For problems with an underlying behavioral cause, try these options.

The most common concern expression by clients about their cats' behavior involves inappropriate elimination.

Use this questionnaire at any and all visits to help clients review subjects about which they might have questions.

Dogs with noise phobias can benefit from drugs given before or during an anxiety-provoking event or even as lifelong daily drug therapy.

How to recognize problems and implement appropriate client interventions.

Are we paying enough attention to cats—both young and old?

Diet, supplements, drugs and cognitive and physical stimulation all play roles.

Contributions, causes of age-related cognitive changes in dogs.

These steps teach the troubled pet that you are reliable and trustworthy...

This column is the first in a series addressing the most-common questions that veterinarians ask me about behavioral medicine.

The final column in this series on feline communication focuses on integrating all the signals we have discussed and in reviewing their roles given the context of the specific behavioral environment.

The third column in this continuing series on feline communication will focus on overall body posturing and the behavioral information it provides. Because no signaling system can be removed from the context of the entire animal, using what we have learned from observation of behavioral cues from felines' faces and tails can be extremely useful when we look at the cat in its relevant social context.

The second column in this series on feline communication will focus on the information provided by cat tails. While no signaling system can be removed from the context of the entire animal and correctly interpreted, it can be very useful to look at what information can be communicated by each body part involved in signaling. Then, we can take these observations and look for congruence or lack of it between other signaling systems (e.g., the eyes, voice, body, etc.) The only system closed to our understanding, for now, is the olfactory.

We must remember that interactions are a dance with roles for both partners, who each give and request information.