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Archive for October, 2009
Is your pet well-taken care of?
A recent Associated Press-Petside.com poll found that just 20 percent of pet owners have a pet first aid kit. Even more disturbing is what else the poll uncovered. Pet owners routinely engage in activities that can lead to pet accidents and injuries.
The poll also found that 25 percent of pet owners give their pets bones from table scrapes and 11 percent leave pets unattended in their vehicles.
Keeping these facts in mind, October is National Animal Safety & Protection Month and a perfect time to make a few small changes to help ensure your pet’s safety.
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Get or make a pet first aid kit. Keep a list of important phone numbers (veterinarian, emergency animal hospital and poison control) with the pet first aid kit and make sure it is easily accessible.
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Learn simple first-aid procedures, as those can sometimes make the difference between life and death. Knowing how to apply pressure to a source of bleeding and place a temporary bandage is vital to your pet’s safety.
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Familiarize yourself with the list of foods that are dangerous to animals.
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Never leave your pet unattended in a vehicle. A parked car can quickly become unbearably hot or cold inside within minutes, causing heatstroke, hypothermia and even death.
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Make sure your pets will be taken care of in the event that something happens to you. The Pets At Home Vehicle Window Cling is much like the animal rescue stickers for homes, only it is used on automobiles to alert emergency personnel that the injured party has pets at home.
Keep the Fun and Lose the Fright
Halloween can be extremely fun for humans, but a dreadful experience for pets. The ASPCA offers these tips for all pet owners to ensure there are no scaredy cats this Halloween:
Skip the sweets. Several popular Halloween treats are toxic to pets. Candies containing the artificial sweetener xylitol can be poisonous to dogs. Even small amounts of xylitol sweetener can cause a sudden drop in blood sugar, which leads to depression, lack of coordination and seizures. Chocolate candy can also pose a threat. Significant chocolate ingestion may include vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity and increased thirst, urination and heart rate and even seizures.
Watch out for those wrappers. Cats especially love to play with candy wrappers, but ingesting aluminum foil or cellophane can cause intestinal blockage and vomiting.
Trick-or-treating is for kids, not pets. During trick-or-treating hours it is best to keep pets in a room away from your front door. “Halloween brings a flurry of activity with visitors constantly arriving at the door, and pets may escape the safety of their home,” recommends Gail Buchwald, senior vice president of the ASPCA Pet Adoption Center in Manhattan “Be sure that your pet has identification tags should he or she accidentally get loose” she said. Make sure your pet is wearing a collar with tags or is microchipped.
Careful with costumes! If you dress up your pet for Halloween, make sure the costume does not limit his movement, hearing, sight or ability to breathe or bark. Also check the costume for choking hazards. A smart alternative to dressing your pet from head-to-paw? A simple, festive Halloween bandana.
Decorations can be dangerous. Re-think putting candles in Jack-O-Lanterns. Pets can easily knock over Jack-O-Lanterns and start a fire, and curious kittens are particularly at risk of getting burned by candle flames. Also take care to prevent your pets from having access to wires and cords from holiday decorations. If chewed, a wire can damage your pet’s mouth from shards of glass or plastic, or deliver a potentially lethal electrical shock.
For additional information on pet-care tips, visit http://www.petsit.com.
Help Your Pet Get a Better Life
The obesity epidemic isn’t just affecting us; it’s affecting our pets too. It is estimated that even a little extra weight, just 20 percent, can put your pet at risk of developing diabetes, arthritis and heart disease.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition® is challenging all pet owners to help their pets get a better life with their Better Life Challenge. Hill’s wants pet owners to:
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Bring their pets to the vet to determine if their pet is obese and get a weight loss plan in place.
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Share their pet’s weight loss success story, complete with before and after photos, for a chance to win a year’s supply of Hill’s® Prescription Diet® pet food.
Share your pet’s tales from the scales or weight-loss tips in the comments section below.
Remember, it’s never too late to change your pet’s future! For more information on pet obesity, check out the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.
October is Adopt-A-Shelter Dog Month
The American Society for Protection Against Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) estimates that five out of ten dogs in shelters are destroyed simply because there is no one to adopt them. There is no better time than now to give these dogs a chance to find a loving home.
This month, Adopt-a-Shelter Dog Month, the ASPCA is not only encouraging shelter adoptions; they are also holding their annual Adopt-A-Shelter Dog Photo Contest. This year, the ASPCA wants to see your pup in the act of interspecies affection!
The top five winners—selected by ASPCA staff—will receive an ASPCA Prize Pack and be featured on their website. So get clicking—the deadline for entries is October 31!
To locate shelters in your area, please visit petfinder.com.
Will your pet sitter be the next Pet Sitter of the Year™?
Does your pet sitter have what it takes to be the next Pet Sitter of the Year? This award is the professional pet-sitting industry’s highest honor. The person wearing the PSI Pet Sitter of the Year crown embodies the heart and soul of the pet-sitting profession.
This award is unique in that it is the pet-owning public who nominates their pet sitters for the award. PSI is now accepting nominations for the 2009 Pet Sitter of the Year contest, sponsored by Business Insurers of the Carolinas. The deadline for nominations is October 30.
Learn more about this exciting event and past winners and nominate your pet sitter today!
The “HAPPY” Act – Making Pet Care More Affordable
Write to your U.S. representative today to urge him or her to support and cosponsor the HAPPY Act, H.R. 3501.
Pet Sitters International applauds Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, who introduced H.R. 3501, the Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act. If enacted, H.R. 3501 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow an annual tax deduction of up to $3500 for qualified pet care expenses. Specifically, “qualified pet care expenses” would be defined as funds spent in connection with providing care (including veterinary care) for a legally owned, domesticated animal. Presently, H.R. 3501 awaits action in the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Let us know how you feel about this proposed tax break for pet owners in the comments section below and, more importantly, let your elected representatives know how you feel and what should be included as pet-care expenses!
Learn how to protect your pet during Fire Safety Prevention Week
The American Kennel Club (AKC) estimates that 500,000 pets are affected by house fires each year. During Fire Safety Prevention Week, check out the following tips The AKC offers to help keep your pets safe from house fires:
Extinguish Open Flames - Pets are generally curious and will investigate cooking appliances, candles, or even a fire in your fireplace. Ensure your pet is not left unattended around an open flame and make sure to thoroughly extinguish any open flame before leaving your home.
Pet Proof your Home - Walk around your home and look for areas where pets might start fires inadvertently, such as the stove knobs, loose wires and other potential hazards.
Secure Young Pets - Especially with young puppies, keep them confined away from potential fire-starting hazards when you are away from home.
Keep Pets Near Entrances – When leaving pets home alone, keep them in areas or rooms near entrances where firefighters can easily find them.
Practicing Escape Routes with Pets – Keep collars and leashes at the ready in case you have to evacuate quickly with your pet or firefighters need to rescue your pet.
Since Pets Left Alone Can’t Escape a Burning Home – Use monitored smoke detectors which are connected to a monitoring center, providing an added layer of protection beyond battery-operated smoke alarms.
Affix a Pet Alert Window Cling – Write down the number of pets inside your house and attach the static cling to a front window. This critical information saves rescuers time when locating your pets.
Keep Your Information Updated - Firefighters are familiar with pet alert window clings so keep the number of pets listed on them updated. Knowing the accurate number of pets in the house aids rescuers in finding all of your pets.
Tips for Finding a Lost Pet
Did you know that The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates 6-8 million animals enter shelters each year? And of those, only about 30 percent of dogs and less than five percent of cars are reunited with their owners?
The HSUS recommends following these steps to help increase the chance that you and your pet will be reunited if the unthinkable ever happens and your pet becomes lost:
- Contact local animal shelters and animal control agencies. File a lost pet report with every shelter within a 60-mile radius of your home and visit the nearest shelters daily. Provide these agencies with an accurate description and a recent photograph of your pet.
- Search the neighborhood. Walk or drive through your neighborhood several times each day. Ask neighbors, letter carriers and delivery people if they have seen your pet. Hand out a recent photograph of your pet and information on how you can be reached if your pet is found.
- Advertise. Post notices at grocery stores, community centers, veterinary offices, traffic intersections, pet supply stores and other locations. Also, place advertisements in newspapers and with radio stations. Include your pet’s sex, age, weight, breed, color and any special markings. When describing your pet, leave out one identifying characteristic and ask the person who finds your pet to describe it.
- Be wary of pet-recovery scams. When talking to a stranger who claims to have found your pet, ask him to describe the pet thoroughly before you offer any information. If he does not include the identifying characteristic you left out of the advertisement, he may not really have your pet. Be particularly wary of people who insist that you give or wire them money for the return of your pet.
- Don’t give yo your search. Animals who have been lost for months have been reunited with their owners.
A pet, even an indoor pet, has a better chance of being returned if he/she wears a collar and an ID tag with your name, address and telephone number. Ask your local animal shelter or veterinarian if permanent methods of identifications (such as microchips) are available in your area.
Reprinted by permission of The Human Society of the United States.
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