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Cats Life at Home

What’s in Your Cat’s DNA? Tests Are Fun but not Definitive

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Cats are enigmatic and mysterious, but DNA testing kits are helping us to learn more about them. Here’s what you can find out about your fine feline, from ancestry to health. Interestingly, no DNA kits can precisely identify a cat’s genetic makeup in the same way the dog DNA tests can. That’s because dog breeds […]

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Dogs Life at Home Senior Pets Veterinary Care

How Arthritis Affects Your Dog and What to Do for It

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Reading Time: 3 minutes I like to think my Labrador Retriever mix, Rio, is invincible. He loves hiking on trails, swimming in lakes, and generally frolicking outside. Even though he’s nearly 9 years old, I’ve been in denial that he’s a “senior.” But a recent conversation with a veterinary technician gave me pause. He mentioned that dogs who start […]

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Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home Travel & Safety Veterinary Care

Re-connecting with Your Best Friend: Understanding Canine Motion Sickness

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small dog pomaranian spitz in a travel bag on board plane

Reading Time: 3 minutes As the summer approaches, many of us will be traveling to fun places and hoping to bring our dogs with us. In fact, a recent study showed many pet parents travel with their pets every year!1  It turns out most of us take our dogs with us on daily errands (bank, gas station, coffee, etc), […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Life at Home Senior Pets

Games to Play with Your Senior Dog

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Not so long ago, your dog was barely beyond puppyhood, and you could throw his ball so far you could barely see it and wait for him to race to it, fetch it, and return it. You could toss a flying disc, and he’d leap to catch it. You could throw a stick in the […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

Choice: What It Means for Cats

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Our cats rarely get to choose for themselves when it comes to the really important stuff. We decide what the cats will eat, where, and when. We pick the litter box and determine where to put it and what litter to use. We select all the cat furniture, from the scratching posts and pads to […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Dogs Life at Home Other

12 Toys and More Your Pet Will Love

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Each year we trek to Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Florida, to check out the latest and greatest in toys, training devices, and other pet paraphernalia. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to walk the miles and miles of aisles to see all the products. We chose items in four categories: Dog Enrichment, Cat […]

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Activities & Enrichment Dogs Life at Home Training & Grooming

Brain Games: How Dogs Think

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Most tests meant to rate the intelligence of dogs are interpreted as if all dogs were the same.  Beagle, Shiba Inu, Golden Retriever, Border Collie, Maltese, one test fits all, without considering that dogs are the most diverse of all species. Of course, if you have lived with a variety of breeds, cross breeds, or […]

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Cats Life at Home New Pets Shelters & Fostering

Choosing and Caring for a New Cat: What to Know

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Reading Time: 4 minutes When I graduated from college a few centuries ago, I wanted an apartment, a car, and a kitten. (I was lucky enough to have a job lined up.) While cats were a part of the family when I was growing up, this would be my very own cat. I adopted a kitten from a college […]

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Dogs Fears & Anxieties Life at Home

5 Ways to Make Your Dog’s Fear Worse

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Reading Time: 3 minutes You realize your dog is fearful. You want her to get better, but could you also be making the problem worse? Unfortunately, this situation is all too common. Here are five ways you could accidentally be making your dog’s fear worse. Waiting to Treat It You hope your dog will “outgrow” the problem. Fear doesn’t […]

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Activities & Enrichment Cats Life at Home

What Movement and Gait Tell You About Your Cat

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Feline movement could be described as grace on paws. Cats have a variety of movements and gaits and can instantly switch from a slow, sensual walk to a slinky strut to a full-on burst of speed. Recognizing your cat’s movements is one of the keys to understanding his emotions and behaviors. Form Defines Function As […]