Pet Health

I was in a grocery store the other day and a man came in with his dog on a leash. I love dogs, but I thought that was a little unusual, so I watched them. The dog was wearing a vest that said “Therapy animal – Please don’t pet me.” I know not to interfere with service dogs, so I just observed from a distance. To be honest, it was horrifying to watch.

Butterscotch’s foster family has caught him several times underneath the Christmas tree, dreaming of his forever home. We need someone to make that dream come true. His foster mom has this to say about him: “What can I not say about Butterscotch? He is a wonderful, loving kitty who loves to give and receive love and kisses. Butterscotch is very affectionate, however he has to be an only fur baby in a furever home.”

Last week, we told you to stop worrying about poinsettia plants being poisonous to people or pets. But you had to know, we were not going to let you completely off the hook. With thanks to our friends at the ASPCA, here are the things you should be worrying about this time of year.

Maria is a gorgeous Siamese/Tortie mix. You can see her unusual markings. She was the loving mother of the seven Von Trapp kittens, who have now all found their own homes, leaving her lonely and looking for someone else to adore. She spends hours lying on the office desk looking for (and getting) attention but she needs her own home and her own people to love her.

William tries to look serious and grown up now that he is almost six months old. And he is a tall, lanky, elegant boy with dark grey fur and soulful golden eyes. But if you toss his orange “special friend” to him he turns into an idiot.

We received an email the other day from the ASPCA about holiday dangers to be concerned about with pets. It had a lot of important information, but it also listed poinsettia plants as the third most frequent cause of calls to the ASPCA Poison Control Center. We’re here to tell you, leave your poor poinsettia plants alone and stop calling the poison control center about them!

We think poor Pumpkin doesn’t have his own home yet because we have to warn people about his history of urinary tract problems. That is one of the drawbacks of honesty. (No we’re just kidding!) We have featured Pumpkin before, but he is still a great cat in need of a home.

My neighbor got home from work late the other night and discovered that his big goofy dog, Rudy, had eaten a bag full of chocolate chip cookies. He had to take him to the emergency vet and hundreds of dollars later Rudy is OK. Was that really necessary?

Fred was rescued from under a trailer out in the country after his elderly owner had to go to a nursing home. You would think he had been a pampered house cat his whole life (well except for his bunged up ear, probably from being attacked by an animal or maybe frostbite.) He is a sturdy handsome Tuxedo who loves people, complete strangers even.