• decreased activity
• vomiting
• diarrhea, sometimes with blood
• increased water drinking or increased urination
• Keep your kitty inside. Outside, cats can freeze, become lost or be stolen, injured or killed.• Never let your dog off the leash in snow or on ice, especially during a snowstorm. They can lose their scent and easily become lost.
• Wipe off your dog's legs and stomach when she comes in out of the sleet, snow or ice. Your dog can ingest salt, antifreeze or other dangerous chemicals while licking its paws, and the paw pads can also bleed from snow or encrusted ice.
"If they do their [slight pause] business, if they've got some poop, you've got to make sure you're not just leaving it there. So I want to make sure that my kids are taking care of their dog properly. I think they are old enough now to do that."Good for the president-elect. Getting right to the issues at the heart of young minds. Right after Iraq.
"It's not the breed, and it's not even so much where it's from," said Patricia McConnell, an animal behaviorist and host of Wisconsin Public Radio's "Calling All Pets." What's important, she said, is that the Obamas set a good example by "picking a dog based on its behavioral as well as its physical health, from a credible, responsible place."Of course, being in the spotlight can cause problems, but then the Obamas will certainly be in a position to get the best advice and training available.
White House life can be demanding for a dog. People are always coming and going, many eager to schmooze. One of Bush's two Scottish terriers, Barney, is famous with children nationwide for his "Barneycam" holiday Web videos, but more recently he popped up in a clip on YouTube nipping a reporter who persisted in trying to get his attention. The Reagans' Bouvier des Flandres, a large, energetic dog named Lucky, was moved to their California ranch after becoming too rambunctious.Didn't that happen to several Cabinet members in the Reagan administration?
Remarkably, Edgar suffered no major blood lost nor sustained any permanent nerve damage from her accident. She just needed to have her facial skin stitched back on during an hour surgery, according to veterinary surgeon Michael Pavletic.Veterinarians believe Edgar was injured by a car's fan belt when she tried to stay warm under the hood.
The holidays can be strange and trying times for the pets in your lives. A lot can be going on, and needless to say, there can be quite a few more temptations for your dog or cat not to pass up.
The people at MyPetCareTV.com have some tips to help you and your pet to pass the holidays in safety and in good health:
House guests should be reminded not to feed the pets human food, especially fatty foods and candy.
Leave pets in safe areas or outdoors during dinner parties when you are too occupied to watch them.
Be sure pets wear identification tags at all times. Visitors can inadvertently let your dog or cat out.
Keep candles out of the reach of pets.
Dangly ornaments or table decorations can be hard for a pet to ignore. Ingested decorations can require a visit to the veterinary emergency room.
If you are traveling by car with your pet, plan ahead to ensure that you can find hotels that accept pets.
If traveling by air, try to get a direct flight. Check the expected temperature of your destination airport. Luggage carts stranded on the tarmac or sat in a plane for hours while it is delayed.
If you are staying at a pet-friendly hotel and you need to leave your pet unattended, put a "do not disturb" sign on the door. You don't want housekeeping to accidentally let your pet out.
For the complete list, see the article on PioneerLocal.com.
I don't have a cat or dog, but I know how easy it is to get carried away. A black lab named Buddy swept me off my feet just last week.You can find Kathy's column online or on the front page of the Life section Sunday.
Before I knew it, his owners had moved a notch down on my Christmas shopping list so I could make room for their dog.
I found myself wondering: Is it too pushy to give a holiday gift to a pet you've just met?
And if it's OK, what would that sweet darling with the clammy nose like this year?
"Backing that up is a poll earlier this year in ShopSmart, a publication from Consumer Reports, which says female shoppers are more likely to buy cheaper brands of everything from medication to milk, but are digging in their heels when it comes to switching to less-expensive pet food and personal care items."Some parts of the pet food industry, particularly gourmet and organic pet food, will likely be even more insulated than the sellers of pet carriers, clothing and outdoor gear."
The food I can understand. Kate doesn't do well over the long term on any food that contains corn-based products so I've had to switch her permanently to a veterinarian-prescribed, and pricey, food.
And with the recent spate of pet-food recalls (see this one from yesterday), it makes even more sense that people are hesitant to switch pet diets.
But I was feeling extravagent a couple of weeks ago when I bought Kate a new bed from BJ's to replace one that was several years old — and looked it.
Because of the microchip, Chaudhary said she never gave up hope. And that's the only reason she got Sai back, said [Santa Cruz County Animal Services Tricia] Geisreiter. Sai had a collar but no tags when he was found. The device costs $15 including a registration fee and is easily injected under the skin with a syringe.Speaks well for microchipping, but also about the importance of having tags on the collar.
I've been writing about this for a while now. When is it going to get better?As a result of the high number of surrenders, the Sauk County Humane Society is now offering adult cats for $10 to adopters. All cats have their required vaccinations, and a litter box, scooper and bag of food is included with an adoption.
Humane Societies in other locations also have resorted to such unconventional promotions in an effort to get cats new homes. In Boise, Idaho, for example, about 200 cats were recently offered with their adoption fees waived in order to relieve the shelter from an influx of cats because of hard economic times.
Looks like Pennsylvania will join Virginia, Louisiana and Arizona in cracking down on puppy mills.
A recently enacted law ups the standards on commercial kennels, including twice-yearly veterinary exams (at minimum), larger cages and exercise requirements.
Virginia and Louisiana limit the number of dogs that can be housed in kennels, and Arizona law enforcement officials can now fine against anyone caught selling animals along public roads or in public parks in urban counties.
From the article, which you can read in its entirety here:
The new law in Pennsylvania targets about 650 large-scale commercial breeders, or roughly one-quarter of the state's 2,600 licensed kennels, that sell any dogs to dealers and pet shops or traffic in at least 60 dogs per year. Violators would be subject to both criminal and civil penalties.
The law also gives dog wardens the authority to act on alleged violations, a power previously given only to police and humane officers. Also, only veterinarians will be allowed to euthanize dogs in commercial breeding kennels.
The law took on new urgency in August, when 80 dogs in two eastern Pennsylvania kennels were shot 80 dogs by their owners after being ordered to let veterinarians examine some of them.
