PET POURRI: Site offers reminders on pet medications

Did you remember to give Fluffy his heartworm medicine last month?

Is Fido months past due on his vaccinations?

Did you forget his doses for Addison's or Cushings?

If the answer is yes, you might want to check out remindmypet.com, a program that reminds pet owners when to administer medications given on an infrequent basis - whether it is weekly, monthly or more infrequently.

You plug in your pets' names, all the prescribed medications and the timing schedule.

Then when it's time to give a medicine, you get an e-mail reminder.

Forgetting to give medicines can be fatal, according to the American Heartworm Association. Heartworm is becoming more prevalent in Colorado, so be sure your cats and dogs are protected for that. It is transmitted by mosquitoes, which carry larvae from an infected to a noninfected pet. Nearly 50 percent of dogs and cats receive heartworm medication, but, unfortunately, 50 percent of dog owners fail to administer it as recommended.

The service is free.

The poop on dog nutrition

Another helpful Web site we've found is naturesvari ety.com.

It has all sorts of info on food and nutrition for pets. There's a neat ingredients glossary you can use to see whether your pet food is as good as you think it is.

The company behind the Web site makes grain-free and holistic foods for dogs and cats.

An addictive site

Dogster.com, the "For the love of dog" Web site with more than 30,000 pages, has an interesting veterinary blog that recently covered topics such as cat ear mites, how pets can help prevent memory loss in the elderly, and unusual growths on dog footpads.

But be warned that Dogster can be addictive with all those contests, breed information, adoption information, news and cute poochie personal pages a la Facebook.

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Contact the writer: 636-0371 or carol.mcgraw@gazette.com.