One of the fascinating questions about cats is this: Are they too dumb to learn tricks or simply too aloof to condescend to such behavior at the beck and call of a mere human.

Those of us who have cats (or are owned by cats) believe it’s the latter. Most devoted dog lovers I know attribute canine obedience to superior intelligence and look down on cats as too dumb to learn tricks.

I’m here to tell you, our cat, Tigra, has trained us thoroughly to perform the “tricks” she demands of us. When she’s really thirsty, she chooses not to drink from her water bowel, rather she walks into the bathroom and sits patiently on the closed toilet seat with her paws on the edge of our bathtub. If we aren’t quick enough getting there to give her the preferred bathtub drink (through a detachable hand-held shower hose), she will hop into the tub and do her best to suck/lap water from the old tub spout.

If Ms. Tigra comes in from outside when we call her, she strolls through the front door and straight to her food dish area in the kitchen, where she sits expectantly awaiting two or three tiny, crunchy kitty treats.

Yes, she’s bright enough to “train us” — but she treats us as though we must be out of our minds if we ask her repeatedly to do something that doesn’t interest her. Dumb? I think not. I think, rather, that she’s simply convinced she’s above all that. Sly, or perhaps “elitist,” would be the best term.

So, tell us, if you have a pet cat, have you trained the cat to do any tricks? I saw a video where I would ALMOST believe a woman had taught her cat a couple of basic obedience things, like “sit up,” and “sit.” Even then, I’m not sure if the cat really was trained — or the woman had been trained by the cat when to give it treats.

Scary, in a way, are cats, aren’t they??

Technorati Tags: cats, cat tricks, training cats, for pets and pet lovers

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I’ve never been able to understand people who let their dogs stay outside overnight and the dogs bark constantly — yet the owners never seem to hear them or care about it at all. Am I the only one who’s lived in neighborhoods with this sort of nuisance going on? I doubt it.

Most of the dogs — well, really, most of the pets — which we’ve had have been “indoor” pets. Even when we’ve had dogs, they may have spent time outside, but generally came indoors overnight.

My problem isn’t people who leave their dogs outside. My problem is when those people obviously neglect the dogs, and who obviously care nothing at all about their neighbors.

The last neighbors like this in our neighborhood insisted they never heard the dogs and weren’t aware that it was a problem. They were lying, I’m sure. Everyone within four square blocks of their house heard the dogs — almost all night long on almost every night for six months before the neighbors finally moved out of the neighborhood and took their dogs with them.

In the first place, such dogs suffer themselves. They generally are barking incessantly out of boredom, or loneliness, or even out of fear because of the loneliness.

In the second place, such poor dog owners cause many others to suffer — and even put the dogs at risk from irate neighbors who may retaliate in drastic ways to silence the dogs.

So I guess my plea to you all would be this: Be aware of your pets’ behavior, whether they are outdoors or indoors, and take care of them. You’ll be doing your dogs a favor, as well as keeping peace in your neighborhood.

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Does your local fire department, police department, or other emergency responder stock oxygen masks or breathing apparatus suitable to help a pet dog or cat in an emergency? Yes? No?

I just ran onto a story about a Virginia community where a pet lover donated and helped raise money for such pet emergency response kits. It sounded like a worthy idea to me, and I don’t really know whether our local emergency people have such kits or not.

How about where you live? Do they have such kits to help pets in an emergency?

The article I’ve linked to above explain what the kits are and when or where they might be useful. It would be a nice idea if more communities would consider such emergency kits. At something like $85 per kit, I suspect most cities, towns, and counties really could afford one or two if they wanted. If not, why not organize a fundraiser?

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I’ve never understood why some people find the subjects of life insurance, survivor benefits, wills, death, etc., something to be avoided. Surely we all know we all will die some day — why not take steps to care for those we love when we’re gone? Specifically — have you made provisions to take care of your pet or pets when you’re gone.

It’s my understanding that most states have little or no law relating to pets and pets who survive their owners, except that the pets PROBABLY are considered property, not “survivors” in the sense that people are survivors. But I’m pretty sure most states allow you to include specific instructions in a will regarding your pets.

Have you made a will, and if so, does it include some instructions or provisions for your pets? My wife and I made wills many years ago when our kids were minor children, because we were concerned about providing for their guardianship if we both were to die. We didn’t. They’re adults now, so it’s no longer an issue.

But very honestly, we have not revised our wills and they make no mention at all of who would take care of our old cat if we both were to die. So this is an area where we’ve not done anything.

In our case, we assume our daughter or our son would care for the cat, Tigra, if we both died suddenly or were incapacitated. And, since she’s a reasonably healthy, likable little cat who gets along with both our son and our daughter, there’s not likely to be a problem. If she required special, even expensive, care, it would be a different matter, perhaps.

Leave a comment, please. Tell us what you’ve done or not done regarding your pets if you were to die or be incapacitated.

Technorati Tags: pets and wills, pet survivors, pets as property, pets legal status, for pets and pet lovers

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I would be interested in knowing your experiences with air travel and pets. I’ve never really thought much about this issue, because my wife, Shirley, and I do very little travel — and very little of that by air. In fact, we’ve taken only one round-trip flight in the last 10 years, and we left our cat, Tigra, at home for our adult children to take care of.

I thought about air travel with pets because I just saw an Internet story saying that Canadian officials have just reinstated a policy of allowing pets to travel on Air Canada. After looking around several search results for “pets air travel,” I concluded that traveling by air with your pet(s) certainly can be done — but it isn’t easy and it’s complicated by no standard guidelines for air carriers.

So, leave a comment and tell us about your experiences traveling with your pets. Was it good or bad? What would you like to see changed? Tell us, please.

Technorati Tags: pets traveling by air, airlines and pet travel, for pets and pet lovers

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I’ve posted for the third time here about the old cat, Tigra, and her gimpy leg trouble. Not wanting to bore you, but something happened that was really bizarre. She reacted to the pain medication in pretty spectacular fashion, almost like she was on some human “speed” or something.

The vet who gave her the painkiller warned me that it would do one of two things: Either the cat would become extremely drowsy and sleep a lot — or she would “exhibit really odd behavior.” I didn’t know what in the world that meant. But I found out.

The first hour or so after Tigra got the pill, she sort of wandered off to a hidden part of the house and slept.

Within an hour or two after getting the pill, she reappeared, but wouldn’t let anyone near enough to pick her up. She wasn’t running off, mostly because her right front leg still was not working for her, but she would back into a spot under the kitchen table and just sit there.

Most of the day before yesterday, she alternated between sitting under the kitchen table just staring over at her water dish and hopping around the house 3-legged with her eyes wide open, starting and staring at something that it appears only SHE saw.

She never hurt herself, and we never let her near anything or any situation where she could be harmed — but it was really weird. I was telling my neighbor about Tigra’s behavior and he smiled and said, “Ah. So it was sort of like — here’s your cat; here’s your cat on drugs, huh?”

Yes, it was very much like that. And when it came time for a second painkiller dose, we opted to pass. She finally settled down sometime in the early morning hours yesterday and slept most of the morning away under our bed.

Today, she has almost no limp, is putting nearly her full weight on the troubled leg, and is back to her normally lovable alert personality. She’s spent a lot of time sleeping — which is normal for Tigra — and she’s spent a lot of time cuddling up on “mommy’s” and “daddy’s” lap.

I think she’s back to normal. I KNOW she’s definitely off drugs.

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Yesterday I posted about our concern for Tigra, our 12-year-old cat, because she had started limping and refusing to put any weight on her right front leg.

The bad news is — my son broke up with his veterinary girl friend. The good news is — she has enough bond of friendship with us that she graciously came by the house today (her day off, too) to check out Tigra’s leg.

She’s not certain the cause of the soreness, but it doesn’t appear to be the result of an abscess form a cat bit, nor any detectable foreign object stuck in her paw. She found no evidence from manually probing the area of a fracture. She concluded Tigra may simply have a touch of arthritis — or a hidden would/bite location that’s going to develop into an abscess. She told us if Tigra’s not putting more weight on the leg within a couple of days to bring her by the clinic for x-rays.

Good news for the whole family. It always amazes me how strongly we become attached to our pets. Just as with kids, we feel the pain ourselves when our pets suffer, don’t we?

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We noticed earlier today that our 12-year-old cat, Tigra, is being very sensitive about her right front paw. She’s not cleaning or licking it excessively such as she might if there were a sticker in the paw. And her leg and leg joints don’t seem to be sore or tender to the touch.

She simply won’t put any weight on her right front paw, although she is very gently using that paw to lick then use to groom her face.

So maybe nothing’s wrong, and we’ll keep an eye on her to see. We’re wondering if she might be experiencing some soreness in the front joint of her leg — arthritis or something, perhaps, due to her aging?

Tomorrow, if she’s still favoring it and seems sensitive, could be a day to take her to the vet.

Technorati Tags: cat care, paw soreness, pet arthritis, pet care, for pets and pet lovers

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Hello out there, all you happy pet lovers, did you miss me? No? I know, the old wisecrack: “Oh, were you gone??”

Well, no, I haven’t exactly been gone. But I’ve had too many things going on and just haven’t been able to get back here as soon or as often as I would like. After all, we all know that pet lovers are the best sort of folks around, right?

Anyway, I’m baaacck, so let’s move on.

I was looking around the Internet today for pet news and saw references to several sites and products for disabled pets. Most specifically, I found a very detailed discussion of dog hip dysplasia, with explanations about how this disease develops (primarily it’s related to multiple gene problems), what sort of treatment is available, and how you and your pet can live with it.

I was interested also to discover that there are many online stores which sell various mechanical supplies and support to help such dogs remain mobile. And those sites sell some useful looking products for other pets facing other disabilities.

Which brings me to my question for today: Do you have or have you ever had a pet with a disability? Dogs, cats, hamsters, birds, whatever, have you ever dealt with any disability issues related to your pets?

I would love to have you leave comments and share your experiences or thoughts about disabled pets.

Technorati Tags: pet disabilities, dog hip dysplasia, supplies for disabled pets, for pets and pet lovers

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If you travel much and like to take local tours, if you’re looking for family vacation ideas, here’s a useful website for you — Trusted Tours & Attractions, with fun things to do in America’s major cities, whether you’re looking for a personalized tour of the San Diego zoo, or a bus tour through the boroughs of New York City.

I plan soon to take advantage of all the things to do in New York which you can discover at their website. I can’t think of New York without thinking about a crazy experience I had their a few years ago. Well, not really “crazy,” just one of those bizarre things where life almost imitates the TV sit-com stereotypes. Yes, it was a New York City taxi ride. I was headed into mid-town Manhattan from La Guardia airport. It was my first time in the city and until then all I knew was what I learned through TV and movies. The cabbie, true to stereotype, spoke very poor English and drove wildly. On one occasion, he simply took to the right-hand shoulder of the road for about half a mile to get around a traffic jam on the expressway. Took my breath away. But the “punchline” to my story came two days later. I was walking up to an intersection in mid-town when a taxi came screeching around the corner, right-turning in front of me. I stopped short and was safe — and when the taxi came to a stop there was a loud BANG as his front tire blew out. When the driver got out, yes, it was the same guy who had brought me in from the airport.

Moral to the story: When you travel to New York City, take advantage of the Trusted Tours & Attractions people whenever you can to get around town, of course.

Currently, Trusted Tours & Attractions is offering chances to win an iPod “Nano” if you sign up for their “eNewsletter.” I subscribe to that eNewsletter myself and enjoy the travel information and news they send out. Please note — the iPod “Nano” drawing offer ends Monday, March 31st, 2008, so get over there and sign up in time to get in on the drawing!

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