First you should ask your veterinarian if they can accompany you. You don’t want to take them anywhere if they are ill. Keep in mind that if the vet says yes that you need to get extra supplies to prepare for it. For example, you’ll need to have all of the supplies necessary to keep your pet comfortable while he’s away from home, and you’ll need to familiarize yourself with any pet-related restrictions or requirements imposed by airlines, destination countries or states, hotels, etc.

If you choose to board your pet, get references and inspect the kennel. Your veterinarian or local shelter can help you select a facility.

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The ordinance, while controversial, has “limited bite,” the Orlando Sentinel reports. When it takes effect in September it will be enforced only through complaints, and there are lots of exemptions. The ordinance, designed to reduce the number of unwanted animals, relies heavily on people to comply voluntarily.

Similar laws have been considered across the country in recent years, and are generally opposed by breeders, who argue that they are unconstitutional because it unfairly targets responsible pet owners and could put animals’ health at risk. Breeders and some others will be exempt from the Volusia County law.

Representatives from shelters applauded the County Council’s move. It comes at time when the shelters are overrun with kittens. At Halifax Humane Society in Daytona Beach, more than 11,000 animals were euthanized in the past fiscal year, said Mel Stack, president of the animal shelter’s board.

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Gretchen was born at the Denver Zoo in May 1986, and had problems with her legs all her life. When she was little, she had shown bleeding wounds on three of her legs, which had been considered to be caused by her mother stepping on her, a common accident in the giraffe world.

Latter on, the caretakers had discovered that her hooves had been rotating inwards, instead of growing outwards, the way they were supposed to. Even though this condition made the animal feel uncomfortable, the Zoo staff’s efforts of periodically cutting her hooves had made her life a lot easier.

During the last years, however, Gretchen had begun suffering of arthritis, and had sometimes been in a great amount of pain. People at the Zoo had noticed that she was rarely leaving her barn on rainy days, and that her posture was starting to deteriorate. The caretakers have tried everything to cure the loved animal and ease its pain, but without success.

Even though the decision was hard to make, the Zoo staff decided that it was better for Gretchen if she was euthanized. On Sunday, she was taken to a chute built for this occasion and was given a high dose of barbiturates. She died in her sleep.

Because of the condition that affected her hooves, ‘The Lady of the House’ had never been allowed to breed, for fear of passing the disorder to her children as well. However, the 4 giraffes that shared the same hill with her at the Maryland Zoo will most probably feel her absence in the days to come.

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The Olmsted County Sherriff’s office stated that they found other bodies after they searched and raided the 40 acre farm in Viola Township. According to the Humane Society the owner of the farm was running ‘a puppy mill’.

Police started the investigation after they received reports of many different animals roaming around freely on the farm and others being found dead. “Their living conditions were terrible. They were in a barn in wire cages with cobwebs everywhere, sitting in their own feces,” said Deb Colbert of the Humane Society.

Police removed 73 canines and 131 rabbits as well as 125 bird and almost a dozen llamas. Chief Deputy Mark Darnell said the farm’s owner is accused of using the Internet to sell puppies and may be charged next week with animal cruelty.

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The African gray parrot was rescued by the local police off of a neighbor’s roof in Nagareyama – close to Tokyo. He spent a night at the police station before he was transferred to the nearest veterinarian hospital. Police kept up an investigation to try to find out who the parrot belonged to. Policeman Shinjiro Uemura was told by the vet that the bird began to talk to him.

“I’m Mr. Yosuke Nakamura,” the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs. “We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we’ve found Yosuke,” Uemura said.

Police were told by the Nakamura family that they had been working hard to teach the bird his name and address for two years. Police told the family that the bird was able to talk openly with the vet – but kept quiet to the police. “I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me,” Uemura said.

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To make things a little more interesting for people they are trying out a new program called the Feline-ality or Meet Your Match program. The program was created by Dr. Emily Weiss a behaviorist at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Part of the ASPCA’s Meet Your Match program, which also includes Canine-ality for dogs, the program assesses a variety of behaviors in individual cats. It rates the animals on confidence and sociability, which Weiss’ research has shown are independent of each other. It will then count up all of the assessments and place them into nine different cat personality categories - which will than be matched with a family’s desires and situations. It’s very similiar to a magazine quiz to find out, “Which kind of cat are you?”

Already the program has increased the number of adoptions because people are able to truly have fun while trying to pick the animal they want.

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“Pet owners do not always know how much to feed,” said John Branam, testifying on behalf of the American Veterinary Medical Association. The FDA held the hearing to help it devise pet food labeling standards.

According to veterinarians 54 million pets in the U.S. are obese, an “epidemic” that is growing. But the Pet Food Institute says calorie labels are unnecessary and won’t work.

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Killing with kindness

Because people love their pets so much, they often do things which are inadvertently to the detriment of their pets. Many people feel they are being mean if they don’t give their pet everything they want when they want it. This often starts on the first day the pet joins the family and is immediately given free run of the home. The intended goal is often to allow the animal to feel at home and comfortable. However, the result is usually that they get into trouble by eliminating in the wrong place or chewing an inappropriate item. It is much kinder in the long run to set clear rules and boundaries — much like with children — to help your pet stay safe and ensure that he or she is with you for their whole life.
Unfortunately, the result of not setting boundaries and helping your pet learn how to behave is that they make mistakes that they are then punished for. Worse yet, many otherwise lovely animals are surrendered to shelters for simply behaving in a manner that was permitted to become habit due to a lack of clear rules and boundaries.

Focusing on punishments rather than rewards

Considering how much we love our animal companions, it is surprising that one of the big mistakes people make is focusing on punishing their pets for things they don’t like rather than rewarding them for what we consider good behavior. A perfect example of this is letting a pup eliminate on the rug (by not supervising them properly) and then yelling at them for doing so. Dogs think in pretty simple terms, so it is unlikely they are thinking they are in trouble for eliminating in the house. They probably think you don’t like to see them eliminate, so they learn to hide behind the couch to do so. In this and most cases, punishments don’t tend to be very effective and often cause negative side effects as bad as or worse than what they were intended to resolve.

Punishments are also likely to damage your relationship with your pet. Instead, focus on managing them (using supervision and confinement, such as keeping them on a leash or in a pet-proofed room or crate) to set them up for success and rewarding for good behavior. This will prevent problem behaviors from becoming habits, reinforce appropriate behaviors and improve your bond with your pet.

This is a common mistake pet owners make with some of the most serious consequences. Unfortunately, some people still think that if they spay or neuter their pets they will get lazy and fat or that it is kind to let their pet have just one litter. Aside from the fact that there is a serious pet overpopulation problem that spaying and neutering can help decrease, doing so also means your companion is less likely to wander away to look for a mate and in doing so potentially get lost, hurt or contract diseases.

Not spaying or neutering pets

For males, neutering eliminates the chance of developing testicular cancer and may reduce problems with aggression, as well as decreasing inappropriate urination issues. For females, spaying decreases the chance of developing breast cancer down to almost zero if done before the first heat cycle. It also eliminates the chance of developing pyometra (a potentially fatal infection of the uterus), decreases or eliminates mood swings associated with heat cycles and eliminates spotting. Overall, spaying and neutering will greatly increase the length and quality of your pet’s life.

Lack of supervision between pets and children

While many animals are very tolerant of and even enjoy interaction with children, all animals should be supervised at all times when together with kids. Regardless of the breed or type of animal you have, there is always a risk when leaving children and pets unattended together. What many people don’t understand is that an animal can be tolerant for years, but if pushed too far (e.g., rough play, overexcited behavior), they may react. Unfortunately, the most likely person to be bitten or scratched by a dog or cat is a family member.

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With so much dog activity in cars, it is inevitable that many are being injured or killed in accidents, but nobody can quantify this. The federal government keeps reliable statistics on human fatalities, but local police agencies generally do not report on killed pets and federal accident reporting forms do not include categories for nonhuman fatalities.

Cars were built for humans not for pets. You would think that by now at least one automaker would have created something that could be attached to the car for all those pet lovers to make it safer for them. It seems that the bright idea to create something to literally insure these pets and their masters came from Progressive Insurance company - which is now offering a $500 payout if a customer’s dog or cat is hurt or killed in a car accident.

The company says it is one of many service and product innovations it has come up with. The pets are automatically covered and there are no additional premiums for the coverage (or discounts if you don’t have a cat or dog). A fairly large selection of dog harnesses are sold to restrain dogs in a car. They prevent a dog from moving around while in the car and theoretically prevent a dog from flying through the air in a crash.

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First you need to buy a fish or reptilian tank. Depending on the size of the turtle, a 10 or 15 gallon tank could work, a rule of thumb is about 10 gallons per inch in length. Ask for some assistance at the pet store and someone will help you get the accessories for the tank such as rocks, lighting, heating, etc. Turtles need a thermal gradient, ie the water tempterature should be maintained at about 80 degrees, while the basking temperature should be about 90.

The light used for basking should be a UVB light which is specially made for reptiles, these run about 20 dollars. Without the ultraviotet spectrum light your turtle could develop metabolic bone disease or shell disease. These extras are necessary for proper care. When you have the tank set up, make sure it is filled with water about 1/3 of the way. You want to have gravel rocks covering every part of the bottom. One of the most important things that so many people forget is that you need to have a large rock where your turtle can climb up on and be completely out of water. Your turtle will spend most of its time in water, but usually he or she will spend a few hours drying out.

Then there’s food. If you have a large enough tank, feeder goldfish are great. They’re very cost efficient (around 8 cents each) and it’s pretty fun to watch your turtle chase after them. That in turn gives your pet exercise. This is the best way to feed a turtle, but can get to be annoying running out for fish every few days.

You could also use floating food sticks. These aren’t that expensive (around $3 every month or so) and provide good nutrition to your pet. Now you may be wondering how much to feed your turtle. Just think of your eating habits. If you feed him and he runs to your food immediately and eats like crazy, you’re not feeding him enough.

If he takes his time and moves slowly, you’re doing great. Also, most turtles won’t eat for the first few days when you get them. They need to get settled in order to be comfortable enough to eat. Just drop in 2 or 3 food sticks a day for about a week, at least until he starts getting comfortable.

The bad part about a turtle is the cleaning. Buy a very strong filter system, otherwise you will have to scrub the tank every 3 days. Even with a filter you’ll need to clean out all the rocks, the tank, and the turtle himself once a week. You don’t really have to clean the tank often, but let me assure you the stench will travel through your house and it is totally unbearable.

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