Animal Life

National Pet Memorial Day

Our little furry friends sometimes become such huge members of our lives and leave us with some of our best memories when they depart. They are more than just pets for some people, they are friends, children or just companions. They fill the void in our lives with love and loyalty. So it becomes even more difficult when we have to depart with them.
National Pet Memorial Day was established by the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories to commemorate the love and friendship of these lovely animals that have now left the world. Here are ways you can celebrate the National Pet Memorial Day and relive some old memories of your old friend.

Go Through Old Pictures

A great way to remember old times with your old pet is to go through your old pictures of them with you. It is more of a kick start to your brain to remember the good times you had with them. Usually, all we need is a little reminder to jog our memory and pictures do just that.
Collect all the pictures you find of your pet and make them into one large scrapbook so that whenever you need to go down memory lane with your pet, you can always just look up this scrapbook. You could also put a bunch of your favorite pictures of you and your pet on online social media platforms. Instagram and Snapchat especially favor pictorial content. With your posts, you could also encourage everyone in your friends to do the same and raise awareness for National Pet Memorial Day while you are at it!

Other Ways to Commemorate

There are a plethora of ways you can celebrate the memory of your furry friend. Planting a tree near on top of the grave of your old pet is away people keep the memory of their pet fresh in your mind. It does not necessarily have to be a tree; it could be any plant. The point of it would be to remind yourself of the times you had with your pet every time you look at the plant. The life force of your pet would also fuel the plant’s growth, so even in the next life, your friend is giving you some solace.

Donate to an Animal Rescue Organization

There are still countless animals in pounds around the world without a home of their own. These poor creatures are neglected and receive no love until and unless someone adopts them. What you can do is to donate to some of these animal pounds or organizations so that they can take better help of the animals.
If you cannot do so with money, then basic pet needs like pet food, water and blankets will do. You could also volunteer to help at the pound and spend some quality time with the neglected animals. This is honestly one of the best ways you could honor your best friend!

Curbing Your Dog’s Chewing

Your furry friend is your chosen best friend and faithful confidant such that you want to keep them in your lives as long as you can. But just like in any life partner, there are certain character traits you wish you could change. If it’s your human better half that needs to change, it would be a lot tougher to make happen and even if it does you’ll be on the suffering end of the bargain. However, if it’s something about your furry friend you wish to change, their incessant chewing habit, then it’s possible with almost no repercussions at all.
If your dog has the horrid habit to chew everything and anything in its path, such that it has you worrisome, fret no more for below are effective ways for your dog to limit it’s chewing on just its food.

Pay Attention from the Beginning

If your furry friend is new to your life and household, it is the ideal time to work on training him to be a good dog. If it’s a puppy, their curiosity will always get the best of them and because of this, you might find them probing and poking everything in their “pawsible” (possible) paths. To avoid and curb down their curiosity game, keep a strict eye on them and if you find them up to something, call them out on it. If you show strictness on certain things, your dog will understand and stop doing it.

Avoid Giving Your Dog Your Stuff

Often many dog owners make this mistake, which costs them more than they bargained on. Giving your old shoes, socks, clothes or towels to your dog is you telling them it’s okay to chew on items of this kind. In this way, when your dog is finished with the socks and towels you gave, they will most likely go on the hunt for similar items around the house and chew the life out of them. So be sure to avoid leading your pet on with chewing stuff because they will definitely bite off more than they can chew!

Give Your Dog Their Daily Quota for Play

If you were initially excited when your dog came, such that you spent hours playing with them and giving them attention. Though now, as the time has passed, and playing with your furry friend has become a thing of the ancient era. Here, it is likely that your dog will indulge in its own entertainment activities. You won’t even notice a particular entertainment indulgence of your dog until you find their chewing artwork or catch them red-handed. To avoid this, play as much as you can with your dog during the day so the rest of the day they remain tired or sleeping.
Dogs have a wonderful ability to being trained and learning to follow their owner’s commands. If you train them right, they’ll offer you countless face licks and won’t chew your expensive furniture in return!

Reasons Not to Declaw Your Cat

Cats and dogs are both different in their traits, to keep as pets. While dogs appear more buff and tough as compared to cats, with the exception of some breeds, cats, however, are more tender than tough. Their peculiar traits are characterized by spontaneous bursts of energy and most of the times they are tender and loving creatures.

If you own a cat and are considering to buff your cat’s paws, do not do it. There are reasons why you shouldn’t declaw your cat’s paws and some of them are serious enough to convince you.

Before you go do something as permanent as declawing your cat, consider these cons:

 

You Are Robbing the Cat of its Defensive Abilities

Cats have the natural predatory instinct linked to their claws. Build like a lion but with a comparatively toned down and less fatal tendency; declawed cats are like lions without claws. The lion will no longer remain the king of the jungle, being deprived of his predatory weaponry. Cats are inquisitive beings who are always on the go for discovering and probing new things, without claws, however, they cannot climb or fulfill their scratching urges.

Becomes More Aggressive or Fearful

Cat owners are aware of the fact that their feline pets are introverted creatures who take a lot of time opening up to their owners and new people. They have shy instincts which would mean they would remain hidden for long hours of the day without making a public appearance, except for food and water. You might also notice that the cat which had been ignoring you for days comes up out of the blue to lie on your lap. All these traits prove that cats require their time and space to warm up to places, people, and situations.

Now imagine you declaw your cat, this would take your relationship with your cat back to square one. Also, there will be an increasingly aggressive attitude radiating from your cat. It is a sign that your cat no longer trusts you.

Surgery is Always Painful

The pain of the surgery might be prevented through anesthetic inducement but what comes days after it wears off is the pain. After the surgery has been done and the cat tests its paws for the first time, to find out the difference, it will most likely feel the pain as well as sadness. Moreover, after surgery their nails grow into their paws, causing them extra pain.

And on that note, also do not clip your cat’s whiskers as they are equally important to them. The whiskers help them to judge and analyze if they can fit into certain places- and all cat owners know that these feline creatures have a thing for small and closed spaces.

If it’s really that much of a nuisance for you, consider trimming your cat’s nails, teach them where to scratch and where not to and get scratching posts installed around the house instead of going for something as permanent as declawing them entirely.