from a cobra that got into the house and was poised to strike. Those women are alive because they had a pet dog inside the house and that "stinky, noisy" animal sacrificed his life for them.

You can read about Chief, an American Pit Bull Terrier, here.

85 and Still Dancing

Jan says she is feeling very old and tired, so we decided to cheer her up. We found this wonderful video to show her what she could be doing if she really wanted to. Or if her joints would bend without creaking. Wait, she has two left feet. Forget this idea for her. She'd probably break something and we'd be orphans.

But for the rest of you whose humans are feeling old, perhaps this will perk them up. And thanks, Evelyn.

We know it isn't furry related but since we all have to deal with grumpy, dragging, complaining, I-don't-have-the-energy-to-fill-the-water-bowl humans, we felt this is appropriate to post on JFF.

Meet Dorothy Dale Kloss, the oldest showgirl in the world. She's 85 years young.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

Chenoa Manor

Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary rescues animals, but it takes in farm animals instead of cats or dogs. Situated in Chester County, Pennsylvania -- or Pawsylvania, as Khyra calls it -- those with no other place to go are taken in.

"For the past six years, Teti has been offering shelter to all sorts of troubled individuals at this last-resort sanctuary tucked behind a development of staid McMansions in Avondale, just west of Kennett Square. Here, on 25 acres of Andrew Wyeth-worthy pastures, streams and split-rail fences, an unlikely combination of visitors reaps the benefits of a safe space: rescued farm and exotic animals get room and board, and disadvantaged teens learn compassion and care during visits spent working with and studying the animals. Teti sees each as a group that's too often overlooked." You can read the rest of the article here.

And you can get acquainted with some of the animals at the sanctuary by visiting Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary's website.

Family Portrait

We know Halloween is over but when we received a link to this video, we just had to post it. It reminded Jan of when she had 6 kittens (not us 6) in the house and she was trying to get all 6 on the couch at one time so she could get a "family portrait." It wore her out. And she was much younger then.

Actually, we bet you thought we meant our family portrait. Fat chance! Jan can't even get us 3 dogs lined up for a group shot.

Enjoy the video.



If the video doesn't play for you, click here.

Microchips and Veterans

No, we are not advocating microchipping veterans. Those two words just describe our two separate subjects of the day.

Animals get lost for a variety of reasons and many folks whose pet is microchipped assume that if the animal is lost or stolen it will be returned. Well, some are, sometimes even years after they disappeared. But many aren't. And as Jan keeps telling local folks, the chip is worthless if the shelter doesn't scan or doesn't scan properly. It's also worthless if the owner does not register the chip or does not keep the information updated. Many a microchipped pet has been euthanized because either the owner or the shelter was derelict in protecting the animal.

In the interest of time, we stole ... er, borrowed this from Jan's September Paws column for the local Humane Society (not the shelter). It's posted on UpsonPets.com. We don't think she'll mind and if she does, you'll all protect us, won't you? Anyway ....

Last month I reminded you to not rely solely on a microchip for the return of a lost pet. If the shelter or vet does not scan animals, the microchip will not be found. If the animal is improperly scanned, the microchip will be missed. Chips can and do migrate to other areas of the body from where implanted and in rare cases are implanted improperly and fall out.

Let’s suppose your lost pet is scanned at the shelter, the microchip is found and read, the shelter checks the database for your information so they can contact you and … Oops. The database is blank. Many either don’t bother to register or forget to. You are not automatically entered into a database. You must register the chip number and your contact information. If your information changes for any reason, it is your responsibility to update it. So be sure to keep the information current. Some pets have been returned many years after they were lost.

You can’t remember if you registered the chip? Or you have lost the paperwork? There are six U. S. databases. To find out which one you are registered with, take your pet to a vet or shelter to have your pet scanned to get the microchip number. Go online to CheckTheChip.com and enter that number. It will search and tell you which database to contact. Go to that website and check your information, making any necessary changes. If it isn’t there, register the microchip number before you forget.

Be sure to print the information and put it in your pet’s file with all his vet information. You will need this if your pet is lost, and a shelter might require you bring paperwork to verify this chip number belongs to your cat or dog.

We read two articles today that reminded us of this subject, so we thought this might be a good time to remind your humans. One was a warning from a shelter. If we remember correctly, something like 40% forget or don't bother to register and a very large percent don't update their information. Many shelters will not or can not invest the time to try to track down an owner who has been negligent or forgotten to register new information.

The other reminder was a positive article from Arizona: New Tool to help Valley sheriff's posse locate lost pets.. Many of you undoubtedly know Phoenix, AZ and the surrounding Valley area have a large number of annual winter "snowbird" visitors and many of them bring their pets.

Hope you all have a good day. Today and tomorrow Jan will spend a few hours outside the local Wal-mart distributing Buddy Poppies for the Veteran's of Foreign Wars. Veteran's Day is the 11th, next Wednesday. So if you happen to see her (or anyone else distributing poppies for a veteran's group), we hope you will take a moment to say hello and donate a green paper or more for a poppy. The VFW poppies are made by disabled veterans and the proceeds are used to help veterans in the local community.

Crystal, Cotton, Merci, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron, Buddy, Rusty & Sam

Mini Pigs and Toxic Foods

We are not calling mini pigs toxic food. Mini pigs aren't intended for food. We just have two unrelated subjects today and they do make an intriguing title. We hope.

Anyway, the latest pet craze appears to be mini pigs. They are promoted as "micro piglets small enough to fit in a teacup." We wonder whether they will have health issues.like other teacup pets do. We hope not, but time will tell.

If you haven't seen this before, enjoy the video.



If the video doesn't play, you can watch it here.

The Veterinary Technician Schools Online has an article on foods you should not feed your pet.

"Knowing what can harm your pet is the first step in illness and disease prevention. By avoiding harmful substances and foods, your pet will live a longer, healthier life, and your wallet will thank you too for avoiding veterinary bills that could have been prevented with a little caution and care. These 25 common household foods can be lethal to your furry or feathered buddy. Many of these examples are foods that a typical pet owner would never think twice about giving their dog, cat, hamster or bird, but your pets can suffer greatly from things we humans love to eat on a regular basis."

"Read the rest of the article: “25 Common Foods That Can Be Toxic for Your Pet."

Clean + Green

Buddy: We have finished testing Clean + Green and we're ready to write our review. We had to lock Jan out of the house in order to write it. She thinks SHE tested it, but as we have said before, this is our blog, her opinion doesn't matter.

Percy: We tried two SeaYu products -- Carpet & Upholstery and Litter Box. Obviously, we cats will report on the litter box sample.



Crystal: As you know, or should know, we kitties do not like to use a dirty litter box. We would all prefer to have our own but Jan refuses to move to a house large enough to support 13 litter boxes.

Cameron: Why do we need 13. I thought there are only 6 of us.

Cotton: There are. As Crystal gets older, he wants the convenience of having multiple boxes around the house so he doesn't have far to go. I mean, so he doesn't have far to walk.

Rusty: Crystal's sense of smell has diminished but the rest of us don't want to smell the litter box. So Jan sprayed the litter and the surrounding area occasionally .

Cyndi: Yeah, something about a certain kitty likes to stand up instead of squat down when he pees.

Percy, speaking rapidly: Don't have any idea who that could be. Let's move along. We have decided we like the Clean + Green Litter Box spray for eliminating odors in the litter box and surrounding area.

Sam: Now we get to do the Carpet & Upholstery overview. We haven't had any accidents on the carpet but there are enough of us that vomiting is a normal pastime, especially among the feline persuasion.

Merci: The Clean + Green did a good job of eliminating odor, cleaning and removing stains in the carpet. Wonder if it would have worked on Jan's checkbook? But we don't do clean-up, just throw-up.

JFF: We all agree that Clean + Green is a product we'd like to have around the house. Jan thinks its best feature is that all the ingredients are non-toxic and harmless to pets. We would agree with her but Jan isn't allowed to give an opinion in our review. However, we do feel better knowing Jan isn't poisoning us when she uses it around our home.

You can find information on all the Clean + Green products at Clean + Green by SeaYu. They even have a De-Skunk Coat Cleaner for the dog who can't tell a tuxedo cat from a skunk.

No human was harmed in the writing of this review. But if you'll excuse us, we better go let Jan back in the house. It's our dinnertime.

JFF -- Crystal, Cotton, Merci, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron, Buddy, Rusty & Sam

Funny Farm Key Words

We decided it is time to check on some key words folks are using to find our blog. We can understand some of them, but others ....???? We can only imagine some of these visitors were lost. And they were undoubtedly wondering how they ended up here as much as we are.

hackles and twick - What in the world are hackles and twick?

101 funny cats -- Sorry, we're about 95 funny cats short.

pet toxic blog -- We are NOT a pet toxic blog. We are pet eco friendly.

painting with all the paintballs -- What, does this mean some painters are a paintball or two short? .

rollin monty loyd georgia -- Was someone actually planning to roll Mona/Monty Loyd to Georgia?

rollin monta loyd -- See above.

fosters funny farm -- No fosters on this funny farm. We're all permanent residents..

columbus dogs shot arrow -- We'd sure like to meet these Columbus dogs. We hear shooting an arrow is hard work.

funny email addresses -- We met one guy who thought jansfunnyfarm to be a hilarious email address.Think maybe he's been a resident at a real funny farm?

cheapest store to buy world's best cat litter -- Where, where? Funny Farmer kitties want to know.

knock knock jokes farm -- There's a farm for knock knock jokes? Wonder what you feed them?

funny farm animal shower curtains -- Hang on and we'll design a funny farm animal shower curtain for you.

farm animal cruelty videos -- We only post videos that are AGAINST farm animal cruelty, in case any of you wonder about this one.

21st Century Pet Nutrition Pet Chews Plus BEST PRICE -- Sorry, we aren't even aware of the worst price. But if they're edible, Buddy and Sam will find them.

In case you've forgotten what we look like, here's a photo of our Cameron to jog your memory..


Hope you all have a good day. We plan to nap most of it.