GOING OUT OF TOWN FOR THE HOLIDAYS??
NOT SURE WHO WILL TAKE GREAT CARE OF
FIDO WHILE YOU ARE AWAY?
LOOK NO FURTHER!!!
BOOK YOUR PETSITTER NOW!
CONTACT ME TODAY!
Serving the Fort Lauderdale Area!
954.916.7106
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Prepare Your Pets for Hurricanes
Don't Forget to Prepare Your Pets for Hurricanes:
Our continued thoughts and prayers go to the people and pets affected by Hurricane Sandy. Thank you to all the brave first responders risking their lives to help others in need.
We want to remind everyone to please have an emergency plan in place to include your animals.
"The likelihood that you and your animals will survive an emergency depends largely on emergency planning done today."
Plan for pet needs during a disaster by:
- Identifying shelter. For public health reasons, many emergency shelters cannot accept pets. Find out which motels and hotels in the area you plan to evacuate to allow pets well in advance of needing them. There are also a number of guides that list hotels/motels that permit pets and could serve as a starting point. Include your local animal shelter's number in your list of emergency numbers. They might be able to provide information concerning pets during a disaster.
- Take pet food, bottled water, medications, veterinary records, cat litter/pan, manual can opener, food dishes, first aid kit and other supplies with you in case they're not available later. Before you find yourself in an emergency situation, consider packing a "pet survival" kit which could be easily deployed if disaster hits.
- Make sure identification tags are up-to-date and securely fastened to your pet's collar. If possible, attach the address and/or phone number of your evacuation site. If your pet gets lost, his tag is his ticket home.
- Make sure you have a current photo of your pet for identification purposes.
- Make sure you have a secure pet carrier, leash or harness for your pet so that if he/she panics, he/she can't escape.
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High-Protein Diet Not So Good for
Kitty's Belly, Study Suggests
By Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer | LiveScience.com
Many new cat foods claim they are tailored to the feline's carnivorous nature.
"There are a lot of diets now, all natural, that have high protein and fat and not much dietary fiber orcarbohydrates," said study co-author and University of Illinois researcher Kelly Swanson in a press release.
But it isn't clear that high-protein diets are actually good for cats.
To see how diet affects intestinal bacteria, the team assigned eight cats to eat either a high-protein, low-carbohydrate kibble or a balanced alternative with moderate amounts of protein and carbohydrates. After mating the cats, the scientists reared the kittens and fed them the same diet as their moms.
The kittens were allowed to play with each other in a common area with scratching posts and toys.
"It became quite a party right away," said Swanson in a press release. "It was a bit chaotic but fun as well."
At weaning, and at four and eight weeks after weaning, the team tested the bacterial DNA in 12 of the kittens' feces.
The kittens fed a high-protein diet had higher levels of bacteria that break down proteins, while cats fed the more balanced food had more carbohydrate-processing bacteria.
Surprisingly, kittens eating the higher-carb kibble had more of the beneficial gut bacteriabifidobacterium. Low levels of bifidobacteria have been linked to irritable bowel syndrome in humans. Compared with the other groups of kitties, the high carb-eating kittens also had higher levels of lactobacillus, beneficial bacteria that may play a role in cholesterol and appetite regulation.
The microbes found in the kittens' intestines weren't much different from those in the human gut, suggesting that specific diets may have similar effects across species.
"If you feed the bacteria in a cat, dog, or human colon the same substrate, there are probably going to be similar outcomes," Swanson said in the release.
The findings were published online in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Pets May Get the Flu More Often than Thought
By Rachael Rettner, MyHealthNewsDaily Staff Writer | LiveScience.com
In fact, flu infections in cats and dogs may be much more common than thought, experts say. And pets can catch the flu from their owners, research finds.
One study of cat blood samples found about 30 percent of cats in Ohio had been infected with seasonal flu, and 20 percent had been infected with the H1N1 flu strain that caused the 2009 pandemic. Studies also suggest there has been an increase in cat flu infections since 2009.
Researchers have known since the 1970s that cats can get the flu, and since 2000 that dogs could get it, but detailed reports of such cases have been rare, said Christiane Loehr, an associate professor atOregon State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Loehr and colleagues are conducting a broader study of blood samples from cats across the United States to pin down exactly how often cats get the flu.
It's not possible to know how sick the cats in the Ohio study were — the blood samples only show that they were infected at some point. It's also not clear whether these cats caught the flu from their owners, from other cats or animals, Loehr said.
But when human-to-pet transmission happens, researchers worry not only about the health of the pets, but also about the evolution of the virus. A flu virus that hops across species has the potential to undergo changes to its genetic code that could make it more virulent and dangerous to people.
"All viruses can mutate, but the influenza virus raises special concern," because it can change large segments of its DNA fairly easily, Loehr said. "In terms of hosts and mutations, who's to say that the cat couldn’t be the new pig? We'd just like to know more about this."
So far, the researchers have confirmed 13 cases in which a pet cat or dog caught the pandemic H1N1 flu strain from a person.
One of the first known cases occurred in Oregon in 2009. An 8-year-old cat became ill with flu and developed pneumonia after catching the disease from its owner, who was eventually hospitalized with H1N1.
In another case, a 10-year-old cat with a fever and breathing problems was found to have pandemic H1N1, and died after four days. The cat likely caught the flu from a child in the house who had been sick the week before. Four other cats in the house also showed signs of respiratory disease, but recovered.
Whether sick pets can transmit the flu virus back to people is not known, Loehr said.
Animals infected with the flu develop symptoms similar to those in people, including breathing problems, a running nose or eyes, and fatigue.
To protect pets, Loehr advised that owners get the seasonal flu shot, which will reduce the chances of catching flu and spreading it to others — both people and pets.
People who become sick with the flu should take the same precautions with their pets as they would with other people, such as minimizing contact with them, Loehr said.
Because of the large increase in flu in cats after 2009, the researchers are also investigating whether the pandemic strain of H1N1 is particularly adept at infecting felines, Loehr said.
Pass it on: Flu infections in cats and dogs may be much more common than thought.
Welcome to Nikki's Pet Sitting Blog...
Welcome to Nikki's Pet Sitting Blog!
I am very excited to launch my new blog for pet sitting! Animals have always been near and dear to my heart since early childhood. I dedicate this blog to my Grandmother who truly loved animals and taught me at an early age how to love and care for every one of God's beautiful creatures. To this day, even though my Grandmother is no longer with us, every sweet animal I come across makes me smile and think of her, because I feel she is always with me...
I offer my clients complete comfort in knowing that while they're away, their animals are in very good hands in my care. Being a dog owner myself, I know how precious pets are to one's family and truly believe they are a big part of the family unit. That's why I take pride in taking good care of them. I offer a wide variety of services to not only your pet, but to your home as well, all the things that you can't do while you're away.
I look forward to working with you and keeping pet owners up to date on the latest news, pet health care tips, important updates on pet food/treat recall notices, and any other pertinent information that is vital to every pet owner. Please feel free to share with me your ideas and tips as well!
We offer the following services in specifically Broward County/Fort Lauderdale, FL:
-Pet Sitting 1x-2x-3x daily.
-House Sitting during daytime only hours.
-House Cleaning as a compliment to Pet Sitting.
-Dog Walking.
-Pet Medications.-Running Errands.
If interested in a "Complimentary Consultation" kindly contact me:
Nikki Kantis: 954.916.7106
Email: nkantis77@gmail.com
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| "Dedicated to my Grandma who loved life and all of God's creatures!" |
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