Caring For Family Pets

This book helps pet owners fully understand what it means to care for a companion animal, from choosing a pet to veterinary visits and beyond. Pets are extremely popular in the United States. According to a recent survey, one third of American homes contain one or more cats; almost 40 percent of U.S. households include at least one dog. Pets serve as cherished companions for everyone from young children to senior citizens. However, there are responsibilities and risks involved with pet ownership, and the proper care of these animals that many consider "family" involves much more than keeping a water dish and food bowl full. This book is written by top animal health experts to explain our roles, rights, and health care challenges when bringing animals into our homes. Topics such as health, first aid, companion animal diseases, common surgeries, and alternative care for pets are all addressed. Information is also provided about pet birds, large pets such as horses, exotics such as snakes and reptiles, and "pocket pets" such as hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, and rats.

Provides hundreds of tips to help dog owners make well-informed decisions for their pets, including information on finding the right doctor, understanding veterinary vocabulary and technology, getting a second opinion, and supporting one's pet through various stages of illness.

Entertaining and informative, Pets in America is a portrait of Americans' relationships with the cats, dogs, birds, fishes, rodents, and other animals we call our own. More than 60 percent of U.S. households have pets, and America grows more pet-friendly every day. But as Katherine C. Grier demonstrates, the ways we talk about and treat our pets--as companions, as children, and as objects of beauty, status, or pleasure--have their origins long ago. Grier begins with a natural history of animals as pets, then discusses the changing role of pets in family life, new standards of animal welfare, the problems presented by borderline cases such as livestock pets, and the marketing of both animals and pet products. She focuses particularly on the period between 1840 and 1940, when the emotional, behavioral, and commercial characteristics of contemporary pet keeping were established. The story is filled with the warmth and humor of anecdotes from period diaries, letters, catalogs, and newspapers. Filled with illustrations reflecting the whimsy, the devotion, and the commerce that have shaped centuries of American pet keeping, Pets in America ultimately shows how the history of pets has evolved alongside changing ideas about human nature, child development, and community life. This book accompanies a museum exhibit, "Pets in America," which opens at the McKissick Museum in Columbia, South Carolina, in December 2005 and will travel to five other cities from May 2006 through May 2008.

Illustrated throughout with 1200 sumptuous color photographs, this expertly written manual provides all the information you need to buy and care for your pet with complete confidence.

Most pet owners want the best for their cherished friends. Sometimes, however, the nature of those relationships can be upended and getting back on track can be confusing and difficult. Here, Robert Berkelhammer provides an overview of what constitutes healthy pet family relationships and how pet parents can access services that will help facilitate better communication, behavior, and all around care. He outlines the kinds of work pet care companies can offer, and guides readers to getting the best possible level of professional caretaking to achieve behavioral changes in their pets. Dog playgroups, dog walking, pet sitting and other services are described in terms of how families can work with providers to accommodate their animal and family needs. Focused mostly on dogs, the book does also address the needs of and services available to cats and birds. No pet owner will want to be without this book when deciding on a pet care arrangement that suits the family’s needs.

Simple text and photos are used to present the responsibility of caring for pets.

"At the pet show, there are so many different types of pets. With dogs and cats, horses and chickens, hamsters and chinchillas--and many, many more--this book celebrates animal companions of all shapes and sizes"--