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Health and Well-being

Seasonal Changes and Your Senior Dog

As we roll into autumn, many humans experience some sort of mood shift due to plunging temperatures and pushing back the clocks. It’s the time of year with shorter days, colder temperatures and sometimes bouts of the winter blues. Sluggishness, or just a desire to do nothing and hunker down indoors, is known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). No one knows for sure, but the same moodiness may affect your pet since we share much of the same chemistry in our brains.

Second-Hand Smoke Around Pets

If you’re a smoker, you’ve probably considered the effect that your habit has on your family and loved ones. However, you may never have thought about the effect that second-hand smoke may have on your pets. Yet, if you live with cats, dogs or other animals inside your home, you could find that the smoke that your furry friends are breathing in could be causing them problems.

Car Safety and Your Senior Dog

It is the height of summer travel season, and pets are part of the family, so many may be hitting the road, but thousands of animals are injured or die each in car accidents. The cost of a properly fitting seat belt or harness is nothing compared to the cost of your pet not wearing one. A 50-lbs. dog, traveling 30 mph, will feel like nine 170-lbs. men pushed him against a brick wall if he is thrown during a motor vehicle accident (that’s “ruff”ly 1,500 lbs. of force)! Thinking back on our high school physics class -- a body in motion stays in motion until acted upon by an outside force.

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