Pet Bucket Blog

Hello and welcome! It’s time for another product showcase in the ongoing war against fleas. This week’s item presented for your perusal goes by quite the contented moniker: Comfortis. Comfortis is a highly effective chewable monthly flea killer. This stuff is extremely potent against fleas, but relatively easy on a dog’s system. Comfortis begins working as soon as digestion starts, around 30 minutes after the initial administration, and it keeps working for thirty days after ingestion. It actually causes fleas to have a seizure before they shove off the mortal coil. It’s a dramatic sight, if you’ve got a microscope and the free time. According to a study from 2011 put forth by Ipsos Forward Research, Comfortis has the highest overall satisfaction rate for monthly flea control products among veterinarians. That’s mighty high praise for a chewable. Usually, a digested treat doesn’t go to work as quickly as the spot on alternative, owing that delayed reaction to digestion and transmission through the blood stream rather than the sebaceous glands in their skin. It’s efficacy can’t be understated, the fact that you can actually witness fleas seizing and dying within a half hour of feeding the dog a tasty treat, is nothing short of incredible. Also incredible, is the chewable delivery system for this drug. That means no more chasing the dog or cat around the house and applying the back of the neck death grip in order to apply one of those irritating spot ons. Those of you with more subdued pets might not understand such travails, but if you’ve ever had to deal with a half feral cat that doesn’t like the smell of a spot on, you’re more than a little familiar with the difficulty described. You can also cease to worry about getting any of the chemical on your hands, furniture, clothing, or carpet. Comfortis works by regulating the growth of the fleas as well as the all-out brutal genocide it commits upon the adult blood-suckers. What this means is it keeps flea larvae, pupa, and eggs from ever entering into the next stage of life. Without any way of growing up they don’t really die of old age, but just sort of expire because they can’t fend for themselves at any point before adulthood. As far as fleas are concerned, Comfortis is a nightmare grotesquery that eliminates silently, violently, and almost instantaneously. To sum it up, Comfortis is a tasty chewable delight for dogs and cats alike, which horribly maims the unborn fleas, cantankerously annihilates the adolescent ones, and vehemently exterminates the adults—all in a timely fashion. It’s chemical warfare at its best; giving the maximum benefit to you and your pet, with no fuss for you and a delicious reward for them, but also taking swift and total vengeance against your microscopic enemies. So if you are looking for a fast, effective, and ferocious chewable alternative to a spot on flea control medication, then give Comfortis a once over today!

Surprisingly enough in our in the era of information inundation, it’s somewhat difficult to ascertain the leading cause of death for pets. Despite being an immensely popular area of interest for millions of people around the world, pets have yet to garner their own database detailing the various means of their demise. While this is a morbid thing to consider, it certainly bears consideration. Because we don’t have this crucial information readily at hand it’s more difficult to safeguard our pets against potential pet threats. What little information that does eventually float to the surface of public consciousness seems to reach a consensus concerning the major reasons for the death of a dog or cat. These causes usually center on old age, shelter euthanization, cancer, and traffic accidents. Being in different species usually means slightly different brackets for most criteria in mortality rates. With cats and dogs, this maxim doesn’t seem to hold true. Because of the high level of care and good quality of life in many developed countries, (the only places on earth where this sort of data is compiled,) old age is actually one of the leading causes of death for dogs and cats alike. Unfortunately, there’s no preventing an end that isn’t premature; the same can be said of shelter euthanization.  Everything has its allotted time, and when that time comes, there’s only so much that science and even prayer can do to delay it. Other than giving your pet plenty of exercise and a healthy diet, there’s not too much you can do to delay the inevitable. Another of the leading causes of death in pets is canine and feline cancer. In fact, it is a massive problem. More than any other disease, cancer in dogs and cats is running rampant, significantly increasing the mortality rate of dogs and cats alike. Dealing with the death of a dog or cat is hard enough. Dealing with the death of a dog or cat due to a degenerative disease is downright heartbreaking. Luckily, there are some ways to help prevent cancer in dogs and cats. Keeping pets safe from cancer, while not a fool-proof process, is certainly a simple one. How simple? As simple as avoiding known carcinogens. Here’s a quick list of some easy steps to safeguarding pet life: -Provide pure water Either filtered or distilled if you’re feeling especially fancy. This purification process eliminates potentially harmful agents in your pet’s water. -Avoid pollution—If your city issues a smog alert, it might be best to skip the daily walk. Try not to smoke in front of your dog or cat either. They’re lungs are just as sensitive to pollutants as yours are. -Keep them away from lawn treatments—Pesticides, herbicides, etc. -Provide a stress free environment—Pets are social creatures and sensitive to the moods and emotions of their surroundings. -Plenty of exercise—A fit body is a healthy body! Remember these tips, and keep your pet life around longer and stronger!  

Profender Spot on for Cats is one of those rare pet medications that really just gives a customer everything he or she could possibly ask for. It treats a wide variety of intestinal worms, it actually treats lungworm-a notoriously dangerous pest, it goes easy on your cat’s delicate system—treatment can begin when a cat is only 3 weeks old, and it is incredibly affordable for all of the protection it offers. It’s quite a bargain no matter how you look at it. This Bayer product actually does what every sales pitch claims to do: gives you more for less. First let’s talk about Profender Spot on for Cats’ efficacy. It treats, prevents, and eliminates existing cases of all of the following: roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms, and the aforesaid lungworms. Every single major ascarid is wiped out with an added bonus of taking out a life-threatening lungworm infection as well. That’s a great deal of coverage for a single medication. What really sets the spot on for cats apart from the rest of the competition is that it isn’t even a monthly dosage! Think about every other medication you’ve ever heard about. How often can any of them boast one treatment per 90 days? That’s just plain excellent kitty cat coverage. Roundworms, tapeworms, and hookworms are always annoying and potentially harmful to an otherwise healthy kitty, but they pale in comparison to the threat posed by a lungworm. This insidious parasite resides, procreates within, and inflames the respiratory system of your cat. This can cause serious health complications for even the heartiest of cats. It’s a problem that can’t be tolerated, and they can be very difficult to treat. Which is what makes it amazing that such a simple and affordable treatment like Profender Spot on for cats can do the trick so easily. Another awesome attribute of Profender Spot on for cats is that it’s available to cats with worms of almost any size or age. As is previously mentioned, the earliest a kitten can be treated with Profender is at three weeks. That just goes to show how powerfully effective the medication is, while simultaneously remaining daintily sensitive and unintrusive to the cat’s natural processes. This is due, in part, to the easy delivery system for the drug to take effect. A single drop on the back of the neck and your kitty is covered for 90 days. Easier isn’t always better, but this is definitely an excellent exception! Perhaps you’ve noticed by now how often the term “affordable” keeps coming up in reference to this incredible spot on for cats. Well, there’s a good reason for it. One treatment which lasts for three whole months is just under $8.00. If you don’t have your jaw on the floor, then you probably haven’t been paying for cat medications very long. It’s a phenomenal deal and readily available as always at your favorite online pet supermarket: Petbucket.com. Having cats with worms is an unacceptable problem. Grab your supply today!

True to its name, Heartgard truly does offer an incredible degree of protection to your pet’s most vital of vitals. This powerful medication for dogs or cats will knock an invasion of fresh-faced parasites into oblivion. The vanguard product from parent company, Merial, is super effective against heartworms in the larval stage, and should continuously be used to safeguard any valued family pet. Merial, always an ambitious protector of pets, doesn’t stop with simple single dimensional protection against heartworm larvae. Three different variations of Heartgard are available to protect against a much greater variety of threats. The basic protection begins with Heartgard. Think of this as the basic cable package, it gives you the programming you really need: the local news, classic TV reruns, and a decent movie here and there. The meat and potatoes, so to speak.  The active ingredient in Heartgard is ivermectin, which attacks heartworms in their larval stage. It also has been reported to prevent other such canine conditions as demodetric/sarcoptic mange and ear-mites. This makes it the ideal pet preventative and a mainstay in their supplementary diet. One ivermectin dose a month will do wonders for your pet’s health and your wallet as well. It’s always best to stop a problem before it starts, and heartworm disease can be an especially expensive pitfall to any pet owner. For those who want to go the extra mile, Merial also offers Heartgard Plus which still offers the ivermectin fueled protection from heartworm disease, along with the intestinal parasite pesticide: pyrantel.  Pyrantel helps prevent canine ascarids, otherwise known as hookworms. If you keep up with this blog, pyrantel should strike a familiar chord, as it is one of the active ingredients in a previously showcased product, Drontal. Finally, Heartgard Immiticide is used to take out the notoriously tough adult heartworms that often spell the end for the beloved pets of families the world over.  Honestly, Immiticide should be used as a last resort and avoided if at all possible. It can only be administered by a vet via painful injections into the lower back. They cause the worms in the dog’s heart to disintegrate and shed into the bloodstream, eventually exiting through the lungs, which occurs through an unsettling amount of canine coughing. This can lead to serious complications like blood clots and embolisms. It’s a last resort fast-kill method to try and save the dog’s life. However, it is a lot less scary and way less expensive that heart surgery. Dedication to the customer’s wants and needs is what makes a successful company, and Merial is no exception. Heartgard products are renowned for being fast, effective, and convenient measures against a wide range of parasites. They offer quality start to finish options for the most debilitating diseases a dog or cat can contract, and it has made them one of the most successful pet pharmaceutical providers in the world. Petbucket.com is dropping science daily so you can make informed decisions for your pet’s future.Pick up some Heartgard products today!

So your dog knows some tricks, eh? Feeling pretty smug? Alright smart guy, why don’t we work towards something a little more challenging? Anybody can get the basic tricks down: sit, stay, shake, lie down, and come. Those aren’t that tough so here comes the curve ball. You’re going to teach your dog to heel. Training a dog to heel takes a lot of concentration from your pooch, and a lot of patience from you. There’s tons of repetition, variability, treat giving, and affectionate praise involved so get ready for a long endeavor. Like most tricks, it’s not the difficulty involved that makes it so tasking to teach your dog. It’s the sheer redundancy and time spent that really has you pulling your hair out. So long as you’re prepared for that you should do just fine. So let’s get started. The objective in training a dog to heel is to teach your dog to come immediately when called and stay right by your side. This is a handy skill for an excitable hound who, left unattended, may just tackle your neighbor’s toddler. Begin with your dog in the Heel position, adjacent to your leg, but not touching you.  Keep one of the hound’s favorite snacks in hand at about waist height with plenty more in reserve.. Take two steps forward, leading the dog with the treat. Always teach your dog to heel on one side, left or right according to your preference. When the dog follows your lead and comes to a stop at your side reward the behavior with a treat and verbal praise. Did you enjoy that? Good, while training a dog to heel you’ll be doing it thousands of times. Once you’re comfortable with the pup’s ability at two steps, increase the distance. As you’re leading the dog, consistently keep its attention by calling its name and making kissing, clicking, or whistling noises. Don’t add the verbal command, “Heel” until you teach your dog to consistently and correctly perform the trick. The concept behind this is to establish the behavior before cementing the trick with the command. Continue this process until you’re blue in the gills, rewarding your dog every time it gets it right. If they lag behind or run too far ahead, simply stand up straight, patiently say “no” and restart the process. Once your dog has the trick down to a distance of ten paces or more, you can add in the verbal command. Begin telling it to heel as it’s following you. Slowly but surely the idea will sink into the dog’s mind. Once that’s done, it’s time to test your dog’s commitment to treat-getting. Take them to different locations, practice in front of other people or animals, adjust your speed, heel longer before restarting, and add in some turns while walking. If your pup manages to stay obedient through all that, then congratulations, you can officially start calling yourself a dog whisperer and lobby animal planet for your own reality show. That is one well behaved doggy!

Congratulations on your new puppy! You’re in luck, because learning how to train your dog from scratch is much easier than trying to get them to unlearn bad habits. Puppies are obsessed with getting your attention, and are very eager to please. This makes it the ideal time to begin puppy leash training when they’re young. As with every other type of training, leash training a puppy takes consistency and patience. It’s a little difficult at first, but keep at it and you’ll have a perfectly behaved pup padding along on a slack leash at your side during every walk. Start off by understanding the psychology of how to train your dog. All animals in nature work off of reward systems. If they behave in a certain way that brings about a desired result, their brains will give them a massive jolt of pleasure. Keeping that in mind, you have to remember to never reward your puppy for an undesirable behavior. In this case you must avoid rewarding your puppy for pulling against the leash. It will cause the both of you discomfort and will set you back a good deal in leash training a puppy. So before taking your puppy on its first walk, get it used to the leash by letting the pup wear it around the house. They’ll drag it around, chew on it, and generally act cute but eventually the walking implement will be forgotten. Once they’ve achieved a level of comfort with the leash, take up your end and walk around the house with them. Figuring out how to train your dog is about getting them used to being right by your side with a lot of slack on the leash. Doing this in a controlled environment free of all the distractions in the outside world will do wonders for their self-control. While you’re performing the puppy leash training exercises, it’s important to reward your puppy for the proper behavior. Keep a package of their favorite treats on you, and reward them every time they find themselves in the correct position. However, if their tendency is to pull away and keep the leash taut you’ll have to do the most frustrating thing imaginable for both of you. Keep still. This is where your patience is key. Puppy leash training will drive you to your wits end if you have a particularly stubborn pup, and the first few sessions are going to be tasking no matter what.  Still the best way to break them of bad leash training habits is to let their undesirable behavior go unrewarded. They have to realize that whenever they pull in the wrong direction, they won’t go anywhere. So when a puppy begins pulling, stop in your tracks and call them back. Once they return to your side reward them with plenty of praise and a tasty treat. Repeat this process until your brain is numb and you’ll have a perfectly leash trained puppy.

Everyone knows how difficult it is to keep your favorite pet worm free. Those pesky parasites seem to pop up wherever and whenever they’re least expected; and repeated vet visits can be a tiring and costly chore. Thankfully, many powerful worming medications are readily available at the vet’s office as well as online. Though the massive multiplicity of medications for dogs or cats with worms presents another problem. Which of these meds is best for your dog or cat? Well, the most popular and effective, according to most consumer reviews, are the products produced under the Drontal name brand which have a very high success rate, and near 100% customer satisfaction. Drontal has a lot of different products under its broad umbrella. Drontal plus, Drontal Allwormer  Cats, Drontal Chewables Dogs, and Drontal Worming Suspension Puppies are just a few of the flagship products made by the Bayer subsidiary. Since worms in dogs often share many attributes with cat worms, the same active ingredients can work in both species. These 3 active ingredients are: praziquantel, pyrantel pamoate, and febantel. Though one important exception would be that febantel isn’t present in the Drontal products for cats. These products are just as tough on the worms in dogs and cats as they are to pronounce. The first active ingredient in Drontal, praziquantel, starts off the treatment by roughing up the tapeworms. This stuff is quickly absorbed into a dog or cat’s system and metabolized through their livers. Once metabolized it enters into the digestive tract through the bile. There it begins the assault on tapeworms, rendering them unable to avoid being digested.  Tapeworms rely on their ability to withstand the acidic environment of an animal’s stomach. Once robbed of that ability they are ground up and excreted like so much waste. Next up the Pyrantel Pamoate goes after the hookworms by blasting through their nervous systems. Once Pyrantel Pamoate effectively paralyses the hookworms, it’s a simple matter of waiting for peristalsis to pass them on to the other side, or to the outside in this case. Finally, the clean-up hitter for Drontal Plus, febantel, finishes the job by whipping up on the whipworms. Febantel works similarly to the praziquantel in the way it’s metabolized, but then it eliminates the whipworms by blocking their energy processing power. Without the ability to metabolize their own energy the whipworms are forced to hit the bricks, or the grass, or the pine straw, or the litter box. Wherever your pet does its business. Drontal Plus is a three punch combination that sends these intestinal parasites flying out the backdoor without delay. Dosage is determined by size, species, and the age of the pet. So pay attention to the package labeling and remember to check your pet consistently for symptoms of these parasites. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got cats with worms or worms in dogs, either way the wide variety of Drontal products will see you through to a healthier pet and a happier home.

Anyone that’s ever rented an apartment knows about the pet clause. There are breeds that many leasing offices won’t tolerate. These so called “dangerous dogs” are blacklisted and treated a little more like animals than usual. However, this overarching reactionary attitude begs the question: is this kind of puppy profiling helpful in preventing dog bites? Does an animal’s bad attitude spring from the womb, or is does theproblem lie elsewhere? Is the label, “dangerous breed” an arbitrary and inaccurate term? German Shepherds, Doberman Pinchers, Pit Bulls, Rottweiler, Huskies, and Chow Chows have all at one time or another been lambasted as aggressive or dangerous dogs.  This is due to a study performed by the CDC that recorded dog-related deaths between 1979 and 1988. These animals were near the top of the list. But the list didn’t properly reflect the rare nature of dog attacks. Pit bulls were rated the most dangerous dog with 66 deaths. That’s less death in a decade than can be attributed to bee stings in a single year. If certain breeds really are more vicious then why do so many people love and adore their particular dogs? Dogs that never show their teeth to anybody, not even the mailman. Luckily, insurance companies applied common sense to the situation and started keeping dangerous dog registries, rather than blanket dangerous breed labeling. Despite these advances in the battle against doggy discrimination there are still pockets of resistance against greater understanding of the complex relationship dynamics between people and canines. The state of Ohio labels Pit bulls as dangerous dogs, and requires a whole slew of state ordinances for bull owners to abide by. Now to be fair to the legislature, Pit bulls have long been bred for aggression. A “game” pit bull is a particularly prized possession for certain seedier denizens of back alleys. Generations of this sort of breeding have taken place for the sole purpose of creating fighting dogs. Whereas thousands of years of domestication moved dogs toward docility and sociability, it’s only taken several generations to turn Pit bulls into some savage competitors. Despite the terrible mistreatment many of these “dangerous dogs” must endure, they are still extremely amiable companions to a properly educated human. They’ve been trained and bred to fight other dogs, and usually don’t make for the best pets in homes with multiple animals or children, but to their adult owners they are fiercely loyal. It takes a strong hand and a cool head to handle one of these rescued fighters, but it just goes to show that no amount of mistreatment is as powerful as kindness. With even the most terrible treatment, no dog is beyond salvage. This makes the pit bull its own greatest advocate. If a dog bred over several generations for fierce aggression and unbridled savagery can, within its own lifetime, become a loving companion, it proves that every animal needs to be dealt with on an individual basis. Even a dangerous dog can beat a bad rap through the simple application of love.

As you learned yesterday, cat history is a multifaceted and complicated subject. As far as science is concerned, the earliest sign of cat domestication began in ancient Greece with the advent of agricultural societies. Later in the history of the cat, ancient Egyptians began to worship them as gods, and for the first time in the history of the cat, felines got a taste of the royal treatment. This history of the cat's worship began as a totemic practice, (the worship of an animal as a spiritual symbol) but was later further organized with the cat holding a legitimate spot in the Egyptian pantheon. There were three cat goddesses of note: Mafdet, Bast, and Sehkmet. Mafdet was the goddess of Justice. Bast began as a lion goddess but eventually became more cat-like as her role was marginalized. She was the protective patron deity of Lower Egypt, as well as a handmaiden and protector of the sun god, Ra. Sehkmet also began as a lioness, but ended up becoming more cat-like over time. She replaced Bast as the protector of Ra and the pharaohs. Around the year390 BC the main cult in ancient Egypt that worshiped cats was disbanded, and kitties began to lose their significance, although their influence never completely fizzled out. Because of their awesome hunting skills, cats have always been valued residents of whatever culture and time period they happen to inhabit. Cat history is filled with owners thankful to be pest-free. The history of the cat isn't limited to a single location though. They are valued companions all over the globe. During the Song Dynasty in China around a thousand years ago, cats were treated as the favored pets among nobility. They went so far as to advertise and sell fish exclusively for cat feeding in the ancient Chinese markets. In much of Europe and the United States, cats enjoyed a more infamous sort of notoriety. They became associated with witches as familiars and servants of the devil. This superstition persists in culture even today, as people will always assume a black cat crossing their path is an ill omen. Myths even include stories of cats sadistically smothering infant children by stealing all of the air from their noses. The crazy thing about that one is it may actually be rooted in reality. Cats have been known to lie on top of infant children for warmth, in some cases suffocating the child. However, in the United Kingdom it is considered good luck for a black cat to enter a home or climb aboard a ship. It seems human beings are often as ambivalent toward cats as they are towards us. It’s plain to see that cat history is a rich and varied subject of study. Throughout these two blog posts we’ve hardly scratched the surface of the multitudes of stories and folklore surrounding our favorite felines. One thing is for certain; whether it’s bad press or preferential treatment, our complicated relationship with these cats isn’t ending anytime soon.

Everyone knows that cats are great companions: aloof and precocious, as well as excellent hunters. However, not many people have as much knowledge on exactly how the common house cat achieved its position of influence and allure. The funny thing is the history of the cat and its relationship with humankind goes back so far, no one is really even sure of when it began. Cat history is an intriguing and diverting mystery with many questions unanswered, and plenty of fascinating recorded facts. Most scientists agree that every variety of common housecat and many of their feral cousins came from just five different ancient wildcats. The earliest record of their domestication comes from the Greek isle of Cyprus. This evidence currently goes back as far as 12,000 years!  That’s 7500 BC for those of you keeping track. What’s odd about that number is that it’s been pushed back several times. Every few years or so there is a new archeological finding of a fossilized cat small enough to be domesticated, and in close enough proximity to the remains of a human being as to start speculating on an even older starting point for the history of the cat’s domestication. With archeologists finding new large megalithic structures indicating that agricultural societies might have been around much longer than the current academic model assumes, it’s quite possible that the origin of domesticated cat history may get pushed back even further. While it’s fascinating to speculate on the beginning of our complicated relationship with domestic cats, we don’t have to guess as to how it happened. The overwhelming g consensus on the subject is that initially domestic cats took root at about the same time humans settled into agrarian societies. As soon as people started farming, they started storing surplus crops. When crops had to be stored, rodents and vermin began to start swiping valuable grains. Cats started moving into the storehouses and picking of the especially plump ones. Over time, humans began to breed the ones that showed more docility. From then on it was a rich and diverse history for domestic cats. They continued to interbreed with their feral counterparts, muddying up the bloodlines and making their exact origins difficult to pin down. This seems in keeping with their mysterious personalities, which ironically is probably why they were so endeared them to the human species. Another better known chapter in the history of the cat is their connection to and deification within ancient Egypt. Domestic cats were revered to the point of worship. Ironically, the Egyptian word for cat was “Mao” a bit of a cognate for meow. It’s said that there was even a death penalty for killing a cat. Cats were considered sacred animals, in all probability because of their ability to keep down the rodent population as well as their proficiency at killing cobras. Not bad company to keep when your fields are being overrun by asps. That’s it for today’s history lesson. Check back tomorrow for part 2 of The History of the Cat!