Dog and Cat Diary: In their own words: The Human Perspective

Excerpts from a Dog's Diary......

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk Bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!





Excerpts from a Cat's Daily Diary...

Day 983 of my captivity...

     My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

      Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.
    The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.
   Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. Idiots.

   There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.
    Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.

    I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return.

   The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...

Online Dating

Missing Cat Returned after 14 Years!

Fourteen years after her cat, Tiger Lily, disappeared, Ingrid Kerker of Winnipeg, Canada was stunned to receive a phone call from a veterinary clinic, asking if she had ever owned an orange tabby. The clinic had found a feline with an identification code tattooed in its right ear that led to Kerker's old address, reports the Winnipeg Free Press.

"I was just shocked," Kerker tells Paw Nation. "Tiger Lily disappeared on October 12, 1996. I remember because I wrote the date down in my Bible."
At the time, Kerker and her two young sons put up posters looking for their cat, but they never found her. "Over the years, we wondered what happened to her and she would come up in conversation periodically." Tiger Lily had once been a stray that Kerker adopted and had spayed and tattooed. "In Canada, every animal that is spayed or neutered has to be microchipped or tattooed," Kerker explains. "Back then, they didn't have microchipping, so I had Tiger Lily tattooed."

After getting the call from the veterinary clinic, Kerker quickly called her sons, both now in their twenties. "My younger son Rick [now 23] couldn't wait to go out and get her." Rick took along a photo of himself at eight years old, sleeping with Tiger Lily.

"She was very friendly right away," Kerker tells Paw Nation about reuniting with Tiger Lily. "She just cuddled up on my chest and it was like we hadn't skipped a bit." Except, of course, that Tiger Lily was much older. "The animal clinic examined her and we think she's actually 19 years old," Kerker says. The family has no idea what Tiger Lily was doing these past 14 years. All they know is that when the staffer at the animal clinic rescued her, the cat was thin and smelled of diesel fuel.

Tiger Lily is as affectionate as always and loves to hug cheek to cheek. It took her about three days to get used to the two other cats in Kerker's household, though the dog is another story "All three of the cats line up and eat out of the same bowl," Kerker says. "But Tiger Lily's still a little uncertain about the dog."
 
 
 
Ingrid Kerger holds long lost cat named Tiger. Credit: Boris Minkevich, Winnipeg Free Press

Current Dog Vaccine Recommendations from AAHA

Dog Vaccine Recommendations from AAHA


The American Animal Hospital Association no longer recommends that pets be vaccinated every year. Here is a summary of their recommendations and a link to their web site :

The 2006 AAHA Vaccine Recommendation Guidelines say the following:

The guidelines designate four vaccines as core, or essential for every dog, because of the serious nature of the diseases and their widespread distribution. These are canine distemper virus (using a modified live virus or recombinant modified live virus vaccine), canine parvovirus (using a modified live virus vaccine), canine adenovirus-2 (using a modified live virus vaccine), and rabies (using a killed virus).

The general recommendations for their administration (except rabies, for which you must follow local laws) are:
* Vaccinate puppies at 6–8 weeks, 9–11 weeks, and 12–14 weeks.
* Give an initial “adult” vaccination when the dog is older than 16 weeks; two doses, three to four weeks apart, are advised, but one dose is considered protective and acceptable.
* Give a booster shot when the dog is 1 year old.
* Give a subsequent booster shot every three years, unless there are risk factors that make it necessary to vaccinate more or less often.
Noncore vaccines should only be considered for those dogs who risk exposure to a particular disease because of geographic area, lifestyle, frequency of travel, or other issues. They include vaccines against distemper-measles virus, canine parainfluenza virus, leptospirosis, Bordetella bronchiseptica, and Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease).

Vaccines that are not generally recommended because the disease poses little risk to dogs or is easily treatable, or the vaccine has not been proven to be effective, are those against giardia, canine coronavirus, and canine adenovirus-1.

This is of interest to pet sitters and kennels because we will no longer be able to require that animals be "current" with yearly vaccinations. On the other hand, there are many health reasons not to over-vaccinate, and I think this is a step in the right direction.

Don't think that parvo, distemper, rabies and other canine diseases aren't around any more. It is tragic that a parvo outbreak at a local animal shelter causes the entire population of dogs to be euthanized. Protect your dog, and share this information with your family and friends!

Caring for Pets Left Behind by the Rapture For a fee, this service will place your dog or cat in the home of a caring atheist on Judgment Day

Are these people kidding!!!!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_08/b4167070046047.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5


http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/

Doctor casts new light on cat that can predict death

SYDNEY (Reuters) – When doctors and staff realized that a cat living in a U.S. nursing home could sense when someone was going to die, the feline, Oscar, was portrayed as a furry grim reaper or four-legged angel of death.
But Dr. David Dosa, who broke the news of Oscar's abilities in a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007, said he never intended to make Oscar sound creepy or his arrival at a bedside to be viewed negatively.
Dosa said he hopes his newly released book, "Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat" will put the cat in a more favorable light as well as providing a book to help people whose loved ones are terminally ill.
"After the New England Journal article you got the feeling that if Oscar is in your bed then you are dead, but you did not really see what is going on for these family members," said Dosa, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.
"I wanted to write a book that would go beyond Oscar's peculiarities, to tell why he is important to family members and caregivers who have been with him at the end of a life."
Dosa said Oscar's story is fascinating on many levels.
Oscar was adopted as a kitten from an animal shelter to be raised as a therapy cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, which cares for people with severe dementia and in the final stages of various illnesses.

SIXTH SENSE?
Oscar was about six months old the staff noticed that he would curl up to sleep with patients who were about to die.
So far he has accurately predicted about 50 deaths.
Dosa recounts one instance when staff were convinced of the imminent death of one patient but Oscar refused to sit with that person, choosing instead to be on the bed of another patient down the hallway. Oscar proved to be right. The person he sat with died first, taking staff on the ward by surprise.
Dosa said there is no scientific evidence to explain Oscar's abilities, but he thinks the cat might be responding to a pheromone or smell that humans simply don't recognize.
Dosa said his main interest was not to delve further into Oscar's abilities but to use Oscar as a vehicle to tell about terminal illness, which is his main area of work.

"There is a lot to tell about what Oscar does, but there is a lot to tell on the human level of what family members go through at the end of life when they are dealing with a loved one in a nursing home or with advanced dementia," he said.
"Perhaps the book is a little more approachable because there is a cat in it. We really know so little about nursing homes, and this tries to get rid of this myth that they are horrid factories where people go to die."
Dosa said the story of Oscar, who is now nearly five years old, initially had sparked a bit more interest in families wanting to send their loved ones to Steere House.
Oscar has even been thanked by families in obituaries for providing some comfort in the final hours of life.
But he said Oscar remains unchanged by the attention, spending most of his days staring out of a window, although he has become a bit friendlier.
"The first time I met Oscar he bit me. We have warmed over the years. We have moved into a better place," said Dosa.
"I don't think Oscar is that unique, but he is in a unique environment. Animals are remarkable in their ability to see things we don't, be it the dog that sniffs out cancer or the fish that predicts earthquakes. Animals know when they are needed."

The Puppy Bowl......new this year, ariel footage from the hamster blimp!!

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/puppy-bowl-vi/

Hearding Cats.....Superbowl Ad............worth watching.:0.......meeeooww

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/206844/535507

The truth about animal shelters, rescue groups and responsible breeders.

Rescue from a Shelter

According to Main Line Animal Rescue—an organization that has saved thousands of dogs born in puppy mills—there are several things you need to know about animal shelters before you get a new pet.

Many people feel that you don't know what you are getting with a rescue dog. In fact, if the dog is being fostered by a rescue organization or staying any amount of time at a better shelter, the dog or puppy has mostly likely been fully vetted and trained, and the volunteers and staff will know if the dog is good with children, good with other dogs or cats, housebroken, etc.

The best way to learn more about a shelter or rescue group is by contacting their veterinarian. Find out if they spay or neuter their dogs prior to releasing them to their new families. Good shelters and rescues often spay or neuter their pets before placement. Find out if they test their cats for feline AIDS and feline leukemia.

As with responsible breeders, a good rescue always takes their dogs or cats back if there is a problem.

When giving up your pet, never place an ad or post online: "Free to Good Home." People who need "bait" for dogfights and "bunchers," who look for free animals to sell for medical research, are always looking for free dogs and cats.

                                          
                                   Recognize a Good Breeder

When choosing a breeder look for one who does the following:

     *Ideally, keeps his or her pets as part of the family.
     *Encourages you to meet and spend time with your puppy's parents, and allows you to see          
where they spend most of their time. Area is clean and well maintained.
     *Insists on meeting potential adoptive families. Will not sell their dogs to just anyone.
     *Doesn't sell animals too young—sells puppies only after they are 8 to 12 weeks old, and 8 to 10  weeks old for kittens.
     *Can provide references from other families who have purchased puppies.
     *Keeps breeding dogs healthy, well fed, and well socialized.
     *Provides professional veterinary care for all their animals.
     *Performs health tests on fathers and mothers prior to breeding to ensure their puppies do not have genetic defects.
     *Has a good relationship with a local veterinarian and can show you records of visits for the puppy.
     *Bases breeding frequency on mother's health, age, condition and recuperative abilities.
     *Does not breed extremely young or old animals.
      *Discusses positive and negative aspects of particular animals and breeds with potential owners.
     *Encourages multiple visits to meet the puppy.
     *Will take back any of their animals, at any time and for any reason.