With winter coming upon us and inclement weather being a part of winter, I found a great article at DogChannel.com.

Rainy Day Fun For Your Dog

Your dog will wish everyday was a rainy day with these fun games and activities!

It’s that time of year. The rain is pouring, it’s freezing outside, and your dog is bouncing off the walls. You don’t want to go outside, but Fido needs exercise. The following games are a fun way to beat the raining day blues and exercise your dog indoors; both his mind and body!

1. Set-up an indoor agility course. Just like your kids did when they were little, you can use furniture, cardboard boxes, and laundry baskets to set up an agility course. A broom set across the bottom of two chairs (or the top if you have a large dog) is a great jump. An overturned laundry basket can work as a pause table. This is a great way to burn off some energy and teach your dog some commands! 

2. Activity dog toys. There are many new treat toys on the market that make your dog think about how to get the treat from them. These are great to occupy your dog and stimulate his or her mind. If you have to leave your house, these are a great way to keep Fido occupied while you are gone. 

3. Dog games. A company called Darfinc has created 3 board and card games that you can play with a dog! These amazing, fun games are perfect for a game day with family and friends. You can play with one dog or multiple, and you can even play by yourself. The best part? Your dog is learning manners and tricks while playing! 

4. Hide ‘n’ Seek. Put your dog in his kennel or in a different room, and then hide treats around for him to find. This is especially great for scent-hounds! Let him out, show him a treat and sit back and watch the fun! If you have never played a seeking game with your dog, you may want to hide a few in plain sight, so your dog knows there are things to be found. The more you play, the trickier you can get with the hiding spots. You can also hide toys if your dog is toy driven. 

5. Indoor rally course. Like agility, rally obedience can easily be done inside your house. Use cones or really anything lying around the house as markers for the course. If you have never done rally; it’s easy! Each station gives you and your dog a command to follow. You can make up your own, or follow this link to print your own rally obedience signs. You can get descriptions of what each rally obedience sign means here. 

Remember, it’s all about having fun while exercising and stimulating your dog – a tired dog won’t chew up your sofa!  What ideas do you have for rainy day fun with your dog?

Blind Cat Sanctuary- St. Pauls, NC

How inspiring is Blind Cat Sanctuary in St. Pauls, NC. When volunteering for a local shelter Hope For Life Rescue here in Virginia Beach, I have seen how hard it is to get handicapped cats into a forever home. Most of these cats are the most loving ones in the rescue but it takes a special person as an owner. Do you have any special needs pets? How do you accommodate their needs and how do they fit in with other pets in your household?

The Whole Kitten Kaboodle has experience with special needs pets as well as diabetic pets and insulin administration.

Blind Cat Rescue

The Last Home a Blind Cat will Ever Need

It's one of only a few rescue organizations in the country that exclusively cares for blind cats.

It was founded by Alana Miller, who was volunteering at a local animal shelter. She adopted a blind cat – who joined her other pet cats, dogs, horses and donkeys on her farm. One blind cat led to another. After adopting four blind cats, she realized there was a real void that needed to be filled, and started her non-profit organization.

Alana now has dozens of blind cats in her care, all who get to live out the remainder of their nine lives in a kitty paradise. They live in groups of 12 in spacious open-air rooms, filled with climbing perches and snuggly beds. They have daily access to a large, safely fenced-in outdoor area, where they can run and romp freely. And they get all the love and affection they need from Alana and many volunteers.

“My cats don't know they're blind,” Alana explains. “They just know they're cats, and they do everything any other cat does.” They even climb trees – and shimmy down the same way they climb up!

Sadly, many of the cats here were previously abused or abandoned. Some had been passed from shelter to shelter before reaching the sanctuary. For this reason, none of the cats are available for adoption.

“These cats have been through enough,” Alana said. “This is their forever home. They will be loved here for the rest of their lives.”

Alana encourages people who want to adopt her blind cats to go to a shelter, where the cats do not yet have a home. “My cats are safe,” Alana said. “Please adopt a cat who is in dire need of a good home.”

Of course you can help Alana's cats in other ways, by donating supplies or money. The most satisfying way to help is to sponsor a kitty. You get to pick whichever cat you like from their photo gallery, and sort of be a virtual owner. If you live nearby, you can visit and play with your sponsored cat. They'll even take a photo of you with your kitty to post to that cat's page. In this way, you personally help the blind cat of your choice get the food, toys and medical care she needs.

Alana's program is so successful that she added a new building to house cats with Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). FeLV is spread by close contact. FIV is transmitted mostly through bite wounds. Both diseases attack the immune system. An infected cat is very unlikely to be adopted. Alana has taken in 12 FeLV+ and 12 FIV+ cats, who are now living safely and happily in her care.

Alana loves caring for her blind cats, but would also like to prevent blindness and abandonment of blind cats. She advises cat owners to take their cats to a veterinarian to treat eye infections and other illnesses that can lead to blindness. And, should your cat become blind, she strongly advises that you keep your cat at home, and not give her up to a shelter where she's unlikely to be adopted. She will adapt just fine at home, and will still be the same cat you loved before.

Snouts in Your Town: Blind Cat Sanctuary- petcentric by Purina

Daylight Savings Time Ends This Weekend

Looking for ways to help your pet adjust to the end of daylight savings time?  If you are like me and hope to sleep during your extra hour, these tips from Richmond SPCA expert may help.  Do you have any tips you like to use?

Daylight Savings Time: Helping your pet fall back in sync with the time change

Last night most of the US set back our clocks an hour with hopes of picking up an extra hour of sleep with Daylight Savings Time, but many of us with pets found that our companions' internal clocks are not as easily reset. Last fall, I sought help from our animal behavior specialist, Marie Tripton, when Frisco, my adopted kitty, was regularly rising much earlier than I was. I expect her advice to me can be helpful to others, particularly after the time change. 

Q: I could use some advice to help find the “snooze” button on my feline alarm clock. Or even better, I’d like to figure out how to set him for a later wake up call. Lately he begins the wake-up routine around 5 a.m. It used to mean standing on my chest and purring, which was tolerable because he’d eventually settle down beside me and rest for awhile.

Lately, however, he has begun loud meowing, running sprints through my bedroom or up and down the hallway, and scratching of doors to get my attention. If I try shutting him out of the room, he’s fairly persistent about scratching the door, which I have to get up to stop.

A: My recommendation for the early riser solution would depend on what it appears he wants when he wakes up at 5 a.m. Does he appear to want food, or does he want to play, or does he just want you to get up. If he seems to want to get up early to eat, look into purchasing a time-regulated feeder like this one. These don’t work too well with wet food, and you may need to secure it to a table or floor if he’s a particularly strong cat. Some strong cats/dogs have been known to knock the feeder around if they smell food in it.

If he wants to get up to play, look into any of the automated toys and place one near your bed. Roll over and turn it on if he tries to wake you up. Examples:

• Mouse in the House 
• Undercover Mouse 
• Fling-ama-String 

Or simply tip over a small bucket of ping pong balls. This of course assumes you have carpeting, or you might be waking up due to the noise. ;)

I’m betting once the days get shorter he’ll be sleeping longer. You might also want to make sure he gets a good long play session before he goes to bed at night.

Tabitha Frizzell Hanes is the community relations manager for the Richmond SPCA.