Last Friday was take your dog to work day. Did you miss it? (why don't we have a take your cat to work day? well...ok...I can understand why we don't have that - the Queen Wabby at our house is quite content to stay home on her sofa, but we work from home so every day is take your pet to work day for us!)

Over on the AARP site, this article says, "Work Has Gone to the Dogs... and Other Pets, Too," indicating that employers are beginning to recognize the health benefits of allowing folks to bring their best friends to work with them. Seriously, isn't your dog or cat your best friend? I'm willing to allow you more than one best friend, by the way. You can be best friends with the girl or guy you went to high school/college with, and still consider your dog your best friend. Why not?

My old friend and colleague, Paul Bartishevich has launched a new web site dealing with all things scientific.

Paul is the CEO of Finger Lakes Productions, a radio production company that produces Animal Instincts, among other programs.  

It's a good idea that I have written about numerous times, and so has Dr. Larry. Pet Health Insurance isn't "too expensive" or "not worth it"...when you are educated about it.

Dr. Bill Craig, DVM, has a great article on the San Antonio blog site, discussing pet health insurance and PurinaCare. I found it recently and thought it was worth sharing. Here's another viewpoint on this issue, with some interesting stats.

First of all, Dr. Craig writes, "I can't believe it has been two years already. This week [June 13-19th] marks the second birthday party of PurinaCare Insurance Services Inc." W00t!!! I'm happy about that, and I bet a lot of other people are, also.

I've been writing for two pet blogs for almost four years now. I generally do three to four posts per week on each blog. If you do the math that comes to almost one thousand posts. That's a lot of content and I hope at least some of it is valuable.

Well, we finally did it. We took Miles to rattlesnake aversion training, or, as the trainer called it; snake braking. It was an interesting experience for us and unfortunately, a painful one for our baby Miles.

m I the only one who thinks this is crazy? I saw a tweet on twitter about people dying their dogs... it's all the rage, apparently. Dogs being dyed different colors to imitate other animals...like a zebra or a tiger. Or, dyed to the owner's design.  

Why would you do it, for one thing? I like my pets au-natural. In other words, just as they are. My cat is beautiful and my dog was just as beautiful. My daughter's Greyhound (seen here) is absolutely gorgeous! I can't imagine putting dye on her coat.

Well she just might need one and you might not even know it. You probably don't know what a catio is and I didn't either until I read a great article on the NY Times website this weekend.

This article is a great follow up to a number of posts I've done on the subject of feline environmental enrichment. If that term doesn't ring a bell check out the series of posts over on the pet blog from last winter.

We knew it was only a matter of time before the oil started to hit the coasts. It's happening now and wildlife are feeling the impact.

Can't resist sharing this great video. It's really impressive that Purina's Mighty Dog brand took time to create a video mostly, about 99%, about dogs - and why they're so fabulous!

I give them a big thumbs up on creating this and sharing it on YouTube. Even though it's got a tiny bit of promotional content, at the very end, the video is worth sharing. So, I say...share and share alike.

Enjoy! Up with Mighty Dogs!

I was talking with a friend not long ago about getting a puppy. This friend has a dog, and she loves her dog as much as she loves me, or any other human in her life. Her dog really is like a part of the family. Much more than a "possession".

As we talked, I mentioned that I was seriously going to look into pet health insurance, once we get a puppy. In fact, we're thinking of adopting a puppy and an adult dog - the adult dogs in shelters get overlooked so much, it breaks my heart! And, yes, I'll consider pet health insurance for the older dog, also.

I'm so baffled by people who think "pet insurance" is a waste of money. My friend waved her hand at me and said, "I'll just put money away for an emergency. It's a better idea than wasting it on pet health insurance."