Holiday Hazards for Pets

As the holiday season quickly approaches, out come the various decorations and paraphernalia necessary to celebrate the holidays. It is always a wonderful opportunity to spend time with friends and relatives, but one must also remember the little four legged …

Teaching Parrots to Talk

In the wild, many types of birds learn to vocalize by repeating the sounds they hear around them. A young bird raised among its own kind will learn, of course, to make the same sounds and songs as its family …

Purebred Dogs

Purebred Dogs and Genetics – Are We Breeding Misfits?

Since their domestication about 12000 years ago, dogs have been selected and bred for a wide variety of traits and characteristics. We have bred them for size, appearance, temperament, skill, and …

Hamsters Mice Rabbits

You might find yourself in the following scenario: The kids are constantly begging for a pet. Dogs are too large, birds are too noisy, you are allergic to cats, and reptiles scare your significant other. You suggest fish, but the …

Shy Dogs – Shyness in Dogs

Do you have a dog that is very shy around people or other dogs? Are you reluctant to bring your pet to new or strange environments because you know he/she will be upset? Believe it or not, you (and your …

Dog Tails – Why Dogs Wag their Tails

“….In some ways, tail-wagging serves the same functions as our human smile, polite greeting, or nod of recognition. Smiles are social signals, and human beings seem to reserve most of their smiles for social situations, where somebody is around to see them. Sometimes, vicarious social situations, as when watching television or occasionally when thinking about somebody special, can trigger a smile. For dogs, the tail wag seems to have the same properties. A dog will wag its tail for a person or another dog. It may wag its tail for a cat, horse, mouse, or perhaps even a butterfly. But when the dog is by itself, it will not wag its tail to any lifeless thing. If you put a bowl of food down, the dog will wag its tail to express its gratitude to you. In contrast, when the dog walks into a room and finds its bowl full, it will approach and eat the food just as happily, but with no tail-wagging other than perhaps a slight excitement tremor. This is one indication that tail-wagging is meant as communication or language. In the same way that we don’t talk to walls, dogs don’t wag their tails to things that are not apparently alive and socially responsive.

A dog’s tail speaks volumes about his mental state, his social position, and his intentions. How the tail came to be a communication device is an interesting story.

Blastomycosis in dogs

Perhaps you have heard of ‘blasto’ in dogs, it’s an important disease that all dog owners should be aware of.

Blastomycosis dermatitidis is the most common systemic mycosis of dogs. Systemic meaning that it can affect the whole body, and mycosis, meaning that it is caused by a fungus. It is called ‘dermatitidis’ because it affects primarily the skin, but it can also affect other body parts, such as the vascular system.

Blastomycosis is largely confined to the Ohio, St. Lawrence and Mississippi river-drained areas of North America. It is a soil organism, which can be inhaled by a dog. It is often found growing on dead leaves along a river. The classic case of a dog getting blasto is a young male hunting dog following a trail and sniffing eagerly along a river-bank. It is most common from August to October, since this is when leaves are falling off trees and the mould version of the fungus can grow upon them.

Tip 61 – Drooling cats – kneading cats – Cats that drool and knead

Occasionally adult cats will drool while they are being petted, massaged or while nuzzling into fabrics. This drooling is usually accompanied with the kneading of the cat’s paws. This paw kneading action is identical to that performed by nursing kittens …

Surgery in Cats and Dogs

In North America, every household pet is likely to undergo at least one surgery throughout its lifetime. Surgery, in veterinary medicine, refers to more invasive procedures usually performed under general anesthesia. The most common surgery performed is the spaying or …

Kidney Failure in Cats

Chronic renal failure (CRF) is a progressive and irreversible deterioration of kidney function. It is one of the most common health problems affecting cats, and is a leading cause of death in elderly felines. There are a number of different …