Belle 'n' Paws

Belle ‘n’ Paws is a website that advocates for “Senior” Pets. Thanks for visiting !

WHO are Belle ‘n’ Paws?

Belle and Paws are two beautiful senior feline siblings. These cats are brother and sister and found themselves in an unfortunate circumstance. The original owners of these cats were a family who found them outside with several more of their brothers and sisters as a litter of kittens, and with no sign of the mother.

The litter of kittens were split up with all the kittens finding homes except Belle and Paws. This family decided to take in both Belle and Paws, and continued to own them for twelve years.

After twelve years, the family had decided to sell their home and move. Their kids had grown and left the nest or went to college. Both Belle and Paws were headed for the ASPCA. In our world, you don’t throw away other family members, so when we heard their story, we stepped in to rescue these two beautiful cats and literally intercepted them on their way to the ASPCA.

Who Are We?

We are the people who stepped in to adopt these two cats “Belle ‘n’ Paws”. We are a couple, who have had an animal friendly household for years. We are almost always a multiple cat and pet environment and we’ve had many pets that have passed away over the years. All of our pets have lived happy FULL lives to the extent they could with their time with us and the time given them.

We have family and friends who foster un-homed animals (abused or otherwise) and train animals for other people as service or support animals. We’ve made several animal rescues over the years ourselves.

With that being said, the final decision to take in Belle and Paws for us was easy… we had the room and we instantly fell in love with these two cats.

More Pets Besides Belle ‘n’ Paws Here

As we started this website and continued dealing with our pets and their issues, we realized we were dealing with more than just Belle ‘n’ Paws when it came to managing senior pets and all the issues that come with them. We had a whole family we could share stories about and this website soon became a website for them all.

It was Belle and Paws that inspired the website in the first place, so we’ve kept their names attached, but the site itself has become a place to share all the issues for our entire family over the years.

Why A Website?

Originally when creating the website, we were excited about our new adoptees, and we were looking for a way to document Belle ‘n’ Paws’ journey into our current family. It was relatively easy to set up a website to do so. We were looking for a place to upload pictures so that anyone interested could follow Belle ‘n’ Paws’ progress.

However, once we started down this path of putting up a website, we thought we would add some links, resources and some sections to help other pet owners. Useful and educational information for visitors regarding their own animals that just might help other people who have found themselves in similar situations with similar pets with similar health issues.

AND we thought maybe we’d share some stories along the way.

Belle’n’paws.com was born.

The website is now evolving into a place to share information and advocate for those that can’t speak for themselves.  We soon thought to ourselves that our own pets and animals have had many problems over the years. We’ve had to struggle through these issues without much help or resources. The resources online are scattered and for years there wasn’t much related to specific issues we specifically were experiencing.

While it is increasingly getting better online for finding resources regarding pet health (if you know where to look), we’ll be adding to this environment and writing about our own pets and the issues that we come across or need to address. Our belief is that other pet owners who may be looking for solutions beyond what they may have already tried may find some more perception and understanding of what might be going on with their pet.

Why Senior Pets?

Senior pets have a special place in our heart. For starters, if we have a pet at a young age, then they are with us when they move into their senior years too. We are their keepers and we take care of them for life.

Senior animals in rescue shelters are particularly heart breaking. You can just imagine a story where this animal has lived its life up until this point in a happy loving home environment, and now its thrown into a system where it may never see that again. It’s stressed. It’s scared.

We believe, that too many times, pet owners reach a certain point with their aging pets, where their pet gets to be too much or they don’t know how to manage their issues. Then essentially the animal is handed off to a rescue organization or the owner just makes the decision to put the animal down. We use the phrase “too many times” here because we believe much of this could be avoided with a little knowledge and perhaps a little more compassion for animals that can’t speak for themselves.

We’re here to offer both. Knowledge in the form of our own experience but we’re also here to give owners hope that it may not be the end of life for your pet just because they’ve been diagnosed with cancer or some other life threatening illness. Health concerns, diseases and conditions can be managed so that your pet still has a decent quality of life.

Senior pets have health issues or concerns that need to be monitored sometimes. As cats and dogs get older they are subject to more health issues just like humans are. Their bones get brittle and their joints get arthritic. Senior pets may need a little more watching over than their younger versions did. Sometimes that is just observation, sometimes that is more.

Senior pets can live full lives with hardly any issues. They can run, jump, and play just fine for years into their senior life. Above everything else, they all still have love to give.

How to Use our Website

We are NOT veterinarians. We are not here to replace veterinarians or their advice. If you are having an issue with your pet and you have a concern about their health, you should be taking your pet to a qualified veterinary professional.

We are simply animal lovers sharing our own experiences that we’ve had with our own pet’s issues. We hope others with a pet, that may have similar issues, may find some insight to help their own animal. It’s all about knowledge when it comes to taking care of your pets and we’re hoping our experience can add to your base of knowledge for your own pet.

If you like what you see, please share our website with your friends, with your family, and anyone that you think may benefit from the content here at our website or the resources that we link to.

We welcome everyone who is a pet and animal lover.. those looking for information.. or those simply looking for just a smile.

Thank you for visiting.

Belle’n’Paws.com

BellenPaws.com supports a number of initiatives for animals and pets. We’ve selected a few here that are close to our heart and ambitiously possible. We hope to bring awareness to these issues and inform others. Please help spread the word on these important issues through social media and conversation with friends and family.

Senior Pets

As you already know, Senior Pets is something we strongly advocate for. Just like people, pets grow older and begin their “Senior” years. As pets do get older, they will have issues their younger versions did not have to deal with. An awareness of what’s going with your pet, with the same compassion shown for a family member (that would be having similar issues growing older) is all that’s needed for your senior pet by you. Treat your pet like you would a family member. That’s it. Simple… because they ARE your family.

Pets may need daily monitoring, care or medication as they get older. Issues will arise like hyper or hypo thyroid or maybe your pet has joint issues and may need some pain relief. Maybe they have feline diabetes or your pet may need assistive devices and special accommodations because they have developed mobility issues (just like people may).

Too many issues to list frankly and too many people bringing their pet to a shelter or a rescue passing off the care to someone else to deal with the problems your pet has. Worse, to the vet to put down your pet because the veterinarian said “they’re old and they’ll only get worse”. Yes, we’ve heard this! …and can honestly say.. “NO, it didn’t”.. and “you were wrong”. As your pet’s keeper, your pet relies on you to help them maintain a quality of life through their senior years just like you would do for your family. Yes… we advocate for this.

Pet Owner Education

The education of the pet owner is not talked about all that often but it is something that needs to be addressed, stressed, accented, and PUSHED in our society. We would consider ourselves educated pet owners, yet we research every issue that comes along for our pets and we learn something new every single time. To put it simply, There is always more to learn about your pet.

In our own experience, we’ve come across too many pet owners that don’t keep themselves educated on their own animal’s care, diet, or just common pet issues in general. Just as one example… what your pet can and cannot eat is a big question not many people seem to know. Can your pet have grapes? Can your animal have chocolate? Will eating onions harm your pet? Even onion residue just from pizza crust? What are those hidden poisons in those table scraps you’re giving Rover and Sylvester?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions about your own pet. You should. You should also know that cats and dogs often are different in this regard. What’s good for one is not necessarily good or bad for the other.  Educate yourself. YouTube, Wikipedia, pet blogs and BOOKS. Remember books?

Spay and Neutering

Spay and Neutering of pets is another area we advocate for. Over-population in the pet world is a genuine issue. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be killing animals to make room for more. If you have a pet, please take the responsibility of having them spayed or neutered.You can start with your veterinarian for the procedure but veterinary costs can get expensive and there are some options to your home vet.

Bans on Retail Pet Sales

We’ve always personally believed in not buying pets and support bans on ALL retail pet sales. Some may use the terms “puppy mills” and “kitty mills” but that almost carries a derogatory connotation to it that MAY infer abuse or harm to animals. We’re certainly talking about those mills but in fact we’re really talking about all commercial breeders of pets. A term that doesn’t necessarily imply abuse or cruelty. These commercial breeders are breeding animals for pets and as such have no place in our society.

Bans on Declawing of Cats

The decision to add a feline to the family sometimes accompanies a decision as to whether to have the cat’s claws removed. Usually, this is a practice of removing the cat’s front claws only and not the back ones but can sometimes be both. The procedure must be done by a qualified veterinarian.

The Humane society has a nice write up on Declawing Cats for those deciding or just looking for information. The statement at their website, “If performed on a human being, declawing would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle”, sticks out. I’ve heard defenders of the procedure say that it’s done with a laser now… blah blah blah. I’ll be honest.. I’m not even listening after a certain point. I wouldn’t want it done to me so there’s no convincing me that it’s some way less of an issue to a cat.

That includes a tendonectomy, a surgery that stops the cat from extending their claws to scratch. Cat’s deserve to keep their claws in my opinion. If you’re trying to save your furniture, there are several options. Belle ‘n Paws both show some side effects of having been declawed.

Pet Adoption

This is a real easy one if you know our position on retail pet sales. If retail stores sourced their animals from rescues or shelters, our position here could be different. More often than not, retail stores are sourcing their animals from commercial breeders. These retail stores could easily partner with rescue shelters or foster organizations to source their animals but choose to enable a market that’s puts animals up for sale as fast as they can.

There are so many reasons to adopt a pet with unconditional love topping the list… oh.. and saving a life.

Adopt a pet, don’t shop for one is not just a catch phrase. Do you normally shop for your family? How about your friends?

Paws, Zippy, Rascal, and Belle in the tube.