What you, dear reader, learned from Pet Pause these past two years, for the most part, I learned, too. But, sadly, this week is the last column. I will miss this small space, where we celebrated our pets, learning what we could about how to feed them well, keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter; how and when to treat for pests before they bit. And overall, how they make our lives better. I started this column as a pet enthusiast. Then I proceeded to get married, buy a house, and, as I type this, our son, Peter, born two weeks ago, is feeding right down by my hands. Those are …

“Hey, guys — wait, why are you acting so weird?” Those were the thoughts that crossed Sistercat's mind as we walked through the door with our new son, Peter Aaron, who to her looked like nothing more than a car seat. Jamie (my husband) and I were giddy, with obvious reason. We couldn't believe we were introducing Peter to his home, even if he was sleeping through the big event. Nine months is a long time to wait, but you can't imagine how it will feel to carry him over the threshold till it's actually happening to you. A couple of days had passed since we'd seen the cats; no doubt they knew …

'Twas the week before Christmas And all through the house All the creatures were stirring - Well, all but the mouse.   These pets knew, in their wisdom, Santa'd be on his way in, And they hoped that he realized How good they had been.   Sure, Bear had represented them At Lake Humane's Santa Paws, Delivering all his friends' lists To the jolly old Claus.   But could Santa read paw prints, And would he forgive it, All those times Bear jumped up? Would he let him outlive it? “Stupid dog,” Tiger growled, But tried not to be shrill. This was Christmas, after all. And cats appreciate goodwill.   …

At the time of this writing, I am sitting on my couch with two cats -- one on the cushion above me, one on my torso -- looking across the coffee table at my husband, who is enjoying a glass of Côtes du Rhône. We're also exactly 7 hours 45 minutes from our due date, and waiting for my body to tell us it's time to deliver our son. It's the best and the strangest time of my life, and one cat in particular continues to make it even better and stranger. Muppet's been fairly consistent this year, sticking to her usual appearances throughout the day and finding places to lay within eyesight but not …

About this time of year, we all reflect on the months past and what the coming year may hold. Now is also a time of reflection and growth for Pet Pause. In the past month, our readership has expanded from Mentor, near my home, to Twinsburg and Solon. This won't prevent us from still exploring topics near and dear to pet owners everywhere: responsible pet waste removal, adoption, feral control, cost savings, puppy mills and hazards like fleas, ticks, summer heat and — yes, even in Twinsburg and Solon — coyotes. Pet Pause will continue to preview events for pet owners of our region: Dog Nights …

There's the overeating, the overeating again, and then there are still the desserts. For anything left over — and there still will be, even after all of that, even after Dad's thirds — here's last year's column on Thanksgiving-style pet food. And for those of us who already know we'll be so stuffed after our smörgåsbord that the thought of stuffing will make us nauseous, well, let's redirect our attention to the day after. The day of doorbuster sales and stretching one's legs to move faster than one's neighbor toward savings. The day we temporarily turn our attention from overeating to …

There must have been a point in my life when I thought, “Dogs can sniff out drugs? No way.” Some distant point in my youth I no longer recall. Seems a socially accepted truth these days. So it may surprise some that the question, in part, is now before the U.S. Supreme Court — casting doubt on the training of the dogs and how well they do their jobs, and whether the Fourth Amendment, the one that protects us from unreasonable search and seizure, should be able to stop them from doing their jobs at all. “Dogs make mistakes. Dogs err,” lawyer Glen P. Gifford told the justices during argument in…

Around here, we see signs hurriedly stapled to telephone poles fairly often. Lost cat. Lost dog. Please help. Reward. Now imagine how many of those signs could go up in the line of Hurricane Sandy. Even as hundreds, perhaps thousands, are still displaced from their neighborhoods, an act-alike Facebook page has caught the attention of the media, and a warning — it's equally touching and heartbreaking to visit. Hurricane Sandy Lost and Found Pets, established the day before Sandy made landfall in the U.S., doesn't recommend any particular charity deserving your dollars, nor take donations. (…

With five weeks to go, the Ward nursery finally looks like a place a baby could live. We've assembled the crib and the changing table. We've laid a rug and cushioned a rocking chair. We've even washed, folded and sorted all five loads of clothing into the drawers. (Well, I have.) Sharing this news, coworkers and neighbors of older children have gone giddy over the mention of Dreft, let alone its trademark scent. No, it's not ill preparation that made me anxious last week, but a threat does still linger in that little, yet-empty room. I'll take the blame for my husband's fear that Sistercat …

The image sticks with me, of majestic lions, tigers and bears laid out along a muddy Zanesville driveway. All of them lifeless, wet from rain, their underfurs muddy from the chase — It was already a year ago October 18 that this happened in Ohio, and somehow a year has made this picture even more unbearable as I sit here on a Sunday morning nibbling biscotti and drinking coffee. Tragic death always feels more rotten after time, not better. At least it does for me. I think about how the deceased have not passed the time with us. Details that emerge after a year also tend to be more chilling; …

We knew it was bad. We just didn't know it was this bad. This Halloween, the National Retail Federation says Americans plan to spend $370 million on costumes for their pets, a 19 percent increase since last year. This coming from someone who laughed out loud Friday at a Bulldog mix in a sweatshirt: what a collosal waste of money. Was it buying a house this year that has made me more stingy with money? Or maybe it's my budgeting husband rubbing off on me. But knowing that amount of dough, if given to UNICEF, could bring 4.5 million malnourished children back to health — I'm sorry, your dog's …

It's the first year for flu shots in the Ward household. I always get mine, and have already had one this season. (Not to brag...) My husband, on the other hand, is one of those people who doesn't believe in flu shots. This year it's different, though, expecting a little one with no immunities. Or is it? Apparently this is all old news to the masses — 1970s for cats, 2000 for dogs — but I just learned this week that if the flu finds you, it can find your pet, too. In fact, pets may even contract the flu from us humans more often than initially thought, and perhaps even moreso among cats, …

Today I unhook the hummingbird feeder, bring it in, scrub it out and store it away for the winter. Having cleaned and refreshed it twice a week, and regularly boiled the sweet solution that kept our little hummers fed, I also wonder today if I will miss it. Yes, despite late-June and mid-August frustrations, the Wards' inaugural hummingbird year was a success. But our regulars have long since left for the south, and those migrants from Canada are now fueled up and en route themselves. It's been a couple weeks since I've seen any noticeable depletion of the supply. It is time. What did I take …

Floating fur fluffs. With a houseguest mere steps behind me, how many times have I nonchalantly ducked down to lift one into my pocket? Somehow these accumulations seem to appear most often after I feel the house has just been thoroughly cleaned. I would swear I've hit every corner, and then — But a loose ball drifting across the floor on a breeze, or collected under a couch, takes just a swipe to remove. Pet hair problems shift from comical to disturbing, in my eyes, when someone wearing black pants stands up from one of my couches. Now that's embarrassing. Admittedly brushing the cats every…

Reading about hoarding or puppy mill situations can be heartwrenching. You put yourself in their paws for a moment, then quickly block out how devastating and hopeless their lives must have felt before their rescue. Meeting the victims in person is different. Earlier this week I walked into a Mentor backyard to find eight rescued chihuahuas — and my first thought was: how delightful! Tiny tails wagged frantically behind Dallas and Denver. Carmella pranced with joy. Stanley Miller barked hello. What I was expecting? I thought. This isn't sad at all! Then I noticed Janis, Demi and Greta hiding …

Did you know your neighboring Geauga Humane Society throws Woofstock right in your backyard? And true to its namesake's grassroots form, the event seems to attract guests of every breed in the world, according to Gerard Mikus of Hambden Township. “All these dogs are together, and only a few times did we see a skirmish at all,” he said. “Everybody accepts one another.” Peace, dog. Woofstock goes down at the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland on Sunday, September 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. rain or shine — and if you ask Gerard, a real highlight is the contests. “Last year was our first year going, and…

My relationship with my cats took on a slightly different quality on this week two years ago. That's when I first heard the parasites episode of Radiolab and learned about Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that lives in cat guts and confuses the brains of small critters and potentially humans. More on that later. My relationship with my cats also took on a slightly different quality six months ago. That's when we learned I was pregnant and I turned the duty of changing the cat litter over to my husband. “This is my least favorite thing to do every day,” he moaned Friday as I snapped the picture …

I eat frogs, then jump in mom's lap to puke them up. She screams because they are still moving. I am a frog eating jerk. Dr. Franklin Bigglesworth the Dachshund joined the ranks of the shamed Saturday. Who's next? By writing down your dog's most recent or common misdeed, placing the note near the guilty party and snapping a picture, you, too, could submit a dog for public shaming on the tremendously popular Dogshaming Tumblr page. And if you don't have a bad dog — well, they're loads of fun to look at. Canines commit crazy crimes. 0 days since I ate the cat litter. I pretend you're yelling "…

Mentor's anti-puppy mill champion, Marilyn's Voice, Inc., does not sit back where dogs need help — so the rescue group became involved in the fate of almost 300 small dogs last week who were from a puppy mill just outside Shelby, about two hours southwest of Mentor. The dogs' owner, an elderly woman in hospice care, surrended custody of about 240 Chihuahuas and 40 Shar-Peis to the Humane Society of Richland County on Tuesday. The animals likely hadn't received food or water since her husband died of a heart attack a week earlier. The couple's son, who lives in New Jersey, was the one who …

I have an update to my pledge to care for our neighborhood hummingbird population. The feeders are down. Precious little ones, I apologize, but I'm trying to relieve you of your bane, the honeybee. Please stand by. Yes, weekly readers, we finally spotted the first hummingbird at our feeder a week after this column on attracting them. It was a Sunday when I spotted its tiny flit near the perch, and there it rested to feed. We lay still on the grass with our ball gloves, thrilled, to absorb it. Soon I could spot four distinctly different birds in one sitting around 6:30 or 7 p.m. (Thanks to …