Posts from September, 2017

Keeping your pet healthy is a veterinarian’s number one priority.  The easiest way to keep your pet happy and healthy is an annual visit to the veterinarian.  Do you have trouble affording your pet’s annual vaccinations, testing and preventative medication?  If you do, then pet wellness plans can help you get the care your pet needs with affordable monthly payments. Continue…

September is Animal Pain Awareness Month, and unlike humans, our pets are not able to tell us when they are in pain.  Signs of animal pain can often be subtle changes in behavior, especially in cats.  Therefore, it is important for pet owners to be able to recognize signs of pain. Continue…

Starting obedience training with our pets is a lot like teaching someone a new language. In the past, it was common for trainers to use physical correction, coercion, and punishment to force animals to perform behaviors. Recently, with the help of psychological research, we’ve learned that animals can be taught in a more efficient and humane way. By using a mixture of “shaping” (using a lure to guide your pet into a desired position or behavior) and “capturing” (rewarding your pet for demonstrating a  desired position or behavior on his/her own), trainers have found a way to help pets learn without the use of harsher methods that can lead to future  problems.   The most important aspects of positive reinforcement training and reward marking are: Continue…

We’ve all had it happen. You turn on the tap to get a drink or brush your teeth, and suddenly you have a cat in the sink. They had absolutely no interest in even being in the same room with you until the water started to flow. Believe it or not, Tiger isn’t getting in your way just to annoy you. There’s a reason for a drink at the sink.  It’s an important part of feline wellness. Continue…

The first written record of Rabies occurred in the 23^rd Century B.C.  Even back then; they understood that fact that this disease was transmitted by the bite of an animal.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the 19^th Century that there was an accurate diagnosis, isolation of the virus and discovery of a Rabies vaccine and treatment for human exposure. Continue…