Paradox Spay Neuter

11/13/2026

If you work in the southeast, share this client handout about top parasite concerns in your area.

11/13/2026

I NOSE WHAT TIME IT IS!

Dogs just seem to know when it’s time for dinner, time for a walk or even what time we’re expected to come home, sometimes down to the exact minute!

Yes, they may simply know this from daily routines that create predictable patterns or certain cues that predict certain events, but there is far more to this ability to tell time than the obvious reasons.

One theory is that time has a particular smell. Different times of the day smell differently. Morning smells differently to afternoon or evening.

As air heats up over the course of the day, air currents change and move around, carrying molecules of different odours with it.

These changes become predictable and a dog’s incredible sense of smell enables these odours to become their “clock”.

One example is when you leave home to go to work, leaving a strong scent behind you. As time passes, your scent becomes weaker. Dogs predict that when your scent becomes weakened to a certain level, it’s time for you to come home. The level of your scent predicts the time.

As dogs can detect both strong and weak scents and all the levels in between, they are actually interpreting events across an interval of time.

Another way dogs may tell time is through circadian rhythms. Just like us, dogs have fluctuations in systems like hormone levels, neural activity or body temperature and these rhythms may help them to understand the approximate time of day - just like when our stomach starts growling when it’s nearly time for dinner or we feel tired when it's time for bed.

Dogs are not the only species that can interpret time. Animals that migrate or hibernate follow seasonal cues from nature in the form of daylight and temperature to know when the time is right.

Having hundreds of millions more scent receptors than us, a dog’s amazing ability to smell is likely the reason that dogs just "nose" what time it is.

11/08/2026

November is Pet Diabetes Month to help raise awareness. Here's a quick primer on some important facts related to the condition. Did you know it's estimated that between 0.2% and 1% of cats will be diagnosed with diabetes during their lifetime?

Learn more here:https://hubs.la/Q04Db7F70

Text in graphic:
Feline Diabetes

What is it?
Diabetes mellitus is a condition in which the body cannot properly produce or respond to the hormone insulin. This results in elevated levels of the sugar glucose in the blood, which is the main source of energy for the body.

Type 1
Blood glucose concentrations are high because of a decrease in insulin production.

Type 2
Glucose levels are high because cells in the body do not respond appropriately to insulin.

Clinical Signs:
Weight loss
Increased thirst and urination

Treatment:
Insulin therapy
dietary therapy

11/08/2026

It's ! 🌬️❄️🏠🌡️🐱 When we teach folks how to build winter shelters for stray and feral community cats, we insist that the shelters should be lined with straw for bedding. NO hay, blankets, towels, or cat beds — no exceptions! Why is this so important?

Hay and straw are not the same thing! Hay is greenish dried grass or alfalfa that is used as animal feed, and it makes terrible bedding. It absorbs water from rain, snow, or breath condensation. Wetness is why we also avoid using cat beds, towels, or blankets in winter shelters. Wet bedding can make cats sick from mold or hypothermia, and it may freeze.

Straw is pale yellow and is made up of hollow stems from grain crops like wheat or oats. If it gets wet, straw dries out easily. Its hollow shape creates toasty pockets of warm air from cats’ body heat. Cats burrow into straw, making cozy nests that hug their bodies.

Now is a great time to get straw for your winter cat shelters! Ask neighbors, community festivals, local shops, restaurants, religious organizations, orchards, and others that use straw as autumn decorations if you can take it when they're done. Also, hardware and garden supply stores often sell straw at a discount after Halloween.

For more cat shelter info, check out our recorded webinar, "Building Shelters for Outdoor Cats":
Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCIBSV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCIBSH
Construction Videos: https://bit.ly/BFCIYT

Or to get started quickly with our Super Simple Foam Box Shelter, watch our all-ages step-by-step video: https://bit.ly/KidsCatShelter

11/08/2026

Rodenticides are very common in the winter months as rodents come looking for warmth. Unfortunately, rodenticides are just as appealing and deadly to pets. Find out how to keep your pets safe from rodenticide!

11/08/2026

NOT GUILTY!
Dogs might look guilty, but that doesn’t mean that they feel guilty.

“My dog knows that he’s done something wrong, just look how guilty he looks!" This is something that we hear so often.

People are highly amused and entertained on social media and even dedicated websites where pictures of “guilty” dogs are seen. The “guiltier” the dog looks, the more popular these posts are and the funnier people find them.

I find this really sad because it’s a complete misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of a dog’s body language.

That “guilty” look is actually a dog showing the signs of fear, stress, anxiety or appeasement.
It’s the fear of what may have happened before - being scolded or punished. The stress or anxiety in sensing the person’s body language, expression, emotions, tone or pitch. That guilty look is an appeasement behaviour in an attempt to calm the angry person down.

As people, it’s natural for us to want to believe that our dogs feel guilt and remorse about whatever they’ve done wrong. Maybe thinking that they really do feel guilty somehow makes their behaviour more acceptable and we see it as a form of apology.

Dogs are capable of a wide range of emotions, but it’s highly unlikely that they feel more complex emotions, like guilt, regret, remorse or shame.

Guilt is a complex emotion and defined as an unhappy feeling that you have because you have done something wrong or think that you may have done something wrong. It’s a feeling of shame, regret or remorse. The feeling of guilt requires an understanding of cause and effect and is relative to time.

Do dogs spend the day feeling guilty, waiting for us to come home to find a mess or a chewed-up couch or shoe, or are they waiting excitedly for us to come home because they really missed us and are looking forward to some attention?

For the emotional wellbeing of our dogs, let’s try to understand them more and focus less on how we believe they should feel just because it makes us feel better.

11/04/2026

This week is Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, and we'd like to give a huge shout out to the veterinary professionals and other staff members who enable shelters to rescue and care for so many animals! If you're looking for ways to help support your local shelter, here are 6️⃣ tips to get started.

11/04/2026

Next generation rabies vaccine launched
Rabies remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases affecting animals and humans worldwide. While highly preventable through routine vaccination, the disease continues to pose a significant public health risk and is almost always fatal once clinical signs appear. Vaccination of dogs and cats is a critical component of rabies prevention and plays an important role in protecting both animal and human health.Vaccination remains one of the most important steps pet owners can take to protect the health of their dogs and cats.

https://www.dvm360.com/view/merck-animal-health-launches-nonadjuvanted-rabies-vaccines-for-dogs-and-cats-as-human-exposures-rise

https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/newsroom/merck-animal-health-launches-nobivac-nxt-rabies-for-dogs-and-cats-in-the-united-states/

NOBIVAC NXT Rabies, available in 1-year and 3-year formulations, arrives weeks after the CDC warned of a nationwide increase in reported human rabies exposures.