My dog thinks "Porky Puffs" is the best thing that has ever happened in her life.

In case you're not familiar with Porky Puffs, this is a product of HealthyPetNet, a holistic pet food company located in Florida. They are all natural, hickory smoked pig snouts. They are carefully prepared, hickory smoked and oven baked in their own natural juices for 48 hours. Porky Puffs have a non-greasy, rich texture and golden brown color. No chemical preservatives are used.

My dog, who is usually very calm and mellow, turns into a possessive monster when it comes to eating these flavorful, bacon-smelling natural dog treats. She would do anything to get -- and keep -- these puffed pig snouts.

If you are looking for a new and healthy dog treat, I recommend "Porky Puffs"!

The word "predictable" is often used somewhat negatively in our daily lives, but as far as our domesticated cats are concerned, "predictability" may be one of the keys to successful cat ownership.

Cats are creatures of habits. Either good or bad, they develop certain daily rituals (habits) through repetition of behaviors. Their human owners' involvements in their habit forming -- conscious or unconscious -- has a big impact.

If you want to create more comfortable living environments for your cats, you have to start with yourself. Your behaviors should be predictable (in a positive way, of course) to your cats. In order to do this, you might want to check your daily schedule and establish daily routine -- when you leave for and come back from work, when you groom them, when you play with them, and so on. Be careful about constantly changing their environment (such as traveling with your cats, changing the locations of cat litter and cat food bowls, different people visiting you every day, and so on). These things can put your cats under stress, and they may not feel safe with such unpredictable conditions.

My husband and I watch DVDs at certain time every evening. The moment the story ends and the end credits start (music included), our cat dashes into the living room begging for food. The cat knows it is dinner time for him. It's cute to see, and this behavior reminds me about how cats keep an eye on our daily routines.

When we were driving on the highway, a car passed us fast from behind in the next lane. As the car went by, I looked at the driver, casually. The driver was an old woman. She was trying to hold down her small dog (a Pomeranian), which was wiggling on her lap as it tried to look out the window. I wondered how the woman could drive while her dog was constantly moving around freely in the car.

Do you know what the driver was doing when he hit the famous fiction writer Stephen King ? He was trying to get his loose dog under control.

I think every driver should restrain their dogs while they drive. Dogs' behaviors in a car are unpredictable even if they are usually calm. There are many websites that feature dog seatbelts or some types of restraining equipments for dogs for your safety driving. It's worth browsing.

Please check out my earlier entry, too (June 7th, 2005). I talked about the same topic back then.

One day when I was walking my dog, a huge black dog (no owner, no collar) came out of nowhere and approached me. I was immediately alarmed. I didn't know what to do -- all I could do was pick up my dog (thank goodness my dog was small enough for me to pick up!) slowly and freeze. I literally couldn't move because I was so terrified. The dog was neither friendly nor hostile, and so I couldn't read its next move. Luckily, the big dog lost interest in me and my dog, and walked away. I was relieved, but I remember running back home immediately.

After the experience, I realized that I didn't know anything about what to do if I'm ever approached or attacked by an aggressive dog.

An article in the September issue of Whole Dog Journal talks about "How to Save Yourself" - in case of a dog-attack emergency. The article immediately caught my attention as I was casually flipping through the pages of this month's subscription.

It seems I did basically the right thing when I was approached by the big black dog - standing still. According to the author of the article (Pat Miller, CPDT and the Training Editor of the Whole Dog Journal), when an aggressive dog approaches you, stand still but remain relaxed. Avoid direct eye contact and don't scream. If the dog attacks, either climb up somewhere higher or drop to the ground with hands behind your neck and legs pulled up to your chest. She also suggests finding a shield (such as a garbage can lid) to place between yourself and the dog, and find a weapon (such as a club) -- but not for hitting the dog; the club is a target for the dog to bite instead of you.

Let me remind you that these are only the basic and tiny pieces of information I got from the magazine. Actual situations are usually more complicated. It's worth doing more research on your part beforehand (especially considering everyone's scenario is bound to be a little different - some people may be walking more than one dog, others may walk with their children, etc.). Getting more knowledge and being prepared for your particular situation is very important. It may help keep the damage to a minimum, at least, by not aggravating the situation should you do the wrong thing to an attacking dog.

Life's Abundance Premium Health Food for Dogs and Cats contains "fish meal" taken exclusively from "farmed" fish. Dr. Jane Bicks, the formulator of the pet food, is concerned about pollution that might contaminate ocean fish - such as mercury.

The August 7th issue of the Courier-Journal contains an article talking about mercury found in bats at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. This article caught my attention because I wondered where cave animals like bats can get mercury in their environment.

This is how mercury ends up in bats in the cave:

1. Mercury from coal-fired power plants and other sources are emitted into the air and then fall to the ground and river.
2. Mercury is converted by bacteria into methyl mercury (the most toxic form of mercury).
3. Methyl mercury accumulates in microscopic plants (plankton) in water.
4. The tiny plankton, in turn, is eaten by bigger plankton, which in turn is eaten by bigger insects.
5. Bats, in turn, eat these insects.
6. The mercury accumulates in bats' bodies because they can eat their body weight in one evening due to their high metabolic rate.

The case of bats in Mammoth Cave is, without doubt, just one example of how pollutants can work their way up the food chain.

For more information about coal-fired power plants and their mercury emissions, you can visit this site: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs095-01

You can also visit this website: http://www.oceansalive.org/home.cfm
They feature information about seafood, human health, and environmental topics -- including a list of the best and worst seafood selections.


I'm from a country where people eat fish as a staple. I grew up eating a variety of sea foods without questioning what pollutants might be in such foods. I'm going to be more careful about sea food consumption in the future!

Are your pets insured?

I hadn't put my pets on insurance for a while. I didn't give it much thought - until one day when my dog got very ill. She had picked up a piece of meat off the street when I was walking her. My dog was so sick - vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration (food poisoning). I had to take her to an emergency animal hospital after midnight and she was hospitalized for a few days.

The bill was very high.

Although I'd set aside some money for my pets in case of emergencies, I found that the money I saved was not enough. It cost a lot for just one visit to a vet (an emergency vet, in this case) and my pet's resulting hospital stay (for IV, monitoring and more tests). I can only guess what the bill would be for even more serious emergencies that require things like surgery.

So, I enrolled my dog in a pet insurance company. I chose a plan that covers accidental injuries, emergencies, illnesses, office visits, prescriptions, diagnostic tests, x-rays, lab fees and so on.

Pet insurance may not be very common among pet owners yet, though it may become so in the future considering more and more pets are welcomed as family members. The mere idea of the expensive veterinarian fees are daunting, but pet insurance certainly gives me peace of mind knowing that my dog can receive whatever pet medical care is needed when accidents or illnesses happen to her.

I just received a disaster update email from The Humane Society of the United States. More animals have been found and saved, but the rescue teams seem to be struggling as days go by. The following is what they say:

What we are finding is truly heartbreaking - animals trapped in flooded houses, caregivers wandering the streets desperately searching for their beloved pets, and nearly destroyed animal shelters where the surviving animals have spent days keeping their heads above water in their cage...Block after block, our teams are entering homes and apartments, sometimes forced to break into them, searching for stranded animals. Yesterday in Mississippi, one of our DART teams rescued a dog who had been washed into someone's attic; the storm surge had stranded the animal. The woman who owned the house was elderly; she had slipped some food and water into the attic for the dog, but hadn't been able to go upstairs to carry him out...We are finding and rescuing more animals as each hour passes - more than a thousand so far - but with many more thousands needing our help.

You can find more updates and stories on their website www.hsus.org

Here is another organization that is helping animals after the hurricane www.noahswish.org

If you have any family and friends who care about pets, please let them know what's happening to animals after the disaster. These animals are waiting for help from each one of us!

HealthyPetNet(the holistic pet food company that I represent) has made a donation to the Humane Society of United States in response to the recent devastation caused by hurricane Katrina. HealthyPetNet cares about the many animals that are suffering as a result of this disaster.

My family and I also have donated to the Humane Society. It is devastating to know that so many animals suffer as a result of this hurricane. I'm sure a little help from every pet owner would save these animals.

If you would like to make a donation to the Human Society's Disaster Relief Fund, you can click on their secure online form below:

https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005

I hope that both the people and their pets will recover from hurricane Katrina as soon as possible.

I didn't know till recently that cats' misbehaviors like eliminating in places other than litter boxes often have a lot to do with cat litter boxes themselves.

What about litter boxes makes cats want to do their business somewhere else? (By the way, these are not really "misbehaviors" from cats' point of view. Their behaviors make totally sense to the cats...)

According to John C. Wright Ph.D., the author of Is Your Cat Crazy? Solutions from the Casebook of a Cat Therapist, cats demand certain criteria be met before they will comfortably eliminate in a cat litterbox:

Cleanliness, privacy, and escape potential.

It's important to clean the cat litter box regularly - ideally, every day. Unless it's clean, the cat may eliminate somewhere else in the house such as on the bed or sofa. Also, every cat seems to have likes and dislikes about texture, granularity, and coarseness of litter types. If your cat doesn't like the litter he/she is using right now, try using different brands until you find something your cats like.

Where to put the cat litter box seems to make a big difference, too. In general, the litter-box should be placed away from your cat's sleeping, feeding, and playing locations. The location of the box should also provide both privacy (such as screening with plants) and good view of the surroundings (so that the cat can escape in a hurry in case something alarms him/her).

Although our cat doesn't have any litter box problems, after I learned new things about litter boxes, I had to go check the location of the box we put in. I am satisfied with the spot, and obviously so is our cat!

A friend's dog passed away the other day. She was a Yorkshire terrier and, if I remember correctly, she was about eleven years old or so when she passed away. Her lungs were filled with water and she was getting weaker gradually.

It is certainly hard to watch the dog owner cry over the loss of her dog. I know that the dog belonged to someone else, but I was surprised to find myself also having a difficult time myself coping with the death of this dog.

You never know when your pets' time will come. The day may come suddenly, or it may be gradual.

At some point in my life with my pets, I have developed a habit of thinking daily, I will enjoy spending time with my pets as if today is the best day of my life with them.

With this always in mind, it's become almost impossible for me to scold or punish my pets for their misbehaviors. Instead, I have completely come to focus on praising them big time for their good behaviors. My mantra is "today is the best day of my life with my pets!"

I want every dog, cat and all the other pets to live a long, happy and healthy life until their time comes. That's why I have created my website. Healthy lifestyle is a basic and yet crucial factor for a pet to live a long happy life.