Our friends at Redandhowling whipped up this handy-dandy (and adorable!) list of foods that are toxic to your dog. Please SHARE with friends and fellow dog lovers. It could save a life!
RedandHowling: Musings on Dogs, Cats & Other Bundles of Love.
Month: April 2014
3 ways to stop your cat from chewing
Cats like to chew and bite! It’s part of their nature, stemming from their wild predatory heritage. Even tiny baby kittens will pounce and bite on their litter mates or mom cat’s tail, as the instinct is strong from that early on. Since we’ve domesticated cats as house pets, part of our job is to teach them what they can bite and chew on, and what is inappropriate – both for their own safety and for the preservation of our belongings! While it is natural for cats to chew, some cats and kittens are more aggressive chewers than others. In the past decades I’ve fostered hundreds of cats and kittens, from newborns to older cats. In my experience, the kittens and cats that are more prone to destructive chewing are extremely smart. Energy level may also play a role, but it seems like intelligence is a key factor. I used to think that the kittens separated from their mother too early were more likely to be chewers, but even with sibling cats, there’d often be one who trying to chew on everything from the plastic sides of the litter box to the wood frame of the door, while their other was content to chew on toys and each other. My theory? Intelligent cats get bored more easily. One way bored cats act out is… you guessed it, chewing!
Knowing that boredom is a likely primary cause of your cat or kitten’s chewing will help you figure out how to alleviate their boredom by engaging their intelligence, as well as redirecting their energy into more appropriate activities and making their environment as chew-proof and safe as possible. You should certainly rule out a possible medical cause with your vet, and make sure your home is as cat-chew-proof as possible (unplug and tape down those cords!) while you work on modifying their behavior. In addition, here are three ideas to help stop your cat or kitten from chewing things….
1. Engage your cat with new interactive toys and games.
Some cats love chasing stuffed mice. Others do backflips for a feather on a string. Do some exploring of all the different types of toys and games you can play with your cat, to find the ones that make his ears perk up the most! Intelligent cats need variety too. Buy or create 14 or more different toys and games to play, you can play a “new” game every day for 2 weeks! Hide the toys or game items in a closet and only take the one toy out for that day’s play session. That helps make them more exciting. New toys and games don’t have to break the bank. A new paper grocery bag or perfectly sized cardboard box can be the best new toy ever!
2. Enrich your cat’s environment.
When cats are bored, they may turn to chewing. You can make your cat less bored by enriching their environment. Try things like: adding a cat resting spot near a screened-in window with a view. Add a bird feeder outside that window. Add a cat-proof fish tank with fast moving fish. Some cats enjoy watching TV! Try a DVD designed just for cats or the nature channel with birds or fish. Move your furniture around. Buy or build them furniture like cat trees they can climb up (if they are tree-dweller type) or hide inside of (if they are the cave-loving type). If your cat likes human guests, invite a friends over for a dinner party. Give them different kinds of edible cat treats, like fresh cat grass, soft treats, crunchy treats.
3. Adopt your cat a friend.
For a cat-social cat, nothing beats boredom like a feline playmate! This isn’t a sure-fire solution, but if you’re not sure if your cat would really be happier with a cat (or even a dog) friend, you could try fostering a pet temporarily from your local animal shelter or rescue. Keep in mind that it can take weeks to months for a cat to adjust to a new four-pawed roommate, so this isn’t an instant fix. You can find foster opportunities in our volunteer database at http://www.adoptapet.com/volunteer/opportunities and of course you can look for a friend to adopt at www.adoptapet.com
Did you like this article? Check out more of our articles on Cat Behavior and Cat Basics.
What’s The Difference Between Fleas and Ticks?
This Post is Provided by Amy Tonic from PetGuide.com. Spring is here… and that means in seasonal climates that fleas and ticks are making their way to your pets. They think of your pet as their warm home with free meals, and they plan to take up residence for generations unless you evict them. Sure, fleas and ticks both cause your pet to itch and can bring health problems, but did you know that there are many differences between the two? Let’s go over what makes them different for each other so you know what you’re up against when trying to keep them off your pets and you!
Fleas
Even though this insect is wingless, it can jump like any NBA player. Fleas can be tough to spot – they measure in at 1/16 to 1/8-inches long. With a lifespan of about 100 days, fleas like to settle in and stay on one dog. That means once it jumps on your dog, the flea will stay there until it dies. And why would it go anywhere else? Your dog has everything it needs to live comfortably – it feeds off your dog (yum!) and starts having babies as it finishes eating. For several weeks, they will lay about 20 to 40 eggs a day. And these eggs will go wherever the dog goes, so shedded hair that contains eggs can land anywhere.
Happier in a mild climate, fleas prefer heat to cold, so they would rather spend their time indoors where it’s toasty warm. But hey, fleas don’t come to their new home without a housewarming present. These annoying creatures can carry bartonellosis and tapeworm to pass along to your dog.
Ticks
A close cousin to spiders, the tick is considered to be an arachnid (thanks to their eight legs). It’s bigger than the flea, measuring in at ¼ to 1/8-inches long. Ticks don’t mind moving from animal to animal – they aren’t too picky were they set up house. In fact, ticks can be found o snakes, lizards and humans. Their life cycle can last anywhere from three weeks to three years. You won’t think that these little blood suckers would be picky, but they are. They will wait until they find the right home, and then leave to find another host to sponge off of. They just can’t spend too long on one dog. As larvae, nymphs and adults, they will go from host to host through each life stage.
And let’s talk about eggs. After feeding off the dog, the female tick will fall from its host and lay thousands of eggs at one time (yikes!). Once it has finished with this task, the tick will die, leaving behind a new generation to carry on its dirty work. Happiest in cold temperatures, the tick doesn’t mind the winter climates. As for diseases, the tick carries around plenty of potential deadly diseases, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Author Bio
Amy Tokic is the Editor of PetGuide.com. With the help of her trusted sidekick, Oscar, PetGuide.com covers all the latest dog news, events, information and products that pet parents need to know about. All this month, PetGuide.com is looking into Fleas and Ticks and how you can get ahead of the problem before it gets out of control.
Our Pets Are Priceless
How true is this?! On our best days our pets are there to share in our joy, and on our worst days they help to take away the pain. Right?
RedandHowling: Musings on Dogs, Cats & Other Bundles of Love.
Honey the Pit Bull is on the Path to Healing!
Are covered litter boxes better?
To cover or not to cover, that is the question! A question for you and for your cat. There are a number of pros and cons to covered vs uncovered litter boxes. For humans, in the pro column, they visually hide your cat’s bathroom, and going to the bathroom. If your cat is one who isn’t particularly fond of completely covering, they hide the bathroom going results too! Covered litter pans can look like fine furniture, a potted plant, a piece of modern sculpture, or like a plastic litter box with a cover on it! If the covered litter box has a door, it may slow down the transmission of smells, though really any litter box that a cat can get in to will have to allow air in to it, so smells can get out of it too. Trapping smells may be preferable to you, but cats have a very strong sense of smell, so they may find a covered litter box with a door to be offensive, even if they do get comfortable pushing the door aside to jump in and out. A door also makes it so that you have to remove and then replace the cover each time you do your daily box cleaning.
Covered boxes even without a door do provide a physical barrier on at least 3 sides for cats that like to do the can-can dance kicking the litter in all directions. That can also be accomplished with a very high-sided litter pan, like the DIY ones that people make for their cats out of storage containers. One of the covered litter box “pros” from a cat’s point of view is if they like some privacy, or are a little skittish about being ambushed by other pets in the home, a covered box gives them less possible attack routes to worry about.
If you have a regular uncovered style litter box, and would like to try a covered one, make sure you leave the original box in the same spot while you set up and try out the covered box. Cats can be very particular about new things, and you don’t want to take away the one place they feel safe to go to the bathroom!
Leave the new covered litterbox out with the old box for a couple of weeks. If your cat is using the covered box without any issues, you can slowly a few feet a day drag the old box away, and the new box into the old box’s place (if that’s where you’d like it to be). Then, you can take up the old box. Hang on to it though for at least another few weeks, just in case!
Want to learn more about litter box training and issues? Read…
Happy Beginnings: Jack & Jill
Today we have a slightly different Happy Beginnings story, times two! Nothing gives us a double-wide smile like a story of how Adopt-a-Pet.com helped a homeless pet or two find a new loving home. (We’d love to hear yours too, and would be happy to consider it for a future blog post too! Send your Happy Beginnings story to info@cms.adoptapet.com with a photo or two.) This week’s story is from a foster volunteer. She writes, “In the beginning of March I noticed two beautiful Lab/Golden Retriever 12 week old puppies in a high kill pound in TN. I immediately felt attached to these pups named Jack & Jill. I spoke to the woman who was in charge and she had no connections for vet care or transporting. I went on Adopt-a-Pet.com and emailed every single rescue center in TN. Teh first email I got back was from an angel of a woman named Shayna Rowe from Pawsitive Rescue & Adoption She went the very next morning to the pound. There was no one there taking care of the animals that day. She went to the police department and argued wit hthe sergeant to let her in to get these 2 pups. She got them! Yeaaaa! She got them the proper vetting and 13 days later she drove these babies door to door to my home in Connecticut. I became a foster mommy! This just goes to show you that persistence and team work pays off. We did it!”
Win Cash and Prizes for Yourself and Shelter Pets!
Wouldn’t you love if you could do something nice for yourself and for someone else at the same time? Wouldn’t it be even better if that “someone else” was a shelter pet near you? Enter to win the “Anchorman 2” Baxter Saves the Day Sweepstakes and you could be one of the winners who has that very opportunity! Here’s what you need to know: To celebrate the release of “Anchorman 2,” the folks behind this major film release are giving away tons of great prizes to animal lovers just like you! Five Grand Prize winners will each receive a $300 PetSmart® gift card, an “Anchorman 2” Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital HD, and the ability to give $500 away to an animal shelter or rescue from within the Adopt-a-Pet.com network. Enter Now!