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- Consider having two emergency kits: one for times you may be stuck in...
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Emergency Plans for Your Pets
If you were in the path of this winter’s snowstorms, you probably got a strong reminder that you need to plan for emergencies. Your pets need to be included in your plans. Ready.gov has partnered with animal welfare groups to come up with some tips. Many are common sense, like keeping three days’ supply of food and water on hand, and having a carrier handy in case you need to evacuate with your pet. Others you may not have thought of (I know I hadn’t).
Lessons Learned from a Sick Cat
After losing his dinner a few nights ago, our younger cat began acting strangely – for him. Instead of sitting on the windowsill, mewing to be taken out or played with, he spent all day huddled with the older cat by the heating vent. He wouldn’t touch his food, either.
As I’ve learned through my writing, any behavioral change means a cat should be checked by a vet, so we took him to the animal hospital. I learned a few things in the process:
1. You can’t tell a cat’s body temperature by touch. Ours didn’t feel hot, but the vet’s thermometer...
Feline Depression and Stress
Cats can become depressed, as you might suspect if yours has ever stopped playing or grooming, but it’s a different illness from human depression.
Dr. Bonnie Beaver of the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at Texas A&M University says depression – “a decreased response to the environment” – in cats is common in association with medical conditions, not strictly as a mental condition. Dr. Lorie Huston, a vet and writer, says, “Feline depression is probably more aptly termed feline stress and/or
anxiety.”
The most common cause is fever. Pain, and sometimes the loss of a human or animal companion, also can...
Your Pet vs. Wild Animals
If your cat has ever brought you a dead mouse or bird, you know about the unending war between pets and wild animals. It’s true that when a dog chases a squirrel, or a coyote eats a cat, they’re all just following their instincts. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we humans can do about it. We can take steps to reduce the harm pets and wildlife do to each other.
Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge has some advice for cat and dog owners.
First, what doesn’t work for cats:
- Simply feeding them enough. In one experiment, cats eating their...
- Simply feeding them enough. In one experiment, cats eating their...
