How to Be Your Animals’ Best Friend

Make a pact with your animals right now to spend a little time each day giving them one-on-one tender loving care. They depend on you to take them for walks, to brush them, to give them biscuits or catnip, and, most importantly, to keep them safe. Caring responsibly for your best friend can help make relations with neighbors pleasant as well. Folks who allow Fido to howl all day or let Fluffy dig up the garden next door are putting their animals at very real risk of being harmed by angry neighbors. Start with these essentials to keep your best friend happy and safe.

Spay or neuter your animal to prevent cancers of the reproductive organs, the spread of many infectious diseases, and the suffering of unwanted puppies and kittens.

Give your animal friend proper identification with a tattoo and/or a microchip and tags-bearing your name, address, and phone number—in case he or she does become lost. Many lost animals taken to shelters have to be euthanized because shelter workers don’t have a way to contact their guardians.

Follow local and state public health, animal control, and animal cruelty laws, and be sure that your animals have all required licenses and vaccinations. Pick up waste and dispose of it regularly and properly to eliminate odor.

Cats and dogs are safest and happiest spending most of their time indoors with you. Even enclosed in a “secure” fence, neither dogs nor cats should be left alone for longer than a few minutes, and dogs should never be tethered or chained. Thieves, or "bunchers," make a living cruising neighborhoods for friendly dogs and cats they can sell to dealers, who in turn sell them to laboratories. Keeping animals indoors is especially important in the summer, when dogs often die tragic, preventable deaths because of a lack of protection from the heat, and in winter, when dogs, cats, and other animals can suffer from frostbite, exposure, and dehydration.

Solve barking and other behavioral problems humanely and effectively.

Itching and biting and chasing their tails in frustration are no fun for dogs. Preventing fleas is fundamental to their comfort.

If you want to sever your last link with the slaughterhouse, it is possible to feed dogs and cats meatless meals.

Designate alternate caretakers for your animals in the event of illness or death.

Click here for more ways to show your companion animals how much you adore them.

You can improve the lives of dogs and cats suffering from cruelty and neglect.

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