Not Snow Happy!
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Not sure if Holly is hating the snow or having us dress her up for silly photos!
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Did you Know?
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Your Reliable Pet Sitter will do more than just feed them -
Take pets for walks
Bring in Newspapers
Take out the Trash Cans on Pick-up Day
Turn lights on and off for security
Bring in the Mail
Sweep the Entrance
Load up the Wood Stove or Fireplace
Take Pets to Vet or Groomer
Wait at the house for delivery or service
Clean out litter box
Give Medications
Arrange for other services like lawn care while you are gone
Let us know, we are here to help. |
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Where do your Pets REALLY Sleep?
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Where does YOUR dog sleep?
I recently saw a poll asking
dog lovers just that question.
Here is the
answer according to their results:
As you can see below - 60% of dogs
sleep on the bed! Another 18% sleep elsewhere in the bedroom. Wow!
On the bed 60.25%
On the floor in the bedroom
17.55%
On the couch/sofa or special chair 8.63%
In a crate 6.17%
In
another room 2.75%
In an area specifically for the dogs
2.09%
Outside
1.33%
In the kitchen 0.95%
I don't know where my dog sleeps
0.28%
Try the RELIABLE PET SITTER POLL and see how you fare
with others in our region. Do you think it will be more or less than the
national average of dogs sleeping in beds.
Based on the UNOFFICIAL
Reliable Pet Sitter observations, we find most of your pets in your bed when we
arrive at your homes!
Web Vet Article
What to consider before letting your pet sleep on your bed
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Greetings!
Some of us love the snow, others just tolerate
it. Most dogs love the chance to romp and play, while others shiver and
shake. I love the change of seasons and choose to live in this area. For our
customers who travel during the winter, either to enjoy the snow or get to some
warmer climate, knowing their pets are keeping their regular schedule and safely
in their own beds, is a great peace of mind. Animals are creatures of habit.
Studies show the more you can keep a routine, the happier the pet. Your pet
sitters love animals and it is truly a Win-Win-Win situation. Happy Pet
Sitters, Happy Owners and Happy Pets
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Why should we be putting our dogs on heartworm medicine in the middle of
winter?
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- by Dr. Karen Detweiler - Mobi-Vet
Isn't it overkill to be medicating our pets with drugs on a monthly basis?
These are questions veterinarians often hear when we suggest putting their dogs
on year round monthly heartworm medications. Let's consider the benefits of
the heartworm medicines currently available.
Today there are some great medications available to prevent heartworm.
Heartworm is a serious parasitic infection of dogs. The parasite is carried to
the host dog by a mosquito. Mosquitoes carry infective larvae, or 'baby'
heartworms from an infected dog to another dog by taking a blood meal. The
'baby' heartworms go to the heart and grow to be the size of spaghetti noodles!
When the worms are adults, they produce the 'baby' heartworms that get sucked
out of the dog by mosquitoes and the cycle begins again. Over the course of time
the heartworm infected heart goes into failure from trying to push blood past
all this stuff clogging it up. The treatment for heartworm is much more
strenuous, dangerous and expensive than preventing the disease in the first
place. Not only do most of the heartworm preventatives prevent heartworm, but
now they also prevent other parasites like round worms and hookworms. Some
even prevent fleas and ticks as well.
Before we put dogs on heartworm medicine we test them to be sure they don't
have the disease. The exception to this is puppies under 6 months of age.
Since the lifecycle of the disease takes about 6 months, even if a puppy was
bitten by a mosquito when it was first born, it wouldn't test positive until it
was over 6 months old. Many vets use a heart worm test that also tests for
Lyme disease at the same time. Early cases of Lyme disease can be caught this
way.
So why have the dogs on the medicine year round? Why not just when there
are mosquitoes? In this region we are blessed with four seasons. We usually
have a 2-3 month winter where mosquitoes are not around to bother us. But, we
also have some winters that are very mild and it is hard to say sometimes when
the time for mosquitoes is really over. The cost of stopping for 2-3 months is
less than having to retest every year before going back on the heartworm meds.
And since most preventatives also prevent other parasites as well, all the more
reason to keep your dog on prevention year round.
Preventing heartworm is much easier than treating heartworm. The medicines
not only prevent heartworm but keep other parasites away. What's not to love?
Ask your veterinarian about how to protect your dog.
Karen Detweiler, VMD is the owner of Mobi Vet
Mobile Veterinary Services
381 Frogtown Rd Kintnersville,, PA
18930
Office:
215-892-3328
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Finicky Dogs: What is Your Role?
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How
do you respond when your dog refuses to eat? Do you pet him, console him,
hand-feed him, etc.?
If
you are giving your dog positive reinforcements when he is finicky, he may avoid
eating until he gets the extra attention he desires.
One common method
for feeding finicky dogs is that you put the food in your dog's bowl, and walk
away. When your dog is hungry, he will eat for nourishment. Do not turn mealtime
into a bargain for attention.
Are you able to provide your dog with
routine? Most dogs like routine. Do you feed him at relatively the same time
each day, or does your schedule prevent you from giving your dog regular feeding
times? Dogs prefer routine. Unpredictable feeding times may be stressful to your
dog and his gastrointestinal system. In these situations, an automated feeder
may be ideal for your canine friend. The feeder can be set to a particular time,
at which it will open for your dog to eat.
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Excerpts from
"A Cat's Guide To Human Beings"
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I found this fun website and thought the Cat Lovers would enjoy this...
Introduction: Why Do We Need Humans?
So you've decided to get yourself a human being. In doing so, you've joined the
millions of other cats who have acquired these strange and often frustrating creatures.
There will be any number of times, during the course of your association with humans, when
you will wonder why you have bothered to grace them with your presence.
What's so great about humans, anyway? Why not just hang around with other cats? Our
greatest philosophers have struggled with this question for centuries, but the answer is
actually rather simple: THEY HAVE OPPOSABLE THUMBS.
Which makes them the perfect tools for such tasks as opening doors, getting the lids off
of cat food cans, changing television stations and other activities that we, despite our
other obvious advantages, find difficult to do ourselves. True, chimps, orangutans and
lemurs also have opposable thumbs, but they are nowhere as easy to train.
How And When to Get Your Human's Attention
Humans often erroneously assume that there are other, more important activities than
taking care of your immediate needs, such as conducting business, spending time with their
families or even sleeping.
Though this is dreadfully inconvenient, you can make this work to your advantage by
pestering your human at the moment it is the busiest. It is usually so flustered that it
will do whatever you want it to do, just to get you out of its hair. Not coincidentally,
human teenagers follow this same practice.
Here are some tried and true methods of getting your human to do what you want:
Sitting on paper: An oldie but a goodie. If a human has paper in front of it, chances are
good it's something they assume is more important than you. They will often offer
you a snack to lure you away. Establish your supremacy over this wood pulp product at
every opportunity. This practice also works well with computer keyboards, remote controls,
car keys and small children.
Waking your human at odd hours: A cat's "golden time" is between 3:30 and 4:30
in the morning. If you paw at your human's sleeping face during this time, you have a
better than even chance that it will get up and, in an incoherent haze, do exactly what
you want. You may actually have to scratch deep sleepers to get their attention; remember
to vary the scratch site to keep the human from getting suspicious. More....
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We are always looking for new ideas for our newsletter. If there is anything you would like to see, or have an article to submit. Please send to info@reliablepetsitter.com
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