Pets
Understanding CatsUnderstanding cats is easy, we just need to know how they live in their natural environment, and then make sure we meet their needs. Outdoors, cats hunt for food, hide from predators (often by climbing), and defend their home territories. Indoors, these behaviors may look hostile (biting and scratching) or spiteful (climbing and marking),…
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By Sophie Lewis April 10, 2020 / 2:05 PM / CBS News Calls to close “wet markets” amid pandemic In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic — which is believed to have first spread to humans at a “wet market” in Wuhan, China, where live animals were sold for food — China has created new…
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Sections Adoption Behavior Care Chapters Health Links Pictures & Fun About HRS Headquarters Site Help Other Indexes What’s New? What’s Popular? FAQs HRJ Articles Opinion True Stories Kids Vets New Bunny Site Map Contact Us… Cats and Rabbits Amy Shapiro A cat and a rabbit really can be friends.Yes, really. What seems an unlikely combination, given the predator-prey…
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Dog, (Canis lupus familiaris), domestic mammal of the family Canidae (order Carnivora). It is a subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) and is related to foxes and jackals. The dog is one of the two most ubiquitous and most popular domestic animals in the world (the cat is the other). For more than 12,000…
Read More Cat, (Felis catus), also called house cat or domestic cat, domesticated member of the family Felidae, order Carnivora, and the smallest member of that family. Like all felids, domestic cats are characterized by supple low-slung bodies, finely molded heads, long tails that aid in balance, and specialized teeth and claws that adapt them admirably to…
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What’s a dog breed? People have been breeding dogs since prehistoric times. The earliest dog breeders used wolves to create domestic dogs. From the beginning, humans purposefully bred dogs to perform various tasks. Hunting, guarding, and herding are thought to be among the earliest jobs eagerly performed by the animal destined to be called “man’s…
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Let sleeping dog lie in the bedroom. That’s according to a new Mayo Clinic study that’s sure to set many tails wagging. It’s no secret that Americans love their dogs. According to the American Veterinary Association, more than 40 million American households have dogs. Of these households, 63 percent consider their canine companions to be family. Still, many draw the line at having their furry family members sleep with them for fear of sacrificing sleep quality. “Most people assume having pets in the bedroom is a disruption,” says Lois Krahn,…
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A new Cornell study published this month in Environmental Pollution finds that glyphosate, the active herbicidal ingredient in widely used weed killers like Roundup, was present at low levels in a variety of dog and cat foods the researchers purchased at stores. Before you go switching Fido or Fluffy’s favorite brand, however, be aware that the amounts of the herbicide found correspond to levels currently considered safe for humans. The study grew out of a larger interdisciplinary research project led by Brian Richards, senior research associate in biological and environmental…
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New research from the University of Liverpool and Mars Petcare’s WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition reveals overweight dogs are more likely to have shorter lives than those at ideal body weights. Results from the study, conducted retrospectively across two decades and published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, revealed the lifespan of dogs that were overweight was up to two and a half years shorter when compared to ideal-weight dogs. The study examined more than 50,000 dogs across 12 of the most popular dog breeds. The effect of being…
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The first study to document interactions between feral cats and a wild rat colony finds that contrary to popular opinion, cats are not good predators of rats. In a novel approach, researchers monitored the behavior and movement of microchipped rats in the presence of cats living in the same area. They show the rats actively avoided the cats, and only recorded two rat kills in 79 days. Published as part of a special “rodent issue” in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, the findings add to growing evidence that any benefit…
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