Biologists Miho Nagasawa and Takefumi Kikusui from Japan studied human/dog social contact, and its impact on oxytocin, a hormone thought to increase emotional satisfaction – and even love. A hormone, oxytocin has been “nicknamed the ‘cuddle chemical’ and the ‘love drug’” according to a recent article in NewScientist.

The article says that “a flood of the cuddle chemical could explain why playing with dogs can lift moods and even improve symptoms of anxiety and depression” according to Kikusui.

It’s worth a quick read — though I’m guessing a lot of us here already knew this! Here’s the link.

If you haven’t read it yet, I also recommend a blog post from Dr. Samuel Ross, founder of Green Chimneys, called, “Do You Believe in Animal Magic?.”

Humans aren’t the only species who need to watch their cholesterol. As Dr. Donna Spector writes in the following article, the condition is oftentimes overlooked in pets, due to the rarity of cats and dogs to develop heart disease.

But as she notes, high cholesterol, and high triglycerides — most common in Schnauzers — can lead to sometimes fatal ailments.

Hyperlipidemia is a condition in which the amount of fats (also called lipids) in the blood are elevated. The most important lipids are cholesterol and triglyceride. Hyperlipidemia primarily causes heart-related disease in humans and is responsible for 500,000+ American deaths each year. About 52 million adults change their diet and 13 million adults must use lipid-lowering medication to lower their cholesterol and triglyceride levels into safe ranges.

Despite the attention hyperlipidemia has received in humans, it has largely been overlooked in pets. This is because it is rare for dogs and cats to develop heart disease related to hyperlipidemia like people. However, hyperlipidemia has been associated with serious and sometimes fatal ailments such as pet obesity, pancreatitis, vision and neurologic problems. Although both dogs and cats can develop hyperlipidemia, it is much more common in dogs, particularly in the Schnauzer breed. The remainder of this article will focus on diagnosing and treating this common dog health problem.

Click here for the full article.

Here’s a wonderful story for those of us with fussy eaters or pets with sensitive stomachs, from L.J. Schrader on Amazon.com:

HALO food for my little angel of a dog!, February 25, 2009
By L. J. Schrader

I have a small Italian Greyhound who is quite fussy about his food and has always had a sensitive stomach as well. Since they are tiny & skinny dogs, keeping him at a healthy weight is not easy if he does not enjoy his food.

Long story short, he loves Halo’s Spot’s Stew in both the beef flavor and the chicken, and the 5 oz. cans are the perfect size for him twice a day. The food is really so authentic that it looks and smells more like chunky baby food than dog food that has the usual fillers. It is easy on his stomach since it is a great natural product, so he is healthier than ever.

It is a little pricey, but I believe it is great food for great dogs.

Thanks, L.J.! We’re so glad your Italian Greyhound is healthier than ever! Of course no one should be surprised that it looks and smells more like human food – because it is! Take a look at this fun video. And be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get lots of coupons and special by email.

Click here to see the review on Amazon, or to comment.

Q: I had a stomach virus the other day and right when I started feeling better, my cat barfed and then the next day he barfed two more times. I think he might have got it from me. I know this is gross but when I was barfing he was sniffing it. When he barfed the first time, we thought that since he just ate and was running around a lot, maybe it upset his stomach. But then the next morning he barfed two more times.

A: Stomach viruses are very species-specific. New things are discovered all the time in medicine, but there are currently no known human stomach viruses that affect cats.
Hope you are both feeling better.

When Lisa Haynes was known in another life as professional wrestler Lisa The Adjuster, she and her husband saved a starving, hairless stray with open sores they found on the streets of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Much to Lisa’s surprise, none of the rescue organizations she called wanted the sickly pup. “She was in such horrible shape and there was no one who would help her,” says Lisa. “They would say, ‘No we can’t help, we can’t help.’ They would say ‘You shouldn’t put your money into her.’ It was so distressing.”

Lisa and her husband, Roy, kept the dog, cooking human foods and learning about nutrition to nurse the pup back to health. The experience so changed Lisa that she quit her job as an insurance adjuster– and her spot in the Wild Women of Wrestling league — and moved to Vermont. The couple bought two acres and in 1996 opened up a home-based rescue called Save Our Strays. The rescue focuses on taking in the dogs other shelters and rescues don’t want: pit bulls, or the very ill. Says Lisa: “We tend to take in more of the ones that are the throw aways.”

Due to the Haynes’ big hearts for homeless pets, Kim Barnett, a dog behavioral consultant and foster mom, recommended SOS to Halo. “What I admire about Lisa and Roy is, you get a sense that they are good, honest decent people,” says Barnett. “They are very sympathetic to urgent, needy cases and they will open their doors whenever they can. I’ve called Lisa several times now and have said, ‘Lisa, there is a pit bull puppy in the Philadelphia shelter on the euthanasia list, can you help me?’ And her answer usually is: ‘If you can get it to me, we can help.’”

Not all of SOS’s pets are so easily helped. About a year ago, SOS rescued a 10-year-old Cocker Spaniel, his hair matted in feces, his eyeballs dead. “Of course we wouldn’t refuse him,” Lisa says. SOS got the dog surgery costing $3000 to have his eyes removed. Says Lisa: “He was a hard to place dog.”

But a home for Stanley, as he is now known, was found on a farm with a goat named Barney; the goat has a bell hanging around his neck and the pair are inseparable, with Stanley following Barney. And whatever happened to the people who abused Stanley? “Not much,” she says. “Cruelty laws are not strong. They got a slap on the wrist.”

Lisa founded SOS in 1996. Two years she and her husband later built an addition onto the back of their house. Solely for the animals. The cats have an outdoor enclosure in addition to indoor accommodations. “We put the animals in a homelike environment,” Lisa says. “They have more space than we do.”

One of SOS’s new homeless cats has already benefited from eating Halo Spot’s Stew. The cat arrived with a respiratory infection and neurological problems, and she wouldn’t eat. After four days of not eating, Lisa took her to the vet, who could not find a physiological cause for the loss of appetite. “When the dogs or cats come here, sometimes they don’t want to eat,” Lisa says. “When we gave her the Spot’s Stew, she ate it in no time.”