Fear Free Happy Homes
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 […]
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 […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Even if you’ve shared your life with cats for years or decades, their ways can be mysterious. Cat lover and veterinarian Dr. Liz Bales shares some secrets to understanding how cats think and why they do the things they do. A mouse has only thirty calories. That is a meal for a cat. This translates […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes Nothing is sweeter than an 8-week-old kitten. Those tiny paw pads, curious eyes, and that wiggly body practicing “big cat” pounces. Adorbs, right? Adding a kitten to your family is easy in this charming, playful, and easy-care stage. Alas, within a few months, cute kittens become adolescents, with the potential for behavioral issues caused by […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cats can be notorious for hiding illness from their owners, but if your cat is affected with asthma (also known as feline allergic bronchitis), their coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing will soon become apparent. This inflammatory disease of the lungs is thought to arise from an increased sensitivity to inhaled allergens such as dust, pollen, […]
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 […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes The power of music is as old as the first human heartbeat. Music communicates emotions, inspires creativity, and provides healing. From 1697, literature gives us William Congreve’s play, “The Mourning Bride” with the famous opening line: “Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” Scores of studies […]
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 […]
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 […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes A commercial airing for a brand of cat litter shows a woman walking into her house and making a great “stank” face. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but who among us hasn’t entered a room and sniffed suspiciously? According to Cécile Pétel, writing in “Something in the air: why cat pee stinks and how to control […]