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Birds Other

Birding Beats Anxiety, Brings Peace, in a Chaotic World

Article

Reading Time: 5 minutes I’ve always found nature to be healing and restorative. On the first day of my journey to becoming a birder, I had headed to the woods, early, in search of peace from the anxiety that haunted me. As I stepped out of my car I was hit with a wall of harmonious chatters, various bird […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Other

Sound Management: Reducing Stressors in the Home

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Many of us have experience with sound-sensitive pets. Fear of thunder, for example, is common among dogs and cats, and we all know how crazy our pets get when a home smoke alarm is malfunctioning! Pets get worried about sounds in part because they can hear much better than we can. Humans can hear a […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Other Veterinary Care

Calling All Itchy Pets: August is Itchy Pet Awareness Month!

Article

brown dog scratching

Reading Time: 4 minutes In 2019, Zoetis Petcare launched Itchy Pet Awareness Month, recognized each year in August, in order to help bring awareness to the millions of pets with skin disease and to provide resources for pet owners and veterinarians to identify and manage pet itch. Skin allergy is consistently among the top reasons that pets visit the […]

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Fears & Anxieties Other Training & Grooming

Giving Medication to Birds Without Fear and Stress – for Birds or Humans!

Article

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 […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Life at Home Other

How to Think Like a Zookeeper About Your Pet’s Welfare

Article

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 […]

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Cats Dogs Other Veterinary Care

How to Become an Exceptional Veterinary Client

Article

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 […]

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Cats Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Other

9 Ways to Help Pets With Fireworks Fears

Article

Portrait of yellow scared cat hiding at home

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 […]

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Cats Dogs Other Training & Grooming

Is It Okay to Take My Pet to the Groomer?

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes When I mentioned to a friend that I was thinking of taking my Labrador Retriever to the groomer, she suggested I shouldn’t do it, out of concern that the COVID-19 virus could pass through her fur if the groomer was infected, or get on the leash, or pass from the groomer to me when I […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Life at Home Other

Pets With a View: How to Create Visual Interest at Home

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Many of us are spending a lot of time at home right now. Even a brief walk around the neighborhood feels like a special experience, and we may see things we never noticed before. With this perspective, we no longer take for granted the views from our windows. Assuming we could take this perspective and […]

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New Pets Other Shelters & Fostering

Do You Really Want a Ferret? What to Consider Before Getting One

Article

Reading Time: 3 minutes Lots of people are crazy about ferrets. “I think most veterinarians that work on ferrets will tell you they’re pretty darned adorable,” says Valarie V. Tynes, DVM, DACVB. But people who love them want you to know about the challenges of living with them. “The first thing I always ask people is, ‘Why do you […]