Category Archives: Pets

Pets, those feathered, gilled, furry, four legged and sometimes scaly family members we all love. Learn more about caring for your pets and including them in family fun here at the Families.com Pets Blog.

Cats Eating People Food

Yesterday a good friend of mine posted on her Facebook that she caught her two cats eating coleslaw. It’s not the first time her cats have gone after people food; one ate a strawberry last week, and when they were kittens she had to lock them in a room when I’d have lunch at her house. Otherwise they’d jump up on the table, put their paws in our water glasses, and otherwise view our plates as their personal buffet. When I think about it, I can recall many incidents of cats I knew eating people food. My old roommate’s cat … Continue reading →

Service Dogs for Veterans

Training future service dogs Last month my mom sent me an interesting article from Smithsonian Magazine that she thought would make a good topic for the Pets blog (thanks Mom!) It was about the growing movement to provide service dogs to combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. I’ve written before about two topics very close to this one: rescue organizations dedicated to providing dogs to veterans, and military dogs developing PTSD. Now the two are combined. The dogs provided by Pets for Patriots aren’t necessarily service dogs, though they do deliver a wonderful service for veterans. In this case, more … Continue reading →

Living with Dogs Might Improve Baby Health

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a real reason to keep our dogs around our babies? Some people are terrified of the idea, thinking that it’s dangerous to let dogs around small children. At first it’s best never to leave dogs alone with babies, to make sure the animals know to be gentle around them. However, we pet owners know that some dogs are great with babies. There have already been some studies about how being around dogs in the first year of infancy can help reduce the chances of a child later developing allergies to dogs, but what about … Continue reading →

Mall Pet Stores: The Beginning of The End

I’ve been following the story of the move some cities in California made to ban all pet stores that actually sold animals. This was made in an attempt to curb the sale of dogs and cats sourced from puppy mills and kitten factories. I talked about how, as a teenager, one of the only stores I ever liked stopping at in the mall was the pet store. I wondered where that pet store got its animals. The era of pet stores in malls might be coming to an end. California-based company Macerich, which owns shopping malls all across the country, … Continue reading →

Pets Leaving Food: Should You Worry?

My cats have caused so many food-related problems this year. I went from giving my cats food once a day to twice a day, then three times, having to split up normal portions into weird smaller amounts. My cat’s gluttony, food thievery, mischievous behavior, and sudden desire to eat people food all prompted my decision. As spring progressed and melted into summer, I thought I’d finally sorted things out. No, now my cats have changed their eating habits again. It all started when Jon and I left for a weekend. I put out two days’ worth of food; we weren’t … Continue reading →

Salmonella in Dog Food Infects Humans

Remember that giant Diamond Pet foods recall from earlier in the year? It stretched from December through May, and covered a staggering variety of pet foods. It wasn’t just that hundreds of specific bags of pet food were affected, but also that so many different brands of kibble were all infected. I thought the story was finally over in May when it seemed like we’d heard the last of the recalls. I’m not writing today to inform you that another recall has been announced, but to update the story. At the time although some dogs were reported as coming down … Continue reading →

Silly Gourmet Pet Foods

While on a walk with my dog in a nearby town I discovered a doggie cafe. I thought that perhaps this establishment was a cafe that, if it didn’t cater to dogs, at least allowed owners to take their dogs inside. I knew this was unlikely, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to take a look inside. What I found, to my disappointment (but not to my surprise) was a pet supply store. The reason it called itself a cafe was tucked into a side room. There, stretching along the entire back wall, was a bakery display case filled with … Continue reading →

Bird Basics: Doves

We often associate doves with magic tricks or elaborate wedding ceremonies, but few realize that doves can make lovely pet birds as well (and that they also come in more colors than white). They’re a good pet bird for a first time owner or one with children, because they are very gentle; they do not tend to bite or scratch. As with any variety of bird you must research the specific breed that you want, because precisely what you need to care for it will depend on your breed. Question the breeder or your vet (because you must also find … Continue reading →

Cat People vs. Dog People

I’ve already debunked the whole cats and dogs can never get along theory. What about whether you’re a cat person or a dog person, and what that says about your personality? I recently caught part of a NOVA documentary exploring that very thing, and I wish I’d seen more of it. The opening was full of cat people and dog people talking about the respective attributes of their favorite mammals, before examining what life is like at home for each of them. Although the concept was fascinating, I felt a little put out. What about me? I love dogs and … Continue reading →

What Your Dog Says About You

I don’t know if this is a new trend or an old one experiencing a revival, but lately I’ve seen a lot of “what does your dog’s breed say about you?” style articles. I’ve even seen a few ones related to romance: what does your boyfriend’s dog say about him, or about his sex life? While I find the latter a bit of a stretch, I think maybe there might be some truth in the former. The breed of one’s dog might say a bit more about one’s living situation than personality, so that two vastly different people might both … Continue reading →