Embarrassed Cats
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If you’ve ever “owned” a cat you know that they get embarrassed when they miss a jump or otherwise screw up during one of their world class stunts. Rant pets has a post all about the subject.
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Kathie Lee Gifford’s Dog Louis Dies
“Hail! King Louis! You were dearly loved. R.I.P. 2006-2016,” Gifford, 62, posted along with a photo of the Bichon Frise donning a gold crown.
Louis is survived by his two canine buddies Bambino and Lola. Gifford has always spoken highly of her canine clan, counting the pups among her friends.
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Sick Pet And Can’t Afford It – Now What?
The late Sweetie Pie
When a family member needed thousands of dollars worth of dental work, she turned to a company that specializes in credit for dental work with little or no interest and great payment options. But what about our pets? Many times when a pet gets older, just like us humans they need extra health care because of age related illnesses.
I would imagine that there are a good number of people that just put the pet down because they can’t afford the medical care. That is a very sad situation for many people. I can’t imagine having to make that choice and I am grateful that I don’t have to. There are options for limited or fixed income pet owners – and it’s a great idea to point out this article or others to friends and family members that face this situation.
Let’s take a look at some options. We’re not promoting any of these options – this is for informational purposes only.
CareCredit
In my home, we’ve used CareCredit for dental work – they’re a lifesaver when it comes to procedures that you would prefer not to use a credit card for. CareCredit has a veterinary credit line as well that’s worth looking into before you need it.
CareCredit has what they call “promotional” zero interest rate financing for 6, 12. 18 and 24 months depending on how much you charge to your CareCredit account. You should know that CareCredit charges 26% interest if you don’t pay the balance in the time allotted.
In Memory of Magic
In Memory of Magic (IMOM) is a well known charity that can help with one time costs, spay and neutering and helping with chronic illnesses in pets through their organization.
IMOM is named after a cat named Magic and in the cat’s memory.
The Pet Fund
From The Pet Fund website: The Pet Fund is a registered 501(c) 3 nonprofit association that provides financial assistance to owners of domestic animals who need veterinary care. Often animals are put down or suffer needlessly because their owners cannot afford expensive surgery or medical treatment.
The were started in 2006 as a charity that helps people with financial aid when they cannot afford the care that their companion pet needs. They also work with pet owners matching them with clinical trials of medications for conditions their pet may have.
Here is a state by state listing of financial assistance groups as well as cat/dog and breed specific assistance programs.
Alaska
Friends of Pets in Anchorage (907) 562-2535.
Arizona
Animal Aid Network’s SAVE fund
Cause Four Paws (520) 795-9951.
Arkansas
For Pets’ Sake Best Friends Program provides financial assistance to seniors or special-needs residents of northwest Arkansas.
California
Actors and Others for Animals (818) 755-6045.
Four Legged Friends Foundation’s Sunny Day Fund
Mercy Crusade i(818) 597-2926.
Holiday Humane Society (818) 765-8196.
Voice for the Animals Foundation Helping Friends Program
Animal Assistance League of Orange County (714) 891-PETS (7387).
Orange County SPCA’s Pet Rescue Fund (714) 374-7738.
Rescuing Unwanted Furry Friends (RUFF)
Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS)
Colorado
PetAid Animal Hospital (303) 442-4030, ext 680
Connecticut
Connecticut Humane Society’s Fox Memorial Clinic
Georgia
Idaho
Idaho Humane Society STAR Fund
Illinois
Iowa
Massachusetts
Angell Animal Medical Center-Boston
Michigan
New Jersey
God’s Creatures Ministry Veterinary Charity Fund
New York
Oregon
Velvet Financial Assistance Fund,
Pennsylvania
The Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Volunteer Services for Animals (401) 273-0358.
RIVMA’s Companion Animal Foundation
Tennessee
Texas
Capper and Chris Save the Animals Fund,
Utah
Virginia
Animal Welfare League of Arlington’s
Companion Animal Resource Effort
Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington Animal Rescue League
Wisconsin
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Pet Owners And Their Pets
I have had pets all my life from dogs and cats to rabbits, birds, fish and lizards. And a bug. A water beetle I named “Beetle Baily” who lived in a 2 gallon jar that I had to change the water in every couple of days which had some water plants in it. Luckily we had a river on our property so it wasn’t hard work for a 8 year old.
There was a study done in 2006 that was called: People and Their Pets: A Relational Perspective on Interpersonal Complementarity and Attachment in Companion Animal Owners.
According to an old joke, dogs and cats can be understood by the basic mani- festation of their world views: Regarding guardians (owners) a dog thinks:“This person’s great. She feeds me, she pets me, and she plays with me. She must be a god”!A cat, on the other hand, thinks: “This person’s great. She feeds me, she pets me, and she plays with me. I must be a god”!The implication in this joke is that dogs and cats have personalities that are distinctive and effective in their relationships with humans. Despite a dearth of scientific theory or evidence to support their beliefs, pet owners—on an intuitive level—frequently categorize themselves as either “cat people” or “dog people.” Those personality characteristics that distinguish these two categories of companion animal attachment, however, remain vague and ill-defined.
Many times, a scientific paper requires endless searching for “what the heck does that mean” supporting materials. This paper reads more like an article or a blog post – it’s easy to read and understand without having to read even more papers to figure out what the authors mean.
The main thrust of the first sections of the study is to set up the interpersonal relationships as a graph with Dominance-submissivenes and Hostility-friendliness as the key players in order to predict how relationships will develop. According to the authors:
In essence, people seek the security of relating to others in a way that helps maintain their own preferred styles of interacting. According to Orford (1994), those who are relatively dominant in their interpersonal orientations would feel most comfortable relating to others who are relatively more submissive in their styles of interacting.
The paper goes on to detail that “animals are significant beings in the overall schema of humans’ relatedness to the world around them” and that certain breeds of dogs and cats have certain personalities which would seem to mean that these personalities in the breeds would attract certain personalities of people to said dogs and cats. Think of the funny photos you’ve seen of owners and their dogs and how they look alike. Winston Churchill and his dog is a famous one.
The paper also delves into the research into the urbanization of the population and the lack of effect this has had on the interpersonal relationships between people and their companion pets as well as the owner’s need for dominance in the relationship between pets and humans.
The paper also has included in it the survey form that the writers used to do their research. The paper is well worth jumping into this particular rabbit hole.
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Catmergency!
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Quick…what’s the worst thing you can do during an emergency involving your cat? Panicking.
In an interview with Denise Fleck, Pet Safety Crusader™, Victoria Geager asked her what are the three most important cat emergency tips that she can come up with. And here they are:
What are three tips you can give us to help prevent or prepare for a cat emergency?
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A calm YOU along with a towel and muzzle. Cats pick up on our energy, so take a deep breath but ahead of time…learn basic cat first aid!
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Of course I’m going to say your Cat’s First Aid Kit, but…Pumpkin puree or dehydrated pumpkin/apple fiber.
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Also a covered bathroom garbage can. I’ll bet this one surprises you, but many cats choke or worse on used dental floss!
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Mothers Of The Animal World
As we wind our way through mother’s day wherein all moms are celebrated as part of the Hallmark marketing machine, despite it’s dark origins according to National Geographic which was for mothers of dead soldiers and a peace movement:
But the holiday has more somber roots: It was founded for mourning women to remember fallen soldiers and work for peace. And when the holiday went commercial, its greatest champion, Anna Jarvis, gave everything to fight it, dying penniless and broken in a sanitarium.
It all started in the 1850s, when West Virginia women’s organizer Ann Reeves Jarvis—Anna’s mother—held Mother’s Day work clubs to improve sanitary conditions and try to lower infant mortality by fighting disease and curbing milk contamination, according to historian Katharine Antolini of West Virginia Wesleyan College. The groups also tended wounded soldiers from both sides during the U.S. Civil War from 1861 to 1865.
However, as pet owners also turn our attention to mothers in the animal world and take a look at the best and worst of them.
While nine months may seem like forever for some human mothers, pregnancy lasts much longer for many animals. So be glad that you’re not a rhino, who’s pregnant for 16 months or a sperm whale. Be even more glad that you’re not an elephant who’s just a little bit overdue: Last year, an elephant gave birth at a British zoo after being pregnant for 700 days. Yes, that’s almost two years.
Mammals don’t have the worst of it, either: An alpine salamander’s pregnancy can last three years, and it’s believed that the frilled shark may carry offspring for three and a half years.
Every neighborhood has that overachieving mom who makes everyone else feel bad, and the same is true for the animal kingdom. Most cold-blooded animals have an enviable mothering style — like frogs, who lay thousands of eggs, and then abandon them, figuring that at least a few will survive on their own.
What to feed the kids is always a source of contention for competitive moms. Our fellow mammals have no choice but to breast-feed, and if you found it hard, be thankful that you’re not a harp seal. They nurse their young for 12 days without eating, losing about seven pounds per day. It’s an effective post-pregnancy diet plan, but not a very pleasant one.
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5 Week Old Kitten Saved!!
After three long days, a 5-week-old kitten was saved from a manhole on a busy street in Phoenix. The Arizona Humane Society first got a call about meows coming from the street on Friday, but when they arrived on the scene, they couldn’t hear or see anything.
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Search And Rescue Dogs Get Training
One of my favorite series of books is the Atlantis series by Bob Mayer. In the series, the main character, Dane, has a golden retriever and they are a search and rescue team. Search and rescue dogs do work that is at the same time needed during disasters as well as upsetting when you consider they find the deceased as well as the living.
A rescue dog recently passed away after saving 7 people in the aftermath of an earthquake in Ecuador.
Dayko the hero dog, who rescued seven people from under the rubble after a massive earthquake hit Equador, passed away from heatstroke this week. To put it in more emotional terms, Dayko died because he valued saving human lives more than he valued his own life.
The training that these amazing service dogs do is also something to learn about –
They climb ladders, run through tunnels and play hide-and-seek in the snow. They also go for a dip in the pool and get a pilates workout.
Three students at the Working Dog Center work on their agility.The dogs at the WDC are training to do a wide variety of detection jobs. Some will work in law enforcement, sniffing out explosives, fire accelerants and drugs; while others will participate in disaster recovery or have a medical focus, like detecting ovarian cancer or working as diabetic alert dogs. They learn through positive reinforcement and play — and fitness and obedience are keys to their success, too, says Dr. Cynthia Otto, a veterinarian who started the WDC and is the lead investigator in a long-term study on the health and behavior of detection dogs.
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Service Animals Versus Companion Animals
A service animal (usually a dog) is an animal that has been specially trained to help a human function in their normal daily lives.
A companion animal (cats, dogs and other pets) give their humans emotional support and supply them with stress reduction benefits. A recent study in Australia shows that dog owners and their dogs have matching heart rates and beats – they syncronize.
In the UK, family time off (paid) used to mean maternity and death of a loved one. Now it also includes bringing a new pet into the home. Yeah, paid time off to do whatever with your new pet. In my opinion, that might go over a line that employers shouldn’t cross but that’s me. If I have a pet emergency, I ain’t coming in to work. If I’m adopting a new pet, I do it on a Friday so I have nearly 72 hours with them.
As I read research, web sites and documentation for my book, I get the distinct feeling that companion animals get the low end of the totem pole – are second class pets behind service animals. Yes, service animals do get a lot of training and are actually working animals that provide an absolutely needed service. I’ve seen them in action and I’ve seen the training they get. It’s amazing.
Concerning companion animals, these animals provide and equal (in my opinion) importance – they save lives by reducing contributing factors to health problems. This is a subject that I can attest to personally – having had a wide gamut of pets: Rabbits, Cats, Birds, Lizards, Preying Mantis (honest) and Tree Frogs, plus fish and at one time a killer Red Slider Turtle. Even the care and upkeep of pets can be theraputic simply because concentrating on something other than the problems in your life can save your life from the reduced stress, lower heart rate and with some pets, the exercise that comes with their care.
Companion animals may improve heart health by lowering blood pressure and regulating the heart rate during stressful situations. In a 2002 study, researchers measured changes in heart rate and blood pressure among people who had a dog or cat, compared to those who did not, when participants were under stress (performing a timed math task).
Children’s exposure to companion animals may also ease anxiety. For example, one study measured blood pressure, heart rate, and behavioral distress in healthy children aged 3 to 6 at two different doctor visits for routine physicals.
Among elderly people, pet ownership might also be an important source of social support that enhances well-being. In one study, elderly individuals that had a dog or cat were better able to perform certain physical activities deemed “activities of daily living,” such as the ability to climb stairs; bend, kneel, or stoop; take medication; prepare meals; and bathe and dress oneself.
My own mother has a companion animal and while the animal’s health problems weigh greatly on her, just having the animal in the house gives her focus, a loving relationship and a constant companion. That’s not to be taken lightly.
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Our Pets – past and present
The late Ted Bird, age 22
Ambrose Butterbutt, age 16
Peanut Butter, age 16
Little Ted Bird, age 6 months
The late Sweetie Pie
The late Sweetie Pie