Pet Blog By Bocci @ Bocci's Beefs: Mercola Healthy Pets

Showing posts with label Mercola Healthy Pets. Show all posts

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Can Your Dog Play Fetch...By Himself?

Oh, go ahead and spend just two minutes of your weekend watching these savvy canines play fetch with no help from humans—it's worth it! By the way, let us know if your pooch ever plays fetch by himself—we'd love to hear your stories!

P.S. I simply wait for Parental Unit to throw one of my toys...and then I taker it to my man cave under her bed. There's no "fetching" involved in my game!

Moving With Your Pets

If we move, Parental Unit, there must be a backyard!

Although most of us are settling into our homes or apartments for the holidays and long winter ahead, some of our readers maybe considering relocation (Canada anyone?!). No, seriously folks, we are not prepping for any kind of a move right now, but who doesn't consider that possibility at some point in their future?

As our reader friends know, we believe it's always best to think ahead and prepare for natural and other unforetold disasters, and any other major life-changing events, and moving your family with furkids certainly is one of them.

One of our favorite holistic veterinarians, Dr. Karen Becker, wrote a wonderfully detailed article explaining the most important strategies for keeping your pets safe and comfortable before, during and after a move to a new abode.

Parental Unit continues to mentally "beat herself up" about how little attention she paid to these matters with her previous pets, and vows to be much more attentive should a move arise in the future. And that's why we both think articles like these are important to read now and save for future reference.

Glad to hear we're not moving anytime soon!

We particularly agree with Dr. Becker's recommendation to closely monitor your pet for at least several months after arriving at your new home for lingering signs of stress or discomfort.

But...we respectfully disagree with parts of two of her recommendations:

1. We think (and so does Cesar Millan), that the first time you and your dog enter the new house, you should walk him through the entire place on a leash and let him or her thoroughly sniff out his new digs.

2. Take your pooch for a long walk through the new neighborhood ASAP—not after you've unpacked and settled in!

Let us know what you think of these "moving with pets" strategies—we'd love to hear your experiences and ideas!

Who Is That Doggie In The Mirror?

And can I sing to him? Enjoy this pittie who discovers "someone" in the mirror and wants to chat with him!

Puppy Knows His "Best Friend"...Mostly!

Here's just 15 seconds of puppy smarts and cuteness sure to make you smile. Can you figure out what made this cutie pie suddenly switch his "best friend" allegiance?

Dogs Are In Tune With Human Emotions

Am I more in tune with you or Tigger, Parental Unit? Hmmmm....

This detailed article from one of our favorite holistic veterinarians, Dr. Karen Becker, explains the "hows" and "whys" behind canine empathy and how it impacts both dog and human. We've known for eons that dogs are sensitive to human emotions and pick up on how we're feeling at any particular moment, sometimes more than our human companions.

Recent studies help explain why that's so, and why our canine buddies can even tell the difference between happy and and angry human facial expressions. (We think that means you humans should smile more, if at all possible!)

This article goes a step further and includes extensive strategies to reduce both canine and human stress—something we all can use some help with. Let us know if you have, or will try any of these stress reduction techniques and how they work for you!

Stray Pooch Finds Home With Law Enforcement

Now if this isn't the "feel good" story of the week! The police department in Kirkland, Ohio, found a stray dog...and search as they might, could not locate his owner.

Well, the story has a happy ending for both the lucky canine and the police department: As one officer said, "We are happy to have him in our lives." Check out the video below to catch a glimpse of the pooch enjoying his new home.

Tiny Farm Dog Does Her "Chores"

Little Lola is both cute and friendly...and a hard worker around the farm, too!

National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day!

Yup, that's today, folks!

We've written about this issue several times before: How to be at least better prepared to protect your human and animal companions in an emergency. None of us can be perfectly prepared for a natural or other type of disaster, but having some basic strategies in place will certainly help us to be a bit more confident should disaster strike.

And none of us want our beloved pets to be injured or left behind if we can prevent it—that's why we have to prepare on our pets' behalf. This article from one of our favorite holistic veterinarians, Dr. Karen Becker, is particularly helpful because it provides a comprehensive list of items to prepare ahead of time and what exactly to do during the emergency itself. Generally, the following tips will help you prepare:

__ Create (or buy) a pet emergency kit and store in a safe place.

__ Know where you can seek shelter if you have to evacuate, including addresses and phone numbers (Add pet friendly hotels to your list).

__ Have two written plans for you and your family: one if you're home when disaster strikes and one if you are not home.

__Keep a photo of your pets with you at all times (hard copy as well as on your phone), and place pet alert stickers in your windows.

We understand that none of us want to think about anything "bad" happening, but if we don't think about it for just a little while, we can't be prepared if something bad does happen, right? And since we pets can't protect ourselves, you humans have to plan on our behalf. As Dr. Becker says: "There will be few times in the life of your beloved companion that he will need you more than in the event of a disaster."

Have you prepared for me, Parental Unit?

How many of you have both human and pet emergency kits safely stored in your home? Please let us know!

How To Integrate A New Pet Into Your Home

Well, this is certainly a "yuge" topic with lots of different and valid opinions, isn't it?

Let's start with an article from one of our favorite holistic veterinarians, Dr. Karen Becker, that describes the thinking process that should precede adding a new family member to your home, and then the best strategies to follow as the little rascal is settling in. We love writing about this topic because there are so many things we Parental Unit didn't do!

With hindsight, we think that emotions get in the way of clear thinking, and you know, there's really nothing wrong with that. It's just helpful to remember some of the basics, or in Parental Unit's case, learn some of the basics before bringing your new pet home. She was still grieving the loss of her beloved Wire Fox fella, Carson, when she went searching at the shelter four or five weeks later. She was beside herself without a dog, she claims! (Parental Unit also might have had just a few hormones left at that time).

Here are a few of the behaviors (hers) that Parental Unit regrets when she introduced me to my new home (most of these ideas are taken from Cesar's Way and involve setting "rules, boundaries and limitations" from day one:

1. Not taking me for a long-ish walk in the neighborhood before bringing me in the house for the first time;

2. Not walking me through each room and letting me explore while still on a leash (rather than on my own!); and

3. Not understanding that it takes a pretty long time—not usually days, but weeks or even months or longer, for a dog or cat to really feel safe and comfortable in their new home. She was shocked, shocked, I tell you, that I still tried to "run away" on several occasions during the first few months in my new residence—she ran screaming after me through the streets more than once! And she distinctly recalls that I tried to raid garbage cans during our walks—like I was still scavenging for food... Hoo boy, she had a lot to learn!

Here are some additional ideas for the first 30 days of dog adoption from Petfinder.com that should help you successfully add a new furry family member.

Let us know your best strategies for integrating a new pet into your home—including any mistakes or smart moves you might have made. We'd love to hear them!

Enormous Effort Saves Tiny Kitten

In case your faith in humanity was flagging, spend a few minutes of your Saturday watching this heroic effort to save a kitty caught in a storm drain. The kitten returns the favor by, well, being a playful, adorable kitten!

Aren't kitties usually rescued from trees?

Does Your Canine Or Feline Fetch Like This Kitty?

We didn't think so! Well, maybe your dog or cat does, but not so much around here. I do play my version of "fetch" which is to immediately capture the thrown ball or toy and...play with it or try to keep it from Parental Unit.

But this cat is a world class fetcher! Enjoy!

Your Dog And Your Time

When can we play, Parental Unit?

This excellent article written by Dr. Karen Becker and posted on the Mercola Healthy Pets blog, describes eight telltale signs that your dog needs more attention from you. I've bet you've heard that well-worn quote: "He might only be here for a part of your life, but for him, you are his whole life."
We urge pet owners try to keep that one sentence in mind each day as they plan their activities.

The bottom line is that pets suffer when they don't get enough exercise, play and general attention from their parental units. And they show this is a variety of ways that Dr. Becker describes so well in this article. For example, if your dog is disobedient, he or she may just need regular, long walks in the park and some additional play time with you. Dogs can also become lethargic, overweight and downright depressed without enough attention from their humans.

Parental Unit learned this the hard way with my predecessor, Carson, the high energy Wire Fox Terrier. She got Carson at a time in her life when she was working outside the home full time, and actually had the energy to go out at night (hard to believe, now!). Although Carson got his daily walks and some playtime, they were way too short for his energy level, and both Carson and Parental Unit suffered the consequences of those choices. She feels guilty to this day, but has made good on her promise to spend much more quality time with me.

Not nearly enough play time with the high energy Mr. Carson.

It's hard to tell how much exercise, playtime and attention is too much or too little, but we say, err on the side of more quality time with your pooch and you'll both benefit. One way to add to your quality time together is to integrate your dog into your daily activities like running errands, for example, even if it takes you a bit longer and some extra patience to complete those errands. Your dog will enjoy the socialization time, learn how to behave in different situations and with new humans...and get to spend extra time with you!

Let us know how you fit in the time during your busy days to make sure your pets get enough attention. We'd love to hear your stories!

Kitty Versus Tiger...

It looks like the kitty gets the "upper paw" in this battle!

Top Five Ways To Boost Your Dog's Health in 2016!

According to one of our favorite holistic veterinarians, Dr. Karen Becker, you pet owners should stick to the basics when aiming to improve your pets' health this coming year. In this recent article posted on the Mercola Healthy Pets blog, Dr. Becker explains her top five ways to boost your pets' overall health. It starts with feeding a species appropriate diet, primarily of fresh foods, and includes regular wellness checks with your veterinarian, home health checks, eliminating unnecessary vaccinations, keeping your pet at a healthy weight and enriching your dogs' home environment. See me playing with "enrichment toy" below.

Encouraging your dogs to play with enrichment toys will help stimulate their brains and even physically tire them out.

Each of these five strategies make sense to us, although we realize the implementation part is not always easy. We think Dr. Becker does a good job, though, of explaining why she recommends these strategies and how to best implement them.

We also think just plain ole' regular play with a ball is good for us, too!

What say you? Do you have any tips for boosting your dogs' health in this brand new year? We'd love to hear them!

Dogs Welcome Home Soldiers

We thought this fitting for a holiday-timed video: Spend just 4 and a half minutes watching pure love—a compilation of wet kisses, strange, squeaky sounds and millions of tail wags as a variety of canines welcome home their soldier parents. Hope this makes your Saturday!