Pet talk

The 4th of July used to be my favorite holiday.  I LOVE the fireworks and picnics–yes even more than Christmas.  But since the addition of my female Boxer Kia, and my Rat terrier Duffy, I dreaded the holiday.

You see both of them are extremely afraid of loud noises.  Things like thunderstorms, gunfire, and fireworks set them into a panic.  They pace, tremble, whine, and constantly look for places to hide.  Duffy, is the worst and even a gentle rain now sets him off. 

Unfortunately, in my neighborhood fireworks and gunfire are not limited to just the 4th.  For about a week before the holiday and a week after, night after night, area parks, cities and neighbors feel the need to make a lot of noise. 

The good news is that there is something that can be done for your pet with this type of fear.  Drugs are available to calm them and during the last thunderstorm, I can vouch that they work like a charm.  Many times the drugs can be dispensed by your attending veterinarian without an office exam.  Just know the weight of your dog and call your veterinarian for a consultation.  Of course if you have not had your dog in for a long time, or it has existing health problems an exam might be required. 

Another option I have found is a tighly fitting jacket made especially for dogs with a fear of loud noises.  It works similar to holding the animal, (which works well too).  The jacket is pretty tight and gives them the secure feeling of being “swaddled” like a baby wrapped up in a blanket.  I have seen these jackets being sold on the internet and would be intersted in the opinions of anyone who has tried this method. 

As my horses are affected too, I just stock up on the drugs and medicate everybody.  The animals here are very mellow at this time of the year.  With the grill fired up and a few beers I too, can sit back and enjoy the show for a change! 

Pets like people, like to eat.  And some pets are REALLY like people and eat too much.  When that happens, they get fat and suffer from the same fat related problems we do. 

Things like heart problems, diabetes, and joint problems are some of the most common afflictions of over weight pets. 

The solution is pretty simple–decrease the amount of calories ingested, and increase the amount of calories burned throughout the day.  Fortunately for us, our pets do not have thumbs and can not open the fridge and help themselves, like we do. So when they get hungry and come begging for food, take that as a cue to play with your pet to help burn off those calories.  Activities like swimming, chasing things, playing tug of war, and even walking around the block all burn up the calories and get the pet’s mind off of its hunger.

As for the food, try a higher fiber, lower calorie food especially made for weight loss.  This helps the pet feel full by allowing you to feed the same amount, but will decrease the calories in the meantime. Ask your veterinarian to help you decide how much your pet should lose and how much food your pet should be eating.

By the way, all that playing and walking might have an added benefit for you.  You might find yourself dropping a few pounds! 

Divorce is never easy.  But at least 50% of us go through it at least once in a life time.  Of those involved, many are pet owning households.  And for some of us, pets are the only “kids” we have!

Emotions can take over and what was a civil marriage can turn overnight into a true battle of wills.  But please, do not put the pets in the middle of things.  Although they will not suffer the mental scars of watching their “parents” fight, pets do pick up on stress and household tension.  Weight loss, hair and feather loss, and other strange behaviors are common symptoms of a stressed out pet.  

When deciding who gets “who”, the thing to keep in mind is the welfare of the pet.  If someone is moving to an apartment and the pet is a Great Dane, then maybe the person staying in the home should keep the dog.  But if the wife breeds finches, it makes no sense for the husband to take half the collection, especially if he has no interest in birds. 

Sometimes the best thing for all those involved is to find loving homes for the pets and wait until each person can establish a stable existence before getting new ones.  That’s pretty hard to do, but it is in the best interest of the pet.  And isn’t that the hallmark of a pet lover?  Sacrificing the joy we feel from their company, for the wellbeing of our animals.  And who says pets aren’t a lot like children?

As an animal welfare inspector trained in Kansas, I inspected a lot of commercial dog kennels.  These are more commonly called “puppy mills” as they raised dogs solely for resale into pet shops.  Conditions ranged from pristine to unbelievably awful, but one thing pretty much remained constant: the quality. 

As I walked from pen to pen, I would try to guess the breed of each dog I passed.  Now I am pretty good at guessing the common breeds, so I know a poodle when I see one.  But in these places, the breeds all melted together and finding a poodle that actually met all of the criteria in the poodle breed description became pretty hard to do. 

I soon found the reason why when I came upon a dark, curly haired female dog with a litter of pups hanging off her. I can not remember the specific reason why I needed to see her record, but when I asked for it I was handed over a thick stack of papers outlining her complete medical history and litter information.  Also in that stack of papers was her AKC registration certificate.  On it I found that the dog with all the puppies was 36 years old.  Yep.  It said 36.  That is when I realized that these kennels saved registration papers and when one dog dies, another dog assumes its identity and carries on having and/or siring puppies.  Unfortunately, the AKC does not have the funds or employees to conduct enough kennel inspections to prevent this from happening fairly regularly in the Midwest puppy mills. 

So you may be paying the big bucks for a registered dog when you buy from a pet shop.  But is that dog the breed you really paid for?  Or did it look close enough to assume an identity from another purebred dog? 

In his prime, Bubba the cat was awesome.  With short, shiny jet black hair, and at close to 30 pounds of pure muscle, he was one of those cats that could easily be mistaken for a panther at a distance.  Intelligent and playful, he was as devoted to my cousin as he was to his spot in the sun at door wall in her back room.

But at 20 years of age, time had ravaged his body.  In his last days he suffered from a multitude of ailments from kidney failure to blindness and my cousin knew it was time to end his suffering.