Howling Halloween Tips for Pets

Sunday is Halloween. Here's Kelly in her lovely red wig (dressing up like her sister, who is a redhead.) You may be preparing costumes for the kids, stocking up on the good candy to hand out, or just planning on just hiding in a dark room and avoiding the whole thing. Either way, the candy, the knocks on the door, and all that excitement is sure to take a toll on the dog.

From Christy Howard for boston.com, here are some Safety Tips for Pets on Halloween.

1. If your dog is staying home to "help" you hand out treats, keep your dog in another room during trick-or-treating hours. If I let ours greet every kid for three hours, they would be so tired they probably wouldn't get up the next morning.

2. Give your dogs a new treat or toy to occupy their time; you don't want the dog to feel like they are being punished.

3. If you are dressing up your dog in a costume, they should be able to walk without any interference to their gait. This also means you need to be able to put a leash on the dog. You have to watch that the costume doesn't interfere with the collar or leash area.

4. Make sure the dog's vision is not impaired while wearing the costume.

5. If you are taking your dog out trick or treating, make sure you watch your dog so they don't ingest any dropped candy or that people don't feed your dog candy. Aside from the fact that chocolate is toxic to dogs, the wrappers of even candy without chocolate can be harmful if ingested by your dog.

Thank you Christy for your great article. Check out the complete article for more.

And here's a tip of my own:
Before trick or treaters arrive, we take the screen out of our screen door. That way we can just hand out the candy through the open part, and the bottom half of the door is solid so Kelly won't accidentally slip out an open door.

What are your Halloween tricks and treats for your pets?

Riding in Cars with Dogs

This week Be the Change for Animals is promoting Be Smart, Ride Safe, to inform pet owners about the dangers of unrestrained pets in vehicles.

Kelly loves to ride in the car. Note: This is NOT how Kelly travels (picture taken for a photo op moment.) But I've been thinking a lot about this issue during the week.

Kelly has been riding comfortably on the back seat of the SUV. Yes, unrestrained.















She doesn't jump around, she doesn't bother the driver. She doesn't stick her head out the window like this:















(Note: Again, Kelly doesn't ride like this. But I must admit, she did enjoy posing for this shot!)

But I started thinking about what could happen in the event of an accident:

* This sounds awful, but she could become a projectile in an accident.
* If she was injured or frightened, she could distract rescue workers from getting to humans who needed help.
* During rescue attempts, she could escape out a window or open door and become lost.
* If she escaped post-accident, she might run into the road and get hit and/or cause another accident.

So I'm looking into getting a harness, which would still allow her to ride in her favorite seat in the back.
What about you? Where does your pet travel in the car? Does your pet balk at being restrained?
Have you taken the Be Smart Ride Safe pledge?

Dog Food Month- Natural and Organic

Natural. Organic. Holistic. These words are used a lot today, but when it comes to dog food, what do they mean?

Some of the claims I discovered from manufacturers of natural dog foods are:

1. Produced in USDA, FDA and AAFCO approved facilities

2. USDA inspected meats of human grade.

3. Naturally preserved

4. High quality ingredients

5. Experts to ensure quality and safety of the food

6. In-depth cleaning and sanitation of manufacturing facilities

7. Testing grain shipments for mycrotoxins

8. Developed by pet-health doctorate professionals

9. Naturally colored foods

10. "Nature-identical" ingredient profiles

Premium dog foods are generally not found in your supermarket. So, feeding your dog a natural or organic food may require a special trip to the pet store. They also are likely to be more expensive than your supermarket brands.

However, each one boasts quality ingredients, quality manufacturing and product safety. Here are some brands of natural or organic dog food. This is not a complete list. If you use a natural or organic dog food, or are a natural or organic dog food producer, please leave a comment and tell us about your brand.

Natura

Nutro Natural Choice

Canidae

Blue Buffalo

Wysong

Wellness

Holistic Select

Young Again

What do you think of natural and organic foods? What are the pros and cons? Does your dog like them?

* Join us MONDAY as we learn about Home Prepared dog foods.
* Leave a comment or question and be entered into a drawing for free dog food, gift certificate, or treats at the end of the month!

Mouth-to-muzzle first aid

Do you know how to do CPR...on your dog? Could you administer mouth-to-mouth...to your cat?

April, National Pet First Aid Awareness Month, is the perfect time to brush up on your first aid skills and learn the valuable procedures that could save the life of your pet. You might check with your local veterinarian for classes or lessons.

Or, website 910 Pets offers instructions on canine and feline CPR.

If you need a more hands-on approach, consider lessons from Pet Tech, a training center dedicated to First Aid, CPR and care for dogs and cats. They offer two levels of training. The Pet Saver class is an eight hour course to teach you how to assess your pet's health, rescue breathing on pets, shock management, canine and feline CPR, and more. The Pet Tech Instructor training is a three-day program which extends the scope of the Pet Saver class, and teaches you how to teach others about pet first aid and CPR. You can find a Pet Tech instructor in your area.

The American Veterinary Medical Association also offers first aid tips for pet owners.
However you do it, take the time to learn first aid for your pet. I hope you'll never need to use it, but you'll be glad you're prepared, just in case.

Is Your Home Safe for Your Dog?

By Linda Cole

We don't view our homes the same way our dogs do. They see every little button or tack hiding among the dust bunnies under the bed, and they’re always finding things that have fallen on the floor or that we forgot to pick up. Having a pet means constantly looking around the home to make sure your dog doesn't find something that could be harmful to him if he ate or drank it. We think our home is safe for our pets because it's safe for us, but that’s not always the case. Is your home safe for your dog?

We already know how important it is to make sure we've pet proofed the house, inside and out. But even that doesn't guarantee your dog won't find something potentially dangerous for them. Dogs are experts at finding things in and around the home. Small sticks are fun to chew and play with, but a stick in the mouth of a running dog can be dangerous – he can ram it down his throat if he runs into another dog or the ground.

Dogs pick up anything that looks interesting. To keep your home safe for your dog, look at it from their perspective. The garage, basement or back porch are great places to store things, but a dog can quickly find something they shouldn't have. Watch out for spilled antifreeze, opened bottles of antifreeze, oil, transmission fluid, windshield cleaner, stored gas, car batteries, grass clippings from the lawn mower, handsaws, hand tools, string, rope, electrical cords, small tacks, nails, screws or anything that might catch your dog's attention.

Keep your home safe for your dog by making sure knives, forks, potato peelers, dropped food, dropped medications (liquid and pills), dish detergent, all types of soap, cleaning products, drain cleaners, batteries, spices, food, candy, alcohol and gum are all safely stored away from prying noses.

Even if you think your dog is past the chewing stage, don't leave remote controls where your dog can get them. I made the mistake of leaving my TV remote on the coffee table one day. My 10 year old dog was apparently bored and my poor remote was never the same after an afternoon of being chewed on. Dogs will also chew on batteries if they fall out of the remote. The average dog bites at around 200 to 500 pounds of pressure per square inch, and big dogs have a bite pressure even higher.

Many things dogs find on the floor or under the couch or kitchen counter can be harmful to them if swallowed or chewed. Rubber bands, needles (some still attached to thread), string, yarn, balloons, small toys, small balls, clothing, mothballs, Q-Tips, diet pills, cigarette butts, antacid tablets, medications, push pins, paper clips, tacks, nails, jewelry and food often find their way to the floor without us knowing about it.

Paper shredders are a new danger for pets. Make your home safe for your dog by unplugging your shredder when it's not in use. Shredders left on automatic will start to run if the dog or cat licks it. It's unknown if pets lick the shredder because of the smell of the metal or because they smell their owner's scent on the shredder. Veterinarians have seen an increase in pets injured when their tongues become caught in a shredder that started up when they licked it. Some of the injuries have been severe and some dogs have had to have damaged portions of their tongues removed as well as multiple stitches. The best way to prevent accidental shredding of your pet’s tongue is to make sure the shredder is unplugged.

Poisons used to eradicate snails, ants, mice and rats can be found by an inquisitive dog. Most dogs will check out the bait if they find it, and some dogs will try to eat it. Traps not only catch rats and mice, but can catch your dog as well. Make sure poisons, ink cartridges and toners are safely stored away.

No matter how clean we try to keep our homes, things end up on the floor by accident. We need to be aware of what we have in the home that could be dangerous for our pets. They will play with, chew on and consume what they find on the floor or anywhere in the home if they can reach it. Keep your home safe for your dog by seeing it as they do. If in doubt, put it away in a cabinet, drawer or under the sink. Your pet's safety depends on you seeing what they see.

Read more articles by Linda Cole

Cleaning Your Pet’s Dishes and Food Storage Containers

It is important for your pet’s health that you keep their food and water dishes clean. You should also periodically clean the container that their food is kept in. Food and water dishes should be cleaned daily and the water should be fresh every day to promote adequate water consumption. If something fouls your pet’s water they are less likely to drink water. While a pet can go several weeks without food, they will die after a few days without proper water intake. The food dishes can harbor fat particles that in time can become rancid if the dishes are not cleaned regularly.

While you or I may not be able to smell anything funny in their dishes, your pet will and may refuse to eat if their dishes aren’t clean enough for them. I wash my pets’ dishes everyday as well a making sure that they have clean water every day. I wash my pet food storage container once a week. I use stainless steel dishes, which are pretty easy to keep clean; but how do you clean some of the other surfaces like ceramic or plastic?

On ceramic dishes you can use a sponge with a scrubber side, but I would not recommend it for your plastic dishes, as the scrubbers on some of those sponges are strong enough to leave grooves in some plastic dishes, which in turn can harbor bacteria. So for the plastic, just use a regular sponge and elbow grease to get the dishes squeaky clean. Use a detergent that will take grease off dishes and make sure to check the dishes with your fingers after scrubbing. You would be amazed what you can find with your fingers, especially if you have a dish that is a color that hides dirt or grime.

You can probably wash some of your dishes in the dishwasher, but if you are using a plastic bowl with a weighted bottom, the heat and water in the dishwasher might soften the glue and make the bottom of the dish fall out of the base. I would check with your pet shop to make sure the bowls you are purchasing are dishwasher safe; if that is the way you choose to go. I like washing dishes the old-fashioned way, because I can feel any grease or grunge left on the dishes, even if I can’t see it.

As to washing the storage container, using a good sponge and elbow grease is my best advice. Here again you want to use a de-greasing detergent to get any old fat off the container’s sides, if you are just dumping the food from the bag directly into the storage container. After cleaning and rinsing, air dry if possible. If that isn’t an option, get an old towel and make sure that you dry your container (including the lid) thoroughly before you put the pet food back in.

If my container still has a bit of odor in it after I clean it, I use a tablespoon of baking soda mixed with about a cup of water and wipe the sides and top of the container with this mix. Then I rinse it very well and let it sit for a few hours to dry it out. Something I have been doing recently is leaving the food in the bags they came in and put them in the container.

I started doing this a while ago after a friend ended up with a storage container full of grain beetles (due to not cleaning regularly enough). Grain beetles will not hurt your pets, they are protein after all; but they will eat the food and lay eggs and you can end up with an infestation in your kitchen cabinets if you aren’t careful. I still completely wash the container after the food has been fed and the bag is discarded. There can still be fat in the container from food spillage or from handling that you may not be able to see.

Ruthie Bently

Dogs Protecting Airline Passengers

Though expensive metal detectors and armed security officers abound at all United States airports, airways are also turning to simpler measures to protect the approximate 769 million passengers who fly each year.

They employ dogs, whose hunting and herding abilities come as naturally to them as flying does to the birds.

Sky, a 1-year-old Border Collie, routinely frequents the Southwest Florida International Airport to help keep the birds at bay.

Sky helps prevent bird strikes, which can cause major damage to an aircraft. Birds can get sucked into an engine or hit a windshield with enough force to cause a pilot to lose control.

Military bases were the first to utilize dogs to ward off stray birds. The Dover Air Force Base, located in Delaware, has employed dogs to prevent bird strikes since the early 1980s.

Southwest Florida International was the first commercial airport in the nation to pick up the idea nearly 10 years ago.

Source: zootoo

Teach your kids

A good lesson for those of us trying to teach our children and grandchildren not to be afraid of dogs and to treat animals with respect, Terrierman points out that it is NOT always OK to pet a strange dog, or to leave small helpless children alone with dogs.

"A dog that bites does not violate any laws of nature. And, as uncomfortable as it may make some breed defenders, biting is very much in the nature of all dogs, and some breeds in particular. A Jack Russell is one of them. "