We recently visited a new vet who is much closer to our home to pick up some needed supplies and make an appointment to have our young males neutered. While there, we discovered that they keep several large cages of kittens. These kittens were from litters by local feral females. There are several individuals in our community who find these young wild families, trap the mothers (who are then spayed), and begin the work of socializing the young kittens, while treating them for the parasites, skin conditions, etc. that commonly plague these kittens who are uncared-for except for what their mothers (usually very young and unhealthy cats themselves) are able to provide for them.
When the kittens are brought to the clinic, they are further socialized, and taken home by employees to learn “house manners.” When they are in good health and friendly, the clinic offers them for adoption. The very nominal adoption fee of $30 covers any medication the kitten may still require, further boarding and treatment until it is ready to be discharged, if any is required, as well as all vaccinations (including rabies) and spaying or neutering. All vet care necessary for the first year is included for this low $30 fee.
Normally, these services would be worth several hundred dollars, depending upon the animal’s sex and condition. We were touched and surprised that a local professional and his employees are doing so much to help with the pet overpopulation in the community and find the animals good homes and help ensure their ongoing health at the same time.
The next time you are looking to add a pet to your family, call around to area vets and see if anyone is doing a community service of this type in your area. Support these businesses, and give a pet a good home.
A scratching post can offer your cat hours of enjoyment. Depending upon its design, a good scratching post can promote enticing play including both physical exercise as well as mental stimulation. Some models provide platforms for cats to rest upon or to hide within, allowing them to choose a spot that is raised up high or one that is secluded, depending upon the individual cat's preferences. Your selection of a scratching post should take into consideration your own cat's personality and needs in order to provide the maximum enjoyment for your pet.
For cats that need to use the post to actually scratch upon, the surface should be rough in order to encourage the cat to dig its claws in. Sisal is a favorite of many cats, but we also thought the rough cedar scratching posts were a great choice. Carpet-covered posts may encourage scratching, but you run the risk of training your cat to scratch carpet, which may then transfer to your floor carpeting. Our recommendation for most cats is to choose a scratching post that incorporates some other rough surface in addition to carpeting, if your cat is to actually scratch it. Corrugated cardboard is another favorite rough surface that many cats enjoy, and can be used to apply dried catnip directly into the corrugating, though these posts or trays will need to be replaced periodically.
Another important feature to look for when evaluating the entertainment value of cat furniture is toy anchoring spots. Look for the ability to anchor toys that will hang / swing / spin. Another great feature shown in this cedar scratching post is the "mousehole" effect that encloses a small ball that will retreat when a cat tries to reach in for it, but returns to entice the cat to attempt to capture it when released.
For the best value in cat furniture, look for a piece that will suit a variety of needs all in one unit. Some of the Armarkat scratching posts offer some of the best value by offering high open perches, closed in hidey-hole cubbies, staggered tiers for climbing, horizontal and vertical scratching surfaces, and toy anchoring spots all within a single piece of furniture. Their prices also tend to be quite competitive, and consumers rate them as being sturdy enough to withstand their cats' antics.
Having a larger piece of cat furniture can be especially important in multi-cat households. Giving each cat a place within the scratching stand can help cut down on fights and keep all the felines happy at the same time.
To search for scratching posts, we used an pet product shopping site that returned a lot of relevant results that can easily be searched by category or arranged by price, etc. Pet owners can easily find a wide variety of styles suited to their particular pet just by browsing through such services. It can be helpful to discover products you may not even have realized existed. (On the same site, we discovered that noise-sensitive dog owners can purchase squeaky dog toys that squeak only in the range of doggie-hearing, so the dog can squeak to his heart's content and the owner never has to hear it!)
I just wanted to share a website I ran across with a unique and witty twist ... it's written by a dog! Gary, the Sensitive Brown Dog, uses his keen dog-sense perspective to provide you with great information about man's best friend!
Including everything from Gary's perspective on designer dogs (essentially mutts) to his opinion of homemade vs. commercial foods, and much more. You'll find guidance on choosing your pet's name and dealing with nuisance barking. There are tips on boarding your furry friend while you are away, such as leaving a t-shirt belonging to the owner to comfort your pet. As a rescue dog, Gary encourages those seeking a pet to consider rescuing an animal from a shelter.
I'm not quite sure why the doggie necessities list includes "one toy" ... but I'm pretty sure Gary means it as a minimum. On the other hand, Gary considers doggie clothing a necessity only "if you want your dog to hate you"!
We found the site amusing, and look forward to future developments there.
Pets are members of our families, and anyone who has ever had a pet go missing knows the heartbreak and anxiety an owner feels when faced with lost pets. We were unfortunate enough to experience this a couple of years ago when our black Maine Coon cat sneaked out through an open door and disappeared.
My daughter was heartbroken, as he was her special pet. We visited the shelters, and the neighborhood was plastered with fliers with a photo of Lucky on them, begging people to call if he was found. Weeks went by, and our hopes began to fade. We still checked the shelters, and still looked hopefully around nearby neighborhoods, but the chances of getting him back were becoming slimmer.
Unfortunately, we discovered him on the side of the road, a month and a half after he had gone missing. He had been killed by a car. But other than that, he was in good condition. Obviously, someone had taken him in and been caring for him. We never found out how near he was to us the whole time, but perhaps the person caring for him didn't see our fliers. I wish there had been a better way to contact everyone within the nearby area to search for him during that time he was missing.
We have found such a service available, started by another cat owner who hasn't recovered her pet either. (By the way, the photos of her cat on the site show a well-named cat, a very lovely "Cutie McPretty" ... our condolences to Cutie's owner, and hopes that she finds her pet, especially since she is helping others to find their pets.)
The service at FindToto lets owners who have lost dogs, cats, or other pets fill out an information form about the animal and where it was lost along with their contact information. FindToto then contacts hundreds (you select how many based on the population where the pet was lost) of people in the area by phone to let them know your lost pet's information and how to contact you.
The service seems to be quite effective. I read the testimonial page and was surprised to see how many people found dogs and cats based on calls from people who had been notified. In many cases, several people call with information about the missing pet, because a number of people will have seen the pet and hopefully someone has taken it in and will also respond. Even in cases where the pet is frightened and hiding, it is possible to find the cat or dog when a neighbor calls to tell you that your pet is hiding in the field near their house.
We thought this was a wonderful service. We hope that you never need to use a service like FindToto.com, but if you do, it's good to know that such a service is available. It's also nice to keep it in mind in case someone you know loses a pet too. I only wish we'd had such a service available when our Lucky went missing. It's been a couple of years now, but our daughter still thinks of him and we all still miss him. He was a wonderful companion.
I was raised in Louisiana, and I've spent some time on farms that raised and trained Thoroughbreds for racing. My cousin worked with the young horses, and I used to enjoy watching them exercise and train. I've seen different methods used to exercise horses, but I have to admit the horse exerciser I saw online today is in a class of its own, and very interesting.
Generally, the farm owners have had two options for exercising the horses that I have seen. One is to pay an employee to work each animal and assure that each one receives enough exercise. This is great practice for the horses, but expensive in terms of payroll. It can also be difficult to find enough employees that are light enough not to put more stress than desired on racers if the farm is a large one. The other option involves some kind of mechanical horse walker.
While some farms use a type of treadmill, the horse walkers I am familiar with have all been spokes radiating out from a central hub, with the horses each tied to one of the spoke ends. The horses walk around in their pattern, either with the machine turning, or else providing the energy to move the equipment themselves, but either way they had to be tied to the spoke.
This horse walker has such an innovative design, allowing the horse to move more freely because he is not tied at all. Instead, a partition is attached to the spoke and the partition is moved around the circle, which is enclosed by fencing panels, allowing the horse to walk naturally around the pattern. This freedom of movement is safer for the horse, alleviating the strain caused by the position the animal is brought into by being tied to the other type of walker. I can also easily see that this is the perfect conditioning for an animal who will need to be able to enter starting gates and to negotiate turns well.
I was really impressed by the idea. Another great part of this is that these horse walkers are available for rental as well as purchase, so anyone who is considering purchasing some new exercise equipment, hiring a new exercise boy, or just interesting in improving his methods can easily try one out and evaluate it before committing to buy one.
This is another one of those great products we love to share with our readers. For those of you in the market, take a look at this equipment!
For cats that need to use the post to actually scratch upon, the surface should be rough in order to encourage the cat to dig its claws in. Sisal is a favorite of many cats, but we also thought the rough 
For the best value in cat furniture, look for a piece that will suit a variety of needs all in one unit. Some of the 
This