Archive for June, 2009

This can be a scary time for your pets please take these suggestions into mind.

#1 – If you are leaving, be sure to keep your pets indoors, and preferably towards the middle of the house to help eliminate the boom sounds against windows.

#2 – Leave the TV or radio on medium level to drown out the noise.

#3 – If you pet is destructive, quarantine them to a certain part of your home.

#4 – Leave them with a task to do. Kongs work great for this!

#5 – DO NOT make a big deal of leaving. This will add to their anxiety.

#6 – Close the doggy door. Do you know that shelters see and influx of pets after the 4th of July bc so many pets try to “escape” bc they are scared?

Additional info can be found here: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/summer_care_tips_for_you_and_your_pets/keep_your_pet_safe_on_july_4th.html

This information has been provided to you by Danielle Vasta, Owner of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting. Please contact her at: (480)330-4552 or www.BellasHouseAndPets.com for any of your pet sitting needs.

This was taken from: http://kingsbrookvet.blogspot.com/2009/02/interesting-pet-facts.html

The fastest dog, the greyhound, can reach speeds of upto 41.7 miles per hour. The breed was known to exist in ancient Egypt 6,000 years ago.

A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find tidbits on the floor.

Cat’s urine glows under a black light.

The pet ferret was domesticated more than 500 years before the house cat.

The normal temperature of a cat is 101.5 degrees.

The only two animals that can see behind itself without turning it’s head are the rabbit and the parrot.

Boxers are named for their playful habit of using their front paws in frolic.

Of people with companion animals, 18% sleep with them.

About 22% of the world’s catch of tuna goes into cat food in the United States.

The female flea consumes 15 times her own body weight in blood daily.

Each day in the US, animal shelters are forced to destroy 30,000 dogs and cats.

The slightest touch on a cat’s whiskers will make its eyes blink.

The average outdoor only cat has a lifespan of about three years. Indoor only cats can live sixteen years and longer.

Cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.

Only 2 out of 10 kittens born in the U.S. ever find a life-long home.

Dachshunds are the smallest breed of dog used for hunting. They are low to the ground, which allows them to enter and maneuver through tunnels easily.

Cats cannot survive on a vegetarian diet.

French poodles did not originate in France. Poodles were originally used as hunting dogs in Europe. The dogs thick coats were a hindrance in water and thick brush, so hunters sheared the hindquarters, with cuffs left around the ankles and hips to protect against rheumatism. Each hunter marked his dogs’ heads with a ribbon of his own color, allowing groups of hunters to tell their dogs apart.

Catnip can affect lions and tigers as well as house cats. It excites them because it contains a chemical that resembles an excretion of the dominant female’s urine.

The Maine Coon cat is America’s only natural breed of domestic feline.

The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in an American court.

Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.

A female dog, her mate and her puppies can produce 12,288 dogs in five years.

Cats respond most readily to names that end in an “ee” sound.

Ticks can be as small as a grain of rice and grow to be as big as a marble.

This information has been provided to you by Danielle Vasta, Owner of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting. Please contact her at: (480)330-4552 or www.BellasHouseAndPets.com for any of your pet sitting needs!

By Tracie Hotchner, The Dog Bible

Dogs can suffer from heatstroke easily: conditions that may not even be uncomfortable for you may be life threatening to your pooch. Jogging with an owner on a hot day is defiantly dangerous: even going for a walk with him when it’s very hot can cause heatstroke. There are times when exposing a dog to direct sun through the window of a moving car even an air-conditioned one can be risky. There have been cases of small dogs actually dying in a car being driven by their owners in very hot, sunny conditions.

Dogs are susceptible to the effects of heat because their skin works differently than ours. We have many sweat glands and tiny capillaries in our skin, and the sweat we produce when we get overheated evaporates, which cools the blood in those capillaries. Dog skin has neither sweat glands nor blood-cooling capillaries.

Dogs cool themselves by panting, which allows cooler air into their lungs to dissipate their body heat. Blood vessels in the tough and mouth are cooled as the saliva evaporates. Panting is not an efficient cooling system, and a dog can easily enter the danger zone: the point at which he cannot cool himself down.

Ways to keep your dog cool in the heat:

1. Walk your dog in the cool of the day, preferably early in the morning. Even by the end of the day when the sun has gone down, the pavement is still very hot.
2. Stand on grass or shaded surfaces when outdoors with your dog: asphalt and concrete absorb heat and can burn footpads.
3. Always take along water and a bowl anytime you’re out and about with your dog, but especially in hot weather.
4. Don’t shave off all your dogs hair. You may think that fur is hotter, but a pets fur actually helps insulate him from the heat (and can help prevent sunburn). Try a puppy cut instead.
5. Fill a hard-sided plastic kiddie-pool with water: your dog(s) can use it to drink from and to walk or lie down to cool off, especially after walking or playing.
6. Leave your dog home when you run errands-your car turns into an oven in minutes. (Even when it is 70 out!!!)

 Did you know???  Dogs body temperature should be 104F

This information has been provided to you by Danielle Vasta, Owner of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting. Please contact her at: (480)330-4552 or www.BellasHouseAndPets.com for any of your pet sitting needs!

Recently we have been pet sitting for a household that has a pet that has sever separation anxiety. Perhaps you have experienced this before? You leave the house for work or errands and come back to things destroyed. I don’t mean like your dog chewed up a toy…I mean like couches are eaten, holes in the wall, and anything they can get their paws on has been scratched, and teeth on has been chewed. This is separation anxiety.

As professional pet sitters we see this all the time. Dogs are den animals. I believe the American Humane Society describes it perfectly:

Why use a den?

Dogs are den animals. They need their own sanctuary that is just large enough for them to fit inside and feel secure. They need a “home away from home” where they can go when they are stressed. If you don’t provide your dog a “den” of its own, it may make do with whatever is around — a chair, the narrow place behind the couch, or the wedge of space between the bed and the wall.

A crate is an indoor doghouse that is used for brief periods of time. Its primary function is to serve as a bed or den. It can also be an ideal tool to housetrain your pet or to keep canines that suffer from separation anxiety from destroying the house while you run a few errands. However, the dog is not supposed to live in the crate. Endless hours in the crate can lead to severe social and isolation problems for your dog — and it will no longer see the crate as a special retreat.

When you are home, your dog needs to be out with you. In fact, the crate should be kept in the room where the family spends most of its time. That way, your dog can seek refuge from the hubbub of household activity, yet still feel like a part of the family.

Once your dog realizes that the crate is a sanctuary and that no one can bother it while it is in its “den,” your dog will begin to seek out the crate on its own. For more information on crate training, call your local animal shelter.

More information that you should read can be found here: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html

The next time you consider leaving for long amounts of time and your pet experiences anxiety, consider crating them, sectioning off part of the home, or providing them with a “safe” place. This will help easy their fears when mom and dad is not there.

This information has been provided to you by Danielle Vasta, the Pack Leader for Bella’s House & Pet Sitting in Scottsdale AZ. Danielle has been recongnised as a pet sitting expert in The FabJob Guide to Becoming a Pet Sitter, Martha Stewarts Cat Chat Radio Show, NPRs Dog Talk Radio, East Valley Tribune, Arizona Republic and more. Danielle is also the founder of Bella’s Business Consulting and the co founder of The Business of Pet Sitting online community.

Day visits are one of our most popular services at Bella’s House & Pet Sitting. Customizable programs for each client always result in drastically different routines, thrown in with each pets different personality, and you have quite the fun filled day if your working at Bella’s. For those of you who may wonder, “What do you actually do when pet sitting?” Here is a great recap of just some of what has happened over the weekend.

Blue and DeeDee have begged for treats after a walk….

 Capone drooling for his breakfast (can you see the drool?) He is such a love bug!

And last but not least…the best dressed of them all – Idefix! Playing with his ball in the house!

 Each day is such a blessing being able to play, walk, feed, and love on all these fur kids For more services, view: www.BellasHouseAndPets.com/services

The following was written by a PRO Member on The Business of Pet Sitting online communiuty by one of my members. It is a place where pet sitting business owners come together to be inspired, motivated, and challenged. www.TheBusinessofPetSitting.com

There are many ways you can help the environment when it comes to your pet. Here are four ways:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vin…old-germs.html
http://www.healthylegacy.org/consumer_cleaning.cfm

Disposing of Pet Waste

This information has been written by:
Amanda Gomez-Vidal
AGV Pet Sitting & More
www.MyAZPetSitter.com

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