pet connection

Looking for that clean, quiet eco-friendly pet? Gina Spadafori suggests you think bunny:

In the minds of many, if not most, rabbits are a pet distantly remembered from childhood, a lonely animal kept outside in small and often filthy elevated “hutch.” A starter pet for children, and certainly not suited for life outside a cage, most believe.That impression is wrong. While rabbits remain good pets for respectful older children — the animals are too fragile for young ones — they’re really better suited to life indoors with a grown-up So-called “house-rabbits” bloom with proper care and gentle attention, providing endless amounts of quiet companionship punctuated by short periods of delightful silliness. .

And while dogs and rabbits aren’t always the best combination, cats and rabbits usually get along famously — albeit with different litter boxes.

Yes, litter boxes. Because while rabbits usually aren’t perfect about their use — a pellet here and there will testify to that, but it’s easily cleaned up — they can and do use a box for most of their messes.

Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon take a look at the practices of ear cropping and tail docking:

Of the more than 150 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club, 13 commonly get ear crops, 48 have docked tails, and 11 have both cropping and docking. Ear crops seem more likely to disappear as a common practice sooner, as fewer pet owners choose to have their puppies’ ears sliced into an upright posture, and fewer veterinarians will perform the procedure. The American Veterinary Medical Association opposes ear cropping and tail docking when done solely for cosmetic purposes and has encouraged the elimination of these procedures from breed standards.

It’s all right here in this week’s Pet Connection newspaper feature, thanks to a grant from Pfizer Animal Health, sponsor of our searchable PetConnection article library.

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