It took me the better part of two weeks to sort through everything, look though all the suggestions, and run a few items by Brody, but I finally came up with what I think is a fun selection of my favorite cat and dog items for 2009! (The Flash gallery is a new addition here, so be sure to click the little “i” in the corner in order to see the accompanying text.)

There were so many great items out there that I couldn’t fit them all into the gallery, so I’m listing a couple of honorable mentions below:

Best Safety Item: Champion Seat Belt System. OK, I’m not actually aware of a huge comparison test between systems, so I went with the one a reader highly recommended. Any restraint is better than none- though I have found the majority of options out there are meant for smaller dogs. I like that this system is designed for larger dogs as well, and is easily adaptable to various points throughout the car: latch anchors, cargo holders, etcetera.

Best Shameless Self Promotion: The Pawcurious Calendar. I’m so excited that people are getting the Brody calendars- please let me know how you like them. If there are any other items in the Zazzle store you would like to have available with the logo, let me know too- I’ll be getting more graphic designs and adding items as time goes on. As always, 100% of proceeds from sales will go to rescue organizations.

The Best Please Feel Free To Send Me a Sample Item: Ellie Rocks NYC Jewelry. It’s for people but with a dog theme. The dog jowl ring haunts my dreams. I will never own a ring with a dog face that costs more than my wedding set, but a girl can dream, right? *Off to buy lottery ticket*

If you have a favorite item you want to endorse, feel free to tell the world about it in the comments!

As I’m assembling items for the holiday gift guide, it occurred to me that I am going to have to get a Christmas stocking for Brody. I always have stockings for my pets- and with 4 pets plus 4 people, we pretty much took up the entire mantel.

On the heels of yesterday’s post, it kind of sucker punched me yet again to think of what is going to happen when I open the box with all my pet stockings and stocking holders. Of the 4, I will have to pull three out. Three that I have lovingly hung and stuffed with treats for 6 years, 7 years, nine years. Putting one aside is hard enough, but this is going to really stink. And I have no idea what to do with them- reusing one for Brody is out of the question.

I don’t want to keep them or put them up as some sort of morbid reminder of what I lost, yet the thought of just throwing them out won’t work either. I guess I could keep them and make myself cry every year when I open the storage box (my husband is not a fan of this option) or at least until I can get over it and toss them. This is a tough one.

I am, quite obviously, thankful I have Brody in my life. He is a joy and a delight and he makes me laugh every day, even when I’m cleaning up a mess or saying “Down Brody, Down Brody, DOWN Brody” x 1,000,000. I adore him.

That being said, it’s hard to say unequivocally that I can’t imagine life without him- because the only reason I have Brody to love and spoil is because I lost the best dog I’ve ever known. It’s very easy to imagine life without him, where lymphoma did not weasel its way in; Emmett wedging himself under the table and sneaking 4 bites of turkey from each person at the table like he’s done every year I’ve had him.

Without Emmett’s death, I wouldn’t have Brody. Within the context of a death that was unfortunately inevitable, I’m glad Brody arrived.

I’m glad all of you arrived too, here in my little corner of the web. I am grateful that when I suffered the loss that so many of you can empathize with, I had so many willing and sympathetic ears here for me. My life is better for having known you all. You inspire me to be better every day.

Brody heard me talking about “Thanksgiving GI upsets” in one breath and “early starts” in another, so he decided to go ahead a day early and greet me with a wee bit of explosive diarrhea of indeterminate origin this morning. And this without a single bite of turkey skin or cheese.

Keep the bird up high, y’all. And have a great day!

In Valhalla, Kevin slumbers, fingers twitching intermittently to steal a tiny soul but as a whole, laying quiescent. The shortening days and the chill in the air tickles his nose, ending his long hibernation. He awakens. And he is hungry, the rotten jerk.

I used to love the holidays, until I became a vet. I still love the holidays, but I hate working during them. Work is the opposite of merry and gay. Work is destruction and sadness, year after year and I can’t explain why, bizarre in its consistency.

Usually the madness doesn’t rear its ugly head until well into the holiday bacchanalia, but as with elf-laden commercials sneaking ever closer to the first of the year, so does the ugliness. I walked in the door this morning to find my technician helping a person fill out paperwork to cremate her deceased cat. She wasn’t even a client. The cat had passed at home, and we are not allowed to bury pets on property in our area so she took him to us out of necessity.

Then I am handed a sympathy card for a pet I had seen last week. He was fine at the time. The owner was leaving town for the holiday and wanted us to follow up on a chronic disease that had been well controlled for over 2 years. He was good, she left for vacation, then he had a relapse and died while the petsitter was at work.

As I’m signing the card, in walks that One Pet that all vets have at their clinic, the one with every bizarre malady you can think of and a wonderful owner who lets you do everything you need to try and stay on top of them. I love the dog and I love the owner, but I always get nervous when they come in because it means something wonky is going on.

Charlie looks terrible, as does his owner. I spend an hour trying to figure out which of his problems is acting up this time- his diabetes, his pancreatitis, his epilepsy… I finally settle on an answer but have no success in helping him improve, so with a sense of hopeless frustration I bundle him off to the emergency hospital for an ultrasound. I hope I threw in the towel and got him off to the specialists in time.

So I sit, like one of those old men in the horror movies rocking on his stoop in the dusky twilight with a musket and a pipe, a lone sentinel against the impending storm. I stare off into the distance as I sit on my rocker, waiting for Kevin’s shadow to loom over the horizon. I aim my musket and spit into my bucket. I may not win, but I’m not going down without a fight. Bring it, Kevin.

I’m kind of ready for Thanksgiving. I mean, sort of but not really, not the way I should be with the holiday just a couple nights away. I haven’t even solidified the menu yet. I spent the weekend flipping though a library copy of the French Laundry cookbook looking for ideas for something a little extra special, but the idea of spending 4 hours on a crudite and having truffles fed-ex’d from Italy had me a little flummoxed, so I’m trolling the web for something somewhere between “instant potatoes” and “Are you insane?” I don’t mind spending time cooking, but maybe just not to that degree.

That being said, it would be nice to have a little something special for Brody too (not that I want to leave Apollo out, but with his food allergies in play I really don’t give him treats.) I’m sure everyone knows the drill by now, but it never hurts to reiterate the fact that veterinary emergency hospitals overfloweth with pancreatitis, bloats, and other such painful afflictions this time of year. Here’s some reminders from the ASPCA about the more common dangers, including one a lot of people forget about- raw dough.

But if you’re like me and you’re going to be in the kitchen for a good 10 hours anyway, what’s one more teeny thing to cook? There are some great online ideas for special Thanksgiving treats and recipes you can make for those furry friends who make us thankful, every day. For example, Doggie Gobblers from RVT Jenna at About.com are a healthy treat you can make ahead of time to serve at the table.

Should you desire something holiday-ish but involves no cooking,  Northern Biscuits Turkey and Cranberry treats are a Thanksgiving friendly biscuit.

If you’re going to give your pet something straight off the table, use some basic caution. Be aware of toxic ingredients such as raisins and chocolate. Also keep in mind that while sweet potatoes are fine for dogs, sweet potatoes baked with marshmallows, brown sugar and 5 tons of butter are what puts dogs in the ICU. For this reason, and my recent purchase of 2 pounds of butter to be used at various times over the course of the day, I’ve decided to avoid the risk altogether and get a can of Merrick’s Thanksgiving Dinner for Brody instead. Ingredients: Turkey, Fresh Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Green Beans, and Granny Smith Apples. Can’t  get much more festive than that and a whole lot easier to make than what the humans are going to be noshing on. If I’m feeling inspired I might even mold it into a turkey shape.

Anyone else do something special for their pets for Thanksgiving? Any festive treats or recipes to share?