September 28 is World Rabies Day

Rabies risks: Thinking about not vaccinating your pet against rabies? Here's what you need to know

I'm one of the many folks across the world anxiously waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccines are one of the most impactful inventions for humanity, and working in veterinary medicine has allowed me to experience first hand the power of vaccines. Watching a puppy die from canine parvovirus is a devastating experience, but it has given me a deeper respect for vaccines. Especially the rabies vaccine. Rabies is a fatal disease that affects mammals. Rabies is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans. Non-mammals, including fish, poultry, birds, reptiles, and amphibians can’t get rabies. Rabies is spread through the saliva of an infected animal. The animal bites a human or animal, breaking the skin, and the infected saliva gets into the wound, passing the disease on to the victim. You can also become infected by getting saliva, brain or spinal tissue from an infected animal (dead or alive) in an open cut, sore, wound, eyes, mouth, or nose.

September 25 is a Global Day for Climate Action: What does that have to do with toilet paper?

 Help at home: It's a day of Global Climate Action, but what can we do in Ontario while sitting on our butts?

It's a day of Global Climate Action and I'm here to talk to you about butts... How many of you panic purchased toilet paper when the COVID-19 pandemic hit? I get it! Okay, I don't really get it that much- I didn't buy any extra toilet paper. I was thinking more about my respiratory system and less about my bottom. Next question. When you filled your Costco cart with stacks of bulk TP, extra soft, extra strong, how many of you thought about how toilet paper affects Ontario forests?

MUST ASK QUESTIONS for your prospective pet sitter for Pet Sitter Education Month

Put their paws in capable hands: Have questions to ask a pet sitter? I've got the answers- because I asked them!

If you live in the Ottawa Valley and need to travel but can't take your pet along for the ride, have no worries. You can put your pet's paws in very capable hands. PAWSitive Companionship for ALL Animals Big and Small Pet Sitting Services is a home away from home for your pets. For Lacey Duperron, she just calls it home- and her dream job!

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Pages of poetry: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is like a long summer that you never want to end

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Like a book, all good things must come to an end, and there is no better way to end my Summer Reading List than by reviewing Where The Crawdads Sing, the mesmerizing debut novel by Delia Owens. Not only is it the best book on my list, but it's the best book I've read in years. Like the summer, I never wanted it to end. 

Coming clean: My biggest failure as a pet owner #NationalPetInsuranceMonth

My biggest mistake as a pet owner: I should have purchased pet insurance for Hazel, here's why!

I made a HUGE mistake! As pet owners, sometimes we make mistakes when trying to do the best for our pets. But this one... this is all on me. When I brought Hazel home, one of the first things I did was sign her up for a free trial of pet insurance. The next morning I brought Hazel to see her veterinarian because she was walking funny. It turned out Hazel had a broken femur that went undiagnosed before she came home to me. Any conditions she was diagnosed with before the trial became active would not be covered. She was already signed up for a lifetime of pain and pre-existing conditions, so signing her up for pet insurance felt like a lost cause.