Animals Unfolded

According to a press release from the Food and Drug Administration dated Aug. 30, one type of dog food is being recalled by the company that produced it, Nestle Purina PetCare Company (NPPC) . The potential health risk centers around salmonella — the most common catalyst behind pet food recalls. Purina One Beyond Our White Meat Chicken and Whole Barley Recipe Adult Dry Dog Food produced in a single production run was shipped to retailers in the United States. Only 3.5-pound bags are affected. The product bears a "Best By" date of OCT 2014, a production code of 31071083 and a UPC Code of 17800 12679. No other pet food formulas were reported to be affected. There are more than 2,000 strains of salmonella . Very young and very old pets are most susceptible to the bacteria and suffer the effects most profoundly. The most common symptoms associated with salmonella are vomiting, diarrhea and fever. Companion animals presenting with symptoms are treated with IV...

Flickr photo by hehaden For the estimated 80 million domestic cats that are kept as house pets, there are as many roaming free. Those numbers shouldn't be surprising, considering the rate at which felines are able to reproduce.  I've previously written about the overpopulation issue with cats and dogs, and getting these numbers in check has been the focus of many. Spay and neuter programs and protocols are helping to make progress. First, understand that from a biological standpoint, we are in a battle with pets. Reproductive success drives evolution, pure and simple. It's the strongest biological factor in any species. Biology has a way of taking over, jumping any hurdle that is put in its path and compensating. The pets themselves have no control over their biological drives, and therefore can't curb their behavior when it comes reproducing. Feral cat colonies are a supreme example of biology's stronghold. Comprised of a clowder of free-roaming ...

Flickr photo by Anders.Bachmann This is been a year of change for a lot of people in my social circle who share life with animal companions. For most of them, they knew that the inevitable was coming: an aged pet gracefully navigating twilight time, with the accompanying bumps along the way. For others, death came unexpectedly or early. None of us who share their life with a pet is immune to seeing them through their final transition. As one client remarked a few days ago when I shared that Bruiser, our 13-year-old Labrador was recently diagnosed with metastatic cancer, "...it never seems right that our dearest loved ones live for so short of time." The fact that we all grieve the loss of our animal companions is evident. But there's more to the equation. In my experience as a caregiver of varying species of animals, I know that the dynamics among the non-human members of a family change noticeably when a pet dies — or throughout the process of navigatin...

Flickr photo by normack Scams of all kinds are all too common, and it seems that those behind them become more crafty and heartless as the days go by. Those involving pets for financial gain — two in particular — are a growing problem. One that you may have heard of by way of the media in recent months, dog flipping, is harrowing not only for the humans who own the dogs, but the animals themselves. No acrobatics involved Dog flipping — essentially when one person finds a lost pet, or worse, steals them — and sells them for a profit (or at least attempts to). The practice can also affect unsuspecting people who has unknowingly acquired a dog who has been flipped. With avenues like Craigslist available, it's quite easy for flippers to move the dogs quickly. Ads posted on sites like this by the dog's “owner” (the flipper) often cite that they can no longer afford to keep the pet, or that they're moving, or any other heartfelt plea that might elicit a lot ...

Flickr photo by genista When I'm on a meet and greet with a new family, there are always a lot of specifics when it comes to taking care of dogs, cats, exotic birds — and even some amphibians. Along the way, it's not been uncommon at the end of the visit for client to say "Oh, I forgot about the goldfish . Could you give them a little food each day? They're my son's — he won them at the carnival last year and they're still plugging along, believe it it not." I usually make good notes on a clients file if this is the case, and ask more questions. I usually hear a quick chuckle at that notion, but I know all too well feeding fish a specific amount of food is crucial. Overfeeding is never a good idea; too much food can contaminate the water, as well as create a higher output of waste. And being flippant as to whether they have enough food, well to me, that's just cruel. It's my philosophy that caring for a goldfish is as important as prop...

Flickr photo by 23am Dogs learn valuable skills throughout their lifetimes. Some of these learned skills are the result of experiential learning through interaction with other animals, while others are learned by living amongst humans. In the latter case, that's a combination of the simple day-to-day exchanges that we have (picking up on cues that we silently give; this is part of socialization), as well as the more obvious training that we initiate. Training is important for a lot of reasons: it designates clear limits and boundaries, expectations and offers an enhanced way for dog and human to establish communication in this very human world. Think of it this way: we as the responsible humans understand all-too-well the unpredictability that daily life can bring, and it's up to us to teach and reinforce specific, simple commands that are incorporated into training to help them navigate any situation that might avail itself. Likely, the most valuable command — ...