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Behavior & Training

  • Many veterinarians, including nutritionists and behaviorists, believe it is important for dogs and cats to express their natural foraging and hunting behaviors. For pets living indoors, this can be difficult, and the lack of this stimulation can sometimes lead to behavior problems. Enriching a pet's environment with food toys and puzzles at mealtimes can fulfill the need to forage. The use of toys, puzzles and other novel methods of food delivery can also be effective ways to increase daily movement in overweight or inactive pets.

  • Behavior Management: Pet Selection Guidelines

    Pueden evitarse muchos problemas de salud y de comportamiento en las mascotas pidiendo consejo antes de adquirirlas. Estos consejos ayudan, primero, a seleccionar la mejor mascota para una familia en particular, para lo cual hay que tener en cuenta la especie, la raza, la edad y el sexo del animal, y también el lugar en el que se va a adquirir.

  • Losing weight is difficult. Feeding a veterinary prescription weight-loss food is important, but energy expenditure is also important. Encouraging your cat to exercise can help to increase energy expenditure and can complement a successful weight-loss program.

  • Obesity occurs when a cat consumes more calories than they expend. Therefore, managing obesity in cats often requires both dietary changes and increased exercise/activity. There are several methods for increasing activity in cats, including play, using cat trees and climbing structures, outdoor enclosures, and intentional, active feeding practices. Each of these can be beneficial in promoting weight loss.

  • You’ve probably heard lots of funny cat anecdotes; about how you don’t own them…they own YOU; how they feel superior to everyone, especially dogs; that they expect to be treated like royalty. If you are considering a feline acquisition, first consider this: lots of those remarks are true! This handout explains the other factors to consider in selecting the cat most likely to choose your family, too.

  • Fear can be a normal response to a threat, but it can also contribute to emotional and physical distress. Anxiety is the anticipation of fear. Phobias are intense fear responses to relatively benign triggers. Behavior modification and medications may be used to treat fear, anxiety, and phobias in dogs and cats.

  • Interactive feeders that require a pet to think and work for their food call upon pets’ natural instincts to hunt or forage. Besides being fun, these food puzzles may help both physical and behavioral problems in cats and dogs. When used correctly, interactive feeders may benefit pets that eat too quickly, become bored when alone, or suffer from separation anxiety.

  • Successful airline travel with a cat begins long before the day of travel. Do your homework with the airlines. Acquire your cat's travel carrier well before your trip to allow her to become comfortable with it. Schedule a visit with your veterinarian close to the date of travel. Consult your veterinarian to create the best travel plan for your cat if she does not travel well. With some advance planning, attention to detail, and consultation with your veterinarian, flying with your cat can be a great experience.

  • Cat Behavior Problems: Scratching Behavior

    Para los gatos arañar es un comportamiento normal que tiene al menos 4 funciones diferentes reconocidas: ir eliminando la parte externa de la uña, estirar y poner en forma los mecanismos necesarios para sacar y retraer las uñas, dejar marcas visuales para comunicarse con otros gatos y dejar unas señales químicas olorosas que proceden de unas glándulas de las almohadillas.

  • Gentamicin + betamethasone valerate + clotrimazole (Otomax®) is a combination topical ear medication used to treat bacterial and/or yeast ear infections in dogs. It is also used off label to treat bacterial and/or yeast infections in cats, or for the topical treatment of superficial skin infections in both dogs and cats.