1800petmeds Review and Warning

 1800PETMEDS WARNING: 

If you cancel an order at 1800PETMEDS.com it is NOT really cancelled. The status will change back to a current order status within 24 hours.

I cancelled an order THREE TIMES this week (April 2023), and the status changed back all three times. 

I emailed them. I texted them. I tried to online chat with them, but no one ever answered. I called them on the phone and talked to an extremely UNhelpful representative, who even called me by a wrong name. 

I requested that the order be cancelled and deleted from my account multiple times. On the phone I was told that even a supervisor can not delete the order from my account. The representative said they can not remove it from the website, which I know is a lie. I promise you, someone can remove a cancelled order from that website.

I've been using them for years. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

What kind of shady company will not delete a cancelled order from your account and continues to change your cancellation status back to an active order?????

I explained to them that I accidentally chose the wrong dog. When I realized my mistake, I cancelled the order and reordered using the correct dog's name. They called my vet about the wrong dog's order anyway. My vet refused the wrong dog's prescription, of course. 

1800petmeds filled and shipped the correct dog's prescription, but they absolutely refuse to delete the wrong dog's order. I hope they do not continue to harass my vet. They said they really cancelled the order this time, but I no longer trust them.

I deleted all the information I could from my account. My "Delete Account" or "Cancel Account" options have mysteriously disappeared! 

I will continue to check to make sure my credit card, vet, pets, and other information does not reappear. 

I requested to NOT receive any more emails from them, but I am unable to delete my email address from my account, which makes me wonder what else they do with my information.

Order from them at your own risk. 

They are fine as long as you do not make a mistake or need to change or cancel an order. To me it's not worth the stress. I will not ever order from them again.

Reincarnation and Dogs: Questions and Clues

Back in the mid-1950s, I was born into a house full of older siblings, cats, and dogs. There were often cows across the street and always horses a couple of blocks away.  The neighbors kept guinea pigs and birds too.  We usually had at least one chicken out back for eggs.  I can't remember a time in my childhood without furry and/or barnyard friends. 

Around the time I was three years old, our collie mix girl, Lassie, and her beau, the neighbors' boxer bulldog mix named Honey, presented us with six tiny wiggly perfect puppies.  Lassie had them in a huge old hollow tree in the backyard.  My brother, Gene, crawled in the tree and removed them one by one.  Daddy put them in the dog house so they would be safe, and it wasn't long until Lassie came out of the tree and joined them.  Snug as a bug in a rug.

I can still see their little closed eyes and hear their soft puppy sounds.  I'd breathe in that sweet new puppy smell until Mama made me leave them alone.  I was enchanted.

As they grew and their little eyes opened, I was allowed to hold them.  I'd sit for hours holding and swinging a sweet little girl, who was sable and white.  I'd sit on that wooden seat of our backyard swing and swing and sing to her and she would snuggle up against me so very sweet.  

When she was about six weeks old, these mean boys came with their father and Daddy gave her to them.  I cried and cried and cried.  Truthfully, I will still cry over losing this girl.

Daddy said we could not keep her because she was a girl.  Well, I was a girl, so that disturbed me even as a child.  I couldn't understand why being a girl meant you weren't good enough to keep.  I knew my brothers got to do a lot of things that I would be punished for doing just because they were boys, but I honestly never made peace with that fact.  I could climb trees as good as them.  Why were they allowed to do that, but I couldn't? 

But I digress....

Daddy let me keep a black and white boy.  I loved him, but never quite as much as my sweet girl.  I, personally, never believed boys were better than girls.

About a year later, I went with Daddy to a house in Gaffney, SC, and there was my sweet girl.  The boys had beat her and made her mean.  She didn't even recognize me.  I will never get over this as long as I live.  I'm in my mid-60s now, so you can believe me when I say that. 

Many years later, when I was in my early 50s, I was looking for a companion dog for my boy at the time, a Texas Heeler named Buster.  It took me months to find her, but on April 15, 2006, I walked in an SPCA in North Charleston, SC and there she was, the perfect puppy.  Four months old.  Sable and white.  Sweet as pie.  I adopted her that day and named her Dolly because she looked (and still looks) exactly like a perfect baby doll dog. 

Dolly and I had a special bond from the beginning.  She was so sweet and would snuggle so still.  Precious.  But Dolly had been abused and was afraid of strangers especially, men.  Even more especially, mean little boys. There was something just familiar about her.  So special. She reminded me of my sweet girl puppy from my childhood.  Precious girl.

A vet told me Dolly was a sable Border Collie, and for twelve years I believed that vet.  Dolly looks exactly like a sable Border Collie, so I had no reason to think otherwise.

Then last year I came across a very good deal on doggie DNA tests and decided to have my dogs' DNA done.

My present red heeler boy, Stark's DNA came back as purebred Australian Cattle Dog, as expected.  He came from an SPCA, but he was obviously purebred.  No surprises there.
My girl, Dolly's DNA did NOT come back as a Border Collie!  Surprise!  Dolly's DNA came back as a Duke's mixture of breeds, but her father was a boxer bulldog mix.  Her mother?  Guess.  Yep.  A collie mix.
Dolly's parents were a Boxer Bulldog mix and a Collie mix!

Did the exact DNA mix of parents happen and attract the soul of my precious puppy??  I may never know, but it does make me wonder.  

Was the soul of my sweet puppy scarred by the mistreatment of those mean boys all those years ago? Is this why Dolly hides from strangers today? Again, I wonder.  

What about our souls?  Does God give us more than one life?  Will our next life be better??  Worse??

All these things make me wonder and are on my mind today. 

When we see someone we love or hate on sight, is this because our souls knew each other in a past life?

Do our beloved pets sometimes come back to us?
 
What are your thoughts?

***

Update: My precious Dolly lived to be 16.5 years old. She passed away in April of 2022. She had advanced Cushing's Disease and a brain tumor. So many seizures from the tumor, but she remained a happy girl her whole life long.

Dolly grew more precious every single day. I feel she still visits me from time to time to let me know she's happy and healthy again. I know we will meet again. My precious girl. 🙏🏻

South Carolina Aquarium Charter Member Reception

One of the things I am really going to miss when I retire next year and move away is getting to attend the annual SC Aquarium Charter Member Reception.

Back around 2000, I think it was, the SC Aquarium started offering memberships.  Whoever purchased a membership that first year was deemed a "Charter Member."  After ten years, the Charter Members who had maintained their membership that whole time, were all invited to a reception one mid-week late summer night.  There was food, drinks, live music, and (best of all) you got to see all the exhibits with people who really love the aquarium.

Each year since that decade mark the SC Aquarium has honored its Charter Members with a reception.  This year the reception was the night of August 30, 2016.

I was so afraid I was going to miss it this year, as I had been very sick.  I was given an antibiotic on the Saturday prior that wasn't working, so I was given a different antibiotic the day before the reception.  I had missed work that Monday and Tuesday, and didn't really feel myself, but I reasoned that if I couldn't go to the aquarium for an hour that night, I surely wouldn't be able to work the long day I had planned for the next day, so I talked myself into going and I'm so glad I did.

I learned that there are new things coming to the aquarium soon!

The Madagascar Exhibit is being replaced with the the new Zucker Family Sea Turtle Recovery™ Exhibit sometime around May 2017.  I'm very excited about this, as I LOVE the sea turtles.  The Zucker family is all about supporting education, so this exhibit will be interactive and educational.  Win win!  I can not wait!

This year at the reception they let us tour their present sea turtle hospital, which is located on the lower level of the aquarium and not generally open to the public.  I just love these gentle creatures and feel so honored to have been able to see them so close up.

Here are some photos I took of a few of the turtles in the sea turtle hospital. There were a good many that I did not photograph, but I think these photos are a good representation of what I saw. 

The first two photos are of Sumter.  She was my favorite.  No.  I really have no clue if she is a she or a he, because this turtle is a teenager and you can't tell their gender until they are at least in their mid-20s, but I like to think this is a she.  She just seemed like a girl to me.

Sumter was very active and personable and I just loved her.

Sumter

Sumter

Here are some other turtles (below) who are presently in the hospital but these are scheduled to be released back into the sea soon.  

My friend, Judy, took this last picture (below). It is a good sized porcupine puffer fish in the main part of the aquarium. This fish was very friendly and just downright interested in us. We spent a good bit of time with it. I liked it a lot!

Photo Courtesy of Judy Shillito

If you ever find yourself in Charleston, SC, a visit to the SC Aquarium is a GREAT way to spend some time.  I would highly recommend it!

And last (but not least), before I end today's post, I'd like to say a BIG, "THANK YOU!!" to the South Carolina Aquarium for acknowledging and thanking their Charter Members and treating us to a night at the aquarium once a year.  Way to go, SC Aquarium!  This is yet another way I know I've been supporting a very good thing all these years.  😊

All About Chickens!

Today I've been thinking about chickens.  Don't ask me why.  I have no clue, but that is what is on my mind, so I decided you might like thinking a little about chickens yourself.

Now.  When I was very little (before Daddy died) we usually had at least one chicken in the yard.  She would give us eggs until she grew too old and then, well, you can guess what happened.

I always struggled with eating animals I knew personally, so as I grew older, I tried to never get attached to farm animals that were being raised for food.  It is not in my nature to be that way though, so I cried many times watching my family eat when I was little.

It just seems wrong to eat your friends.

Eating strangers now...that is different.  I know.  I'm crazy.

Anyway, I grew up in a very small town where there were a few chicken farmers.  I remember going in chicken houses with Daddy and his friends to gather eggs when I was small.  I can still smell those houses.  It is not a smell you forget. 

There were rows and rows of chickens squawking and flapping their wings and laying eggs everywhere, and there was always a rooster. 

Oh that rooster in the hen house thought he was hot stuff!  He'd swagger around like he was God's gift to women chickens, which, I guess he thought he was.  He would also jump on your head and spur your eyes out if you were not careful to avoid him...or at least that is what I was told. 

I was always careful to avoid him.

Then when I was a about a pre-teenager or so, a friend's sister got all involved with show chickens.  I had never seen such chickens in my life!  Gorgeous! 

Some show chicken breeds are:  Ameraucana (These lay blue and/or green eggs!), Ancona, Black Australorp, Black Breasted Red Cubalaya, Black Jersey Giant, Black Sumatra, Brahma, Campine, Cochin, Crevecoeur, Cubalaya, Dark Brahma, Dominique (America's First Chicken), Dutch Bantam, Faverolle, Hamburg, Houdan, Java, La Fleche, Lakenvelder, Langshan, Leghorn, Malay, Orpington, Phoenix, Polish, Rhode Island Red, Rhode Island White, Rose Comb Mottled, Salmon Faverolles, Seabright, Silkie, Silver Gray Dorking, Silver Phoenix, Silver Spangled Hamburg, Sultan, Turken - Red, Welsummer, White Faced Black Spanish, White Jersey Giant, Wyandotte...and the list goes on!

And you probably thought a chicken was just a chicken!  NOT so!

Leghorn is a breed of chicken.  Foghorn Leghorn, the cartoon character, was a Leghorn breed of chicken.  That is why he was white. 

This is a Leghorn chicken.  See?  Just like Foghorn Leghorn!

The chickens I loved the best that my friend's sister raised were the ones with feathers down to the ground like the Silkie breed.  I always thought they were beautiful, but as I look at pictures of the different breeds today, I find the Dark Brahma, the Wyandotte, the Orpington, and the Seabright to be my favorites.   

If you click the links above, you can see photos of all the different breeds.  Which are your favorites?  

Now.  A serious word about fighting chickens.  

DON'T FIGHT CHICKENS!  

I am so against throwing away any life for a human's amusement.  You have no idea how strongly I feel about this.  If you know of anyone participating in such a horrible thing, please call the police immediately.  If it were up to me, all people attending such functions would be sterilized so they could not breed more humans prone to such activities.  Be glad I am NOT in charge.

That is all I'm going to say about that lest my blood pressure rise too much.

Now...back to the more pleasant part of the post. ☺️ 

Clearing my throat now...ahem...

As you can see, chickens are much more than what's for dinner.  They come in all shapes, sizes, colors and dispositions...much like people, I guess.  They even lay different colored eggs!  How awesome is that?

I do enjoy chicken for dinner, but I also like to see all the varieties of chickens.  I also like to be very thankful to the chickens who give their lives so I can eat.  I think that is what saying grace should be all about.  We should acknowledge and bless the animals that die for us, as well as the animals that live for us.  We should be more aware and more thankful.  

Just my opinion.  Everyone has one, I know, but I thought I'd share mine with you today.  If you are still reading, I thank you so much!  I hope you found something interesting and new in today's post.  I'll post more random things by and by.  It is my nature, I'm afraid.