Our pets are constantly interacting on the subtle level, directing data at you while picking up messages from you. Most likely, you’ve been relatively unaware of exactly how much intuitive communicating is already occurring between you and your pet. Understanding...

For decades, humans have been selectively breeding cats and dogs to exhibit exaggerated features – particularly in their faces. When it comes to cats, the very flat, round faces of the modern Persian and Exotic Shorthair are classic examples. While it might be cute for humans to look at, there are various downsides for the animals when it comes to looking this way.

One of the consequences of the current coronavirus pandemic is that it has brought us face-to-face with our own mortality. Not only are we vulnerable to disease, but we can also share diseases with other animals.

When one of my co-workers found out about a tiny, orphaned kitten that needed a home a few months ago, he didn’t hesitate to adopt it. He says his new companion helped make the months of COVID-19 isolation at home much less stressful.

Anthropologist Pat Shipman, in an issue of American Scientist, suggests dogs gave our human ancestors an advantage over Neanderthals when they arrived in Europe.

They are cute. They are fluffy (mostly). They are great fun and make perfect family pets. Right? Well, not entirely. With Christmas fast approaching, and despite ...

The things you see your cat doing are probably what it enjoys. As long as it gets the chance to do these things then your cat is probably happy. Providing lots of toys to play with is a great way to keep your cat happy, especially if it’s a kitten.

Most pet owners know chocolate and dogs don’t mix. Despite this, chocolate poisoning in dogs remains a problem, particularly at Christmas, as a new study in the journal Vet Record shows.

I have discovered one positive amid the pandemic: I love working with two dogs at my feet. As someone who studies dog cognition, I often wonder: What is Cleo thinking when she stares at me while I write? Are my dogs happy?

SARS-CoV-2 almost certainly originated in an animal. But ever since the virus infected humans the outbreak has been driven by efficient human-to-human transmission, resulting in the current pandemic.

A number of conservationists claim cats are a zombie apocalypse for biodiversity that need to be removed from the outdoors by “any means necessary” – coded language for shooting, trapping and poisoning.

Domestication, for an animal, means not being completely free to roam or to even eat as they please. Pets therefore align with their humans for only one of two reasons: either by their own choice or from a place of surrender. When they do, they have a powerful impact on our lives.

By the standards set by modern medicine, healing shouldn’t work. However, we know that it does. We don’t quite understand how or why, but when we witness the miraculous results of simply the laying-on of hands, of herbal remedies or of...

While most people see a full spectrum of colors from red to violet, dogs lack some of the light receptors in their eyes that allow human beings to see certain colors, particularly in the red and green range.

Summer is a great time to get out and about with your dog. But dogs don’t tolerate the heat as well as their owners. When people get hot they start to sweat, but dogs are only able to do this through the pads on their paws.

As temperatures begin to warm up, it might be tempting to take your dog for a long walk or run to soak up the weather while it lasts. But it’s important to exercise caution, as dogs can easily develop heatstroke in hot temperatures.

The more neurotic and anxious cat owners are, the more trust and affection they have for their cat, researchers say.

To protect our native wildlife, who never evolved with such an efficient predator, it’s imperative we keep our cats contained – all day, every day.

We know feral cats are an enormous problem for wildlife – across Australia, feral cats collectively kill more than three billion animals per year.

Speak to many dog owners and they will tell you that their once perfectly behaved puppy started to become “difficult” at around six to 12 months of age.