Follow these tips to pet care to ensure that your dog or cat is kept healthy and happy. These are basic tips dog is a resource for those of you who are new to the animal or property or think, your first cat. Experienced pet owners, most of these details already know!

Eating and Drinking

* Make sure your pet access to clean, fresh water added. It changes every day.
* Feed cats twice a day with a premium qualityCat food. Give them a meal a meal of dry food and canned goods. Do not feed dog food or milk.
* Feed dogs or even twice a day, but use high-quality dog food. Make sure they have a mixture of wet canned and dry biscuits.
* Feed puppies and kittens are small amounts of soft food 3 to 5 times a day until their teeth strong enough to dry food.

Treatments

* Enter your pet a natural supplement to help day to his immune system.This can help prevent many common diseases children.
* Give your pet a supplement to regular anti-parasite. The dangers of worms should not be underestimated.
* Use a natural solution to health fleas ticks, mosquitoes, and your dog.

Training

* E 'important for the formation of the dog. Obedient dogs bite soil your house, jumping on guests, you chew your shoes and ruin the couch. They are more hygienic and less likely to be involved in the fighting andAccidents. After their training, it can be a lot more freedom that you know your dog that he / she can be trusted.
* Cats should housebroken as soon as possible and taught that a cat tree is the only place allowed to enable them to sharpen their claws.

Sports and games

* Dogs need exercise every day to be sure. Ideally twice a day. Let him run around the yard alone does not count. Enjoy the time you spend with your pet walk and it is goodExercise for you!
* Cat in the house at any time you need a litter box and held it to be changed every day. Cats perform adequately when they are let out every day. Better still, fit a cat flap and allow them to decide when to leave. But they keep in From Dusk Till Dawn. This makes them less likely to run well, and represent less risk to other small animals.
* Keep an eye on the animals' weight and relationship with food. If he, at the beginning of obesity,then it must be reduced to eating a bit 'more, and its movement. If he's completely off his food, then you may need a basic problem of health, attention.
* Make sure your pet some toys to play. Dogs love bones or rubber balls and squeaky toys to chew. Cats love to scratch the towers, the mice toys and string.
* Take time to know your pet. If you really know your pet's personality and physical appearance, you will find that therequickly identify injuries and illnesses they develop.

Grooming

* The care is important for all dogs and cats. long-haired cats should be maintained more frequently than the shorthaired breeds, but you need to take care of those less hairy. Dogs and cats both love to be petted. It 's a good exercise that the association, you can also check your skin and hair problems for pets.
* Dogs must be bathed regularly and with a special dog shampoo for this purpose, as many peopleshampoo and shower gel is irritating. Once every two months is about right. The skin may cause irritation in the bath too often. Cats are clean so you do not try to bathe your cat!

Reproductive

* Sterilize your pet. castrated animals are better behaved and do not contribute to the countless thousands of homeless cats and dogs. Dogs and cats are neutered to date the orders of their hormones. They wander far and wide in search of a partner andare more traffic accidents and fights.

Does your cat attack your other pets? And 'the cat has brought new attack at home? Or is dog fighting with your pet? behavioral scientists have different names for each of these behaviors. If your pet cat attacks a mouse or bird in the garden, it is predatory aggression. E 'to hunt only on their natural instinct for prey. Unfortunately, it is difficult to stop this kind of behavior. best you can do is put a collar with a bell on> Cat This is creeping up from its prey to keep. You should also your other small pets (such as your hamster) from your cat.

Fear aggression is another instinctive behavior. How can you tell if kitty is scared? It hisses, bares his teeth, and crouches low with his tail and legs tucked under her body. Flattens her ears against the head, the pupils dilate, and want the hair on his head. For the person who seems to trigger this reaction is almost as ifYour cat has doubled in size. Exactly the same as a puffer fish doubling its size to intimidate their enemies. Kitty pushed further and may attack.

What can you do? To begin, you should not try to pet your cat or console when it is this behavior shows fear or aggression. Petting your cat in this situation could not go wrong, is strengthened to Kitty, that this behavior is in order. You do not want that to happen. Although it seems, no matterkitty is better to ignore this state of mind.
Where possible, you gradually desensitize trigger kitty in that direction. Treat it as a phobia in a human being. Kitty expose the fear of triggering a safe distance for a short period, reward them with care, if you do not show aggressive behavior. Once the trigger is applied at a distance, the distance gradually. Finally, as a man, stop your cat is afraid.

The other typeof aggression, which territorial aggression is the cause kitty to attack other animals. This means that Kitty is hunting or struggling with the new cat to take home. She tries to protect its territory. When this happens, you will need to be slowly introducing them to each other.

First, it is necessary to limit both their district. Make them feel and smell each other, but have no physical contact.
As soon as you will use them against each other, they wanttheir neighborhoods. Let kitty investigate the new smell come and inspect the newcomer Kitty smells and his new home.
Then it is placed in the same room but at opposite ends of the room. Let them eat of each food associated with this condition.
Slowly approaching.
Finally free them from their carriers and feed them, and he did not care to attack each other.
When they eat their food and remain calm at this stage, thenI managed. Be warned that this could take weeks or even months.

In the end, there is no one way to keep your cat from attacking another animal. You have to be patient and complete a process.

The answer is absolutely yes a lot, especially for dogs and cats. While the use of thiamine in humans have been well defined, particularly in the disease beriberi, the positive effects it can have with your pets, whether dogs or cats, is just beginning to emerge fully.

Vitamin B1 is also known as thiamin or thiamine, is the family of B vitamins and is a water-soluble vitamin, which means that your pet's body will need a constant supply of these essential nutrients, ie, boththrough diet or through the form of dietary supplements, as their bodies do not save.

This vitamin helps your pet metabolize fats and proteins, and also help them to food or carbohydrates into fuel, to convert the switch for its part, is the energy that your body is running. This vitamin is critically important for healthy skin, hair, eyes and liver.

It 'also very useful for dogs and cats that the nervous system of adequate support and the help functionYour pet cope with stress, because it improves the immune system.

Thiamine, naturally present in plants and animals, also plays very important role, particularly in the metabolic reactions, as required by your pet to ATP, also known as adenosine triphosphate, which uses every cell in the body of your pet are to produce energy.

fed thiamine deficiency in both dogs and cats that uncooked meat that contains sulfur dioxide, which is used as reportedCondom in most pets.

In the commercial pet food, especially cat food, thiamine should be broken down by what is called thiaminase, an enzyme in the brain is rice, in some types of raw materials such as fish, including tuna, salmon, seafood such as well. All these ingredients can cat food in most types of business practices.

To top it all with the potential state of the cat, is repeated feeding may eventually lead to a deficiency of thiamine infeline friend.

A thiamine deficiency can cause your cat to cat brain damage, seizures and a possible loss of motor control of muscle tissue, which could lead to her death.

However, treatment with injection of vitamin B-1 is so effective that, once diagnosed with thiamine deficiency, is very often full recovery within 24 hours.

It would seem to give a perfect way to supplement your cat companionvaluable nutrients on a daily basis that any preventive measure would be a cat owner. In fact, many breeders of thiamine supplement regularly, also helps with hyperactivity and internal weakness.

What is not known, however, that thiamine is naturally resistant to fleas and mosquitoes in both dogs and cats, as is the taste of thiamine to hate your pet in the blood. Or your cat or dog, pet eats supermarketFood, if not supplemented with thiamine, has a good chance of developing thiamine deficiency.

Although thiamine deficiency in dogs is not so common, still exists.

If your dog is not the enzymes in thiamin, may develop a condition very unnatural, as coprophagia feces, or manure, the definition of power is unknown.

This condition is an intentional taking your dog's own feces, or another animal, usually a cat or aHorse. Once your dog has a taste of this very unpleasant and unhealthy practice, it is very difficult to correct until you can rebuild the levels of thiamine.

The addition of specific enzymes such as papain, papaya fruit is born from the desire to help, to solve the problem, but it will ensure that your dog-1 is supplemented with Vitamin B.

thiamine deficiency in dogs may also lead to a lack of appetite, vomiting, muscle unsafe behavior, andSpasticity of the hind legs, especially in dogs of middle age or older and can easily be ignored, such as arthritis.

Just like us, your pets, what they eat and what, as integrated with their owners.

If you know that the earth was flooded and every living creature, that the inhaled air was on a boat, which was held by eight people who believe, while it rained for 40 days and nights, under the protection of God, you should seriously ask up, or is it fiction fact.

Where did you do all the water? I know that God is omnipotent and can do nothing. If you accept that it is true, and have never questioned, even to continue reading the article. Could be clarified.

CanImagine rounding up every animal from every continent of the world? Ok, let's say God go all the animals in Noah's ark, which was on board. This can not possibly do after all that God almighty and creator of the universe, anything is possible is for him.

Okay, come, this is going to think a bit 'more difficult. I guess he most animals on the ark of feed and watered. Do you agree? Now thinksomething here that require a large zoo would be more than eight people to feed, water and cleaning up after all these animals.

Yes, I know that God is omnipotent, and was probably helping people imagined, Noah and his family. And 'possible, I can not prove that God does not exist, but this story seems to be a little' difficult inside I'm not talking about giving any evidence of an educated person to believe that you meet here I'm talking about a far fetched hard to believe, mythological narrative, notSense, an educated man.

Last but not least, and one might think that this is the toughest of them all. Every living thing, including humans, that the air inhaled by the descendants of every living being on Noah's ark was

Now perhaps your attention … Not I. .. Every man, woman and child alive today would be the direct descendants of Noah to be. Every single bug, cat, dog, rabbit, tiger, rodents, birds and rhinoceros, swimming, could notwould be direct descendants of every living creature on board the Ark

Sure, you can tell me that God is almighty, and nothing could happen to include those and make sense of it, but if this is true, and you really believe that God why not feed Christians who believe in him dying of hunger.

Christians have support for all the answers, but very little evidence for their answers. The story of the Ark of Noah is one of the most incredible stories everwritten.

You can imagine how big the ship would be necessary in order to keep should be 2:00 to 7:00 every creature that breathes air on the planet, not to mention all the food and supplies that would be necessary to take care of these animals ?

Think about it, someone could make on this story.

Driven by pure feeling of being a pet at home, many people are purchasing pets that do not repent of their choice, or those who are eventually to buy more in the first place. Of importance is the fact that pets are responsible and that as someone willing to take home, the cat, dog, bird or other pet snake Should be noted that despite the small animals animals, They must feed, exercise and good treated.

Financial Responsibilityimportant, as services for pets and veterinarian should be sought with a competitive package be monetary and licenses in order to keep the animals in their homes. Honest with oneself is important that people who eat not fight for himself, to think of pets, if they want to see behind the dock on charges of violation of animal rights.

time commitment to animals is crucial, as they must be familiar with their owners. This ismost cases, this type of work requires. People to flee their homes early in the morning to return late at night should not only keep pets, because it was unable to connect to each other. To know the reason for the necessity of having a pet is like most of those who own pets, crucial collapsed, or their children or spouses of pressure. In such cases, the animal in question, helped the homeowner, and as such can go home, a great effort.

A pet parents should not suffer in silence if his beloved companion dies. In addition to family and friends, organizations and businesses are ready to pay a pet parent to cope with losses and taxes. There are many ways online. For example, a parent company, a virtual homage to their experiences and images with friends and family. Here are the top three places of memory free for pets (in order):

DoggyHeaven.com is a memorial to the dogs just go.Under the terms of use of the site, "DoggyHeaven.com a cyber cemetery (site) to share memories and photos of your dog with other dog lovers." In addition to the memories and pictures, a parent registered PET can share his favorite toy dog, treat, games and hobbies, as well as special abilities. To create a memorial site, he or she needs only one side completely. Visitors pay homage to want to leave messages and "signs of affection," the steak, heart, petal countBone, donuts and bacon strips. Finally, a memorial page for e-mail to relatives and friends.

PerfectTribute.com is a memorial site where a parent company, a person can be a free public or private, to a cat, dog, or, in three easy steps. Before confirming, PET offers the company details and select Settings mother tribute tribute. Share photos with friends and family register, guest book and share the charge with others. First, you must access and access to. Help An interesting feature is the face on PerfectTribute.com "Caring visitors. A pet parent can keep track of how many people attended the tribute to his beloved companion.

GoneTooSoon.org is more comprehensive than DoggyHeaven.com and PerfectTribute.com. A memorial page can be created for each animal, from ants to zebras, or even one person in four simple steps. Once a parent signs up animal, he sees, or that contains information about a pet, praise (or obituaries), and adds, photos and music.registered visitors can make a gift, gift and photo light and a candle. Unlike other functions GoneTooSoon.org, gifts are not free. However, they are to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries ideal. Income from grants administration, together with sponsors to help Memorial pages for free. Sponsors are more features in return for their financial support. It is also worth remembering that a memorial page can be loaded onSocial networking and bookmarking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

In summary, the sites above for the Memorial Tribute PET excellent. The fact that they are free, is a great bonus. Now a pet parent, the memories of his beloved companion, with many people who really care to share.

Choosing a rescue dog can be a difficult choice -all of our Spanish strays are so grateful and lovable, and make such wonderful pets, I wonder why anybody would ever want to buy from a breeder.

If you have made up your mind to take one of our strays, or indeed, any other rescued dog, do think very carefully about which kind of dog would suit your particular lifestyle. The last thing an unwanted dog needs is to find a loving home only to discover that after a short while he is unloved again and considered a nuisance.

If you are at home a good deal of the time and are active, there is no reason not to enjoy long walks with a larger active dog providing you have the space to accommodate him.

Many large dogs such as greyhounds or big heavy dogs do not need as much exercise as smaller highly strung dogs- and greyhounds in particular usually make docile pets.

If you work part-time (you really should not consider taking a dog if there is nobody at home all day) a smaller less active dog would not require such lengthy walks although many small dogs are highly active. You should ask advice to the dog’s particular needs from the refuge where the dog has been looked after.

Don’t expect miracles when your dog first arrives. He will be very confused especially if he is one of our Spanish dogs who may well have spent years in the refuge or tied up somewhere.

With quiet love and understanding he will settle. Just give him his own time and space to adjust. So many people want to make a big fuss of the dog when he arrives, inviting friends and family to meet him – but there will be plenty of time in the future for this. Leave him be, just speaking in a friendly tone to him as you go about the house. The less fuss you make- so will he.

Another consideration when deciding which rescue dog to choose is whether you have time to spend grooming a long coat. If not stick to a dog with short hair as long coats need regular attention to keep them healthy.

Dog or Bitch?

I personally really don’t have a preference.

All our dogs are neutered before arriving in England for rehoming, and they all have distinct personalities.

If you already have one dog it is usually best to choose a second one of the opposite sex, to avoid competion as to who is going to be top dog.

If your reason for taking on a rescued dog is to provide your existing dog with a friend, please be sure that you have the patience and ability to persevere in the event that the first dog does not like or accept his new friend.

A couple of dogs have been returned to me for this reason, not through any fault of their own, just because the owners had not thought it through first, and all it achieve was to make an insecure little dog even more insecure.

Young or Old?

Lastly do consider an oldie if you can. They are usually wonderful pets and great characters. It is so sad that they are forgotten especially when

if like our Spanish strays they have been confined to a refuge for years. Some say they are institutionalised and will not settle but this simply is not true. I have rehomed several (whom were thought to be quite ancient) but am pleased to say they are still going strong after five or six years!

Whichever dog you decide on make sure you have given the matter some careful thought.

Think carefully before taking him

Do not expect too much from him at first

Give him lots of love and you will receive lots in return!

European Animal Welfare rescues strays from Spain.
Please visit we offer animal rescue stories, and Animal pictures.

When pondering whether my neurosis is learned or genetic, I often turn to the family dogs, Frazier (9) and Jake (4), and see the likelihood of a learned origin. My parents’ characteristic anxiety has effectively seeped into both dogs’ personas.

My mother and father are both card-carrying neurotics with drastically different sensibilities. The former engages in an overt style of panic characterized by covering her eyes when our car seems close to hitting another car that’s three hundred yards down the road. The latter is more of a concealer; I would cite one of his quirks in this sentence, but the ensuing disownment would be harsh.

Frazier, a beige mix of Bichon and Poodle, arrived in our home when I was in the ninth grade. For the first few months, he struck us as an emotionally balanced individual, but it wasn’t long before the wide, glassy eyes and quivering lower lip set in. Like his human siblings before him, he experienced separation anxiety in the absence of his parents. Unlike his human siblings, Frazier saw it fit to pace around the unoccupied house for hours, howling to the ceiling and holding his paw against his beating heart. Such behavior, though unquestionably neurotic, was at least grounded in recognizable childhood symptomology. It wasn’t until the arrival of Jake, during Frazier’s fifth year, that Frazier experienced a full-fledged nervous breakdown.

Given the instability of Frazier’s ego, the appearance of Jake–an energetic full-blooded poodle with black hair and a trim gray beard–was emotionally catastrophic. When he wasn’t lying on his stomach leering into the abyss, Frazier went as far as to commit acts of physical violence upon his younger brother. We knew not to be fooled by the innocent look in Frazier’s eye when his leash somehow ended up around Jake’s neck.

Jake, who entered our home as somewhat of a free spirit, was oblivious to Frazier’s brooding melancholy. He ran and played with the best of them. He developed a flourishing social identity among the locals. However, it wasn’t long before the torch of neurosis was passed onto Jake. From whose hands or paws the torch came is difficult to determine, but genetic theories strike me as inadmissible.

Jake’s inaugural phobia was a fear of vacuum cleaners. We have various vacuums in our home, and Jake’s fear of each is proportional to its size and volume. When the biggest vacuum is about to be used, Jake requires an explicit and descriptive monologue preparing him for what is to come. The monologue is best performed with the speaker’s hand firmly applied to the top of Jake’s head. We’ve found that with the aid of such verbal reassurances, Jake’s anxiety in the presence of the vacuum cleaners has decreased by 3 or 4 percent.

By now, we’re pleased to announce that Frazier has overcome his initial aversion to Jake. Not only do they dine together frequently, but they’ve also come to display the sincerest form of love in our family: they worry about one another. When Jake’s out jogging in the backyard and Frazier’s sobbing from the window, his tears run rich with affection.

About The Author

Eric Shapiro is the author of Short of a Picnic, a collection of fictional stories about people living with mental disorders.

shortofapicnic@aol.com

It is Winter time again, a time of the year when pets and humans are very vulnerable to each other. As this is obviously the chilliest time of the year, animals are much more likely to be cooped up inside the house with us. All of the windows and doors are closed to the world and the heat is blasting around the clock.

These are precisely the conditions which make our winter homes playgrounds for some kinds of allergens. Our dogs and cats are considerably vulnerable to the dust in the carpet, the mold inside the walls of your old house and other pets. But warm moist times of the year are high allergy times as well. Allergies are simply the most common conditions affecting cats and according to the Kansas State University, 15% of dogs suffer from common allergies like pollen and house dust. An allergic reaction is the work of an overactive immune system. It is when an animal responds abnormally to a seemingly everyday substance like grass or general food ingredients.

Of the different kinds of allergies, contact allergies are the least common in cats and dogs. An Example of a contact allergen is a flea collar. Grass and various kinds of bedding such as wool are also examples. An Inhalant Allergy is the most common allergy for cats and is also prevalent in dogs. This particular kind of allergy is caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to environmental substances. A Flea Allergy is the single most common dog allergy but is also common cats. The normal dog or cat suffers only somewhat minor irritation in lieu of a flea bite with minimal itching.

A food allergy is also somehat common in pets. Cats often become allergic to their most common protein such as tuna. Dogs can be allergic to proteins like chicken and beef. When it comes to allergies, like most things it’s a matter of controlling, not curing. Once an animal’s body becomes hypersensitive to certain things, it is then eternally vulnerable to those things.

Regarding treatment of allergies, the most common treatments are topical products like shampoos or antihistamines. There are also certain supplements that you can give to your pets to help support

the insides of their bodies, which to an extent determine the condition of the outside. Studies have shown that if we shampoo our pets’ coats on a regularl basis, it is much less likely that foreign substances will enter through the skin. Regular bathing discourages allergens — irritants such as dander and dead hair. When our pets itch and injure their skin, it leaves their internal landscapes much more vulnerable to skin problems For additional Information visit

Dog Supplements from Life’s Abundance for help with your dog

Ryan Joseph is a writer/researcher of pet issues. For more info. visit http://www.premium-cat-food.com/

The September morning that we made our acquaintance, it was unseasonably cold. My breath frosted in the air. It was early — the sun just peeking over the horizon — and I’d just come home from dropping my husband off at the train station.

I was almost inside when I heard it.

Mew.

I ticked off possibilities. I had two cats, one fairly young, but they were both indoor cats. My landlords had three cats, but that tiny me could not possibly have come from them.

Mew.

A stranger at my door…

There, blinking up at me with wide green eyes was a tiny black and white kitten.

My heart melted.

When I knelt down beside him, I could see his ribs. No more than six weeks old by my best estimate, he was shivering in the cold, his tiny body shaking.

I lifted him up and tucked him under my jacket until he warmed up. In spite of everything, I could feel him purring against me.

My dilemma…

I wish I could say that I brought him right inside and we lived happily ever after, but the bottom line was that my husband and I already had two cats in a one bedroom apartment, and my landlords would surely kill me if I even brought this kitten indoors for awhile.

Instead, I scrounged for something this baby could eat, and sat with him on my front steps, trying to keep him warm until it was time for me to go to work.

After work, he was still there, and I knocked on neighborhood doors, hoping to find his home.

No luck.

And each day, this tiny kitten would jump up my steep porch steps and try to follow me inside.

What a little bandit, I would say to the kitten as he looked up at me beseechingly. I’m sorry. You just can’t come inside.

In the meantime, my husband and I made an appointment at a local animal shelter. It was quite a drive, but Saturday, we would take the kitten there and put him up for adoption.

But one morning I went out only to find my little bandit friend gone. I peered behind bushes I checked in the tall grasses across the street. I looked under all the cars.

The kitten was gone.

I’ll admit that a part of me was relieved. It was out of my hands…but I couldn’t help but wonder — and worry — about what had happened to the little bandit that had stolen my heart.

Oh where oh where did that little cat go?

As I prepared for work that morning, all I could think about was that tiny kitten. Did he find his way home, or did something awful happen to him? Did he get hit by a car? Was he trapped somewhere? Was he hurt?

By the time I was ready for work, I was sick wondering what had happened to that kitten.

An answer I didn’t want to hear…

As I was getting into my car, my landlady pulled her car up alongside mine. She was visibly upset, and she told me she’d taken the kitten I’d been feeding to the local pound.

They’d been closed, but had taken the kitten from her anyway, and they’d told her that they were out of space. There was no room for the kitten, so they’d be putting him to sleep before morning’s end.

This was a healthy, feisty, beautiful little kitten. Very adoptable, and they were going to — for lack of space — put him to sleep.

Forget the euphemisms. They were going to murder him.

So what’s the punchline?

The punchline to this, my friends, is that pounds do not always have an animal’s best interests at heart. Your local pound is there to provide a public service. That service is, first and foremost, to take stray animals off of the street.

Now granted, many pound employees love animals and would do anything for them, but they cannot take every animal home with them, and policy is policy when you are an employee of the county government.

So before you take that stray to the pound, thinking you are doing your good deed, I beg you to reconsider.

It doesn’t matter how adorable, healthy, personable, well-behaved, intelligent, or just plain lovable that animal is. It doesn’t matter if it’s a purebreed or a mutt. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tiny kitten or an aging Rottweiler. If that animal is not adopted, it will — at some point — be put down.

Sometimes, as in the case of my little stray, it’s sooner rather than later.

That precious kitten would never have a chance, even a remote one, of adoption.

Furthermore…

Some pounds will even sell animals to scientific laboratories for research subjects. For me, this is too horrible to even contemplate.

So what are the alternatives?

I’d love to tell you to adopt the animal yourself, or at least keep it until you can find it a loving home — and if you can, then, by all means, do. Put up signs in supermarkets and on telephone poles. Take out an ad in your local paper. The animal may simply be lost and loving owners may be desperately searching for it.

But if you can’t, then call your pound first. Find out their policy on euthanasia and on selling them for research.

Look in the yellow pages. There should be listing for shelters, which differ greatly from pounds in purpose and practice.

Many shelters have no-kill policies. They will not put down an animal unless it is so badly injured or so sick that nothing can be done to help it.

One local shelter where I used to live had many battle-scarred critters. One-eyed cats and three-legged dogs were given ample opportunity for adoption. In the meantime, they were cared for — and loved — by dedicated volunteers.

Again, make sure to check their policies on selling for research and euthanasia.

Check with neighborhood veterinarians or your local animal emergency clinic. Often, if you bring an injured stray in, they will house and feed it until the animal is claimed or adopted.

The Bottom Line

There are options, though some are time consuming. If, like me, you’re an animal lover, then it will be a labor of love.

For those who may be wondering…

My landlady and I went back to the pound that morning. We had to bang on the door since they were closed, and after half a dozen employees ignored us, someone came and opened the door. We were told to come back when they reopened and begin the adoption process. It would cost $40.00.

By then, we pleaded, it will be too late.

The kitten would have been put to sleep.

A shame, we were told — but that was procedure.

Well, with some cajoling, a lot of sweet talk, a dose of common sense, and a few thinly veiled threats, we got the kitten back.

The little bandit that had stolen my heart rode all the way home in my arms.

Bandit…

In case you haven’t guessed, we never kept that shelter appointment we’d made.

Bandit, as he came to be named, is now a happy, healthy senior cat. He is waiting for me by the door every day when I come home from work, and at night, he sleeps on my pillow.

He likes to drink from the bathroom faucet, and he’s so vocal that he often sounds as if he’s singing to me.

A fairy tale ending?

Bandit and I had a fairy tale ending, but many animals taken to pounds do not.

So please, please, before you take that stray to the pound, think twice. An animal’s life is at stake.

This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.PetLovers.Com/ which is a site for Pet Forums.