-
Archive for September, 2009
Five Ways to Keep Your Pet Safe at Home
Not many pet owners have the luxury of being able to keep their pets under watch all the time. There are a number of steps that pet owners can take to help ensure pets are safe around the home when pet owners are not there.
Follow these five tips to help keep your pet safe:
One person’s trash - Dogs and cats alike seem to love the smell, taste and texture of trash, and they will go out of their way to play in that arena while you’re away. The problem is many things in our trash that may seem benign to us can be dangerous to pets, including chicken bones, which are choking hazards because of their brittle nature. Take all the trash outside when you leave for any length of time, or place trashcans out of reach of your pets.
Do sweat the small stuff - Remove small toys, string and other choking hazards such as rubber bands from your pet’s area in your home. They may love these things as toys, but the risk of choking is high. Consider, too, if your pet’s toys are sized appropriately for him. A ball meant for a smaller animal can lodge within a larger one’s throat.
Eight lives and counting - Cats aren’t always as nimble footed and self sufficient as legend has it. Check for places where they can become stuck, such as behind the refrigerator or in fireplace openings, and seal up those openings. Close all toilet lids before you leave the house. Finally, put away those toys you may enjoy with your feline friend that include strings. Left alone with one, your animal can quickly choke.
An idle mind is the devil’s workshop - Pets enjoy their routines. And if you’re going to be away for an extended period of time, or if you’re going to be away at times of the day when you’re usually at home with your pet, consider hiring a professional pet sitter to help your pet stick to its schedule. It is reassuring to the pet, and can help alleviate some of the mischievous exploring that often leads to disaster. A good pet sitter knows how to think like a pet and can quickly scan your pet’s environment for known dangers.
Before hiring a sitter for your pet, make sure the pet sitter is bonded and carries adequate liability insurance. Finding a pet sitter who is accredited through a national association like PSI is also a real plus. Be sure to make time for a face-to-face interview in your home with the sitter and your pets. Conducting an initial interview is an excellent time for you to check credentials and ask important questions.Disaster and emergency planning can save the day - All pet owners should have a disaster plan and kit for each of their pets. According to Jennifer Miler of St. Petersburg, Florida, Pet Sitters International’s 2007 Pet Sitter of the Year™, “Natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods, as well as unforeseen man-made disasters like chemical spills, can close off a residential area in short order. The key is to be prepared as best as you can and it only takes a small amount of preparation.”
You should be able to pass the “five-minute preparedness test,” meaning in five minutes or fewer, you should be able to get your pets and their emergency kit out of your home.Top three pet claims released by national insurance company
Business Insurers of the Carolinas, a Chapel Hill, NC, based insurance company that services the pet-care industry, released its top three categories of insurance claims received from professional pet sitters during 2008.
David Pearsall, director of sales and marketing for Business Insurers of the Carolinas, said that his company, who underwrites the bonding and insurance policies for a majority of pet-sitter businesses in the United States, has received a wide variety of claims over the last year, but most are the result of pets behaving like pets.
The top claims from professional pet sitters fall into these three categories:
-
Walking/Playing/Running – This broad category includes injuries such as pets being bitten by snakes while on hikes, torn anterior cruciate ligaments while playing Frisbee® and slipping on ice while walking. Most payouts for these incidents ranged from $1,000 to $5,000.
-
Swallowing or ingesting objects – These claims cover dogs swallowing toys, eating rocks, inhaling fox tails and everything in between. The average payout was $1,865.
-
Getting in and out of a vehicle - These claims include torn ligaments, broken paws and other injuries of pets who landed awkwardly while getting in and out of vehicles. The pet sitter’s insurance covered medical expenses that ranged from $4,921 to more than $14,000.
Dr. Louise Murray, DVM and director of medicine at Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City, has seen many instances of two of Pearsall’s findings: pets swallowing objects and injuries resulting from walking/playing/running.
“Many pet owners just don’t realize that pets will eat and swallow just about anything,” Murray said. “I’ve removed everything from coins and knives to eye glasses and baby bottle nipples.”
Murray warns that if an animal can pick up an object, it can and will swallow it.“This really should inspire every pet owner to be a good housekeeper and keep objects picked up and out of a pet’s reach,” she said.
Murray has also seen many cases of ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments in pets that resulted from walking, playing and running.
“These injuries can be costly and are sometimes unavoidable,” Murray said. “The insurance that most professional pet sitters carry offers peace of mind to pet owners that their pets will be protected.”
Hiring an insured professional pet sitter to care for your pets while you are away can pay huge returns if that pet is involved in an accident. To locate a professional pet sitter in your area, please visit www.petsit.com.
How to Protect Yourself and Your Pet from Coyotes
Coyotes were recently found to be one of the wild animals that most frequently attacked and injured pets. Los Angeles Animal Services advises pet owners to follow these suggestions to help keep pets safe:
-
Keep pets indoors or secured in an outdoor kennel.
-
Walk dogs on a leash at all times. If your yard does not have a fence, use a leash while on your property to keep your pet close to you.
-
Carry something, such as an air horn, whistle, walking stick or cane for protection while walking your dog.
-
Try not to establish a regular routine and route to avoid setting up a pattern for a coyote to detect. If you notice a coyote when walking your dog, keep your dog as close to you as possible and move towards an active area.
-
Never encourage or allow your dog to interact or “play” with coyotes.
-
Confine small animals and birds that you cannot keep indoors to covered enclosures constructed of a heavy gauge wire mesh. Coyotes can break through chicken wire.
-
Put all trash bags inside the trash cans and keep all outdoor trash can lids securely fastened to the containers. Place trash bins inside sheds, garages or other enclosed structures.
-
Pick fruit from trees as soon as it ripens and pick up all fallen fruit. Cut low hanging branches to avoid the coyote feeding from trees. Trim ground-level shrubbery.
-
Vegetable gardens should be protected with heavy duty garden fences or enclosed by a greenhouse.
-
Keep your property well lit at night.
-
Close off crawl spaces under porches, decks and sheds. Coyotes use such areas for resting and raising young.
If you are approached by a coyote, Los Angeles Animal Services advises you to wave your arms and shout in a low, loud tone. Throw objects at the coyote while maintaining eye contact. Make yourself look as big as possible; if you are wearing a jacket open it up like a cape. If possible go towards active or populated areas, but do not turn your back on the coyote while doing so.
National Pet Memorial Day
Losing a pet in never easy. This Sunday, National Pet Memorial Day, take the time to honor the pets that are no longer with you. The International Association of Pet Cemeteries offers a few ideas on how to pay tribute to your pet:
-
Think about your late pet. Look at old photos. Talk about your pet with others who were familiar with him or her. Reflect on all the great memories you made with your pet. If you lost your pet unexpectedly, try to keep your thoughts positive.
-
Visit your pet’s burial site. Make a tribute to your pet by decorating its burial site with something it may have enjoyed in life. Talk to your pet while at the burial site.
-
Create a small memorial in your pet’s honor. Plant trees, shrubs and flowers to memorialize your pet. These things can remind you of your pet long after National Pet Memorial Day has passed.
-
Donate money or time to a charity or organization in honor of your late pet. Choose an organization or charity based on your animal’s breed or a particular cause that is close to your heart. Animal shelters, rescue groups and humane societies all appreciate volunteers.
-
Build a memorial space for your late pet on the Internet. Use free or paid services to post your pet’s pictures, stories and biography.
-
Send sympathy cards to former pet owners. National Pet Memorial Day does not have to be a solitary affair. Include everyone who has lost a pet in your observance of National Pet Memorial Day.
Let us know how you plan to honor your pets in the comments section below.
Fido may have the Back to School Blues too!
It isn’t just children who suffer from the back to school blues, you’re pets suffer too. After spending all summer with their favorite companions constantly around, your pets definitely feel the absence once the big yellow bus whisks them away for the day.
According to The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), pets experiencing separation anxiety may:
-
Dig, chew and scratch at doors or windows in an attempt to escape and reunite with their owners.
-
Howl, bark and cry in an attempt to get their owner to return.
-
Urinate and defecate as a result of distress, even if housetrained.
Don’t punish your pet for exhibiting any of these behaviors; it may only increase your pet’s stress. The HSUS recommends trying the following techniques to help alleviate your pet’s separation anxiety.
-
Keep arrivals and departures low-key. For example, when you arrive home, ignore your dog for the first few minutes and then calmly pet him. This may be hard for you to do, but it’s important!
-
Leave your dog with an article of clothing that smells like you—such as an old T-shirt that you’ve slept in recently.
-
Establish a “safety cue”—a word or action that you use every time you leave that tells your dog you’ll be back. Dogs usually learn to associate certain cues with short absences by their owners.
-
Follow Us on Twitter!
Locate a Pet Sitter
Recent Comments