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Caring For Our Animal Companions |
Raising a canine family member involves ensuring that your "best friend" not only lives a healthy life, but a happy one as well. The following books contain considerable information to help you care for your dog’s overall well being.
 Living
With A Deaf Dog: A book of advice, facts and experiences about canine deafness
Susan Cope Becker ISBN: 0966005805 For those of you fortunate to be (or are considering) sharing your life with a deaf dog there is an informative book that you can get to help you raise your hearing impaired canine. Living With A Deaf Dog: A book of advice, facts and experiences about canine deafness by Susan Cope Becker provides valuable information on canine deafness, including how to test for it, how to communicate with, and train, a deaf dog as well as other important information pertaining to raising a deaf dog. Cope Becker helps dispel some of the myths associated with deaf dogs and successfully portrays these canines as loyal, intelligent and loving animals who deserve the right to a full and happy life. |
Living
With Blind Dogs: A Resource Book and Training Guide for the Owners of Blind
& Low Vision Dogs
Caroline Levin
Many dogs will experience some vision loss in their lifetimes. Fortunately, there is help available for these visually impaired canines and their human guardians. Living With Blind Dogs: A Resource Book and Training Guide for the Owners of Blind & Low Vision Dogs is a comprehensive book written by Caroline Levin. Levin not only provides information on canine eye anatomy and some of the causes of blindness, but she also provides numerous ways in which we can help our blind canines, making their lives more comfortable and fulfilling in the process. Numerous illustrations and photographs complement the text.
Living With Blind Dogswas created when Levin realized that a book about caring for visually impaired canines was sorely needed and that she was someone who could produce it.[mention some topics here]
If you, or someone you know,
is living with a visually impaired dog you might want to obtain a copy
of Living With Blind Dogs. It may be one of your better investments
which could improve the lives of your dog and her human guardians. As Levin
points out, "Giving a newly blind canine a few special considerations and
training him to do a few new commands can contribute to your dog living
a full and enjoyable life."
 Ruffing
It: The Complete Guide to Camping With Dogs
Mardi Richmond and Melanee L. Barash ISBN: 157779009X If you like to go camping, hiking or to the cottage with your canine companion then you should read Ruffing It: The Complete Guide to Camping With Dogs. Written by Mardi Richmond and Melanee L. Barash, Ruffing It includes considerable information on a variety of topics involving camping with dogs including: conditioning, training, first aid and safety. By following the advice offered in this book people will be better prepared to not only ensure their canine companions’ health and safety, but that their impact on the environment is kept to a minimum. As the authors point out, "It is our responsibility, and we hope everyone’s desire, to preserve the wilderness for future generations. When you camp, keep in mind the goal of saving the earth for future visits: by you, your kids, your grandkids - and their dogs!" |
The Canadian Dog Owner's Companion:
A Guide to Selecting, Caring For and Training Your New Dog or Puppy
Donna Davidson and Penny
Manning
ISBN: 0771574037
The Canadian Dog Owner's
Companion: A Guide to Selecting, Caring For and Training Your New Dog or
Puppy is a comprehensive book which provides practical information
for those fortunate to be sharing (or planning to share) their lives with
a canine companion. Written by Donna Davidson and Penny Manning, The
Canadian Dog Owner's Companion covers such important topics as selecting
and raising a dog, canine health and training (including dealing with behavioural
problems.) The "Canadian Dog Owner's Source List" at the end of the book
is extensive and provides the reader with a variety of other sources to
check to learn more about dogs.
 |
The Indoor Cat: How to Understand,
Enjoy, and Care for House Cats (revised & updated)
Patricia Curtis ISBN: 0399523502 More and more people believe that responsibly and humanely caring for a feline family member involves raising the animal indoors. In her book The Indoor Cat, Patricia Curtis provides considerable information pertaining to how you can raise a happy and healthy indoor cat. |
Indoor
Cats: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual
Katrin Behrend
ISBN: 0764109359
Indoor Cats: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual is a 65 page book that contains considerable information and good advice on raising an indoor feline family member.
Kindred
Spirits: How the Remarkable Bond Between Humans & Animals Can Change
The Way We Live
Allen M. Schoen, DVM
ISBN: 0767904303
Those of us lucky to share our lives with animal companions are familiar with how these sentient beings greatly enrich our lives. Love and friendship are two obvious and important benefits that we receive from our animal friends every day, but there are numerous, more scientific, studies of how companion animals enhance our physical and psychological well being. In Kindred Spirits, Allen Schoen, DVM, combines interesting facts and information from studies with entertaining personal stories to illustrate just how important animals are.
Dr. Schoen not only describes how animals make us healthier, happier, better human beings, he also offers considerable information on how we can enhance the lives of our animal companions strengthening the vital human-animal bond in the process. In a section entitled “In Search of the Magic Bullet” Dr. Schoen discusses alternative treatments, like acupuncture, that can be used instead of, or to complement, conventional veterinary medicine. Some of the other alternative treatments discussed include: “Traditional Chinese Herbs”, “Western Herbal Medicine” and “Touch Therapy.” In another section he describes how to conduct “A Natural Pet Scan” and the many benefits of this routine procedure.
“Touching and grooming are universal means of communication between animals of all species, an intimate form of co-species connection, and perhaps of co-species healing, too, because your hands help stimulate opiate receptors in the skin. By committing yourself to this once-a-week, half-an-hour exercise, you will become aware of your animal at a new, more intimate level.”
When Dr. Schoen is frequently asked how people can “personally help a kindred spirit” his response is: “Find an abandoned or a homeless or an abused animal friend and bring him or her into your life. Share your home with your new companion and provide as much love and nurturance as you can. Receive the same love and affection back and allow the two of you to grow together. Your life – and the life of your friend – will never be the same. Your joy will be great and your souls will flourish. Their cup and yours will truly runneth over with love!”
Dr. Schoen’s important messages,
combined with the poignant, heartfelt way in which he delivers them, can
result in much good regarding the way that humans perceive and treat our
wonderful animal companions.
Kindred Spirits needs to be read –
and not just by “animal people.”
Pets
Living With Cancer: A Pet Owner’s Resource
By Robin Downing, DVM
ISBN: 1583260226
In 2000 we lost Rufus, our Husky cross, and Nollaig, our Shepherd/Lab cross, to cancer. Gleannan, our Sheltie cross, was diagnosed with this disease prior to Christmas. According to Robin Downing, DVM, cancer is common in dogs and cats because our animal companions are living longer.
"Because our animal companions enjoy the benefits of better nutrition, better preventive health care, advances in veterinary medicine, and closer family relationships, they are living longer….As animals live longer, we see a greater incidence of the diseases that accompany aging. One important example is the increased risk of developing cancer."
While cancer in dogs and cats is common, there is not an abundance of good resource material written for people whose "best friends" have this disease. This is why Dr. Downing’s book Pets Living With Cancer: A Pet Owner’s Resource is so valuable.
Dr. Downing provides considerable information on a topic that people don’t want to talk about. However, when a companion animal gets cancer it is important that the animal’s human guardians learn as much about this disease as possible so that they are in a position to make informed decisions, with the help of their veterinarian, about what type of treatment their animal companion should receive. By providing concise, easy-to-understand answers to questions about cancer, Dr. Downing effectively provides the reader with considerable information about this dreaded disease. Some of the areas addressed are: diagnosis, treatment options including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and complementary therapies, nutrition, hospice care and euthanasia.
Throughout the book Dr. Downing refers to her own dog, Murphy, a Great Dane, who had bone cancer in her left front leg. Murphy had a bone transplant and chemotherapy as part of her cancer treatment.
While the word "cancer" can bring a feeling of despair or terror to someone whose cherished four-legged family member has contracted this disease, Dr. Downing and Murphy offer hope. According to Dr. Downing,
"Cancer remains the most curable of all chronic diseases….Our current knowledge tells us that over half the dogs and cats with malignant tumors can be rendered completely ‘cancer free.’"
Veterinarians would be wise
to have a supply of Pets Living With Cancer: A Pet Owner’s Resource
on hand for client’s whose animal companions contract this terrible disease.
Why
Is Cancer Killing Our Pets?
By Deborah Straw
ISBN: 089281926X
One of the biggest threats to our animal companions’ safety and well being is cancer. Deborah Straw has lost four companion animals to this disease. She has also written a book on cancer and how this disease affects our four-legged friends.
In Why Is Cancer Killing Our Pets, Straw provides considerable information on the causes of cancer, preventative measures that can be taken as well as some of the cancer treatments available to companion animals – both conventional and alternative.
In the chapter “Environmental Concerns”, Straw looks at many health problems found in the house, outdoors and with some products – the majority of which are not necessary or for which safer alternatives exist. One of the concerns cited by Straw pertains to the use of herbicides and pesticides and other chemicals.
“Golf courses are apparently quite toxic to both humans and animals....According to a related report by Jared Baragar, chemicals used on golf courses have caused cancer, birth defects, nerve damage, and heart disturbances....Baragar notes that a single eighteen-hole golf course can in one year use fifty thousand pounds of dry and liquid chemicals.”
While Straw provides considerable information on cancer in companion animals, you should discuss causes, preventative measures and treatments with your veterinarian. Treating cancer is difficult. There are conflicting views as to which treatments are effective and when they should be used. For example, Straw states that garlic can help a cat’s immune system – although she also warns that it ”...may cause anemia if given for long periods of time.” In his column “Health Watch” in Animals magazine (July/August 1997) published by the Massachusetts SPCA, Paul C. Gambardella, V.M.D. issues a sterner warning about the use of onions and garlic.
“Onions, even a small amount, are not harmless to dogs...Since garlic is a member of the onion family, it too should be avoided. Cats should also be kept away from these foods.”
There is no doubt that cancer
is a significant threat to our animal companions. What can and should be
done to prevent and treat this disease is not as obvious. We need to learn
about this disease and discuss its implications with our companion animals’
health care practitioners. Why Is Cancer Killing Our Pets? is definitely
worth a read.
 Food
Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food
By Ann N. Martin ISBN: 0939165317 In Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food Ann Martin takes a look at many of the problems associated with the largely unregulated pet food industry. She tells how rendered companion animals are used in both pet food and livestock feed. Her chapter “Mad Cow Disease and How It Relates to Our Pets” addresses several serious concerns which we should be aware of. Martin also provides important information pertaining to the ingredients listed on pet food labels and what these ingredients consist of. The chapter “Hidden Hazards in Pet Food: Drugs, Heavy Metals, Pesticides, and Pathogens” is particularly informative - and disturbing. After reading Food Pets Die For people fortunate to be sharing their lives with dogs and cats will be better prepared to obtain relevant information from the manufacturers of the pet food they feed their companion animals. With this information these people will then be able to make a more informed decision as to whether the pet food they are using is healthy for their companion animals. |
Pets part of the family ™: The Total
Care Guide for all the Pets in Your Life
editors of Pets part of
the family ™ Books
ISBN: 1579541364
Pets part of the family ™: The Total Care Guide for all the Pets in Your Life contains practical information and ideas pertaining to acquiring and caring for an animal companion. Dogs, cats, birds, fish and ferrets are only some of the animals covered in this book.
I was disappointed with one section entitled "A Treat for Him, a Trauma for You." This section was written by a veterinarian who stated that some dogs liked onions and that his Lab had gas after eating onions. There was no reference to the fact that onions (and other members of the onion family) are toxic to some animals (including dogs and cats) causing a condition known as Heinz body hemolytic anemia - which can be fatal!
If you have several kinds of pets in your life or you are trying to figure out what kind of pet you’re most compatible with, you might want to read this informative guide.
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When
Your Pet Outlives You: Protecting Animal Companions After You Die
The
Dog: It’s Behavior, Nutrition, and Health