by Joshua | Nov 7, 2020 | Horse
In the fall of 2018, a keeper told me that zoo animals are trained to voluntarily participate in as much of their husbandry as possible. This astounded me. Cooperative patients are not necessarily expected in equine medicine, and we’re dealing with highly trained...
by Joshua | Feb 11, 2020 | Cat
Cats scratch for many reasons such as nail care, exercise, tension relief, and communication that includes both physical and chemical messages (DePorter, 2019). Scratching behavior is so innate that even cats who have undergone partial digital amputation, also known...
by Joshua | Jan 31, 2020 | Shelter, Cat
Murray was probably the scariest cat I had met in my five years of working one-on-one with shelter cats. The handsome 5-year-old neutered male Nebelung (a breed I’d never heard of before!) was surrendered by a married couple who was going to have a baby. Although they...
by Joshua | Apr 22, 2019 | Parrot
I have an Aru Eclectus hen named Cah’ya (pronounced “cha-HI-uh”) who invented her own game. In this game, she stands on my arm and slowly leans far over to one side. I am then supposed to lean to the opposite side. She waits for me to do so. Then she slowly leans over...
by Joshua | Feb 15, 2019 | Featured Article, Feature
Dominance is a concept we frequently encounter in discussions of companion animal behavior. Many pet owners believe that the most important thing they can do to ensure their animal behaves appropriately is to establish themselves as “dominant,” “the alpha mare,” or...
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