Archive for year: 2010

My 2 cats have a fenced in area attached to the house that they can access from the garage and they do love to spend a lot of time outside in it.  The biggest concern for me with the outdoor garden is that they can catch fleas.  This year, I treated the area with a few natural remedies and I think it worked well.  I also flea comb them a few times a day to catch any of the critters that may still be around.

The non-toxic remedies I used were IGR or Insect Growth Regulator and Nematodes.  I followed the directions carefully on the bottles. I also started sprinkling some nutritional yeast on their food.  Fussy eaters..both of them…but they love it!!

Here in Iowa, we had a terrible humid summer and I was pleased with the way these 2 products work.  I’ll use them again next year, but will start earlier in the season.

One of the most common problems that people find in their dog or cat’s urine test  is a positive result on the blood indicator.

Most often, this is an indication of  an infection.  Once the owner takes their animal to the veterinarian, the diagnosis is made.  The reason we recommend using ThePetCheckup every month is to catch an imbalance, such as an infection, at a very early stage.

There are other situations that can contribute to a dog or cat having blood in their urine, such as kidney stones, internal infections, or tumors. It may even be from eating a sharp piece of grass or stick outside. 

In any case, blood in the urine is not normal and should be checked out right away.

In just a few weeks, the people of Missouri will be voting on Proposition B–the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act.

The outcome of this bill will have far-reaching influence on puppy mill dogs throughout the county.  You can click on this link to learn more about the bill…even if you don’t live in MO, there are actions you can take to support the passage of this bill.

http://www.aspca.org/news/national/10-08-10.html#1

Having been on Cape Cod last month when hurricane Earl was approaching, I saw first – hand how important it is to have a rescue plan in advance for your animals.  The shelter that we would have had to go to accepts animals, so we knew Lily would be OK if we had to leave our house.

Happily Earl did not pose a problem for the northeast coast, and now that I am back in Iowa, I am thinking of all the possible situations that might occur here and how I would deal with the cats if we had to leave the house suddenly.  The most difficult part would be catching Chloe and Kate to put them in their carriers.

They are rarely interested in doing anything I say unfortunately.

This Sunday, the 26th is the annual Step Out walk for diabetes.   This year the walk will again be held in Look Park in Northampton, MA.

My sister, Lily and I will be driving up from the Cape.  Lily will once again be wearing her Diabetes bandana.  I think some of my cousins will be bringing their dogs as well…although none have been at as many walks as Lily, I’m sure she will be fairly happy to see them.

So far the weather reports are looking good, so I hope it will be a nice turn-out.  The previous walks were held in the Springfield area and were quite successful.   We’ll be walking in memory of my cousin Brenda Allen, who passed on 2 years ago from complications of type 1 diabetes and her father Elliott Allen who passed on a few months later.