If you give your cats and dogs tap water to drink every day, you might want to think again. Water may look the same, but it may contain all sorts of things that you and your pets may want to avoid.

Let me tell you a story about what happened to a friend of mine several years ago. She lived in a very big city and had minor skin problems - especially the skin of her fingertips, which was constantly peeling off. She didn't know what to do at first, but she must've heard from someone at some point that filtering tap water might help. I myself remember the tap water in this city tasted very bad.

She immediately bought a huge high-quality water filtration system for her entire house - the kind that professionals use. (I don't know how much money she spent!) She drank, cooked, bathed, and washed her clothes and so on every day with the filtered water. When I visited her later, she excitedly told me her skin conditions had improved. In fact, they improved so much that she said she didn't have to use moisturizing lotion on her face and body even at night. I actually saw her face and fingers with my own eyes, and I remember being surprised at the results. Needless to say, my consciousness about the importance of pure water skyrocketed.

My friend was lucky to find out that it was the tap water that was causing her problem. My husband and I drink filtered water, and take showers with filtered water also, and my pets are no exception. Tap water you and your pets drink and get in contact with may be more contaminated than you think. If you wouldn't drink it, why should your pets?

Every time I go to places like dog shows and pet stores where people bring in their pets, I am reminded about how many different type of breeds there are out there in the world.

At the same time, I can't help feeling how crucial your lifestyle (and possibly your personality) has to match the animals you choose. If you're a cat owner, this won't be probably so much of a problem, but if you plan to own a dog (or dogs), the breed you choose may have a big impact on your daily life. You may become either satisfied or miserable.

For example, over the last weekend, I was talking to a nice lady with a greyhound at a local dog fair. Greyhounds are probably suitable for people who like calm and quiet dogs indoors (they are known as "the world's fastest couch potato"!). The lady looked very satisfied with her choice of breed. As we petted her greyhound dog, we were watching a man who was playing with border collies nearby. He was constantly on the move with the dogs. What a difference there is in the choice between these two breeds!

My husband is another good example. He is always telling me that cats don't require as much maintenance as dogs, because cats are such independent animals. That's what makes him like cats better than dogs.

Well, maybe that's very true for him. He is definitely not the type who would enjoy living with dogs, not even a calm or small dog! He'd rather stay home sitting at his computer than going out for a walk with a dog. He seems to know himself well.

Living with my husband helps me realize over and over again that knowing one's own lifestyle before deciding on a particular animal is a key to a successful pet ownership. And also, don't forget to do some homework in advance on the breed (especially dogs) you're interested in!

Do you usually read labels when you buy pet food or pet treats?

I'm looking at a dog treat package right now, which a friend gave me for my dog. It was very nice of her. She insisted on my keeping the package. I couldn't say no, so I said thank you and brought it back home. I haven't opened it, and chances are I won't.

The reason is the ingredients listed on the label. Some of the ingredients I noticed in this semi-moist dog treat are propylene glycol and BHA ("BHA" actually shows up twice in the ingredients list).

FDA (The Food and Drug Administration) classifies these chemicals as "generally recognized as safe", but they are chemicals, after all, aren't they? Our bodies (and those of our pets, whose bodies are smaller than ours) have to work extra hard to break down these foreign substances.

Many pet foods on the market use these chemicals in their ingredients. Do our pets really need them in every meal they eat? Small things (food additives in this case) can add up, and foods are in direct contact with the body's insides!

It is a good thing that more and more pet food manufacturers (the kinds that make premium pet foods) try to NOT use chemical preservatives (such as BHA and propylene glycol) in their pet foods.

If there was a safer and healthier alternative, you'd feel more comfortable, wouldn't you?

There are more questionable ingredients on the list of the dog treat package, but these two chemicals (propylene glycol and BHA) are enough for me not to give this treat to my dog no matter how attractive the smell is and how badly my dog begs me for it.

Do you usually check weather forecast before taking your dogs out for a walk? Or is it just me?

Ever since I got my dog, I find myself checking the weather regularly. I go to www.weather.com, and check the temperature and the radar. The temperature is always important to help me decide in advance how long I can walk my dog comfortably. The radar also helps especially when the weather is not stable or predictable.

By the way, www.weather.com has "pets" pages now. They give you tips on how to take care of your pet according to the daily weather forecast. There is also other useful information on pet care.

If you're interested, check out the website!

I usually clean up after the dog -- I make it a rule to do it. I have reasons:

First, dog feces are a barometer of my dog's physical condition. Since I'm not a doctor, one of the things I can do to make sure my dog (or cat) is in good health is check her feces. Feces tell me a lot of things with their color, firmness, smell, size and so on. I take the condition of feces seriously because my pets cannot tell me verbally how they're feeling physically.

Second, picking up after the dog helps avoid spreading parasites like roundworms and tapeworms. Children can pick up these parasites while they play outside, and so can adults if they walk around outside bare footed. Such transmissions can be avoided or at least kept to a minimum when feces are picked up.

Third, I don't want to step on dog poop! I don't know how many times I've stepped on poop when I walked my dog in the park or in the street. Yuck!

A friend's dog has been missing for about a month. The dog somehow ran away from a fenced yard. My friend put ads everywhere, called around shelters, with no luck. Who knows where the poor dog is by now.

The part I'm confused and a bit frustrated about is that the dog even has a microchip pet ID but is still missing. Whoever found the dog could've at least taken the dog to a nearby shelter or a veterinarian so that the dog could be scanned for identification. Suppose the dog is still alive (unless she was hit by a car, which I don't want to think about), that means someone may have kept the dog and that this person may not know the dog is wearing a microchip ID.

Well, it is just my speculation... any scenario is possible. I shouldn't jump to conclusions.

If you find a stray dog not wearing a collar with a pet ID, please take the dog to a vet or a shelter (no kill shelter, please!) to be scanned. There is a possibility that the dog wears a microchip pet ID. This will increase the chance of the dog and owner's reunion.

Have you ever hired a pet sitter?

If you have, how did you assess the quality of his/her job while you were away from home?

A friend and her boyfriend have pets. They went on a vacation and they hired a pet sitter. My friend also lent us their key so that we could occasionally stop by and play with their pets.

When my husband and I stopped by their house the first week, we noticed that there was little sign of the pet sitter showing up every day, although she was supposed to. I became suspicious, so I decided to count the pills one of their pets had to be given each day. The number of the pills didn't go down every day, just I suspected.

When my friends came back from their trip, we told them what we observed. They were surprised. They didn't notice. Although what we told them was only our speculation, they say they won't hire this pet sitter next time.

I didn't give a pet-sitting job much thought before. But considering the fact that nobody else is watching (except for the pets themselves!), whichever pet sitter you hire must be an honest person whom you can trust even if you are not around to watch him/her.

Ever worried about your dog getting stolen?

A friend of mine is a dog trainer and owns many dogs herself. She usually takes a few of her dogs along with her to her dog training classes in a pet store. One day when she was in the store with her dogs, someone grabbed one and tried to walk out of the building with the dog under his arm. Luckily, she caught the man before it was too late.

I didn't know that dog stealing is common.

I also found a news article about a dog theft that happened in London.

If you like to leave your dog off-leash in a park, you might want to be extra careful about someone stealing your pet, especially if your dog is very friendly to strangers!

Pets can enrich your life in a variety of ways.

One day my husband and I were traveling with our dog and stopped at an interstate highway rest area. I took the dog out of our car so that she could get some fresh air and do her business.

I saw a lady who was walking a small, cute dog in the pet-walking area. I casually started a conversation with her and she told me she was a truck driver. Her dog accompanies her when she travels.

I was surprised. I always thought driving trucks for a living would be a hard and monotonous work that needs constant attention to the road and doesn't allow any personal relaxing time or distractions. But according to the lady with the cute dog, it's not necessarily so. Many truck drivers travel with their pets. Some even bring their laptop computers with them. They keep a variety of things (and animals) with them as they drive!

I could tell that the lady loved her dog very much and that she really enjoyed traveling with her companion friend.

That day I learned something new about how pets can make your life more full and meaningful. I can't wait to meet more pet owners out there who will tell me their stories.

How did you spend the 4th of July weekend this year? I hope you and your pets had a good time!

I went to a big amusement park in northern Ohio over the weekend. It was a hot summer day, and there were lots of people. The wait for each ride was long... but even so, it was fun. I had to leave my dog behind at my in-law's house.

Later at the amusement park, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this amusement park has a kennel attached to the facility. I hope more and more public places will allow pets in the future, or at least build kennels attached to facilities such as amusement parks or hotels.

Many people love their pets - I know my husband and I always think about how our travel plans will affect our cat and dog. Pet-friendly parks and hotels are a great idea for families who want to travel but can't or don't want to leave their pets behind.

Dewclaws (the first nail hanging in the air away from the ground) in dogs are interesting. Every time I clipped my dog's nails, I wondered what purpose this particular "finger" serves in the dog's life.

I found an interesting news article on wolves and their dewclaws. Apparently, pure wolves don't seem to have dewclaws. Wolves with dewclaws in their hind legs are "the products of cross-mating between wolves and domestic dogs." Wolves in regions densely populated by humans may have had higher chances of mating with guard dogs. Researchers use dewclaws as an indicator to identify wolves or hybrids.

Some say dewclaws have purposes, but the majority of dog professionals seem to conclude dewclaws have little purpose. There are a lot of debates. Nature must have put dewclaws on dogs for a reason, but I really don't know. I guess it depends on who you listen to.

I love animals - many people do.

But we have to keep in mind that there are people who don't like dogs, cats, and other animals we keep as pets.

I mentioned earlier in my journal that I grew up with many cats. These cats were usually kept outside. At first, I expected to have the same cat for many years, but every time I found a cat (or cats), this animal ended up being poisoned to death by somebody in the neighborhood. I was especially shocked and saddened to watch my first cat die suffering in front of my eyes. The cat didn't know what happened to him, and he tried to walk toward me with all his might, but his entire body was so convulsed he fell before he reached me. The cat and I were so attached to each other I cried many weeks over his traumatic death.

Eventually, I found out who left poisoned food in the neighborhood. It was done by somebody who didn't want his property to be spoiled by cats. At one point, there were dead cats' bodies lying everywhere.

My family decided not to try keeping cats any longer. We couldn't let the cats stay indoors because my family lived in a traditional Japanese house which is not necessarily "pet friendly" (the floors, for example, are made of a special straw that can't be cleaned if soiled). Some people may not care, but my parents did. And we didn't want our cats to be killed any more.

Based on this childhood experience deeply engraved in my memory, I personally don't like the idea of letting house cats roam freely outside. I also tend to overreact whenever my dog picks something up from the street when I'm walking. I'm just so afraid it might be poisoned food, left intentionally by an uncaring person.

Some people love animals,
Some people don't.

I always remember this.