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Feeding Strategies: Multiple cats
My vet sent home K/D food for my skinny old cat (with chronic kidney disease) to eat. I also have two young cats who find this food delicious and are getting fatter every day! What can I do?
Wellness Canned Cat Food recall
Certain lots of WellPet’s Wellness® canned cat food have voluntarily been recalled because they may contain less than adequate amounts of thiamine. Internal testing by the company found that most lots of the canned food contained sufficient amounts of the vitamin, but WellPet says it decided to recall certain lots “out of an abundance of…
Strategies for “Kidney Cats”
Keeping Kidney Cats Alive—Strategies that WORK! Kidney Disease is very common in cats. It is an end of life problem for about 1/3 of the cats we see at Ann Arbor Animal Hospital. This means the disease is more common in the oldest patients, and it may be a reason for euthanasia due to poor…
Rules for treatment of a fickle feline
When animals are sick—especially with chronic illnesses—many treatments may be given if they exhibit dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, appetite loss, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. While a dog often tolerates several different oral medications and might devour six pills hidden in a meatball, it can be tricky to give oral medication to cats as they are much more…
What to do: My cat bites too much
There are 4 common reasons a cat may bite a family member: Modifying bad behavior requires careful timing of a mild safe correction, like a loud noise, squirt with a water pistol, or just moving away from the cat. Swatting at or hitting a cat is not effective. The cat also needs to be encouraged to exercise and play attack an approved prey object. You should avoid repeating situations where the cat has previously showed biting behavior. For some cats it is necessary to limit lap time. I encourage an office visit to evaluate the cat if you think there is unusual biting behavior.
Be the “Alpha Dog”
It may be easy to forget that dogs are not simply humans in a different package, and that they don’t respond to situations in the same way that we do…Dogs become unbalanced and display unwanted behaviors when they think they are the leader of the pack—so it’s up to you to be the alpha dog and take charge!
Resources for stray animals
Throughout the year, people often drop by the Animal Hospital with stray animals. However, while we are empathetic about the plight of strays, the Animal Hospital is just not set up to be a shelter. Because the Ann Arbor Animal Hospital is a 24-hour facility, many well-meaning Good Samaritans bring stray animals to the clinic with the hope of handing them off to a safe place until they can be reunited with their families…we have to follow a strict protocol when it comes to unknown animals.
How to Trim Your Dog’s Nails
Our friends at Groom-n-Go recently put together this short video demonstration about how to cut your dog’s nails. While most of our clients prefer to have us trim their dog’s nails on a regular basis, we thought we would provide this little video tutorial on how to clip your dog’s nails yourself. As it is…
2011 Resolution for Your Dog (& You!)
Let’s face it, in January and the upcoming winter months it can be a little challenging to provide enough exercise for your dog…It is good to remember all dogs were bred to do something: Pull a sled, follow a scent, or sit in a lap. The walk is like a work out for dogs! So let’s give our dogs something to do and some direction to follow to get the most from these chilly outings. A good walk is Doable!
Kroger Pet Food Recall 12/18
According to AnnArbor.com, Kroger has announced a pet food recall over this past weekend. The recall is due to a possible aflatoxin contamination and affects the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Pet owners who suspect…