Not all dogs live the cushy life, snoozing and playing all day; some dogs go to work every day! Service, therapy and emotional support dogs can play pivotal roles in helping people lead more confident, comfortable and independent lives. Service Dogs These highly trained dogs perform tasks that help the handler with physical or psychiatric …
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The pervasiveness of smartphones, webcams and the internet has made face-to-face communication from remote locations commonplace, if not mundane. Even, to some degree, when the other face is sporting a white lab coat. In human health, telemedicine has not only gained traction, it’s breaking speed records. According to one estimate, global use of telemedicine services …
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Can your dog predict thunderstorms more accurately than the Weather Channel? Does he pace, pant or whine hours before the first dark cloud rolls in? Has he ever chewed or scratched your doors or windows in an effort to get inside the house (or vice versa) during a storm? Does he tremble and hide at …
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Just when you thought leeches and abandoned fishhooks were the only dangers lurking in lakes and rivers, here’s another thing: leptospirosis. This bacterial infection, caused by various species of the genus Leptospira, can lead to kidney damage, liver failure and worse in dogs and their human counterparts. Go Jump in the Lake… or Not Leptospires …
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Bees (and wasps and hornets) are helpful to the environment, which is why we plant bee-friendly gardens replete with nectar-filled blossoms to attract them. But to most dogs, bees are not so helpful! Bees won’t hesitate to sting any pet that noses about, paws at or otherwise disturbs their crucial pollinating work. For pets, especially …
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Guide dogs do an important job in helping blind or low-vision people gain independence, confidence and greater mobility. In addition to guiding people safely through traffic and crowds, dogs may also be trained to find certain nearby objects such as a doors, elevators or mailboxes. The term “seeing-eye dog” is somewhat of a misnomer. The …
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For dog owners, the only sound that epitomizes summer more than the shhh-tik-tik-tik-tik of a lawn sprinkler is the jangle of ID tags as their dogs shake their heads and scratch their ears. Why all the racket? Because summer often means ear infections for our canine companions. What Causes Them? In dogs, ear infections are …
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The mere mention of fleas is enough to make you feel itchy all over. Now double that and you might know how your dog or cat feels when flea season hits. The mere presence of fleas can make a dog or cat itchy, but for pets who are allergic to fleas, it’s even worse: a …
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When outdoors, a cat sure gets around. In fact, a crowd-sourced mapping project that equips cats with GPS devices has the interactive maps to prove it. The trouble is, there are lots of potential hazards along an adventurous cat’s route, including moving cars, dogs and wild animals, infectious diseases, parasites and toxins. This is why …
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Every time a natural or not-so-natural disaster makes headlines, you can bet that urban search and rescue dogs (USAR) are quietly at work behind the scenes. From Ground Zero and Hurricane Katrina to tornadoes in Oklahoma, floods in Colorado, mudslides in Washington and even earthquakes in Haiti, these trained rescue dogs have applied their noses …
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