Blogs

It's fall, the leaves are falling, and branches are falling along with them. Rusko absolutely loves to grab those branches, twigs, and sticks while we’re outside on our walks. Within minutes of relieving himself, Rusko has a stick for me. Sometimes he wants to play fetch. Sometimes he just wants to chew it. I’ve always thought it was cute, but while I was watching him chomp on a stick the other day, I remembered something I read about online. It seems harmless, but it turns out that stick chewing can be dangerous.

November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month, and it’s a great time to consider adopting a new, older pet. Older pets have a tendency to sit much longer in shelters, and really, for no good reason. There are a number of benefits to adopting a senior pet!

For a pet parent, there’s no greater feeling than the love we get from our pets. When our dogs greet us with gentle, loving kisses on the face or our cats rest on our chests and use us as a bathtub to clean their precious faces, our hearts melt. But as nice as it is to have our pets love us so much, sometimes our noses wrinkle and faces contort because of the horrible odor coming from our pets’ mouths!

February is Responsible Pet Owners Month, and is therefore a great time to brush up on your facts about what it means to be a responsible and loving pet parent. There’s no question that we love our pets, but we may not always do the things we need to do to ensure their optimum health and happiness for years to come. So, run down the following list of “Responsible Pet Parenting Essentials” and see how you’re doing!

With the holidays past us now, you would think that the common pet holiday dangers are far out of sight… but I learned just this week that they’re not! My Christmas tree (an artificial one) was put away, decorations were stashed back in their boxes in the basement, and my biggest worry, the family members that come and go and could potentially let one of my indoor kitties outside, is now past. What I wasn’t expecting was what the leftover candy canes could bring along.

A new study conducted by Northeastern University (Boston) shows evidence that humans feel more empathy with dogs than they do towards similarly aged people!

While to us pet parents and animal lovers, this might not be surprising at all, it is still an interesting study. The research considered the results of 240 men and women, mostly white, between the ages of 18-25. They were told fictional stories about either an animal, a child or an adult being beaten. (I know I know, a little rough, but hey, they’re trying to create results on empathy here!)

Ahh...the beginning of a New Year. What comes to mind first? Maybe it's the annual New Year's resolutions list. If you're like me, you make your list and start the year with a very ambitious and energetic attitude, but life takes over and your resolutions start to fall by the wayside. Maybe this year, though, you should try to make a resolution list for your pet that mirrors and encourages your own! We should always be striving to improve the quality of our pet's life and, in the process, it will benefit you as well.

We all know the old saying, “Fighting like cats and dogs.” The idea dates all the way back to literature found in the late 16th century. Because these early dogs were bred and domesticated to help with hunting, and because cats were domesticated as mousers and will naturally become defensive when cornered, the idea really has roots in the fact that neither side will back down. While that may be true, cats and dogs don’t need to fight and most often don’t, living in perfect harmony in households all across America.