18 May 12 Emergency Kit For Pets

Consider preparing an emergency supply kit for your pets in case of tornadoes or other severe weather. Here are tips from the National Weather Service on what to include:

– Food – keep at least 3 days of food in an airtight, waterproof container.
– Water – store at least 3 days of water specifically for your pets in addition to water you need for yourself and your family.
– Medicines and medical records – keep an extra supply of medicines your pet takes on a regular basis in a waterproof container.
– First aid kit – talk to your veterinarian about what is most appropriate for your pets emergency medical needs. Most kits should include colton bandage rolls, bandage tape and scissors; antibiotic ointment; flea and tick prevention; latex gloves, isopropyl alcohol and saline solution. Include a pet first aid reference book.
– Collar with ID tag, harness or leash – your pet should wear a collar with its rabies tag and identification at all times. Include a backup leash, collar and ID tag in your pet’s emergency supply kit. In addition, place copies of your pets registration information, adoption papers, vaccination documents and medical records in a clean plastic bag or waterproof container and also add them to your kit. You should also consider talking with your veterinarian about permanent identification such as microchipping and enrolling your pet in a recovery database.
– Crate or other pet carrier – if you need to evacuate in an emergency situation take your pets and animals with you provided that it is practical to do so. In many cases, your ability to do so will be aided by having a sturdy, safe, comfortable crate or carrier ready for transporting your pet. The carrier should be large enough for your pet to stand, turn around and lie down.
– Sanitation – include pet litter and litter box if appropriate, newspapers, paper towels, plastic trash bags and household chlorine bleach to provide for your pets sanitation needs. You can use bleach as a disinfectant (dilute nine parts water to one part bleach), or in an emergency you can also use it to purify water. Use 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented or color safe bleaches, or those with added cleaners.
– A picture of you and your pet together – if you become separated from your pet during an emergency, a picture of you and your pet together will help you document ownership and allow others to assist you in identifying your pet. Include detailed information about species, breed, age, sex, color and distinguishing characteristics.
– Familiar items – include favorite toys, treats or bedding

For more information on preparing an emergency kit for your pets check: www.ready.gov/america/getakit/pets.html
This list is from the NWS.

18 May 12 Family pets bit kids too!

National Dog Bite Prevention week is coming up. It’s May 20 through May 26. The United States Postal Service hopes two Texas cities Houston and San Antonio give that a lot of publicity.

Last year Houston was number one in the United States for dog attacks on postal workers. San Antonio was fifth. The Bayou City reported 62 attacks. The Alamo City had 39.

That brings up what I call the pit-bull-paradox. During the last month, two stories about pit bulls illustrate that paradox. A pit bull in New York took a bullet for its owner during an attempted home invasion. A pit bull in California sent a two-year old to the hospital.

Americans love pit bulls although studies show that the breed is one of the most likely to bite. Tiny dogs bite a lot too, according to a story in The New York Post. The paper reported that Chihuahuas and Shih Tzus ranked right along with pit bulls in the number of bites. But their tiny mouths do far less damage. Pit bulls cause major wounds and life-threatening injuries. Not surprisingly, the newspaper called the pit bull New York’s most vicious dog.

Childrens’ faces are often dog bite targets. That’s because kids and dogs are about the same height. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 800,000 Americans are treated every year for dog bites. Half are children. The CDC says dogs most frequently bite children between the ages of five and nine. Children younger than that are more likely to be bitten in the face. Boys are bitten more often than girls.

Parents of small children should take care around all dogs. An excited or fearful pet can bite a family member just as easily as a stranger.

Dog bites to the face cause puncture wounds and deep tears to skin on the cheeks and forehead. While reconstructive surgery can repair little faces, blindness can result if eyes are lacerated or torn from sockets. Scars can be minimized but deformity is always a possibility.

Websites of the US Postal Service, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control have lots of information for parents and the general public about avoiding dog bites. But all agree on these important tips: No parent should ever let a child play with a dog unsupervised. No one should approach an unfamiliar dog, disturb a sleeping dog or a dog that is eating or caring for puppies.

We all love our dogs and our children. Exercise some care and they can live in harmony.

17 May 12 Desk Pets Tankbot Review

One of my all-time favorite adult toys is the Plantraco Desktop Rover (I have the ‘pre-laser tag’ version, and sadly, they do not seem to sell this anymore. I liked it because it was a device I could play with on a desktop (hence the clever name) and imagine it being a Mars rover, or an alien scout vehicle, or whatever.

I was excited to try the Desk Pets Tankbot as a potential replacement that actually did more and cost less, and used my smartphone as the remote!

The $40 MSRP toy comes with the actual TankBot itself (available in 4 colors, each with its own frequency), a remote-control dongle for the earphone jack of your smartphone, and that’s about it. There are some instructions on the packaging, and some on-line if you need more assistance. The TankBot does amazingly well on the Gadgeteer Creak Test overall.

16 May 12 Ask the vet’s pets: Combination therapy needed as arthritis progresses

Dear Daisy Dog: Chester, our elderly Pekingese, has arthritis, for which he takes Deramaxx. He has been having more trouble lately, so his veterinarian recommended increasing his Deramaxx dose for a few days and then returning to his maintenance dose. Do you have any suggestions if her plan doesnt help?

Daisy responds: It sounds as though you communicate well with your veterinarian, so you should pose your question to her.

She may recommend a stepwise approach similar to what my mom did when a single pain medication was no longer effective for my arthritis.

As a first step, your veterinarian may switch Chester from Deramaxx to a different nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID, because some dogs respond better to one than another.

Under no circumstances should you give Chester aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen — the NSAIDs you humans use that pose a much higher risk of side effects in dogs than the veterinary medications.

Second, your veterinarian may add one or more additional pain relievers. The goal is to enhance pain relief but, by using a variety of drug types with different adverse reaction profiles, not increase the risk of side effects.

For example, tramadol is an inexpensive pain reliever that often is given with an NSAID. Gabapentin can be useful too, particularly in dogs with nerve pain.

Finally, talk with your veterinarian about adjunctive therapies for arthritis, including acupuncture, physical therapy and supplements such as omega-3 fatty acids and glucosamine-chondroitin.

The combination approach keeps me comfortable. I hope it helps Chester, too.

???

Dear Christopher Cat: Is it my imagination, or are the cats that run around my neighborhood suddenly fighting more than usual? Their screaming and yowling awaken me at night.

Christopher responds: Its not your imagination. The unsterilized cats that roam your neighborhood are breeding now. Fighting, vocalizing and urine spraying are typical breeding behaviors.

Unspayed female cats breed as day length increases, particularly from January through March or April. Gestation takes two months, so most kittens are born between March and June.

The queen can breed again as soon as one week after her litter is born. The cycle continues until fall, when the days become short.

This pattern is called seasonally polyestrous, which means the female cat has many (poly-) breeding cycles (-estrus) during the spring and summer seasons.

If you want to sleep through the night and help control your neighborhoods free-roaming cat population, contact a feral cat organization, spay-neuter clinic or shelter regarding low-cost sterilization.

Theyll help you safely and humanely trap the cats and transport them to their clinic for sterilization and rabies vaccination.

Ask the Vets Pets appears Friday in the print edition of the Reading Eagle. The animal authors of the column live with Lee Pickett, VMD., who practices companion animal medicine at Bernville Veterinary Clinic. Contact them at www.askthevetspets.com, 610-488-0166 or PO Box 302, Bernville, PA 19506-0302.

15 May 12 Seattle Humane Society & WSU Partner to Save Lives!

Seattle Humane Society and Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine have entered a partnership in which senior veterinary students will provide spay/neuter surgeries and medical care for shelter pets as part of their clinical training.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine,” said Seattle Humane Society CEO David Loewe. “Working together, we can expand our services, help train the next generation of veterinarians, and create a stronger safety net for pets in need. This is just the beginning of a long-term partnership between our agencies.”

The agreement brings together two national leaders in the field of animal sheltering and veterinary medicine, respectively. Seattle Humane Society shelters nearly 6,000 pets per year, performs more spay/neuter surgeries than any other agency in the region, and has one of the highest save rates in the nation at 96.5 percent. The distinguished WSU College of Veterinary Medicine is ranked among the top veterinary medicine colleges in the nation for its exemplary training, research and innovative programming.

“This partnership presents a tremendous opportunity for our students,” said Dean Bryan Slinker of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine. “WSU veterinary students who work at Seattle Humane will gain invaluable clinical experience, save lives, and serve the community. This is exactly the kind of educational experience we want to provide.”

By taking this next step in their partnership, many more WSU veterinary students will receive hands-on training at the Seattle Humane Society campus in Bellevue starting in May 2013. During their elective two-week rotations, the students will provide a wide range of medical care to the shelter animals, with an emphasis on spay/neuter surgeries, routine exams, vaccinations and other clinical procedures. The WSU students will also have the opportunity to work with Seattle Humane’s nationally recognized foster family network, helping the students hone their skills with both people and pets.

“This partnership will benefit the community in so many ways,” CEO Loewe said. “With the veterinary students on board, we will have the capacity to spay and neuter more shelter pets and offer additional medical services to other shelters in need. Ultimately this will reduce the number of unwanted, homeless and stray animals in our community. Our goal, in the end, is to see that every pet is well taken care of, loved and wanted.”

15 May 12 America’s obsession with pets going too far

If you didnt think American civilization was in trouble already, this ought to worry you: Americans are hiring psychics to communicate with their pets.

According to Benjamin Radford of Discovery News, pet psychics claim they can use telepathy to communicate with animals, living and dead ? for about $85 an hour.

I can tell pet owners what their dog is thinking for half that amount: Rover wants you to scratch him on the belly and give him a treat. I?ll pop my invoice in the mail.

But this isn?t about telepathy so much as it is about our obsession with pets ? a reflection of a country gone nutty and soft, confused by our emotions.

Look: Pets, generally, are a great thing. Social scientists explain that in our fast-paced, transient society, pets help fill the void that was once filled by close friends and extended family.

I love dogs and wish I wasn?t away from home so often or I?d get one.

But our obsession with pets is getting out of hand. Despite our sour economy, the pet-service industry continues to grow by $2 billion a year ? to $52 billion this year.

There are gourmet pet foods, heated waterbeds for dogs, doggie personal trainers and doggie weight-loss programs (Biscuit Watchers?).

If Rover?s feeling down, a doggie psychologist is waiting to help: ?Rover, your low self-esteem can be traced to your neutering.?

Now that people will pay thousands of dollars for veterinary care, pet health insurance policies are all the rage.

Pet deaths are announced in pet obituaries these days: ?Buster is survived by his emotionally distraught owner and his favorite toy, Squeaky.?

And let us not forget another growth industry ? pet cemeteries and pet headstones: ?Here lies Buster down by the levy, we sure do wish he saw that Chevy.?

The truth is that many pets in America are living better than three-fourths of the people on this Earth, and something isn?t quite right about that. When I was a kid in the ?60s and ?70s, a dog was part of my family, and we loved her, but there was a line of demarcation between dogs and humans.

Jingles ate her own food out of a can, not gourmet home-cooked grub. She didnt go to a doggie trainer for exercise. She preferred that we toss her a stick and try to catch her.

Back then, humans were humans and dogs were dogs.

But today, we?re not only pampering pets with overzealous affection, we?re trying to elevate them to the level of humans. We see a dog?s paws move while it sleeps and we assume the dog is having a nightmare.

?What is a dog nightmare, anyway?? says comic Garry Shandling. ?Your dog dreams he?s drinking out of a toilet bowl and the toilet lid falls on its head??

We think today that our dogs have souls that live on after their physical bodies cease to work and exist. But I don?t think dogs have souls, and I offer proof: When was the last time you saw a dog at confession? (?Forgive me, Father, but I doodied on the living room rug.?)

13 May 12 Stolen pets back at home after 2-year adventure

A good Samaritan helped bring the dogs back home to Des Moines.

Murray Smith was returning home to Kansas City after doing maintenance on his house in Omaha. He noticed the two chocolate Labs walking around the rest stop.

“I just couldnt leave. No one knew who they belonged to. I went to the attendant and asked them and they said the dogs had been there all day,” said Smith.

Smith, an animal lover with four pets of his own, loaded up the Labs and took them home.

“We took them to the vet. Had all their shots and everything worked up on them, got them spayed and neutered,” said Smith.

The vet found signs that the female had been over-bred, maybe due to a puppy mill. After $1,200 in vet bills, the two dogs were in good shape.

“We just look at it as a good deed. We did a good deed,” said Smith.

Smith remembered the good work of the Nebraska Humane Society, and took the dogs back to Omaha so they could be adopted.

KETV in Omaha picked up Smiths story and Lindsey Mohr saw it online.

13 May 12 A Paws for Pets: Maggie May … it is in the name

Maggie May, a Paws for Pets

Courtesy Photo – Maggie was found all alone in a wooded area on May Day by a friend of LaMoine Roth’s daughter Amber, while she was out walking. Maggie May now has her forever home with Amber along with a small menageri of other rescue animals.

12 May 12 Ohio Bill Would Ban Exotic Animals As Pets

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May 10, 2012

Exotic animals are already restricted in many states. Lawmakers in Ohio are considering legislation that would ban dozens of exotic animals as pets. Among other things, owners would have to apply for permits for existing animals.

Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It’s MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I’m David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I’m Steve Inskeep.

For the most part, of course, what you do at home is your business. But a tragedy in Ohio has authorities legislating the question of which animals people keep at home. An Ohio TV station, NewsChannel5, was on the story last week.

(SOUNDBITE OF NEWSCHANNEL5 BROADCAST)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Our other top story Live on Five: Five exotic animals were returned to a farm in Zanesville.

INSKEEP: Zanesville is in southeast Ohio, and the five animals are two leopards, two primates and one brown bear.

(SOUNDBITE OF NEWSCHANNEL5 BROADCAST)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Last fall, you remember, their owner released them, along with dozens of his exotic pets, before committing suicide.

INSKEEP: That owner was Terry Thompson. Thompson’s widow, Marian Thompson, was just reunited with her animals – against the wishes of Ohio authorities. The case has state legislators asking if anybody really wants to have a bear next door. Here’s NPR’s Rachel Ward.

RACHEL WARD, BYLINE: Exotic animals are already restricted in many states. But when Terry Thompson let some 50 wild animals loose, it prompted Ohio officials to act quickly. There’s a bill in progress that has passed the state Senate, and now the state’s House of Representatives is considering it.

DALE SCHMIDT: You can’t have a black-tailed deer as a pet, but you could have a tiger.

WARD: Dale Schmidt is the president of the Columbus Zoo. The zoo has been caring for Thompson’s surviving animals. Schmidt also advised on the legislation. It would ban dozens of animals and exotic animal auctions.

SCHMIDT: Just like you go to livestock auction, well, they do livestock and then next thing you know, they’re bringing out a baby tiger or a baby lion or, you know, a snake.

WARD: It’s not just about banning animals. It’s about regulating them. Owners would have to apply for permits for existing animals. They’d have to put up signs warning visitors about their pets. And poisonous snake owners would have to stock anti-venom in case of bites. To Columbus, Ohio reptile breeder Terry Wilkins, the new rules spell disaster.

TERRY WILKINS: We have about 15 employees. They’d lose their jobs.

WARD: Wilkins makes his living breeding, selling and trading captive-born snakes and lizards.

WILKINS: Oh, I’ve been keeping reptiles since I was a little kid. In my upbringing, a reptile is no different than a cat, a bird or a dog.

WARD: He says the law would have an economic impact not just on him, but on the businesses that supply him. Take, for example, a supplier that sells to a bait store.

WILKINS: On the average, that bait store might sell maybe a box of crickets a month, which is about a thousand crickets. Now, imagine when I called my first supplier and told him I needed 20,000 crickets a week.

WARD: Wilkins may end up challenging the law in court. He says we need to protect species so endangered that they no longer exist outside of captivity. But others say fondness for animals can cause enthusiasts to overlook safety.

NATHAN NOBIS: I guess this kind of happens with people-to-people relationships.

WARD: Nathan Nobis teaches bioethics at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

NOBIS: You know, you could develop a fondness for somebody and become so convinced they would never do anything bad in any sort of way.

WARD: But, Nobis argues, just like people, animals can change and become dangerous. Plus, it’s expensive to care for these animals in the right way. A tiger eats 16 pounds of food a day. Exotic animal enthusiasts agree about the need to care for these animals properly. But they point out that if the exotic animal legislation passes, it would take Ohio from being one of the most lenient states in the nation to one of the most restrictive.

Rachel Ward, NPR News.

Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR’s prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

12 May 12 USDA proposes change to regulate Internet sales of pets, could impact puppy mills

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