Pet Health

I took in a stray cat last winter. He had been hanging around my back porch looking pathetic and it got to one of those 10 below nights. The next thing I knew he was in my bed with me. He was thin but seemed to be in pretty good shape and had been neutered. So, now that I have gotten very fond of Mr. Slim, I found out that he is FIV positive!

I just adopted Barney, a nine-month-old black lab. We have been going to training classes and he is dong very well. He is house trained and really just a perfect companion and I am so happy to have him in my life. But there is one thing. Several times in the last month I have come home from work to find that he has destroyed the heel of one of my shoes.

Time to get on your party clothes! It’s National Poison Prevention Week! Seriously, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center has compiled a list of the top 10 categories of pet poisoning that they get calls about. Read through it and think about what you can do to make your home safer for your pets  (and probably your people, too)!

I have been feeding my new kitten, Ebenezer, regular dry and canned kitten food and he seems to be doing OK, but I keep reading the ingredient lists and they are, to be honest, sort of gross.  I mean, “chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, animal liver flavor, pyridoxine hydrochloride.” What’s that all about?

Can you help me?  I am 13 years old and I really really really want a dog, but my mom won’t allow it. She says they are dirty and we can catch diseases from them and that she would end up taking care of it and blah, blah, blah. What can I tell her to persuade her?

My dog, Sheba, has been limping a little for the past few days and I was reading on the internet that I should try just giving her some pain medication on my own to see if she gets over it before I spend a lot of money taking her to the vet. I do that when she throws up, which she does every once in a while. I give her Pepto-Bismol and it seems to settle her stomach. Do you think this is OK

Help!  I don’t mean to sound shallow and I really really love all my pets, but I dread the coming of spring, otherwise known as the “mud season.”  No matter how hard I try, I just cannot keep them from constantly tracking mud into the house and all over the carpets and it is so frustrating.  Do you have any practical suggestions?

My next door neighbor came home with a new puppy a few weeks ago that she had gotten from a “free to good home” ad. I use the word “free” advisedly because a week after the puppy arrived he was at the veterinary hospital with parvo and almost didn’t make it. Now $2,300 later, he is home and I guess OK. But, should I be worried?  My kids were playing with him and I have my own (fully vaccinated) dog.

I read about Major earlier this week, the poor little kitten who may lose his eye because of an infection. I didn’t know that could even happen. What caused it? Could it have been prevented? Will he be alright if he does lose his eye?