Simple Steps Ensure a Long Life for Your Pet 

As a responsible pet owner, you can take a few simple steps that will go a long way toward keeping your pet healthy and happy. The American Animal Hospital Association suggests these practical tips that can ensure your pet's health and happiness. 

Can secondhand smoke harm my pets?

Not surprisingly, the answer is yes. 
Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, 43 of which are known to be carcinogens. While many studies have shown that exposure to these chemicals can increase people's chances of heart disease, lung cancer, and other cancers, some recent studies have shown that these chemicals also increase the risk of these diseases to pets.

It's true--animals can get bloated too. It's a little different than with people, though, and a lot more dangerous. If your veterinarian says that your dog has bloat, she means that your dog's stomach is full of excess gas, fluid, or foam. Bloat can be caused by a number of things. Most often dogs and cats get bloat because they swallow excess air. It can also occur when the valve at the bottom of the stomach is blocked and the gas and other material produced by the digestive process can't exit the stomach.

Cats can suffer from arthritis just as we humans do, and it mostly affects older cats. There might not be any cure (depending on the type of arthritis), but there are always treatments. Most cats are naturally exceptionally nimble and athletic animals, but as you might expect their joints, ligaments and bones are susceptible to accidental damage, and to the wear and tear of everyday life. On the other hand, giving thanks to their buoyancy, sense of balance, ability to land on their feet and built-in shock absorbers - their forelegs are not connected by bone to the rest of their skeleton, cats do not suffer from as many orthopaedic troubles as they might if they didn’t have all of these great qualities. Arthritis conditions in cats take place most generally as an end result of accidents.