My big happy black lab, Rufus, loves to play tug of war with me. He has a lot of energy and it’s his favorite game. But the other day my next door neighbor was watching us play out in the back yard and he asked me later whether I was worried that I might be encouraging Rufus to be too aggressive toward me and other people.
My dog, Alonzo, is about ten years old and all of a sudden he seems to be slowing down. He doesn’t seem to really like to go running with me any more and sometimes he sort of sighs and groans when he gets up out of his bed. I have a little arthritis myself and I just take Aleve for it and it seems to help. Can I safely give that to Alonzo? I hate to see him so uncomfortable.
I just adopted a kitten, Tanya. She is about six months old and beautiful, but she has started scratching on my couch. I really don’t want to declaw her, but . . . it’s a nice couch. Is there any way to keep her from scratching the furniture short of declawing?
As you know, this column usually dispenses advice about pet-related issues. We love getting real questions from real readers, but the truth is you are REALLY BAD at that. So, most of the time we make up pretend questions about topics we think are important. We are perfectly happy to continue to do that, but remember that we are ecstatically happy to answer real questions. That said, we also like to use this column as a sort of soap box to encourage you to take action to help all animals and this feels like a soap box morning.
We received an email the other day that we thought you might be interested in.
The ASPCA is conducting a campaign to persuade more members of the US House of Representatives to join the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus. This caucus is a bipartisan group of U.S. representatives who are interested in promoting and advancing commonsense, humane animal welfare laws.
I read on the internet that it’s blue-green algae season and that the stuff can kill humans and other animals, especially dogs. Is that right? What is blue-green algae? My dog Lily loves to swim wherever and whenever she sees water. Should I really be worried?
Oh gross, I just got home from the vet with my six-month-old puppy, Bozo. I took him in because he had diarrhea and the vet says he has giardia and gave me some medication. What is giardia? How could he have gotten it? Am I likely to get it from him? What should I do to prevent him from getting it again?
The 2015 New York legislative session is over and you will remember that we nagged you a fair amount to do your part to support legislation to help animals. As always, not much of it passed, but the good news is that Senator Terrence Murphy, a Republican from the 40th Senate District (parts of Putnam and Westchester counties) is already starting to garner support for legislation that he has pending in the 2016 legislative session coming up in January.
I have just started training to do road races. I am 57, so this is a big adventure for me. My questions is do you think it’s a good idea to take my dog, Penny, with me on training runs. She is used to walking with me every day and even though she’s five she has a lot of energy.
Something interesting. The ASPCA just announced a new collaboration with the New York City Police Foundation’s Crime Stoppers program. As a result of this initiative, people in New York City can now easily provide anonymous tips about suspected animal cruelty crimes in the city’s five boroughs. Crime Stoppers even offers rewards of up to $2,500 for tips leading to an arrest and indictment.
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