That Pet Blog That Pet Place Pet Blog

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought I’d research a topic that many people don’t know a lot about; breast cancer in pets. Most people are aware that pets can get many different types of cancer, as it is the leading cause of death in older pets. 

Among pets, dogs appear to have the greatest prevalence of breast cancer; it is estimated that 1 in 4 unspayed female dogs will develop a form of breast cancer. Other animals, such as cats, rats and other small mammals can also suffer from breast cancer, known as mammary cancer. About half of dogs who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a malignant form of cancer, but if caught early enough both types of cancer can be treated through removal of the tumor and chemotherapy. Breast cancer can be prevented in most pets simply by having them spayed (and that helps with pet overpopulation too!). Read More »

If you’re like me, you get friendly reminder cards from your veterinarian each year asking you to set up an appointment for an exam and any required vaccinations for your pet.  It got me thinking. Children-of-the-human-variety receive their vaccinations and booster shots in their childhood and adolescence, but the immunity to most of those diseases lasts through adulthood.  As our pets become more like children to us, pet parents are starting to question whether or not our pets truly need vaccinated every year or if the vaccinations could be causing more harm than good.

A few years ago, I walked into my vet’s office with my new puppy, my first as an adult. I was bombarded by pamphlets and discussions on all the different diseases that Barrett could be vaccinated against. It was my vet doing most of the talking, and I trusted (and still trust) that they are only trying to do what is best for my pets’ health. He told me about diseases, how they are contracted and, truthfully, almost scared me into signing Barrett up for every vaccine offered. What I didn’t hear from him were the possible side effects of the vaccine, how effective it really was against the diseases it claimed to prevent or if over-vaccinating can have adverse side effects. Doctors and vets operate on a risk/benefit comparison. If the collective benefit of a vaccine is greater than the potential risk, the vaccine is recommended.

How many different diseases should a pet be vaccinated against, and how often should the boosters be administered? Read More »

“In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.”
– Edgar Allan Poe, “The Black Cat”

Have you ever visited a pet shelter or rescue and noticed that their resident pets were mostly dark in color? It probably wasn’t your imagination. The idea that black dogs and other dark colored pets remain in shelters longer, and are more often euthanized than pets of other colors, is debated by some. But people who volunteer, work in or run animal shelters can tell you that the seeming discrimination against black animals is a reality. The condition has been given a name–Black Dog Syndrome.  Despite the gentle and loving personalities thes pets may have they are often passed over for others in the shelter, but why?  Having known and lived with several inky-black cats and dogs, I can attest that each was as affectionate and sweet as their yellow, white, tan, brown or grey counterparts, maybe even more so.  In fact, their satiny, glossy black coat may have even made them more appealing to me. So what causes these pets to be passed overin a shelter situation? Read More »

Recently I came across an interesting article about teaching dogs sign language. I was intrigued by the concept, and I decided to give it a shot with my own dogs. I purchased a book written by the creator of K9Sign.  I have a lot of hard work ahead of me, if I want to successfully teach my dogs to sign, but one of the first things that I’ve got to work on is my understanding of how dogs learn. Read More »

I’ve been married to the same wonderful man for almost 17 years. Around our house, we refer to him as The Tall Guy. “We” being the cats and me. That’s how they sign their cards to him. Our cats were strays and they’re still independent in nature. Although I’d love to think they think of us as Mommy and Daddy, I’m pretty sure they see us solely as the two-legged creatures who appear to dole out the food.

We were married for six years before we had cats. Looking back, all I can think is, “What on earth did we do with all our time?” (I know what we’re doing with it now: Fighting a losing battle against cat hair.)

But there have been other changes since welcoming cats into our home, many I’m sure most pet lovers can relate to. Read More »

A specially-trained Labrador Retriever named Marine has made medical history by exhibiting an amazing degree of accuracy in detecting bowel cancer.  It is hoped that further studies will lead to new advances in cancer detection and treatment.

A Near-Perfect Performance

Marine was able to detect the presence of bowel cancer by sniffing either the breath or stool samples of 48 people that had previously been diagnosed with the disease.  The dog’s accuracy was rated at 95% for breath samples and 98% for stool samples, and was not affected by potentially confusing factors such as smoking or the presence of other gastro-intestinal problems.  Read More »

Researchers at South Carolina’s Wofford College have announced that a Border Collie has been trained to identify over 1,000 objects.  Surprisingly, the clever dog, “Chaser”, can also differentiate between objects and actions involving them – grasping, in essence, the concept of nouns and verbs!

Surpassing Her “Trainers”

Summarized in a recent Behavioral Processes article, the Border Collie experiments are expected to shed light on just what it is that dogs understand when we speak to them.  The researchers (or ethologists, as animal behavior specialists are known) pointed out that they stopped introducing new objects at 1,022 due to time constraints – Chaser seemed willing and able to learn more.  In fact, her ability to remember all the objects seemed to exceed that of her human trainers! Read More »