How to socialize your dog during a pandemic

Social distancing provides many challenges for everyone, including dogs. Family pets quickly become accustomed to their unique routines and environments, and social distancing makes it difficult to expose pets to new people, places, activities, and experiences.

Whether a dog is new to the family or a loyal friend, a puppy, or an adult dog, socializing is an important part of responsible dog ownership. Socialization helps dogs prepare for interactions with different types of people, places, and activities.

Dogs who haven’t been socialized properly may become aggressive, territorial, or skittish in situations that are outside their normal lifestyle. Read More »

Among the biggest challenges for dog owners is finding a dog that does well with other pets.

Owning a multi-pet household is a challenge in itself. Factor in a high-maintenance, jealous pup, you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster.

When you bring a new dog into a home with other dogs, cats, or other pets, it’s important that everyone can play nice and get along. Jealousy, aggression, and disobedience can quickly become the destructive consequences that damage owner and pet relationships.

In some cases, your existing family members may be best suited for life as the only pet. If they haven’t been socialized or they don’t “warm-up” to other animals well, they probably won’t be great roommates with other pets.

On the other hand, bringing a puppy into the mix with older dogs or cats will likely annoy your current animals. As we know, puppies require a great deal of attention and maintenance, and older pets aren’t always up to the challenge of keeping up.

If you are considering bringing another family member home, make sure you do adequate research on the breeds you have and the breed you are considering. To create the happiest home for everyone, make sure they have similar temperaments, energy levels, maintenance requirements, etcetera. Read More »

Everybody loves a cute pet, but not everyone’s lifestyle is cut out for animals that require a lot of maintenance, like daily walks or trips to the park. If your lifestyle is too busy for a dog or cat, there are plenty of other lovable animals that need a good home. These low-maintenance pets can still be wonderful companions to you and your family.

While they may not require as much maintenance as other pets, this doesn’t mean they can be ignored or left alone, but they can be easy and enjoyable pets to take care of.Read More »

It’s a common myth that milk is healthy for cats. Despite popular belief, cats are actually lactose intolerant and should not consume any dairy products, including milk.

Cartoons, children’s movies, and kitten calendars frequently display happy little kitties lapping up milk. While it’s an adorable scene, what they don’t tell you is that milk can cause weight gain, upset stomach, and diarrhea in cats.

In fact, cats simply need a balanced diet of the proper cat food and water. Your cat’s food should be determined by its age, weight, breed, and lifestyle.

Ideally, cats should only be given water to drink. Staying hydrated is a common issue for adult cats, and it can be dangerous and promote health issues such as kidney disease. If you have questions about ways to encourage increased water intake, give our office a call.Read More »