Posts from February, 2014
Coping with Pet Loss in a Family
The loss of a beloved family pet is probably the most difficult aspect of pet ownership. This is especially true when there are children in the home. Often, the loss of a pet is the first experience that young children will have with death and grieving, and may be especially difficult to understand. .
Everyone in the family will react to the loss differently, and it is important to understand that age, life experience, and personality all play a part in how a person handles grief.
As parents, it is important to understand how children handle grief, so that you can help them through this difficult time. Here are some insights when it comes to coping with pet loss in a family. Continue…
How Do I Volunteer My Dog?
For many of us, giving back to our community is an important part of our life. But did you know that pets could be volunteers too?
Therapy animals are becoming more common and more active than ever before, and the demand for these special animals is growing by leaps and bounds. Volunteer pets have making the world a better place in senior centers, retirement homes, schools, and rehab centers for years, and their popularity is growing as their good works are proving to be effective.
If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How do I volunteer my dog?” then read on for an introduction to volunteering your pet. Continue…
Why Are Pets Good For You?
This past year, the American Heart Association reported scientific evidence to support the notion that pets actually have the ability to improve our heart health.
And while there’s no denying that there are times our pets drive us a little crazy, and can cause us heart ache, most pet owners were not surprised by this “discovery”.
But for all the feel-good reasons there are when it comes to why pets are good for you, do you actually know the reasons that pets can help to keep us healthy? While the list could go on and on, here are the top two reasons that pet’s are (scientifically) good for you… Continue…
Can Your Dog Be A Blood Donor?
When a dog undergoes a serious surgery, be it planned or as a result of an unexpected trauma, he or she needs life-saving blood donations just like we do.
But where does that blood come from? It’s not often that we see blood drives for pets, or the American Red Cross: Canine Division vans parked in front of local businesses. (No, there’s really no such thing, we’re just kidding)
Instead, blood donations for our four-legged friends often come from local owners volunteering their pets for the cause, and OVRS is one of the local resources for volunteer donations. These donations fuel our Buddies for Life Blood Bank, which helps dogs at both OVRS and throughout our community. Continue…