Animal Books & Pet Products

After pet identification tags, getting a pet microchipped is a great step toward getting your pet home if he or she becomes lost or escapes during a disaster.

The rice sized chip is inserted by a veterinarian under the pet’s skin and when scanned, it reveals the name and address of the owner.

Until recently the big glitch was that some of the scanners used to search for microchips would not read all of the microchips on the market because the different frequencies makes brands incompatible with many of the readers.

Last year the HomeAgain Universal WorldScan was released. (A Universal WorldChip was released this year.) The microchip scanner can read all the microchip frequencies (125 kHz, 128 kHz, 134.2 kHz) currently on the market.

In addition, a MiniTracker Pro microchip scanner was introduced by Avid Identification Systems Inc. The MiniTracker Pro can read both encrypted or unencrypted (125 kHz, 134.2 kHz) microchips.

Another problem facing those seeking owners for lost pets is that the shelters and veterinary clinics also have to check multiple databases to find the information from the implanted microchips.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) suggested a change and is urging that a network of links between databases is created so that the process is simplified.

In the meantime, HomeAgain issued a US Pet Recover Service Center Chart to customers. The chart lists the names of other microchip manufacturers along with their phone numbers.

This is an essential guide because it includes information on the different chip frequencies and how they appear when scanned—which helps identify what database to search in order to reunite the pet with his or her family.

Last week I wrote about music and pets and then listed a couple of resources. There are actually some more that I didn’t have the time to include so here they are.

In my last post you saw music for pets and music for birds but these specialty products are rare.

Even so, I found another cat specific composition called Cat-a-tonic. This selection consists of acoustic guitar, jazz, rap and other genres with unique lyrics related to felines instead of instrumentals.

Very amusing and unique collection–my favorite? “Kittie knows more that I do” cracked me up.

Through a Dog’s Ear: Music to Calm Your Canine Companion, Volume 1

is the companion CD to the interesting book released this year called Through a Dog’s Ear: Using Sound to Improve the Health & Behavior of Your Canine Companion.

I wrote about the scientific studies related to music for animals in the first post in this series and if you are interested in the topic I urge you to read this book.

It looks like the group will be releasing a series of music for a variety of uses such as this Music to Calm Your Dog in the Car which also comes with a booklet.

I really enjoy listening to this music for pets selection. If you are interested, you can also purchase individual music for dog compositions and listen to excerpts here.

I like to listen to classical music or instrumentals when I am working. It is also what I recommend for most of my clients who have noise phobia or anxiety issues. So when I found Dog Gone Classical Music: Mozart it immediately captured my interest.

Plus, how could you resist the cover photo?

I have not listened to this compact disk yet so if you have be sure to leave a comment below and let me know what your impressions are.

The Pet Music people have produced a variety of compact disks with music for pets.

The one to your left provides over three hours of music.

Pet Music combines instrumentals with nature sounds for each of their products.

They have two volumes out for separation anxiety and stress Creature Comforts and Just Chillin.

In addition, they have a title called Soul Mates which is specifically titled for when you leave your companion home alone.

Laurel Canyon Animal Company has produced a variety of musical CDs.

Although they are not my cup of tea, some find them upbeat compositions. Each track includes vocals–but they seem to be more for people than for animals.

You can listen to a sampling from a couple of the collections here.

Titles include Songs to Make Dogs Happy, Music from the Pink Dolphins, Koko, Fine Animal Gorilla, and the seasonal Bring an Animal Home for the Holidays. Finally, if you can figure out I’m a Green Chicken–let me know!

Okay, this list wouldn’t be complete without a few dog songs for people–I just happened to find a few in my search for music for dogs.

The first is a collection of Dog Songs put together by Disney. Then The Dog: Silly Songs is available with a collections of songs related to certain breeds.