Santa’s Not a Puppymill

Ah, the holidays, a time for family and friends to gather in the name of religion and tradition. Some folks share stories, exchange gifts of gratitude, attend worship services, while others are on the mad dash to provide a plush puppy or cuddly kitten to some unsuspecting child on Christmas morning. Funny thing is though, I don’t remember seeing Santa’s elves making furry live animals on their assembly line, and I don’t recall Santa stuffing a breathing sentient creature into his bag full of toys to be dropped through the chimney stack and placed under someone’s tree. In other words, pets don’t make good gifts.

Christmas morning is a day of celebration, giving thanks and being with loved ones. Though a puppy or kitten might be a kind gesture to show someone you care, it is not a good choice for such a bustling and busy day. Puppies like to chew on just about anything, so every day holiday items like tinsel, garland and shiny decorations are too tempting for a curious little critter to avoid and many new pups end up at the emergency veterinarian after ingesting such dangers. While kittens like to climb and jump, their adorable and natural behavior could cause the Christmas tree to go tumbling. Dangers such as fires could also be caused by a frolicking critter that accidentally knocks over a lit candle or chews on an electric cord. Certain seasonal plants like poinsettias are also toxic to animals and could cause death when eaten.

Puppies require a lot of attention not only on the first day that you bring them home, but for weeks and months and years to come. Feeding a puppy several times a day, house training (which means cold visits out to the back yard in the middle of the night so they can do their business), constant play time mixed with short naps, obedience training and veterinary care are just some of the responsibilities of long term pet parenting. During the holiday season people are just too busy to take the time necessary for such a needy little fur ball of love.

Instead of giving a live pooch or kitty you can purchase items like a bowl, toys, bed, leash and collar for the gift that is found under the tree. Don’t forget a gift certificate to the local veterinarian and a book about the type and breed of pup or kitten that you want.

A new best friend should be planned by the whole family not a spur of the moment decision and precious pups and cuddly kittens can be found at local animal shelters not only the day after Christmas, but all year round.

On behalf of all those homeless animals that couldn’t be saved and for the ones that have found their forever homes, Happy Holidays and Peace!

Holiday Pet Precautions

Tinseled trees, chunks of chocolate and pots of poinsettias. Festive cheer abounds but with that comes potential holiday horrors for curious kitties and snooping Snoopy’s.

According to the National Animal Poison Control Center (NAPCC) there are thousands of accidental pet poisons reported every year. In the year 2007, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) (http://www.aspca.org/Home/Pet-care/poison-control.aspx) poison control center provided assistance in over 130,000 cases to animal caretakers as well as veterinarians in regards to toxic chemicals, poisonous plants and dangerous products.

Pet related injuries range from mild indigestion to hyper excitability, increased heart rates, muscle tremors, vomiting, diarrhea and unfortunately even death.

Bread dough, for example, when ingested and mixed with the animal’s body heat causes the dough to rise in the stomach. As alcohol is produced during this process the dough expands and could cause Fluffy or Fido severe abdominal pain, bloat, disorientation and depression. Alcohol toxicosis, which is caused by the fermentation of the dough, can also cause serious health risks for your beloved pet.

Chocolate (http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/ask-the-expert/ask-the-expert-poison-control/chocolate.aspx) is another delicious but potentially lethal treat. The cocoa bean from which chocolate is produced contains a drug called Theobromine, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine) which is a xanthine compound, and is closely related to caffeine. This ingredient, if over ingested can cause your pet serious health hazards. But the misconception is about how much can really be a problem?

The good news is that on average it takes a large quantity of theobromine (100-150mg/kg) to cause a toxic reaction.

The average milk chocolate contains only about 44 mg per ounce, semi-sweet chocolate contains about 150 mg per ounce, and bakers chocolate about 390 mg per ounce.

Using this formula the average toxicity level for dogs is about one ounce of milk chocolate per one pound of body weight, one ounce of semisweet chocolate per three pounds of body weight and for bakers chocolate the average toxicity is about one ounce per nine pounds of your dogs body weight.

So if your fifteen-pound dog ingests 2 ounces of bakers chocolate, it is more serious than if they ingest two ounces of milk chocolate.

For a forty pound dog, dangerous quantities of milk chocolate average about two and a half pounds ingested, with unsweetened chocolate only four and a half ounces. That results in about 1800 mg of theobromine.

So the safest way to avoid chocolate poisoning is to make sure Fido is cocoa free.

Cats, with their finicky food demands seem not to enjoy chocolate like their pooch pals and therefore companion animal caretakers seem to worry less as much about cats as they should their dogs.

Other festive foods such as alcohol, avocados, macadamia nuts, raisins, onions and onion powder, grapes, moldy or spoiled foods should be kept far from your fluffy fur balls. Make sure that any sweet treat that contain the ingredient xylitol (http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/ask-the-expert/ask-the-expert-poison-control/sweeteners.aspx) are far from Fido’s reach, it causes gastrointestinal issues.

For those curious canines and frisky felines, Christmas decorations such as tinsel, Christmas tree water (if it contains fertilizer and can also contain bacteria), electric cords, ribbons, batteries, glass ornaments, holly plants, mistletoe, peace lily plants are just to name a few, of the unsafe and potentially deadly ingredients to this special holy time of the year.

So, to avoid an unscheduled visit to the emergency veterinarian, be aware and take extra precaution while enjoying the holidays with family, friends and loved ones.

Let’s Talk Turkey; a living, feeling, animal

As a vegetarian, Thanksgiving dinner and its baseless tradition of eating fowl isn’t one of my favorite meals. And I am sure the turkey likes it even less.

Every fourth Thursday in November people like myself, who don’t believe animals should be eaten, are asked to sit at the spread on the dinner table and pick around the baked bird carcass just to fill ours plates with cranberry sauce, corn, mashed potatoes and everything else, which hasn’t been tainted by the juices of this once feathered friend. Why? Does eating a once sentient being have any basis other than what the meat industry has force fed us as a yearly ritual?

Every year in the U.S. between 250-300 million turkeys are bred for slaughter, which amounts to about 5 billion pounds of dead flesh. Their meat is valued at close to $8 billion dollars, so no wonder Americans are force fed turkey meat; the factory farm industry is making billions of dollars off of the holiday dinner table.

But what about the cruelty these sentient animals endure? Vast majorities are crowded into factory farm confinement operations where each gets less than three square feet of space. You just have to watch this short video to see how this holiday feast is actually a cruel deception. http://www.adoptaturkey.org/aat/media_center/thanksgiving_toll.html

Once their genetically engineered bodies reach market weight (which is an average of fifteen pounds) they are packed into crates and trucked to slaughterhouses. Once in this infirmary, they die a not so pleasant death, just to feed us.

So how did the turkey become a symbol of Thanksgiving Day gluttony? Wild turkeys, as colonists would have encountered in ‘New England” four centuries ago surely did not resemble the stuffing crammed bird many serve on today’s dinner table. These birds of yesteryear were able to fly, difficult to catch, and their tenacity had Benjamin Franklin suggest they be revered as our national symbol.

What was the Pilgrims first celebratory meal in 1621 and did they eat manifestations of today’s factory farmed animals? One of the first recordings I found was a celebration of harvest not a “day of thanksgiving”, which colonists would have viewed more as the end of a period of fasting and prayer.

This festival was for Native Americans and Colonists to give thanks for the bounty they had reaped from their farmed lands, and important members of the community gathered for a main course of local grown items which they themselves grew. They did not have national food chains to buy neatly cellophane wrapped processed food from, as we do today.

It seems there are many unfounded legends as to why turkeys are carved up by the millions every year, but none so far to convince me they deserve to die and be eaten.  So this Thanksgiving I will once again make my traditional vegan meal and eat it proudly knowing that no animal, feathered, furred or hoofed suffered for my dinner plate.

Care to sponsor the life of a turkey instead of eating one?

https://secure2.convio.net/fsi/site/Donation2?idb=[[S76:idb]]&5451.donation=form1&df_id=5451&autologin=true

Some fun trivia facts about turkeys.

~The long fleshy skin that hangs over the turkey’s beak is called a snood

~ The color of a wild turkey’s naked head and neck area change blue when mating

~ Male turkeys are nicknamed “toms” while the females are called “hens”

~ When turkeys reach maturity they can have as many as 3,500 feathers

~ Faster than a speeding bullet--- wild turkeys can run up to 55 miles an hour

Eulogy for Cicely (November 3, 2011)

It is upon this day that beloved Cicely (cat) has passed into eternal Kitty Heaven.

Born twenty years ago in Milford CT, into a family who could not care for her, the then nameless kitten and her 8 week old litter mate brother were surrendered to the local dog pound (now known as animal control).

Known only as an impound number, she and her sibling were placed in a steel metal cage, waiting to be adopted into her fur-ever home.

Upon seeing her petite black and white furry frame (suspended from the steel bars), her new mother-to-be could not resist her cute-ness, and upon that moment the adoption commenced.

She was blessed with the name Cicely Fernandes (Haas) and for the next almost decade, shared her life with other adopted critters; her cat husband, Frodo (predeceased), cat sister Pebbles (predeceased) and 4 sibling pooches; Bitsey (predeceased), Dexter (predeceased), Rusty (predeceased) and May-Belle (predeceased).

Upon her human parents’ divorce her furry family shared two homes and adoptive father (William Haas) would often come to visit her and her cat and dog siblings at their mini mansion.

In her new home, Cicely would spend the next 10 + years being a foster sister to countless homeless and shelter animals of many species and gain one new adopted brother, Jack.

Cicely was the most curious of felines, always looking for a paper bag to hide in, bathtub to accidentally fall in, foster pooch to tease, toy mouse to toss around, window to perch in, sun to sleep in, closet to rummage through, heating vent to curl in front of, and occasionally being allowed outside to discover the wonders of mouse-ing, tree climbing, sneaking into any open car window, and (rare) bird catching. She loved to purr, have belly rubs, and didn’t mind nail trims.

Her last days were spent basking in the autumnal sunshine while the fall breezes tickled her whiskers, eating fresh fish, lounging on the front porch watching life pass by, and purring, all while being loved and adored by her human mom.

She is survived by her adopted cat brother, Jack, two outdoor stray porch cats, Snickers and Kit Kat and countless previously fostered critters.

Her mother of twenty years, Cheryl is heartbroken at the loss of her cat companion, but thankful for two decades of purrs and belly kneading.

In lieu of toy mouses, fresh cat nip and canned tuna, she asks for your commitment to microchip and spay & neuter your pets, to adopt your next companion animal from a shelter or rescue group and to help end factory farming.  

Internment is private and her ashes will share a special place in her mother’s home, with her other (predeceased) furry family members.

(A special thank you to Ash Creek Veterinary Hospital- Bridgeport CT, Dr. Kristopher Hansen and his compassionate & caring staff for helping Cicely cross over the Rainbow Bridge).

Bats, Black Cats and Hooting Owls

It’s that time of year again. Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin airs on television, pumpkin patches become filled with children searching for just the right rounded orange gourd to carve into a jack-o-lantern and retail shops are haunted by ghouls and goblins wanting to buy the scariest and spookiest of Halloween merchandise.

According to the CBS Early Show, ‘Broomstick and Business’ Americans will spend nearly $7 billion celebrating this Halloween season. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500202_162-20126955/halloween-anything-but-scary-for-retailers-now/?tag=mncol;lst;2 That, explains National Federation’s Ellen Davis, is about $72 per person and predicts many celebrators plan to spend money on dressing up their family pet.

So why is Halloweens tradition filled with folklore, myths and omens that invoke so many spooky superstitions and ghoulish misfortunes for animals? For thousands of year’s historic myths and monster like predictions of death and doom surround some of our most beloved and sacred animals. Why?  

Let’s be reasonable here, cats can’t cast spells, bats aren’t vampires (except for the vampire bat http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/common-vampire-bat/), owls seen during daylight hours aren’t omens of death and a crow’s caw does not foretell that death is upon you. Even in ancient history, the Sparrow was thought to carry the souls of the dead and bring you bad luck if you killed one.

Where do these animal related superstitions come from? Let’s examine a few.

Pilgrims coming to America used religion as reason to hate black cats.  Arriving from Europe and England, they brought with them many suspicions, one of them being that black cats possessed evil spirits and anyone owning a coal colored cat would be subject to punishment and even death.

Black cats were thought to be reincarnated spirits who had a supernatural ability to see into the future, and a middle ages myth created the cat into an apparition of a witch who was in disguise.

Animal shelters across the country have often contributed to this beastly myth. By banning or limiting the adoption of black cats during the month of October, shelter workers have inadvertently committed themselves to believing that satanic cults or mischievous monsters rush to animal welfare agencies to trick workers into adopting out a black cat who will then be used in some type of satanic ritual.

I believe that if a shelter has a solid adoption policy the situation can be avoided. As an animal advocate, I do encourage extra vigilance if a suspicious characters inquiry is specific to a black cat, just as I am when someone wants a guard dog, un-spayed female or intact male (but those topics really are for another blog). Even local shelters like Milford Animal Control are often cautious when someone requests a black cat around Halloween and makes certain the adopter has the right intentions in mind when adopting (any animal).

Where are black cats seen as the deliverance of good fortune? The Scottish revered black cats who arrived to someone’s home as a sign of prosperity, while in Ireland and Great Britain the black cat is a symbol of good luck. The Egyptian Cat Goddess, Bast or Bastet, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastet

 also represented good luck. There is even a national black cat appreciation day.

http://blogs.discovery.com/cat-scratchings/2011/08/in-celebration-of-black-cats.html

What about bats? Why are these creatures of the night more frightening this time of year? They are nocturnal, they do hunt after dusk but they don’t suck blood through their fangs. Their beady little eyes and odd shaped heads, along with their sonar style hunting (echolocation) help them catch their prey, which are mostly bugs and insects.

Spiders are beneficial because they entangle insect pests in their sticky web, while toads should not be part of any witch’s brew. In fact they are a good indicator of a healthy environment that has little pollution. When the local toad population dies out, that can be the first sign of environmental toxins and a faulty eco-system.

The silent flight and glowing eyes of the predatory owl make some goblins howl in fright. But owls are not eerie and their screech is not to scare you (unless you plan to do them harm), but to communicate everything from warning oncoming predators to stay away, to juvenile antics and begging momma owl for food.

So superstitions whose centuries old origins of bad luck, omens and predictions can now be cast away to recognize cats as good luck, toads as eco- predictors and bats as bad-bug eaters.

Have a HOOT-Y Halloween.

(Searches used to create this blog)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cat

http://nicheweber.com/niche/halloween/halloween-myths.php

http://www.science20.com/news_releases/go_wild_these_facts_and_myths_about_halloweens_favorite_animals