Fear Free Happy Homes
Reading Time: < 1 minutes Up to 69 percent of the feline pet population now live indoors only, and because of this, being run over by a car or run down by a coyote is not too likely. However, despite an indoor-only existence, cats are born with a hard-wired prey drive, and they continue to have the need to chase, […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Our cats sometimes challenge the most insightful among us to figure out what’s behind a weird and wacky behavior. Felines always have a good reason for doing what they do. But a given behavior doesn’t always mean what you think, including why cats follow us to the bathroom. CAT POTTY BUDDIES Dogs do this, too, […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Christmas without a tree would be like Flag Day without a flag. The tree is an important tradition for many families. And it’s typically pretty simple—purchase the tree, and if it’s a real tree do your best to keep it thriving as long as possible. That’s until a pet is involved. Any pet. For a […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Enriching the environment means providing suitable outlets to meet the needs of a species. One example: Cats have a hard-wired need to hunt and pounce. It’s great that cats are increasingly being kept indoors (they do live longer when indoors only), but we rarely meet their innate needs. Many zoos have a full-time employee whose […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes The holiday season reminds us that home is where the pet is. Just ask the homeless huddled in highway underpasses in Los Angeles, women fleeing domestic violence in New York City, families in Minnesota too poor to pay for veterinary care, and homebound seniors in San Diego who must depend on others to bring them […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Your child has been begging for a kitten for Christmas. It’s on her Christmas list – at the top – and you heard her tell Santa that she wanted one at the outdoor holiday event you attended. There are pictures and drawings of cats on her bedroom wall and fridge. Without a doubt, kittens become […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes A cat, when startled by the sound of a backfiring car, dashes toward a hiding spot, running as fast as she can. A small dog, backed into a corner, snarls, showing his teeth and his willingness to protect himself. A kitten, hearing a vacuum cleaner for the first time, freezes in place. A cat or […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dogs often indulge in the habit of dung eating, technically called coprophagia. Mother dogs keep the nest free of smells by eating waste from puppies. As a result, many puppies copy the behavior when young, and may indulge in dung-eating of their own or other animal’s feces. Most pups outgrow the behavior, but some dogs […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Most cat owners know that cats need to eat more protein than many other animals do. Cats break dietary protein down into amino acids, which they burn for energy or use to make new proteins. Cats cannot make all 22 amino acids they need; they need to get eleven of these (the essential amino acids) […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Creating a Fear Free environment for your cat at the veterinary clinic, groomer’s salon, or even at home begins with finding the right motivator (or two or three). Where one cat might cooperate with many indignities if she can have some chicken baby food, another will ignore the noise of a groomer’s salon if she […]