Listen as Dr. Karen Becker discusses Wobbler syndrome – a serious neurologic disease prevalent in large and giant breed dogs.

By Dr. Becker

Wobbler syndrome is a disease of the cervical spine in the area of the neck, in which the spinal cord and spinal cord nerve roots are compressed.

This compression leads to neck pain and neurological problems like the wobbly walk dogs with the syndrome exhibit.

This wobbly gait involves taking short, floating steps with the front legs and a swaying or wobbly movement of the hind legs.

Wobbler syndrome is a very common cause of neurologic problems in large and giant breed dogs.

Most people just call the condition Wobbler's, but medical terms used to describe it include spondylomyelopathy, cervical vertebral instability, cervical vertebral malformation, and cervical spondylopathy.

Causes of Wobbler's in At-Risk Breeds

Wobbler syndrome develops in one of two ways:

• Slipped, bulging or herniated discs
• Bony malformation in the vertebral canal surrounding the spinal cord

Either of these problems can cause the spinal cord and nerve root compression seen in Wobbler's dogs.

The slipped disc presentation is most commonly seen in Dobermans.

Compression caused by bony vertebral malformation is most often seen in other large and giant breeds, including Great Danes, Rottweilers, mastiffs, the Weimaraner, German shepherds, Irish wolfhounds, Bernese mountain dogs and Swiss mountain dogs.

Wobbler syndrome is especially prevalent in Dobermans, Great Danes and mastiffs. Dobermans tend to develop the disease in middle age -- six to seven years old is average.

In Great Danes and mastiffs, the problem is most often seen in dogs under the age of three, and these two breeds usually develop Wobbler's from a bony vertebral malformation rather than a disc problem.

Symptoms of Wobbler Syndrome

Besides the wobbly gait and neck pain, other symptoms of Wobbler's can include:

• Limb weakness and difficulty rising after sitting or lying down
• Partial or complete limb paralysis
• Muscle loss through the shoulders
• Worn or scuffed nails from dragging the foot
• Increased extension of limbs

Wobbler's is usually a slow, progressive disease except in cases of acute trauma when it develops very rapidly.

Weakness, loss of muscle coordination and toe dragging usually begin in the rear limbs. Dogs with these symptoms often stand or walk in a crouched position with the head held very low. There's usually intense neck pain that accompanies this presentation.

The condition progresses to involve the front limbs, but usually with less severe symptoms.

Diagnosis and Traditional Medical Management of Wobbler's

A definitive diagnosis of Wobbler syndrome is made through x-rays, myelographs, a CT scan or MRI.

X-rays can rule out bony malformations but cannot diagnose disc disease.

Myelographs, which are x-rays taken after dye is injected around the spinal cord, as well as CT scans and MRI's, allow visualization of the compressed spinal cord.

The MRI is generally considered the best and safest test to diagnose Wobbler's.

The two primary treatments for Wobbler's are medical management and surgery.

Medical management usually involves medications to reduce inflammation and spinal cord swelling.

A study of over 100 dogs at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine showed that 50 percent of Wobbler's dogs improve with medical management. About 30 percent remain stable. And for the remaining 20 percent, the condition continues to worsen.

Medical management also means a dog's activity must be severely restricted. Often cage rest is recommended.

No collars or leashes should be placed around these dogs' necks – harnesses must be used.

Medical management is typically attempted with older dogs with mild symptoms, and dogs with multiple locations of spinal cord compression.

My Choice of Treatment: Physical Rehabilitation

I believe the best therapeutic approach for Wobbler syndrome dogs is rehabilitation – essentially dog physical therapy.

Aqua therapy, laser therapy and acupuncture including electro-acupuncture can be beneficial for these dogs.

There are also natural anti-inflammatoriesⁱ, Chinese herbs and antioxidants that cross the blood-brain barrier to help reduce trauma to the central nervous system. But nothing replaces the benefits of physical rehabilitation for canine Wobbler patients.

Surgery for Wobbler's

If medical management and/or rehabilitation and complimentary therapies are unsuccessful in bringing relief to a Wobbler's dog, the only other option to improve quality of life is surgery.

The type of surgery performed depends on the underlying cause of the spinal cord compression.

There are several things to consider when deciding if surgery makes sense, including what technique might be most effective, the number and severity of lesions in the spine, the dog's age, and other concurrent disease processes.

There are a number of surgical approaches to Wobbler syndrome. A dorsal laminectomy is often the surgery of choice to enlarge a very narrow or malformed spinal canal.

If a disc is compressed, a ventral slot procedure may be performed to remove the disc material.

There's also an exciting new surgical technique called cervical arthroplasty for disc-associated Wobbler's. This new technique involves implanting an artificial disc in place of the diseased disc, and the procedure can be used in multiple disc spaces.

Dogs who have undergone this new procedure have had terrific short and long-term results, so this is definitely a promising new technique to bring relief to patients with the disc-related version of Wobbler syndrome.

Helping Your Large or Giant Breed Dog Avoid Wobbler Syndrome

If you own an at-risk breed for developing Wobbler's, I recommend proactive cartilage and disc support -- for example Standard Process Canine Flex Support, or over-the-counter supplements like glucosamine sulfate and MSM -- very early in your dog's life.

As your dog ages, I recommend progressively more intense support, including egg shell membrane and Adequanⁱⁱ.

Supplying an oral musculoskeletal support supplement like Standard Process Canine Musculoskeletal Support can help keep intervertebral discs supple and resilient.

Maintenance chiropractic care is always a good idea, along with consistent use of a harness instead of collars that place stress on the neck.

Helping your pet maintain excellent muscle tone is also very important.

All these steps can help reduce your large or giant breed dog's risk of developing Wobbler syndrome.

• ⁱ Elite Science, About EFAC+, http://www.elitescience.net/pages/about-efac
• ⁱⁱ Adequan Canine Polysulfated Glycosaminoglycan by Novartis, http://www.adequancanine.us/

• Video Transcript

  A 17-Year Old Newfoundland? Discover What This Breeder Is Doing Right

  The "New" Way to Relieve Your Pet's Pain (Whatever its Cause)

  Can You Prevent Hip Dysplasia With This Simple Eating Change?

Mace wants to make sure his stuffed Ninja turtle doesn’t get the jump on him.

• See All Cute Pet Videos Here...

By Dr. Becker

Many pet owners include their furry loved ones in Valentine's Day celebrations.

And who better to celebrate on St. Valentine's Day than the one devoted soul in your life who offers true unconditional love?

Valentine's Day Do's

If you'd like to do something special for your four-legged companion on February 14^th, here are a few neat ideas:

• Make an appointment to have professional photos taken of your pet, or hire an artist to paint a portrait of your dog, cat, or other favorite critter.
• Make a permanent clay print of your pet's paw with a special kit.
• If your dog has a favorite activity like riding in the car, hiking a trail with you, or retrieving a tennis ball over and over and over (and over), carve out a couple hours on or around Valentine's Day and indulge him.
• Skip the heart-shaped carb-heavy pet treats and invest the money instead in a small amount of an excellent quality raw, canned or dehydrated dog or cat food.
• Set aside 15 minutes to a half hour and give your animal companion your undivided attention. Don't multi-task during this small window of time. Allow no interruptions. Do nothing but focus on your pet. Soak up her animal energy.
  
  You can spend the time just petting or massaging your pet, bathing or grooming her, or doing an at-home wellness exam. You can take your dog for a short, invigorating walk. Engage your kitty with her favorite toy. Chat with your bird. Set your pocket pet free to investigate a bit of the world outside her cage.

…and a Few Don'ts

Human celebrations of Valentine's Day tend to involve things that can be harmful to pets, including potentially toxic flower and plant arrangements, chocolate, wine or other adult beverages, and candlelit dinners.

• If you're thinking of buying a plant or flower arrangement for your pet-owning sweetie, visit the ASPCA.org for a list of both toxic and non-toxic plants.
• If candy is on your V Day shopping list, keep in mind chocolate is toxic to both cats and dogs. And the darker the chocolate, the more toxic.
  
  Chocolate contains a caffeine-like stimulant substance that when ingested by your pet can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, racing pulse and seizures. Also, the fat content in chocolate can wreak havoc with a pet's pancreas.
• Needless to say, any sort of alcoholic beverage is dangerous for pets. And it doesn't take more than a tiny bit to bring on vomiting, diarrhea, loss of coordination, central nervous system depression, tremors, breathing difficulties and coma.
• If dinner by candlelight is on the agenda for Valentine's Day, be sure to keep the flames well out of the reach of curious pets. And safely extinguish burning candles before you leave a room.

Here's wishing you and your loved one (on two legs or four), a warm, safe and wonderful Valentine's Day!

• The Pet Wiki

• ASPCA.org

  How You Can Make Your Pet Happier and Healthier in 2012

  Top 10 Pet-Owner Mistakes

  Why You May Be Healthier if You Own a Pet…

The European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF) has launched an initiative to help teach its youngest citizens about responsible pet ownership.

According to the Federation, "Teaching and learning is seen by all modern cultures as the key to the future economic and moral development of the society."

The FEDIAF goes on to note that despite the fact that about 200 million pets live in 70 million homes across Europe, little to no formal curricula exists specifically dedicated to pets – how to deal with them and the benefits of having a pet.

School Programs

The programs being offered to schools in the European Union were developed by educational experts and are published in English on the FEDIAF website.

There are teaching materials for grade school-aged children titled "Fascinating Cats" and "Fascinating Dogs".

There is also information for younger children (ages 3 to 6) titled "Dogs and young children."

There's also a four-minute video trailer for teachers which explains how the materials were developed and how they can be used to help young children understand how to be responsible pet owners.

Per the FEDIAF, "It is essential that children start learning from an early age how dogs behave, how they express fear or aggression, how they become part of the family and how they obey orders."

"Fascinating Cats"

This is a 36-page PDF document containing classroom materials to teach grade school children about cats. In a note to teachers, the goal of the material is explained:

Our priority is that school children can learn to handle cats without supervision and with their own sense of responsibility, and with knowledge and understanding of the biology, behaviour and the "language" of cats. Our aim is that, with this acquired knowledge, school children can adjust and orientate their behaviour and communication with cats in appropriate ways, so that they may familiarise themselves with cats as living beings that need to be taken seriously. Knowing how cats behave and express themselves is essential in establishing a "species-appropriate" relationship between humans and all animals. Children describe their subjective experience of such relationships as original, interesting and loving.

The teaching materials include information sheets on topics like:

• Ancestry of the domestic cat
• Cat language
• Biology of the cat
• Stages in a cat's life
• Treating your cat properly

There are worksheets for the kids for each topic, and tests for teachers to give after all the materials have been presented.

You can download the entire "Fascinating Cats" PDF here.

"Fascinating Dogs"

The teaching materials on dogs have a similar stated purpose to those for cats:

The teaching materials in 'Fascinating Dogs' offer an interesting, basic understanding of these popular pets. The information and materials in this booklet provide practical knowledge and appropriate information about dogs, which will help school children aged 8 to 12 to foster an understanding, respect and sensitivity towards the specific dogs and their needs. Our aim is for school children to learn to handle dogs safely, to develop their own sense of responsibility, along with knowledge and understanding of the biology, behaviour and 'language' of dogs.

This resource will help school children see how they can modify their behaviour around dogs so they can interact safely and happily. Understanding a dog's needs and instinctive behaviours is essential in developing a safe and rewarding relationship.

The content includes information on such topics as:

• The wolf pack
• The dog's family
• The dog's human family
• How to behave when you meet a strange dog
• Caring for your dog

Like the cat materials, the dog teaching materials also include student worksheets and tests.

Download the "Fascinating Dogs" classroom materials. 

"Dogs and Young Children"

Excerpt from a note to teachers:

Why is it important to teach young children about dogs?

The most common victims of dog bites and attacks are younger children, particularly those between the ages of one and six years. We know that dogs can be confused by the erratic, unpredictable behaviour of younger children (e.g. their fast movements and loud noises). We also know that younger children tend to misunderstand animal behaviour as they usually have not been taught to read a dog's body language. It is also clear that younger children are less able to protect themselves physically.

This material is geared to the 3-to-6 year old group, and starts off with a list and brief description of the '7 essential rules to be a responsible pet owner.'

The list is followed by four main learning subjects:

1. Inside the dog's mind
2. What if …?
3. Dangerous situations
4. How to avoid dangerous situations

The approach of the 'What if …?' section is designed to help children see things from a dog's perspective and empathize with different feelings an animal might experience, like hunger, fear, illness or happiness.

Questions for discussion are posed, including, "How would you feel if you couldn't escape from the sunshine and heat?" and "How would you feel if you were insulted or hurt, instead of loved?"

An excerpt from the conclusion of the 'Dogs and young children' teaching materials:

Our relationship with dogs has changed dramatically during the last two decades. Most dog owners consider their pet to be a family member who also has a close relationship with the children. The harmony between them is important for the development of empathy. Caring for and raising an animal helps a child to learn about routine, as well as helping to develop a sense of responsibility, and empathy for others. This experience is also useful for relationships with people and other children.

It is important to emphasize the role of parents, who should supervise all interactions between dogs and children. The early teaching of children, including experience-based education, plays a significant part in this process too.

Download "Dogs and Young Children" PDF.

Every Child Should Learn Responsible Pet Ownership

I love the idea of making responsible pet ownership classes part of the curriculum in elementary schools.

I also really like the 'fascinating' approach the FEDIAF took in creating their teaching materials. I believe helping children understand the nature of dogs and cats as species very different from humans will make them more conscious pet owners.

Pets aren't toys or belongings to be set aside or discarded. And pets also aren't small, strange looking humans. Dogs and cats have long, noble histories and evolutionary reasons for everything they do.

When we learn why the creatures in our care do what they do, and need what they need, it expands our understanding, compassion, and desire to be the best pet guardians we can be.

If you're looking for tools to help your own child become a responsible pet owner, I'd start with your local animal shelter, humane society or SPCA office to see what's available in your area.

And here are a few online resources that you might also find useful:

• Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine Kids Curriculum
• ASPCA Kids
• AVMA Kids Corner
• AKC Children's Education Catalog (for ordering offline educational tools)

And for all you parents out there, please remember: the very best person to teach your child how to take excellent care of a pet is you, and the example you set every day by being a role model of responsible pet ownership.

• PetfoodIndustry.com December 1, 2011

  How to Make the Right Choice for Your Child's First Pet

  How Safe is Your Child Around Dogs?

  Top 10 Pet-Owner Mistakes

Watch as cats Abbey and Zoey have very different reactions when they find themselves up to their haunches in snow!

• See All Cute Pet Videos Here...

Pets love treats! And pet parents love being able to offer them to four-legged family members.

Unfortunately, the majority of commercial pet treats, while yummy tasting to dogs and cats, are neither species-appropriate nor do they contain high quality ingredients.

In fact, most species-appropriate pet treats won't remotely resemble the cute and colorful dog biscuits and cookies you may be used to seeing on store shelves.

Forming treats into tiny dog bone or fish shapes requires the use of undesirable ingredients like grains and other starches, not to mention fillers, preservatives, sugar, and other additives.

Wouldn't it be great to be able to offer delicious, delectable treats to your pet that also provide your dog or cat with species-appropriate nutrition?

I certainly think it would be, so I asked my team to keep their eyes open for some excellent alternatives to the usual pet treat fare.

I'm sharing a few of the results of our research with my readers here at Mercola Healthy Pets.

I hope these recipes, tips and ideas will inspire you to make those treat calories count by offering nutritious, biologically appropriate snacks to your furry loved ones.

Super Easy Nutritious Pet Treat Recipes

Crunchy Beef Cubes

What you'll need:

• 1 pound lean beef
• Baking sheet covered with baking parchment

To prepare:

• Dice beef into half-inch cubes
• Place cubes close together on baking sheet
• Put baking sheet into cold oven and heat oven to 300^oF
• Cook for 1 hour
• Reduce oven temperature to 200^oF and prop open oven door (to allow moisture to escape)
• Continue cooking for 2 additional hours
• Remove beef cubes from oven and allow to dry overnight at room temperature
• Place beef cubes in airtight container and keep refrigerated or frozen until ready to serve

Chewy Liver Strips

What you'll need:

• Beef livers (butcher shops sometimes throw these away or you can buy them at the supermarket)
• Food dehydrator*

To prepare:

• Cut liver into 1-inch slices
• Apply a non-stick spray on the dehydrator drying racks
• Place the liver slices into the dehydrator for 24 hours
• Seal in airtight container and refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve

*An alternative to using a food dehydrator is to put the liver strips on a greased or non-stick baking sheet and bake them in a 325^oF oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Livertaters

What you'll need:

• 1 pound liver
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 ¼ cups potato flakes
• Beef or chicken broth
• Food processor
• Greased 13 x 9 pan

To prepare:

• Preheat oven to 400^oF
• Cut liver into approximately 1-inch pieces (to help with the blending and cooking process)
• Place the liver pieces, egg, garlic powder and potato flakes in food processor
• Pulse ingredients to combine
• Add as much broth as needed to make the mixture spreadable (the consistency will be very thick)
• Spread mixture into pan
• Bake for 25 minutes; cool on wire rack for 5 minutes
• Loosen sides with a knife, turn pan over and empty mixture onto wire rack
• Cool completely before slicing
• Place slices in airtight container and refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve

Turkeyballs

What you'll need:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
• ¼ cup shredded cheese (optional)
• ½ cup chopped veggies (optional)

To prepare:

• Preheat oven to 350^oF
• Mix all ingredients in bowl
• Shape mixture into bite-size balls
• Bake for 10 minutes or until brown
• Cool and serve or seal in airtight container and store in fridge or freezer until ready to serve

Turkey Mash

What you'll need:

• 1 egg
• 1 to 2 tablespoons mashed potatoes
• ½ cup diced cooked turkey meat
• ½ cup chopped cooked veggies
• ¼ cup grated cheese

To prepare:

• Warm a small amount of olive oil in a medium-sized skillet
• Blend the egg and potatoes in a bowl and then spread in the skillet
• Lay the turkey and veggies on top in even layers
• Cover and simmer until the egg is cooked and the mixture is warm
• Sprinkle cheese on top of mixture and cook a few more minutes until cheese is melted and egg is golden brown
• Cool thoroughly, cut into wedges, seal in airtight container and put in fridge or freezer until ready to serve

How to Quickly Turn a Can of Pet Food into Nutritious Treats

If you buy commercial (hopefully human grade) canned food for your dog or cat, you can 'repurpose' a can for use as a supply of healthy treats.

Open a can of your pet's favorite brand, preferably something with a strong aroma, and spoon out little treat sized amounts onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Put the baking sheet into the freezer until the bite sized bits of food are frozen. Then move them to an airtight container and back into the freezer they go until you're ready to treat your pet to a treat! (Most dogs will enjoy the treats frozen, but you'll need to thaw them to a chewy consistency for kitties.)

Additional Ideas for Quick-and-Easy Pet Treats

Don't count out people food when it comes to offering healthy treats to your pet.

Fed in moderation (meaning fed only occasionally, and in very small amounts – no more than a 1/8 inch square for a cat or small dog and no more than a ¼ inch square for a bigger dog), any of the following items from your kitchen can provide a nutritious snack for your dog or cat:

• Fruit
• Cheese
• Raw almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts
• Blueberries
• Frozen peas

No matter what treats you feed, they should be counted as part of your dog's or cat's daily caloric intake. It's easy to imagine, as you're handing a tiny morsel of this or that to your pet, that those extra calories are inconsequential in such small amounts.

Most pet owners would be surprised at just how many extra calories a treat here and there can add to a pet's daily energy intake.

• Squidoo.com

• All-Natural-Dog-Treat.com

• DogTreatKitchen.com

• ThePoop.com

  Beef & Bison Bites

  Warning: If You Feed Your Pet These Popular Treats - Please Stop Now

  Why are Pet Food Giants Suddenly Adding Sugar to Pet Treats?

The pet food industry as a whole has begun to feel the prolonged effects of the global economic downturn, with the exception of one tiny segment of the market.

According to the U.S. Pet Market Outlook 2011-2012, prepared by Packaged Facts, sales of refrigerated, frozen and dehydrated pet food are on the rise.

Per PetfoodIndustry.com, this "… small segment of pet food producers is experiencing an impressive and remarkable amount of growth."

The fresh/refrigerated, raw/frozen and dehydrated pet food segment accounts for less than one percent of total pet food sales, but analysts expect the segment to grow by 25 percent annually through 2015.

What these figures tell me is an increasing number of pet owners are taking baby steps toward providing better nutrition for their dogs and cats.

I like this trend a lot and certainly hope it continues!

Let's take a closer look at three types of 'alternative' pet food in this small-but-growing segment of the industry.

Fresh/Refrigerated Pet Food

In 2010, refrigerated dog food grew 10 percent over prior year, and refrigerated cat food – which had virtually no activity in 2009 – brought in over a half million dollars in sales.

In terms of the species-appropriateness of this food, it seems to depend on which variety you choose.

For example, DogFoodAdvisor.com gives three 'slice and serve' varieties of one brand 5-star ratings, but the canned variety doesn't fare as well.

Also worth noting is that I've found some pet owners confuse cooked refrigerated food with raw food.

Pet foods found in the refrigerated section of the store are cooked; pet foods found in the freezer section are raw. Cooked/refrigerated foods are still considerably fresher than kibbled and canned foods, but should not be confused with living foods, which are raw.

Raw/Frozen Pet Food

There are several pet food companies now offering excellent quality raw food diets.

This is the best type of commercial food you can feed your pet, in my opinion, and second overall to raw, nutritionally balanced homemade meals. Raw food has not been heated so the nutrient value has been retained. This means less synthetic vitamins and minerals have to be added back in because the food is still nutrient-dense.

Currently, raw pet foods can only be found in small specialty stores or online. You won't find them in the big box pet food stores (Petco, Petsmart) or the grocery store.

If you're just starting to investigate raw food diets for your companion, I recommend you visit a local specialty pet food store and talk with someone who works there about the ins and outs of feeding raw. The staff in these stores will in most cases have the experience necessary to help you make good decisions about what food would be best for your dog or cat.

Some commercial raw pet foods are nutritionally complete, meaning they meet AAFCO guidelines for nutritionally balanced nourishment.

Other raw foods are incomplete, meaning you'll need to add ingredients to create nutritionally balanced meals for your pet, or feed them only intermittently.

Unless you're already preparing meals at home for your dog or cat and are familiar with all the elements of a nutritionally balanced meal, I recommend you go with a 'complete' raw food blend that is AAFCO compliant for all life stages (feline or canine).

I also recommend you stick with raw foods made in the U.S.A.

Commercially prepared frozen raw food is available in a wide variety of brands, flavors and protein sources. Ultimately what you decide to feed your dog or cat will depend on what he will eat.

One thing to keep in mind is that commercial raw diets can be high in fat. Make sure to check the fat content in the guaranteed analysis on the package label, especially if you have a pet with a medical condition like pancreatitis that requires a lower fat diet.

As a general rule, the following fat content guidelines apply:

• Food with less than10 percent fat on a dry matter basis (less than 17 percent of calories from fat) is considered low fat.
• Food with 10 to 15 percent fat (between 17 and 23 percent of calories from fat) is considered to contain moderate fat.
• Food with over 20 percent fat is considered high in fat.

Dehydrated Pet Food

Dehydrated pet food has had the moisture removed through a drying process (freeze-drying is one form). But unlike most kibble, the ingredients in dehydrated foods aren't cooked at high temperatures for long periods.

Dehydration helps preserve nutrients in the food and also prevents spoilage.

Dehydrated pet food can be either cooked or raw, but dehydrated raw isn't truly raw. It's an option, for example, for pets being transitioned from dry food to raw, or for pet owners who can't or don't want to feed true raw.

The food is rehydrated with warm water before feeding, which transforms complete blends into biologically appropriate food with about 70 percent moisture content. There are also dehydrated mixes available that are designed to be mixed with fresh foods to form nutritionally balanced meals.

As with commercial raw food diets, unless you really know what you're doing in terms of preparing a balanced diet for your pet, I recommend you go with a dehydrated blend that is complete, meaning it's AAFCO approved as nutritionally balanced for all life stages.

Dehydrated raw pet foods are highly digestible and contain a nice variety of protein sources. They can be an excellent choice for pets with sensitive digestion or who are recovering from GI surgery.

It's All about Variety in the Food You Offer Your Pet

According to PetfoodIndustry.com:

"Marketing messages have … been incredibly successful in increasing acceptance of rotational diets that incorporate multiple types of pet foods (dry/wet/fresh, for example) by emphasizing the health and wellness benefits of such a diet and of the alternative food forms."

As my regular readers know, I'm a huge fan of feeding a wide variety of foods to pets.

If you are unable or unwilling to feed an entirely fresh food diet, I think it's extremely beneficial for healthy cats and dogs to be fed a nice rotation of a wide variety of fresh, raw, dehydrated raw and high quality canned foods.

Last on the list would be kibble, because even very high quality dry pet food lacks moisture content. Moisture is a key component in species-appropriate nutrition for dogs and cats.

However, if you want to include a dry kibble in the mix of different types of foods you offer your pet, look for a grain-free, low carbohydrate formula that has whole meat at the top of the ingredient list, followed by several other foods in whole form.

By mixing up the types of food you feed, you're providing enormous health benefits to your pet.

And if you're a careful comparison shopper, mixing things up like this can also make it more affordable to feed excellent quality nutrition to your furry family member.

• PetfoodIndustry.com November 7, 2011

  You Asked For It... The 3 BEST Pet Foods You Can Buy

  This Raw Pet Food Trend is Worse than Cheap Processed Food...

  Considering the Switch to Homemade Food? 5 Things You Must Know

Casper the golden retriever makes the most of bath time.

Please note: It’s rare for most dogs to enjoy lying or floating on their backs in a tub full of water like this guy does. And apparently the shampoo and soap aren’t bothering his eyes, either. However, we don’t recommend a tub full of soapy water for your pet, nor should a dog ever be forced onto his back while being bathed. If your dog intentionally rolls onto his back in the tub because he enjoys it, that’s another story!

• See All Cute Pet Videos Here...

One of my goals here at Mercola Healthy Pets and in my veterinary practice is to help people with pets understand how to take the best possible care of their animal companions.

A pet owner with too many animals to care for properly has a problem that needs to be addressed, just as feeding poor quality pet food or allowing dogs and cats to be over-vaccinated are problems that need to be addressed.

Any activity that results in the poor health or mistreatment of companion animals needs to be brought out into the open and discussed.

Facts about Animal Hoarding

According to experts, animal hoarding is a mental condition closely associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Psychologists believe the syndrome is not about love, but about control.

Dr. Gary Patronek is director of the Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy and the founder of the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium.

Dr. Patronek has done extensive research on hoarders and has found that:

• 76 percent are women
• 85 percent are middle-aged and 46 percent are older than 60
• 50 percent live alone
• 80 percent of the time the hoarded animals, when finally discovered, are dead or seriously neglected
• The homes of some hoarders are in such filthy condition they must be burned down or bulldozed.
• Animal hoarders exist in a state of complete denial, insisting the pets are fine and the house is 'just a little messy.'

Hoarders often start out with good intentions. But over time, the animals in their care cease to be sentient creatures and instead become objects that are part of the hoarder's 'collection.'

Like other types of hoarders, animal hoarders need professional help to overcome the behavior. Otherwise, once discovered, they will simply move to a new location and start all over again.

Not every person who ends up with more animals than she can care for is a hoarder. Hoarders are mentally ill and have a compulsion that drives them to collect certain objects.

By contrast, there are many normal, well-adjusted animal lovers who occasionally take in a few more rescues than they can really handle. These people aren't suffering from the syndrome known as animal hoarding.

It's Not Simply a Question of the Number of Animals Being Kept

Many people get quite upset when a specific number is mentioned as qualifying a person as an animal hoarder.

Experts agree it's not really a question of the number of animals involved, but the way those pets are being cared for. The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium defines the problem this way:

• There is an accumulation of a large number of animals.
• Those animals are not receiving minimal standards of care, including sanitation.
• The person responsible fails to take action to correct the deteriorating condition of the animals and their housing.
• The person responsible does not acknowledge nor act on the negative impact their animal collecting has on their own health and well-being.

How to Recognize When Enough is Enough

Whether it's you or someone you know who could be at risk of trying to care for too many animals, the situation requires an honest assessment. Some things to think about include:

• Are the animals' living quarters large enough to comfortably accommodate everyone? Is there plenty of room for them to avoid one another if they choose? Are there enough napping and hiding spots?
• How does everyone get along? Is there fighting? Are certain pets intimidating others? Is each pet comfortable enough to have a good quality of life?
• How do the pets look? Are they clean, groomed and healthy looking? Are they able to move around comfortably? Do they get adequate exercise? Are they fed a good quality diet? Is everyone spayed or neutered and protected against disease (you can determine this with a titer test). Are they all getting wellness checkups at least annually, and more often for those with health conditions and senior pets?
• How are things in the sanitation department? Are there plenty of litter boxes (at least one per cat), and are they scooped at least once daily and dumped and sanitized weekly? Are the dogs house trained? If puppy pads are used, are they disposed of before other animals walk on them, sample the goods, or drag them through the house? Does the home smell like urine or feces?
• How clean is the home overall? Can the entire place be thoroughly cleaned on a reasonably routine basis? Is that happening? Are the bathrooms and kitchen clean and sanitary? Is the pet hair being removed from furniture and floors routinely?
• How about the outside of the home – is it in decent condition? Weeds pulled, grass mowed, dog feces picked up and disposed of? Is the yard fenced for the dogs?

These are just a few things to consider if there's concern an animal caretaker might be getting in over her head.

Most of us -- no matter how much room is in our hearts for homeless pets -- don't have the physical space to match. Nor do many of us, if we're honest, have the time or resources required to provide an excellent quality of life to a large number of pets.

I have met several amazing people that are able to successfully and proactively care for 50 cats in their home (with a team of dedicated volunteers), but these people are the exception – not the rule.

We should all strive to avoid taking on more than we can handle in life, and that goes double for taking on more living creatures than we can reasonably care for.

• Suite101.com October 22, 2011

  Should You Recognize the Bizarre Actions of These Animal "Lovers"?

  You Can't Hurry Love: Nurturing Emotionally Wounded Dogs

  Do Your Dogs Have a Serious Case of ‘Sibling Rivalry’?

In this video Dr. Karen Becker discusses the painful oral disease known as feline stomatitis – what it is, how it develops, treatment options, and how proactive pet care can effectively manage mild to moderate cases.

By Dr. Becker

Today I want to discuss a condition in cats known as feline stomatitis.

Stoma is Latin for 'mouth,' and itis means 'inflammation.'

Feline stomatitis is also called by other tongue-twisting medical terms including lymphocytic-plasmacytic stomatitis, feline chronic gingivostomatitis, immune-mediated feline refractory stomatitis, and feline generalized oral inflammatory disease.

All of those names describe exactly the same disease.

To cats, however, the condition, no matter what it's called, means a very painful, serious and chronic oral disease.

Feline stomatitis is thought to be autoimmune in nature.

The feline immune system seems to overreact to dental plaque around a cat's teeth, triggering inflammation in the tissues of the mouth.

The problem also occurs on the back of the throat at the oral pharynx, and even underlying bone in the mouth can become inflamed or infected.

Stomatitis inflammation appears externally in the mouth as angry, red, swollen tissue.

Risk Factors and Symptoms

Stomatitis is often found in cats with diseases of the immune system like the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukemia virus (FeLV).

Gingivitis or gum disease is often present in kitties with the condition as well.

There might be more of a tendency for certain breeds like the Siamese to develop stomatitis.

There's a juvenile onset form of this disease that occurs in kittens between three and five months of age, as their permanent teeth erupt. By nine months, the condition is really significant.

Needless to say, stomatitis causes severe pain for kitties. If your cat has the condition, you might notice behavior changes including depression, irritability, aggression or reclusiveness.

Excessive drooling is also a common symptom, along with gums that bleed easily.

Because the condition is quite painful, many cats have trouble eating. Some simply give up after trying for several days or weeks because it's just too painful. Often, owners think a kitty is just not as hungry as usual, when in fact, their pet is in overwhelming pain and that's why he's not eating.

A kitty who is really hungry and runs to her bowl, then is hesitant about putting food in her mouth, is probably suspicious for feline stomatitis.

Dehydration, weight loss and muscle wasting are also seen in cats with the disease because they aren't able to comfortably eat enough calories to maintain their body weight.

Breath that goes from bad to terrible to heinous is another common symptom. So is lack of grooming because the mouth becomes too sore to tolerate licking and other self-cleaning activities.

Many cats with feline stomatitis also paw at their mouths. This is a good indicator the mouth is irritated or inflamed.

Proactively Managing Feline Stomatitis

Feline stomatitis is an excellent example of a condition that can be identified and managed early by being proactive.

As regular readers here know, I advocate at-home wellness exams, which include inspections of your pet's mouth.

Beginning when your pet is a kitten, I recommend you get familiar with your cat's mouth while simultaneously getting her comfortable having you poke around and peer in there. Desensitizing your pet's mouth to touch early in life will allow you to do regular checks on her oral health throughout her life.

You begin by petting your kitty's face, then touching the lips, opening the mouth, and touching the gums and teeth. Developing this routine when your pet is very young will prevent a kitty meltdown later in life when you need to check the condition of her mouth.

If you aren't able to evaluate your cat's mouth regularly at home, you'll have to rely heavily on your only other option, which is to have your pet seen every six months by your veterinarian.

And a lot of changes can occur in a kitty's mouth over a short six month period, so foregoing an oral exam for a cat who's developing feline stomatitis can make a significant, negative impact on his long-term quality of life.

Treatment for Feline Stomatitis

This condition starts as gingivitis, which appears as redness at the gum line. Often the entire gum becomes flaming red.

You may not see any plaque or tartar on the teeth, yet the whole gum line is an angry red, especially at the junction of the tooth and gum. Usually there's a ring of inflammation around the whole tooth, and it happens more commonly in the premolars and molars in the back of the mouth.

In juvenile onset stomatitis, which is hopefully when you'll proactively notice the disease, some kitties do respond to intensive medical management. This includes really good oral home care (brushing your cat's teeth), regular professional dental cleanings, and aggressive control of plaque and tartar buildup.

Unfortunately, most cases of feline stomatitis are diagnosed reactively, meaning late in the game. The pet owner will notice the cat has horrible breath or he's not eating well, and a visit to the vet is scheduled.

By the time the cat is seen by a veterinarian, the whole mouth is typically swollen and there can be ulcerations on the roof of the mouth, the tongue, lips and/or throat. At this point, there are no consistently successful long-term medical management options available.

Sadly, the kindest option for treatment of advanced feline stomatitis is a full mouth extraction. That means removing all your cat's teeth.

If that sounds pretty aggressive, I'm afraid it is. But this disease process is also very aggressive, and when you have full, degenerative disease occurring in the mouth, without aggressive intervention, many cats will stop eating and begin the dying process.

Many cats with full mouth extractions experience dramatic relief and have a significantly improved quality of life after their teeth – which were the source of all the inflammation, infection and pain -- have been completely removed.

To avoid chronic complications from full mouth extractions, I believe it's very important the procedure be done by an experienced veterinary dentist. X-rays should be taken after extraction to make sure all the tooth roots have been successfully removed.

Think of it as similar to a periodontist preparing a human mouth for dentures. Except, of course, cats do fine without the clumsy cosmetic appliances people are fitted with.

Is There Really No Other Option?

You may be wondering why there aren't other medical options or medications that can help control this immune-mediated disease to avoid having to extract all a cat's teeth.

Unfortunately, most of the medical management options that have been tried for long-term control of feline stomatitis have not been very successful.

Traditional vets have tried steroids, immuno-suppressant drugs, long-term antibiotic therapy, laser therapy and topical anesthetic options – all with relatively unimpressive results. And of course, there are significant side effects with many of these drugs.

The most important thing to remember about a cat with feline stomatitis is she's in a tremendous amount of pain all the time, including during the weeks or months it takes for some of these drugs to kick in.

A kitty in that much pain, for that long, who also isn't eating well, is in serious danger. So while it may seem like a radical move to do a full-mouth extraction, getting rid of those teeth also gets rid of the source of the immune mediated response, the inflammation, the infection, and the pain. In the majority of full-blown cases, it is actually the most humane treatment for feline stomatitis.

Boo in October 2011	Boo in January 2012	Boo Today

This is Dr. Becker's patient, Boo the cat, who has feline stomatitis. First photo is Boo's mouth in October 2011, before treatment. Middle photo is after treatment in January 2012. Final photo is happy, healthy Boo!

How Being a Proactive Owner May Save Your Cat's Teeth

In my practice I do have proactive owners who identify subtle changes in their cats' mouths early on.

In these cases, I've had some pretty good success treating mild to moderate feline stomatitis non-surgically by using a multimodal approach.

• First we address the diet. Although food allergies haven't been definitively linked to feline stomatitis, I consistently see improvement in inflammation when we eliminate all potential sources of allergens from a cat's diet.

This means the kitty must be transitioned away from foods he's been eating. In most cases, this involves eliminating poultry and seafood from the diet.

We also discontinue all foods that are biologically unnecessary for cats, including foods containing potato, rice, wheat, corn – all carbs and starches. Feeding an anti-inflammatory diet often helps to naturally control the amount of inflammation occurring in the kitty's mouth.

• Next we begin an at-home oral disinfecting protocol. If a kitty has a significant amount of plaque or tartar build up, I perform a deep cleaning under anesthesia to remove all the infection along the gum line.
• Thirdly, I prescribe natural anti-inflammatories. I use an esterified fatty acid complex for periodontal health. I also use plant-derived sterols and sterolins, as well as proteolytic enzymes. All these natural agents help control the systemic mediators of inflammation.
• The fourth step is use of a variety of nutraceuticals to improve gum health. These include Ubiquinol (a reduced form of CoQ10). I also use a product from Standard Process called Biodent, as well as some great probiotics.
• Fifth, I recommend that the pet owner focus on removing environmental sources of toxins that can negatively impact a kitty's immune system. We stop vaccinating and also consider vaccine detoxification. We evaluate air, water and food quality as well as household chemical use.

With early intervention and an aggressive integrative protocol, cats with mild to moderate feline stomatitis have a chance of reclaiming their health without aggressive dental surgery.

• Video Transcript

  Just Days till Death - What to Do Immediately If Your Kitty Stops Eating

  Tooth Resorption - A Painfully Common Dental Disease in Cats

  One of the Most Important Things You Can Do to Keep Your Cat Healthy

• See All Cute Pet Videos Here...

There are three terrific free online resources I thought I'd share with you today.

These databases are used by vets, geneticists, breeders and dog owners to access a wealth of information about inherited disorders in dogs.

Canine Inherited Disorders Database (CIDD)

The goal of the Canine Inherited Disorders Database (CIDD) is "… to reduce the incidence of inherited disorders in dogs by providing information to owners and breeders, and to facilitate the best management possible of these conditions by providing current information to veterinarians."

The CIDD is a good resource for:

• Dog owners with a pet diagnosed with an inherited disease
• Prospective dog parents who want to learn about the inherited conditions of certain breeds
• Breeders looking for information on avoiding inherited diseases in their dogs
• Veterinarians who need up-to-date information on diagnosis and treatment of genetic disorders

The database is organized by breed (see menu on left margin of home page).

For each breed there are links to information about the most common inherited diseases, less common disorders with increased incidence in the breed, conformation (breed standard) disorders, and conditions that may or may not be inherited.

You can also research diseases by body system. This information is linked in the lower half of the home page.

Inherited Diseases in Dogs (IDID)

The Inherited Diseases in Dogs (IDID) database is provided by the University of Cambridge Veterinary School.

You can search the database from the home page by selecting a breed or genetic anomaly (inherited disorder), or by typing in a keyword. This database also contains references to peer-reviewed scientific literature for further research.

If you select Airdale Terrier from the breed list (as an example), you will next see a page which (currently) lists six genetic diseases with brief descriptions, and a link to more info on each. If you want to learn more about a specific disease listed, you can click on the More Info link below the brief description.

If you want to learn which breeds are more likely to inherit a specific disease, you can select the condition from the genetic anomaly list and you'll get a list of breeds in which the disease is most often seen.

If you want to search by keyword, simply type in a word like 'cancer' and click Search. You'll see a list of breeds with a genetic predisposition for cancer, along with information on what types of cancer most often occur in each breed.

Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA)

The Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) database is hosted by the National Institutes of Health and includes all animals, not just dogs. However, dogs are the best documented of all the animals found in the OMIA database.

This database is considerably trickier to navigate than the other two unless you're already familiar with it.

As an example, if you type in hip dysplasia at the top of the home page, next you'll see a listing of types of animals with the disorder. From that list, you'd select Hip dysplasia in dog, which will return a page of information with the following sections:

• Summary
• Prevalence and Control
• Inheritance
• Human genes and disorders that may be related to this trait
• References, which in this instance is an incredibly comprehensive list of published studies relating to canine hip dysplasia

However, if you search for Cushing syndrome, you'll get a 'No items found' message. But if you type in simply Cushing, you'll get results.

So of the three databases I've listed, I'd use the OMIA last unless you're already familiar with it.

I also don't recommend trying to search this database by dog breed.

Hopefully, you'll find these free online tools useful when you have questions or want to learn more about the health challenges of certain dog breeds.

  Doggy DNA Tests – Are They Worth It?

  Database of Diseases Helps Keep Hounds Healthy

  Which Dog Breeds Make Up the Most Popular Mutt?

Cats present a special challenge for the humans who love them because most mask the pain when they are injured, ill or debilitated.

Cats also present a challenge to the veterinary community because there are a limited amount of medical options available for feline pain relief.

Many of the medications used to treat pain in dogs aren't safe for kitties.

Your Pet's Pain is Serious Business

It used to be popular to assume pets didn’t feel pain with the same frequency or for the same reasons humans feel pain.

And in fact, certain quite painful procedures were often performed without anesthesia and without follow-up pain management.

Nowadays we’re more enlightened (or most of us are) and realize that while their response is not always similar to ours, companion animals do indeed feel pain, and for the same reasons we do.

A good rule of thumb for pet owners is to assume if something hurts or causes you discomfort, it is doing the same to your cat or dog. 

Pain is a serious medical problem requiring treatment.

Pain can delay or prevent proper healing from injury or surgery.

It can cause loss of appetite, which for cats can be a life-or-death situation.

Chronic pain can cause inactivity and loss of overall quality of life for your pet. It can also threaten the bond you share with your kitty if his personality or behavior changes or he becomes aggressive.

Also, when pain isn’t managed effectively, it can progress from what we call adaptive pain – pain caused by a specific injury or condition – to pain that is maladaptive. Maladaptive pain is its own disease and must be dealt with in addition to routine pain management.

Maladaptive pain can be of much longer duration than normal pain and considerably more challenging to treat, so you can begin to see the importance of getting your cat seen by a vet as soon as you suspect the presence of a painful condition.

Your Cat Instinctively Hides Her Pain

Hiding pain is an instinctive response for felines in the wild. A cat in pain is seen as weak and vulnerable by other cats and predators.

Since your pampered indoor house cat isn’t all that far removed from her wild counterparts, she responds to pain the same way they do – by keeping it to herself.

Fortunately, a tuned-in pet parent who knows what to look for can make a pretty accurate guess when a cat is hurting. Signs can include:

Hiding more than normal; acting unusually quiet or withdrawn	Agitation; refusal to lie down or sleep
Loss of appetite	Aggressive behavior or other personality changes
Rapid breathing or panting	Hissing, biting or running away when certain areas of the body are touched
Increased heart rate	Altered movement or gait

Most cats in pain do not vocalize, however, if your cat almost never howls or cries but suddenly starts, it could be a sign there's something painful going on.

Causes of Pain in Cats

The most common causes of pain in cats include:

Trauma or injury	GI tract disturbances
Ingestion of poisons	Dental/oral infections and diseases
Urinary tract disease	Infections of the eyes, ears, skin
Arthritis	Diseases of the back or spine
Surgery (including dental surgery)	Major diseases like cancer

Some of the causes of pain in cats are more obvious than others.

Most cat parents know when their pet has been injured, is recovering from surgery, has gum disease or a problem with an eye, ear or a patch of skin.

Less obvious reasons for pain are an underlying urinary tract problem, arthritis, a tummy ache – anything going on primarily inside your cat where you can’t see it.

So if you notice one or more subtle signs of pain and you also know your kitty has dental issues … or you can see some sort of rash or eruption on your pet’s skin, it’s time to make an appointment with your vet.

If you notice subtle signs of pain but are unaware of any health problems with your pet, it’s still time to get your cat seen by a veterinarian. The sooner you find out the underlying cause of your kitty’s pain, the sooner you can get her on the road to feeling better.

Also be aware older cats often develop osteoarthritis, intervertebral disc disease, and spondylosis (joint degeneration), and all these conditions cause pain. So if you have a senior kitty you suspect might be having some pain, once again, I recommend you make an appointment for a wellness checkup.

Medical Management of Cats with Pain

Resolving the cause of your cat’s pain – if at all possible -- is the first priority.

Often we must treat the pain separately while the underlying condition causing the pain is also being treated.

If your cat requires surgery there will be pain involved, no matter how minor or routine the procedure is. Ask your vet how he or she manages pain before, during and after surgery. For example, premedication before anesthesia not only helps decrease the animals’ pain response, it can also increase the effectiveness of the anesthesia so your kitty requires less of it during surgery.

Ideally, you’re dealing with a doctor who understands the importance of pain management and is well-versed in the most appropriate drugs for felines to prevent and alleviate the pain that accompanies surgery.

The vast majority of cats experience a great deal of stress when taken for vet visits. Fear and anxiety can make pain worse, as does being restrained for any reason.

So if your already painful kitty gets really stressed during vet visits and an office procedure must be performed while you’re there, your vet should offer -- or you can ask for -- an anti-anxiety drug for your pet.

For extremely stressed cats, the kindest option is often a few puffs of gas anesthesia (think nitrous gas for the anxious dental patient), rather than unnecessarily harsh restraint for an already over-stressed patient.

You can also inquire whether the veterinary clinic uses synthetic feline facial pheromones to help calm cat patients. These pheromones, known to help many cats cope with stressful situations, come in diffusers that can be plugged into exam rooms. They can also be sprayed on tables, towels and hands.

My clinic also uses a variety of flower essences (Green Hope Farm Flower Essences, OptiBalancePet) to help reduce the stressed feline patient with good success.

Pain medication for cats requires special knowledge and careful attention. For example, certain opioids (narcotic pain killers) cause fewer side effects than others, and most NSAIDs (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) must be avoided in cats.

Again, your veterinarian should be well-versed in the latest trends and most appropriate medications for feline pain management.

As my regular readers know, I constantly caution against allowing your pet to be over-medicated, whether it’s with vaccines, antibiotics, Prednisone therapy, flea and tick preventives, or any other pharmaceutical or pesticide agent that carries the potential for side effects.

However, alleviation and management of an animal’s pain is a different ballgame, and I’m not shy about using appropriate pain relief drugs as needed. I use them to make the pet as comfortable as possible while I find and (hopefully) resolve the cause of the pain. At the same time, I typically employ a variety of non-drug complimentary therapies to see which ones are most effective for the individual.

Alternative Therapies for Pain Relief

Depending on the cause of your cat’s pain, there are a number of healing modalities that used alone or in conjunction with pain relieving drugs, can make a tremendous difference in how your pet feels and his overall quality of life.

A few of these therapies include:

• Veterinary chiropractic care. Chiropractic treatments are affordable and can be very effective in alleviating pain and reducing joint degeneration.
• Pet massage can reduce inflammation and pain in damaged tissues.
• Acupuncture and prolotherapy can be tremendously beneficial for kitties with degenerative joint disease.
• Adequan injections can stimulate joint fluid very rapidly in pets with arthritis.
• Adding certain supplements to your pet’s diet can provide the raw materials for cartilage repair and maintenance, among them:
• Glucosamine sulfate and Egg Shell Membrane
• Homeopathic Rhus Tox and Arnica
• Omega-3 fats, such as krill oil
• Ubiquinol and turmeric
• Supergreen foods, such as Spirulina and Astaxanthin
• Natural anti-inflammatory formulas (herbs, proteolytic enzymes, such as Wobenzym® and nutraceuticals)
• EFAC complex

Often, once we discover the most effective alternative treatments for kitties with chronic pain conditions, we are able to gradually reduce or even eliminate the need for pain killing drugs.

• Suite101.com December 17, 2011

  Popular Pain Management Drug Causes Kidney Failure in Cats

  Pet Acupuncture: An Important Healing Tool

  Reasons for Sick-animal Behavior in Healthy Cats

I love pigeons, and I am happy to report that researchers have just discovered that pigeons, creatures many people view as a loathsome species, are quite smart.

In fact, when it comes to number crunching, these birds are as skilled as monkeys.

A study published in the December issue of the journal Science reports that pigeons can, for example, distinguish between a group of three objects and a group of four.

They can also order pairs

Most astonishing of all, however, is the discovery that pigeons can learn abstract mathematical rules.

The only other non-humans known to have the same ability are rhesus monkeys.

Pigeons Prompted to Peck in a Particular Progression

Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand first taught the pigeons to order the numbers 1, 2 and 3.

To accomplish this, they showed the birds three images on a touch screen.

One image contained one object, the next contained two objects, and the third contained three.

The pigeons were taught to peck the images on the screen in ascending order, and when they got it right, they received food treats.

The researchers took precautions to insure the pigeons couldn't fudge their results, and that they were, indeed, ordering the images based on the number of objects in each.

It took about a year for the researchers to be confident in the abilities of the pigeons.

In the next phase of the experiment, the researchers displayed pairs of images containing from 1 to 9 objects.

The birds had to pair them in ascending order. For example, if they were shown a pair of images containing 3 objects, and a pair with 9 objects, they had to peck the pair of 3-object images first, followed by the pair with the higher number of objects.

According to Damian Scarf, lead author of the study:

"Remarkably, the pigeons were able to respond to these novel pairs correctly. In addition, their performance was indistinguishable from that of two rhesus monkeys that had been previously trained on this task."

The Einsteins of the Bird World?

Given the recent discovery that pigeons are whizzes at math, some scientists are now asking whether they might be smarter in general than other birds.

Not according to Dr. Scarf:

"It would be fair to say that, even among birds, pigeons are not thought to be the sharpest crayon in the box. I think that this ability may be widespread among birds. There is already clear evidence that it is widespread among primates."

Prior studies on the intelligence of birds focused on individual pets who were highly socialized to humans.

Discovery.com uses the example of Alex, an African grey pet parrot. Alex was able to talk and count, displayed the intelligence of a 5 year-old (human), and the emotional development of a 2 year-old toddler.

Parrots are often thought to simply mimic people when they talk, but Alex created his own words. For example, he was familiar with both bananas and cherries and referred to them by those names. However, when presented with a juicy red apple for the first time, Alex coined it a 'banerry.' Apparently, the apple seemed like a cross between a banana and cherries to Alex, so his word for a red apple became 'banerry'.

Per Discovery.com, when it came to math, "... one of Alex's greatest feats was that he understood a numerical concept akin to zero, which is an abstract notion that people don't typically understand until age three or four.”

But Why Pigeons and Monkeys?

Dr. Scarf and his research colleagues are especially intrigued by the fact that primates and birds seem to share the same uncommon ability to learn rules about numbers.

They theorize either the two species developed their math competence separately, or it was already present in the last common ancestor they shared. Incredibly, the last common ancestor pigeons and primates could have shared probably lived some 300 million years ago, before dinosaurs and mammals.

Of course, if math skills were derived from a long ago common ancestor of birds and monkeys, it should mean many other animals have the same ability. Studies haven't yet found evidence of that.

Pigeons Also Have Another Skill You Might Want to Know About

In case you're in the habit of disrespecting pigeons when you see them, you should know they remember not only the insult, but the person who delivered it.

Incredibly, new research out of France proves pigeons are able to recognize individual people, most likely by their facial characteristics.

The study, which was presented last July at the annual conference of the Society for Experimental Biology, involved city dwelling, feral pigeons that had never been handled by humans.

Two researchers went to a park in Paris and fed pigeons. The two were of similar build and skin tone, wearing different colored lab coats.

One of the researchers ignored the pigeons as they ate. The second individual was hostile toward the birds and chased them away.

In a second feeding session, neither feeder chased the pigeons away, but the birds entirely avoided the previously hostile feeder.

The experiment, minus the initial hostility toward the pigeons, was repeated again and again with the same result – the birds steadfastly avoided the previously hostile feeder. Even when the researchers attempted to confuse the birds by swapping lab coats, the pigeons still knew who was who and refused to give the mean feeder the time of day.

According to EurekAlert.org:

"It is very likely that the pigeons recognised the researchers by their faces, since the individuals were both female and of a similar age, build and skin colour," says Dr. Dalila Bovet a co-author of this work from the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. "Interestingly, the pigeons, without training, spontaneously used the most relevant characteristics of the individuals (probably facial traits), instead of the lab coats that covered 90% of the body."

Now, while there's absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest pigeons pay back mean humans by dropping huge poop bombs on them during flyovers... it is something to think about...

• Discovery.com December 22, 2011

• Science. December 2011, 334(6063):1664

  British Parakeet Population Boom Has Experts Stumped

  The Biggest Myth About Fallen Baby Birds

  What You Might Not Know About the Down in Your Pillow

Watch as this angelic-looking kitty viciously attacks a computer’s DVD drive!

See All Cute Pet Videos Here…

Recently the Taipei City Government ordered four brands of pet food removed from store shelves due to false labeling.

The pet food companies involved were charged with violating China's Commodity Labeling Act.

Out of 140 pet foods tested by Taipei city officials, four were found to contain not even a trace of beef, despite label claims and misleading product names.

The four formulas:

• Belicom's tuna and beef cat food
• Dobi's beef, chicken and potato dog food
• Ever Red's beef dog food
• Maxwell's beef dog food

I guess we can assume tuna as an animal protein source was found in the Belicom product and chicken was found in the Dobi product.

But we can also assume the Ever Red and Maxwell products contained no animal protein source at all.

How would you like to discover the 'beef' dog food you've been feeding your pet perhaps several times a week for who knows how many weeks, months or even years, contains not even a trace of animal protein?

Even though these specific pet food brands aren't, to my knowledge, sold in the U.S., the apparent blatant false labeling by Chinese pet food manufacturers of four (four that we know of) different kinds of dog and cat food is extremely troubling.

You may be wondering why I'm concerned about lack of beef in four pet foods made and sold in China.

It's really not about those four pet foods – it's about the much bigger picture.

China is By Far the Largest Importer of Pet Food Ingredients to the U.S.

According to PetfoodIndustry.com, in just the month of February 2011, 70 percent of pet food ingredients imported to U.S. pet food manufacturers came from China.

In that month alone, almost $22 million dollars worth of pet food products were purchased from China. The second largest importer was Thailand, from whom we purchased a measly-by-comparison $7.6 million in pet-related goods.

If you're worried about feeding your pet a food with ingredients imported from China (or anywhere else), at first glance the solution seems simple. Just read the product label to insure it says 'Made in the USA' … right?

Not exactly.

U.S. country of origin labeling laws only require that products made in the U.S. be put together here. There's no requirement of pet food manufacturers to identify where the ingredients in their products come from.

From the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection's Complying with the Made in USA Standard document:

"What is the standard for a product to be called Made in USA without qualification?

For a product to be called Made in USA, or claimed to be of domestic origin without qualifications or limits on the claim, the product must be "all or virtually all" made in the U.S. The term "United States," as referred to in the Enforcement Policy Statement, includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories and possessions."

If you're thinking you'll just call the pet food company's 1-800 number and inquire about where their ingredients come from, you might not find out much.

According to TruthAboutPetFood.com:

"… it seems that no one in the pet food industry is very willing to talk much about Chinese imports. Try calling or emailing several pet food manufacturers and ask them the country of origin of all ingredients. Many will just happen to forget to mention vitamins and minerals are sourced from China."

Concerns with Pet Food Products from China Are Not New

Most pet owners remember the huge and frightening 2007 pet food recall for melamine contamination. The melamine was found, along with cyanuric acid, in wheat gluten that contained ingredients imported from China.

The combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is known to cause kidney failure in pets. Many dogs and cats became very sick, and some died after eating melamine-contaminated food.

Some of the biggest pet food names in the U.S., including Science Diet, Purina, Eukanuba, and Iams were involved in the 2007 recall of over 40 brands in total.

And of course just last month I reported an ongoing, mysterious contamination problem with chicken jerky dog treats imported from China. The chicken jerky problem dates back to 2007 and has made dogs sick not only in the U.S., but also in Canada and Australia.

Complaints about the chicken jerky treats dropped off in late 2009 and for most of 2010, but rose again in 2011. It’s mind-boggling, but what this means is after four years, with scientists in three countries investigating the problem, there is still no official answer as to exactly what’s in these chicken jerky products from China that is making dogs sick.

Meanwhile, among veterinarians and pet owners, theories abound. Suspicions include an ongoing problem with melamine contamination, irradiation of the ingredients in chicken jerky treats, and/or use of an as-yet unidentified chemical preservative.

Current Outlook Remains Bleak

It appears food safety concerns with China will continue indefinitely, and not just for pet food, but for all food.

According to The New York Times:

"Despite efforts to create a modern food-safety regimen, oversight remains utterly haphazard, in the hands of ill-trained, ill-equipped and outnumbered enforcers whose quick fixes are even more quickly undone.

"Most of them are working like headless chickens, having no clue what are the major food-borne diseases that need to be addressed or what are the major contaminants in the food process," said Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, a food safety expert with the World Health Organization's Beijing office."

According to the Times article and other sources, China has massive problems feeding its own human citizens safely. So it's reasonable to assume insuring the safety of pet food ingredients for export may not be at the top of their current To-Do list.

And now they can add another problem to the mix – falsely labeled pet food formulas that in some cases do not contain even a trace of animal protein. Meatless dog food masquerading as beef dog food means a certain percentage of family pets aren't getting the nutrition they need to thrive – or the nutrition their owners assume they are providing for their companion animals.

So four years after the melamine contamination disaster, it seems there are still significant challenges in determining what, exactly, is going into (or not going into) the pet food and pet food ingredients produced in China.

So How Can I Know the Food I'm Feeding My Pet is Safe?

If you buy rather than make food and treats for your dog or cat, my recommendation is to write or phone the manufacturers of the pet food brands you use and request a list of the countries they import ingredients from. And you want to know the origin of all ingredients, including vitamins and minerals (a large percentage of which are made in China).

If the pet food company can't or won't give you the information you request, I'd consider transitioning your pet to another, higher quality food, made by a manufacturer who is at least willing to answer your questions about where their ingredients are sourced, and address your concerns about imports from China.

If you discover some of the ingredients in your pet's current food come from China, you can contact other pet food companies that sell products in your price range and make the same inquiry about where their ingredients originate.

I will caution you that it can be extremely difficult to avoid virtually every food ingredient imported from China or another foreign country. It's up to each of us as consumers to do our best risk assessment of the food products we buy, whether they're 'Made in the USA' or elsewhere.

However, you can take every reasonable precaution to keep your pet safe by:

• Carefully selecting the pet food you purchase.
• Learning what to look for on pet food labels.
• Switching your dog or cat from commercial pet food to a balanced, species-appropriate, homemade diet.

• PetfoodIndustry.com December 29, 2011

  Warning: If You Feed Your Pet These Popular Treats - Please Stop Now

  Your Pet's Food: Exposing Manufacturers' Dirty Tricks

  If You Feed Your Pet in the Kitchen, Please Read This Now

A couple of years ago, Petfinder conducted a survey to learn which types of pets are least likely to be adopted from animal shelters across the U.S.

Of the shelters and rescue organizations surveyed, almost all had pets they were having a very hard time finding homes for.

About a third of these facilities housed pets who had been waiting for homes for one to two years, and over a quarter had animals who had been waiting over two years.

By far the pets least likely to find new homes are older pets.

Next are pets with medical problems, dogs suffering from breed prejudice (primarily pit bulls), shy pets, and dogs or cats who need to be the only pet in the home.

Large dogs, black dogs, and pets with special needs also tend to languish in shelters much longer – and are euthanized more often -- than animals considered more desirable by adoptive families.

Senior Pets

This is perhaps the most heartbreaking situation of all.

Older pets who have lived their whole lives with their owner or family are relinquished to shelters for any number of reasons – ill health, incontinence or another condition of old age, or perhaps the pet's owner has passed away and the family doesn't want to care for the dog or cat left behind.

Adoptive parents tend to shy away from older pets.

They're not as cute as puppies or kittens.

They may develop serious, expensive health problems.

Sitting in their cages, they don't seem as perky or eager to please as younger animals.

Also, many people who come to shelters looking for a new pet have recently lost one, and the thought of losing another beloved companion to old age within a few years is just too much to bear.

Tragically, many older pets live out the remainder of their lives in shelters, or are euthanized to make room for more adoptable animals. This is no way for a once cherished pet to live, or to die.

If you're thinking about adopting a shelter pet, an older dog or cat just might be exactly what you're looking for, so I encourage you to keep an open mind.

The ASPCA lists their Top 10 Reasons to Adopt an Older Dog, including the fact that seniors tend to settle in quickly, have fewer accidents, and usually don't require round-the-clock supervision like many younger dogs do.

And of course all that goes double for older kitties.

Pets with Medical Problems or Special Needs

I can't think of a more selfless thing to do than to offer a forever home to a debilitated or abused dog or cat – a pet who will never be entirely 'perfect' or 'normal.'

There are angels among us, and many of them are caring for an adopted pet (or often, more than one) who requires special knowledge and extra special care.

Pit Bulls

This breed accounts for an estimated 70 percent of pets who wind up in shelters in urban areas.

Pit bulls have a bad reputation, thanks in large part to careless breeding, dog fighting, and years of wholesale abuse and neglect of these dogs.

Fortunately, there are animal welfare organizations like The Humane Society of the United States and rescue groups like Out of the Pits. These groups and others like them are doing wonderful work in educating people about the breed, and helping pit bulls reach their potential as therapy and law enforcement dogs, agility competitors, and family pets.

If you'd like to know more about this misunderstood breed, Best Friends is also a good resource. This organization took in 22 of Michael Vick's dogs, now called the Vicktory Dogs. It's fascinating and uplifting to learn about the progress these animals have made over the years since their rescue. 

I live in a multi-pittie household and know firsthand how lovable these dogs can be.

Black Animals

Shelter and rescue pets with black coats suffer from what is known as 'black dog syndrome.'

These animals are very hard to adopt out. They stay in shelters longer than pets with lighter coats, and are euthanized more often. Sadly, if a black pet also happens to be a large breed dog, he's doubly unlucky.

Shelter professionals have several theories on why the anti-black pet phenomenon exists:

• Some believe it's a result of superstition. The myth that black cats bring bad luck has spilled over to black dogs as well, making them less desirable as pets.
• And then there's the fact that black dogs are frequently used as symbols of evil in books and movies. There is also discrimination against large breed dogs like the mostly black Rottweiler and Doberman pinscher.
• Some shelter workers feel black dogs don't have a look that attracts the attention of potential adopters. They can appear older than their years if they have a bit of white or gray around the muzzle or eyes.
• It can also be difficult to see a black dog well under shelter lighting, especially her facial expressions. Lighter coated pets often appear to have more expressions simply because it is easier to see subtle movement in their faces than it is with a black coated dog or cat.
• Since some people actually give up their black pets to shelters because they don't want black fur on their new furniture, it's safe to assume a percentage of potential adoptive owners pass those animals by for the same reason.
• Often visitors to shelters will see several kennels in a row with black dogs. It's possible some assume there must be a problem with those particular dogs since they're all kept in the same area of the facility.

Fortunately, shelters and animal welfare organizations are taking steps to extinguish 'black dog syndrome.'

Shelter volunteers recognize housing black pets throughout the facility rather than in 'clumps' is helpful. They are also doing things like putting brightly colored blankets and toys in the kennels of black pets, and using colorful neckwear to catch the eye of visitors.

And they've discovered photos of black pets should be taken in well-lit areas of the shelter – preferably outdoors on bright, sunny days.

There are also ongoing efforts to encourage prospective adopters to consider a black pet. Last year Best Friends partnered with shelters across the country for a Back in Black event which offered half-price adoptions on all black animals.

Would You Consider Opening Your Home and Heart to a Less Adoptable Pet?

Adopting a new furry family member is not a decision to be taken lightly.

Done right, it requires research, planning, preparation, and an honest assessment of what kind of pet would thrive in the environment you provide for it.

And while I would love to see every hard-to-adopt pet in every shelter across the world find a home, what's most important is matching the right owner with the right animal. Too many new homes become temporary stopovers for pets who wind up back at shelters, or meet an even worse fate.

Each time a dog or cat is returned to a shelter, the odds that pet will find a forever home get much worse.

So if you're considering adopting a pet who is older … or one with a health condition or other special need … or an animal who has been abused … or a big, powerful breed … I hope you'll make sure ahead of time this is the right decision for you and your family.

For people with the resources to do so, there are few things as rewarding in life as providing a forever home for a less desirable pet – one who would normally be passed by day after day, for months or even years, by most visitors to the shelter.

Once adopted, many of these pets require a significant investment of time, energy, patience, money, and love.

But the return on that investment is the unconditional love and loyalty of a pet who often seems to understand you were his last best hope for a loving home.

• Suite101.com September 24, 2011

  A Dozen Great Reasons to Adopt Your Next Pet

  Helping Rescue Dogs Transition to New Homes

  Common Conditions in Senior Dogs and How to Treat Them

Sadly, Siku’s mother couldn’t produce enough milk to feed him. So staff at the Denmark zoo will hand raise him to maturity, then return him to the wildlife park’s polar bear facility, where he’ll join four other polar bears already living there.

The zoo hopes little Siku can be an ambassador for his counterparts in the wild by helping draw attention to the disappearing natural habitats of polar bears. There are an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears left in the wild, and scientists fear they could become extinct within 40 years if the Arctic Circle continues to shrink.

See All Cute Pet Videos Here…

By Dr. Becker

Today’s topic is glaucoma in pets.

Glaucoma is a condition in which there is increased intraocular pressure within your pet’s eye.

The cells of the eye produce a clear fluid called aqueous humor.

This fluid provides nutrients to tissues inside the eye and also helps maintain the shape of the eye.

Basically it is a fluid-filled ball.

The aqueous humor is fluid inside the eye, whereas tears are fluids that lubricate the outside of the eye (cornea).

The aqueous humor drains through a kind of sieve out of the eye and into the bloodstream.

A good balance of aqueous humor production and drainage is what keeps the pressure inside the eye (intraocular pressure) normal.

If the sieve or ‘drain’ becomes clogged partially or completely, the fluid production continues and the pressure builds up inside the eye.

This is the condition known as glaucoma.

The increasing eye pressure, if left untreated, will cause the eye to enlarge, become misshapen, and ultimately cause irreversible blindness.

Primary and Secondary Glaucoma

In pets, glaucoma is either primary or secondary.

Primary glaucoma is inherited. The condition is very rare in cats, but it occurs in many breeds of dogs, including the cocker spaniel, basset hound, chow, Jack Russell, Shih tzu, and the Siberian husky.

Primary glaucoma typically starts in one eye, but in most cases it will eventually involve both eyes.

Secondary glaucoma occurs when other eye diseases are present that inhibit drainage of the aqueous humor inside the eye. These diseases include inflammation of the eye (called uveitis), advanced cataracts, cancer of the eye, lens displacement, and chronic retinal detachment.

Secondary glaucoma in cats is almost always a result of chronic uveitis.

Needless to say, increasing pressure inside the eye causes pain. The pressure can get much higher in dogs and cats than it does in humans. We can assume this means glaucoma is probably much more painful for pets than it is for you or me.

Primary and Secondary Glaucoma

The pain of glaucoma in pets is most likely felt as a headache, and probably up to migraine status. But as most of you know, it can be difficult to tell when a dog or cat is hurting.

You may notice your pet doesn’t want to play, is irritable, or perhaps his appetite is off. You might also notice your dog rubbing or pawing at his eye or face. Sometimes dogs will rub their faces against furniture or another object in the home, which is another potential symptom. Some pets will have fluttering of the eyelid, squinting, or will even hold their eyes closed.

Another sign is a dilated pupil in the affected eye. Since glaucoma typically strikes one eye at a time, if you notice one pupil is larger than the other, you should suspect glaucoma. If one eye is bulging or looks different to you, it can also be a sign of glaucoma. It’s time to make an appointment with your veterinarian in either of those situations.

Loss of vision is another symptom and often that is what brings pet owners to the vet. Unfortunately, permanent blindness can occur within a matter of hours in cases of rapidly developing glaucoma where the pressure inside the eye becomes very high, very quickly.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Unfortunately, often by the time a diagnosis of glaucoma is made in one eye, the vision is already completely gone in that eye.

Believe it or not, complete loss of vision in one eye is often not obvious because dogs and cats are able to compensate very well using just the other eye. Many pet owners aren’t even aware their dog or cat is entirely blind in one eye.

Treatment in this case will be focused on relieving pain in the blind eye and trying to prevent or halt progression of glaucoma in the other eye.

It’s extremely important to determine why your pet developed glaucoma in the first place, because treatments and prognoses differ depending on what caused the condition.

If your vet suspects glaucoma, unless he or she is an expert in eye diseases and has specialized ophthalmic equipment, the next step will be to visit a veterinary ophthalmologist – and the sooner the better in most cases.

A veterinary ophthalmologist uses specialized tools and equipment to determine what kind of glaucoma is occurring and hopefully, the root cause. In fact, even when a pet’s eyes look normal to the owner, a veterinary ophthalmologist can often find cloudiness in the cornea or other secondary changes that can’t be seen without special equipment.

In the case of secondary glaucoma, it’s really important that the underlying cause be identified and treated whenever possible. 

Treatment will depend on the cause and severity of the disease. But the goal is always to alleviate the pressure inside the eye as quickly as possible by reducing the production of aqueous humor and increasing drainage from the affected eye.

There are a number of medications used to treat glaucoma in pets. Some are used topically and some are given orally. But unfortunately, medical treatment of the condition is not nearly as successful with pets as it is with people.

Long term control of primary glaucoma in a blind eye is usually, unfortunately, removal of the eye. As awful as it sounds, it actually provides the very best relief for the dog.

Reducing Your Pet's Risk for Glaucoma

Slowing degenerative changes in your pet’s eyes can reduce the overall risk of glaucoma.

• Antioxidants like beta-carotene, vitamins E and C, as well as nutraceuticals such as lutein, astaxanthin and rutin can all be used to reduce the amount of damage that occurs to the cells of the eye.
• Reducing stressors in your pet’s environment is also important to help manage the oxidative damage that occurs throughout the body, including the eyes.
• Eliminating pressure to your dog’s neck is also important, because we don’t want to increase inter-cerebral or intraocular pressure through any type of tight collar or harness system.

I recommend any dog with glaucoma, or any dog at risk for the disease, be leashed with a harness that fits around the torso rather than around the neck.

• For aging pets and higher risk breeds, I recommend proactively monitoring eye pressure during biannual veterinary wellness exams.

Often, identifying early, subtle pressure changes in the eye that can be addressed medically is the very best way to prevent a fulminant glaucoma crisis.

• Video Transcript

  75% of Dogs Develop Blindness within 1 Year of This Diagnosis

  When Does an Eye ‘Problem’ Become a Crisis?

  Does Your Pet Have Runny Eyes?

As my regular readers and visitors to Mercola Healthy Pets know, I talk a lot about the need for pets to get consistent, heart-thumping exercise.

Animals are built for movement.

Our pets are born athletes, and it’s up to us to provide them with opportunities to exercise and be physically active.

Uninjured, healthy canines and felines in the wild are incredibly muscular and fit because they live the lifestyle they were designed for.

There are no obese couch potato animals in the wild.

Regular aerobic activity provides so many benefits for our furry companions, including:

• Helps to maintain a healthy weight
• Keeps muscles supple and strong
• Promotes organ health, including the heart, as well as the overall structural integrity of your pet’s body
• Cures boredom and the undesirable behaviors that come along with it
• Helps strengthen the bond you share with your dog or cat

For the vast majority of dog owners, the only thing standing between their pet and regular exercise is their own commitment to get it done.

Exercise opportunities for canine companions are limited only by the imagination and willingness of their owners.

Even in winter months, there are plenty of ways to keep your dog physically active.

Helping Kitties Get Adequate Exercise is a Special Challenge

Indoor cats, on the other hand, are often not as easy to keep fit as their canine counterparts.

Feeding a portion controlled, balanced, species-appropriate diet will go a long way toward keeping your favorite feline from getting fat. But even cats at a healthy weight need to be physically active on a regular basis.

There aren’t a whole lot of aerobic-type activities for kitties to engage in to begin with, and cats being cats, it will of course be up to them if and when they choose to participate in whatever foolishness their humans come up with.

It’s helpful to provide your cat with something to climb on, like a multi-level cat tree or tower. At least you’ll know he’s been stretching, clawing and working his climbing muscles whenever you see him gazing down at you from atop his tree.

You can also consider investing in a laser toy, either a very inexpensive, simple one or something a bit more sophisticated like the Frolicat™ line. Many kitties will happily exhaust themselves chasing the beams or dots from these toys. (So will many dogs, so if you have both, I recommend you separate them and exercise them individually. Most cats are a little intimidated by an excited dog bouncing around after a laser light!)

Other Interactive Toy Ideas

There are a wide variety of interactive kitty toys available on the market, one or several of which may help you help your cat stay well-exercised.

In order to be effective, first you need to think like your predatory pet. She’s a hunter, so when choosing toys and activities to engage her in, think about appealing to her natural instincts to stalk and bring down prey.

When you move a toy in front of her to entice her to join in the fun, think about how her natural prey moves and move the toy the same way. Birds land and take off, so if you’re trying to involve your cat with a toy like Da Bird, make it land and take off. Jiggling the thing in her face won’t be nearly as interesting to her, so try to make the toy move like the real deal.

Every so often, when the bird ‘lands’ on the floor, slip a tasty treat underneath and let your cat discover it when she pounces on her prey.

When choosing toys, you don’t necessarily have to go high tech. Dragging a piece of string across the floor is enough to entice many cats to chase after it. Ping pong balls are another feline favorite, along with bits of paper rolled into balls, and pretty much any light object that can be made to move fast and in unexpected directions.

Needless to say, your cat will let you know when she’s had enough. Don’t expect one game with one toy to go on indefinitely. Cats in the wild stalk prey for only a few minutes at a time and then move on.

Using Mealtime to Exercise Your Cat

Like many of you, I work all day most days, so I have to get really creative when it comes to keeping my own pack physically fit.

As a result, I try to work a little exercise into normal, everyday activities, like for example at feeding time.

Now, this is a slightly sneaky thing I do with my cats, but remember, it’s for a good cause.

My kitties eat twice a day, in the morning and evening.

They are very aware of mom’s every move when it gets to be ‘that time,’ so as soon as they see their food dishes come out, I have their full attention. They are immediately underfoot, following my every move.

When I have the food in the dishes, rather than plunk them immediately on the floor, I walk around the house with them – with the cats in tow. They follow along behind me like a small furry parade.

After a few minutes of this, I begin stopping at certain intervals to give them small bits of raw food from the dishes. Then we continue our march.

Believe it or not, I can keep my cats moving for 20 minutes this way because they’re sure at any second I’ll finally lower those dishes to the floor and let them at it. They march, meow, weave around my ankles, run ahead of me then turn and run back, stretch up toward their dishes, hop a bit on their back feet, and get a fairly decent little workout before they eat. Most recently, we’ve added stairs to the equation, for even more of a work out.

After about 20 minutes, I put the dishes on the floor and they finish their meals.

This mildly scheming behavior on my part has the benefit of getting the kitties moving, which improves their cardiovascular fitness, muscle tone, range of motion and circulation in their joints.

Have You Considered Agility Training for Your Cat?

You might be thinking right about now that I’ve lost my mind, putting ‘training’ and ‘cat’ in the same sentence!

But believe it or not, feline agility competitions really do exist. And while convincing your cat to actually compete might be out of the question, I think there are some great ideas we can borrow from these events to help our own kitties stay physically active.

Feline agility competitions are modeled after dog competitions. Cats run through a scaled down, feline-friendly obstacle course which includes hurdles, tunnels, hoops and poles.

Cat owners use a feather or other type of wand to persuade their pets to make their way over, under, around and through each of the obstacles on the course in as little time as possible.

Some cats zip through the course in mere seconds.

Others, as you might expect, show utter disdain for such nonsense. They look at their silly human cooing and waving a toy at them. They yawn, clean a bit of litter from between their toes, stretch and lie down for a nap at the starting gate.

Most of the kitties who tear through the obstacle course have been trained from a very young age with food treats, praise and neck rubs.

Of course, these are also cats with personalities that lend themselves to this type of activity. No amount of yummy treats or petting will convince an unwilling feline to do, well … anything he doesn’t want to do.

But I think feline agility competitions give us some good ideas for activities we can try at home to get our house cats moving. Most of the cat owners who train their pets to compete make their own agility equipment – like this homemade ramp.

This series of short videos from the Cat Fanciers’ Association offers some really excellent tips on how to get your cat involved in agility training -- either around your house or in actual competition. The videos also provide lots of ideas for what types of obstacles make sense for kitties and how to find them around your house, or make them, and also where to buy them.

With a little imagination and a small monetary investment, I think it’s possible to build a ramp, a tunnel, a hoop or a hurdle (or a combination), and patiently entice your cat to use agility equipment to get some healthy, heart-thumping exercise.

• The New York Times November 18, 2011

  Your Cat's Life in Captivity - How to Simulate Conditions of the Wild...

  How You Can Make Your Pet Happier and Healthier in 2012

  A Hilarious Trick to Get Your Cat Moving...