In most municipalities in the US, dogs (and sometimes cats, too) require yearly licenses. The fees from these licenses are used to fund the animal services our municipalities provide. In some municipalities (like mine) there is no other source of municipal funding for animal-related services. Consequently, if people don’t buy tags...there will be no animal services.

Because the annual license...

I get lots of mail like the letter I’m posting below. This one is from a Dolittler reader and pet owner whose pet suffered a fatal reaction––this time from a commercial dog chew. And like most special requests like this one, the questions it raises are many. They’re detailed below this impassioned appeal for your consideration.

Patty,

Here is the letter I sent you that I would like posted on...

Not long ago, I was politely panned by a pet owner over on my PetMD DailyVet blog. He or she was upset because I’d dared to present the topic of itchiness (pruritus) in such arduous detail.

I’d discussed pruritus in pets (in three installments) as a complex issue, citing a litany of possibilities for each kind of pattern. I explained, in essence, that diagnosis and treatment was not always so...

Bringing a legal case against an alleged animal cruelty offender is tough slogging. I get lots of email on the subject and I have a hard time explaining to people why that’s so.

The short answer is simple yet incomprehensible to many of us: Our culture does not yet value the lives of animals the same way we do here on Dolittler. The concept of pets as family may be alive and well...but it’s...

“I don’t know how many times I have to say it: It was wrong...I didn’t step up. I wasn’t a leader.”

If I had my druthers, you’d never stop saying it. Your hell would be akin to Tantalus’s: a $130 million contract dangles above your head while the snarling pits you killed lick at your heels for eternity.

As it is, you got off easy. And you don’t seem to get that, given your impatience with...

Cat vs. bird. It’s a Dolittler theme for sure. But there’s always something unsettling about the emotional discussion that inevitably ensues whenever the problem of free-roaming cats killing birds gets raised. It's something I can only describe as “stressful” on the TNR (trap-neuter-release) and environmental front.

I’ve always had cause to ponder the dilemma more intimately than most. That’s...

Would you take your pet to one of those in-front-of-the-supermarket vaccine clinics charging less than your vet does for basic vaccines? You might not. You’re not likely to fall into the target market for these. Not if you’re taking the time to read through blog posts on the subject of veterinary care.

Nonetheless, you should know that plenty of people find these vaccine shops to be...

Remember that old fast-food commercial bemoaning the lack of meat in its competitors’ burgers? “Where’s the beef?” it asked, thereby implying the obvious: “You’ve been cheated.”

Same goes for how it is that many humans treat their own healthcare. If they’re sick enough to go see the doc, they somehow take offense when the professional does not acknowledge their suffering with some sort of...

Ever thought about why it is we feel the urge to offer treats and tidbits to our beloved creatures? I have. I’ve thought about it a lot. After all, if I can plumb the depths of the American psyche on that one I think I’ll have earned myself a Nobel Prize––or at least a MacArthur Grant. 

Here’s a short, would-be pet story to illustrate:

Last Saturday I spent the afternoon kayaking with my...

If you own a sort-of-purebred––whether he’s recognized by a breed registry or not––you can breed him to a bitch of similar heritage––or not––and create a “designer dog.” 

After all, a so-called “designer” doesn’t have to be Gucci or Pucci or Prada to claim he created a “designer” paper airplane that cannot fly...or a “designer” dress that fits like a garbage bag. 

When, I’d like to know, did...