This is February-Responsible Pet Owner Month- we should all be responsible to our pets, not only one month a year, but twelve months a year.

I think that we as pet owners, we should give our special friends our undivided responsibility all year round.  Being a responsible pet owner should include the following:

Considering getting a pet?

- Study and learn all you need to know about certain breeds you are interested in.

_Consider adopting or rescue centres.

-Avoid buying from puppy mils, flea markets or other  shady places.

-If buying from a breeder, research their reputability.

If you already are a pet owner:

-spay or neuter your pet.

-Do more than provide food, water and shelter.

Give your pet lots of love and attention.

-Teach your children how to properly care for pets and how to play responsibly with them.

-Provide regular, daily obedience training to your dog.

-Keep your cat indoors.

-When taking your dog out for a walk, follow your town’s leash laws and pick up after them.

-At dog parks, follow posted rules.  Owners who don’t follow those rules can put the park at risk of being shut down. DON’T BE THAT GUY!

There are of course, many other ways to be a responsible pet owner.  But this is a good time to review the way you care for your pets, the routines you have fallen into

the training you have meant to start– and to plan new fun and activities for your pets and family.

We as lovers of our pets, whether it be birds, dogs, cats or what have you, tend to get carried away with our business of Christmas for the human efforts.

Just a  few things that pet lovers must remember to treat our special friends with the care they need.  There are things that our devoted friends must not be expected  to indulge in.  I know  that we tend  to forget this when we are planning the holidays, such as not leaving things like chocolate accessible  to our pets., by  leaving it around for the  for them to help themselves to, this is deadly for them.

Our pets are not humans, as much as we would like to think that they are, they see see us with things they would very much want.  Some are certainly not for them.  Leaving candy wrappers around with good smells , are also enticing to them and may cause big problems for them.

When decorating our trees, we must also remember that some decorations must not be placed on the tree in places that are accessible to them.

We purchase gifts for our pets that ,may or may not be realistic for pets.  When doing so, think about how good these gifts will be for our pets.

All of our thoughts are good intentions for our pets, however remembering those that have no homes and are the responsibility  of shelters, they would appreciate donations to help feed and shelter the ones that have been left with no warm bed or food to fill their bellies.  Our shelters would appreciate donations to assist them with their charges.

Enjoy your preparations for the holidays and be careful, with sensible thoughts for your pets.

Tell me why it seems to be easy for cat owners to literally drop those kittens off on unknown properties to have them fend for themselves and mature into wild felines?

Some people just do not get the fact that cats that have not been nuetered  can breed  within six months of age.  These cats are a problem with our special kittties ,who have been treated with tender loving care and the owners, have taken the time and love to have their cats neutered for reasons being.

We have a little female cat of which was neutered at young age, and is special to us.

One day we noticed that she had become very skittish and was refusing to go into the where she was fed and had a cozy bed for her to sleep in.  Well to our amazement , she had reason to be unsettled.

Someone had dropped off a male cat that they had trapped and didn’t do the right thing, and have this big tom looked after.  By the time we realized  the reason for our cat’s skittishness he had beaten her terribly.

Our solution was to keep our cat inside and trap this wild animal and had to take him to the authorities that would treat him properly.

It’s so so easy for some people to have the attitude of: out of sight out of mind!

I hope that if this is you , you are feeling guilty.