Pet Health

Last week, a dedicated reader wrote in about getting their first dog. Well, I just got my first dog. But, I don’t know if she’ll like me. I’m sure it’s as good of a match as any because we both enjoy the same activities – eating and sleeping, right?

Colin was found outside in the rain, caked in mud. He was sick, but his angel foster mom nursed him back to health, and now he is small for his 6 months but with no lingering health issues. He has tiny white patches on his chest and belly, and if you catch his fur in the right light, you can see black stripes in his black coat!

I adopted my first dog, Henry, this summer and I love him to pieces. But, I just discovered what probably everyone else in the dog universe already knew – dog pee wrecks lawns! I had no idea, but my lawn has brown spots all over it now and they are really ugly. Someone suggested that there is stuff you can buy that makes your dog’s pee less acid so it won’t burn the grass.

Keke is an awesome long-haired torti! Please adopt her. She is great with kids and babies, but has not been introduced to dogs yet and there are no cats in her foster home, so she will need some adjustment in her new home. But she is so sweet and gentle and snuggly that we are confident about her fitting right in.

I just adopted a cat, Cuddles, from a neighbor who had found her under their porch. She was thin but very pretty, so I took her to the vet and had her checked out and vaccinated and all that. I had a hard time catching her under the porch, but I figured she was just scared and would settle in. Boy is she misnamed.

She’s shy – really, really shy and if you adopt her we can guarantee that she will be very slow to warm up to you, no matter how charming you are or how good as a cat whisperer. But if you have a quiet home, i.e. one without a bunch of rambunctious kids and yippy obnoxious dogs, won’t you give pretty Brook a chance?

A few weeks ago, we adopted a kitten. We already had two dogs who were, to put it kindly, clueless about cats and sort of rowdy. So we went though the long process of introducing Schrodinger (“Schrodinger’s cat,” get it?) to the two dogs very very very carefully. The bottom line is that it worked and now Schro amuses herself by chasing the dogs around the house and they are fascinated by her. She basically sleeps all day while we are all gone and then she does her chasing and playing in the middle of the night.

This is sweet River, a pretty Calico, about two years old. She loves head scratches, everything she can rub up against, and pick up cuddles. River has a limp; she had endured an injury early this year and her leg healed incorrectly before she came to us. She is not in any pain and is able to use her leg to help her balance so it’s not a big deal.

Did you know that you can go to a website called SciStarter.com and sign up to receive information about how to participate in science projects all over the world that are looking for citizen participation? SciStarter has hundreds of such projects on every topic imaginable, but if you search under the category of animals and then specify dogs or cats you will find specific research looking at aspects of companion animals, pet behavior, pet health, and one project that studies the ability of people to accurately identify breeds of dog in a mixed breed dog (Hint: Most people are terrible at it.)