The Purrfect Nanny & Purrfect Pet Health Blog

Whether your family exchanges gifts around a Christmas tree or exchanges gifts each night during Hanukkah, chances are your mind has recently turned to gift giving. For us pet lovers, that often includes our furry family members as well.

Particularly for dogs, the right ‘gift’ can make a huge difference in their happiness and fulfillment day-to-day.

Dogs are pack animals. They’re loyal and socially dependent on their ‘pack’ — which is you and your family! When you aren’t around, they may become lonely or even dreadfully bored! Many behavior problems like crying, barking, chewing, digging and other destructive behaviors can be a direct symptom of boredom.

Recently, while trying to solve a problem for a friend’s dog who is probably one of the world’s most TERRIBLE chewers, I came across a great article on how to keep dogs mentally stimulated. I’ve included excerpts below, as well as a link to the full article. Through the online article, you can further link to “Instructions on how to creatively stuff KONG toys!”, “How to clicker train your dog” and a chart on three common types of rawhide that the author feels are “Good” vs. “Dangerous”, including pictures of each.”

BORED DOGS ARE DESTRUCTIVE DOGS

After you’ve been gone for awhile, your dog quits sulking and starts looking for something to do other than lie around bored in an empty house all day.

Enter destructive behavior. They live for the moment their pack returns. But in the meantime…
They may help themselves to your socks, shoes, or clothing left lying around, your furniture, your kitchen cabinets, your child’s stuffed animals, or whatever they can find to relieve their boredom.
So your dog — who protects you and loves you — now creates frustration when you return home from wherever you’ve been.
What to do…?

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I’d like to share a terrific “tip of the week” that just hit my inbox from the Whole Dog Journal.

Your Dog’s Drinking Water

The purity of your pet’s drinking water is a serious consideration. In his book Pet Allergies, Alfred Plechner lists contaminated drinking water as a common cause of health problems. The simple act of replacing tap water with distilled, bottled or filtered water can bring surprising, dramatic improvements.

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No, that can’t be right can it? The only thing perilous about Valentine’s Day is the pounds we’ll put on from all the chocolate, right?

So…in celebration of this day of “sweets for the sweet.” I had just finished making a double batch of double dark chocolate brownies (with chocolate chips added just for kicks) to treat my co-workers. Tightly sealed in an airtight plastic container they were safely (or so I thought) esconced on the kitchen table. The usual rush to get ready for work, round up the pups to put them up…you guessed it. Chocolate crumbs and swollen bellies told a tale of thievery! Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Jane Bicks has some good points here in her article about “Why do cats purr?”

Most people believe cats purr when they are content or happy. While cats do purr when they are content, researchers attempting to uncover the answer to this 3,000-year-old mystery are finding the answer more complicated than previously thought. All domestic cats purr, as well as many wild cats, like pumas, ocelots, lions and cheetahs. Purring can occur in a variety of situations. When cats purr in the presence of other unknown cats or kittens, the behavior may serve to convey submissiveness or a friendly greeting. While it is true that cats purr contentedly while on their pet parent’s lap, they also purr when they give birth, when they are frightened, severely injured and even while dying. Because kitties clearly cannot be content in all these situations, contentment or friendliness cannot be the only reason they purr.

So why else would they purr?

Continue reading here!

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Probiotics have received a great deal of attention lately, and this focus is absolutely justified. An increasing number of products, from yogurts to pet foods, contain probiotics. Often referred to as “healthy” and/or “friendly” bacteria (or microorganisms) in the media, their proper notation is “direct fed microbials” when used in pet foods. Basically, probiotics are helpful bacteria that reside in the intestinal tract. In fact, every digestive system contains millions of bacteria, both those with a healthful purpose (like probiotics) and some that are not so beneficial. While some kinds of bacteria can be harmful, many (like direct fed microbials) actually help the immune system adapt to internal changes within the body and thus naturally support good health.

Most people do not realize that located within the digestive system is one a very important group of immune cells called the Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT), which communicate with the immune cells located throughout the body. In some respects, the GALT is the first line of defense against unhealthy microorganisms in the body. Whereas most of the cells in our body receive nutrition from the blood, this is not true for the GALT – it receives the majority of its nutrients from these helpful bacteria. Read the rest of this entry »

Two years ago we adopted a one year old Goldendoodle. His previous owners warned us that he was not fond of riding in the car. His car sickness might not have been an issue except that we needed to drive him from Pensacola Florida to Atlanta Georgia! As soon as I found out about his car anxieties, I started researching solutions; when I was 11, I’d had an eight hour car ride in the company of a car sick puppy and had no doubts that I did not want a repeat of that! The idea of drugging a dog that was new to us really didn’t appeal to me so I looked for alternatives and found lots of positive stories about Bach’s Rescue Remedy. I don’t know alot about homeopathic remedies or flower essences, what I do know is this product worked for us.

On our 7 hour car ride, our new puppy did not get sick once! I’ve since read differing opinions on the effectiveness of Rescue Remedy for pets and understand it may be effective on a case by case basis, but it is definitely worth looking into. I recommend it every chance I get.
Read more about flower essences and their indications at Bach’s.

When it comes to treats, cats are frequently passed over by many pet food companies.  At HealthyPetNet, we believe that your furry feline deserves the occasional reward of a tasty treat, just as much as do dogs.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of giving your sweet kitty the nutritional delight of Life’s Abundance Gourmet Cat Treats for Healthy Skin and Coat, you won’t believe the level of feline joy these kibbles can evoke. Your cat’s mouth will water in anticipation of these tasty indulgences, which feature chicken, herring, flaxseed and eggs.

As we have noted in the past, Dr. Jane believes that a stronger coat will lead to less hair being swallowed during grooming.  To that end, these gourmet treats contain the superior-quality proteins crucial to the growth and maintenance of a strong coat.

To further support your cat’s health, these yummy nuggets feature a full range of nutrients to address the needs of the skin, which is the body’s largest organ.  Dr. Jane included omega-3 fatty acids to help keep the skin hydrated and pliable.  And vitamin E further helps to maintain skin elasticity.  Additionally, there’s added vitamin C, to promote the production of collagen, the major component of skin.

Isn’t it time your cat enjoyed a little extra support, disguised as a tasty morsel?

In the summer of one of the most turbulent economic periods in a lifetime, Americans are rediscovering simplicity and frugality.  These days, it’s not uncommon to see a small group playing an impromptu game of Frisbee, or a couple enjoying a nature hike through a local park, or an extended family spending an afternoon in the backyard barbecuing.

The summer months provide ample opportunities for outdoor fun, whether your idea of open-air enjoyment is a power-walk with your dog or watching an afternoon storm roll in from the safety of a back porch with your cat.  These activities help us brush away the winter cobwebs, shedding new light on our daily life.  But sometimes, we make discoveries that are not altogether pleasant.  Too often, the thinner, summer coats of our pets can reveal what winter coats have hidden from plain view – reddened skin irritations, possibly the sign of a seasonal or chronic allergy.

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For those who watched their companion animals suffer more than two years ago, after the worst pet food recall in American history, the pain is still fresh.  A resolution of sorts, however, is near at hand.

Two of the individuals central to the contamination that afflicted thousands of dogs and cats submitted guilty pleas to numerous misdemeanor charges and a single felony charge.  The married co-owners, Stephen and Sally Miller of ChemNutra, were originally scheduled for sentencing on June 16th, but that was postponed and, as of the date of this newsletter’s submission for publication, has yet to be rescheduled.

The Miller’s were indicted for their actions of knowlingly distributing more than 800 tons of melamine-laced wheat gluten imported from China in more than a dozen shipments.  The couple passed off these tainted goods as high-grade protein ingredients, selling it to several of the largest producers of canned pet food and ultimately resulting in the recall of over 150 different brands of pet food.

While the maximum sentence would be two years in prison without parole and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, those who have wished for a punishment equal to the crime may be disappointed by the upcoming decision.  Prosecutors handling the case have signalled their openness to leniency, recommending that the court impose a $25,000 fine against ChemNutra, $5,000 each against the Millers, and sentence the Miller’s to three years of probation each.

It is worth noting that ChemNutra is just one of the 20-plus companies required to contribute to a $24 million compensation fund, the outcome of a class-action lawsuit brought by families affected by the recall.  How much ChemNutra paid into this fund is not a matter of public record, and may never be made known.

Shared from the Healthy Pet Net Newsletter

The splendor of summer is right around the bend.  We are approaching the season when children, freed from studies, populate the neighborhood, friends and families hold cook-outs, and we find ourselves preoccupied with the health our pet’s coats.

There’s a reason for our annual fixation.  Dogs usually begin to lose their winter coats in early spring, when it is gradually replaced by a shorter, lighter coat suited to the summer months.  The amount of shedding varies widely from breed to breed.  For example, the pet parents of German Shepherds will groan about the amount of shedding all year long, while those of us with poodles rarely have to get out the broom or vacuum, even with the arrival of summer.

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