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We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every week.   Today’s advice comes from Ingrid Johnson of Paws Whiskers and Claws, The Feline Hospital in Marietta. Click here to find out more about our experts.

We went to a local rescue group to adopt two cats. The rescue group insisted we bring one cat home first, then adopt the other one a week later. I’ve always been told it is better to bring two cats in at the same time. Will I have problems now bringing the second cat into our home? The first cat only has three legs. Could that be why they wanted us to wait? He gets around fine — you’d never know he was handicapped.

It is always recommended to adopt cats in pairs, as the buddy system tends to work well for them. The most stressful experience most cats undergo is change of environment and having another feline companion to help them through the transition to a new home is, in my opinion, imperative. This is most important if the cats are already friends or litter mates, so there would be no reason to introduce them to the home separately.

The fact that your new cat is a tripod would also not necessarily make a difference, as this handicap does not tend to slow them down a bit or affect their ability to adjust. The only instance that might make this appropriate is if two random cats that did not know each other at all were selected. In this case I would bring them both home at the same time and set each of them up in separate “safe” rooms and slowly introduce them to each other and their new home simultaneously.

Cats should always be housed in pairs. Contrary to popular belief (myth) cats are not solitary. They hunt alone but live in colonies. It is always ideal to adopt in pairs and have multiple cats so they have a chance to interact with their own species. This is particularly important if your cats are indoors only. To put it in perspective, imagine a human locked in a house their entire life and never getting to see, speak to, or touch another person, ever! The only exception to this rule would be the little 6-week-old kitten adopted and kept as an “only cat” its entire life. These cats become very poorly socialized and often can never be introduced to another cat as they are typically extremely aggressive to their own kind.

These cases are sad, and the cat essentially has been “ruined” by its humans, and now cannot enjoy the companionship of its own species. The long and short of it is two are better than one when it comes to kitties — great news for most cat owners.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

I have a 4-year-old Chow mix, who stays in the house at night. When I take her out in the morning, if I don’t have her on a leash, she runs up and down the street and won’t come if I call. I have to get in my car and go after her. Is there anyway I can keep her from running away?

Coming when called is one of the most difficult exercises to teach a dog. You need to start the difficult task of conditioning her to come when called. Get a long leash or rope, about 20 feet, which you attach to her collar when you take her out the door. Have some really good-tasting treats on you.

Take her out, let her go off to take care of business and sniff. Call her name and immediately tug on the rope so she instantly turns and comes over to you. Have her sit in front of you and give her a really good treat (like cheese or a piece of cooked chicken breast) and praise and pet her. Practice this until you don’t have to tug on the rope to have her come to you, and she gets into the habit of instantly turning and coming to you. Always use lots of praise and treats.

Eventually when she is conditioned to just stop and come back to you, you can start to just let the leash or rope drag around behind her should you need it. When you have not needed it for a few weeks, try without the leash or rope. Continue to use the treats and praise for a number of months.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

I have a 9-week-old Chihuahua mix. I’ve had her for 3 weeks now and she is IMPOSSIBLE to potty train. At first I had a housebreaking pad in the kennel but stopped doing that because everyone was telling me it’s not good. I took it out and put the divider in there so there’s just enough room for her and her little bed. I take her outside but as soon as I bring her in, she “goes” wherever she wants.

I left a housebreaking pad in the kitchen, and whenever I think she needs to go I put her there, but she just sits there and barks at me NONSTOP for 10 minutes. and when I put her back in the kennel she poops and pees in her bed! I’m getting so frustrated. I wake up three times in the middle of the night when she starts whining and take her to the kitchen and she still doesn’t do anything. I just can’t train her and it’s really stressing me out. Please help!!

It sounds like a very frustrating situation. Please keep in mind that a 9-week-old puppy is just a baby, and she hasn’t learned the appropriate behavior yet!
Chihuahuas can also be very challenging to house train. Please don’t give up on her! Start immediately feeding her in her crate, remove all bedding from her crate, and take her out to potty on a leash.

Her crate must be small enough just so that she can lie down and turn a small circle, no bigger. Removing the bedding will make her think twice about going potty in her crate because there will be no bedding to absorb the excess moisture. She will still have a few accidents, so be prepared for that, but it will improve! Feeding her in her crate will make her less likely to go potty in it as dogs do not like to potty where they eat. Taking her out to potty on a leash will prevent her running around and playing. Go to the exact same area of the yard and stand still and wait. After 5 minutes, take her back in and put her in her crate with a delicious chew treat. Examples of a high value chew treats are Bully Sticks, compressed rawhide and my favorite, raw beef sliced marrow bones. Giving her a high value chew treat will keep her busy in her crate and reinforce not to go potty in it.

After an hour take her back out and repeat the routine. The two key things here in making this work are making her crate really small with no bedding, and feeding her meals and treats in the crate. Don’t give up on her, she will be well worth the trouble when you get her through this!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every week. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to find out more about our experts.

My dog barks every morning very loudly at my husband when he gets ready to leave for work. This has been going on for two years now and I don’t know what to do to get him to stop. My husband has just been in the household for 2 years, so prior to that it was just me and my pets. I also have two cats. This really frustrates my husband and I have tried to get Giz to stop, but nothing has worked except for me to pick him up. Giz acts like he is jealous for attention, knowing that with my husband leaving for work I will give him a hug and kiss and I guess that Giz feels that I’m leaving him out. Please help!!

In many cases, dogs will attempt to control a person’s departure due to dominance-related issues. Your husband needs to get more involved in leadership exercises to teach Giz that he needs to be more respectful. Examples of leadership exercises are having Giz sit and stay for feeding. He needs to sit and stay before being released to eat. Have Giz sit and wait for your husband to walk through doorways and cross thresholds ahead of him. A very important leadership-building exercise is walking your dog in heel position on a daily basis. Giz should not be allowed to sniff and relieve himself along the walk. Your husband should set the pace and keep it brisk. Giz needs to earn rewards such as petting. Both you and your husband should have Giz sit before you pet him or pick him up. To deal with the immediate issue of the barking, put a leash on Giz first thing in the morning before the barking begins. The second the barking starts, give a stern “quiet” command, pick up the leash and walk him from the room and close him out of the room. The instant he stops barking, allow him back into the room. Repeat this exercise until Giz begins to associate the barking with being removed from the room. He should learn being quiet keeps him with his pack, and being demanding and barking gets him removed. Good luck!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Ingrid Johnson of Paws Whiskers and Claws, The Feline Hospital in Marietta. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.
Our cat refuses to go No. 2 in the litter box. She poops on the floor every day. We have tried new litter boxes, different litter, different locations and everything else we can think of. The vets have no solutions. I think it is a crazy cat. How can we find out if there is a solution to this annoying, smelly problem?

The first thing you should do is take your cat to the vet to have her dewormed for intestinal parasites, have her anal glands checked to see if they are full or impacted and to see if she is having a constipation problem. Even indoor cats get intestinal parasites from eating or playing with bugs, and from the dirt we track in on our shoes. Cats walk across that same floor and then groom their paws, so there’s an opportunity for constant ingestion of parasite eggs. Fecal samples only check a microscopic portion of stool; they do not shed the eggs in every bowel movement they have; and we must also account for human error, so just ask to have her dewormed for hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms.

Anal glands are sacs that fill up on either side of the anus and when full can make it difficult to defecate. Some cats can have a problem just once, while others have chronic anal gland problems. Constipation also is a very common problem, particularly in overweight, older cats. Typically you will see only one or two small, hard and dry fecal balls and sometimes you will find a little trail of them vs. an entire bowel movement in one pile.
From a behavioral standpoint, cats prefer to urinate in one place and then defecate in another. We must remember that every movement they have, whether in the box or not, whether feces or urine, is simply communication to a cat. If we do not give them the options they need, they will find them. This is why your cat may urinate in the box and then defecate elsewhere; this is very normal feline behavior. You should always have one litter box per cat, plus one, in your home, so if you have five cats, then you should have six litter boxes. If they are all in the same room then you still only have one giant litter box area. If elimination is about communication, then we need to give more places for her to say what she needs to say. If she is having painful bowel movements (i.e. constipation/impacted anal glands) then she may have started to associate her litter box with pain. This means that we need to get the medical problem resolved while simultaneously changing the look, feel and maybe even location of the litter boxes so that it is no longer associated with discomfort.

Finally, commercial litter boxes are just too small. Litter boxes should be one-and-a-half times the length of your cat’s body, and cats should never have to step on a bowel movement to have a bowel movement. This means there is not one single commercial litter pan that is acceptable. I recommend large storage containers with a hole cut out of one side, and one that has clear walls so they can see and not feel confined. Cats do not naturally go in a cave to eliminate. Hooded litter boxes keep me in a job!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Ingrid Johnson of Paws Whiskers and Claws, The Feline Hospital in Marietta. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

Q: My 8-year-old female tabby curls up in a ball and sucks the end of her tail while purring heavily. Any idea as to why she does this? She is an only cat, spayed and has a sweet disposition. When it’s nap time, she assumes the curled-up position, gets the end of her tail in place, sucks on it as if she’s nursing and goes right to sleep. I adopted this cat about 3 years ago so I have no idea if she was taken from her mother too soon. I would think by now that wouldn’t be an issue. Any light shed on this behavior is welcomed.
A: Many cats, if taken away too early from their mother or littermates, can exhibit these types of behaviors. Adult cats will continue to do the behaviors to comfort themselves when stressed or simply out of habit. It is not a problem as long as it does not become compulsive.
Tail and paw suckling are common and only become a health threat when the cat becomes obsessed with the behavior and starts to self-mutilate. This would involve creating bald, raw spots; actually ingesting the tail and then vomiting it, or chewing until they bleed. If and when this is the case, I suggest coating the tail (or body part of obsession) with something of an unpleasant taste such as bitter apple spray or a similar product. This behavior can also become a problem when it is focused on other household objects such as cords, wool products or anything that could be chewed off and ingested and become a foreign body. Some animals do require behavior medications to help lessen anxiety and curb these behaviors. These animals are usually showing the behaviors because they are stressed or bored. Environmental enrichment is a helpful tool — give your cats something else to do and think about so they spend less time focusing on the negative action.
When animals have a mild form of oral fixation such as described here, most owners find it cute and infantile. In this particular case, I would not necessarily recommend any treatment as long as the owner does not find it is impeding with quality of life or bothering the humans in any way. It is the equivalent of a person chewing his fingernails or tapping his foot — the cat is comforting herself before a nap and that is OK.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Consult with AJCpets experts . And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.

Q: I have a 11 month old puppy and still having house training problems. I will take her outside and stay with her and she walks around and sniffs everything and I give her a long time to go. She will usually pee but won’t poop. BUT as soon as she comes inside she will poop in the house. I NEED HELP! I am very frustrated.
A: House training, or lack thereof can be very frustrating! Although the process is quite simple, you need to be very strict with your routine to make it really work! The first thing you need to do is keep a notepad and pen handy to write down the exact time your dog eliminates.

Keep a record of all bowel movements, both urination and defecation. Keeping a time record will help you get a better idea of your dogs elimination schedule to better anticipate when she needs to go. If you don’t already, make sure you feed your dog on a schedule also. Dogs should not have free access to their food, but rather eat twice a day and have only 10 minutes to eat. A big part of making house training successful is crate training.

Your dog should have a crate that is a positive experience for her. To start the potty training process, put your dog on a leash at least 6 foot long to go potty. Don’t be tempted to let her freely run around. Potty time should be a business trip, not a play date. Walk her to the exact same area of the yard each potty trip, stand quietly and calmly repeating the “go potty” command. I would give her 5 minutes at a time to take care of urinating and defecating. If she does not take care of both, she needs to go back into her crate for at least 30 – 45 minutes.

Do not scold her, but rather keep her leash on, lead her back to her crate calmly and giver a treat when she goes in. She will finally defecate on one of these trips. When this does happen, take her leash off outside and let her play. She now gets to stay out of her crate and play. It is really important that you be very consistent with keeping a written schedule, feeding schedule and crate training.

Good luck, and stick with these simple but important suggestions and it will come right!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. See all AJCPets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.
Q: We have a Dachshund that was 11 months old when we got a new dachshund puppy. Since the day we got the new puppy she refuses to play. We have a house full of toys, and she won’t even look at most of them. When the puppy starts to play with them she dominates her and won’t let her play either. Is there a way to change this behavior? We’ve tried getting identicle toys, and presenting them at the same time, but that does nothing.
A: Introducing a new puppy into a family will often take an adjustment period. I am interested as to how long it has been since your new puppy arrived in your home. In some cases it can take a few months for a dog to adjust to a new addition to the pack.

In many cases, a dog finds it difficult to share when they received all the attention, toys and resources in the home for a long period of time. She also realizes that if she began to play with her toys, the puppy would want to join in, and she would have to share. Even with 2 identical toys, dogs always want the one the other has.

If there has been no aggression in the way she dominates the toys and ends the play, there is a higher likelihood of her adjusting and hopefully begin to enjoy her little sister and relax and play. In the mean time, you need to teach her that she cannot dominate your puppy’s playtime and bring it to a stop. I suggest attaching a lightweight leash to her collar whenever she is in the house and the puppy is free to play.

When the puppy begins playing and your dog begins to interrupt, quietly pick up the leash and direct her away. Do not scold her when you do this, it is merely a way to interrupt her behavior and redirect her attention back to you. Once she has moved away, give her a treat and tell her “good dog.”

Over time she will learn not to dominate and end the puppy’s playtime. When she has learned not to end the puppy’s playtime, she will hopefully remember how fun playing was and how much fun your new puppy is having, she will want to join in on the play and not dominate.

If you have not noticed a marked improvement in her attitude and play after about 4 weeks, you may need to seek out professional help.

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Ingrid Johnson of Paws Whiskers and Claws, The Feline Hospital in Marietta. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.
Q: I have a 5-year-old cat (Maggie) that was hand-fed by her rescuer from about 3-weeks-old until I adopted her at the age when kittens are normally adopted. She was an extremely hyper kitten (more so than any I’ve ever had) and seems quite intelligent. She has always hated to be picked up, but I could do so until very recently. She didn’t like it, but would tolerate it. I have tried to handle her gently but regularly, knowing she was inclined to be unmanageable.
Within the past 3 months she refuses to be picked up at all. She seems healthy and unhurt, just sort of spooked. When I try to pick her up she screams and fights like a little hellion - but doesn’t scratch me. I simply need to be able to manage her so she can make her usual veterinary checkup, shots, etc.
She is actually quite affectionate, on her own terms. I have a second cat (10-year-old calico) who tolerates Maggie (and who Maggie tolerates) and seems unfazed by Maggie’s nuttiness. After pitching a fit, Maggie hides, then tries to make up with me as if she knows she has misbehaved.
How can I help her tolerate handling?
A: Many cats are not fond of being picked up and held, regardless of their early experiences, although desensitizing them to such conditions early in life can be helpful in fostering a positive experience. Maggie may be less tolerant of being held now because it has been forced on her for so long. It sounds as though she hides from you after the negative experience because forcing uncomfortable conditions has instilled fear.
Part of the beauty of having a multi-cat household is experiencing the variety of different personalities, and we as the caregivers must accept that not all cats like/tolerate the same things. If Maggie is happy sitting next to you on the sofa rather than on your lap, accept that. She is clearly showing you affection and telling you that she wants to be close, just not on you. If you insist on trying to be able to sling her over your shoulder and carry her around the house then it must be done in very short bursts and with positive reinforcement (i.e. a food reward). If every time Maggie is picked up she gets a teaspoon of her favorite canned food then she will soon start to associate the experience with something she enjoys. Keep in mind a few things, she has had 5 years of struggling to get away from this interaction and it will take time and a lot of patience to make it positive. If she is not food motivated this will be challenging. Finally you need to train her in very short bursts (30 seconds at a time to start gradually building to longer intervals).
As for getting her to the vet, again this does not require a lot of carrying either. One of the best things you can do is to leave your cat carrier out in your house 365 days a year, in a room where you can live with it. This helps the cats to desensitize to its presence and allows them to sleep in it, eat in it, and even to become a cozy hiding place for most. When they only see the carrier once a year and it always equals a trip to the vet, you will very quickly have a magically disappearing cat when the carrier appears. Another trick is to get her into a very small room where she cannot get under the furniture (bathrooms are best) and have the carrier already in that room to make it the easiest to get her into it.
The long and the short of it is, let Maggie be Maggie and show you affection and cuddle with you on her own terms, use positive reinforcement when you can, and remember that not all humans are physically affectionate people and not all cats are either!

We found some of the best pet experts in metro Atlanta. Look for your answers every Monday. Today’s advice comes from Kate Jackson of the Jabula Dog Academy. Click here to see all the AJCpets experts. And feel free to submit questions in the form of a comment today.
Q: I have a 4-month-old puppy and my boyfriend and I are in the process of crate training her. She is doing pretty good now, but my question is when we do take her out sometimes, she won’t go and we’ll stay out there for a good 10 minutes waiting. Then when we put her in the crate she’ll notice that we’re about to leave, so she’ll stick her little butt up against the crate and will use the bathroom outside of the crate while she’s still inside. Almost like she’s punishing us because we’re leaving. It drives us crazy because we don’t know what to do. HELP!
A: Sounds like you have a super smart little puppy! My first suggestion would be to try a different crate. Airline crates are the plastic hard shell crates. This will obviously prevent your puppy scooting her butt up to the edge of the crate to go potty. However, you will need to get a crate small enough that your puppy is able to turn around, stand up and lay down. She should not be able to walk around the crate.
The reason you want a small crate is to aid in preventing your puppy going to the bathroom inside the crate. Dogs are typically clean animals and do not want to lay in their own mess. Not being able to potty through the bars will make your puppy think twice. To reinforce this, feed your puppy all her meals in the crate. She will not want to potty where she eats. I would also suggest removing all her bedding when you leave her during the day or when she would typically go potty. If she sleeps in her crate at night, put her bedding back in her crate overnight.
Each time she goes into her crate when you are planning on leaving, make sure she has a super delicious treat. This treat should be something that will last at least 30 minutes. I like to have at least 3 Kong’s on hand at any given time. I suggest filling them with plain yogurt and putting them in the freezer. When you are planning to leave, put her in the crate 5 minutes before you leave with a frozen yogurt Kong. The frozen treat is to distract your puppy while you prepare to leave and then during you’re leaving.
To help with her going potty outside, always take her to the exact same spot in the yard on a leash. Give her a treat every time she goes outside. Although this may be very difficult, never scold, yell or discipline your puppy if you get home and she has gone potty in her crate. I think part of the problem may be that your puppy has learned that going potty in/through the crate gets your attention. Lots of dogs prefer to have negative attention of scolding than no attention of all. Good luck and be patient.