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Winter is a difficult time for pets. Outdoor animals need extra care in order to cope with the cold weather. Special attention should also be paid to older animals, young puppies, and animals with short coats.

It is important for all animals to be properly nourished during the winter months. Outdoor animals require about 25 percent more food during the winter months than during warmer months. The increase in food is necessary to generate enough heat for the body to stay warm. Indoor animals often require less food, since exercise is generally limited.

Pets require adequate shelter during the cold weather. Outdoor dogs should have an insulated dog house that is protected from the wind. The dog house should not be too large (the heat that the dog generates is used to keep him or her warm) and the opening should face south or southeast. A plastic flap should cover the entrance, especially during windy days. Straw, hay, or blankets make excellent bedding material.

Cats generally do not find dog houses very appealing. A small entrance flap (cat door) to the basement of the house, or to the garage, will provide an access to shelter during the cold weather.

Outdoor animals cannot eat snow for a source of water. Clean, fresh water must be provided several times each day. A water heater is a practical solution; however, it must be safe and installed properly.

During the cold weather, cats often take shelter under the hood of cars. A warm engine is a comfortable area for a cat to rest. When the car is started, the cat risks severe injuries from the fan belt or blades. Before starting a car, knock on the hood or raise it in order to conduct a safety check.

Paws should be checked regularly during the winter months. Snow and ice should be removed from the fur located between the toes. Damp paws should be thoroughly dried. Moisture that accumulates between the toes can cause sores. De-icing chemicals and salt are common irritants. If these products are commonly used, animals paws should be bathed regularly.

Antifreeze is extremely toxic if ingested by animals. The sweet taste is often appealing to cats and dogs. Antifreeze that is spilled should be cleaned up immediately.

Pets often experience dry skin during the winter months. Lack of humidity tends to dry the skin. Frequent grooming and brushing helps stimulate the production of oil from the skin glands. A topical humectant spray can be purchased at the hospital to help moisturize the skin and keep the coat shiny.

Occasionally an animal is accidentally left outdoors for an extended period of time in extremely cold weather. As a result, frostbite may occur. The most common areas for frostbite are the tips of the ears, paw pads, and the tip of the tail. The frostbite area should be bathed in warm, not hot, water, and the animal then should be taken to a veterinary hospital.

Kindness is the best care for animals during the winter months. If the temperature drops below 15 degrees F., the pet should be moved indoors. If an animal is shivering or refuses to play, this generally means that he or she is too cold and should be brought indoors.

With warmer weather approaching, plenty of pet owners are thinking of getting into shape before hitting the beach. But what about pets? Obesity is a growing problem among both cats and dogs. And much like humans, too many extra pounds can have far-reaching consequences for our animal companions. In this report from the Veterinary News Network, Dr. Jim Humphries discusses the health problems that can occur if your pet is overweight and shares tips on how you can get your pet's weight under control.

You And Your Veterinarian Working Together To Keep Your Dog Healthy

Maintaining your dog in top physical shape and optimum health is the goal of every responsible dog owner. It is also your veterinarian's goal, and together, you can ensure that your pet stays healthy for years to come. Crucial to maintaining your dog's good health is the routine physical examination that your veterinarian performs on your pet.

Why are regular check-ups important?

Check-ups are important because they provide an opportunity to prevent diseases or even avoid them altogether. Unfortunately, many pet owners tend to underestimate the value of these visits because their pets appear to be healthy. However, this may be deceiving, since many diseases are often not evident in the early stages.

Heartworm

Similarly, heartworm disease is a serious threat that causes cardiovascular weakness and lung incapacity. Caused by Dirofilaria immitis, these worms plug up blood vessels, which places an increased workload on the heart, along with restricted blood flow to the lungs, kidneys, and liver. This can eventually lead to multiple organ failure, including heart failure and death. Visible signs of the disease often do not appear before the infection has caused significant and irreversible internal damage. As part of an annual physical examination, your veterinarian can perform a simple test to detect heartworm disease and prescribe an easy-to-use preventive.

Obesity

Your veterinarian can also determine whether or not your dog has an obesity problem. Obesity affects almost one out of every three pets, making it the most common nutritional disease among dogs and cats. Through visual assessment and palpation, your veterinarian can advise on whether or not your dog could benefit from a weight-reduction program.

Questions and Answers

The check-up also provides pet owners with the opportunity to have their questions answered regarding health, nutrition, training and hygiene.

Obedience training is important for your pet's health because behavioral problems account for more deaths in dogs than any known disease. In fact, a well-trained and obedient dog is more likely to live to a ripe old age than a poorly trained one. Obedience-trained dogs are less likely to be involved in car accidents and dogfights, tend to be happier, and are less likely to have behavioral problems. The checkup provides an opportunity to discuss training techniques and behavior concerns with your veterinarian.

Feeding a proper diet rates as one of the most important considerations in health maintenance. Its importance lies not only in optimizing a pet's health, but also in the prevention and management of many diseases. Nutritional counseling is an essential part of the veterinarian's checkup and many owners use the opportunity to gain valuable advice on what to feed their pets.

What happens during an examination?

Before the physical examination begins, your veterinarian asks you questions concerning your dog's state of health. This is very important for determining whether or not there are problem areas that need to be addressed. For example, a "history" of poor weight gain or weight loss can provide a clue to your veterinarian that there may be a parasite problem. Intestinal parasites (worms and protozoans) are a common problem in pets because they carry with them the potential to kill your pet. This is particularly true in young puppies, but also holds true for adult animals. With a simple stool test, your veterinarian is able to detect the presence of these parasites.

After obtaining a history, your veterinarian performs a physical examination on your dog. Starting at the head, your veterinarian examines the eyes, ears, face, and mouth. Examining the teeth is especially important since up to 85 percent of all dogs and cats over four years of age have some degree of periodontal disease! Early detection of periodontal disease is important, not only for effective treatment but also future prevention.

Disease detection

During the physical examination, your veterinarian listens to the chest with a stethoscope to make sure there are no respiratory or cardiovascular problems. For example, the early warning signs of heart failure can be detected in this way. Since more than 12 percent of the dog population experiences some form of heart problem in their lifetime that leads to heart failure, early detection is crucial.

"To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs." - Aldous Huxley

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshiped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." - Anonymous

"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about little puppies." - Gene Hill

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." - Jeff Valdez

"Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear." - Dave Barry

"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia" - Joseph Krutch

"A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down." - Robert Benchley

"My husband said it was him or the cat...I miss him sometimes." - Unknown

"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend, and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

"Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God." - Anonymous

"I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give the wrong answers." — Unknown

Ultrasound, most commonly associated with pregnancy, is not something you may expect to hear at a veterinary office. However, due to improvements in technology, an ultrasound may be something your veterinarian recommends to help diagnose your pet for a number of potential ailments.

An ultrasound is a non-invasive procedure similar to an x-ray. It works by sending sound waves through tissue and recording the waves as they are reflected back. Those reflections are then transformed into images of organs and other objects for your veterinarian to study. In simplest terms, an ultrasound produces a moving picture of an organ or body part as it is actually functioning.

Most commonly used as a diagnostic tool to evaluate diseases of the heart, liver, pancreas, kidney, intestine, spleen, urinary bladder and other organs located in the abdomen, your veterinarian is able to learn valuable information about the health of these organs. Since the pet is usually on his or her back for an ultrasound procedure, sedation or short acting anesthesia may be required. Regardless if sedation is used, ultrasound is an out-patient procedure, usually allowing your pet to go home the same day.

The benefits of ultrasound are enormous. Diseases that would otherwise go undetected can be diagnosed early. If a biopsy is needed, it can be accomplished during an ultrasound. An ultrasound can also replace an exploratory surgery, which can sometimes lead to more serious complications.

Although there are other parts of the body that can be studied with ultrasound, abdominal and cardiac ultrasound are the most common in veterinary medicine.

Abdominal Ultrasound

Abdominal ultrasound is used to evaluate pets with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, straining to urinate or urinating blood. It can also be helpful in cases of reproductive abnormalities, weight loss and to detect early pregnancy. When physical examination and blood tests indicate a problem with a particular organ, an ultrasonic examination can provide additional information or even a diagnosis.

In order for the ultrasound to produce the best possible picture, a small amount of fur needs to be shaved from the abdomen. After the fur is shaved, the examiner places a probe on the skin of the abdomen and moves it across the surface to examine the organs or regions of interest. An ultrasound can identify organ abnormalities, abdominal masses, tumors, fluid and abnormal lymph nodes.

Echocardiography

An ultrasound of the heart is more commonly known as an echocardiogram. Defined as an ultrasonic examination of the heart, the procedure itself is very similar to that of an abdominal ultrasound.

An ultrasound allows the veterinarian to see inside your pet’s heart. The functioning of the heart valves, the thickness of the heart muscle and the contractions of the heart can all be assessed. Along with a diagnosis, an echocardiogram also allows the veterinarian to determine the best treatment plan for your pet’s condition.

Ultrasound has become a very useful diagnostic tool in veterinary medicine. To a large extent, ultrasound has replaced exploratory abdominal surgery. Along with radiography, ultrasound can also be used to diagnose and treat most heart diseases that occur in dogs and cats.

Cats are well-known for their independence and resistance to doing as they're told. Training a cat to do most anything is a difficult task, but according to a new study, cats are masters at training their people. A study in the latest issue of Current Biology found that cats use a unique purr - a sort of cry or meowing sound combined with the purr you might hear while petting your cat - to prod humans into feeding them or giving them attention.

Loud meowing might not get a cat what he or she wants, according to Karen McComb of the University of Sussex, one of the study's authors. But insistent purring - which McComb called "solicitation purring" - sends a kind of subliminal message that taps into a person's nurturing instincts, McComb said. The solicitation purr contains a high-pitched sound that somewhat resembles an infant's cry, which is part of the reason why humans can't help but rush to meet their feline friend's desires.

McComb's own cat, which wakes her up in the mornings with a prodding purr, inspired the study. After talking with other cat owners, she found that other felines use a similar tactic when craving food or attention. To identify the purr that cats use, McComb's study team had cat owners record their cat's cries (the researchers found early on that cats did not use solicitation purring when strangers were present). The cries were then played back and humans were asked to judge the cries based on urgency and pleasantness.

"We found that the crucial factor determining the urgency and pleasantness ratings that purrs received was an unusual high-frequency element - reminiscent of a cry or meow - embedded within the naturally low-pitched purr," McComb said. "Human participants in our experiments judged purrs with high levels of this element to be particularly urgent and unpleasant." When the high-pitched sound was removed from the solicitation purr and played back for the human test subjects, they reported the purr was less urgent.

Not all cats use this purr, according to McComb; however, some use it exceedingly well and might "dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective," she said. Most often, the insistent purr is used in smaller households where a cat is likely to have a close relationship with his or her owner. When other cats or many people are present, McComb believes cats find a regular old meow to be the best way to get noticed.

While the phenomenon of solicitation purring may be news to scientists, cat owners have always known the old saying is true - dogs may have masters, but cats have servants.