By Dr. Laurie Hess

It happens in malls across America every weekend. Somewhere between Build-a-Bear and the food court, an 8-year-old races up to the pet store window, presses his face against the glass, points to the large parrot perched inside and shouts, "Mommy, Daddy, can we get him, PLEASE?"

The parents see the colorful bird dancing on the other side of the glass and their child's longing expression, and all reason leaves them. Before they know it, they are swiping their credit card and trying to cram their SUV with a big metal cage, bags of food, and a large, feathered family member who is now squawking loudly in the back seat.

Parrots -- from parakeets to macaws -- can make wonderful companions, but many are purchased impulsively. Parrots are highly intelligent creatures that require a great deal of attention and care. They can thrive in the right homes, but they are often bought by people who have little knowledge of what they require. As a result, many birds end up being relinquished to shelters or re-homed. Or worse, they remain in homes where they are ignored, becoming unhappy and self-destructive.

Before you purchase a parrot, ask yourself four questions:

-- Do I live in a home conducive to owning a parrot?

This really means: Can you and your family tolerate noise? Parrots naturally chatter and squawk early in the morning and at dusk, around feeding time. Also, large birdcages take up a great deal of space. Small apartment dwellers or light sleepers might not be able to tolerate these restrictions. Additionally, little children and large birds often don't mix. Parrots are commonly scared by kids' quick movements and loud cries, so they may bite, chew their feathers or scream in reaction. If you have a baby or a toddler, you might pass on the parrot until the kids reach elementary school.

-- Do I have time to care for a parrot?

In the wild, parrots live in flocks of hundreds or thousands. They are social animals that need constant contact and interaction with their flockmates (in your home, this means you) to prosper. When they are ignored or left alone for long periods, they may scream and pick at their feathers or skin. Also, they need water and food (including fresh produce) twice a day, plus weekly cleaning and daily spot cleaning of their cages. This adds up to several hours a week in playtime, feeding and cleanup -- not something those of us who work long hours outside our homes can readily spare.

-- Do I have a lifestyle suited to owning a parrot? Parrots are homebodies and generally don't like change. When they are moved into new environments, they sometimes stop eating and can take days to adjust. Plus, we already noted how attached they become to their flockmates. As a result, they sometimes don't acclimate easily to unfamiliar surroundings, such as boarding kennels. If you travel a lot or if you're gone from morning until midnight, a fish or two might be better pets.

-- Do I have the finances to care for a parrot?

While many people will shell out hundreds of dollars to purchase a parrot, few consider what happens next. Parrots require fresh food daily, which will add to your grocery bill, and some will chew up expensive toys in under a minute. And what happens when your parrot becomes ill? Few people take their birds for regular veterinary checkups, and even fewer take out parrot pet insurance policies -- as many do for their pooches. So when the birds get sick, a person may be hit with an unexpected vet bill. If purchasing a parrot will max out your budget, you may want to wait and save up, so you can have funds available for medical care.

That all said, if you can answer these questions with an honest "yes," then a parrot can be an entertaining and loving lifelong companion.

Dr. Laurie Hess is a board-certified avian specialist who cares for birds and other exotic pets, such as rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, smaller rodents and reptiles at the Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics in Bedford Hills, N.Y. Dr. Hess previously served as head of the Avian & Exotic Pet Service at the renowned Animal Medical Center in New York City.

Q&A

Crusty ears on rabbit

may mean pesky mites

Q: My rabbit's ears are kind of scabby and crusty inside, with flakes that look kind of papery and gray, and he's really scratching at them a lot. Do rabbits get dandruff, or could he have an infection? -- via email

A: There's a good chance that your rabbit may have ear mites, also known as rabbit ear canker, especially if he is also tilting or shaking his head, and scratching hard at the ears all the time.

Ear mites are tiny parasites that think the inside of a rabbit's ears are as great a vacation spot as Miami Beach. They like the warmth, humidity and darkness of the ear canal, dig into the skin to feed, and then start reproducing. The next thing you know, your rabbit's ears are itching like crazy. He may scratch at them so much that the skin around the ears becomes red, raw or even bloody, and the inside of the ear flap becomes crusty and scaly.

It's important to treat rabbits with ear mites as soon as you realize there is a problem. If they go uncared for, the mites can cause secondary bacterial infections of the skin, invade the middle or inner ear with resulting neurological symptoms that affect balance or gait, or even spread over the bunny's entire body, resulting in severe itching everywhere, plus hair loss and skin sores.

To relieve your rabbit's itch, take him to the veterinarian for medication to kill the mites and prevent them from coming back. Ear mites don't affect people, but they are contagious between rabbits. They are spread by direct skin contact or contact with bedding or other objects belonging to a rabbit with mites. If one rabbit in your household is diagnosed with ear mites, any other pet bunnies also should be treated for them. Ear mites can survive for up to three weeks away from their cozy home on your rabbit, so thoroughly clean your rabbit's hutch, bedding and anything else he has been in contact with or he could become reinfested. -- Kim Campbell Thornton

THE BUZZ

Feeding pets puts

a bite on the earth

-- Paw prints on the kitchen floors and counters are bad enough, but do you know that our dogs and cats leave significant carbon paw prints on the Earth? According to sustainability researchers from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, more than two acres of agricultural land are required to provide the meat and grain necessary to sustain a medium-sized dog for its lifetime. Researchers estimate that 154,440 square miles of land are required to feed the cats in the world's top 10 feline-friendly nations. This is the equivalent of bulldozing the entire state of California to grow Meow Mix.

-- A study published in the February issue of the Veterinary Record found that many owners don't realize their horses are overweight. The study ranked horses' body scores from 1 to 5, with over 3 being overweight or obese. More than 20 percent of horse owners said their animals are overweight or obese, while the trained researchers classified 55 percent of the horses as overweight or obese. Additionally, 53 percent of owners ranked their horses at least one grade lower than the researchers did.

-- Using treadmill tests, researchers at the National Academy of Sciences found that the most dazzling and deadly frogs are more physically fit than their dull and drab non-toxic cousins, Science Daily reports. Unlike other poisonous animals, such as snakes, which make their own venom, poisonous frogs get their toxins from food. Non-toxic frogs generally are fairly stationary when waiting for insects to move along their path. However, poisonous frogs have to search out ants and mites, which are not found in large groups, but in small patches, which means the frogs have to travel long distances to find their food, which links their eating habits to their fitness prowess. -- Dr. Marty Becker, Mikkel Becker and Ed Murrieta

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Gina Spadafori. The two are also the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Dr. Becker can also be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker.

By Kim Campbell Thornton

Remember when you got that bundle of puppy love? Remember when you took him to training class, to the beach, on that road trip? Remember when he spent a whole week just snuggling with you in bed when you had the flu and he brought all his toys to help you feel better?

If you've ever loved an old dog or have one who is approaching his golden years, you have lots of "remember whens." And you can have lots more with the help of "Good Old Dog: Expert Advice for Keeping Your Aging Dog Happy, Healthy and Comfortable " (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26), a compendium of science, stories, myth-busting and more information than you might have known existed about the care and companionship of aging dogs. Compiled by veterinary experts at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and edited by Tufts veterinary behaviorist Dr. Nicholas Dodman, the comprehensive tome covers everything from behavioral changes to expect and recognizing signs of potential problems to making health care and end-of-life decisions.

How long can dogs live? A lot longer than you might think, Dodman says.

"Here at the veterinary school, we see about 8,000 old dogs per year out of our caseload of about 24,000. The oldest one we had on record was 21, but I know dogs can make it to 22 or 23."

With dogs living longer, pet owners are more likely to confront such canine health problems as arthritis, cancer, congestive heart failure, kidney disease and even a form of Alzheimer's disease. Dodman, whose contribution was a chapter on doggie dementia, says classic signs of the condition are disorientation, a reduction in social interaction, sleep disturbances and loss of house-training, identified by the acronym DISH. If your dog seems to get lost in the house or stare into space, no longer greets you when you come home from work, sleeps fitfully or becomes agitated during the night, or starts to have house-training accidents, chances are that senility is setting in. The good news is that medication, activity and diet can all help. That's true for almost every effect of aging.

Aging is not a disease, Dodman says -- there's even a chapter with that title -- and when it does cause problems, there is a lot that can be done to help pets. With regular veterinary examinations, careful observations and the advice in this book, we can help our dogs glide comfortably through their golden years.

Cat owners are equally fortunate in their choice of reading material. Cat expert Darlene Arden has written "The Complete Cat's Meow: Everything You Need to Know About Caring for Your Cat" (Howell Book House, $20). The clowder of cat-centric advice includes tips on raising kittens, training cats (yes, it can be done!), fixing behavior problems and helping shelter cats through clicker training. Along the way, she addresses nutrition and wellness, details exactly how to hold a cat, trim sharp claws and successfully administer medication, and debunks the myths that give cats a bad rap, from black cats crossing paths to cats sucking the breath from babies.

For instance, Arden begs to differ with the notion that cats are loners. Why else do cats choose to sit in our laps, sleep with us, walk across our keyboards and spread out across the newspaper we're reading?

"They're solitary hunters, but they're not solitary creatures," Arden says. "They're looking for attention."

Keeping cats intellectually and physically challenged is a big part of living happily with them, says Arden, who believes most cats spend the day doing the mental equivalent of twiddling their thumbs. They need playtime with their people -- "Even three five-minute play sessions a day is great" -- and interactive toys so they can play on their own when they want.

"You can have so much fun with a cat. I really hope everyone will look at them in a different light and will have more interaction with them."

Kim Campbell Thornton is an award-winning writer an a member of the PetConnection team.

Q&A

Keeping dogs safe

when on the road

Q: My dog loves to ride in the car with his head hanging out the open window, ears blowing in the breeze, but my neighbor keeps telling me it's not safe to let him do that. Why not, and what's the best way to protect him when he's riding in the car? -- via e-mail

A: There's no doubt dogs get a thrill out of sniffing the fantastic odors carried in the air and feeling the wind ruffle their fur.

Unfortunately for them, there's a lot that can go wrong when they are allowed to ride loose and stick their heads out the window. Dust and other debris can blow into their eyes and cause injury, and in the event of a collision, an unrestrained dog can be flung about in the car, endangering the driver, passengers and himself. He can hit the windshield with hundreds or even thousands of pounds of force or even be thrown out the window into traffic.

Instead of letting him ride loose, restrain him with a seat belt or car seat made for dogs, or confine him to a crate or soft carrier that can be secured with a seat belt through the handle on top or a loop located at the back of the carrier. A canine seat belt should consist of a one-piece harness with wide, padded straps that can be attached to your car's seat belt or some other sturdy anchor point. A car seat should attach to a passenger seat and come with a strap that hooks to your dog's harness (not his collar).

Whichever option you choose, your dog is safest in the middle of the back seat. An air bag punching out of the dashboard at 140 miles per hour is just as dangerous to a dog as it is to a small child.

What's the safest way to restrain your dog? A seat belt or car seat prevents him from flying through the air, but a crate may do a better job of protecting him from a flying object in a collision. Either way, he will be safer than if he's not restrained at all. -- Kim Campbell Thornton

THE BUZZ

Tailless cats count

for less in one way

-- No one can definitively say how many bones a cat has. A long-tailed Maine Coon cat will have more vertebrae than a Manx with no tail, or a Manx mix with just part of a tail. And a cat with extra toes -- they're called polydactyl -- will have extra bones as a result. The range is usually between 230 and 250, with the average cat counting about 244 bones, if cats could or cared to count. Anyway you count it, the average cat has about 30 more bones than we have. But we have something cats don't: collarbones. Not that a cat would consider that a disadvantage. Without a collarbone, a cat can fit his body through an opening the size of his head. Assuming he isn't overweight, of course.

-- While being fat isn't funny for a cat, crash diets can be deadly for obese felines. Rapid weight-loss can trigger a dangerous liver disease, hepatic lipidosis. Talk to your veterinarian about how to reduce your cat's weight safely.

-- In many parts of the country, fenced yards are uncommon, so some people keep their dogs on chains. Tethering a dog for a short while is fine, but it should never be a permanent way of confining a dog. Dogs who spend their lives on chains are more likely to become dangerous, biting anyone who comes onto their turf. That's because a dog who spends his life on a chain is isolated and frustrated, and he'll sometimes lash out to protect his pitiful bit of territory. Chaining can be dangerous for the dog, too: There are countless cases where a dog tried to jump a fence, didn't have enough chain to clear it and ended up hanging himself from his collar on the other side. If you don't have a fenced yard, walking your dog or buying a kennel run for him to hang out in when you can't be with him is better than chaining him outside.

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Gina Spadafori. The two are also the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Dr. Becker can also be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker.

By Amy Shojai

A top reason cats lose their homes is destructive scratching when furniture trumps the cat-owner bond. People bonded with a cat put up with more household damage before resorting to ditching the kitty -- but it can still happen. Understanding why a cat scratches -- and how easy it is to prevent damage to furniture -- helps keep cats in their homes.

Clawing is an instinctive behavior that can't be stopped. While some felines are claw-maniacs and others are less demanding of scratch-time, all cats claw for physical, emotional and social reasons.

Clawing provides exercise to stretch shoulder and foreleg muscles, and it keeps nails healthy. Scent pads in kitty paws leave invisible smell-cues of ownership. The marks also serve as feline Post-it Notes to warn away other cats from prime feline real estate. That's why single-cat households may create less claw-trauma than multipet homes, where each cat vies for territory and attention. Cats also claw to comfort themselves during times of stress.

To keep clawing on-target, give your cat legal outlets for this natural behavior. Offer irresistible options while making forbidden objects undesirable. Watch your cat and he'll tell you his scratch preferences. The surface (wood, sisal, carpet), preferred shape (vertical or horizontal), and location are vital. Spiking the new object with catnip helps promote feline allegiance.

Kitty wants the world to see his scratch-graffiti, so don't hide posts in back rooms. Place them in high traffic areas or near important cat territories -- windows, lookouts, nap places and food stations. Abide by the 1-plus-1 rule of one post per cat, plus one, so everyone has clawing opportunities. Avoid "cleaning up" or re-covering tattered scratch objects. That can risk the cat losing scratch-allegiance when his marks disappear.

Make illegal targets unattractive to the cat, until he learns to use the right object. Sticky Paws double-sided tape, endorsed by the ASPCA, works great on upholstery -- cats dislike touching surfaces that stick to paw fur. Strong scents such as citrus deodorants or Vicks Vapo-Rub repel many cats. Cinnamon peppered on dark upholstery, or baby powder on light fabric, prompts a poof of dust into the cat's face when he assaults with feline claws. You can even temporarily wrap chair arms with bubble wrap. These pet-safe "booby traps" are effective when you're not around.

A product called Comfort Zone with Feliway duplicates the cheek scent that cats rub against furniture that tells the cat, "Chill -- calm down!" Cats won't claw on top of cheek-rubs, which reduce stress-related behaviors. Feliway comes as a spray or as a plug-in from pet product stores.

Meanwhile, position legal objects next to illegal targets and redirect kitty claws when necessary. Interrupt forbidden scratching with a sudden loud noise. Slap a newspaper against your thigh, clap hands or shake an empty can full of pennies. A long-distance squirt gun aimed at a furry tail can startle some cats out of the behavior, but some cats LIKE to be squirted! Once kitty stops, direct claws to the legal target with a laser pointer or by dragging a feather lure over the surface, and praise when he does the right thing.

For hard-case cats, Soft Paws vinyl claw covers reduce the potential for scratch damage. Soft Paws glue over the top of each nail, come in a variety of colors, and are available from pet supply stores and some veterinary offices. You can learn to apply them yourself.

After your kitty switches to scratching the correct object, move it to a better location, a few inches at a time. The bubble wrap comes off as well. A little bit of human inconvenience translates into a well-trained kitty and a lifetime of love. And that's the purr-fect outcome for everyone.

Amy Shojai is the author of 23 pet-care books, a founder of the Cat Writers Association, and is the cat behavior contributor at cats.About.com.

Q&A

Complementary help

can ease cat's pain

Q: I can tell that my older cat is stiff and sore. It's harder for her to get up, and she doesn't move around as quickly. I am very interested in natural medicine and would like to know if my cat can also benefit from the same treatments that have helped me reduce some of the aches and pains of age. -- via email

A: Lots of veterinarians and other pet lovers share your interest. Many natural therapies, known as alternative, or complementary, medicine, have been found to help cats, especially as they get older and develop arthritis or other health problems related to aging. Complementary treatments include nutraceuticals (a word coined by combining "nutrition" and "pharmaceuticals") such as glucosamine, chondroitin and essential fatty acids.

A good example is omega-3 fatty acids. Research has shown that they can have a significant anti-inflammatory effect on arthritic joints in dogs, and there's a good chance that cats may benefit as well. Older cats with creaky joints can also get pain relief from a product called Adequan. It is easily injected beneath the skin and can be done by a pet owner at home.

Pets with pain issues can also be helped with physiotherapy, which may include acupuncture, chiropractic, stretching, massage and low-level laser. A veterinarian who is trained in these therapies can determine which ones will work best for each individual pet and administer them as needed. You can learn to do some other techniques at home, such as tui-na, a type of Chinese massage that helps to increase circulation and improve tissue mobility, and low-level laser therapy, which has benefits that include reduced inflammation and pain relief.

Two important things to remember: One, just because something works in dogs or people doesn't necessarily mean it will work in cats, who have a unique physiology; and two, just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it is safe. Never give your pet an herb, nutraceutical or other medication without first checking with your veterinarian to make sure it won't harm your animal or interact negatively with other drugs your pet is taking. -- Kim Campbell Thornton

THE BUZZ

Enzymatic cleaners

best for pet mess

-- Cancer deaths in both dogs and humans can be reduced dramatically by a reduction in the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids and in maintaining ideal body weight. The research, by veterinarian Dr. Demian Dressler, was presented at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting. Dr. Dressler recommends severely limiting snack foods that contain ingredients rich in omega-6, such as corn oil, vegetable oil and grain-fed red meat. Too much omega-6 fatty acid can lead to inflammation, which creates an environment conducive to the development of cancer. As for weight, obesity cuts the production of a hormone that inhibits the growth of cancerous cells. The findings stress the importance of proper diet and weight for both people and pets.

-- The cat-borne parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can trigger or exacerbate psychotic symptoms and schizophrenia, triggers different reactions in different people. That's the result of a study published in the journal Infection and Immunity, authored by researchers at Johns Hopkins. Each of the three strains causes different reactions in nerve cells, ranging from mild to serious. The parasite is the reason why pregnant women are counseled to have others clean litter boxes, so as to protect fetal development. -- Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Gina Spadafori. The two are also the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Dr. Becker can also be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker.