pet connection

When it comes to adopting a shelter cat, is the best cat for the job a kitten? Maybe not, say Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori in this week’s Pet Connection newspaper feature:

Being overlooked at the shelter is bad news for the cats, of course, but it’s also unfortunate for many people who don’t realize that an adult cat, in many cases, may be a better choice than a kitten. Sure, kittens are cute, but they also can be a bit of a trial as they grow up. They need extra time, extra training and extra tolerance for all those crazy things that kittens do.

An adult cat can slide quickly into your life. You know pretty well what you’re getting with a grown cat — activity level, sociability, health, etc. Given time in a loving environment, a grown cat forms just as tight a bond with his new people as any kitten can.

With an adult cat, knowing a little of the animal’s background is important, especially if your family has other pets or children. (A cat who has never experienced them may have a more difficult time adjusting to a new family that includes either or both.) You can ask questions directly about the cat’s background if you’re adopting from the original owner. And most shelters or rescue groups also try to provide some basic background information, which they ask of the people giving up their pets.

Dr. Becker and Mikkel Becker suggest thinking twice before letting your bulldog or other short-nosed dog fly in cargo:

If you’re considering checking your short-nosed dog into cargo for your next trip by air, you might want to reconsider. The nation’s airlines report that in the last five years, 122 dogs died in cargo, and half of those deaths were dogs of breeds called “brachycephalic” by veterinarians and “pug-nosed” by the rest of us. Bulldogs were the short-nosed breed that died most often in transit, followed by pugs and French bulldogs. These breeds have been bred for the round heads and flat faces people find cute, but the shape of their skulls makes it harder to breathe and harder to keep cool, both of which can have serious implications when flying.

Read this week’s entire Pet Connection here!

Just blogging in from the UK, where I’m going to be speaking at a veterinary meeting, accompanied by my wife, Teresa. And yes, I have jet lag, why do you ask?

Our daughter, Mikkel, just sent us some incredible photos of the world’s most beautiful baby, Reagan, helping take care of Bruce and Willy the Pugs, our Quora and Quixote, and our newest grand-dog, Teddy.

Reagan’s got a great future in the pet care field. I just know it!

Back-to-school time is a great opportunity to teach kids how to be safe around dogs. From Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori in this week’s Pet Connection newspaper feature:

Hardly a day goes by when there isn’t a news story about a dog attack somewhere. When school starts, children may become especially vulnerable, walking and biking through their neighborhoods to class. That’s why every year we like to remind parents to review safety around strange dogs with their children.

To be fair, dogs aren’t the biggest risk that children face growing up. Organized sports, for example, are 10 times more likely to result in a child’s trip to the emergency room than are dogs.

And although in most cases the dog involved in a serious attack is the family’s own, it’s also true that many neighborhoods are not safe for walking or biking because of a dog. These animals are accidents waiting to happen because their owners either don’t know or don’t care that their dogs are a public menace.

The experts say the signs are usually there long before a dog attacks. The dog is typically young, male and unneutered. He is usually unsocialized, a backyard dog with little to no interaction with the family. He is often inadvertently trained to be vicious by being kept full-time on a chain or in a small kennel run.

Is there a dog like this in your neighborhood — or in your own yard?

And from Dr. Becker and Mikkel Becker in “The Buzz,” news about a human medication that’s causing troubling side effects in pets:

The spreading popularity of topical hormone treatments in people — especially, but not exclusively, among menopausal women — is having unintended medical consequences for pets, according to the Veterinary Information Network News Service. The news service reports that veterinarians have seen both male and female dogs with alarming changes in the appearance of their genitalia, as well as fur loss. The problem is easy to avoid: Use disposable gloves to apply the creams, and confine them to an area of the body that will be under clothing, so that pets are not exposed to the active ingredients. The advice is even more critical now that the FDA has warned of problems related to the creams in children as well.

Read this week’s complete feature here!

Puppies are cute, wonderful, cuddly little bundles of fun who grow up way too fast. While you’re enjoying them, take the time to give them the socialization they need to be happy, well-behaved adults. In this week’s Pet Connection newspaper feature, Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori give the low-down on puppy-raising:

Introduce a puppy to all the new things you can — people, places and other animals. When a puppy isn’t exposed to new things, social development stops or even regresses. The goal of socializing is a confident, outgoing dog who isn’t shy or aggressive. A good pet, in other words.

“But wait!” you say. “What about disease? My veterinarian told me to keep my puppy at home until his last puppy shot. And you’re saying I should go out? Is that safe?”

Your veterinarian is right: Your puppy is at risk for contracting diseases from other dogs before his full immunity is in place. This is why you shouldn’t go anywhere where dogs you do not know hang out — parks, dog events or pet stores — until your veterinarian gives the go-ahead. But that doesn’t mean you should leave your puppy at home.

Use common sense. Plan safe outings. And take a puppy class, because the trainers know the risks and work to minimize them by keeping the training area sanitized. And when that last puppy shot is in, at 14 to 16 weeks, pull out all the stops when it comes to socialization.

Why take any chances at all? Because doing so is important. An unsocialized dog, whether fearful or aggressive, is at a high risk for ending up in a shelter, with little chance at being adopted again. Some experts argue that, in the long run, behavior problems kill more dogs than parvovirus does, which puts the importance of proper and safe socialization in perspective.

Read the rest here!

This week, Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker catch “The Buzz” on the pet-child product connection:

Many manufacturers realize how much crossover there is between the children’s market and the pets’ market. Products from baby gates to toddler toys do double duty, selling well in both markets. As summer winds down, you might be able to pick up one particular double-duty item at a deep discount and put it away for your pet’s enjoyment next summer. That item? The kiddie pool. For dogs who love water, a wallow in the pool is a great way to cool down after summer activities.

Want more? Read the entire Pet Connection for this week.

There are two great passions in life that don’t always go together very well: a love of animals, and a love of travel.

That’s the conflict that faces us whenever we take a family vacation, and never more so than when we recently spent five weeks in Europe.

The horses, our Golden Retriever, Shakira, and the barn cats all have their own caretakers, who look after them and, in whatever spare time they have left after that all-consuming job, look after Almost Heaven Ranch, too.

But our little dogs Quora and Quixote, and Pugs Bruce and Willy, who belong to our daughter, Mikkel, are a different story. I won’t say they’re spoiled. I’ll think it, but I won’t say it. I’ll just say that they require a certain amount of personal attention.

Fortunately, we know just where they can get that, in just as great an abundance as they get it when we’re at home: from their “Aunt Kate,” who runs Happy Tails Bed & Biscuit here in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

The dogs always get the best from their “Aunt Kate” — they even sleep on her bed, just like home — but she pulled out all the stops on this recent trip. Moira, her 13-year-old niece, was staying with Kate, and she adopted Quixote, Quora and the Pugs as her special bed buddies.

She called them the “Ps and Qs,” and told us that “Bruce thinks he’s a mighty squirrel hunter.” We also heard that, on the warm summer nights, Moira found the dog blanket a little too warm. Did she make them sleep on the floor? No, she just aimed a fan at the bed and snuggled in tight.

A family vacation to Europe? Expensive. Having someone take care of your pets who loves them just like you do? Priceless.

Photo: The dogs at “Aunt Kate’s” Happy Tails Bed & Biscuit in Bonners Ferry. In the top row, Quora is third from the left and Quixote fourth. Kate’s dogs Nellie and Stewie are one and two from the left.