Gregory Popovich: Secrets of a Master Cat (and dog) Trainer

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

info — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:42:03 +0000

Via the ASPCA

‘Tis the season for friends, family and holiday feasts—but also for possible distress for our animal companions. Pets won’t be so thankful if they munch on undercooked turkey or a pet-unfriendly floral arrangement, or if they stumble upon an unattended alcoholic drink.

Check out the following tips from ASPCA experts for a fulfilling Thanksgiving that your pets can enjoy, too.

Talkin’ Turkey
If you decide to feed your pet a little nibble of turkey, make sure it’s boneless and well-cooked. Don’t offer her raw or undercooked turkey, which may contain salmonella bacteria.

Sage Advice
Sage can make your Thanksgiving stuffing taste delish, but it and many other herbs contain essential oils and resins that can cause gastrointestinal upset and central nervous system depression to pets if eaten in large quantities. Cats are especially sensitive to the effects of certain essential oils.

No Bread Dough
Don’t spoil your pet’s holiday by giving him raw bread dough. According to ASPCA experts, when raw bread dough is ingested, an animal’s body heat causes the dough to rise in his stomach. As it expands, the pet may experience vomiting, severe abdominal pain and bloating, which could become a life-threatening emergency, requiring surgery.

Read the rest here.

Halloween Pet Safety Tips

info — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:28:26 +0000

October 27, 2011 | By Amy Lieberman

How to celebrate a fun, harmless Howl-o-Ween with your pets.

Halloween celebrations are kicking into full swing this weekend, but the festivities may not be as fun for pets as they are for children, teenagers and adults alike.

Pets are not likely to be used to — or appreciate — the constant action that comes with Halloween, from the doorbell ringing of trick-or-treaters to the colorful costumes that might scare, more than thrill, them. Pet owners should resist the urge to dress their pets in elaborate costumes, especially ones that involve masks and may be uncomfortable.

Preparation Before a Show

info — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:36:04 +0000

Here is an insight into how Gregory prepares for a show.

Fight boredom with these top treats.

info — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:42:53 +0000

Arden Moore – Dogchannel.com

Dogs don’t stay bored for long. Left alone in the house for eight hours or more, they are bound to find something to chew on. Unfortunately, their choices could be your new shoes or the television remote.

But you can intervene and protect your valuablesby limiting access to dog-proofed areas inside your home. At the same time, you can curb boredom in your home-alone dog by providing plenty of healthy edibles while you’re gone. The key is to select treats that satisfy a dog’s got-to-chew tendencies, provide a tempting taste, and keep a dog busy in a non-destructive way, says Susan Greenbaum, a professional dog trainer who operates Barking Hills Country Club, a canine training center in Milford, N.J.

Dog treats come in a variety of shapes, tastes, and sizes. You may need to try several to identify the few that make your dog drool with delight.

Consider these choices to dish out to your dog before you leave:

Read on

Collecting tickets for the train.

info — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:43:59 +0000

Collecting Tickets for the train

Cats and Cancer

info — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:38:05 +0000

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

While cancer in cats isn’t as common as it in dogs, it’s still one of the main causeof death in older cats. Using the Animal Cancer Foundation, 6 000 0000 cats will be clinically determined to have cancer in the us along. And growcause cats are masters at masking illness, it is usually harder to detect. Cancer once was a death sentence for cats, but recent advances in feline cancer research are making treatment possible on many occasions. Just like with human cancers, early detection is essential to successfully treating feline cancers.

Common cancers in cats

Essentially the most common sorts of cancer in cats is lymphoma. Other frequently seen cancers are oral squamous carcinomas, just like what people get. Fibrosarcomas, or soft tissue sarcomas, are tumors developing in muscle or perhaps in the connective tissue from the body. These are generally associated with injections and vaccinations. Other kinds of cancer are less common, nonetheless they do take place in cats: lung tumors, brain tumors, nasal tumors, liver tumors. There are actually fewer incidences of mammary tumors (yes, cats could possibly get breast cancer, too) since more cats are spayed and spaying is among the best ways to prevent this type of cancer.

Indication of feline cancer

People and cats both show similar symptoms on the subject of cancer:

Lumps, especially lumps that seem to be getting bigger
Sores that don’t heal
Modifications in bowel or bladder habits
Unexplained bleeding or a strange discharge from any body opening
Lack of appetite and fat loss
Difficulty in breathing
Lameness or stiffness that persists over a period of time
Bad odor
Having problems eating or swallowing food

If you notice your cat showing such symptoms, take him for your veterinarian for just a thorough examination.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis will vary, according to the presenting symptoms. An exam probably will add a complete blood chemistry, blood count, and urinalysis. Your veterinarian takes x-rays, perform an ultrasound, and take tissue biopsies. According to the place that the biopsies are extracted from, this will require sedation, or full anesthesia. Biopsies might be reviewed with a veterinary pathologist to discover the kind of cancer.

Treatment

Treatment options for cats are almost as varied as alternatives for human cancers, and will be determined by any type of cancer. Surgery is easily the most common treatment for the lumps or growths that need to get removed. Sometimes, surgery can be curative. Other cancers may require chemotherapy or radiation. Cats are likely to tolerate chemotherapy much better than people, and may have high quality of life for many months and even just years following treatment. Radiotherapy can also be used for tumors that are not to be removed. This is a more stressful therapy for cats, as it requires sedation or anesthesia for every single treatment.

Causes

There isn’t all the research in the causeof feline cancer as you can find to the human side, but I wouldn’t think it’s a leap to assume that many of the same toxins in the environment that cause cancer in humans also cause cancers in our cats.

Pet Article courtesy of http://pet-articles.blogspot.com.

Fundraising for new Popovich Comedy Pet Movie.

info — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:24:19 +0000

Hey everybody,

As many of you may know, the Comedy pet tour is now under way in California. Our work does not stop there however, right now we are trying to raise funds to produce a new comedy pet themed movie. What can you do to help? You can head to http://www.popovichmovie.com/ and pledge funds so we can reach our goal of creating this movie. This is run through kickstarter.com, the way this works is you pledge a certain amount, if the goal is reached then the movie is produced, if we do not reach our goal by the deadline, no money changes hands, so there is no risk involved in giving a donation. What do you stand to gain from donating? I hear you ask. If you head to the kickstarter link, there is a list of rewards given depending on the size of the donation, this includes such things as merchandise, DVDs, to theater tickets, VIP passes, Autographed props from the show, even as much as getting your name as a producer in the credits. So please head on over to http://www.popovichmovie.com/ and help us out.

- Gregory Popovich

A Horse Walks Into A Bar

russell — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:18:14 +0000

A horse walks into a bar, he sits down and the bartender asks him, “Why the long face?” The second horse walks in with jumper cables attached to it’s head, he sits down, and the bartender says, “I don’t mind the long face, but don’t you go and try to start something!”

Pets! We all love them.

russell — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:33:33 +0000

We love our pets, in all their many shapes and sizes

How to Bring out the Best in Your Dog

info — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:30:17 +0000

Every dog has his game: activities to suit your dog’s type

By Jennifer Messer

The Exercise Junkie

EJ can be a demanding, pushy, and obnoxious housemate, especially without his daily run. This dog is a perpetual motion machine, rarely relaxing on his own. It is tempting to take EJ out and run his legs off every day in the hope of bleeding off some of his energy, but beware—you can inadvertently train up an elite athlete who needs more exercise than you can give him. Limit repetitive games like fetch to five or ten repetitions at each end of another, less intense activity. Teaching EJ to relax with a daily massage and some soothing music can go a long way in helping him learn to settle. You can also help EJ to calm himself by fine dining him each evening. Ask him to lie down beside you and feed him his meal piece by piece over the course of half an hour to an hour. Only feed him when he is lying down, so that he learns that being in the down position is when food comes. As he develops self control, you can take him out and fine dine him outside, and eventually at the park where he can learn to settle down and watch the world go by.

The Busy Intellectual

Maybe you live with a canine-stein who specializes in finding the optimal angle to pull out the security lock on the dog-proof garbage can, and who can open all the baby gates in the house? BI enjoys a good mental workout, and training activities that challenge his grey matter are a wonderful form of stimulation. You can make up your own activities—from basic hide-and-seek to more complex games—or shop the canine brain-teaser market where Nina Ottosson’s products have been a big hit (check out nina-ottosson.com). For more on challenging BI’s IQ, read Brain Boosting Games at Modern Dog online (http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/articles/brain-boosting-games/1721). Look for good intellectual outlets, but don’t underestimate the benefits of physical exercise; regular aerobic exercise is as important for BI as it is for brainy humans who only think best when they keep fit. Unstructured off-leash exercise will do, or you can satisfy both body and mind with cognitively demanding sports such as herding, tracking, or treibball (a very cool new sport of ball driving; check it out at americantreibballassociation.org). Daily exercise will prevent BI from using his extra energy to memorize your banking data. Ignore his needs and he just may amuse himself ordering dog toys off the Net while you’re at work.

Read how to deal with the other personality typ es at modern dog magazine.