The Purrfect Nanny & Purrfect Pet Health Blog

In addition to the basic needs of food and shelter a dog also needs social interaction, positive attention from their owner, exercise, and mental stimulation. A simple 30 minute walk each day can fulfill these needs and keep your dog healthy and strong, and improve behavior at home through practicing obedience skills.

Social Skills
Dogs are social animals and enjoy the opportunity to socialize with other dogs. They are also pack animals and intinctually need to be with others - dogs or humans. A daily walking routine provides them with personal attention to satisfy this “pack need”.
Walking is a great way to ensure that puppies learn early to appropriately greet and interact with other dogs and people. These positive interactions build skills and ensure they will not act inappropriately when meeting other dogs as an adult.

Mental Stimulation
Dogs love to investigate their territory and seek out news smells and changes to their environment. Walking provides the mental stimulation that comes from experiencing a wide range of odors and scents. Without this stimulation a dogs enjoyment of life is limited and the dog can become bored and unhappy which leads to destructive behavior.
A daily walk is a great opportunity to reinforce training skills which builds self confidence, reduces stress, and makes sure they remember their training at home.

Exercise
Today it is estimated that 40% of American dogs are overweight. Regular exercise improves blood flow to the heart, and oxygen to the lungs, builds strong muscles, increases joint mobility, increases energy levels and helps to control weight.
Exercising your dog can enhance their quality of life, decrease risk of cancer, diabetes, arthritis, heart attach and strokes and extend their lifespan and the time that you can enjoy them being part of your family.
Exercise also improves a dogs mood, and decreases the risk of dog depression. It is especially important to keep aging pets agile and fit as they may not be inclined to exercise without your encouragement.

Preventing Behavior Problems
Walking relieves boredom that can cause behavior problem such as detructiveness, separation anxiety, and barking. Walking gives your dog a way to channel their energy in a positive way. Active dogs are typcially happy, well-adjusted dogs.
For good health and wellbeing of your dogs, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A regular routine of walking and playtime may be exactly what your dogs need to maintain its health for many years.

If you don’t have the time or energy to walk your dog regularly please consider accepting our offer to help.
When you walk your dog don’t forget to take along a bag to pick up after them and help us prevent pollution of our ground water!

You see “Buddy” the dog on license plates everyday in Atlanta traffic. “Buddy” is about to get a new friend, “Hope”. Hope is a former shelter cat; her portrait, by Duluth Georgia artist Randalyn “Randy” Bieniek, was voted by Georgia residents as the winner of a feline artwork contest, sponsored by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. These special tags help fund the Dog and Cat Sterilization program. Over $22 of each $25 tag goes to directly fund the DCSP. These funds are used solely for spay/neuter procedures and to advance educational outreach on the procedure as a healthy choice for pets. Since 2003, this program has collected almost $2.9 million through the sale of these special tags and through the State Income Tax Check Off. Any Georgia resident can benefit from this program. To date 1,004 veterinarians participate in the statewide spay/neuter program.
Interested residents should contact their local vet to verify that they are participating in the program. A list of current participating vets can be obtained here.
“By adding the new Feline Friend license plate we hope to appeal to cat lovers throughout Georgia to help us with this important program,” said Commissioner Irvin. “We hope that everyone goes out and buys this tag for their vehicles.”

For the longest time I have the feeling I can understand more about what my animals want to communicate to me than the average horse/pet owner but not far as good as I would like to understand. A few years ago, when my horse refused to canter on one lead, but had no problem with the other side I was convinced something was wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you love sushi?
Why not share that love with your pet?

Sushi for Pets

6 ounces canned pink salmon (reserve liquid)
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water, plus salmon liquid
1 egg, hard-boiled chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrot
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons cod liver oil Read the rest of this entry »

As seen on My Fox Atlanta, there was a deadly dog attack in Kennesaw Friday.

One customer’s dog, mauled another customer’s Mini Schnauzer to death inside the Kennesaw PetsMart store.

Watch the video

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=8317974&version=1&locale=EN-US

What a horrible story. What do you think, should PetsMart allow people to bring their dogs shopping or would they be saver waiting at home?

600 miles south of Atlanta, in Boca Raton FL, a family picked up their new pet.
I mean their new, old pet.
Most importantly, their new, old pet with a price tag of over $150,000.
Six years ago, the Otto family had their labrador’s DNA frozen. When he died at the beginning of 2008, the Ottos began the process of having his DNA cloned.
On Monday, BioArts Inc, based in Korea, brought Lancy home to Florida.

See the first commercially cloned dog Lancy here.

If you could, would you clone your favorite pet?
BioArts has one cloning spot available…

I love all animals big, small, furry and scaly, but I have to admit Goldendoodles and Labradoodles have recently stolen my heart!

IDOG RRR is a member of the Adopt A Pet program and has an opportunity to win $10,000 for our rescue program! Its easy!
You can help support the International Doodle Owners Group Rescue Rehome Resources by taking a few moments to follow this link and vote for them!

Prize and other winnings to help animal shelter or rescue group bring more services and awareness to animals in need

International Doodle Owners Group Rescue Rehome Resources has the opportunity to win $10,000 with local community support in the “America’s Favorite Animal Shelter – A New Year of Hope for Animals” contest sponsored by Care2.com and Adopt-a-Pet.com. Voters’ favorite local animal shelter or rescue group will win the grand prize, which will go a long way to help International Doodle Owners Group Rescue Rehome Resources to save the lives of more dogs.

Care2.com, the largest online community of people passionate about making a difference, is hosting the contest with Adopt-a-Pet.com to bring public awareness about the plight of homeless animals over the holiday season, as well as recognize animal shelters and rescue groups for their outstanding efforts in animal welfare.

Read the rest of this entry »

The fees that airlines charge have been on the rise this past year; giving pet owners even more reason to leave their pets at home in the care of a professional pet sitter.
Many airlines have doubled what a pet owner will pay for the small piece of real-estate under the seat in front of you. Passengers can expect to pay anywhere from $140 to $350 for the privilege of having their pet ride with them in the cabin. If you have a larger dog, cargo rates can be even higher! One airline we found charges $25 per pound! For our Barley to travel with us by plane would be more than the airfare for the rest of the family combined, around $1300! Unless we travel by car, you can be sure to find Barley in the comfort of his own home during vacation; tended to by his favorite pet sitter!
Do you travel with your pet? What types of changes have you noticed?

In an effort to change lives, Hill’s Pet Nutrition has teamed with local pet shelters across the nation to bring new pets and owners together. On January 24, 2009, Change a Pet’s Life Day, the first 10 adoptions at participating shelters are free! New pet owners will also receive a starter kit from Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

Check here for participating Metro Atlanta shelters.

Late Tuesday, PetSmart announced it would be recalling seven types of its Grreat Choice biscuits due to concerns of a possible salmonella contamination. The affected products contain peanut paste made by Peanut Corp of America. The FDA is currently investigating Peanut Corp of America in regard to salmonella concerns, though no products have tested positive for containing salmonella, PetSmart is issuing this recall as a precautionary measure. If you currently have this product in your home, discontinue use and return to PetSmart for a complete refund or exchange.

See the PetSmart Recall announcement for more information.