14+ hour, 32+ min ago (350+ words) Taking care of your dog's teeth is just as important as taking care of your own. In addition to routine visits to your veterinarian, there are plenty of important steps you can take at home to prevent dog dental disease. The American Kennel Club offers the following tips and tricks to make sure your dog maintains a healthy mouth. Know your dog's mouth It is important to know what a healthy mouth looks like to know when something looks off. Typically, dogs have 28 total baby teeth, which fall out by the time your puppy is 6 months old, resulting in 42 adult teeth. Healthy gums are firm and pink, sometimes with black spotting, while their teeth should be an ivory color. Your pup's breath should also have a neutral odor. The following are some oral health issues you may see in your…...

3+ week, 8+ hour ago (621+ words) Millions of people already use the Life360 app to track the location of their family members and loved ones. Now the California tech company behind the popular family safety app is hoping people will use a new gadget and their location-tracking services to keep tabs on their pets. On Wednesday, Life360 unveiled a new tracking device people can attach to their pet's collar. The product, called Life360 Pet GPS, uses cellular, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology so people can accurately pinpoint where their furry friends are. The device works with the Life360 app so people can track their pets on a digital map, set up alerts if the pet strays outside set boundaries, provide emergency contact information for pets and notify other members if their dog or cat gets lost. First released in 2008, Life360 became a popular app for people to track the location of…...

2+ week, 9+ hour ago (472+ words) Q: I planted foxgloves because I love their spikes of colorful, speckled, bell-shaped flowers. My cat Stormy is walking through them, rubbing her face on them. Should I worry about this? A: If she only walks through your foxgloves and doesn't chew on them, she should be fine. But watch her closely to be sure she doesn't eat any. If she does, she may experience vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy -- or worse, since the powerful heart medicine digitalis is derived from foxglove. When ingested, foxglove can disrupt the heart's normal rate and rhythm, causing life-threatening arrhythmias. Foxglove also can cause electrolyte disturbances that can impair heart function. All parts of the foxglove are toxic, with the highest concentrations of digitalis found in the flowers, fruit and immature leaves. If Stormy displays any abnormalities and you suspect she may have nibbled a plant in…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (217+ words) Curious bystanders, cellphones in hand to capture the sight, lined the streets as the roughly 600 animals in shepherd Thomas Gackstatter's flock hurried past on what has become a popular annual spectacle. The sheep were on their way to winter pastures west of Nuremberg from the city, where Gackstatter's sheep and other herds are used in various meadows during the summer to keep the grass neat. It's a trip of more than 6 miles, which takes the flock through the central market square, the Hauptmarkt, German news agency dpa reported. Gackstatter says that, as far as he knows, Nuremberg is the only place in Germany where sheep cross the central square. The city has about 540,000 inhabitants. Ahead of their passage, city authorities asked people to keep the route clear and keep dogs away from the sheep -- a mixture of various breeds. Drones…...

9+ hour, 19+ min ago (561+ words) Q: Mr. Poo Poo Head, our 15-year-old cat, has started yowling to come into the house every night. He eats diced beef, chicken and tuna, and he's healthy and active. His behavior is annoying, so we'd appreciate your advice. A: Yowling is common among elderly cats. The causes are numerous, so it's important to determine what's prompting the yowling so it can be addressed effectively. You might start by opening your door to allow Mr. Poo Poo Head to sleep inside at night. While it used to be common to allow cats to roam outside, we now realize it's important for cats of all ages to live indoors. This safeguards them from aggressive cats, coyotes, cars and outdoor toxins, and it protects songbirds and other wildlife from cats' predatory behavior. Because most elderly cats have arthritis, and many have impaired hearing and…...

6+ day, 9+ hour ago (414+ words) A motorist in western North Carolina escaped injury when the carcass of a cat crashed into the passenger side of her front windshield along a highway near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In a call to 911, the unidentified driver on U.S. Route 74 in Swain County, near Bryson City, told a dispatcher a bald eagle dropped the cat. Bryson City is about 65 miles southwest of Asheville. It's not clear if the feline slipped from the eagle's talons Wednesday morning or was discarded simply because the big bird didn't have a taste for it. "You may not believe me, but I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield," the incredulous driver said on the recorded 911 call. "It absolutely shattered my windshield." Any reservations about calling in such a story were put to rest when the dispatcher calmly responded,…...

3+ week, 15+ hour ago (509+ words) Q: While adding windshield washer fluid to my car's reservoir, I spilled some on the ground and my dog started licking it. I sopped up the liquid before he got more than a taste, but afterward, I wondered: Is windshield washer fluid actually toxic to dogs? A: Yes. Most windshield washer fluids are about 20-30 percent methanol, which is toxic to dogs, cats, humans and other animals. Some windshield washer fluids are 100 percent methanol, and others contain additional toxic antifreeze products, like ethylene glycol. Methanol, sometimes called wood alcohol, is colorless and flammable, and it has been described as having a slightly sweet alcohol odor. It is also found in some cleaning products, solvents, paint removers, varnishes, gasolines, "canned heat" fuels, model airplane fuels and gas line antifreeze products. Within 30 to 60 minutes of ingesting methanol, dogs experience lethargy, loss of coordination, disorientation, tremors,…...