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Local Organizations Are Aiding Hurricane Rescue Efforts – You Can Help, Too
California suffers through fire season, or El Nino. The Pacific Northwest has volcanos and earthquakes. Nor’easters in New England. Every year, wherever you are in the United States, there is a “disaster season.” Right now it’s hurricane season and the devastation wrought by Helene, followed closely by Milton, has cost many lives. Larger organizations such as the Humane Society and the ASPCA are critical to the disaster response, providing emergency veterinary care and distributing pet supplies and food. Red Rover is one of the amazing volunteer organizations with boots on the ground in these situations. However, there is another critical part played by local groups. In order to allow shelters and rescues in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and…
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Melatonin or CBD?
The Big Bad Woof has an extensive apothecary section with products that address a variety of symptoms and issues that pets experience. A common question we hear is what’s the difference between melatonin and CBD? They’re both good for calming pets down, right? So which should you use? Though they overlap in important ways, CBD and melatonin are very different from one another and ultimately serve different purposes in the animal kingdom. For our pets purposes the most important difference is the intended duration of use; CBD is better used long term for more chronic conditions like anxiety, pain or cancer, and melatonin is for shorter term, acute conditions like…
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Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture strives to work with nature rather than against it. Regenerative agriculture is more than just being sustainable. It is about reversing degradation and building up the soil to make it healthier than its current state. Although regenerative agriculture doesn’t have a specific recipe, you may see many regenerative farmers and ranchers doing the following: A major goal of regenerative agriculture is to make actual, measured improvements to soil health. This creates a ripple effect of positive benefits across the land and for the farmer or rancher’s profitability. Regenerative Agriculture provides a number of benefits to both farmers and ranchers which directly and positively impact our (and our pets)…
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Celebrating Mutts
Created in 2005, National Mutt Day is all about embracing, saving and celebrating mixed breed dogs. And mutts are so great that they actually get two days a year: 7/31 and 12/2. Did you know that celebrities like Benji and Old Yeller were mutts? Even the dog recently featured on Max’s (formerly HBO) “House of the Dragon” is a mixed-breed buddy. Lassie is classic and I’d never detract from her accomplishments (she was always saving Timmy from that well), but mutts have a very special place in my heart. They’re always full of quirks and personality, and they make the funniest faces sometimes. Our adopted Lhasa-Maltese-Shi tzu mix, Max (formerly known as…
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Moxie’s Big Adventure
July is national Lost Pet Prevention month, which makes sense since July 4 is arguably the loudest day of the year, and July 5 is definitely the busiest day of the year for rescues and shelters. My two best friends have three cats: a derpy baby named Shuri, and a bonded set of sisters, Josie and Moxie. They could not be more different. Moxie, ironically, is the timid one, so sightings are rare. She’s the epitome of a scaredy cat and hightails it into the bedroom at the slightest disturbance, so when she went missing, we were as surprised as we were worried. It was nearly 24 hours before her…
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What’s the best nation in the world? Donation
Several years ago I was a teenager hanging out in Georgetown when some guy on the street asked me “What’s the best nation in the world?” and followed it up with “Donation!” I gave him a couple bucks and a smile. It was the best thing I’d heard all day, and it’s stayed with me ever since. In fact, I cracked that joke the other day when discussing how to distribute the generous donations we’d received from Optimeal Pet Food. The Big Bad Woof regularly receives and distributes donations to various pet pantries and other entities, but Optimeal generously sent us an entire pallet of dry food for dogs and…
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Colostrum for Hyper-immunity & Dental Health
Colostrum, or first milk, is the first form of milk produced by the mammary glands of humans and other mammals immediately following delivery of the newborn. Bovine colostrum can also benefit skin health due to its high content of growth factors, such as insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and transforming growth factor (TGF), which support healthy skin cells. Its natural antibodies and lactoferrin also support a normal inflammatory response in the skin. Colostrum has added benefits include: “Although older animals cannot absorb antibodies as young animals can, colostrum may still be able to exert a local anti-inflammatory effect in the intestinal tract when ingested, or on the skin when applied topically. There is also…
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Rich with Enrichment
I watch animal videos online more than I care to admit. I spend pretty much every morning watching and sharing goofy, heartwarming clips of cats and dogs and their humans. (I especially enjoy dogs in drag and cats in breweries or bodegas.) We can’t imagine life without them, but dogs and cats weren’t always indoor pets. They lived in the wild and had to work hard to get their nourishment; they were hunters and scavengers. Nowadays things are quite different for them; over time we have domesticated these beasts and, though we love and celebrate our pet companions, in some ways we’ve made their world quite small. They can suffer from malaise…
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Non-Toxic Pest Management for Your Companion Animals – Part 1
As flea and tick season arrives in the Mid-Atlantic U.S., we review recommended products to protect pets. Highlights include Earth Animal's internal powder, food-grade Diatomaceous Earth, a quality flea comb, Kleen Green enzyme cleaner, ultrasonic Tickless devices, non-toxic squeeze-ons, and repellent sprays with essential oils. Reach out for personalized advice on these pet-safe solutions.
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Dr. Jean Dodds Feline Vaccination Protocol
The following vaccine protocol is offered for those companion cats where minimal vaccinations are advisable or desirable. The schedule is one Dr. Jean Dodds recommends and should not be interpreted to mean that other protocols recommended by a veterinarian would be less satisfactory. It’s a matter of professional judgment and choice.
