My name is Sunny and I am a sweet 11-year-young cat here at the Second Chance Shelter. For this week’s Pet Column I will be discussing how to help children cope with the loss of a pet. This is an important topic for any family and...
It is puppy season and that means cuteness overload: wagging tails, puppy breathe, wiggling, smiling, kissing bundles of fur. Puppies just make people’s hearts smile. Puppies are hard to resist. Puppies are in great demand at the shelter. But an untrained, under-socialized adult dog lacking basic manners is not. Keeping in...
This first week of May I invite you to join in a 102 year old tradition (started by the American Humane Association in 1915) - "Be Kind to Animals Week." In this annual celebration, humans (well, at least the sort of humans I value…) commemorate...
Is your cat fat? Is your furry feline sporting something extra on the midriff? Are you in denial and pretending it is just extra fur to keep her warm? You are not alone. [caption id="attachment_65688" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Powder[/caption] There is a 55 percent chance your cat is too chubby. According...
I am learning that, in general, humans are pretty well-intentioned. I love that some human out there decided to make the world a better place by working to make April National Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month. Whoever thought up that idea has to be a pretty cool person…and,...
Dear Pet Column, Hidden fences for dogs have been around a long time, however I know so little about them. Are they safe and effective? Seeking solid boundaries [caption id="attachment_65290" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Deuce[/caption] Hello Seeking! Great question as historically there was reluctance on the part of animal welfare organizations...
There has been plenty of talk lately about determining the origins of the domestic dog, so I decided to do some digging into my own ancestry: the domestic cat and found that domestic cats have been traced back to a single wild ancestor whose relatives still live...
Last week’s Pet Column was about cat chatter and what it means. The “language barrier” between pets and animals is challenging; pets like me are often misunderstood. And because people like to anthropomorphize pets in many ways, our communication often is translated in human perspective rather than pet perspective. This...
Dear Pet Column, I have a very vocal cat with a wide range of vocabulary, including his meow greeting which sounds awfully similar to “hello…” Is there a way to figure out what all of his sounds mean? Sincerely, The Cat Whisperer [caption id="attachment_64641" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Clementine[/caption] Dear...
Are dogs a fashion statement? Many would say yes. And as a dog, I can’t exactly argue that alleged fact. Fashion is after all an outer reflection of the inner person, which helps in understanding and/or connecting with individuals. Think about how you react when you see a large man with a small...
