Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: 3 minutes From bobtail to slender “whippy” to magnificent plume, cats carry their tails proudly. Like a semaphore flag, the feline tail is a visual signal that communicates emotions up close and at a distance. Flexible, the tail moves up, down, high and low, back and forth. It may be straight, curved entirely, or curved only at […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Elated and relieved people all over proclaim “Good potty!” and “Good pee!” when their dogs perform these necessities during leashed walks. But when is the last time you really looked at your dog’s poop? And how much attention do you really pay to the clumps you scoop each day from your cat’s litter box? One […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Legendary Lassie did more than “save” little Timmy from being stuck at the bottom of the well. The beloved television Collie seemed to accurately read when Timmy was happy or scared and knew when to spring into action to save him from danger in each episode. It turns out our dogs–and cats–may be better mind […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes Raise your hand if you just finished or are in the midst of a major house renovation. Nod your head if your frustration and uncertainty during this ordeal sparked a spat or two with your spouse or made you want to scream out loud. As stressful as these construction projects can be to us, imagine […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes A video circulated around the internet of a little girl leading her kitten through an agility course in her backyard. The girl’s energy and the tails-up, fearless enthusiasm of Suki, the kitten, were endearing. For most of our cats, their best sport is competitive napping. But the Suki video shows that cats can indeed be […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Want to better understand your dog? You may be surprised to learn that he says a lot by how his positions and moves his tail and ears. Although a dog’s tail is situated far from the ears, these key body parts work in harmony in clearly communicate a wide range of moods from anger to […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Does Fear Free matter? Are you kidding? Here’s an example. My own 15-year old cat, Roxy, went to the veterinarian recently for some medical issues. She’s actually fine with going into her carrier and the car ride, and in the past she has never minded the veterinary visit. This time, however, both Dr. Natalie Marks […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes We’ve heard it before–cats are not small dogs. They differ in nutritional requirements, training techniques, and body language. People often find feline communication more difficult to interpret than that of dogs because it can be so subtle that nonverbal communication cues are completely missed or misinterpreted. Misreading a cat can land us on the wrong […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Because they do not have bills to pay, annoying in-laws, difficult bosses, because they live in the present and don’t concern themselves about what was or what might be, because they are forgiving, because they delight in small things, because their very presence is so delightful to so many others that they often walk into […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ask yourself: Do you like all people all of the time? Probably not – and that’s perfectly acceptable. And the same applies to your dog. “For 95 to 98 percent of dogs, the simple answer is yes, they like having doggy buddies,” says Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, professor emeritus at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at […]