Pet Health

June is adopt a cat month. Help us celebrate! We’ve got kittens, hordes of them, marauding through our foster homes, being adorable. Take two – they’ll be each others playmates and lifelong companions.

We live out in the country in a wooded area where there is a lot of wildlife, everything from deer to chipmunks to turtles to all kinds of birds. We are thinking about getting a dog but wondering if that is such a good idea for either the dog or the wildlife. What do you think?

Marley is a big, handsome orange boy. He loves kids and people but is a bit of a wuss around other cats, even little puny ones. Go figure. He gets stupid around catnip; but is funny to watch. His favorite toy is a crinkly burlap tube thing that only a goofy cat would find entertaining.

I just read Travels with Charley, that old John Steinbeck classic and I’m thinking, “I could do that!” Not write a bestseller, but just travel around the country in my camper with my dog, Spot. But what do you think Spot would think about such a plan?

Martin is a big lug of a handsome boy, about two years old, almost 11 pounds of lap cat. He likes to snuggle and purr in your lap and if you put some catnip on the rug or his toys he will roll around in it. He is used to small kids, we don’t know about dogs, but he is a friendly happy boy and needs a home.

Last week we talked about the problem of animals dying in hot cars every summer, and the law in New York that makes this a crime. Although our statute, Agriculture & Markets Law 353-d, is not perfect, in our opinion, it is certainly better than nothing! We have discovered that only 21 states out of 50 have any legislation criminalizing the act of leaving animals in danger in unattended cars.

Snow is a gorgeous “snowy white” teenage girl with blue eyes! She is good with her foster mom’s other cats and the small children in the home. She may take a little while to warm up to a new person as she was born on the streets, along with her brother, Charming, and sister, Snickers.

It’s getting into the dog days of summer, even earlier than usual this year. We usually start warning about this in June, but here it is Memorial Day weekend with temperatures in the 90s! We know our readers would never leave their dog(s) in a car because they are aware of the dangers of overheating and death.

Do dogs and cats get a poison ivy rash? My property in the country has poison ivy everywhere and I have the rash most of the summer, no matter how careful I am. I have noticed that my little pug, Suki, seems to be very itchy and miserable. Could it be poison ivy?