In the September issue of  "The Whole Dog Journal", Marcy Straus writes about the benefits of adding fish oil to your dog's diet. I have added it  to my cats' diets and found many of the same benefits for them.

The benefits she listed are:

Have you ever asked yourself, what is the difference between Traditional and Holistic veterinary care? As a responsible pet parent, I think it is essential to know the difference and to understand all of the options that are available to keep your "furry kids" healthy and happy.

The primary difference between the two is in approach. As in human medicine, traditional veterinary medicine looks at the animal from a disease model. In other words, they find out the symptoms, come up with a diagnosis, and then prescribe a treatment to fix the problem.

 I received an email from one of my clients appealing to me to get on the bandwagon demanding labeling of GMO's  on our food. After spending an hour or more watching the documentary on the link he supplied, I realized how vitally important this Proposition is, not only to California, and the US, but to the world. I decided to share the information with you so you can make the right choice based on having the information you need to save your health, your children's health and even your pets' health.

I just read a very interesting article in"Catnip",the newsletter for cat owners published by Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. The article was based on a study indicating that infants who lived with cats or dogs during their first year of life got sick less often than children without pets. Experts believe that sharing your home with a pet is like a cross-training for the infants immunity system, bolstering its ability to fight off disease.

The European study followed 307 Finnish children between the ages of nine weeks and one year.

Over the past few months I have been doing a lot of pet visits for cats and dogs while their "parents" go on vacation. Most of the time, people realize the importance of making sure they get the appropriate kind of care for their "furry kids" while they are away. But some people seem to be thinking more in terms of saving money rather than making sure their pet gets everything they need.

Yes they all need food and fresh water. The kitties need their litter boxes cleaned and the dogs need to go out to go potty but another basic need for most animals is human companionship; especially if the kitty or dog is very social and used to getting lots of attention from its "parents".