Pet Care Articles
July 4th, 2016
It's hard to believe it, but we've been blogging online for more than FIVE years now and we recently celebrated our five-year anniversary of pet sitting, back in May. The entire Paw Minders Plus family would like to wish everyone a SAFE and Happy 4th of July! Remember, most animals don't like fireworks. The lights and loud sounds can scare them. BE CAREFUL with them around your animals. Our two little ones will be staying at home when we take in the fireworks shows around Henderson this 4th. We love the shows, but know they don't. Anyway, enjoy the fun that comes with the 4th and we'll return later this month with more tips and articles on animal care! In the meantime, click the link below to check out the fireworks show at EPCOT in Walt Disney World, FL. Taped in 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5K6rzYn9Bs Read more...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5K6rzYn9Bs Read more...
June 16th, 2016
Courtesy of Wired.com...
Take heart feline enthusiasts. Your cat’s continued indifference toward her new Deluxe Scratch DJ Deck may be disappointing, but there is an object that’s pretty much guaranteed to pique her interest. That object, as the Internet has so thoroughly documented, is a box. Any box, really. Big boxes, small boxes, irregularly shaped boxes—it doesn’t matter. Place one on the ground, a chair, or a bookshelf and watch as Admiral Snuggles quickly commandeers it.
So what are we to make of the strange gravitational pull that empty Amazon packaging exerts on Felis sylvestris catus? Like many other really weird things cats do, science hasn’t fully cracked this particular feline mystery. There’s the obvious predation advantage a box affords: Cats are ambush predators, and boxes provide great hiding places to stalk prey from (and retreat to). But there’s clearly more going on here.
Read more...
Take heart feline enthusiasts. Your cat’s continued indifference toward her new Deluxe Scratch DJ Deck may be disappointing, but there is an object that’s pretty much guaranteed to pique her interest. That object, as the Internet has so thoroughly documented, is a box. Any box, really. Big boxes, small boxes, irregularly shaped boxes—it doesn’t matter. Place one on the ground, a chair, or a bookshelf and watch as Admiral Snuggles quickly commandeers it.
So what are we to make of the strange gravitational pull that empty Amazon packaging exerts on Felis sylvestris catus? Like many other really weird things cats do, science hasn’t fully cracked this particular feline mystery. There’s the obvious predation advantage a box affords: Cats are ambush predators, and boxes provide great hiding places to stalk prey from (and retreat to). But there’s clearly more going on here.
Read more...
May 22nd, 2016
I'd like to wish my wife of nearly 25 years a very Happy Birthday today! This month is not only her birthday month, but May of 2016 is also our 5th Annibersary of the birth of Paw Minders Plus! Yes, we've been taking care of animals for our clients for a FULL FIVE YEARS now!
Mike Nazarek
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Mike Nazarek
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April 16th, 2016
However well-intentioned, every time cat owners or guardians allow their felines to go outside, alone and unprotected, they are putting that animal and others at risk.
The Marin Humane Society (MHS) and others struggle to keep up with the cat-related calls, issues and needs. MHS cares for hundreds of cats on any given day. The cat population at our Novato campus consists of lost or stray cats without any form of identification, cats surrendered to us by their previous owner or guardian, and cats transferred in from overcrowded shelters throughout California. MHS also takes numerous lost cat reports in hopes we can help make reunions happen quickly.
Across the country, wildlife rehabilitators and bird protection organizations are discouraged by the number of small birds and other wildlife that are injured or killed by house cats that are allowed ... Read more...
March 19th, 2016
Courtesy of Mediapost.com...
Millennial pet ownership grew 25% between 2007 and 2015 while the number of pet owners in the 35-and-older age group increased just 14%.
Even more significant, the majority of growth among Millennials came from multicultural young adults, thus making Latinos in particular a key Millennial pet owner segment. Packaged Facts projects that Millennials will be responsible for adding another 2.6 million pet owners between 2015 and 2020.
There are 43 million pet owners in the 18- to 34-year-old age group, accounting for 31% of all pet owners, according to market research publisher Packaged Facts in the report “Millennials as Pet Market Consumers.”
Millennials will account for an ever-growing share of pet expenditures in the years ahead because they represent a large population segment that will be entering a stage of life when expenditures on pet products and services jump dramatically. ... Read more...
Millennial pet ownership grew 25% between 2007 and 2015 while the number of pet owners in the 35-and-older age group increased just 14%.
Even more significant, the majority of growth among Millennials came from multicultural young adults, thus making Latinos in particular a key Millennial pet owner segment. Packaged Facts projects that Millennials will be responsible for adding another 2.6 million pet owners between 2015 and 2020.
There are 43 million pet owners in the 18- to 34-year-old age group, accounting for 31% of all pet owners, according to market research publisher Packaged Facts in the report “Millennials as Pet Market Consumers.”
Millennials will account for an ever-growing share of pet expenditures in the years ahead because they represent a large population segment that will be entering a stage of life when expenditures on pet products and services jump dramatically. ... Read more...
February 20th, 2016
Courtesy of mnn.com...
by Jaymi Heimbuch
We have a weight problem in this country, including our dogs and cats! Here's an easy test to tell if your pet needs to go on a diet.
Are you tired, run-down, listless? Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular? The answer to all your problems lies in this simple test.
At least, that's how the commercial would sound, encouraging your dog or cat to see if it's the extra baggage around their ribs (and neck and chest and hips...) holding them back from romping at the dog park with their buddies, keeping them from clearing that once-easy-to-leap fence, and bringing down their overall health.
There's a rising problem of obesity among pets. According to a study by Zoetis, "veterinarians consider 47 percent of their patients overweight or obese but only 17 percent of dog owners think the same. Why the difference? It could be denial or the difficulty owners have in ... Read more...
by Jaymi Heimbuch
We have a weight problem in this country, including our dogs and cats! Here's an easy test to tell if your pet needs to go on a diet.
Are you tired, run-down, listless? Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular? The answer to all your problems lies in this simple test.
At least, that's how the commercial would sound, encouraging your dog or cat to see if it's the extra baggage around their ribs (and neck and chest and hips...) holding them back from romping at the dog park with their buddies, keeping them from clearing that once-easy-to-leap fence, and bringing down their overall health.
There's a rising problem of obesity among pets. According to a study by Zoetis, "veterinarians consider 47 percent of their patients overweight or obese but only 17 percent of dog owners think the same. Why the difference? It could be denial or the difficulty owners have in ... Read more...
January 16th, 2016
Courtesy of National Geographic
By Liz Langley
Our first Weird Animal Question of the Week of 2016 comes to us from our very own photo editor Mallory Benedict, who's curious about why her sister's poodle pays such rapt attention to the television.
"He totally loses it when there's any kind of animal on TV. How does he recognize animals on TV, and why does he have such a strong reaction?" Benedict asked.
Domestic dogs can perceive images on television similarly to the way we do, and they are intelligent enough to recognize onscreen images of animals as they would in real life—even animals they've never seen before—and to recognize TV dog sounds, like barking.
A 2013 study published in the journal Animal Cognition showed that dogs could identify images of other dogs among pictures of humans and other animals, using their visual sense alone. (Also see "OCD Dogs, People Have Similar ... Read more...
By Liz Langley
Our first Weird Animal Question of the Week of 2016 comes to us from our very own photo editor Mallory Benedict, who's curious about why her sister's poodle pays such rapt attention to the television.
"He totally loses it when there's any kind of animal on TV. How does he recognize animals on TV, and why does he have such a strong reaction?" Benedict asked.
Domestic dogs can perceive images on television similarly to the way we do, and they are intelligent enough to recognize onscreen images of animals as they would in real life—even animals they've never seen before—and to recognize TV dog sounds, like barking.
A 2013 study published in the journal Animal Cognition showed that dogs could identify images of other dogs among pictures of humans and other animals, using their visual sense alone. (Also see "OCD Dogs, People Have Similar ... Read more...