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The top 10 tips for being the perfect companion to your dog or cat.

Treating Pet Stress Naturally

Article: Follow PETA's top 10 tips for being the perfect companion to your dog or cat.

http://www.helpinganimals.com/feat/sweetheart/

1.Have your companion animal spayed or neutered. Spaying reduces the stress and discomfort that females endure during heat periods, eliminates the risk of uterine cancer, and greatly reduces the risk of mammary cancer. Neutering makes males much less likely to roam or fight and helps prevent testicular cancer. Spaying and neutering is also the best way to prevent animal overpopulation.

2.Visit your local dog park or take your dog for long walks and be sure to let him or her stop and sniff the fire hydrants. Order fun dog or cat toys from the PETA Catalog and play with your pal on a regular basis. Just be sure you buy toys from a supply store that does not sell animals. PETA has received numerous complaints about pet stores that peddle fish and other small animals.

3.Keep your dog in the house with you-not outdoors in the cold. Refuse to let your dog or cat roam unsupervised—he or she could get hit by a car, attacked by other animals, or taken by "bunchers"—people who pick animals up to sell to research laboratories. In a world of SUVs, intolerant neighbors, bored juveniles armed with baseball bats, traps, rat poison, freezing temperatures, and toxic antifreeze spills, the safest place for your animal companion is indoors with you.

4.Don't declaw your cat. It is a painful and permanently crippling procedure that involves the amputation of the last joint of each toe, including the bones. Declawing also robs cats of a vital natural behavior and of their natural defense. It can even make routine behaviors like scratching in the litterbox uncomfortable. Regular trimmings, scratching posts, nail caps, and other options are effective ways to control scratching without causing your cat pain and trauma.

5.Think outside the box. Never keep your companion in a crate. C'mon, would you like to be locked in the closet all day with no bathroom breaks, no company, no entertainment, and no room to stretch—not to mention exercise? It's no fun for Fido, either. If you simply can't make it home during the day, ask a friend or hire a reputable dog walker to take your dog out at least once in the middle of the day.

6.Use a nylon-web collar or harness on your dog or cat. Choke, prong, and pinch collars are painful and can cause injuries. Animals should always wear identification so that you and your best friend can be reunited quickly if you ever get separated. You may even want to consider microchipping your companion. Click here for more information.

7.Dirty, smelly cat litter is not nice for anyone's nose. Cats don't want to walk in their own waste anymore than you do. Change your cat's litterbox at least twice a day and avoid clumping litters, which can pose a danger to cats and kittens. You may want to try Swheat Scoop, a wheat-based litter that dissolves in water and, therefore, does not cause intestinal blockages in cats when swallowed. Click here for more ideas on making your cat adore you.

8.When your dog barks, he or she is trying to communicate something: fear, anger, loneliness, excitement. Think about all the times you tell your "best friend" to "be quiet" even though everyone else is talking. Let him or her talk a little. After all, you wouldn't like it very much if your dog told you to shut up when you were telling him or her about your day!

9.Fresh vegetables or the occasional Mr. Barky or other vegetarian dog biscuit are perfect for occasional treats. (Grapes, raisins, chocolate, and onions are dangerous for dogs, though.) You can make nondairy "pupsicles" by freezing Franco-American mushroom gravy (or any other vegetarian gravy) in an ice-cube tray. Dogs and cats can thrive on well-planned vegetarian diets, too. Supermarket pet food is usually made from the flesh of animals who fall into the "four D" categories—dead, dying, diseased, or disabled.

10.Some hotel chains, such as Ramada Inn and Holiday Inn, welcome four-legged guests. Vacationing With Your Pet: Eileen's Directory of Pet-Friendly Lodging: United States & Canada, by Eileen Barish, is a helpful resource for locating animal-friendly lodging. Don't transport animals by plane if it can be avoided. Animals on planes have been lost, injured, and even killed as a result of negligence or delays. Temperatures can get extremely hot in unventilated airplane cargo holds. If you must fly, it's safest for animals to fly in the cabin with you. Most domestic airlines permit animals whose crates fit under the seat to fly in the passenger area. If your pal just can't come along, find a trusted friend, relative, or neighbor to look after him or her at home, where he or she will be the most comfortable. That's much nicer than being cooped up in a kennel.

You can improve the lives of dogs and cats suffering from cruelty and neglect. Please support PETA's work for companion animals. You can find the web address above.

http://happytales.home.att.net/

Article: Diagnosing and Treating Pet Anxiety Disorders The Natural Way

Relieving Anxiety in Pets the Natural Way:
One of the more common behavior problems for which I am consulted involves anxiety-related issues in dogs and cats. The problems range from simply being anxious when going to the doctor’s office or grooming shop, and thunderstorm phobias, all the way to severe separation anxiety. While behavior modification is very important in dealing with any type of anxiety and phobia (and should not be replaced by medications or supplements,) there are situations where various natural therapies may be helpful in dealing with these issues. While conventional tranquilizers such as acepromazine can immobilize pets, these drugs do not relieve the terrible anxiety the poor pets experience. Therefore, they really should not be used as the sole therapy for anxiety disorders in dogs and cats. This article will briefly review some of the more commonly recommended supplements for dealing with anxiety in pets. Flower essences are alcohol extracts of various plants.
Flower therapy was developed by Dr. Edward Bach during the 1930's.

Dr. Bach was a conventionally trained physician who studied immunology and was involved in the development of a number of vaccines. However, he desired to find a less invasive way of treating patients that would have the same favorable results as he saw with conventional medicine. During his studies he learned about homeopathy and was attracted to Dr. Hahnemann's philosophy of treating the individual patient. As a result Dr. Bach began preparing homeopathic preparations of the vaccines he had created. During this time Dr. Bach began to notice that people could be grouped based upon their emotional states. For example, he noticed that some individuals seemed lonely, some were distracted, some were fearful, and some were more outgoing. Dr. Bach further noticed that people that fell into these groupings responded best to the same type of homeopathic vaccine. By matching the homeopathic vaccine with a person's emotional "grouping," Dr. Bach achieved even better results in his patients. Dr. Bach then began searching for harmless plant-derived materials for his vaccines (rather than relying on the bacterial products used at the time to prepare the vaccines.) He desired to find plants that would have a healing effect on what he thought were the negative emotions that were at the root of many diseases he saw in his patients. This would allow him not just to heal the immediate illness but also heal the root cause of the disorder. By freeing the body from its negative emotional states, the body would be free to heal itself.

The system Dr. Bach discovered during his research led to the creation of the flower essences. The flower essences (flower therapy) are extracts of flowers; each essence addresses a specific trait of mind or personality type. These flower remedies are used to improve the attitude, personality, and mood of the patient, which Dr. Bach felt was the key to many disorders seen in his patients. According to Dr. Bach, "Health is our heritage...and is the complete and full union between the soul, mind, and body. True healing can be obtained by right replacing wrong, good replacing evil, and light replacing dark." Dr. Bach felt that the action of the remedies was to open the patient to healing from within by replacing bad virtue (fear) with good virtue (calm.) Since mental and emotional state can determine health or disease, the flower remedies are used to achieve harmony in the patient. According to practitioners of flower essence therapy, harmonious patients are healthier as harmony precludes disease.

Rescue Remedy is the best known essence and produces a calming in many nervous pets. It is composed of the essences of 5 flowers: cherry plum, clematis, impatiens, rock rose and Star of Bethlehem.

While I prefer combination products instead of simply choosing 1 or 2 herbs for anxiety, it’s important to understand which herbs may be indicated for anxiety-related problems. Valerian is an herb that promotes restfulness, and has not been reported to interact negatively with other medications commonly used in pets. The active ingredients in valerian bind to the same receptors in the brain as the drug diazepam. Kava is a well known anti-anxiety herb. The active ingredients cause mild sedation, relief from anxiety, and muscle relaxation. While safe in pets, there have been a few reports of liver failure in people with preexisting severe liver disorders. In my practice, I have not seen any problems but would exercise caution in pets with liver problems. Catnip is a well known herb used for its calming properties. In some cats, it can cause excitement (similar to a mild “high” seen in some people using illegal drugs.) However, when combined with the other herbs in this formula, its sedative and calming properties predominate. Finally, L-tryptophan, being a precursor to serotonin, reduces aggression and anxiety.

Finally, keep in mind that your pet can pick up on your own stress level. Whenever I remove a pet from its owner during the examination, and bring it to our treatment area to perform a procedure, I notice that most pets calm down since they are not sensing the stress the owner also experiences during the visit. And don’t forget the importance of a strong immune system. Using antioxidants, feeding the pet a healthy natural diet, and reducing the amount of vaccines given, can relieve extra stress on the pet’s immune system. Each pet is different, and there is no cookie-cutter approach that works on every case. For owners interested in avoiding conventional medications (which are usually expensive and often have the potential for undesirable side effects,) I encourage readers to consider these safe natural options before resorting to stronger conventional medications. Make sure to work with your veterinarian before using herbs, as even these natural “medicines” can have side effects in certain pets.

You can purchase a supply of these natural medicines through the link above at happy tales

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