BC heat wave: SPCA offers tips on how to keep pets cool

Gino,
The BC SPCA is reminding pet owners of the impact of hot weather can have on their four-legged family members as heat advisories are in effect for much of the province this weekend. Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a special weather statement for BC’s South Coast Friday, with daytime temperatures expected to reach 10 to 15 C above seasonal averages for this time of year. The weather agency says the heat wave could bring daytime highs reaching into the high 20s to low 30s, with overnight temperatures expected to hit the low to mid-teens. According to the SPCA, the…

Canada Wildfires Rage in Alberta and British Columbia

Gino,
As crisp smoke filled the air, turning the sky around her sleepy hometown, Fox Creek, Alberta, a blood orange line, Nicole Clarke said she felt a sense of terror. With no time to collect family photographs, she grabbed her two young children, hopped into her pickup truck, and sped away, praying she wouldn’t drive into the blaze’s fishing path. “This feels like a Canadian Armageddon, like a bad horror film,” said Ms. Clarke, a 37-year-old hair stylist, standing outside her pickup truck, a large pile of dirty laundry piled in the trunk. In a country revered for placid landscapes and…

A new start after 60: I embraced being single and became an international pet-sitter | Life and style

Gino,
When Bernadine Swale’s marriage ended after 36 years, when she was 57, her first instinct – once she had recovered from the shock – was that she couldn’t manage alone. “The standard, cookie-cutter way you have to be in your 60s is man and woman, and you travel together,” he says. It took her a few years to realize: “Actually, no.” Now 68, Swale, a retired pharmacist, travels the world as a pet-sitter. Last year, she spent only 23 nights in her own bed, in a loft that looks out over downtown Denver. Pet-sitting stops have included London, New York,…

Thunder Bay residents taking pets to Minnesota veterinary clinic

Gino,
A local veterinary clinic says a shortage of vets and vet technicians has created an overwhelming workload in the city THUNDER BAY — Some pet owners in the Thunder Bay area are traveling to animal clinics south of the border or a few hours away because they can’t get appointments in the city unless they’re already registered. It’s an ongoing situation, not just a recent development, as at least one local clinic hasn’t accepted new clients for the past five years. A spokesperson at another clinic has offered an explanation, saying veterinarians are already badly overworked due to a shortage…

Christmas Dog Photography Gift Voucher Offer, Aberdeen Only.

Gino,
It’s that time of the year again so I suppose we can expect to see Easter eggs on the shelves soon enough… In the meantime, Hairy Dog is running a special offer – a serious £20 discount on Christmas gift vouchers. Usually £ 70, gift vouchers are now just £50 until the 31st of December 2019. Stone cold bargain! What’s included? The actual voucher (which is rather lovely), so you have something to hand over! A full one hour session in any location within 10 miles of Aberdeen city A web gallery of around 30 beautifully finished images Two 9×6″…

Chinese women have no time for pet haters

Gino,
Over lunch at a hotel on the edge of an industrial city in the middle of China, with roars coming from a wedding in the next room, two women were telling me about their cats. One had been given a stray kitten only a few weeks old which had grown into the most devoted pet. “She’s more like a dog than a cat. She follows me around everywhere and sits looking at me, even in the bathroom,” she said. She reckoned that feeding and taking care of the cat cost the equivalent of about €40 per month and she had…

First inspections of the spring

Gino,
In sunny Cornwall I’ve just done my first inspections for 2021 inside the hives. It’s been warm enough for some people to walk around in just t-shirts and for me to wear a t-shirt and cardigan, so it was time. Good news: both colonies are alive and queen-right. Bad news: one (Kensa) is showing signs of chalkbrood disease. My inspecting of Demelza went comically wrong. I started by trying to get all my equipment ready so that I could do some queen marking. I opened a brand new queen marking pen bought last summer and tried to use it on…

Pet palliative care program ‘the perfect fit’ for first foster

Gino,
A new program from the PEI Humane Society has brought a lot of happiness to the first Islanders participating in it. The Palliative Care Foster Program, which sends older animals home with families to be cared for in their last months, started in March. The society has dozens of families lined up to participate. Tasha, a nine-year-old dog, is the first pet to be fostered under the program. “It was just the perfect fit at the perfect time for me,” said Alesia Napier, who will take care of the dog. “She’s just been a joy, and filled a huge void…