Pet Health

I just moved into a new house just outside of Oswego and there are woods across the street. At night sometimes I hear this eerie howling noise. At first, I had no idea what it was, but a neighbor told me there is a pack of coyotes living there and to keep my animals inside as they might attack them.

I’m a smoker. Not a lot, but maybe half a pack per day and mostly outdoors. My best friend has been nagging me for years and years to quit, but I just really like to smoke and I figure, it’s just affecting my health, which is good. But now she is trying a new tack by making me feel guilty about the effects of smoking on my cats. Is she right?

can’t go through my woods without gallons of Roundup because they are so infested with poison ivy and I am highly allergic. If I even look at it I seem to get it. But, my dogs run around in the woods all the time. It doesn’t seem to bother them at all. Should I be worried?

I was in the library the other day and there was another patron there with a dog that was wearing a little vest that said therapy dog on it. I thought it was really cute and said hello to the dog and the woman snapped at me and told me not to talk to her dog. What’s with that?

The Fourth of July is coming up, our quintessential American celebration and the official start to summer. But remember this, pets don’t have calendars. For them a human party is just one more opportunity to meet new people and beg for food. While they are fiercely loyal to you, they don’t have a patriotic bone in their body. So please, play it safe and try to make the holiday just another fun summer day for your pets.

I am planning on adopting a new kitten. How do I go about litter training her? 1. Put litter in a litter pan and put it somewhere that the kitten can find it. Period. End of story.

I took my cat, Sylvester, in for his shots the other day and my vet said he needed to have a rabies shot. Excuse me . . . Sylvester doesn’t go outside, why should I expose him to the risk of a rabies shot if he is not in any danger?

My neighbor has a dog that he keeps tied out behind his house. I can barely see into his back yard, but as far as I can tell the dog spends most of its time out there and there is never any food or water for it. Is it OK if I just go over there and feed and water the dog myself when he is not home?

A couple of weeks ago, you wrote about removing ticks and mentioned that, among other things, the little buggers can transmit Lyme disease. What were you thinking??? I have enough things to worry about, without that added to my list. My dog, Bubba, has had ticks. Not a lot, but some. Is it possible that he has the disease?