A Kenneling Alternative

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Pet Poison Prevention Week

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The third week of March has been designated as Pet Poison Prevention Week for over 50 years.

How often do you think about what might be poisonous to your pet? Before you bring them into your home? After they’ve eaten something that has fallen on the floor? Immediately upon reentering the room after leaving a pan of brownies on the stove in what should have been a safe distance to find half the pan eaten and your dog’s guilty grin greeting you?

Let’s take a moment to consider what might cause dire harm or death to your pet upon ingestion and what actions you can or should take if that occurs.

There’s a very handy search engine on https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poisons/. Type in the item ingested and get information on what to do.

Further, Pet Poison Helpline is a 24-hour pet poison control center. There is a fee involved if you use their services. Or, they can help you locate an emergency vet near you.

Their website includes guides on pet safety and how to spot potential poisons in each room of your house and even by holidays.With Easter approaching, you can read about possible poisonings that can occur during that time frame at https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/pet-owners/seasons/easter/.

The top dog poison is chocolate and the top cat poison is lilies. See the complete list by clicking here.

Giving Thanks For Challenging Pets

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Despite griping about the weather, the challenges at my day job, and the general obstacles that life throws my way (yeah, I’m talking about you chipped-from-a-rock windshield), I’m extremely fortunate. So, when Thanksgiving rolls around, and we as a country pause to count the blessings of our comfortable lives, I probably name off the same general things everyone else does: family, friends, and the abundances in my life. 

But, I gave it some thought and have to admit that I’m not going to do that this year.  This year, I’m giving thanks for the gift of challenging pets.

Everyone who sees my dog, Ginger, tells me how sweet, cute, well-behaved, or any other variety of complimentary adjectives she is. And the pictures of her on social media are along the same ilk. But, you don’t see the moments that try my patience (of which, I will admit, I have very little to being with): [Read more…] about Giving Thanks For Challenging Pets

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day

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“You have to get it through your head that the dog won’t live forever.” This was the advice my dad began offering to me as my dog approached double digits. And my response was always the same. 

“Nope. We will always be together,” I would say back to him. And then I would hear the sigh of resignation. The sound he has made so many times before when he realized there wasn’t any way to convince me I might be incorrect.

No big surprise to this story, right? I lost him. I had to make that decision every pet parent dreads. And on Valentine’s Day 2012, I made good on the promise I gave that floofin two weeks prior when the vet told me he had cancer. I looked at this dog that I knew wasn’t going to get any better, who wasn’t himself anymore, and whose suffering was beyond the level I could bear him to be in. The vet assured me afterwards that he wouldn’t have made it through the night.  [Read more…] about Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day

Lyme Disease Prevention Month

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Lyme Disease Prevention Month

Warm Weather Is a Reminder to Protect Your Pet From Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Related Diseases

Each year when the temperatures begin to indicate that winter has receded and spring is fully in swing, I check the closet for my supply of flea and tick prevention topical solution.

Depending on your individual situation, your routine may not mimic mine. And since vaccines are not available for every type of disease your pet could contract from a tick bite, it is important to take some type of action to prevent Lyme or other tick-related diseases or a flea infestation.

My vet advises that I keep my dog, Ginger, on a year-round schedule for flea and tick prevention. She cautioned me at our last annual exam that there is always a possibility if the temperatures get above freezing that a tick could become active and my little ninja dog could get a tick bite in her own backyard without some type of protection. [Read more…] about Lyme Disease Prevention Month