House Cats that Hunt

It is perhaps the greatest annoyance of every cat owner; you come home from work at the end of a long day not only to your furry feline, but also to the furry mouse carcass she so lovingly drops at your feet. You wake up on a Saturday morning and instead of toast and jam, your cat’s idea of breakfast in bed involves a mess of blood and bird feathers not the most appetizing site. So you yell and shake your finger and do all of those things we feel inclined to do when our cats misbehave, but it won’t make any difference. Our cats don’t know they’re misbehaving.

Service Dogs and Autistic Children – Pet Tip 253

Dogs help humans in so many ways. They help with companionship, with tasks that they carry out for us and sometimes they help make every day living much easier. Perhaps the best demonstration of this fact is when dogs help people with disabilities. Many of us have seen dogs helping blind people and many have heard of dogs that feel when a seizure in an epileptic person is about to occur and then protect them from injury. Dogs can also help aid autistic children and parents of autistic children in many ways as well. Recent studies suggest that the prevalence of autistic children in Canada may be 1 in 165 children or higher. Therefore, many people may well personally know of an autistic child in their extended family, or know of friends or acquaintances that have an autistic child. So how can dogs help these autistic children?

The National Service Dogs (NSD) organization in Ontario Canada, is one of the best organizations that specifically help train dogs to make the lives of autistic children better. You might be wondering how a service dog can be useful to autistic children

Yawning and Blinking in Dogs – Pet tip 217

When it comes to reading a dog’s body language there are many movements and gestures to pay attention to. Some of the gestures are easy to understand. A growling dog is sending a clear message and very few people will mistake the intention of that message. It means that the dog is uncomfortable and you should immediately back off or back away. The growl will likely also come with other gestures like standing forward, ears pointing forward and possibly raised fur. A broad wagging tail is also a clear sign usually associated with happiness and alertness.

Unruly dogs “My dog is crazy” – Calm your dog down – Pet tip 213

Dogs can get really rambunctious or unruly when they are at home and this is especially true of puppies and breeds with high exercise requirements. The second they see you or someone else that they want to play with, they may want to interact with you by jumping on you or running back and forth all over the house. It sure is cute when they are little baby-puppies and it sure gets annoying as they get older and the novelty wears off. Rambunctious dog behaviour can lead to broken lamps or dishes, uncontrollable running, loads of barking, jumping on you or the kids and general chaos that you will want to control.

Blood Donor Programs for Dogs and Cats

We all know of the importance of donating blood from a human medicine perspective; collecting and maintaining a blood bank ensures that there will be an adequate supply of blood available when it is most needed, for instance during surgery or following an accident. But what about a blood donation program for our pets? After all, they undergo many of the same medical procedures as we do; is there a program in place for them? It turns out that there is, and certain organizations are looking for you and your pet to help out and donate blood.

While there isn’t a national blood donor organization for animals as there is with humans, there are several smaller organizations that exist across the country. Several of the veterinary colleges have one in place, so if you happen to live close to a veterinary school, that would be a great place to check out.