You vaccinate your dog or cat for rabies. Distemper. Feline leukemia. Or do you? If you do, how often? If you don’t, why not? The answers to these questions are less clear-cut than they were a decade ago.
Category Archives: Cats
She runs. She chases. She leaps. She pounces. When her little body has had enough, she suddenly sleeps. After all, this new member of your household is just a baby. Taking care of a new kitten is a small challenge and a great joy. Kittens have rapidly changing bodies and inquisitive minds, and they’re learning […]
He’s panting excessively. He’s restless and agitated, or maybe lethargic. He salivates, vomits, staggers, and loses coordination. If you’re there to see it, you may observe that his eyes are glazed, and his gums and tongue are reddish or purple. In just a short time, he may lose consciousness.
Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are preventable when you know how to take care of animals in hot weather. If you see these symptoms, you need to act fast to save the animal’s life.
As cats and dogs get older, they’re prone to many of the same ailments that people may experience with aging. Unfortunately, instead of helping their companions grow old gracefully, some people replace their aging pets as they would an older car. Shelters are full of even healthy older animals that no one wants. Animals have […]
They didn’t have (or need) toothbrushes. For the ancestors of our dogs and cats, chewing through bone and skin of wild prey accomplished the same purpose. Unlike their wild ancestors, though, domesticated dogs and cats generally eat food that’s gentle on their teeth and gums. Without the workout that the teeth and gums need, dental […]
Fluffy and Fido are scratching, shaking, and rubbing their heads and ears. It looks like ear mites…or ear infections. Both are common with cats and dogs, but how can you tell the difference, and what can you do about the problem?
Fluffy and Fido play together, eat together, and even sleep together – or so you’ve heard. Some cats and dogs do become best friends, while in other households, they just tolerate each other, or they don’t get along at all. Millions of Americans live with at least one dog and one cat. How do they […]
Cats and gardens go together like…well, it depends on who the garden is for. To cats, gardens are a little piece of heaven. Fresh soil makes a perfect litter box, and seedlings that get uprooted in the digging process are of no consequence to them. You may not want your cat in your garden, and […]
Cats are happiest when they’re at home. But on occasion, we need to transport them for short trips to the veterinarian or longer trips when we’re moving. How do we make the trip as comfortable as possible for our homebody pets?
Fido is eating less, he’s tired all the time, and he doesn’t have enough energy for exercise. He’s been having difficulty breathing. You hear abnormal sounds from his lungs, and he has a deep, soft cough. He may be losing weight and vomiting. Fluffy may also be having these problems — or you may see […]