I woke up this morning knowing I’d need to type out a post on my keyboard in the Starbucks hour I enjoy before my 7:30 appointments start arriving. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a clue for a post topic—that is, until trusty Gina over at PetConnection handed me one (sort-of—I know it’s only 3:30 AM in SF).

Yesterday she blogged on a topic that left me open-mouth breathing like a feral cat in a...

Ever wondered what constitutes a “Franken-animal”? (No, Maltie-Poo and Shi-Corgis need not apply.)

So-called “Franken-animals” (AKA, “GE” or genetically engineered animals) are those engineered to include a few genetic fragments that, were it not for our artificial human intervention, would almost never find themselves nestled inside such a creature’s molecular blueprints.

These are the goats we...

A few months back I penned a post on this topic and received a clutch of angry emails suggesting that by writing about do-it-yourself euthanasias, even disparagingly, I was encouraging others to try it out. Here’s another post on the topic that illustrates, yet again (hopefully more forcefully), exactly why you should never try this at home.

A woman in Colorado was arrested by the police last...

Even those occasional people we meet who claim to dislike cats intensely would agree: kicking them is wrong.

It’s pretty clear-cut. Most humans understand that hurting cats, even if you consider them “vermin” as many do, is a foul and unnecessary deed. So too, inflicting pain on rats, seagulls, pigeons and other creatures you happen to prefer not hang out with you in and around your home....

Today is World Rabies Day!

I know it doesn't sound like a reason to celebrate (and it's not) but it's still an important reminder that a killer disease is still in our midst. Here's an article I wrote for the Miami Herald on this issue:

Several years ago a father and his young son brought me a small, black kitten they’d found in their yard just days before. Though initially vigorous and...

Heard this one? It’s about a small Israeli city’s new approach to ridding Israel of the pet lovers everyone loves to hate…those unwilling to pick up after their dogs.

No one likes scooping poop. But officials in Petah Tikva have joined forces with veterinarians to apply high tech DNA technology to solving the problem of stray stool in public places. Apparently they don’t want to turn their...

Some of you may know that I used to recommend Flintstones chewable vitamins for pets. You may also know that I enjoy my daily Starbucks. And Virbac is a pet product manufacturer I’ve profiled on Dolittler for its excellent concepts…

…and yet I’ve recently learned that all of them have let us down when it comes to heeding warnings on the use of Xylitol (a sugar substitute) in their products.

In...

Staring down the barrel of a gun never was my idea of a fun pastime. Watching Ike advance feels akin to that same kind of prickly-cold dread. First too far north, now too far south…yet Miami, my hometown and current place of residence, is still well within the cone of error (and still three days away).

South Florida never has been too unified in its approach to the homeless animals in our...

At least once a month or so a client will call with questions about pets who seem to grieve for their lost companions. Sometimes it’s a human death at hand, but more often it’s about pets who “miss” their recently departed conspecific (typically another cat or dog):

What should I do to help her grieve?

Will he ever get over the loss?

Could grief be making her sick?

I’m not always sure how to...

Do you Dogster, Catster, Petster, Dogbook or Doggyspace? You might think I’m a tad kooky for admitting to this, but I do.

My dogs have profiles on Dogster and Doggyspace. Granted, Dogster is my preferred network for all its accoutrements and longevity, but I just had to check out Doggyspace once Time Magazine profiled it last week in a short, interesting article on social networking “for...