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A Facebook follower asked me about this particularly sticky pet problem. Here’s my advice! Q: Help! My border collie got pine tree sap in her fur. How do I get it out? A: When it comes to sticky things in fur, there are a lot of different recommended remedies for removal. For instance, creamy peanut […]

It’s a terrible truth that many victims of domestic abuse and violence are kept in danger because their abuser threatens to harm the family pets. This truth is all the more terrible because that’s exactly what happened to Dr. Marty Becker’s daughter, Mikkel Becker. In recognition of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, she shares her […]

Because destructiveness in pets can have a medical as well as behavioral side, I teamed up with my daughter, trainer Mikkel Becker, to help this reader out with her rampaging cat. Q: My cat lives to tear up my stuff. She’s always scratching the furniture, eating houseplants and knocking things off shelves. She’s 2 years […]

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and my writing partner, Kim Campbell Thornton, shared the story of her recently-lost and much-loved adopted dog, Gemma, in our Pet Connection feature this week: Last month we lost our little Chihuahua-Pomeranian mix, Gemma, to cancer. She was probably 16 or 17 years old, so she had a […]

In the bad old days, veterinarians offered zero advice for a client who was getting a new kitten or cat. Here’s what normally happened: Person brings a cat who’s either frozen with fear, taking flight around a cardboard box almost ready to achieve orbital velocity, or hissing and ready to bring the fight like the […]