This year was my 20th year of taking in cats and dogs that have been dumped and abandoned near me. It’s hard to believe how fast those 20 years have gone by and the number of cats and dogs I’ve saved, just as one person in one little spot in the great big world. While in those twenty years I have learned a lot, I’ve also learned you should never stop trying to learn.
With 10 cats and dogs, and several bad vet experiences under my belt, I spend countless hours researching and learning ways to safely treat my pets. While I’ve known about homeopathic remedies for a while and how well they can work for cats, dogs, and humans, this experience really cemented how useful they can be in times of crisis and encouraged me to learn even more about them.
Every winter it seems, I hear stories about pets and even wild animals, falling through ice and being rescued by emergency responders. Sadly, I also hear stories about people drowning while trying to save their pets. After a recent tragedy, I learned firsthand how dangerous a frozen pond is and why it’s so important to have an emergency plan.
As I’m sure every other pet owner can relate to, we have our share of little issues around here that ideally, there is an easy fix for. With two senior dogs now in the house attempting to walk on slippery floors, everyone’s annoying scooting dog bowl, and an out-of-the-ordinary number of car trips to the vet this year, those little issues started adding up. Fortunately, I came up with a cost-effective and easy solution to all of them.
Most people probably never think twice about getting a prescription from their vet and administering it to their cat or dog. While I do, I’m still susceptible to learning lessons that I feel are important and want to pass along to help others. My most recent experience with a couple of my dogs serves as a valuable lesson about asking lots of questions before the prescription is written and why I recommend small prescription amounts so you don’t end up with a large private pharmacy collection of expensive, unreturnable medication.
In April of 2016 on my way home from a quick visit to town, I stopped at a house just a couple of miles from home to let the homeowner know that their puppy was about to get out on the road where it could be hit. It turned out, like so many of my other innocent trips out over the years, that was the day my timing of being out coincided with a dog that desperately needed saving.
For over a month now, I’ve been working on a post about products that have killed many cats and dogs. It’s taking much longer than I’d planned because I had no idea what I was opening myself up for when I decided to compile a list of the major offenders in one place for pet owners to find. During all this research, I’m continuing to run across pet owner after pet owner who is putting their pets’ health in immense danger. The reasons vary from the owner being too trusting of their vet, believing the risks are not worrisome enough, or they just don’t want to/care to spend the time or effort to even research the product or to go the safer, but longer route for curing an ailment. Read more
Cat and dog breeders. These are people that I find myself thinking about often. Maybe it’s because I look around at my mix of 10 purebreds and mixed breeds and wonder how they ended up here and if the people who intentionally or unintentionally produced them even care where all those puppies or kittens ended up. Or maybe it’s because I wonder how so many people can knowingly contribute to pet overpopulation, which in turn, leads to millions of cats and dogs being killed each year. Read more
Part of being a good pet owner is being observant. While it’s not a glamorous job, being observant of your pets’ output is necessary to ensure you catch any health issues early. Of course, checking output is important, but equally important is lack of it and oddity of it. Let me explain.
As many of you may know, there has been quite a bit of news out there lately about the health benefits of fasting. I actually personally do it myself and have even incorporated it into how I take care of my dogs. I think we are all exposed to more toxins than ever and anything we can do to try to help prevent disease in ourselves or our pets is something worth looking more into.
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