With the New Year rolling around, many of us make New Year's resolutions - about exercising, dieting, career, and keeping finances in order, and so on. Pet Sitters Plus encourages all of you pet owners to include your pets in your New Year's resolutions. 

• Is your pet overweight from Holiday scraps and slumber? 
  
• Are there health issues to attend to with your dog, cat, bird, or other animal member of your family? 
  
• Can your pet(s) join you in your new exercise regimen (or vice versa)?
  
• Is your pet's oral hygiene as good as it should be?
  
• Have you considered "teaching your old dog new tricks"?
  
• How much regular time do you have set aside to spend "quality time" with your pet(s)?

Pet Sitters Plus has found a good resource online from PetMD.com for New Year's resolutions to consider for your pet. The title of the article "Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Pet (and You)."

Find out how Pet Sitters Plus can help you both set and fulfill your New Year's resolutions for your pet(s). Our services, for example, can help with medication, exercise, tips and training. 

Visit our Pet Sitting Services and "Let's Get Acquainted."

Technically, it might still be Fall, but Winter has arrived in Northern Nevada. It's always a quick changeover, so don't forget to be quick about winterizing your outdoor pet area. Pets might have fur, but they're not equipped to handle prolonged exposure to the cold and wet months. 

Pet Sitters Plus has a few handy tips for keeping your companion pets safe and warm over the winter:

• Keep Them Cozy And Warm - Winter clothes look cute on our dogs on a walk or out a, but they don't really help for long periods outdoors or around town. And cats? They usually don't really like that whole 'sweater' thing. Let your pets back into the house as soon as they're done with their business outside.
  
• Clear A Path - Snow, ice, branches and leaves can all block access to outdoor food and water dishes. Check them daily if you have an outdoor pet.
  
• Sleeping In The Doghouse - If your canine is not an indoor one, make sure they have appropriate housing outdoors. Enclosures should be dry, draft-free and small enough to conserve body heat. A small platform, a few inches off of the ground, can also make a cozy sleeping pallet.
  
• Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty... - If you have a cat that can't stay indoors, or care for stray or feral cats around your home, think about creating a small wind shelter for them near the feeding spot.
  
• Check Your Engine - Cars provide great shelter from the elements, especially the rain and snow. Warm engines can also be very enticing to an animal looking to take the chill off. Look underneath your car and bang on the hood a couple times to scare them off before starting your engine. 
  
• Watch The Chemicals - Antifreeze is notoriously sweet, tempting and toxic. Please make sure you keep your antifreeze stored properly and clean up any spills. (A 2-inch layer of cat litter for about 30 minutes is one very effective method.) Road salt or melting chemicals can also be harmful to their soft paws or mouths. Wipe their paws off with a soft dry towel when they come inside.
  

The Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California has been producing a lot of smoke, blanketing much of Northern Nevada and creating an unhealthy air quality, due to the particulate matter in the air. Recent reports indicate that it may be weeks or months until the fire is controlled and contained. People have the option of wearing breathing masks and avoiding the outdoors, if we so choose; but our pets - not so much! The following pet tips can help your companion animal weather out the the hazy days of fire season!

• Keep pets indoors. If you don't want to go out, or have a sore throat, headache or watery eyes - chances are they do too. Walk them around the inside of the house, or on a treadmill if you have access to one.
  
• Run the AC. It might be a little expensive, but the AC unit helps filter the air coming into your house.
  
• Watch for signs of irritation. The most common health concerns as a side effect of forest fire smoke are inflammation of the eyes and inflammation of the nasal passages. Ocular symptoms include squinting, red coloring or blotching on the whites, discharge coming from the eye and pawing or scratching the eyes or rubbing them on furniture. Respiratory symptoms can include labored, shallow or fast breathing, sneezing, wheezing, abnormal stretching of the neck, nasal discharge, coughing. 
• Watch for signs of smoke inhalation. Smoke inhalation symptoms occur when not enough oxygen reaches the brain, toxins are present in the air or small, fine particulate matter irritating eyes and lungs. Symptoms include: disorientation, fainting,  coma, sleepiness, seizures.
  

Hopefully these pet tips can help you and your pet weather the fire season until we get to the crisp cool air of fall!

The hot weather is returning to the Carson Valley and that's a big concern for outdoor pets. As the summer turns up, the mountain air can get sweltering in the daytime heat. Even the shade, what little there is in the high desert, is no refuge for our furry companions.

There are a few things you can do to help out any outdoor pets you might have. For long haired breeds of cats and dogs, one solution is summertime grooming - get them a haircut! But this is only a temporary solution and it doesn't address the problem for their shorter haired cousins.

One ingenious way of keeping your pets cool as a cucumber in the summertime is to invest in a kiddie pool. Yes, the same plastic pools that you can buy at the store. FiIl it up with about 3-4 inches of water to give those pets some relief! Placing it in whatever shade you can muster helps a lot as well. Dogs, and even cats, that don't like the water will get in to cool off when it gets really hot. It also becomes an additional source of water for them if they are feeling parched.

Don't forget to change it every other day or so, to keep the water fresh and clean! They'll thank you for it.

As spring returns, your companion probably wants to get out more. There are a few things to be aware of as the weather warms up. These pet tips should help with your springtime pet care.

• Allergies - Check for watery eyes and sneezing as an early warning sign that your pet may have allergies.
  
• Parasites - After a long winter hibernation, flea, tick and heartworm larvae are back for more. Protect your pets!
  
• Windows - Make sure your screens are secure. Many pets can escape through or be injured while exiting damaged screens as we air out the house.
  
• Easter - Keep your Easter chocolates and Easter grass out of reach! They are a big no-no for both dogs and cats.
  
• Flowers - Budding flowers look great, but many of them do not agree with canine or feline tummies. 
  
• Chemicals - Secure your cleaning products as you refresh your house. Uncapped cleaning agents pose a big health risk to pets.
  
• Automobiles - As the weather warms up, don't forget to crack the window before you head inside the store again!
  

KENNEL COUGH! Everyone hates to hear those words, especially kennels, boarding facilities and grooming shops. The main reason I picked this topic was because several days ago I received a call from a lady that told me she was interested in adopting one of the puppies I am fostering. She explained to me that she was a single parent of two children and they had "adopted a sick puppy from a Reno Shelter that had to go back"....I did not ask what Reno Shelter it was, but I did ask what was wrong with the puppy. She said they had had the puppy almost 2 weeks-and her and the children loved him, he was just perfect- then it began to cough and not really eat....they took it to the vet and it was diagnosed with "Bordetella bronchiseptica"(Kennel Cough)...she was upset that the shelter had sold her a sick dog!! 
 So here is where my frustration comes in. In this day of the internet, why do people not educate themselves! Why do we always assume that someone did "something wrong" or tried to "screw us over".... 
I felt bad for her children who fell in love with this dog, just to have it "Returned". and what does that teach our children? Then I felt bad for the puppy. I bet it was sitting at the shelter wondering what it had done wrong? Why did his new family return him?
So I took some time to explain some of the facts about kennel cough to the women and suggested, that not only for the poor puppy but as a good example to her kids, to GO BACK AND GET THAT PUPPY and care for it as your own!! Because it is-YOUR OWN!! Then I decided to post this as well, because maybe others do not understand as well.
Several viruses and bacteria can cause kennel cough. It is usually a mild disease, but the cough may be chronic, lasting for several weeks. The loud cough is usually described as a "goose honk". It is very contagious and can be spread by casual contact such as sniffing while on a walk, playing, sharing bowls etc. The "spores" from the cough can travel-especially in cold weather.....so is seen more in winter. It is also seen more in "groups of dogs" like in kennels, dog parks, groomers etc. The hardest thing is a dog can carry it, spread it and have NO SIGNS OF HAVING IT FOR UP TO 15 days....so what does that mean...??? Well a dog could have it, go to the dog park or kennel or groomer or on a walk or..............and be spreading it and no one knows....then in about 2 weeks, the cough begins and you have to go get antibiotics from the vet.
So you see....the shelter did not KNOWINGLY sell a sick dog. If the family would have just got the medication, gave it and waited a few days, all would be well and there would be one less sick dog at the shelter. To me it is like "The dog flu". Put a group of kids or people together and some get the flu, some do not. If your child got the flu and went to daycare, would we fire the daycare and worse yet RETURN THE CHILD!!
Best advice is to vaccinate your dogs....but-like the flu- the vaccine does not protect against all strains..and after that my advice would be to lighten up!! Life has bumps in the road and well, "STUFF HAPPENS"...relax and enjoy your pet-some times there is no one to blame.....it just is what it is.....

Thanksgiving of course is all about being thankful. One thing I am thankful for is all my animals. Horses, Goats, Dogs and Cats. Love them all. They bring peace and stability to my life. With that thought we all must remember they are work. Extra work in the winter. We need to provide for them. Fresh food and water. Proper vet care. Shelter and of course lots of love. But many animals don't have that. They live on the street and search daily for food, water and shelter. Our animal shelters and rescues are full, and they cant save them all. THEY NEED HELP. How can you help? Many ways. The first way is to make sure your pets are spayed and neutered. Don't breed when shelter animals are dieing. Then next way, would be to adopt. Go to your local shelters and rescues and adopt a pet, giving them there forever home. There is a perfect pet out there for everyone. Can not adopt, well then foster. Fostering SAVES LIVES. The pic here shows two of four puppies and momma dog came from the shelter, from death row, pregnant!! I fostered her, she had her pups and now we foster all five. Soon we will be finding new home for all of them. Now not everyone can foster a pregnant dog and soon to be puppies, but there are older dogs, younger dogs, big dog and little dogs......AND cats!! Kittens and adults, big and small. They need a temporary home to settle them in while a forever home is found. Maybe you could help? Cant foster, well how about volunteer? The shelters and rescue always need help-AND IT IS FUN!! Go sit in there cat rooms, and love and brush a kitty. Walk a dog so it not only gets exercise but gets out and about and receives some much needed one on one love and time. If none of these things are doable for you, then donate. Donate money or food or toys, blankets etc.....just show up and drop them off, or mail a check to your local favorite group or shelter... Happy Thanksgiving everyone!    

Halloween is a very fun time for kids and adults alike....but might not be very fun for your pets. Follow some simple rules and common sense to keep your pet safe and happy. Keep all candy and chocolate up and away from pets....it can end up being a deadly mistake if a pet eats treats. Costumes.....make sure if you are going to dress up your pet that the costume is safe & fits well so it does not trap, strangle or hurt your pet. Maybe also put the pet in a safe room during the time you have trick or treaters....you do not want your pet to escape and you do not know if a costume scares your dog, they could bite, trying to protect you or out of fear. October 31 is a good time to keep all pets secure, safe and if possible, inside, especially black cats...it is sad to say they could fall prey to a not so nice human who has some not so nice Halloween plans for them...If you are planning a party at your house, maybe find a friend or a pet sitter who can care for your pet during the party. If you are going out and returning late have a pet sitter stop by to potty and play a little with your pet and then tuck them in, safe and sound for you. Well everyone have a great Halloween.....and remember....adopt!! If you cannot adopt then foster!! If you can not foster, then volunteer!!! If you can not volunteer then show your financial support to a local shelter...  

So it is that time a year again when winter is sneaking up in us... Prepare your pets for winter...Make your animals life better and your life easier by being prepared....first heated water buckets or troughs ....they are awesome.... I have five gallon plug in buckets for my dogs and drop in heaters for my horses....many people think that water is not as important in the winter as the summer!!!! oh my that is so wrong....animals need water almost more in the winter because drinking it keeps there systems working and allows there bodies to HEAT THEMSELVES!!! So no fresh UN-frozen water could mean a freezing animal...not good... Also consider setting something up now to shelter your pet from wind rain and snow...another deadly combination... A dog house is a good way.... If you do not have one consider what one of my clients did.... Put a tarp over there picnic table and put benches on top of that then toss blankets under it.....sheltered from rain wind and snow!!!! What are some of your winter ideas to make your pet more comfy in the winter ??