We're pretty strong pet people, at our house. I've had dogs and cats around my entire life. And, I've been good friends with folks who have birds, snakes, guinea pigs, even ferrets. All of the people I know who have pets, whatever kind that might be (including farm animals), love them unconditionally.

It's so sad that at this time in our country's life, our shelters are so much in need of our support. Lately, I've been visiting shelters around town with my granddaughter. She has a blog where she supports adopting from shelters, an activity I want to encourage. As we visit these shelters, we are struck by how many dogs and cats there are, and how many small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs - even mice, rats, hamsters, and snakes. We are also starting to see a few ferrets.

You might have read the post from Tuesday about our backpacking trip with Miles. It was all about how to prepare your dog for an adventure in the back country and our preparation and experience with Miles. It sure did pay off and as you know, we had a great time.

One of the contingencies not mentioned in that post, but covered in detail elsewhere on the blog, was rattlesnake preparation. In our part of the country rattlers are a fact of life. I ran into four Black Tailed Rattlers in one day on a three day backpacking trip in May. That, my friends, was an eye opening experience. 

When I got home and told my wife Chris about those encounters she was concerned. Concerned about Miles, that is. She knew we were planning our big trip and we'd be in snake country.

That's not news, is it? That pets are good for us? We've talked about that here and I talk about it on my other petblogs, too. Pets make us feel better in a lot of ways, including but not limited to giving us unconditional love, no matter what.

Seriously - doesn't your cat's purr make you happy? When your dog puts his head on your knee, and implores you for a walk with those woeful eyes, don't you feel ten feet tall? I know I do.

This past weekend, USA Weekend had an article called, "Why pets are good for us" with the subtitle, "Scientists are finally validating what you already knew: Having a pet makes you feel better."

We just got back from a seven day, six night backpacking trip across the Gila Wilderness. We took our Lab Miles of course, and we had a really good time. Backpacking with a dog can be a rewarding experience if you know what you are doing and follow a few simple guidelines.  

First of all be prepared physically; both you and your dog. Imagine if you tried to walk ten miles without any preparation. Add a backpack that weighs 30 to 40 pounds and imagine climbing to around 11,000 feet. That's what we did on the first day of our trip. The only reason we were able to do that was lots of preparation. 

Our dog Miles gets a long walk every day. In fact it's more of a hike since we take him up on Boston Hill, a local park where people hike and mountain bike.

I have a soft spot for pets, kids, and senior citizens. Hey, I used to be a kid and I'll be a senior citizen someday (although, if they keep pushing the age limit up...I may never make it; LOL). And, throughout my life I have been a pet lover.

Just the other day, I saw an amazing article on seniors and pet adoption and I was so happy to see they parent company of this blog, Nestle Purina Pet Food, mentioned.

Last post we discussed the general value of a nutritional assessment by your Veterinarian. Proper nutrition is a key factor promoting good health and longevity for pets. There are three components to the assessment and last post we discussed diet related issues and the criteria your Veterinarian uses to evaluate the suitability of your pet's diet. Today we'll discuss animal or pet specific issues and how they factor in the assessment.

Animal factors are such things as the pet's age, physiological status and activity level. Any disease conditions related to nutrition or impaired organ function that might be managed in part by diet, also fall into this category. 

In case you missed this great post on PurinaCare's Facebook page, I wanted to share it here, also.

Pets can get into the strangest things, causing all manner of problems. Generally, at least in my experience, they just make a mess. You know, tipping over the garbage, dragging laundry all over the house, tipping their water bowl over (this is not an accident at our house - the Wabby, resident kitty, tips her water bowl over just to see the water run across the floor; I'd like to say it means we have the cleanest floor in the neighborhood, but...I can't lie, so I won't say anything at all)...

I've been reading about a new proposal from The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) on the importance of nutrition counseling by your Veterinarian or someone on her staff. The idea is to perform an initial assessment on each patient and then monitor the results over time. The hope is that this will result in healthier pets and reduce illness associated with poor or improper nutrition.

It's a given that nutrition is a key factor in overall health. For animals with specific health issues nutrition can be part of the therapy and for healthy animals the right nutrition can help prevent a host of diseases. That's where these recently developed Nutritional Assessment Guidelines for Dogs and Cats come in. 

It had to happen. My company, Windsor Media Enterprises, Inc., is in the social media consulting business and we work from home, most of the time. To do that, we have to have good equipment. That means high-end computers and a lot of expensive software.

Last week, my computer blew up.

In our last post we discussed the main causes of pruritus, or itching, in dogs. There are quite a few causes, both primary and secondary and the job of the Veterinarian is to figure out what started the problem in the first place. Once that diagnostic dilemma is solved it's time to move on to treatment. That's what we'll talk about today. 

To determine the culprit, your Vet will have to do a series of tests and examinations to rule out the various causes of itching.