- Image by pt via Flickr
I am very excited to announce that Fresh Start Pet Coaching is expanding our service area for our in person consultations.
We already offer in person behavior consultations to the Austin and Georgetown areas. We will now also be offering in home consultations to the Temple, Belton, and Waco areas. Essentially, we will offer consultations to all areas between Austin and Waco.
Why are we doing this you might ask. Well, the answer is simple. A little less then a year ago I met my wonderful fiance John who is working on his PhD at Baylor University in Waco. Now that we are getting married and I spend so much time in Waco, and traveling between my office in Georgetown to our home in Waco, I thought it was time to start offering our services to those areas.
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Question:
Is it OK to feed my dog only once a day?
I know twice/day is probably ideal, but is once a day OK? We adopted a boxer several months ago, and are having trouble getting/keeping her on a good eating schedule. My husband and I both work outside the home, so some days she’s left for up to 8 hours during the day. I was thinking/hoping that this may help with the potty routine/times.
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Bonnie and Clyde
In my years of fostering I have had the opportunity to foster litters of bottle baby kittens twice. The term “bottle babies” is used to describe any unweaned animal and that has lost it’s mother for whatever reason and is being raised by humans with the help of a bottle.
The black ball of fur you see here to the left are Bonnie and Clyde, my most recent bottle baby litter. I believe they were about a week old at the time this picture was taken.
Fostering bottle babies is time consuming, can be exhausting, and is very rewarding. It also comes with a significant amount of responsibility. Kittens are fragile and even with the best of care it’s easy to loose them. At one point, Bonnie and Clyde became ill and I was up every hour giving them fluids, feeding them, and stimulating them. That was one of the longest nights of my life. It was also early in my relationship with my wonderful fiance John. I knew then that if he stuck around through that, he was a keeper. 
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Most likely, if you are considering bringing home a Russian Blue, it is because Russian Blue’s are stunningly beautiful cats. But there is more to owning a cat than just looks and it’s important to determine whether or not your life style will meet the needs of this particular breed of cat.
History:
The history of the Russian Blue comes mostly from legend and myth. It is thought that they were brought to Great Britain from the Archangel Isles in Northern Russia by British sailors in the 1860’s.
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So, as a cat owner myself and as a professional animal behaviorist I am always looking for ways to make cleaning the litter box easier. Let’s face it. No one wants to scoop the litterbox, but it’s just something you have to do. Particularly, if you want to keep your cat from developing the habit of using another location (such as the laundry hamper).
One of the products I just love is the Litterlocker by Petmate. All you do is scoop you cat’s litterbox and deposit the waste into the litterlocker. Turn the handle and your cat’s waste is stored in a sanitary way and there is no smell! I love it because it’s simple and easy. I’ve had my litterlocker for over a year now and haven’t had any problems with it. I scoop the litterbox once a day and a use one cartridge per week for my two cats.
Feel free to check it out over at Amazon, it’s definitely one of my favorite cat products: Petmate 22501 LitterLocker Plus with Microban, White/Planet Blue
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Bonnie and Clyde
Kittens are, in my opinion, one of the most playful animals on earth. A few months ago I fostered a couple of kittens for Austin Pets Alive! and I was reminded just how much trouble and fun a kitten can be. Not only do kittens have a very high play drive, but the get into everything and can climb just about any vertical or horizontal surface.
So, why get two kittens instead of one?
For the very simple reason that if you have two kittens, they can play with each other.
Play related aggression (biting, scratching, and attacking during play) is very common in kittens. In fact, this predatory behavior is a normal part of play behavior in kittens. The problem begins when this behavior is directed at you (your hands, feet, etc) rather than at a toy or another kitten.
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Rusty in his crate
I recently attended a webinar titled “The Use and Misuse of Crates” by Dr. Suzanne Hetts and Dr Dan Estep, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists, based out of Colorado.
Now I recommend the use of crates frequently to my clients, particular to the owners of dogs under 1 year of age. These pups are going through a lot of physical and mental changes as they develop into adult dogs and a crate gives a safe place for these dogs to stay when unsupervised.
Lets face it, puppies can be very destructive, they pee and poop on the floor, and they chew things, particularly when they are teething. Since it is impossible to watch your puppy 24 hours a day 7 days a week, a crate is a very useful tool when used correctly. However, crates can become nothing more than a doggy jail cell if used improperly. One of the most common mistakes when crating a dog is leaving him in there for too long.
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Not long after I adopted Rusty I injured my back. I was on bed rest for a month and I was on strict orders not to do any bending. This meant that in order to pet my dog he had to jump up on my legs. Well that was ok when Rusty was 3 months old, but now that he’s 6 months old and 40 pounds it’s become a bit of a problem. Really I don’t mind him jumping up most of the time but I don’t want him jumping up on other people and it can be a problem if I’m wearing nice clothes or if my hands are full
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The short answer to this question is yes. In fact, yesterday our dog Torchy learned to go find his Frisbee by watching our other dog Zoe find her ball.
“Go find it” is the command Zoe gets when I’ve thrown her ball for her and she looses it. Let’s face it, I threw the ball for her and I don’t want to wander around in the grass looking for it if she’s lost it. Zoe also tends to loose balls in the grass rather easily.
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Cassidy Russell Aug 29, 1997-Dec 3, 2009
I write to you now, not from the objective viewpoint of a professional animal behaviorist, but from the perspective of someone who has been there and is there now. On Thursday December 3, 2009 our dog Cassidy passed away. I’m hoping by telling her story I will offer myself a productive and therapeutic way to begin the healing process and also a way to offer hope and healing to those who are in similar circumstances.
Cassidy and her brother Cody were born August 29, 1997 (Cody died January 2, 2009). We owned their parents, Rocky and Nikki, as well. From the day Cassidy was born to the day she died she was part of our family. We nicknamed Cassidy CasSilly because she seemed to always be doing something to make us laugh. One of her favorite games as a pup was to play with the water bowl, she loved to drink up water and than let it run back out of her mouth.
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