Featured Articles
PDD in Birds
Proventricular Dilation Disease – PDD in Birds
Let’s say that lately you’ve been noticing that your bird isn’t feeling well. It’s lethargic, dull, and has ruffled feathers. Then you start noticing that it’s not getting better. In fact you’ve realized …
PetLoss – Talking to your Kids
“A pet can be a child’s best friend,” says Cheryl Weber, a client counselor specialist at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Urbana. The death of a pet can be a sad and confusing time for children as …
Dogs and leg amputation
What would you do without a leg? It’s hard for most humans to imagine life without a leg. It would prevent us from doing many of the activities that we love to do. Many people have trouble dealing with the amputation emotionally and physically. Leg amputation is not common in people, which is a good thing, because it is a life-altering surgery. What would you think if you were told that leg amputations in dogs are not the same as leg amputations in people? Yes, the surgery is the same, but dogs rarely have the emotional or physical problems that people have. In fact, dogs adapt very well and surprisingly quickly to life on three legs!
Leg amputation means the total removal of the leg. It may be a front or a back leg. There are a few reasons you might decide to have your dog’s leg amputated. The three most common reasons are; cancer, damage, and cost. Many leg cancers are very aggressive and can destroy bones and muscles in the leg.
Tip 80 – Cat and dog fur – removing cat hair – removing dog hair
If you have a dog or a cat with long or short hair then chances are that you also have a problem with pet hair or fur being transferred to your furniture and clothing. There’s not too much you can …
White Cats
White cats, like all white animals in general, are both valuable – and vulnerable. The white of their coat is not a real colour but rather the absence of colour, which also means absence of protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. It is the variety and distribution of natural “dyes” in an animal’s skin and fur that explain different coat colours and patterns. One of these dyes is melanin, the chief protector of skin against ultraviolet radiation. The skin of white cats has either no melanin at all or very little of it, which is why they are far more vulnerable to sunburn and cancer of the skin than coloured cats. The “classical” wild-type cat is a brown tabby, which combines optimal protection from the sun with a camouflage pattern that hides it from predators.
Tip 89 – Cat carriers – transporting cats
A cat carrier is one of the essential items that every cat owner must have. Cat carriers are portable cages that are used to transport cats. Whenever you leave your house with your cat to bring it ANYWHERE, they should …
Kitten Development Stages – Pet Tip 249
When we bring a kitten home for the first time to adopt it as a pet, it should be between nine and twelve weeks old. This is so the kitten has a chance to spend time with its mother and so that the kitten becomes socialized with its littermates and learns proper kitten behaviour. But what happens before the kitten comes home? This article will outline some of the important milestones in kittenhood in an effort to familiarize you with some of the stages of kitten development.
Kittens are born blind and deaf and they remain that way for around the first fourteen days of their lives. They use their sense of smell to find their way toward their mothers for nourishment and heat. They really need to stay close to their mothers for these first few weeks as they are unable to regulate their own body temperature. The umbilical cord typically falls off after the first few days of life.
Cat Vocalizations
Cats are capable of communication on several levels. Their body language can tell other cats if they are feeling tense or relaxed. They can mark their territory with urine, or with scent particles from their faces to claim ownership of objects and spaces and they can also communicate vocally. This article will explore a few of the common vocalizations that cats make. Some of the vocalizations are meant mostly for humans, while other sounds are meant for other cats, humans or predators.
One of the most common sounds a cat owner is likely to hear from its cat is the famous meow. There are many different types of ‘meows’ and they are generally reserved for communicating with humans and not with other cats.
Issue 7: June/July 2003
Welcome to our seventh issue of the pets.ca newsletter. We would like to welcome Petcare pet insurance as the featured sponsor this month. Their pet insurance plans will give you peace of mind if ever your cat or dog should …
