My Pet World: What to do with a cat that excessively grooms

By Cathy M. Rosenthal, Tribune Content Agency on Mar 27, 2019

Dear John,

In the wild, birds naturally wear down their beaks foraging for food and building nests. In captivity, they don't need their beaks for any activity, so there is more of a risk for beak overgrowth. Your bird needs some enrichments in the cage to wear down his beak.

In addition to getting the beak trimmed by your veterinarian every month, introduce ladders, mineral blocks, untreated wooden chew toys or branches from outside for your bird to play with in his cage. The repetitive play with these objects will help wear down the beak and slow overgrowth.

Dear Cathy,

We have a 12-year-old chow mix and due to some health issues, she has been prescribed a few medications that come in pill form. Her sense of smell is incredible and regardless of how we try to disguise the pill, she finds it. We have hidden it in her regular dry/moist food, small meatballs, peanut butter and even small pieces of salmon. We're thinking of breaking the pills in very small pieces (we already cut the pills in half) or grinding them down, but we're concerned she won't get the full amount. -- Rich, Rockville Centre, NY

Dear Rich,

Dogs are clever, aren't they? Let's try a different tact and eliminate all the subterfuge. Buy a pill popper. Put the pill in the popper, stick the popper in her mouth, push the popper gently, so the pill is released at the back of her mouth. Then hold her snout closed and blow on her snout to make her swallow. Ta-da! (I say ta-da because it will feel like a magic trick when you master the maneuver.)

It's also perfectly fine to grind up the pill or pour the contents of a capsule onto food. As long as she eats all the food, she will receive all of the medication.

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(Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, author, columnist and pet expert who has more than 25 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to cathy@petpundit.com. Please include your name, city, and state. You can ollow her @cathymrosenthal.)