Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Administering medications to birds can be challenging and stressful to everyone involved. For many bird owners, the thought of administering medications brings up images of capturing their frightened or aggressive bird who is rarely handled, wrapping him in a towel, forcing foul-tasting medications into their beak, and possibly getting bitten for their efforts. Rough handling […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s conventional wisdom among dog trainers that a handler’s anxiety “travels down the leash” to influence the dog. To be honest, this had always sounded like some kind of woo-woo mystical nonsense to me. When I got my current extremely reactive Pug, the trainer I was working with – who I respected for being pretty […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Kids and pets go together like peanut butter and jelly. I should know. Our Pugs were my daughter Reagan’s best friends from the time she was born. Her canine “brothers” were there to greet her when we brought her home from the hospital, and it was no surprise that Reagan’s first word was a bark! […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cats can be notorious for hiding illness from their owners, but if your cat is affected with asthma (also known as feline allergic bronchitis), their coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing will soon become apparent. This inflammatory disease of the lungs is thought to arise from an increased sensitivity to inhaled allergens such as dust, pollen, […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes The human-animal bond is stronger than ever. In fact, research has found that spending time with our dogs makes us healthier.1-4 But more importantly, we enjoy being with our dogs. We like to take our dogs with us whenever possible: to the park, visiting friends and family, or on a family camping trip. The number […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Pets are so much part of our families that it’s easy to forget they’re different from us in many ways. To give them a good life, sometimes we need to get outside our human heads and understand what’s important to another species with different senses, needs, and instincts. Zookeepers are experts at this, and we […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The power of music is as old as the first human heartbeat. Music communicates emotions, inspires creativity, and provides healing. From 1697, literature gives us William Congreve’s play, “The Mourning Bride” with the famous opening line: “Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” Scores of studies […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Earlier this year, my 15-year-old cat, Ivan, had a behavioral upheaval that required several veterinary visits, tests, medication, and weekly follow-up calls to his veterinary team. Because Ivan’s condition required tweaking until we found just-the-right remedy, I felt like a nuisance until my trusted veterinarian gave me the highest compliment. She said I am a […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Many pets are petrified of fireworks. And no wonder: no one tells our best friends that these incredibly loud and sudden and unexplained bangs are supposed to be a celebration, not an attack. For dogs and cats, becoming startled at sudden loud sounds can be a protective response. Who knows what could be making that […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes A commercial airing for a brand of cat litter shows a woman walking into her house and making a great “stank” face. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but who among us hasn’t entered a room and sniffed suspiciously? According to Cécile Pétel, writing in “Something in the air: why cat pee stinks and how to control […]