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Winter Walk Time? Grab the Cooking Spray First!
If your pet's still hesitant about wintertime walks, and not as willing to wear the booties as you'd hope, try the tip I was emailed just this week: Prevent those painful ice balls between paw pads and spritz the paws with a cooking spray before talking that next potty break. You'll still need to wash his feet when he gets back in (which you should be doing anyway because of the possible poisons on the sidewalks), but this will at least combat the pain that makes summertime scampering look more like slinking down the street these days.
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Do Tell: How Do You Treat Icy Sidewalks?
I've already mentioned the dangers of ice melts but what do you do when faced with steps full of snow?! I want to hear your best recommendations for environmentally (and pet) safe products to prevent slipping in wintry weather.
I know that some people use eco-tastic sand, grit, or gravel to add traction but keep plants and waterways safe, yet I imagine that can get kinda muddy, too.
PetSugar Street Team: Neo-Paws Keep Paws Good As New
If your dog's trudging through snow or scampering on icy sidewalks treated with salt, it's important to keep their paw pads protected. Granted this can look a bit silly to nondog owners, but it's important since the lime-rock or calcium chloride melts are poisonous to pets. Shoes prevent the risk of a pup cutting or licking his feet, but I can tell you from experience, it's hard to find ones that stay on!
Peanut Butter Ice Cubes Will Keep Pup Cool and Happy
With the temps rising (and the fact that North and I would eat just about anything containing peanut butter) I was excited to try a few of the peanut butter goodies that my new Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook – a July Must Have – offered up. One of the easiest and best suited for the recent hot weather are the Peanut Butter Ice Cubes! Is there a more delicious way to stay cool on a hot day in the city?
Ten Tips 'Til the Holiday: City Sidewalks
In many states, it is legal to put down lime-rock salt or calcium-chloride salt to melt the snow on city streets. However, this seemingly innocuous substance is very poisonous to dogs – when pups return inside, and lick their paws, it can cause them to throw up (or worse). Also, its rough texture can cut their little feet and put salt in their wounds, literally .
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The Scoop: Accelerated Ice Melt Threatens Life in the Arctic
Not only does the ice help regulate the earth's temperature, but it also sustains life by giving access to food to many Arctic creatures. Unfortunately, with the ice shelf melting at an alarming rate (about 10 percent per decade), it's having a deadly effect on the Polar Bears native to the region. Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity explains:
The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears.
Emergency Ice Qube Won't Melt!
I took along my "go-bag" when I left a previous job where all employees received this handy emergency kit we (thankfully) never needed. The handiest thing about it was its fairly small size with everything packed in.
Little did I know they make similar things for pets!
Happy Birthday, Tai Shan (and Nine Other Icy Snacks For Zoo Animals)!
I could go for some frozen goodness right about now! Ice cream, margarita, even a Popsicle, I'm not picky. Now several zoos treat animals to cold relief (no artificial sweeteners or alcohol, of course), but do you know what goes into snacks like Tai Shan's Birthday "cake"?
Dog Days of Summer: Ice, Ice Baby
It's amazing what a little (frozen) water can do! If your pet's confined to a crate on hot days – and I strongly recommend you take care to make sure there's A/C or a fan nearby – try placing a few reusable ice packs under his crate pad.The simplest way to do this – resealable plastic bags! I buy the largest, gallon-sized freezer bags, fill about 80 percent with water, zip up, and lay flat to freeze!
The Scoop: Putting Frog Genes on Ice
Usually when I think of animal conservation, I think of protecting the animals' natural habitat, educating the masses on the need for conservation, and maybe even helping nature along with breeding, but I've never heard of putting them on ice!
In Moscow, a research team is trying to save the rarest of toad and frog species from extinction by freezing their sperm and eggs at minus 200 degrees for later use. With over 3,000 species on the endangered list, Natalia Sheshova from the Institute of Biophysics in Moscow says they are learning other ways to use science to their advantage as well:
“We’re learning to freeze embryo cells too, to give us a complete genetic picture.
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