My name is Emma and I am in 6th grade. I am doing a Passion Project, and cats are my passion. I need to ask an expert some questions on cat behavior. I hope you have time to answer my questions. My cat is Angel and she is 17! Thank you very much for helping me.

Why does a cat like to curl up in a cardboard box when she has a nice fluffy bed?

Cats are quirky creatures who each have their own personal taste in what makes them happy. A cardboard box is a dark cozy place — it feels safe, like a nice hiding place, so might appeal more to a cat who enjoys her privacy and the feeling of security you get from being less out in the open.

Do cats get bored of the same brand of cat food? Do they ever get bored of homemade cat food?

Often just the opposite is true — cats are creatures of habit and usually do not like change or variety. Cats actually can get really stuck on one flavor and one brand of cat food. Rather than getting bored by the same taste and texture at every meal, they sort of get addicted to it and will refuse anything that is different — just because it is different! This is why I always recommend that people get a variety of flavors and ingredients in canned cat food.  Homemade cat food is a whole different story since you cannot safely make your cat’s food because it will lack taurine which is essential to a cat’s health, as well as not having the proper amount of fat (which is good for cats) and calcium. You can give snacks of real food and I don’t think any cat gets sick of surprise treats!

Why do some vets say we need to brush a cat’s teeth, when cats didn’t do that in the wild? Is there something they can eat that takes care of their teeth?

Please go to my website TheCatBible.com to read the blogs and Q&As about how dry cat food is bad for cats in many ways, but especially because it makes their teeth dirtier, not cleaner.  Dry cat food is sprayed with fats and flavor enhancers and can leave a residue on their teeth, just the way eating corn chips does on our teeth!  In the wild, crunching on the bones, feathers and fur of birds and mice keeps a cat’s teeth clean — at home you can use a small kitty toothbrush with cat-friendly toothpaste or a dental cleaning pad that you wrap around your finger and rub on your cat’s teeth and gums.

Is it OK if my cat eats catnip every day? We have some in our yard.

Eating catnip is a nice healthy touch for the digestive tract — like eating our salad every day — but you can buy little pots of wheat grass and other cat-friendly grasses that will grow on a windowsill and the cat can munch on when she feels like it. Not all cats respond to the “get happy, get crazy” effects of catnip, which is always dried before it is used in toys and treats. I don’t actually know if the fresh catnip has the same effect as when it is dried, but it certainly cannot do any harm

Good luck to you, Emma. I hope you get a gold star on your Passion Project and go on to include animals in whatever you wind up doing in life!  Hugs & kisses to Angel — 17 is a great age to be. I urge you to get her off any dry food immediately to keep her healthy for many more years. “Kitty crack” is my name for any dry food — and my website and book THE CAT BIBLE explain very clearly why this is true.

–Tracie Hotchner

Evie with Gil

A loss of any dog in her prime is terribly sad, but it is devastating when it happens to a dog who has taken the place of a man’s eyes, given him the freedom to continue being part of the world — and was always at his side, in harness and out, giving friendship and delight along with her service.

Gil took extraordinary care of Evie — making sure she had time to swim and fetch when she was out of the harness, and giving her the very best in nutrition. He had followed my advice and made HALO an essential element of a varied diet. In fact, after Gil discovered two small but enlarged lymph nodes and took her right to the vet, they exclaimed at the excellence of her physical fitness and health, saying that she was an excellent candidate for treatment. I doubt that many of us would have even found a cancer so early, but Gil was super-attentive to his girl who gave the world back to him. There is surely a genetic component to cancer, which is inescapable, because no dog could have been given a healthier life, from nutrition to exercise. Of course Evie’s work gave her all the mental stimulation and challenge that is also important for overall wellness.

Gil lost his sight in adulthood but never let that slow him down, disability or age notwithstanding (you wouldn’t know from the photo that Gil is no spring chicken, even if he acts like one — he is in his Seventies!). Together, he and Evie were ambassadors for mobility for the blind and logged over 100,000 air miles together, traveling the world as a team to inspire independence for others who are blind. They introduced a handheld GPS device that a blind person could use anywhere in the world to navigate with their dog. Gil called Evie, who was his third guide dog, his “Furry Ferrari,” at least in part because Gil used to race cars earlier in life.

Gil is handling the sudden and shocking loss of Evie before she had even reached her sixth birthday with equanimity and grace. But as with any sorrow, it is lightened by knowing others care and send their positive energy.

Gil received Evie from Pilot Dogs, which raises, trains and matches companion dogs to people who need them This is part of Gil’s letter to Pilot Dogs, which he shared with me, about what he is hoping to find in a replacement for Evie — although of course she is actually irreplaceable.

I know that every dog is an individual and Evie will never be replaced. I have had three outstanding partners from Pilot Dogs but Evie was very, very special. She was an unbelievable worker and ambassador. She also always drew comments on how beautiful she was. Everyone adored her and her goofiness. Out of harness she was the ultimate companion and friend.

Evie that was described to me as a Field Bred with a shiny coat and the trimmer body type. Since Evie was a little smaller she fit more comfortably under the seats on a plane. She also didn’t have any pressure issues while flying. I’m doing a lot of traveling so the dog must be well equipped to travel on all means of transportation including planes, trains, busses, subways etc.

Since I’m working with a number of other dog guide schools and in front of the public a lot it must be a top of the class dog who excels in work ethic and ability and shows off the training skills of Pilot Dog. As you can imagine when I’m working with other schools in my GPS efforts they are evaluating the dog’s performance and I’d like our team to be great representatives of Pilot Dogs. I’m looking for a very confident, fast working dog that can make all of us very, very proud as Evie did, exceptionally well.

Evie was very well known and people are asking who they can donate to in her memory. I’m telling them all to donate to Pilot Dogs.

I’m asking my listeners to join me in making a small contribution in honor of Evie and her devoted commitment to her important job, which was cut tragically short: NetworkForGood.org

To send a check directly:

PILOT DOGS INC
625 W Town St
Columbus, OH 43215

Hello Marisa! What a nice Christmas gift I just got from “Google Alerts”! How incredibly kind of you to include THE DOG BIBLE in your list of good gifts for humans — I’m honored! I’m going to post a link to your article on my website and tweet it, too. Could I send you a personalized bookplate to put inside your copy of THE DOG BIBLE inscribed to your dog(s)? Or if you have cats, would you like a signed copy of THE CAT BIBLE? Happy New Year to you

Here’s what Unique Gifts for Dogs and the People That Love Them says about The Dog Bible:

The Dog Bible: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know  This is a great reference tool that can answer your questions about your dog’s diet, exercise, behavior, training and much more. The book covers an extensive range of dog-related topics and is great for first time dog owners or dog experts.  Written by dog expert Tracie Hotchner, host of the award-winning radio program “Dog Talk” on NPR affiliate WLIU in New York.

Read the full article at Potomac Patch

Unique Gifts for Dogs and the People That Love Them

The Dog Bible

On the Oct 15th DOG TALK® show my first guest was the Official Trainer of the show, Allison Denlea of Paws 4 Positive Training — a woman who did an intervention with a young Weimaraner in an abusive home and asked me to add him to my other Weims, who are all from rescues — and who herself has taken in several clients’ dogs that were unmanageable for them. Our interview was about her reasons for wanting to buy a puppy herself next time (having just lost three dogs in less than a year); on the show we discussed the ways to identify responsible, serious breeders and be assured that a dedicated breeder was paying attention to health and temperament issues in their breeding decisions.  Needless to say I took the opportunity in the interview to make this a teachable moment for one of my recurrent themes on the air and in writing — for the umpteenth time — that all puppies from any pet store anywhere come from horrible volume breeding operations and no one should ever add a puppy to their lives through a pet store or online internet sale.

Fairly straight forward, I thought.

When I sent out the announcement for the show the description of the guests began as follows: “DOG TALK® trainer Allison Denlea (Paws4Positive.com) discusses reasons to buy a puppy instead of adopting and how to know what you’re getting.”

Again, pretty straightforward, I believed.

Apparently NOT — there began a barrage of angry, abusive accusatory emails from people who do rescue work with dogs berating me for having this topic on the show, giving me lectures about puppy mills (yes, me, the person who lectures against the evils of puppy millers week in and week out, who has visited the Hunte Corp. “puppy mill processing facility” in Missouri, who is supporting the Prop B legislation in Missouri to improve condition for dogs in breeding facilities there, who is an ambassador for the HSUS — yes, me) and others who called me names and made threats.  I will quote from some of them in my next blog.

But here’s the rub: not one of these people had even taken the time to listen to the show and hear what we had to say! Not one — they all felt entitled to pass judgment, criticize and lecture me for so much as raising the topic of purchasing a puppy responsibly.

Are you one of these people who felt entitled to lash out, without even the courtesy of listening to the show? Are you someone who also feels entitled to express righteous indignation that I would so much as raise the subject of buying a purebred puppy? Do you sit in judgment of how other people live their lives and choose to build their families? Do you believe that by doing good deeds or charitable acts you have earned the right to lecture or even to hate people whose lifestyles don’t mirror your own?

If so, then allow me to tell you right out loud: this is America, a free country, a Democracy, and a nation where we have the good fortune to be free to make individualized decisions about most everything in our lives. Where adding a pet to our homes is concerned, as long as we are not supporting those who maintain dogs in abusive conditions (puppy millers/pet stores), nor do we do it ourselves, we should feel free to share our lives with animals as we choose.  People who do rescue work get weekly praise on my shows, get donations of my books or money, have the privilege of my invitation to their leaders and members as guests on my shows to explain and celebrate what they are doing. But nobody gives these people or their colleagues the right to sit as judge and jury on other peoples’ life choices — and certainly they are way out of line to attack me, of all people, for being immoral or allowing different points of view or choices on my shows. Keeping open lines of communication on any topic concerning animals is how everybody learns and makes the best choices they can (about getting an animal, feeding it, training it, offering it a fulfilling life).  People are going to get puppies. That is a fact of life, which some fanatics in the “animal rights” movement would actually like to stop. Since people are going buy puppies then they need to do it responsibly and with information.

To those who have not followed DOG TALK® for 6 years — for those who have not read THE DOG BIBLE — for those who haven’t heard me on my SiriusXM show CAT CHAT® let me make something very clear — fanaticism of any kind does no one any good and I do not invite it. Name-calling and finger pointing are counter-productive as well. Civility and mutual respect and decency in dealing with others is essential, whether they share our choices or not. And the Internet seems to afford some people the license to treat other people as they never would an animal.

Those who do any sort of charitable volunteer work should do so because it makes them feel better and satisfies a personal need — not because it makes them feel superior and entitled to judge and look down on others. If you want to be a do-gooder, knock yourself out. But it does not mean this gives you Godlike powers to make moral judgments on others — especially when you are misinformed and shoot from the hip.

–Tracie Hotchner

The Dog Bible

Dearest Tracie -

WOW, you were so incredible today in our interview. Thank you so much for your kind words, for understanding that so many things are bigger then how they appear — for doing such a wonderful show that teaches people all about LIFE — and dogs are LIFE. We all are that complicated, joyful thing and none of us escape the falls or, hopefully, the great joys.

Buddy Rose, 4 years and Leo Henry, 1 year

Here’s a picture of Leo Henry (one year old) and Buddy Rose (4 years old) peeking out. (They’re watching Wills pick up a ball that had gone over the fence.)

Thank you again for the best time. I’m so honored, truly, by everything you said!

Love and hugs,
Monica (and Mr. Wills)

I got such a gracious note from Kathleen DeLuca, the organizer of Fido Festival who was so enthusiastic about my being there:

Hi, Tracie-

I cannot thank you enough for being at Fido’s Festival USA this past weekend. At long last we had perfect weather and from the emails we are receiving from the attendees, vendors, and sponsors everyone had a great time and enjoyed the festival.  I know it was a very long drive for you and we are grateful that you made the trip and that PETCO graciously sponsored your appearance. I know the goodie bags provided by Halo were a great hit and I hope you enjoyed meeting our attendees and everyone involved in the festival. I am sure you had the opportunity to meet Salem County Humane Society, as they were very appreciative that you chose their rescue as beneficiary for your book sales. Also very generous of you. We appreciate the promotion you did on behalf of the festival regarding your appearance and do hope you had a good experience with us.

What I forgot to tell Kathy was that I met many other fantastic rescue groups and was able to give away a few armloads of bags of Liv-a-Little treats to some of the other rescues, there like Tri-State Weimaraner Rescue, the Beacon rescue group and SEER Farms, which is a sanctuary foster home for pets whose people are going through a hard time (domestic violence, foreclosure, natural disaster, hospitalization) or military service. SEER keeps their pets loved and safe until the people can be reunited with them. Stay tuned to DOG TALK® because I am going to be interviewing the founder soon.

–Tracie Hotchner

Thanks so much for the reply. I figured you get so much mail that I probably wouldn’t get an answer due to sheer volume, so this is a nice surprise!

I have noticed the Giant Naturals has been on sale for some time and am a bit concerned they are going to stop carrying it. But yes, I am definitely going to get as much as I can in the meantime! It’s good to know it’s actually good for the kitties, too!

Sadly, we lost one of our cats since I wrote you. Cindy got feline leukemia, even though she had been vaccinated. We are very fortunate that no one else caught it from her. So, we are now at 12 kitties. Yes, I’d be honored to have the autographed bookplate and the cat litter coupon! Thank you so much! We go through a lot of litter, as you might imagine, and Dr. Elsey’s is my favorite brand.

I also want to thank you for the catchat20 code which I use frequently at Pet Food Direct. I don’t know what I’ll do if that code every expires! It has been a lifesaver for us.

Thanks again for all you do for pet owners!

Gratefully,
Lori (and Snickers, Shanequa, Mama Kitty, Addie, Fannie, Willie, Pepper, Toonces, Spike, Angel, Greta, and Kimmy)

Can you imagine that? Lori had to wait so long she actually lost a kitty during the time between emails! And poor Cindy, even though vaccinated she got leukemia — such sad luck. I was happy to see she is already a Dr. Elsey’s customer so she knows how great all his litter products are — she’s not kidding when she says she goes through a lot of it! Anyway, she was so gracious to forgive me for the delay and be grateful, anyway — she let me off the hook! Plus, she can now stock up on the Giant fish cat foods knowing they are made by Weruva, so the quality is assured.

–Tracie Hotchner

UPDATE:

Awww Tracie, thank you for that.  That’s wonderful.  And a nice memorial to our beloved Cindy.   But you are too hard on yourself!

Thank you again,
Lori

P.S. I think since I wrote you that original email, we finally got all the cats spayed and neutered.  It was a long and expensive process, but what a huge relief to have it done!

She was interested in the Proportions feeding plan I helped to develop and I loved her thoughtful questions.  It was a really good interview and hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

A Conversation With Tracie Hotchner

-Tracie Hotchner

http://blog.halopets.com/2010/07/29/pet-travel-tips-tv-appearance/

–Tracie Hotchner

–Tracie Hotchner