Pet Health

My next door neighbor has started to criticize me for taking my dog Pluto for rides in the car.  She says I should have Pluto in a crate or a harness, but that would totally spoil the fun for him of hanging his head out the window and enjoying the wind.

I just adopted a kitten, Esmeralda, from the Humane Society.  She’s very playful. I went to the pet store to buy her some toys and was shocked at the prices. What do you recommend I should buy and are there other alternatives, household things I can let her play with instead?

Help!  My little Schnauzer, Mini, was out for a walk for me when a car nearby backfired I guess and she panicked and bolted off into the woods. I called and called to try to get her to come back but there is no sign of her. What should I do?

While it may be tempting to take her along, you need to think it through based on what you already know about Spot.  How big is she and how much exercise does she need?  Does she get in the car willingly and seem to enjoy it, or does she huddle in a corner and throw up?

We have 4 kids, ages 1, 5, 10 and 14, and the older ones are nagging us about getting a pet.  We actually like animals and have extra time on our hands (not) but we want to make sure that a pet we choose will be the right one for our family. What do you think?

Dogs are very very loyal, but they are not patriotic. For them the Fourth of July is a terror filled day of bizarre loud noises, interspersed with fleeting seconds of joy over a dropped hot dog. That’s all it is.

I just adopted a kitten, Sophie, from the Humane Society and the next day she came down with terrible diarrhea. My neighbor told me it was probably something called giardia, and that a lot of adopted kittens have it and I should return her and demand my money back.

I sometimes rescue cats and dogs that I find that appear to be lost or abandoned and if I can’t find the owner, I then try to find them new homes on my own. A friend of mine told me I could be charged with stealing because they are really not my animals.

During those really hot days last week, I was in the Penney’s parking lot in Oswego and I saw a dog left in a car in the lot. The windows were cracked, but I was very worried. The owner said it was OK because the windows were open.