No scaredy cats or dogs this Halloween!

It is the scariest time of year and you want your family pet to be safe and sound. The best recommendations I have are to walk your dog in advance, and secure your dog and cat in a safe area of the house before the festivities begin.

Here are my other top safety tips:

1. Candy is for trick-or-treaters not for Spot and Fluffy. Please watch the candy bowl and any goodies dropped by the ‘kids’ (young and old alike). Chocolate and raisins can be toxic to your dog as well as artificially sweetened candy and gum containing Xylitol. Please don’t give the pets any salty snacks and keep them away from the decorative corn! Candy wrappers may also become a choking or gastrointestinal hazard, so pick them up as you see them.

2. Decorations can be a shocking experience…if the pets are allowed to chew or play with electrical cords. Keep them well away from cords, ornaments and that ever tantalizing candle in the carved pumpkin-an over exuberant kitten can knock it over and start a fire. Plus beware the pumpkin! Fresh pumpkin is a tasty treat but, after it has been sitting out for days on the porch it has had a chance to grow bacteria which may cause stomach upset or diarrhea.

3. Dress up can be a stressor for your pet. Most cats have too much pride in their fine fur to even want to try on a costume so stick to the dog with this one. See if your dog doesn’t mind being in a costume and then make sure that your pet is comfortable, safe, and that the costume does not inhibit breathing, barking (meowing) or movement. Forcing a pet into an unwanted costume may cause anxiety, so please be aware of your pets’ reactions.

4. Noise and a shake up to the normal routine can be a cats’ undoing and cause dog anxiety. So when the door bell rings constantly, kids keep yelling trick-or-treat and the door keeps opening and closing, the best place for your pet is in a remote, quiet part of the house. You can turn on the radio or a TV to create some ‘white noise’ and keep them calmer. The last thing you want on Halloween night is to have your pet family member dash out the front door! If you have an especially nervous pet, try a calming flower essence such as Pet Essences Thunderstorm.

On a final note: when you walk your pet after Halloween, beware of wrappers, discarded candy, fireworks etc…that may be on the ground waiting to be hoovered up by your pooch!

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

Cats and Culture Tour of Italy

Like Italy? Like Cats?

You will LOVE the Cats and Culture Tour!

The romance of Italy, the architecture, the gardens and cats — what could be more purrfect?

When I read about this tour, a smile spread across my face. As I read more, my smile widened.

Friends of Roman Cats puts on a tour from Venice to Rome. Here is what they say about the tour:

Friends of Roman Cats is excited to announce another Cats and Culture Italian tour this coming October! The tour offers cat lovers and lovers of Italy a chance to see how another country treats its homeless / feral cat population. Italy is a No-Kill country where cats have been appreciated for centuries for their companionship and for keeping down rodent populations. You will meet dedicated individuals who care for some of Italy’s stray cats and learn what is working and not working with Animal Welfare in another country. The tour will be a way for people to understand Italy and Italians through the way they interact with animals The tour will start in Venice where we will meet some of the cats whose ancestors came from the Middle East to combat plague-carrying black rats. We will visit a cat colony that lives in Venice’s main public hospital and see more cats and their dedicated caretaker on Venice’s Lido Island. We will have plenty of time to visit some of Venice’s greatest artistic treasures and take in its beauty.

The tour will proceed to Florence where we will see the cats that live in a magnificent Renaissance garden, and in a picturesque cemetery that looks down on the City. Participants will have ample time to explore this beautiful city. Then we will visit a cat sanctuary in the Tuscan hills on a property donated by a beneficent Countess. We will next visit the medieval town of Arezzo and meet with an Anglo-Italian veterinarian who has created a 21st century cat shelter outside the town. We will spend the next day and night in the beautiful hill town of Siena where we will have a guided tour of the town and visit with a group that works with the Sienese municipality to spay and neuter Siena’s stray cats. We will spend our last 3 days in Rome, visiting the Forum, Coliseum, The Vatican, the Trevi Fountain and other monuments in historic Rome, and as well as some of the cat colonies that live in the midst of Roman ruins. All the cats in the shelters and sanctuaries we visit have been spayed or neutered. A good number of them are former house cats that have either been abandoned or whose owners could no longer care for them.

I think this is an outstanding idea! If any of you go on this tour, please send me some pictures and let me know how it went.

Please visit www.friendsofromancats.org for more information and to see all of the pictures above and more.

The latest news…

We hope you like the next WordPress site. It’s been in the works for a while now.

The Cat & Dog Blog!

Here’s where I’ll pass along some of the things I encounter day to day.

Events I’m involved in, face-to-face interactions, case studies and general musings will all be listed here.

Don’t forget to sign up for my email newsletter (see the ‘P.E.P. Newsletter’ section on the right side of my website). When you’re signed up, you can submit topics you think would be useful to you and to others, and I’ll do my best to include them in upcoming newsletters and blog entries.

Remember, any time you want some more detailed discussions and advice, I’m just at the other end of the phone!

In the meantime, it’s a pleasure to have you here.

Jennifer