When a bad boy or girl cat weaves its way into your heart, your life will never be the same. If you decide to keep this cat, you'll have to learn to live with upset trash baskets and spilled houseplant dirt. You may never be able to display bouquets of flowers safely into your home again

Our veterinarian knows about these Bad Boy/Girl types. “My first cat, before I knew anything, many, many years ago, was one of those. He liked to get up on furniture and counters and knock things over. I would chase him. When I could catch him. I'd give him a little smack on his behind. But the frequency of the undesirable behavior shot up immediately. This became his favorite game and it stayed that way until he died at 20,” our veterinarian says.

They may be tiny enough to fit on the head of a pin, but fleas and ticks can cause big problems for dogs and their owners. In one day a single flea can bite your dog more than 400 times, consuming more than its body weight of your pet’s blood. And before it’s through, a female flea can lay hundreds of eggs on your unsuspecting pooch, making him the unwitting host of many future flea generations.

The resulting itching and scratching of flea bites can lead to skin irritations, open sores, and even fur loss. Tick bites aren’t just irritating, they may cause an allergic reaction as well transmit diseases such as Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. And ticks can give those same infections to you.

When to treat your dog
Flea and tick season starts when the temperature rises above freezing at night—usually in late spring. It continues through summer and is often at its worst in September and October. Fleas thrive in temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees and in conditions of high humidity. The best time to treat your dog is before these pests start laying eggs and biting, although many veterinarians believe that applying monthly spot-on treatments year round is the most effective approach.

Ever wonder what your dog is thinking when he slurps your face like a lollipop? Is he just saying hello - or planting the canine version of a kiss on your cheek? Although we may never know the real answer, it helps to understand the psychology of the lick.

As any dog owner knows, dogs lick often and for a variety of reasons. For example, mothers lick their puppies to clean them and stimulate their urination and defecation. From about six weeks of age, some pups lick their mom's face and lips when they want her to regurgitate food for them. This behavior is a remnant of their wild ancestry - it was easier for the mother to carry food in her stomach rather than dragging it back to the den in her mouth.

If your dog has experienced some age-related hearing loss or even deafness, it will mean some changes in your everyday life with him. The good news is that dogs are not typically stressed by their inability to hear. In fact, many dogs adapt amazingly well to their handicap. With a few adjustments on your part, your pet can lead a safe, happy life.

Tips for living with a hearing-impaired dog

Let your hands do the talking. Hand signals are fun for dogs - just be sure that any signals you use are bold and clear, and different from gestures you commonly use. Hand signals generally work better if they are originally learned in tandem with a verbal command. So start by making the hand signal with verbal command. With practice and perseverance, your dog may eventually learn the meaning of the hand signal when it is used alone.

A little bit of licking is considered normal for dogs. But if you start to notice that your dog's licking is becoming excessive, it could be the sign of a problem.

Acral lick dermatitis is a condition that develops as a result of chronic licking and causes inflammation in the skin. Because the dog continues to lick, the area can't heal and may become red, raised, and even ulcerated. The inflammation can also cause the area to be itchy, which leads to more licking, creating an itch-lick cycle.

Causes of excessive licking
Why do dogs lick themselves, often to the point of creating "hot spots" or sores on their skin? Here are some of the most common reasons:

Grown up or not? Now that your pup is nearing a year of age, is he grown up? When is he an "adult"? The answer is…it's different for each puppy. Puppies mature at different times – it depends on the adult size of the breed. For example, toy breeds are often physically mature at one year of age, whereas a giant breed, like a Great Dane or a Saint Bernard, may still be very much "in process".

Growth patterns Puppies are said to grow from the outside in. This means that the body parts on the outside – paws, tail and ears – grow to their adult size first. Think back to when your pup was 12 to 16 weeks old. He may have had adult, or near adult-sized, paws which likely seemed out of proportion with the rest of him.

His ears and tail would have been the same – they sometimes grow to a startling length at an early age, and it can take a year or more for your pup to "grow into" himself.

Bursts of energy Once or twice a day, most puppies kick up their heels and go a little gleefully wild. One label for this extra energy burst is a FRAP, Frenetic Random Activity Period. This is especially true of older puppies who will soon be leaving puppyhood behind. With puppies, FRAPs most often happen in the early morning and early evening. Racing around the house, rolling on the rugs and careening off of furniture are all normal parts of the canine FRAP.

When you can, sit back and enjoy the show. FRAPs will be gone soon enough and when this happens you'll know that the end of puppyhood is nearing. You may be able to see a FRAP coming. You may see a glint in your puppy's eye or maybe he'll play bow with his chest on the floor and his tail in the air. Maybe he'll bark or bounce but then … he's off!

Though the rugged roads I have crossed in my life, one animal has always comforted me, and for that I thank her. My cat, SCSI, proved even more special when I taught her some amazing tricks. Here is a little proof that a cat will go a long way to make sure its owner is filled with happiness, and nothing can keep you apart.

I received my cat as a companion for the harsh time I was going through. After 10 years of having a serious relation I was set aside like it all did not mean anything. I never thought the day would come, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. One of my good friends thought a cat might be the perfect solution to get the depression off my mind.

When we arrived at the animal shelter and I gazed at all the cats and kittens, my eyes rested on a white Cyprus mix. I asked to hold her. When she was placed in my hands she wrapped her paws around me like she was hugging me.

While almost any low-maintenance, low-energy dog can live happily in limited space, the most popular apartment dogs are small breeds. Size is a factor in their ability to adapt successfully to apartment living-a little fluff ball like a Shih Tzu or a toy poodle is a perfect fit for a 500-square-foot city dwelling.

Breeds like pugs, Bassett hounds and French bulldogs also tend to be good condo dogs, as they need less exercise, barely shed, and seldom bark without provocation.

Creating a Fido-friendly space
While the best apartment breeds tend to be low activity dogs, every pooch needs to play. And regular exercise, even if your dog is a couch potato, is good for his joints, bones, and overall health.

Veterinarians used to believe that dogs saw only in black and white, but recent studies suggest that they actually do have some color vision - but it's not as bright as a humans. As it turns out, dogs have only 20% of the cone photo-receptor cells - the part of the eye that controls the perception of color - that humans have.

While we can't ask dogs to read an eye chart or pick out colors, behavioral tests suggest that dogs see in shades of yellow and blue and lack the ability to see the range of colors from green to red. In other words, dogs see the colors of the world as basically yellow, blue, and gray.

One amusing fact is that the most popular colors for dog toys today are red or safety orange. The problem, of course, is that red is difficult for dogs to see and may appear to them as a very dark brownish gray or even black.