Families who live in apartment communities are often faced with rules prohibiting pets. Dogs, cats, and other furry creatures are anima non grata due to the possibility of damage to carpets, walls, woodwork, and wiring. Birds, even if they are caged, are also often not permitted–primarily to head off the possibility of noise complaints from neighbors. For these reasons, apartment-dwelling families often turn to fish, reptiles and amphibians as pets.

Amphibian is a term which stems from ancient Greek; “amphi” meaning “both”, and “bios” meaning “life”, indicating that the animals live both on land and in water. Frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and some turtles are amphibious. If your child has an interest in amphibious pets, here are a few guidelines for making the experience a positive one for all involved.

Habitat is vitally important. Creating the proper living environment for your amphibious pet is essential, not only to its comfort, but to its survival. Since amphibians need both land and water, a terrarium containing both is ideal. Often, a plastic or stoneware bowl can be used for the water, with dirt, rocks, branches or other dry items for the land. Before bringing home your first amphibious pet, be sure to research the species and its natural habitat in the wild so that you can provide a reasonable facsimile of it in captivity.

The same goes for feeding. Most amphibians, like small reptiles, eat insects for their primary food source. In some cases, it may be okay to supplement your amphibian’s nutrition with dry meal worms, but live insects are the preferred dietary choice.

Finally, if your child is looking for a cuddly pet, amphibians are not a good option. They should be handled very minimally. It is best not to handle them at all because they have very sensitive skin which can be damaged or harmed by the harsh salts and oils on human skin, as well as soaps, lotions and other skin-care products.

Pets have been at the center of some surprising, even alarming, news stories this summer. I’m not just talking about the woman who trapped the cat in the garbage bin — though that story draws attention to the indoor vs. outdoor cat question. (Strangely enough, the woman’s mother says her daughter loves cats, but the family is having a hard time, and maybe she just snapped.)

*This one is important: The FDA says Evamist, a hormone spray used by menopausal women, can be harmful to pets who lick it off their owners’ arms or just pick it up on their own skin. It causes enlargement of the nipples and genitals in animals — and also in children, both boys and girls. One dog suffered liver failure. Read how to deal with it, from the FDA.

*Still on the subject of health, scientists have found that dark cats do not produce any more allergen than light-colored ones — yet, people with dark cats are “two to four times as likely to have moderate to severe symptoms”. They’re planning to study this some more.

*Abandoned or escaped alligators were seen wandering the streets of several American cities. The one in Chicago was captured by a volunteer known only as “Alligator Bob” — he’s afraid that, if people knew his last name, he’d soon be up to his neck in unwanted alligators. Imagine how it must be for people who just take in dogs and cats.

*Police who raided a marijuana grow-op near a small town in Canada found over a dozen partly tame black bears guarding the place. The owners had won them over by feeding them dog food. Conservation officers are hoping to get them back to the wild.

You don’t have to own a cat or dog to make a big difference in the life of an animal. You can spend just a few hours a week volunteering your time at in a local animal shelter where you can feed cats, walk dogs, and spend time bonding with lonely animals. There are thousands of animal shelters across the United States of America that take  in neglected animals to nurture them and help them find homes, and they need the help of dedicated volunteers who are willing to donate their energy for free while helping with the care of homeless cats and dogs.  If you have the time and patience to dedicate to these animals, then volunteering is probably something you should try. Read on further to find out how to get started.

Figure Out What It Is That You Want To Do: Do you want to work directly with the animals or indirectly? Sometimes you may experience sad situations when working directly with an animal, so you may opt for another volunteer job. Various opportunities including collection donations or office work. Research your options beforehand.

Find A Local-Based Shelter: The best place to start is looking for a shelter. You can find a Humane Society or ASPCA shelter, or just a locally-owned no-kill shelter. Find out how to apply and if there is class or orientation requirement.

Consider Fostering A Pet: Now this takes a commitment similar to adopting a animal.  When fostering a pet, you’ll need time, space, and money. Again, you should do your research on requirements. Short of adopting an animal, becoming a foster parent to an animal is one of the best things you can do.

Lots of us are tackling home renovation projects this summer, and wishing we could somehow make them easier on our pets. The noise, changes, and presence of strangers can be very upsetting to animals, and of course we can’t explain the situation to them in words. But that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare them.

Ronda Payne has a cat, a dog, and a house undergoing lots of work. The cat, Avi, usually hides during noisy times, then ignores any changes made, no matter how large. But the dog, Brandie,is more sensitive. She also has Addison’s disease and has to be kept as stress-free as possible. Ronda regularly gives both pets the Bach flower remedy “Change”.

“Routine almost never changes for us in terms of times for feeding, meds, etc.,” says Ronda. “We ensure that that one thing always stays constant.”

It helps that her husband is a professional renovator and knows how to make the process as non-disruptive as possible. Only one area at a time gets worked on, while others are left as havens for the pets.

“My biggest advice for dog owners planning a reno is to make sure their pets have a ‘low stress’ environment that they can access during the project,” Ronda says.

When the noise level gets high, Brandie gets to go outside away from it and relax in the grass.

Although most of the work is done by the owners themselves, occasionally contractors come in. Ronda makes sure Brandie is comfortable with these new people.

“As soon as the new area is complete and finished, welcome [the pets] into it with play and treats. This then can become their new low stress environment when you tackle the other areas of the house,” she says.

Lower stress in pets means lower stress in their owners — and we need that during renovations.

At the Kuegler mini-farm, we’ve had our flock of chickens for over two years, with egg production almost at the two-year mark.  So, we’ve become quite used to the daily routine of checking food and water supplies and gathering eggs.  The chickens are accustomed to our presence.  In fact, they rush the door to their pen when they hear footsteps, in hopes of receiving leftover pizza crust or apple cores.

With all of the human-chicken harmony, we were a little surprised recently when one of our girls changed from being a protective mother to being aggressive.  As noted last August, one of our Black Wyandottes has had a tendency to defend her eggs.  However, last year all you had to do was give her a gentle push, and she’d leave the coop.  This year, it is a whole different situation.

This chicken is almost always in the coop, sitting in one of the nesting boxes.  Only the dominant Silver Laced Wyandottes can get her to move out of the box; all of the other girls have to share the nesting box with her.  After my first encounter with this newly angry chicken, I understand why the other were willing to share.

When I opened the coop door, there was Ms. Black Wyandotte nesting in a box.  As I leaned my head in, she began to squawk.  After two years of having chickens, I am used to their noisiness, however, this was an all new squawk.  Not only did she issue a warning to me with her squawk, but she also fluffed up her feathers, ready to fight.

Being many times her size and used to the occasional freshness of my darling teens, I decided I was not letting a little chicken determine that I could not gather eggs.  So, I reached a hand toward her.  Unlike my teens, this chicken puts physicality behind her squawk, and thus, she lunged at my hand with an open beak.  Yikes!

With temperatures near 90, I didn’t want to leave eggs in the coop for long, so it was time for a new plan.  Using the egg collecting bowl as a shield with one hand, I covered her beak and quickly grabbed the eggs under her with the other hand.  She wasn’t happy about this situtation, but she also wasn’t harmed in the process, so egg gathering was a success.

Almost any time of day, if someone goes to collect eggs, she still is sitting in the box.  Whether she  has become increasingly maternal or an angry older chicken, we aren’t sure, but we do know that each day we’ll need to do battle to gather eggs.

This weekend my family decided to take a trip up to Maine to see an old family friend of ours. They have a seven-year-old chubby chocolate lab named Sammie. Gracie had never really interacted with another dog before, so this was a test for her and us, but we have certainly realized that our puppy really needs a playmate.

Us humans can play with her, throw her a ball, run up and down a field with her, and more, but it still does not seem to satisfy her enough as another dog does. Gracie loves to be chased. There were so many times when she would run up to Sammie and annoy him so much so that he would chase her. No matter how hard she tried, he did did not really want to play that game with her being the old pooch that he was. Sometimes he would give her a little bat and she would scamper back, smile, and run away. She absolutely loved that. There was another neighbor dog nearby who would come into the house some times and that dog did chase Gracie, so she did get the chasing in that she wanted.

She was absolutely obsessed with Sammie. She would jump all over him, sniff him, annoy him, and just follow him around everywhere. Luckily, Sammie loved the attention– he was a rock-star for the weekend. He loved having his girlfriend Gracie around and the two of them were always so sad when we separated them. Sammie even showed Gracie what she had to do to play Frisbee!

Sammie is such a great dog. Our friends place lies on the top of a hill and way far down at the bottom of the hill are the rocks that lead to the ocean. Well, we decided to take the speedboat past the house and when we saw him his owner exclaimed “Sammie!!”. Much to our surprise, by the time we had turned around to head back, Sammie had made it all the way down from the house, through the woods, and to the rocks. He totally would have jumped into the water had we called for him to do so.

Some day I bet Gracie will do that too. Now the trick would be to get her to get into the water.

Leaving pets behind when you travel is difficult for them, even when they get to stay in their home. (Leaving them at boarding kennels is a whole story on its own.) When we recently got back from just two nights away, our cats ran and hid as if we were strangers. When they came out, they glared at us.

It’s too bad there’s no way to explain to them what’s happening, but is there anything we can do to make it easier on the pets when we have to travel without them?

Lisa Hall, owner of a 10-year-old German shepherd, Beau, is a writer who occasionally has to travel. When Beau sees her packing for a trip, he expresses sadness and sometimes anxiety. Lisa says, “When I see him looking sad or anxious, I hug and kiss him and reassure him that Mommy will be back, and that he will have a great time with Aunt Susan, his doggy sitter. I try to keep my tone of voice as light and pleasant as possible. I don’t let him see my sadness or concern, even though it breaks my heart to leave him.”

Lisa does everything possible to keep Beau’s routine normal while she’s gone. A pet sitter stays in the house at night, and friends and neighbors come by several times a day to take him for short walks. Lisa says, “Beau loves people, so he is happy with his visitors!”

Of course, he’s happiest when Lisa comes back, but it’s not disruptive. She says, “He adjusts very well when I leave and return, because his routine is not interrupted.”

While we were away, our cats ate dinner earlier than usual simply because the cat sitters weren’t old enough to stay up as late as us. But I don’t think the cats minded this one change — anyway, they’ve forgiven us.

It’s summer, which means that fairs and carnivals are prevalent.  At many of these events, there are games with highly desirable prizes, such as stuffed animals, over-sized lollipops, and goldfish.  While the stuffed animal easily is stored on a shelf and the lollipop will be eaten within a day or two, what is one to do with a goldfish?

While goldfish (or other small fish) may make excellent first pets, there are things to consider.

1.  Goldfish can live for 5-10 years.  While this prize is won with a few throws of a beanbag, this pet will be with you for much longer.

2.  Goldfish should live in tanks that have filters.  This will keep their water cleaner, providing a healthier life for your fish.

3.  In addition to a filter, your fish will benefit from having decorative plants, rocks, and other assorted items in its tank.  If fish have places to hide, they feel more secure and will be happier.  Make sure you use items that are made specifically for fish tanks.  Even though you may have appropriately sized knick-knacks floating about your home, these items could be dirty or be made with materials that will make your fish ill.

4.  You do need to clean the tank.  Even with a filter, there is cleaning to be done.  However, you should replace only 10-20 percent of the water each week.

5.  Although you do need to maintain their tank, feeding  a goldfish is easy.  Provide a few flakes of food once daily.  Any food that is not eaten within 5-10 minutes should be removed.  If the food isn’t eaten immediately, it won’t be eaten and will make the tank dirty.

Good news! They treated Gracie’s lump that contained cancerous cells and it shrank and eventually fell off! Apparently the only way to see if it really was cancerous was to see if more developed or if the lump fell off, so it was a waiting game for our family. We had also found another lump, but thankfully the test results came back turned out to be just a lump. The veterinarian thinks that it may have just been a mosquito bite. Better safe than sorry though!

However, as I wrote in a few posts ago, ever since we adopted her, she has been sick with something. About four weeks ago she had become extremely sick. She could not stomach anything, everything was finding ways to leave her body, and she had no energy. When we first took her out for runs, she slowed down around 2 miles because she had never really run that far. She eventually worked her mileage up, but we first noticed that she was definitely sick when she could not even go more than a mile. This went on for about two weeks.

We brought her to the vet, and after she urinated on the floor due to excitement of meeting new people, the vet noticed that her bile was a deep orange color. This, of course, clearly showed that she was not healthy. We had never seen this color come from her before because she had been really good about not urinating in the house during those weeks. They then decided to run some tests and biopsied her liver. The test results came back to us a few days later and her scores were unbelievably far from normal. The doctors did not know how much longer she had, but they gave her some medication and told us to see if she got better over the next month.

Well, she is back to running many miles a week! Thankfully, the medication turned her health around within two weeks, and she has been acting very healthy! She is eating again, she is not throwing up, and she is back to being oh so chipper!

I’m so happy that she’s okay.

Taking good care of a pet is a wonderful experience for all — and it makes the ultimate learning experience for children. Its so important for kids to understand things like responsibility and respect for all living creatures, both of which can be learned via pet ownership. As a precautionary reminder, when you decide to let your child adopt a cat or dog, make sure that they are old enough to take responsible ownership. They need to realize that a living creature is not something you can just play with and put up for the rest of the day. Never give your child a pet before they are ready. That said, if and when your child is ready for responsible pet ownership, rest assure that this will be one of the most valuable learning experiences of their childhood.  Read more to find out how.

1- The Value Of Friendship

The saying goes that “a dog is man’s best friend” and that couldn’t be closer to the truth! Having a dog or cat involves serious responsibility but the end result is worth it. When you take good care of your pet they return the favor in the form of companionship, love, and loyalty.  Who wouldn’t want to experience that?

2- The Value Of Responsibility

Responsibility is a valuable life skill, and taking care of a cat or dog definitely teaches them about ownership and care. You need to walk and feed the dog, change the litterbox and feed the cat. And don’t forget quality bonding time!

3- Respect For Life

Having a pet teaches a child much more about life than an elementary science lesson will. And having a pet at a relatively young age will help your children learn to love animals and other living things (such as plants).  Respect for animals leads to respect for all forms of life and especially human life which makes a better world for all!