Q: Last year I lost my chihuahua mix, Chicho, when a painter left the door open. He was tagged and microchipped but was never found. I know you like to recommend microchips, but could you let your readers know they are not foolproof?
Q: Why does my cat need a rabies vaccine? Missy never leaves the house, never sees other animals and doesn't go to a boarding place when I'm out of town.
Q: I recently read a great book on the subject of a blind cat and now I'm wondering where I can adopt an animal with special needs. Any thoughts?
Nora the piano-playing cat is living the Hollywood life in Philadelphia. Fresh from a performance of a concerto written just for her, the YouTube sensation gets fan mail by the bushel, has her own groupies and could be an addict if her owners ever forget to put away the catnip.
Q: Our dog Dudley loves his plush toys. The problem is that after playing with one for months, he'll get sick of it, tear it to pieces and eat it. We all thought this was pretty funny until the last time, when he vomited up a whole plush toy in front of our dinner guests. Is there anything I can do to keep him from swallowing toys? He loves them so much!
A dog pack blamed for the killings of a Georgia couple is a reminder of the fragility of mankind's pact with canines. Underlying the relationship between the species is a simple expectation: We feed them, they don't kill us.
Q: My daughter insists she's going to become a veterinarian when she grows up. She's only 12 but never a day goes by that she doesn't ask what more she should be doing to help reach her goal. I've enrolled her in animal-related camps, taken her to horseback riding lessons and encouraged her to care for all our pets. Is there more we should be doing to prepare her?
Is your dog ready for back to school? With summer coming to an end, domestic schedules will be changing and dogs used to spending a lot of time with the family will have to adjust like everyone else.
Q: My dog Bubkis has been losing his hair this summer. It started when he went to the kennel and came home with fleas. My veterinarian put him on Frontline drops and the fleas are gone but he's still losing hair all over his back and tail. What does this sound like to you?
He had me at ''Tsst.'' It wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to fall for his allure, his hypnotic voice. I wasn't supposed to heel, if you will. But that sound. Brief. Urgent. Macho. ''Tsst,'' he said -- and I turned to butter.
Q: I'm having a rough time training my 10-month-old kitten to leave my arms and legs alone when he plays. Between his teeth and his claws, I'm all scratched up. My elderly father, who takes blood thinners, is also getting injured.
Rachael Ray is looking for 64 charities to compete in a $200,000 contest to find the most deserving pet cause in the country. Using basketball's March Madness format, Mutt Madness will start with 64 contenders that will be whittled down by Ray and a panel of pet lovers.
Q: Why do pets have to be vaccinated every year for rabies? A Web article suggested that more pets actually die of the consequences of being vaccinated than get rabies.
The Disney movie G-Force shows a squad of specially trained, computer-generated guinea pig spies coming to the world's rescue. In the hit movie's wake, however, animal activists say it may be real-life guinea pigs that will need rescuing.
Q: My beloved German shepherd, Daisy, died a month ago from bloat. I'm heartsick and blame myself. I had no idea that feeding her once daily, as I had been doing, might contribute to her death.
Q: My pets spend a lot of time in the backyard where we have lots of mosquitoes and other flying insects this time of year. I see plenty of insect bites, especially on my dog's ears and belly. Besides giving them monthly heartworm, flea and tick medication, is there something I can do to minimize their insect exposure and still let them be outdoors?
You'll probably never have to teach a panda to walk on a leash. But if any kind of animal lives in your house, trainers at the zoo have some useful lessons for you.
A wild animal can't be physically manipulated like a pet can. If a lion won't sit, it's a bad idea to try to push its back legs underneath it to give it the idea. These limitations force trainers to use their imagination, and the resulting methods can be useful to pet trainers as well.
Cats and dogs are giving more pet owners a staph infection resistant to certain antibiotics, according to a recent study.
Q: My cat Daisy Mae recently tested positive for feline heartworms. I understand that a positive test doesn't mean she has worms, only that she's been exposed to them. Now I have to recheck her blood to make sure she doesn't actually have the parasites. The worst part is, I recently learned that feline heartworm disease can be prevented. Could you address this issue so that more people in heartworm-prone areas keep their cats protected?
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