By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

This week is National Poison Awareness Week, and of course that awareness very much includes our pets.  Many every household items and human food can be toxic to our pets, and you should be aware what to avoid giving your pet and what your pets could get into.  Just like you would with your human kids, you need to pet proof your house so you adorable new puppy or newly adopted shelter pet cannot get into these items.  You’ll be amazed how high a dog or cat can jump up onto things or dogs that like to counter surf.  Get your kids involved to so they know what NOT to give your pets.

For Dogs:

Chocolate
Xylitol – Sweetener often found in gum
Grapes and Raisins
Antidepresent Medication
Caffenine
Alcohol
Avocado
Macadamia Nuts
Onions, Chives, Garlic – can cause gastrointestinal problems and possibly red-cell damage.
Tylenol, Ibuprofen, NASIDS – goes without saying never give your pet ANY drugs without consulting with your veterinarian FIRST!
Mouse and Rat Poison
Cleaning Products
Antifreeze for your car
Yeast Dough
There are many additional items that can be poisonous to your dog, you can click here to see a comprehensive list.

For Cats:

Dog Flea & Tick Medication – if your dog is given a topical treatment, make sure your cat is not then grooming your dog!

The list above also applies to cats, but cats who also like to chew on and eat houseplants click here for a great comprehensive list from WebMD.

There are excellent resources to call if you need to speak with someone about whether you think your pet may have ingested something that could be poisonous or not.  The Pet Poison Helpline is one, and the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center – be aware that there is a cost for both services, the Pet Poison Helpline is a $49 per icident fee and the ASPCA there is a $65 consultation fee that may be applied to your credit card, according to their website.  Either way, in my opinion a very small price to pay to help save your pets life.

You can download and print these and hang them on your refrigerator, near your phone and also program the numbers in your cell phone in case you are not home for quick access in case of an emergency

Emergency Vets open 24 Hours on Long Island are:

Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists
3250 Veterans Highway
Bohemia, NY 11716
(631) 285-7780

Animal Emergency Service
6230 Jericho Tpke
Commack, NY 11725
(631) 462-6044

New York Veterinary Specialty Center
2233 Broadhollow Rd.
Farmingdale, NY 11735
(631) 249-2899

Animal Emergency Service P.C.
280 Middle Country Road
Selden, NY 11784
(631) 698-2225

Veterinary Medical Center of Long Island
75 Sunrise Highway
West Islip, NY 11795
(631) 587 – 0800

Long Island Veterinary Specialists
163 S. Service Rd
Plainview, NY
(516) 501-1700

Nassau Animal Emergency Group
740 Old Country Rd.
Westbury, NY
(516) 333-6262

The Center for Specialized Veterinary Care
609-5 Cantiague Rock Rd.
Westbury, NY 11590
(516) 420-0000

Riverhead Emergency Vet – Pet – ER
67 Commerce Drive
Riverhead, NY 11901
(631) 369-4513

West Hills Animal Hospital Emergency Center
800 W. Jericho Turnpike
Huntington, NY 11743
631-351-6116

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com, All Photos in this article were taken by Nancy E. Hassel – Copyright Protected.

Here are 5 simple tips to help keep your pets safe and warm while enjoying the snowy weather.

1.) Protect your dogs paws. There are many pet boots and products on the market that you can put on your pet, have them wear to help them with keeping their paws from getting frost bite, chapped and sore. Also use pet friendly salt when putting salt down on your sidewalks and driveways. When you come inside, wipe your pets paws with a damp, warm clothe and check for any salt, rocks, cuts or scrap on their paws.  Towel them off to ensure their fur is dry before they settle in for a nap!

2.) For cats that are indoor/outdoor cats – during the very cold months keep them inside or at the very least limit their time outside. Cats can be easily injured slipping on an icy fence, accidentally ingesting antifreeze which is toxic to cats and dogs, and they may decide to climb up into a car to keep warm. (Note: Bang on your car hood before starting your car in the winter months in case your cat or a stray cat has climbed into the engine to keep warm.) Keeping them inside is best in the winter. If they seem bored being in, go out and get interactive cat toys and have fun with them inside while the snow comes down outside.

While there is no snow on the ground, it was about 10 degrees this day a neighbor cat left outside to fend for itself.

3.) When out for a long hike with your dog in the snow, be sure they have a properly fitted dog coat on if they don’t have their own natural double coat. Bring a first aid kit for pets with you just in case. Put a coating of Mushers Secret paw wax on their paws if they’re not wearing boots. Have up-to-date ID tags on them and always bring an extra collar or leash with you – you never know when you may need while out in the elements.  Keep your dog leashed and don’t let him venture out onto ANY ice. (Every year someone is on the news because they fell in trying to save or get their dog off the ice. For tips on how to train your dog to stay off the ice, click here).

4.) Check your pet from head to tail for any minor cuts or snow built up in their fur.  Check the tips of their ears, tails and paws to make sure they do not have frost bite. While more pet owners may be better at checking their pets in the summer months for fleas and ticks, make sure you still thoroughly check your pet regularly in the winter. Especially after a long walk or extended time in the cold.

5.) Dogs like humans can experience a bit of cabin fever during the cold, snowed in months. If your dog is bored, check out some fun and helpful ideas here. If you’re not exercising your pets as much in the winter, make sure you are reflecting that in their diets too. Overfeeding your pet during the cold months, while they have less exercise, will easily add lbs, which you don’t want!

Sadly, many dog owners on Long Island think it is ok to leave their pets chained up outside with very little shelter to protect them and keep them warm. (Suffolk County has an anti-tethering law – dogs can’t be tied out longer than 2-hours at a time) If you see a dog left outside chained up all the time, call the police and local animal control within your municipal animal shelter – they will respond.

However, we have many wonderful organizations that work with the owners to educate them, encourage them to bring their dogs inside and also help provide staw, dog coats and blankets and light weight tie outs. You can simply help by making a monetary donation or finding out what supplies they could use. See below for a list of organizations that you can help so they can continue their outreach programs:

Almost Home LI
Break the Chain Program
Guardians of Rescue
Paws Unite People (PUP)
People Advocating for Change (PAC)
RSVP Animal Welfare & Rescue Group
Shelter Link
Unchained New York

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

The 2nd Annual Better With Pets summit, hosted by Purina, was held in New York City on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 and brought together thought leaders, entrepreneurs, rocket scientists, (yes actual an rocket scientist), and so many other wonderful people in the pet industry.  This year’s summit focused on how innovations and what is to come for pet care, pet products, veterinary care and nutrition.

Kicking off the summit was 14-year old entrepreneur Brooke Martin – who is so well spoken for her age, poised, bubbly and professional – it is a almost a ridiculous. Inventing a product called iCpooch, she talked about her product, the reason she came up with the idea and how she beat out 39 adults at a entrepreneurial weekend competition at a college, when she was the ripe old age of 12 years old.  I met Brooke at Global Pet Expo this past March and loved her spirit and drive to make our lives better with our pets.  Congrats Brooke!

Host of the event John Hockenberry with Mayo Clinic doctor, Ed Creagan who gave tremendous insight (most of us know this already) but how sick human patients were missing their pets so much while hospitialized that their health declined.  An example of one patient who stopped eating when he was separated from his dog, and his dog while in foster care also stopped eating.  When the dog was brought to the hospital to visit with the patient, both of them perked up and were much more responsive – the nurses couldn’t believe it.  I can.  Hospitals need to become better at dealing with patients that may be terminal or in the hospital for a long time to ALLOW visitation from the owners pets.  So glad this topic was talked about and thank you to Dr. Ed Creagan for being there to bring attention to this subject.

The amazing story of Bean and how her owner, Dr. Karen M. Vernau and another veterinarian Dr. Stan Marks didn’t give up on her and her story of hope and survivial is incredible.  It was great to meet Bean at the event.  Bean should actually not be alive today, living with a permenant feeding tube, who also could not breath properly with conditions such as muscular dystrophy to a malfunctiong esophagus, Bean is probably one of the first dogs, if not the first to have a tracheotomy.  This happy go lucky sweet dog is alive because of these incredible advances in human and veterinary medicine.

Victoria Stillwell was also one of the guest speakers at this year’s summit and throughout the day long event the speaker line up that was fun, (can you say Cats taking over the art world?), informative, moving and motivating. If you missed the event you have incredible luck as you can WATCH the entire summit here – how cool is that? Enjoy! (See more pictures below).

Just Manny the Frenchie hanging out during the event!

Fellow pet professional in attendance at the summit during the lunch break.

Beke Lubeach of Goodbone Marketing,  Caroline Goldin of Romeo the Cat and Crayons and Collars, Dr.   Nancy Hassel (me!) and Dana Humphrey of Whitegate PR.

By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime! Summertiiimmmme!  While we are enjoying the warm weather and summer activities – our pets may not be.  One thing many people tend to forget or not even think of is pet safety and heat.

While there are many ways your pet can overheat; too much exercise in the heat of the day; squished face pets like bulldogs, pugs, Frenchies, Shihtzus who can’t breath that great to begin with – they have a hard time with the heat; and lack of access to water for your pets especially if they are outside for any length of time in this hot and humid weather.

Of course this time of year the major concern is pets left in cars.  It amazes me year after year, that I still see people on a warm day leaving the windows open a crack and leaving their very furry dogs in the car – while they go into a store. According to a study done by San Francisco University, and if you haven’t seen this video of a veterinarian sitting in a hot car which shows how quickly temps rise during a heat wave.

Why not try it yourself, without your pet of course.  Next time it is a beautiful 75 -80 degrees, go sit in your parked car crack the windows a bit and sit in there for 10 -15 minutes. Don’t cheat and drink water or put the AC on.  Now imagine yourself in a fur coat without the ability to sweat. Are you hot yet?

Sometimes people think it’s ok to run into the store for 5-minutes during the summer and leave their pets in the car.  But what if you get stuck in the store, there is a long line, problem at the register, etc., and there you are in the air-conditioned store while your pet is sweltering in the heat, causing heat exhaustion or worse death.

What to do if you see a pet left in the car during during the warm spring, summer and fall months:

• Call Animal Control of the town the car is located in.

• Call the police, tell them the location, make/model color of the car, give them the license plate number.

• Stay until the authorites arrive to be sure the pet was safely evacuated from the hot car.

• A great tip is to program the Animal Control (Animal shelter) phone #’s to the town and surrounding towns you live in, into your phone contacts so you can access them immediately.

Pet owners should also know if you are caught doing this or someone reports your car with a pet in it to the police, the police have the right to break into to your car with whatever means necessary, call animal control and have your pet seized. You may be issued a summons, arrested for animal cruelty, or more. So the next time you are running up to the supermarket on a hot day, please, please, please leave your pets at home in the AC!

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

The official start to summer has begun and with it are many, many pet events taking place all across our isle.  Just this past weekend I attended two events in the Hamptons were all about pets, the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF), had a wine tasting benefit at the Southampton Center, (former Parish Art Museum), where celebrities, the mayor of Southampton and many supporters came out to enjoy the early evening benefit.  As you enterd you were greeted by some of their precious shelter animals that are for adoption too.  One blue pit bull had the best ears I have seen – think French bulldog ears on a pit!  This dog was so, so sweet and cute – they currently have about 200 animals available for adoption.  If you have never been to their shelter located in Hampton Bays – you should – it is a beautiful facility and they emplore play groups with many of their dogs so they are socialized!

From there the SASF event in Southampton, I then headed to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, (ARF), annual Designer Showcase at their beautiful thrift store in Sagaponack (located minutes from Bridgehampton village).  The house turned thrift store has each room decorated by different interior designers, each with a different flare – something for everyone to enjoy.  Not to mention the adorable pets they too had on hand in their mobile unit.  I personally wanted to take home the two 8-week old sibling kittens that were having a blast playing with each other. OMC (That’s Oh My Cat people!) they were just too cute. If you missed the showcase – that’s ok you can stop in the thrift store anytime seven days a week and shop and know your purchases are going towards rescue animals.

This summer while out on the east end, be sure to pick up a copy of the much anticipated Hamptons Pet Magazine which will be available the 3rd week of June (on or about June 25th).  This premeir collectors edition issue will feature: Pet Culture; Health & Wellness; Grooming; Travel; Training; Celebrity Insights; Seasonal Health; Pet Fashion; Animal Rescue & Welfare; High Tech Pets and more. The ultimate Summer magazine for Pets and People and written by local and national pet writers.

If you are one to summer in the Hamptons, or visit for a weekend or two – you definitely want to check out the upcoming pet events below and don’t forget about the North Fork – which also offer many wonderful events starting with this weekend at Baiting Hollow Farm Horse Rescue’s ‘The Mane Event’ benefitting their Horse Rescue taking place on Friday, May 30, 2014 at 7pm. Click here for info.

Here are a few upcoming East End events:

• SASF – Southampton Animal Shelter’s Hamptons Dog Walk and dog park opening, Sunday, June 8, 2014 at 10am>> Click here to register and find out more.
  
• ARF – 28th Annual Garden Tour – Saturday, June 21, 2014>> Click here for more info or to purchase tickets.
  
• NFAWL – Summer Gala on the Corso Estate in Cutchogue, Saturday, August 2, 2014.>> Click here for more info.
  
• Wildlife Center of the Hampton’s Annual Get Wild event on Saturday, August 9, 2014, 6pm >> Click here for more info.
  
• PetHero Awards, Saturday, August 23, 2014 at 7pm, held at a private residence, click here for more info.
  
• Hampton Classic Horse Show, August 23 – 31, 2014. Click here.

And be sure to sign up for our weekly Pet Events Newsletter so you do miss any events happening in the tri-state area and beyond! SIGN UP HERE!