Pet Monologues

Is pet insurance a good idea? First, the good news: veterinarians can do more for your pet than ever before. State-of-the-art medical procedures — from open-heart surgery to kidney transplants — are now available to help prolong an animal’s life. Cats receive dialysis, and even ducks are getting cataract surgery. My own Labrador, Duke, developed a heart condition and had a pacemaker implanted at age 12. He lived a year beyond his natural life expectancy, and I cherished every extra minute I had with him. [RK] Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: cats, Death, dogs, Health, home, hospital, pet-insurance, treatment, veterinarian

What’s the Big Deal?
Ah, the pitter patter of four-legged feet as they whip through your living room at overclocked speeds or uproot your prize gladiolas with manic fervor. But Snookiepuss and Mrs. Fluffypants are practically family, right?

So why should they settle for anything less than top drawer when their health and wellbeing are at stake? Throw the planet a bone while you’re at it; we’ve got the goods on how to reduce your pets’ carbon paw prints—without making your wallet roll over and play dead. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: attack, babies, backyard, beach, Birds, boarding, breeding, bunnies, cancer, cars, catnip, cats, children, danger, dental, disease, dogs, domestic, environment, euthanize, family, FDA, fighting, Fish, Food, friend, fur, Google, Green, grooming, hamsters, happy, Health, home, homeless, Humane Society, ice, kittens, Law, litter, love, medicine, neuter, organic, pet-care, pet-food, play, poison, poop, puppy, purebred, rabbits, RAW, recipes, shelter, standards, stress, sustainable, tagging, toxic, toys, Travel, USDA, veterinarian, water, wildlife

If you have pets, you may have wondered whether they know what you’re thinking. Perhaps your cat hides when you start planning a trip to the vet. Or maybe your dog runs in circles when you think about going out to play. Both of these events can have logical explanations. Your cat might have heard you pull the carrier off the shelf; your dog must have seen you glance at a favorite ball. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: anger, attachment, behavior, brain, children, communication, companion, Death, ESP, euthanize, friend, happy, Health, home, illness, injury, litter, loss, lost, love, New York, pain, paranormal, play, psychic, puppy, Science, smell, Stories, stress, talking, Travel, tricks

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I just read your sidebar article “Worried owners cooking for pets” What’s with the pet-food scare? I’ve always fed my dogs dry dog food and my most recent (standard poodle, doberman, weinmaraner) were active, taut, and silky coated.

Yet millions of people feed their pets ‘designer’ foods and now, with the pet-food scare, some are going farther….feeding them home-made dog-food. While spending a few days with a friend recently, I noticed a large bowl of hamburger meat and freshly chopped veggies on the kitchen counter. I thought we must be having meat loaf for dinner! Instead it was a week’s worth of food for a black lab! I’m not sure these type of rich home-cooked meals are even good for our pets. But even so, as a pet owner all my life, I’ve always drawn a line between pet-food and people-food for a garden-variety of reasons. So what is the best for us and our pets? Canned, processed food? Dry processed food? Home-cooked food?

Tags: diet, dogs, feeding, Health, home-cooked, pet-food, RAW, recall, recipes

Worried owners cooking for pets. ATLANTA - Some worried pet owners are grinding up meat in their kitchens and making their own dog and cat food because of the contamination scare blamed for numerous animal deaths.

Sales of pet food recipe books have also shot up since the nationwide pet-food recall began two weeks ago. [RK] Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Amazon, bacteria, cats, danger, Death, dogs, family, FDA, feeding, Food, Health, heat, home, pet-food, recall, recipes, veterinarian

New York couple taking cab to Arizona retirement. NEW YORK (AP) — Betty and Bob Matas have retired and are moving to Arizona, but like many New Yorkers they don’t drive, and they don’t want their cats to travel all that way in an airliner cargo hold.

Their solution: “Hey, cabbie.” [RK] Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: age, cats, New York, Travel

I had a small Chihuahua dog. It was especially cold this particular day, and my wife and I had to leave the house overnight, but we could not take our dog with us. Gopher (the dog’s name) usually stayed outside, but we were afraid of coyotes or some wild animals getting him with our not being around. I had constructed a doggy door in our back door, and it stayed closed most of the time, but now, I had decided to put it into service for our pet, so that he could go outside to take care of business, yet stay in the house to stay out of the severe cold. So a plan was born, and we were satisfied that Gopher would be OK for the day without enlisting any neighbors help. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: authors, Chihuahua, dogs, home, rats, remodeling, skunks, visitor

I have a recurring dream about my childhood dog, Ginger. In the dream, it begins to storm. I am away from home. I think of Ginger. She is outside. I have to do something. I have to get her in. I rush home, but obstacles keep me from reaching my destination. I call my brother. Sometimes he goes and lets Ginger into the house. Sometimes he is too busy. In my dream, I do anything and everything to get home. Finally, I do. I open the back door and Ginger runs in, wet but tail wagging and no worse off. I can feel the anxiety disappearing.

Tags: authors, dogs, dream, family, home, Touching

We are flying from Long Beach on Jet Blue, our first flying experience with the upstart. We flew in from Chicago for a surprise birthday party for a beloved cousin and a long getaway weekend with family and friends. The last night cousin David showed us a six-month effort at digitizing old family photos that went back four generations. Memories came back in a flood of emotion and wonder as we revisited cherished photos and ones we had never seen before. In many of the photos were our pets that in some cases marked milestones in our lives. On the plane I decided to recreate the comings and goings of my pet dogs. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: authors, behavior, cars, dad, dogs, family, friend, happy, home, Humane Society, memories, mom, pet stories, play, poop, Training, writers