by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Adopt-a-cat month

June is Adopt-a-Cat month and while most of the time it’s dogs that get the attention – there are many cats and adorable kittens across Long Island looking for loving homes.  As someone who grew up with cats and each and every one was a stray or feral cat or kitten – adopting a cat will add much happiness, fun, laughter and joy into your home.  Every cat we took in – was so smart and lived long healthy lives.

The summer months are the perfect time of year to promote cat adoptions because typically June, July and August bring a surge of cats to the nation’s shelters. Locally one shelter that has an entire building of their no-kill shelter dedicated to cats looking for homes is Kent Animal Shelter in Calverton, NY. Their Executive Director, Pam Green said, “When cats are not neutered or spayed, they reproduce easily, and spring and summer are the seasons when cats are most active, resulting in many kittens showing up at our doors. We encourage everyone to visit their local shelter.”  Ms. Green also offered this helpful ‘top ten’ list for those thinking about adopting new cat into your household:

“TOP TEN” CHECKLIST FOR ADOPTING A CAT

1. If you’re thinking about adopting a cat, consider taking home two.
2. Find a cat whose personality matches with yours.
3. Pick out a veterinarian ahead of time and schedule a visit within the first few days following the adoption.
4. Make sure everyone in the house is prepared to have a cat before it comes home.
5. Budget for the short- and long-term costs of a cat.
6. Stock up on supplies before the cat arrives.
7. Cat-proof your home.
8. Go slowly when introducing your cat to new friends and family.
9. Be sure to include your new pet in your family’s emergency plan.
10. If you’re considering giving a cat as a gift, make sure the recipient is an active participant in the adoption process.
11. Realize that this is a 12-18 year commitment.

Kent Animal Shelter invites all prospective cat adopters to visit the shelter 7 days a week from 10-4pm. Adoption fees range from $ 50.00 to $ 75.00 and have been lowered to help find homes for the many cats and kittens at the shelter. All cats for adoption have been vaccinated, checked for feline leukemia and aids, de-wormed and micro-chipped.

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Messy eaters, Pet Parents rejoice!

Is your pet a messy eater?  Does your dog drool while drinking water?  Boy do I have the solution for you!  Recently, Max the resident pet product tester, was sent a big box with one of the most revolutionary new pet products I’ve seen in a while. When I first saw this product, I thought, “wow, what a great idea, and damn it why didn’t I think of that!”  What am I talking about?  The Neater Feeder of course.  Made right here in the good ‘ol US of A from recyclable plastic.  While Max is not the messiest of eaters, he does tend to drool a bit when he drinks water, nothing like a Mastiff or Great Dane – but enough where I was always cleaning the wooden elevated feeder and floor around it – often enough to be annoying, to say the least.

The Neater Feeder feeding solution is designed to take the mess out of mealtime thanks to its raised backsplash and dual reservoir which contains and separates spills and splatters, preventing soggy kibble and slick floors. Seriously, what more could you ask for?

When I opened the box to the Neater Feeder – Max was very curious as to what was in the box. After cleaning the stainless steel bowls and wiping down the rest of the feeder I set it up, put fresh water in the new bowl and prepared his dinner (kibble and his other new favorite Evermore Pet Food).  It was a little past his dinner time and he was hungry – but when I put the food bowl into the feeder he was scared of it!  Classic Max, I am scardy cat American Pit Bull Terrier who doesn’t really like change – and I mean scared that he was standing about 3 or 4 feet away from the feeder crying.  Unbelievable I thought while laughing, “Max you’re such a baby, come here.”  It took about 10 minutes of slowly coaxing bringing the bowl ever closer to the feeder and finally being able to put the bowl inside of the feeder.  He did back up a few times still while eating and cried again, but I guess hunger took over.  OMG!

After the initial drama, he now has adapted to the minor change in his life and loves the feeder – and the BEST part – when he drinks water he stands there and any dribble is caught in the filter area in front of the bowls and it conveniently falls through to the reservoir area below.  One day about a week after he had it, some smaller kibble that was mixed with his regular food (another product he was testing) made him cough a mouth full of food – and where did it land, not all over the floor – but right back into the feeder!  With his last elevated feeder, which I did like for what it was, that food would have gone everywhere.  So we are converts – loving this new feeder, the care and maintenance of it is cake and I would highly recommend it.  The product comes in all small, medium and large and there is even a version for cats too. Like with the one Max has it has extra extender legs with non-skid rubber treads to raise it even.

So Max has concurred a fear, is no longer drooling, spilling, or spitting any food on the floor.  It’s great for human error too, just the other day I was putting fresh water in his bowl pouring from the Brita pitcher and I splashed the water and all the water landed right inside the feeder. Thank you Neater Feeder!  One last thing – Max will be sharing his new found feeder wealth with one lucky winner – check out our weekly newsletter (you can sign up above to the right) for an upcoming “Where in the World is Max” contest.  The person who correctly guesses where Max is will get their very own Neater Feeder!  (Be sure to sign up and watch for the contest – it will be coming up soon!)

crunch, crunch, crunch!

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Breath of Fresh Air

While many of our volunteer fire companies on Long Island have been struggling to keep our animal friends safe, they are unable to purchase pet oxygen masks and as a result animals from dogs to cats are being put in serious danger, with many dying from the effects of smoke asphyxiation.  Pets in Suffolk County will now be breathing easier, and so will some of our local fire departments all because of the efforts of two teenage boys in Dix Hills and their partnership with Canine Fence.    Matthew and Marc Klinger, 15 and 13, co-founders of the Paws4Air foundation wanted to change that.  They started Paws4Air when they found out that their fire department did not carry pet oxygen masks on any of their fire trucks. Fire departments cannot use their money to buy these masks, because they can only purchase equipment that is used to help humans. They quickly used their birthday money to purchase the sets needed for their fire department. “Our goal is to equip every first response truck in Suffolk County with the much needed pet oxygen masks.” said Matthew and Marc.

Paws4Air created pet oxygen awareness bands that they sell to raise funds and awareness. Bands can be purchased from their website www.paws4air.org . They have had great help in selling the bands to students in their school district, Half Hollow Hills from the Animal Friends and Advocates Clubs at both the high schools, East and West, and the Leaders Club at West Hollow Middle School.

With their good fortune to partner up with Canine Fence, Paws4Air will be able to obtain their goal much faster!  Canine Fence have generously pledged to donate 50 Project Breathe O2 pet masks to help in the effort to equip every first response fire truck in Suffolk County, Long Island. As well as match one set for every one set purchased through fundraising by Paws 4Air. With the donations from Canine Fence and the sales of awareness bands, Paws4Air were able to give the fire companies in Commack, East Northport, and Elwood pet oxygen masks. In the next few weeks, many more fire departments in the Suffolk county area will be getting their sets!

Thanks to the efforts of two young men, and their charitable organization Paws4Air along with the contributions of Canine Fence® steps are being taken in the right direction.

Photo (left to right) Maryflorence Brennan (Canine Fence), Kieran Keane (Commack Fire Department), Marc Klinger (Paws4Air), Matthew Klinger (Paws4Air)

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Likable Linkables

So if you wondering what Max has been doing in between his travels and photo shoots for the ‘Where in the world is Max’ contest, he is hard at work earning his daily kibble by product reviewing dog toys.  It’s a ruff job, but somebody’s dog has to do it.  In the last few weeks, in between his daily walks he has been playing with a few different toys by Premier Pet Products.

The first toy, I knew he would probably destroy – but quicker than I expected.  I don’t normally get him any kind of toys that are in the realm of stuffed animals – because they never last long.  He has a method to his madness first ripping off the tag, then delicately (as if he were a seamstress in his former doggie life) removes the thread of the seem, usually about an inch or two long – then pulls out the stuffing with the sole purpose of removing the toys’ squeaker.  But, he never destroys the squeaker – which I find kind of ironic.

So when I gave him the large size Premier Pogo Plush Ball which has an outer soft plush shell an inner bouncy frame and free floating squeaker inside of that, I thought maybe he play with it for a bit.  But sadly he destroyed the toy within about 3 minutes – and yes he ripped the tag off first and left the squeaker in tact. (Crazy dog!)  Now if you have a dog that likes stuffed animal type of toys, or plush toys and doesn’t destroy them – your dog may really enjoy this new type of toy.  If your dog is a chewer or just likes to rip apart toys – I wouldn’t recommend it.  I had a Doberman that loved her plush toys, and would have them for years – she would have loved this toy so much.  So it boils down to knowing what is good for your dog. (Continued below).

Luckily, however, Premier also has a new product line called Busy Buddy Linkables – and Max is absolutely loving these toys and having a blast playing with them.  At first, he wasn’t sure what to do when I linked the Orb Linkable with the Elbow Linkable and put some of his dog food in there.  The Orb is kind of heavy for him to toss around – but he was pushing and flipping the both around for I would say 2 hours the first day he had them.  Which is great because it kept him very busy, drained a lot of mental and physical energy playing with the toy and he couldn’t destroy it.  The next day I just put treats in the Elbow Linkable and he was tossing and flipping the toy all over the deck – it was quite comical.   So if you are looking for a toy to keep your dog very busy, active, and out of your hair for a bit – I would highly recommend the Linkable product line.  So out of both products, one paw up and one paw down from Max.

And as with any toy you give your dog – you should always monitor your dog.  I am lucky that Max does not like to eat or ingest toy products – but many dogs do even if by accident.  Make sure you watch your dog and don’t leave them unattended with toys they could eat any parts of.  Also if you put his kibble in there, make sure you deduct that amount from his food at night so you don’t make your dog obese in the process.

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Preventing Dog Bites

As someone who has been working with dogs on nearly a daily basis since I was a kid, preventing a dog bite seems to come naturally to me, and by applying common sense to every situation with a dog in order not to get bit, has helped tremendously.  But not everyone is aware of dog body language, behavior, how to act around dogs, etc.  Recently a good friend of mine was bitten pretty badly on her hand by a Jack Russell Terrier, that flew off his property and was attacking, literally going for her Old English Bulldog’s throat.  Luckily for the Jack her bulldog didn’t react to the situation, (seriously that could have been his lunch), but my friend, the bulldog’s owner who was walking her leashed dog in a local LI neighborhood said she had to keep pushing the Jack away and got bit in the process. You can’t blame her wanting to protect her dog from being hurt in the process. This occurs more often that you would think – we only hear about attacks in the news when it involves a certain media sensationalized breed – but all and every type, size and breed of dog can bite.

This week being National Dog Bite Prevention Awareness Week, May 15 -21st, here are some tips to help the everyday dog owner:

• Ask if you can pet the dog.  This seems like such an obvious thing to do – but not everyone asks.  How do you know the dog being walked towards you is friendly?

• Teach your kids to ask you first if they can pet a dog – then have them ask the dog owner before they run up and pet the cute puppy coming along.  Dogs can get nervous (especially if they are not used to kids running up to them), and kids often times can be over zealous. A good rule of thumb, as the dog owner, is to instruct the kids approaching, ‘one at a time’ as they come up and pet the dog.  Also instruct them to let the dog sniff them first.  As the owner you need to watch your dogs body language – if he is backing away from the kids, trying to hide behind you, putting his hair up (hackles between should blades), or worse curls his lips or growls?  If this happens tell the children, ok thanks for petting him we are going to be on our way, and keep on walking.  Not all dogs like kids!

• Don’t go up to strange dogs.  If you are not an expert, a dog trainer, and if you see a loose dog and want to help it, call your local animal control or animal shelter so they can send a professional out to help the dog.

• Some dogs are food and toy guarders – meaning the may growl or lunge at you if you are near them while they are eating or playing with a toy.  This behavior can be corrected with a good dog trainer, (and that the owners actually listen to the trainers instructions!), but if you have a dog like this – the dog is warning you with that growl.  Take it seriously.  But seek out a trainer – many times an owner has helped the dog develop this bad habit unknowingly – it’s no reason to give up on a dog.

• Teach your children and their friends not to tease or bully your dog.  They would not want to be teased, and either does a dog.  (A friend of mine years ago teased my friends dog relentlessly for years, not in a mean way, just what could be annoying to a dog and finally one day while we were all rollerblading with the dog – he was taunting her and I guess she finally had enough and chased him and bit him right in the butt! While we could not stop laughing at the time because frankly he may have deserved it, he was bleeding and she ripped his shorts.  If that was a child it would be a lot worse, needless to say he learned his lesson!)

• A tired dog is a good dog. Many people don’t take their dogs for actual walks here on Long Island relying on just using their yard for the dog.  Dogs bond with us, learn better, get mental and much need physical exercise while on a walk.  Much more then just playing with them in your yard – try to start walking your dog more on a regular basis. You will see a huge difference.

• Be sure to keep your dog up-to-date on their vaccinations (rabies is required by NYS law), license your dog and have regular check ups by their vet.

• Take a dog education class.  Here on Long Island the Town of Islip offers this class for Free to anyone that wants to attend.  Dog Bite Prevention is one of the many topics covered.  More information can be found here on upcoming classes.

There are more tips from the American Veterinary Medical Association’s website to help you and your family avoid dog bites.  Dogs are such a wonderful part of our lives, but learning how to understand them better, interact your dog (or your neighbors dog) can make a big difference in avoiding being bit and having fun with our dogs.  Dogs are not children – while we think of them as family members of course, they are still animals first, with teeth!