In a new, year-long University of Pennsylvania survey of dog owners who use confrontational or aversive methods to train aggressive pets, veterinary researchers have found that most of these animals will continue to be aggressive unless training techniques are modified. [...more]
It can be hard to resist the cute puppies and kittens for sale in pet store windows. But a closer look into how these stores obtain animals reveals a system in which the high price that consumers pay for “that doggie in the window” pales in comparison to the cost paid by animals who are sold in pet stores or forced to produce them. [...more]
In the first study of its kind, Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that companion cats and dogs are polluted with even higher levels of many of the same synthetic industrial chemicals that researchers have recently found in people, including newborns. [...more]
Dogfighting—a blood “sport” in which two dogs are pitted against each other in a fighting pit and forced to rip each other to shreds in a fight to the death for the “amusement” and monetary gain of onlooking gamblers—is illegal in the United States and is a felony in every state except Idaho and Wyoming.(1) Experts estimate that tens of thousands of people are involved in professional dogfighting, while an additional 100,000 may be participating in so-called “streetfighting” or informal dogfights.( [...more]
Living with a smoker places companion animals of many species at increase risk for a variety of cancers and other health problems, many of which are fatal, according to a press release issued by Oklahoma State University. There have been a number of scientific papers recently that have reported the significant health threat secondhand smoke poses to pets," said Dr. Carolynn MacAllister, a cooperative extension service veterinarian at Oklahoma State University. [...more]
