Hints From Heloise: Turkey baster saved goldfish's life

Dear Heloise: This is a true story! When my children were small, we bought them a goldfish named Seemore. Because I was a city girl, there was no way I would touch Seemore.

One week, I made the water in the faucet tepid, poured out the dirty water and added new. I didn't have a net to catch Seemore, so out he flew into the sink. When I let the water out, down he went into the garbage disposal! I could see him, but didn't want to reach down there. I got the idea to grab my turkey baster, and gently sucked him up with the baster and put him back in the clean tank.

He floated the rest of that day on his side. We sprinkled some food for him and went to bed. In the morning, Seemore was swimming around normally. He lived for a couple more years after that, and I got a fishnet. — Carol in Cortland, Ohio

Wow, glad Seemore survived! What an adventure he went on! — Heloise

Dear Readers: Dick McCracken of San Antonio sent a photo of his female black American short-hair cat, Duveen Bridget, playing with a piece of material that looks like a tail. Dick says: "Duveen was adopted from a campus inhabited by many Irish nuns. She was very tiny and very black, possibly the runt of her lost litter. She was promptly named, and she has an Irish temper!" — Heloise

Dear Heloise: I use a 2-gallon water jug with a wide opening to store my cat's dry food. The 2-gallon jug holds one 7-pound bag of dry food. I use a cut-in-half 1-gallon jug as a funnel to move the food into the jug. This seems to keep the food fresher than the bags do, and dispensing it is much easier, as the food comes out in small amounts. — Craig in Camarillo, Calif.

Dear Heloise: I saw someone's suggestion for using newspaper in a newly declawed cat's litter box. We went a step further: We emptied the paper shredders at work and home, and used that for our cat's litter box after she was declawed. Now, we take our shredded paper and leftover/recycled newspaper to the vet to line those cages. — Kathy in Abilene, Texas

Dear Heloise: My dogs wouldn't take their pills, no matter what I did, and believe me, I tried everything from cheese and peanut butter to holding their mouths shut, and I even bought a gadget from the pet store.

I called my vet, and he suggested crushing the pill using a garlic press and then adding the crumbles to their food. Problem solved! — Pat in Colorado

Please be sure that the pill can safely be crushed. Ask your vet or pharmacist first. — Heloise

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