Cat & Dog Behavior & Care Advice
Amy Shojai, CABC, Pet Expert & Award-Winning Author
DWAA Hall of Fame & AVMA Veterinary Media Award Winner
Dog Hot Spots & Home Remedies
Dog hot spots often happen during both the spring and fall shedding season and are the bane of many dogs’ existence. Some develop hot spots all year long, especially those with very thick, wooly coats. Have your dogs ever suffered from hot spots?
Fortunately, hot spots are not a problem for cats. Kitties, though, do have their own issues with shedding and hairballs. Bathing cats can help with that.
When dog hot spots are a chronic problem, it can be aggravating and frustrating for pet owners. And painful for the dog! While severe problems need veterinary attention, home remedies for dog hot spots often help enormously. Here’s what you need to know.
DON’T Hug Your Dog on National Hug Your Dog Day! Here’s Why
Several years ago when I wrote for the puppies.about.com site (now TheSprucePets) I took issue with a promotion advertised by a big-name pet food company that encouraged people to post pictures of themselves hugging dogs. Hoo-boy…Oh dear heaven, by the comments I received you’d think that I said cute babies are evil, apple pie is poison and advocated BEATING YOUR DOG! Part of that has to do with folks reading only the title and ignoring the content of the message. Oh well. That drives home the importance of titles, I suppose.
The promo really struck a chord with pet lovers. After all, who doesn’t love a hug? Hugs mean love, hugs mean happy happy happy, hugs are tail-wagging expressions of the joy we share with dogs. Right? RIGHT?!
Uh, no. And glory be, the promotion lives on, declaring September 11 as “Hug Your Hound Day.” Before you tar-and-feather me, read on to learn WHY hugging your dog can put you, and your dog, in danger…
First Aid for Top Pet Poisons
Dogs are prone to poisoning because, like human infants, they put everything in their mouths. Cats are more discriminating about what they eat, but contact poison can affect any pet if they walk through something toxic or it spills on fur and ingested during grooming.
Symptoms vary depending on the poison, amount of exposure, and the individual animal. You may see anything from drunken staggers and collapse, to salivation, seizures, or hyperactivity.
Here’s what you need to know about these common pet poisonings!
199 Poisonous Plants & What to Do
In March, we celebrate Pet Poison Prevention Awareness Month but prevention never ends. Here in Texas, many folks spend this time of year preparing for spring gardens. I just spent several hours preparing a flower bed and seeding with wildflowers. And we continue to update our rose garden after we had to dig out old roses (many infected with rose rosetta disease, arg!), and continue to plant new ones. My jonquils, and other bulb plants now poke shy heads above the mulch, ready for a burst of color.
Shadow-Pup helped! And Karma-Kat will enjoy any cut flowers I bring in later. That’s why I’m so careful about exactly what we plant, and the kinds brought inside for our own and pet enjoyment. I had some lovely patio container plants last fall and wanted to bring them inside for the winter. Unfortunately, I couldn’t risk plants toxic to pets.
9 Reasons Cats Snub the Box & What To Do
Cat litter box problems pose the number one reason cats lose their homes and end up in animal shelters. That’s also the top reason an adopted kitten or cat gets returned. How sad! It’s important to keep in mind ways to prevent litter box problems from the moment you bring home the new kitten…
Tech can enable cross-species experiences, new research suggests
Faithful readers know I focus on care and behavior issues for companion animals and write extensively about enrichment for dogs and cats. So when this press release from a prestigious university covering beneficial animal behavior research with lemurs hit my virtual inbox, I just had to share. The University of Glasgow provided the pictures as well.
How to Crate Train Puppies & Kittens
SQUEEE! It’s puppy & kitten season, and just in time for YOUR big adoption gotcha-day celebration, many stores will have crate, kennels, carriers, and accessories on sale. There are many kinds of crates and carriers, from soft sided to hard plastic to wire, and in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Read on for some crate training tips for both dogs AND for cats.
How to Stop MEOWING! 6 Ways to Silence Loud Mouth Cats
Is a new cat in your future? Each spring and fall, kitten season may bless you with a new feline friend. But can you predict talkative cats? You wonder, why does my cat meow so much? Heck, cat meowing may be one way cats show love. My Siamese wannabe Seren lived to be 21 years old, and she talked constantly. We relished her kitty conversations, but some cats over-indulge, and pet parents want to stop cat meowing.
Karma-Kat rarely talks unless we address him and doesn’t randomly meow. Mostly, Karma comments center around FOOD and TREATS. He also meows at Shadow–thank goodness the noise doesn’t scare him! Yes, he understands the words, and his “meow” is typically a “yes, please” answer to our questions. Oh, and Karma “announces” when he uses the (ahem) facilities. Trinity-Kitten meows LOUDLY anytime food enters the picture. What about your cats?
Why Does My Dog Hug & Lean?
Watch this video for tips understanding why dogs lean against us and grab/hug us.
Cats In Your Garden? 10 Tips How to Keep Cats Away
Why would you want to keep cats away? Well, if you have indoor felines and strays keep trespassing, that can put your pets’ tails in a twist. Other times, the stray or feral cats abuse your hospitality, poop in your garden, or stalk the birdbath and terrorize the birds. If you have plants that prove dangerous to cats, visiting felines could be poisoned. What’s a responsible cat person to do?
How do you shoo unwanted cats out of your back yard? Maybe you have a dog that likes to dig, too. With spring weather fast approaching, lots of folks now find that community cats, strays or even feral felines have decided to make themselves at home in unwanted places. Here are my 9 tips to keep cats away.
Awards
CWA Muse Medallion Award
Dog Writers Association of America Maxwell Award
Fear Free Certified
CWA Muse Medallion Award
Cat Writers Muse Medallion Awards
Memberships
