4 The Love of Animals

Celebrating the bonds between people and animals!

Jan
21

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Staples. That was easy!

Category: Pet Tech, reviews Leave a Comment

A small confession, I love office supplies. There is just something about a fresh notebook, new pens, and the like that make my little heart happy. So when I was approached to do a post about Staples in return for a product from their store, I was giddy. What would I choose? So many choices on the Staples website, but one section called my name loudly. Tablets!

Yes friends, as a pet blogger being able to connect on the go has been something I have longed to do. For whatever reason, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that Staples would carry so many electronics, but wow they have a great selection! With so much of our offices now being run digitally, it makes sense. But they have more than just printers! They have cameras, TVs, phones, and yes, tablets.

I have really loved the tablet I ordered (the Nexus 7). Not only did it ship quickly, it was packaged well too. Super important in my book. The tablet even offers a front facing camera, maybe I can Skype with our pets while I am out and about? And of course with all the apps it is great for keeping in touch with social media like Twitter and Instagram.

My wish list is now even longer after looking around the Staples site. Seriously, there were so many awesome office supplies (like a new office chair for example), and such great prices too. Also, the website will let you know if your product is available in the store or online, and they even offer free shipping on orders over $20. Pretty great, right?

*We were provided with the tablet in exchange for our review. All opinions are our own.*

Oct
22

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Furdiburb – A Virtual Pet Adventure!

Category: Pet Tech, spotted! Leave a Comment

Do you enjoy playing games? Then today’s post is for you! There is a fun game called Furdiburb, and like the title of this post suggests, it’s a virtual pet adventure game!

Furdiburb is a virtual pet, puzzle, and adventure game mashed into one. After vacationing on Earth, Furdiburb’s alien parents accidentally leave him behind. Players care for their newly adopted pet by feeding and cleaning him. They may also customize his looks, furniture, and house with fun-themed designs. The main goal of the game is to explore gorgeous lands, play mini-games (fishing, star jumping, bug dodging, and music writing), and solve puzzles in order to collect parts to fix up a broken spaceship so that Furdiburb may return home one day.

Right now the game is available for free on all Android devices and Google TV (you can download it on Google Play). Furdiburb will also be available soon for iOS, Nook, and Amazon Kindle. Even though we haven’t had the chance to play yet, we fell in love with the idea of the game, and the soundtrack has been on repeat quiet a bit around here! We can’t wait to play when it’s ready for our devices! Watch the trailer below to see what the game looks like:

Also, here are some important points about the game that we think are great!

  • The pet never dies. You can neglect him, and he’ll just be sad and starving when you come back.
  • Family/kid-friendly. No sex or violence, just potty humor (the pet poops, and players clean the screen by manually tossing the poop off the screen).
  • Free / Freemium game. If users have an Android device, without paying a cent, they can play through the whole game. There are optional premium items (like mutations, furniture, customizations, etc) that can be purchased with golden poop (Furdiburb premium currency) that players can buy with real money. If the user can’t buy premium currency, the pet poops golden poop each day, pooping more as he grows up.
  • Clean interface – no “feed pet” or “wash pet” buttons, the player has to grow food to feed the pet or actually scrub the pet clean.

We have always loved virtual pet games for the fun you can have as your pet “grows” and all the customizations that you can do in the pet’s world. Furdiburb has all the features we love most about games like this. Let us know if you play it and what you think!

Disclosure: We were not compensated for this post, and as mentioned, we have not had a chance to play the game yet ourselves. We just think it’s a fun idea for animal lovers who love to play games and we wanted to share it with you!

Oct
19

By

Pet Proofing Your Home Electronics

Category: guest post, pet care, Pet Tech Leave a Comment

5 easy ways to keep your pets and your gadgets safe

Whether you’re concerned about man’s best friend getting caught up in your computer cords or your purr machine eating the buttons off of your stereo pets of all kinds need a little assistance when it comes to getting into mischief. Protecting your pet in your home starts with putting down the toilet lid, securing the garbage, and putting away stray things that they can mistake for food. However, your home’s electronics can pose serious threats to your animals safety as well.

To keep your pets away from tantalizing wires and electrical cords, here are 5 easy ways you can make your home safer and more organized for pet safety

1. Keep wires out of your pet’s reach

Protecting your cat or dog from exposed wires, especially chewing, is simple if you make a point to keep your electrical wires off the floor. You can do this by using adhesive-backed cord clips to attach and feed your wires under furniture or along wall surfaces. These cord clips work to protect your phone cords, lamp cords, and even computer cords from teething pups and curious kittens.

2. Tuck wires out of sight

The best thing you can do to protect your pet is to keep wires out of sight. I do this with a concealed surge protector, which encloses around stereo, television, phone, and computer wires to keep them out of sight and also provides surge protection in case of a power outage or lightening strike.

3. Use nose repelling products

Another effective way to deter pets from dangerous situations is with distasteful smells. I’m talking about odor repellant products that will drive them away such as lavender and citrus scents. I find that using a room spray in my office that’s citrus scented deters my cat from even going inside. I also strategically place little sachets around my computer, tablet PCs, television, and stereo so that my cat just explores another area of the home that smells better to him.

4. Protect your electronics from hair and slobber

I’d suggest a screen protectors and keyboard cover for your desktop and laptop computers if you prefer a clean, slobber, muck, and animal hair- free screen. Whats worse, hair can get into the crevices in your keyboard and cause serious damage so deterring your pets from lying on or around your computer will lengthen its life.

5. Make your main entertainment area a pet-free zone

The best possible way to deter pets from jumping on your computer, stereo, or tablet is by keeping them out of your main entertainment area. I simply keep the door closed and don’t let your cat inside so there’s no damage due to pet hair, drool, and scratching.

Bio: Rebecca Keller is a graduate of the Arts and Technology program at the University of Texas. An admitted tech-junkie, freelance writing about Android devices for AndGeeks.com offers the perfect outlet for a tech geek like Rebecca. When she’s offline, which isn’t very often, Rebecca enjoys volunteering for her local animal shelter and off road mountain biking.

Aug
9

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Safe Glow LED Dog Collar

Category: dogs, Pet Tech, reviews 5 Comments

Baby recently got a very fun item to review, something super awesome for people who love to take their dogs out walking when it gets a bit darker! Yes, a glowing collar! The Safe Glow dog collar, which is well made from wear-resistant nylon and houses a flexible, light-transmitting polymer core that illuminates when the collar is turned on.

Not only does it light up with a press of the button, but there are three different settings to choose from; steady glow, slow flash, and fast flash. Perfect for walking outside at night, or early morning, or any time that the light is lower than usual. We humans loved playing with it, changing the flashing from steady to fast, and back again.

A reflective stripe adds additional safety by providing passive reflectivity for wear during day time hours. The collar is powered by a super-efficient (100,000 hour) LED bulb, has a durable clasp, a ring for attaching a leash, and it is light weight. You can also adjust it a little bit if needed. It also looks really cool, and all the other dogs will take notice! The people sure did, and that is one of the most important parts, especially if you have a darker colored dog. There is no doubt that your pup will be seen while wearing this collar!

Baby thought it was a lot of fun to be able to go out walking after the sun started setting, something she doesn’t normally get to do! She was pretty interested in the color before it was put on her too, did she know somehow that there was something very special about it? I think she did. Even with the battery for the light, it isn’t any heavier than her regular collar, and she seemed to find it comfortable to wear. And yes, we really did get some looks from the other humans that saw it!

The collar comes in small, medium, and large sizes that can fit necks up to 17″. The collar is weather resistant, but obviously it is not fully waterproof, so it’s not suitable for late night swims.

A huge thank you to dog training collars for providing us with the collar for our review. We sure loved it! Baby gives it 4 paws up! As always, our opinions are our own, regardless of compensation. For full product information, please visit the product website.

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