Pet News and Blogs

Nature’s Variety: How to do a recall right
No food or drug can ever be made 100 percent safe, and that’s a fact. I’m OK with that, because life can’t ever be made 100 percent safe, and that’s a fact, too. Honestly, who would want life to be 100 percent safe? Not me, for sure, because that would be awfully damn dull. I know that [...]

This toy wouldn’t last a full minute at my house
Look, this is America. Kudos to anyone who can get people to unleash $15 (at full retail) for a cardboard box. But after looking at the video (h/t to Patti S!) I know that my retrievers wouldn’t take a full minute to figure out that ripping the box to shreds would deliver alllllll the treats [...]

When is the right time to let a pet go?
In this week’s Pet Connection newspaper feature, Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori tackle one of the toughest questions pet owners ever face: Choosing to end a pet’s life is the hardest decision we make when it comes to our pets, and we can tell you from decades of experience that it’s a decision [...]

What you need to know about new canine cancer drug
After hearing what Dr. Laura D. Garrett of the University of Illinois had to say about Palladia at last month’s Western Veterinary Conference, I realized there’s more to the story than the fact that this is the first drug approved in the United States to treat canine cancer. Palladia (toceranib phosphate) is what’s known as a [...]

A different kind of DogCar: Following the wild ones
We tore across the grassy scrubland, as much as one can tear across grassy scrubland. Our top speed was probably 40 kilometers per hour, a little slower when there were obstacles in our way. Who knew that I would find a DogCar to write about in Botswana? Except this one is not for hauling dogs to [...]

Expert tips on helping cats make the diet switch
Want to change your cat’s diet? For the owners of many cats addicted to one food and one food only, that switch falls under the “easier said than done” category. My cat Dickens has health issues that meant a diet change, but he arrived here at the age of 9 months as a kibble addict. When [...]

Element enlightens dog trainers and walkers
When Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori first launched DogCars.com as an offspring to PetConnection.com, they set out to inform, educate and enlighten dog lovers about the dog-friendly differences in vehicles on the market today. Then, at the end of the first year, DogCars.com sorted through all its research to come up with a DogCar [...]

A simple line between life and death: The leash
It is a simple enough thing– a 3- to 6-foot piece of leather, nylon or rope. In a pinch, I have even used a bungee cord, which has caused a few stares as I enter the teaching hospital, although it is utterly possible that the clown suit led to the stares, and the bungee [...]

Study links dog spaying with shorter lifespan
Study: Removal of ovaries could affect lifespan. A potentially groundbreaking study examined aging in Rottweilers. The work by a team led by Dr. David Waters of Purdue, published in the December 2009 issue of the journal Aging Cell, strongly indicates that the length of time a dog retains her ovaries is directly linked to [...]

Thumb-sucking Sunday: The Dream Thing, redux
About a decade ago, not long after walking away from a job at a well-respected daily newspaper — a move that seemed insane at the time but not so much now — I walked away from the second real job of my life, running the Pet Care Forum on AOL as part of the Veterinary [...]