Tracie Hotchner’s Blog

Dear Tracie,

I am one of your listeners. I catch your repeat shows mostly on the weekends. I switched my two female 7 year old cats to canned food only a few months ago after listening to a few of your shows. I got my girls from an animal shelter when they were little kittens.

I need to ask you a question, please. My babies are in-door cats only. They have not had vaccinations for a few years now. I have believed for about 5 years now that they did not need them.

My problem is my husband & I are planning a vacation & want to board them at a kennel. But kennel will not take them without proper tags & vaccinations. How does someone get around this problem?

I want to say Thank You now for taking my email. Could you email me back as I might not catch every show.  Thanks again so much.

Judy (and Baby Kakes & Spice Girl) In Conroe, Texas

I’m glad I got this question so that anybody traveling knows that they need to get a pet sitter. The cat Bible explains how and why. And I hope that everybody knows that vaccinations are a NO NO!

Tracie

I got a very thoughtful email from a family that was having some second thoughts about their choice of a high-drive working dog for an urban environment. I told her that agility would be a life-saver and LOADS of exercise and other mind-stimulating activities.

We recently adopted an Australian Cattle puppy—9weeks old. We live in the city. He will have a playmate—1 yr old boston terrier. My concern is that he will be unhappy in our yard—bored. I have been reading about the breed and understand they must be occupied at all times. I have no problem working with him now and getting him properly trained—but is that enough? Will he ever be happy in a back yard in the city?

Tracie

This recent letter is such a perfect example of what can happen if you let your neuroses and anxiety spill over onto your pets. The answer I gave to Bev was basically, “STEP AWAY FROM THE BOWL!”  Has anybody else eperienced food issues like this with their dogs? And how did you solve them?

Tracie-

Thank you for your attention…..I am losing my mind with my 8 yr old male yorkie-poo.  He has always been a fussy eater and in the past has gotten stubborn about eating for no more than a week at a time…this time it has been 4 months….I have taken him to the vet, blood work perfect, stool sample negative….haven’t done the ultra-sound yet….might be useful!!
He will not eat his dog food…tried different brands…usually eats dry with canned mixed.  He seems to like the dry cat food but the vet says that’s not good for him….this refusal to eat problem has turned into a problem that he won’t even go near his food dish because he fears I am going to stand over him or force feed him like I have been known to do in the past out of desperation!!!  He weighs 6.2 lbs now…was almost 7 lbs four months ago when this problem started.  Sometimes he even refuses people food.  The vet has put him on a appetite stimulant…worked for a few wks and now replaced that with valuim….for the anxiety he displays going to his food dish…the valium doesn’t seem to do anything.

How long can a tiny dog go without eating and how do I get him to go back to his food dish without fear???  Do I put the food down and walk away, ignoring him and the food..I have tried that but as the day goes on I worry that he is starving and “try” to get him to eat…I think that is what is giving him the anxiety around his food dish.

PLEASE HELP ME……TIME IS RUNNING OUT AND I AM AFRAID HE IS GOING TO STARVE HIMSELF TO DEATH!!!!!!!!!  THANK YOU!!!!

Bev

I recently sent a letter to some breeders who write columns for their magazine, the AKC Gazette. I invited them to come on DOG TALK®, to talk about their breed and also to show how dedicated and responsible proper breeders are about their breeding dogs and the puppies. I got many RSVP’s wanting to come on the show (and I have now initiated a new mid-show segment of DOG TALK® called “Meet the Breeders”). But then I received this response:

Hi Tracie –

Thanks for your request for me to be a guest on your show. I would be willing to discuss doing the interview with you but first want to know why you are using an endorsement of your book by Wayne Pacelle as President of HSUS. That organization has been anything but friendly to dog owners in general and has been especially unfriendly to purebred dog breeders and fanciers. I am quite surprised that you would accept an endorsement from an organization that is against the ownership of dogs.

I look forward to your reply and would be happy to discuss this with you.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey

So I replied as follows:

Dear Jeffrey,

Thanks for your prompt reply to my letter and your interest in coming on DOG TALK® so listeners can learn what a really good hobby breeder is all about.

However, I need to set the record straight about the serious and entirely untrue assertions you made about the HSUS. Your comments about HSUS are ones that have absolutely zero basis in fact, but are declarations that I have seen in the AKC Gazette and in some associated sites. It is such a terrible shame to have such a fine organization as HSUS be the target of lies and distortion of the actual agenda and programs of HSUS. What’s so amazing is that anyone is free to go to the HSUS website or even to call them in order to discover that these allegations of HSUS being “anti-dog” “anti-dog ownership” or “anti-dog breeder” have no basis in fact. Why don’t you take a minute and do just that? As an experiment, my husband just spent 15 minutes on their website and could not find one shred of evidence to support these fairly absurd and ridiculous assertions about anything at all “anti-dog” there.

There are millions upon millions of HSUS supporters who both own purebred dogs and breed them - and feel that HSUS is an important part of making this a better world for all sorts of animals, not just the pets we love. You are welcome to download and listen to Wayne Pacelle on earlier broadcasts of DOG TALK® discussing and dispelling these allegations with me - because these lies are spread day after day by people with other agendas, and then spread by people like yourself, who seem to have blindly believed what they were told.

As far as my book goes, I doubt you have actually looked at it, either, since there are multiple chapters about how to go to dog shows to investigate breeds, how to find proper breeders, charts and lists of questions to ask a prospective breeder, lists of questions a serious breeder should ask a buyer, how to pick a purebred puppy and have a continuing relationship with that breeder. If HSUS were against any of this, certainly Mr. Pacelle would have no respect for the book - nor would I have any for HSUS.

The irony from my perspective is that so many listeners to my radio shows have written since the Lisa Peterson interview and called in to ask what I could possibly want to do with “a terrible organization like AKC!” Life is funny, the way ignorance and misinformation flow in all directions. My primary interest in interviewing Lisa Peterson was to help create a bridge between members of these two organizations - I know I have an uphill battle ahead of me, but I am depending on individuals like yourself to just put a stop to all this finger-pointing and concentrate on the positive ways we can all come together to make this a safer, kinder world for dogs.

I will tell you that I was sorely disappointed to discover that many of the criticisms of AKC from my listeners turned out to have validity. I had always written and declared that AKC members have a code of ethics not to place their progeny in pet stores, and I also believed there was no AKC endorsement (i.e. AKC registration papers issued) for puppy mill puppies, which are the only ones sold in pet stores. I have since discovered that pet stores are full of AKC-registered puppies from high volume production-line breeders, via industrial-style puppy distribution centers like the Hunte Corp. I would think that dedicated hobby breeders like yourself would be as distressed by this as I am - since it goes against everything you have all worked so hard for so long to create and maintain in each of your breeds.

In any case, my goal in these interviews with breeders is to introduce people to real actual breeders who breed dogs with love and passion for excellence. I want people to see that individual members of AKC care deeply about how parent dogs should be bred and their puppies raised and shown or placed in homes. I have taken all this time to spell this out because it matters a great deal to me that who I am and what I say is very clear. And if I can open some eyes and dispel misinformation wherever I encounter it, then it has been a good day for me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

And his reply back was:

Dear Tracie,

Thanks for your response. I really cannot agree with some of the statements you made regarding HSUS and AKC and therefore think it would be best if we skip the interview. We’ll just have to agree to disagree.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey

So how do any of you feel about this??  Comments please!

UPDATE

So Jeffrey Pepper agreed to come on the show August 30th. In anticipation of that, I asked him to give me a bit of information about himself, since all I knew was that he was a very involved Golden breeder but I wanted to know the rest of his canine involvements for my introduction. He replied:

Briefly, I am an AKC judge presently approved for all Sporting and most of the Hound breeds as well as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I have been judging since 1984. I have judged all over  the US, in Canada, Colombia,  Denmark, Holland, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia and Australia. I have written 4 books on dogs and am presently completing a new (and second) book on Golden Retrievers. I am president of the Dog Judges Association of America and Treasurer of Take The Lead, a non-profit foundation providing support to people in the dog fancy who have a life threatening or terminal illness. I write regularly for Dog World magazine and the AKC Gazette.

I should add that I am not presently breeding Goldens or any other breed and I currently live with 3 geriatric Petits Bassets Griffons Vendéens (PBGVs) and 3 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I lost my last Golden in September, 2001.  Lucy was the last of many generations of Goldens I bred under the “Pepperhill” prefix. I have bred more than 60 Golden champions and more than 50 PBGV champions, including best in show winners.

Jeff Pepper

Wowie! I felt like I hit the jackpot in Vegas – I had crossed swords with a man who it turns out is completely steeped in dog breeding across three breeds and who is such an important judge that he is president of the Dog Judges Association! I feel he will be a worthy person with whom to have this debate. While we had divergent views on puppy mills and the AKC involvement in them, that your firm but level-headed point of view would make for a really good intelligent debate on puppy mills and where the AKC is part of the problem or the solution.

Tracie

I got this note from Eileen - a devoted listener - immediately after the broadcast of DOG TALK® when I introduced the first of many breeders I want you to meet. Of all the more than 150 breeds I could have chosen, imagine this synchronicity!?

Hi Tracie,

This is karma! Thanks for having Marianne Sullivan on today. We are looking for our next dog, and were just accepted into the Collie Rescue group in Maryland/Virginia. I’ve been doing a lot of research on dog breeds, and have narrowed our choice to Goldens and Collies. The more I see and learn, the more I am drawn to collies. Our previous dog, Buddy, was probably part collie, and many of his behaviors sound similar to collies. Anyway, I was pleased to hear Marianne speak today. She had interesting insights into how tuned into their humans that collies are. That’s very interesting and encouraging. I was also glad to hear that CEA is not as huge a problem as I thought. I’ve already visited her web site and the link to collie rescue. Thanks for the fun show and good information. It’s very timely.

Eileen

My reply to her was my typically low key laissez-faire attitude:!

WOWIE!!

Synchronicity at work - what fantastic news

I am so happy and excited that the timing was so great

Having owned a divine Golden, but knowing the horrible rate at which they are dying of cancer, and having spent many years around 2 pairs of elegant Collies, I am really happy for your decision - and my good fortune to have had Marianne on the show today. There is one lucky Collie out there waiting to be joined into your family.

PLEASE send me photos and details when that day comes - I’d love to have Dog Talk be part of that circle of happiness.

Good luck!
Tracie

And this was Marianne’s comment about all this coming full circle:

Cool.

The woman who runs Collie Rescue in VA/MD is a good friend of mine.

I’ll tell her she owes me LOL

Marianne

I got this really really nice letter - and the timing was just right for an answer:

Hi Tracie,

I have a question about the cat tree that is on the back cover of The Cat Bible. I am looking for a good cat tree for my two kittens (they are brother and sister and about 8 months old).  I noticed while I was reading your book (the best book on any animal I have ever read! Your book really improved the lives of my kits, and I am also switching them onto a raw food diet)  that on the back cover is a picture of you with your cats and they are all on this great cat tree with real bark and an interesting layout.  I looked at all the websites you recommended in your book but couldn’t find a similar one.  Where did you get it? I would love to know how I could get one for Molly and Toby.  Please let me know what my options are. Thanks so much for your time and for writing that book!

Sabrina
P.S.  I have been buying copies of your book and giving them to everyone I know with a cat. It really is an amazing reference!

Gosh Sabrina - I am really touched by your high praise! I am truly delighted to hear that The Cat Bible has been such a big help to you that you’ve been SOOO generous to get one for your friends, too. You probably don’t know that I happily autograph special bookplates to put inside the book, signed to your cats and their friends, along with a few surprises. So if you want to send me that information and your mailing address (or each of theirs) I’ll put those bookplates and other stuff in the mail to you.

As for the cat tree, funnily enough I am right now researching cat trees as the dog and cat expert for a new website called www.TIBESTI.com - the Best of Everything.

I was looking for trees similar to the one on the back cover of my book and the internet is full of them! www.AngelicalCatCo.com, www.SpoilMyKitty.com and maybe the best I’ve found yet is www.PlaytimeWorkshop.com. They all have natural logs and wonderfully shaped nooks and crannies - the only problem is that they are REALLY pricey because they are hand made one at a time. The prices seemed to go from $300 to over $700 - but some had free shipping. So take a look and see what you cannot live without!

As for the kitties and tree in that photo with me - if you read the fine print you’ll see those are the kitties up for adoption in the “cat room” at the Animal Rescue Foundation of the Hamptons (ARF) (where I used to live) because I now have hunting dogs who view cats as fair game. Let me know if you do get a tree and how it works out!

Tracie

This is such a cute appeal from a blog-reader who begged to be heard! So here are her concerns – which are all pretty fair questions.

Kit-Kat and I follow your blog but I still can’t figure out how to start a new topic instead of responding to one already posted.  Please take pity on me and answer online or by e-mail if you can.

This is my first summer with my cat, who is about 3 years old.  She is used to spending a lot of time outdoors; she was on her own for almost a year before I found her and took her in.  (I thought she’d been abandoned but it turns out she ran away.)  In southern California, our temps are in the triple digits now.  Is it safe to let a cat out when it’s that hot?  She sits by the door, hoping to be let out, but I’m concerned about her safety.  She has been spayed and doesn’t usually go too far away.  She eats only wet food but almost never drinks water.

I recently met my cat’s original owner, who took her in after witnessing her being abused as a very small kitten.  Before she ran away from that home (she didn’t like the four male cats there), she was spayed and had the first two vaccines.  I called a vet about getting the third vaccine and they said if it’s been over a year, she needs all of them repeated and can get them all at once.  Is this a good idea?

Thanks for all your information.  My e-mail address is new but mailing address is the same.  I am buying another cat and dog bible for gifts if you are still sending the bookplates.

Thanks again,
Susan

Here are my replies to her issues (If she’s going to keep on buying The Bibles, how can I NOT answer her, right?!)

Dear Susan – Both your concerns are valid and the answers are easily found in  The Cat Bible (which you already own, lucky girl – and it has a super-dooper index that captures every possible word or topic) and also the Q&A’s on my website touch on some of this. But I’m feeling kindly today(!) so here are the quickie versions of the answers

1) No cat should be going outside no matter what the temperature. Is it too hot? Heavens yes! But spayed or not, she can be harmed or killed by cars, coyotes, dogs, parasites, other cats and oh – did I mention cars? Check out the link on my website for Purr.fect fence to make an easily erected, affordable, non-permanent enclosure for her outdoors- when it cools down!

2) Cats do not naturally need to drink water – unless they are eating “kitty crack” which makes them unnaturally thirsty because dry highly processed carbohydrates are not a mouse or bird. A cat is supposed to get her hydration from the fluids inside her prey – or inside the can of wet food you’re feeding her. Not drinking water when a cat is eating only wet food is a sign that she is healthy and satisfied.

3) Re-vaccinating or multiple vaccinations are ill advised at best. Cats do very poorly with over-vaccinating. The Q&A’s on my website and THE CAT BIBLE talk about this and how getting a blood test to check her immunity against various diseases (called getting a “titer level”) is the best way to know if a cat is protected. If she has areas in which she has no immunity but she is an indoor cat only then she is at no risk in any case. She needs only rabies, as required by law, but every 3 years, not every year. No matter what, giving vaccines all at once really puts her at risk of a bad reaction and I would look for a feline practitioner, or cats - only vet, if you can.

Tracie

This email came in addressed to me and Dear Sally and it definitely warranted both of our attention. It’s a reminder that animals are animals and if people don’t learn to read cat body language it can wind up as dangerous as it is for those people who don’t know how to read the warning signs from a dog who later bites.

I’ve been searching for advice on my kitten dilemma, and was hoping to find someone that could shed some light on it. I’ve had my kitty Marley since he was 8 weeks old, my boyfriend and I got him from a nearby shelter. Marley is now pushing 7 months (getting neutered this week). He’s been the most amazing kitten ever, he loved to be picked up, and pet, you could really do anything to this cat, he just loved any attention you could give him. We recently moved, and Marley was not impressed with us for that. The night we got to our new apt, he rubbed his head against my arm as if he wanted to be pet, so I pet him, within seconds he attacked me, bit/scratched all the way up my arm. He drew blood from me, my arm within seconds swelled up to the size of the stay puff marshmallow man.

I went to the doctors that AM, and they put me on an IV and loaded me up with antibiotics and said that I have cat scratch fever!! I’m now terrified that Marley will attack me again, and can’t give him the attention he wants from me. Do you think this will happen again, or do you think he acted like this because of the move? You can tell he’s been craving my attention, trying to rub against my ankles, but I refuse to even attempt to pet him, cause I don’t want to go through this again. When I walk down the hallway, he comes charging up behind me, which scares me, and then I think I might be scaring him as well. I’m now forced to walk down the hallway backwards, so I know when he’s coming up behind me. This is the first cat my boyfriend and I have owned so it really threw us off guard seeing him do that to me. I don’t want to get rid of him, because he really was the bet cat ever before this incident. Am I overreacting? Please advise.

Thanks in Advance
Carly

As usual, Sally has a bunch of questions that need to be answered for her to get to the bottom of this. I hope Carly will reply to this so we can help her further. Also, please note Sally’s very helpful links about Cat Scratch Fever – I can tell you that cat bites are twice as dangerous as dog bites and can even out people in the hospital.

Does Marley have a history of any kind of aggression? If not, I do think Marley was stressed by the move and over-stimulated by the new surroundings. He’s also still a kitten and probably somewhat rambunctious, but on the other hand might be starting to feel his yah-yahs since he’s not neutered yet. Carly shouldn’t avoid interaction. She should learn the signs of over-stimulation — dilated pupils, twitchy tail, airplane ears. Engage him using a fishing pole toy, which will fulfill his need for attention and toss some toys to divert his attention when going down the hall. Talk to him and gauge his reaction, then pet him briefly. If he seems tense, just say “good boy” pleasantly and walk away. My take is that he will calm down once he is neutered and gets used to his new digs. Here are a couple of interesting links on cat scratch fever:

www.cdc.gov/HEALTHYPETS/diseases/catscratch.htm

www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/cat_scratch.html

Based on that info, I kinda think it may have occurred from a previous scratch, or perhaps was an infection from the bite.

Here’s a doozy of an inter-species problem. It sounds like a case of the folks needing to really lower their expectations of how quickly this kitty-cat is going to come around. They need to think in terms of months – not days or weeks – before the cat will feel comfortable.

Hi Tracie,

I have Sirius and listen to your show as often as I can - thanks for all of the great advice!

I have an 11 year-old domestic long-hair female kitty named Tajia (sounds like Tay-sha) and I have been having a problem with her hissing and growling. She and I used to live alone in an apartment, but in March we moved in with my boyfriend (Jeff) and his 10-year old daughter (Madie). Both of them are animal lovers, but I have been having a problem with her warming up to them over the last few months, as well as any strangers that may enter the home. If they walk in her direction, she immediately enters into “attack-mode” and hisses, swats and sometimes growls. Last night, while I was at dinner with a friend, she was so angry at Jeff and Madie while they were putting together a new bed in Madie’s bedroom and she wouldn’t let them leave the room. They said they felt trapped in there because Tajia was in the doorway hissing and swatting. This is just one example of her temper. She’s not a treat-lover, so we’ve tried arming Jeff & Madie with small pieces of chicken to feed her, but she just eats it and goes back to being angry. I’ve told both of them to just ignore her and they have, but they are becoming fearful of her since she’s so mean to them. It’s becoming quite a problem in our home and is creating a bit of resentment. When I’m home, she purrs, sits on my lap, rolls on the carpet and is happy as can be, except when a neighbor or friend enters the home. I try to let her be when people arrive, but she eventually prowls around and tries to attack, so I have to put her in a separate bedroom so people do not feel threatened. She has always acted this way, but it seems to be getting worse.

Do you have any advice for how to calm her down so that she is not so confrontational with those that love her and those who don’t?

Thank you very much for your time & advice!
Jenny
Madison, WI

I turned to Dear Sally, The Official Behavior Consultant of CAT CHAT® and these are her off-the-cuff thoughts:

First thought would be to let the boyfriend and child take over some of the care of the kitty — feeding especially so the cat associates them with good things. Playtime should be with them as well. I wouldn’t consider her angry as much as dealing with separation anxiety and feeling insecure. She’s in a new place with new people, she’s older, too, and as probably lived with the woman for ages and used to a quiet environment.

I got this letter from a Cat Chat® listener and feel bad for him - these “sudden aggression” issues seem to be cropping up and it’s painful and frustrating to deal with.

Hey there.  I love your show, although I haven’t had a chance to catch it for awhile.  I have been calling my friends about this and can’t get a real answer so I was wondering if you could help. I have two cats, both 3 years of age.  I adopted my first cat, whom I simply named “Cat” about two-and-a-half years ago. Next, I adopted Kelli about six months later when I was visiting friends in Portland Oregon.  Cat, who is male, and Kelli, who is female, have gotten along pretty good for quite some time although there seems to always be a bit of rivalry between the two.  Kelli was the “dominant” cat for awhile, but it seems things are changing now.  They would sometimes fight and wrestle with each other that seemed playful at first, but recently the playful fighting is more aggressive.  I always tried to break them up when it happened too.

On Monday of last week, I went out for an evening stroll and was gone for about 20 minutes.  Before I left, the cats were fine.  When I returned, Cat had Kelli cornered in the back bedroom.  Kelli was moaning and groaning in ways I had never heard before.  Cat was standing in front of her, about a foot at most, with his tail all bushed out.  Fur was everywhere and I Kelli had defecated on the floor.

I have been taking my friends in advice to keep them separated by shutting one up in a room.  It doesn’t seem to be working and Kelli gets very upset being shut up like that.  The next thing I have heard is to have them “declawed” which I oppose or the real drastic alternative of giving one up for adoption.  Is there any other options available?  They seem to be archenemies now with no hope of returning back to the way they were.

Thanks for your help-
Kevin

I wrote Kevin back:

Declawing would be the most perfectly dreadful thing you could do – the problem between them will not change just because you mutilate your cat’s feet (please see THE CAT BIBLE and the website for more on the horrors of declawing). In fact, declawing could even make a bad situation worse.

There is a Bach flower essence sold on www.SpiritEssence.com called “Ultimate Peacemaker” which you rub a few drops of inside each cat’s ear and massage into their paw pads. People say these natural remedies really have a positive effect.

I turned to Cat Chat’s own “Dear Sally,” Sally Bahner, for her thoughts on this situation. As always with Sally, she has questions before answers can be possible – if you choose to have a private consultation with her (which I really do recommend in severe cases like this) she can guide you through a process of figuring out what is going on and how to turn the tide.  Sally wrote:

What has happened since the last confrontation? Are they still separated? How do they act when Kevin is in the room? Almost sounds like something triggered the aggression.

It’s not unusual for a wrestling match to get a little carried away, but hand clapping or tossing a toy can usually break it up, any kind of a distraction. For now, it’s probably a good idea to keep them separated. Make the time they’re with Kevin happy and pleasant — a meal together (not too close), or some interactive play, nice music. Short sessions and

reward them when they get along. Until they’re reconciled or when Kevin is not around, keep them separated, but alternate who is locked up so they get used to the other’s scent.

Declawing in no way will solve the behavior! After all they still have teeth.

Kevin wrote me back (it seems the story has at least a semi-happy ending)

Thanks for the reply, Tracie.  My cats are doing better.  There is the periodic aggression episode, but I think that is because Kelli (’The Queen’) just doesn’t want to be bothered.  They start rubbing against each other when it is meal time and during the day, they sleep with each other.  Just once in awhile, it seems World War III is about to start.  Oddly enough, I find Kelli can really start screaming and howling at about 4 AM.  Unfortunately, I am asleep at that time and don’t know what triggers it exactly then.  They are trying to establish who is the boss I guess. Fortunately, I believe it will not result in a bloody battle.  That is the good thing.