It's a New Year's tradition around my home, one that has outlived two generations of pets but still works to help ensure the safety of the animals I live with now.... more
One of my best friends doesn't practice preventive care with her dogs. She also lets her cats roam the neighborhood (disappearing at the rate of about one a year). She does just about everything with ... more
Recently I spent the weekend in the company of some of the most beautiful cats in the world at the Cat Fanciers' Association annual international show in Houston.... more
One Christmas Eve many years ago, I decided to kill some time before heading over to a family gathering by cutting the nails on all my dogs. (Yes, I know it's odd, but I'll say in my own defense that ... more
I am no fan of Christmas, to the bemusement of my friends and family, who consider my attitude some strange personality quirk. I neither give gifts nor accept them -- aside from an exception I make fo... more
Every year at this time I offer a list of the most common holiday hazards for pets: feeding problems, foreign-body ingestion and accidental poisoning.... more
Cruising garage sales years ago, I ran across a woman plucking tired houseplants from decorative containers she intended to sell. The friend who was with me took pity on a discarded vine and took it h... more
When a friend of mine lost her darling cat to age and illness, she told me that her next in a long line of feline companions wouldn't be a kitten. Partly, because she thought she was old enough that a... more
Almost every week I write quite seriously about pets, about caring for them properly, protecting them from harm and solving the problems that drive animal lovers crazy. While there's no doubt people ... more
Do you have one of those seemingly crazy cats who loves your petting one minute and bites your hand the next? While you can't completely turn a "skitty kitty" into a purring slug cat, you can work to ... more
The e-mail was one of those funny things that arrive unexpected, the joke that you and millions of other people get at roughly the same time, usually in multiple copies.... more
In a previous column, I shared ideas offered by readers for coping with the housekeeping challenges posed by pets. The suggestions ranged from such preventive strategies as covering furniture with was... more
Is it possible to have pets and a clean house? You bet it is! When I asked for cleaning tips a couple of columns ago, I heard from readers who manage to keep things neat with some creativity and not a... more
The following story is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent, by which I mean me, because the not-so-innocent will kill me if I hold my brother up for public disapproval. Let's cal... more
The best way to keep from losing your pet permanently is to make sure he never becomes lost at all. And when it comes to pet birds, that ounce of prevention is worth even more than a pound of cure.... more
The first step in turning an adult dog into a reliable house pet is to embrace a key concept: There's no such thing as a "partially" house-trained dog. He either is, or he isn't.... more
The crunch of my tires on the long gravel driveway broke the stillness of the warm afternoon and woke the furry forms on the distant front porch. Suddenly my car was surrounded by dogs -- their tails ... more
What was I thinking? With the addition of puppy Chase, I added a white dog to a family of two black ones, thus guaranteeing that there's no outfit I could possibly put together that wouldn't show dog ... more
It may seem odd, but there's a parallel between abductions and dog attacks: Most children who are victimized aren't randomly selected; they're attacked by a person or dog known to them. Just as an abd... more
Do you pause when a black cat crosses your path? I sometimes do, and then I laugh at myself for being influenced by such a silly old myth, even for a second. But that's the funny thing about cats -– m... more
Whenever I write about an incident of animal cruelty, I always get a few nasty letters that come awfully close to ... well, not defending what happened, but certainly minimizing the significance of su... more
Cat lovers are notoriously resistant to putting collars and IDs on their pets. Some get tired of replacing the collars their cats keep slipping out of, while others are convinced their roaming darling... more
My dogs are not, by preference, couch potatoes. They want to leave the house every time I do. And if they could, they'd always choose not the mundane errand-running trips of my ordinary existence, but... more
When a long-time friend of our family bought a home, she was surprised to find out that it came with a friendly outdoor cat. The previous owner of the home had died, and the heirs either didn't know a... more
Summer is the time when a homeowner's thoughts naturally gravitate to gardening. The home centers are full of gardeners every weekend, and even drugstores and supermarkets sell a fair number of plants... more
Everything in nature is there for a reason -- from opposable thumbs to brightly colored feathers, it all serves a purpose. That thought had me contemplating a puppy -- as I was doing at 3 a.m. on a wa... more
Of all the readers I heard from following my column on giving pills to cats, I got the biggest laugh from a fellow who perfectly captured the challenge of keeping kitties medicated.... more