Category Archives: Pets and Family

April 13-19, 2025 is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. This week aims to bring awareness to the fact that, although dogs are part of the family and provide companionship and immense joy, any dog can bite. National Dog Bite Prevention Week focuses on preventing dog bites to humans. Most dog bites occur in children, and most children are bitten by the family dog or dogs belonging to friends. The Schwarzman Animal Medical Center has resources for parents to help them educate and protect their children against bite injury. For National Dog Bite Prevention Week 2025, I thought I would focus my blogpost on a different type of bite injury – those sustained by dogs and cats from other dogs and cats.

Most of us in New York City live in apartments. While there are days when every New Yorker wishes for a house with a yard, the culture and convenience of city living ultimately win out. One of the downsides of apartment living is the noise from your neighbor’s apartment renovation or building repairs. This disruption can affect your pet’s daily routine, causing anxiety and distress for your favorite fur person. Take for example my former foster kitten, Luke. His building needed the leaky windows fixed. Whenever the workmen and their jackhammers were outside his apartment, he stopped using his litter box and peed on the bathroom floor. Today’s blogpost will focus on strategies to mitigate pet stress from construction noise.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and many of us are planning to share this special day with our favorite fur person. But not everything about Valentine’s Day is pet friendly. This blogpost will give you suggestions to plan a safe celebration for you and your pet.

Puppy owners are overwhelmed by food choices available for their new family member, according to a recent survey. This feeling might be in part because dog owners have to make all the food decisions alone: dogs lack the ability to order their own food on UberEats or communicate their preferences in a helpful way! Several recent research publications highlight factors impacting dietary choices for dogs. I’ll discuss those findings in the blogpost below.

As the new year approached, my inbox filled with dozens of personalized suggestions for New Year’s resolutions. The American Veterinary Medical Association, for instance, sent me “New Year’s Resolutions for Veterinarians.” Google’s AI generated an eleven-point list of common resolutions in case I couldn’t think of any on my own! Even Blue Apron, my meal kit delivery service, sent a list of suggested resolutions. Well, now it’s my turn: I’ve curated the resolutions recommended to me and adapted them for pets and pet owners in the blogpost below.