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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Life at Home Other

Gulp! Why Some Pets Gobble Their Food

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes When Karma-Kat showed up on our back patio, the 8-month-old kitten had been on his own for some time. Starved for attention, and for food, he ate anything and everything. Karma chewed through the dog food bag to munch kibble and practiced snatch-and-grab attacks to gobble food from our dinner plates. Our last dog, Magic […]

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Cats Life at Home Shelters & Fostering Veterinary Care

Smokey, Cured of FIP and Living to Meow About It!

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Peter Cohen of Santa Barbara, California, has made feline infectious peritonitis his personal cause, having lost two kittens to the dread disease. He now has a third, Smokey, who is a survivor. Cohen’s first experience with FIP, a fatal viral disease in young cats, was in 2012 when he adopted a pair of litter mates, […]

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Cats Dogs Other Veterinary Care

Why Calming Medications May Need to Be Given to Your Pet While in the Clinic

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Do you have a fear of going to the doctor or the dentist? How does that make you feel? Or perhaps you know someone who gets anxious just thinking about going to the doctor or dentist? Your pet may feel the same way about going to the veterinary clinic. If your dog shakes, pants, acts […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Other

When Pets Seek Our Help: What to Look For

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes We probably all remember Aesop’s fable about Androcles removing a thorn from a lion’s paw and being rewarded later on when the lion saves his life. But do animals really come to us when they’re hurting? The answer is often yes, although we don’t always realize it. I have to admit, I was blind to […]

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Cats Life at Home

Fat Cats Are No Joke

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Want your cat to be healthier, more active, live longer, and interact more with you? There is a “magic formula” for that—a healthy weight. Fat cat memes are pretty funny, but feline obesity is no joke. Depending on which study you read, somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of housecats in the United States are […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Holidays Life at Home Other Travel & Safety

How Pets Can Have a Joyful and Safe Holiday

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Cat and Christmas lights

Reading Time: 3 minutes The holidays are filled with family, friends, food, and fun, but they can also pose threats to your pets and cause fear, anxiety, and stress. From poisonous plant decorations to not-so-safe sweets, the holidays can be a challenging time for furry family members. Follow these tips to help your furry friend safely enjoy all the […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Winter Blues: Do Cats Get SAD?

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes On one of my first trips to the Pacific Northwest I noticed a highway marker on I-5 just north of Salem, Oregon, that reads: “45th Parallel Halfway Between the Equator and North Pole.” Hailing from the sunny climes of the Southwest, I pondered what that meant. On average, the 45th parallel north gets just over […]

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Cats Fears & Anxieties Life at Home

When Cats Are Distressed: How to Help Them Recover

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes Cats are sensitive, and that is never more apparent than when something happens to upset them. Your kitty could be innocently window-watching when a stray tomcat tries to attack him through the glass, scaring him into the far reaches of your bedroom. Or an attempt at nail trimming turns your sweet fluffy girl into a […]

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Cats Dogs Life at Home Other Senior Pets

Senior Pet Nutrition: What to Know

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes A nutritionally balanced diet is one of the keys to good health and longevity for our pets. A good diet is important at every stage of life, including the senior years. Issues plaguing aging senior pets mirror the same issues that plague humans: both physically and mentally, things just don’t work like they used to! […]

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Cats Life at Home

Does This Belly Pouch Make Me Look Fat?

Article

Reading Time: 4 minutes  At 12 weeks old, Ivan was a bear of a kitten, hinting at his full adult Siberian size. He had the most adorable baby fat paunch I took as a sign that the husky boy never missed a chance to belly up to the milk bar. We adopted Natasha from our shelter the day after […]