You Can Name A “Crappy Ex” After A Cat’s Litter Box This Valentine’s Day
If you’re wondering how to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, you may want to look no further than the Animal Friends and Humane Society in Hamilton, Ohio. That animal shelter is offering a unique way to celebrate the day, with an anti-Valentine’s Day approach. Rather than do something sweet for your someone special, you can do something vengeful for your ex. Photo: Flickr/Amy Aletheia Cahill License: CC BY-SA 2.0 If you’d like to show them just how “crappy” you think they are, what better way than by...
Dogs Set World Record For Their Ability To Sniff The Most Diseases
Four dogs have officially set the world record for detecting the most medical conditions. The dogs set the Guinness World Record in 2023, breaking their previous world-record set in 2022. Photo: YouTube/Guinness World Records The dogs were trained through the UK-based charity, Medical Detection Dogs. According to the Guinness World Records, the trained dogs are able to detect several medical conditions including nut allergies, variations in blood glucose (e.g., diabetes), malaria, several forms of cancer, and heart conditions. Recently, they...
How to Proactively Deal with Pets Whose Teeth Never Stop Growing
Did you know that rabbits, squirrels, and rodents have teeth that never stop growing? A chinchilla is another pet with teeth that grow continuously throughout their lives. The teeth of all of these animals may periodically require tooth trims if they don’t wear them down naturally. To do so,they have to chew on tough foods like nuts, leaves, grasses, and bark to wear their teeth down and keep them from growing too long. With February being National Pet Dental Health month, we’re going to go over some facts about rabbit and rodent...
My Dog Ate a Silica Packet: What to Do
Many packaged products — from shoes and electronics to food — come with a little packet designed to keep them dry called a silica packet. And, they often are labeled with a “do not eat.” Of course, our pets often ignore such things and might eat these packets anyway. Fortunately, silica is not toxic for dogs, but there are still some risks. Dr. Elaine Martinez, medical director for VCA’s new Santa Monica Main Street Hospital, says that while the silica itself is not a serious issue, the packet can cause an...
Acupuncture For Dogs: What You Need To Know
In order to know whether acupuncture may be a good fit for your dog, you must first understand what it is and how it works. Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that has been practiced for thousands of years and involves the insertion of needles into skin along strategic points or areas of the body. From the TCM perspective, acupuncture needles are inserted into acupuncture points along the body’s meridians. Using this approach, meridians are pathways in which life energy, also known as chi, flows for balance of...
3 Things to Help an Anxious Cat Settle in a New Home
Adopting a cat is exciting, but when your new fur baby has post-traumatic stress disorder, CBD may help to ease anxiety and ease the transition into your home and family. Cats can experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as anxiety, just like humans can. Insufficient socialization with humans and/or cats, a lack of stimuli as a kitten, traumatic events, and genetic predisposition can all cause anxiety in cats. When acclimating to a new home, some cats only need a week or two while others need a few months. It depends on how...
Please take our National Foster Survey!
Maddie’s Fund® is looking to collect accurate information about foster programs at shelters and rescue organizations based in the United States. If this sounds familiar to you, that’s because we conducted this same survey several years ago. Our goal is to learn what has changed since then. You will be asked to provide information about your organization such as: size, intake numbers, work structure. We will only include one response per organization in our results; please make sure that the person most familiar with your...
Watch the Serene Moment Between a Cat and a Turtle Basking in the Sunlight
Animals also enjoy spending time alone in quiet places. They lay under the trees, nap on a branch, bathe in sunshine, or be surrounded by flowers in the meadow. Days could also get difficult and tiring for them, and an hour alone could help them regain energy. Cats mostly do me-times and treat themselves to a tranquil moment in their favorite spot. They take great importance in their personal space, so do not worry if your feline is nowhere to be found for hours. Sometimes they don’t do it alone; cats will also allow company if they...
Millie the Cat May Always Look Unamused, but She is Living the Best Days of Her Senior Life
Cats always have this unamused look that makes them seem cold and disinterested in their environment, especially humans. However, only their facial characteristics give them that image — their actions say otherwise. They can get clingy and sweet, mainly to their chosen humans. It’s the most adorable sight when you see a cat trying to get its human’s attention. Behind the stern, unamused look is a feline ready to give affection and warm cuddles to their loved ones. Whether a senior cat or a kitten, they surely know how to act...
Cat ‘Adopts’ Feisty Stray Kitten and Helps Tame Her
This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Submit your own rescue story here. Your story just might be the next to be featured on our blog! There were an abundance of stray cats in my aunt’s neighborhood. Several of them had had kittens one spring, and the little ones would hang out under her car sometimes. She called me for help. When I got there, we could not find the kittens. Then we heard a noise. I opened the hood of her car, and there were about eight kittens in there! We grabbed as many as we could, receiving...
You Can Help Shelters Tackle Some Challenges This Super Bowl Sunday
Super Bowl Sunday is coming up this weekend. The matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles is bound to provide some excitement, but for many people, gathering for food with friends and loved ones is a bigger highlight. This year, GreaterGood is trying to make sure our furry friends have plenty to eat, too, and we could use your help. Each year, Greater Good Charities (GGC) puts on the Shelter Bowl – now in its 8th year – to provide nutritious meals for pets awaiting their forever homes in rescues. It’s...
Is Your Dog a Barker or a Howler? One is Genetically Closer to Wolves
When your dog hears a siren, do they begin to howl? How about if another dog kicks off the chorus first? Are they apt to join in, or maybe they just bark at all the noise? How your dog responds could be an indicator of the nearness to their wolf ancestors or if they’re more akin to the new kids on the doggy block. Photo: Pixabay/Andrey_and_Lesya Canine Communication Science tells us that older dog breeds are genetically more similar to wolves than modern canines. The big question is whether or not there are any indicators we can use to...
Dogs Bask In The Sun At Dachshund-Only Daycare And People Can’t Get Enough
If you love tiny weiner dogs or dachshunds, you’re far from alone. They’re a cult-favorite breed for a reason, with their fantastic hunting skills and adorable tiny legs. They’re so popular as a breed that a dachshund-only daycare has opened in Bath, England and people are obsessed. Photo: TikTok/@littledachshundclub Since January, the daycare started regularly sharing videos of its pups on TikTok where it’s known as the Little Dachshund Club (@littledachshundclub). Their second video was so well-received it went viral...
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Looking into Removing Grizzlies from Endangered Species List in 2 States
The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (U.S.F.W.S.) announced its intention to review two petitions that could ultimately remove grizzly bears from the federal Endangered Species List. “Why?” you might be asking yourselves right now. Have their numbers reached levels that would warrant such action? Is it time to celebrate? The petitions were actually filed by the state fish and game agencies of Wyoming and Montana. If your geography’s fuzzy, they are neighboring states that see the majority of grizzlies in the...
The H in HASS: Q&A
[embedded content] When people experience a crisis, it often leads to being separated from the pets they love. The Human Animal Support Services project is a collective of animal welfare organizations working to create a system to better support pets and their people. In this live webinar, HASS leaders came together to continue the discussion of human services, animal services, and, overall, the “H” in HASS. Dr. Ellen Jefferson, President and CEO of Austin Pets Alive!; Vincent Medley, Maddie’s® Director of Human Animal...
Are Yew Plants Killing Elk in Utah?
Since January, elk have been mysteriously dying in Utah, baffling wildlife officials there as to the cause. Now the big question is could a popular landscaping plant be responsible for the spate of deaths? It started with a couple of elk that died in Mapleton, about 50 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Conservation officials couldn’t determine any obvious signs of how or why the animals died, Utah Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Faith Jolley stated. Two days passed when reports of another pair of deceased elk in the same...
Does Your Dog Have Anxiety? There’s a Product for That
If your dog has anxiety, he no longer has to struggle with it alone. Over the past 10 years, anxiety products for dogs have grown so much that there is sure to be an anxiety tool that will help your dog’s specific issues. We look at the four main strategies used to calm anxiety and top dog anxiety products to try in each one. Now, let’s dig into it. Strategy 1: Squash anxiety by giving your dog something to do $12.99. Get Outside Refillable Squirrel Toy; doggijuana.com A known way to calm anxiety in dogs is exercise, so play...
Stray Cat Found With An Arrow Through His Neck Is Rescued And Named Cupid
Warning: Graphic images below. A Pennsylvania woman looked out her window and immediately called for help when she spotted a neighborhood cat in her backyard with an arrow through his neck. Perkiomen Animal Hospital received the call and reached out to local cat rescue Stray Cat Blues to see if they could help. The rescue immediately responded and went in search of the abused cat. “After seeing the pictures of this injured cat, we knew we could not rest until we found him, and we immediately started searching. Many hours were spent...
Massachusetts Firefighters Rush To Save Dog Who Fell Through Ice Into Frigid Pond
Wareham Fire Department received a call early Saturday morning about a dog who needed to be rescued after she fell through the ice on a pond. To make matters worse, the air temperature was below zero. According to the Mayo Clinic, “If the windchill drops below negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not unheard of in the northern half of the U.S., frostbite can set in within half an hour.” Firefighters immediately responded. They arrived and spotted the dog struggling in the water about 150 feet offshore. The local heroes suited...
Maddie’s Weekly Roundup: Animal Care Expo, free help and more!
Happy Monday! Below is a brief roundup of resources added over the past week. Animal Care Expo is coming in April!The Humane Society of the United States Animal Care Expo 2023 will be in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 3-6! The annual conference will have nearly 100 sessions, with a select number being live-streamed this year. If you’re making the trip to Louisiana this year, you won’t want to miss the following sessions, sponsored by Maddie’s… Learn More Support more pets and people in your community with this...
