My dog is an idiot & a December Pet Giftbox review

Jake's had a rough week. Last Wednesday he stole some pumpkin-muffin cookies from the counter where my mother had left them to cool.

The problem: they contained raisins.

Grapes and raisins contain something that is toxic to around 50% of dogs. Scientists still haven't been able to isolate whatever toxin that is, or determine why some dogs suffer kidney failure after eating only a few raisins whilst other dogs can eat pounds of them with no problems. But for those dogs that do react to it, the damage is severe. So we rushed Jake to the emergency vet where he was forced to vomit up the 32 raisins he ate then had to stay there overnight for monitoring. Poor dude, all he wanted was a cookie.

It's a good thing that his December Pet Giftbox came today and cheered him up! I purchased Pet Giftbox because I have no impulse control through Groupon and paid $10/box for a 3 month subscription.

December 2015 PetTreater Box Review!

I spoil my pup. He's a whiny, inattentive, pain-in-the-butt hound, but I love him. PetTreater has quickly become his favorite subscription box and gets extremely excited when he see's the shiny green and orange box show up.

Each box comes with a cute letter addressed to the individual dog,which I forgot to photograph because I was too busy fighting with Jake over toys. Hence the slightly blurry pictures!

This picture was taken after I took the tags off the squeaky Santa-dog toy and consecrated it with a game of throw-and-run-all-the-fuck-around-the-yard. Jake doesn't do fetch. He does "chase meeeee!" with toys.
We later took the tags off the blue alien toy to give it a try. Supposedly the squeaker in it is at too high a pitch (octave?) to be heard by human ears, but dogs can till hear it. Jake it apathetic about non-squeaky toys, so I tested it out by taking it outside, hiding it behind my back, and squeaking it. I didn't hear anything, but Jake went nuts. Both toys met Jake's approval!

The card on the left is an edible rawhide card for dogs! I like that the note attached explained that they usually didn't include rawhide products in the boxes, but this one was too cute to pass up. I agree with them on that! I put it up and will give it to Jake on Christmas.
The packet on the right are dog-themed Christmas cards for the human. This is much better than the last PetTreater "For The Human" I got (an oven mitt...) as it actually is dog related. The outside says "Happy Holidays" and the inside reads "Wishing you all the splendor of the season", which is great for both religious and non-religious people.

Oh my god...a Star Wars leash. I seriously squealed when I pulled this out of the box! Perfect timing with the new release coming this month!

Treats! I got an extra bag of treats this month as a reward for emailing PetTreater a picture of Jake playing with his goodies from the last box. They say you'll get an "extra toy", but I actually prefer to get the treats for him (we have a lot of toys floating around now...). I ended up giving the second bag of venison treats to a friend's lovely German Shepherd who is on a grain-free diet for canine lupus. She is very picky about treats, but nommed this one and came back begging for seconds!

And finally a PetTreater Christmas bandanna for Jake! He surprisingly doesn't mind bandannas, so this one he will wear once it gets closer to Christmas.

So for $25 Jake got toys and treats that he likes, and I got holiday cards and a cute leash for him. Win-win for PetTreater!

This box was purchased with my own money and all opinions are my own and Jake's. He's easily bribed with peanut butter, though. Questions, Comments, and Casual Insults welcome par usual.

Starting Tretinoin: 4 Asian products to help fight flakes

Tretinoin: The dreaded dry skin flake-maker that promises to eliminate our acne and smooth our wrinkles. After attempting to fight my hormonal acne with AHA, BHA, benzoyl peroxide, Voodoo, Vitamin C, and anti-androgenic birth control, I finally caved in mid-October and scheduled a dermatologist appointment to get a retinoid prescription.

Now after around two months of using Tretinoin almost every day with very very minimal of the infamous flakies, I figured I'd write a quick blog about the Asian products that helped me survive starting tret. Yes, I use a lot of Western products too, but this post is just focused on the Asian ones. No, I don't use these all at once, I mix and match as needed.

I am not a doctor (nor do a play one on a TV show. I do, however, have a background in Theatre if you're casting for one...) so please take everything I say with that in mind. And remember: your mileage may vary (YMMV).