Green Gift Giving Season

With another gift giving season quickly approaching I wanted to mention my favorite gift giving ideas for a dog lover this holiday season or any time of the year.

1. Make a donation in someone's name to your local humane society or animal rescue group. The Humane Society of Chittenden County has a Guardian Angel program that sponsors the home of an animal of your choice for six or twelve months. For more information visit www.chittendenhumane.org/get-involved/guardian-angel.

2. Sponsor a wolf or wolf-dog in someone's name at Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary is a wonderful organization that rescues wolves who can no longer live in the wild and dogs which can be adopted. They also provide education programs about wolves. For more information visit wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org. 

2. Bake some homemade dog treats and package them in a decorative reusable container.

3. Instead of using wrapping paper wrap a present with a  reusable item such as a dog blanket and use a dog toy as a bow.

For more tips on celebrating a greener holiday season visit http://www.nature.org.

Have a Woofderful Day!

Beware of Chinese Chicken Jerky

For those of you who may not be aware of it chicken jerky treats, particularly Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch, have been linked to the deaths of at least 360 dogs and one cat. Both brands were made in China. The FDA has issued three warnings about the products but not a recall and retailers are still selling the treats despite the warnings. So for now it is up to all of us as loving pet parents to know where our pet food and treats are made and avoid products made in China in order to keep our pets healthy and hope that retailers will soon get the message and quit selling treats that are harming pets.

November is National Pet Diabetes Awareness Month

November is National Pet Diabetes Awareness Month. Diabetes is a relatively common disease in which the body doesn't use glucose properly. If left untreated diabetes can be life-threatening. If treated and medicated pets can live a normal life. Symptoms include the following:

    an increase in water consumption  
    an increase in urination
    an increase in appetite
    weight loss
    cataracts

One of the risk factors of diabetes in pets is being overweight. Recently as the number of overweight pets has increased to the point that now approximately half of all dogs and cats in the United States are overweight the rate of diabetes has also increased. For more information on diabetes in pets read
http://www.catchannel.com/news/2011/05/02/cat-diabetes-rises.aspx. If you suspect your pet may have diabetes or need help managing your pet's weight consult your veterinarian.