Do what to my bark???

Are we surprised that I'm writing two entries in one week??? YES!

In all of my classes I am recommended to listen to what's going on in the news. As a college student I have free access to the New York Times on campus, so why not take advantage of it! So during a dinner break last week my friend Carmen and I went to grab something to eat and we grabbed copies of the newspaper to read. So I sat in my leadership class and flipped through the paper and read whatever caught my eye.

Well, whada ya know!

On the front page of the New York Times was an article on debarking your dog. Here's a link to the article, but don't be surprised if you're unable to link to it later; I've heard that the NYT is going private and they want you to pay money for archive vs. being able to search through it for free.

Anyways! The article discusses the argument of whether or not debarking your dog is ethical. They cite the AVMA, Banfield, and the AKC. The AKC admits that they have many dogs that show that are debarked but that they are perfectly healthy and normal and it does not affect them. One of the big reasons for debarking is for individuals who reside in apartment complexes and have had complaints about their animals. If it's such a problem, why not ban animals, or at least dogs, from the complex? On the other hand, Banfield refuses to do the procedure and the AVMA doesn't even teach debarking in vet school anymore. The article does on to say that the procedure is illegal in Britain and other European countries as well as a select few states.

The argument for those that believe debarking is not cruel is that it is a simple procedure in which their animal recovers quickly and there are no negative consequences. The argument on the other end is that you're taking away the animals ability to communicate! Why do something that is unnecessary?

In my opinion, (since I'm sure I've made myself unbiased) if the AVMA is no longer teaching vets how to perform the procedure, than why is ethically okay? If something is banned and no longer being taught, then there is a reason for that. Not to mention that you're taking away your animals ability to communicate with you. God help you if someone were to break into your home and all your dog can do is make a raspy noise. If it were me, every single time my dog made that raspy noise at me I would feel horrible for making the decision to debark them. Maybe if we threaten cutting the pet owner's vocal cords they'll then choose to not do it to their pets.

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Pet of the day!!!!

My name is Daija!!!

Man I wish I lived in Wisconsin! Her cute little pit bull face is to die for!

Meet Daija, I found her at the Wisconsin Humane Society. Daija is a 1 year old altered female. The rescue has dogs group by what human companion would be perfect for them. It says that Daija needs to go with an orange person. The site states that orange people are open to active dogs but like to relax and take it easy, too. They are happy to make the commitment for training, exercise, and extra snuggle or two. She's a pretty girl and hopefully she'll find the perfect forever home in Wisconsin.

How bad is our economy?

Is our economy SO bad that you would logically consider operating on your own animal? What makes an individual reach a point where they thing this is okay to do? Well apparently Alan MacQuattie of Rhode Island operated on his 14 year old lab mix. He chose to remove a cyst from the dog's leg. The article, which I found via The Huffington Post, never mentions the dog's name and just consistently says, 'the dog' or 'his dog'. Article here.

Here's the interesting thing I see in this article. Here is an individual who is disabled and living on his social security and therefore is unable to afford to have the cyst removed from his "lab mix". I'm going to go ahead and assume that he was not able to visit a vet to find out if this cyst is something he needs to worry about due to his removal of the cyst and doctor's are now saying that it was benign the whole time and not painful to the animal. So did the owner, Mr. MacQuattie, attempt to do the right thing for his dog in his economic state by removing the cyst that he claims was bothering the dog? Or is the individual simply cruel for choosing to put his own animal under the knife, untrained knife I might add? I suppose you, my reader (or lack thereof), can decide on this one.

I personally believe it was combination of the two things. The man mentions in the article that in such hard times no one would be willing to give me a helping hand. I can't object to this, he may be right. Also, Dr. Finocchio, who is a veterinarian and heads up the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention for Animals, claims that the cost of the procedure, although unnecessary, would be less than $200 and that they would be willing to foot the bill. Now, he's saying this after the deed has been done, but if Mr. MacQuattie had come to him prior and said, "I'd like to have this cyst removed because it really seems to be irritating my dog". Would he have really footed the bill??

If I look at the situation from the other side, why the heck would you operate on your animal? I have seen plenty of surgeries in my time working at an animal hospital, but that does not give me the skill and knowledge to operate on an animal, not to mention a 14 year old animal! Are there resources that could assist this gentleman? Most likely. I know there are resources for discounted or free veterinary care that he was probably not aware of. Tangent warning. I believe in many situations with both animals and people who are in need; there is an enormous unawareness of a community's resources. People seem to know about the BIG resources, such as Food Stamps, WIC, TANF, etc. But there SO many other resources that are available to pet owner's and just individual's in general. It's not a bad idea to study up on what your community has 'cause you never know when you might need something!

In other words, if this man would have done a bit of research, mind you we're assuming he had a computer with internet access and he has transportation, he may have come across resources that could have helped him and this whole thing could have been avoided.

I don't know exactly how anyone found out about this incident, but my guess is that when the area became infected he realized he needed something to help the animal and upon taking it to a clinic the entire story unfolded.

In the end, Mr. MacQuattie received a misdemeanor charge for animal cruelty and unauthorized practice of veterinary medicine. Fortunately, the man was allowed to keep his animal. Yes, what he did was stupid (even though he doesn't seem to think it was all that wrong), but do we need more animals to overflow our shelters and rescues? NO!

General Rule: Do not perform surgery on your animals!!!

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Pet of the day!!!!

Meet Chipper!!!

He's such a beautiful guy! I absolutely love his eyes! I found Chipper at the Washington County SPCA in Oklahoma. I feel like I always post dog's on my pet of the day, so I'm trying to mix it up with my kitty babies! There isn't a ton of info about Chipper except that he's a medium sized adult male who is mostly a cream color. They seem to think he has a bit of Siamese in him, which I suppose I see in his pretty blue eyes.

If you're in the Oklahoma area and want an incredibly handsome kitty, consider Chipper!!

Animal Protection Laws

In the past few months I have found myself becoming more aware of the treatment of animals around me. A few posts ago I mentioned a call I made to Animal Control regarding a dog trapped in a yard with no shelter. I never knew the true results of that case, but I have noticed that the dog is hardly ever outside anymore. Recently I have come across a home on my way to school where two-to-three dogs are tethered within a fence in separate corners of the yard. I have struggled to find any sort of legal information regarding tethering within a fenced yard in the state of Georgia, and while I have found some information, nothing has really looked legit. My eventual plan is to print the information and place it in the owner's mail box and hope that they voluntarily choose to untether their animals. Otherwise, I have no problem contacting Animal Control.

I'm a follower of Animal Legal Defense Fund's blog and I found this graph on their site that shows a ranking of animal protection laws in all 50 states. You can click on the image to increase the size and view how your state ranks.

In the state of Georgia we fall amongst the middle tier of animal protection, fortunately not amongst the worst, but still not amongst the best. I'm not sure of exactly when this information was taken but I'd be interested in seeing this graph prior to our economy falling apart. I have personally seen a huge effect on the animals in my local community. As an employee of a vet I have seen an increase in drop-offs since the economy has gone down.

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Critter of the Day!!!

Meet Mr. Sam!!!

I found Mr. Sam in Arkansas at CARE (Central Arkansas Rescue Effort). He's a 12 lb. 2 year old neutered male who has a cute black nose. Mr. Sam's owner was unable to take care of him when they became ill. He likes to play hide and seek with his kitty brothers and sisters, look out the window, and be loved on. Mr. Sam is also vaccinated and microchipped.

A Bit About Me and Ernie!!

I know I haven't really shared too much about my self in my blog, other than my love and adoration for animals. Well, in this entry I'll share a bit about what I'm doing in school as well as my future career plans, or shall we say, hopeful future career plans.

Here we go!

I'm currently in school at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA. I suppose I'm technically a senior, but it seems like I'll never finish!! At KSU I'm studying human services with an emphasis on non-profit administration. I originally chose this major with the intent to learn as much as I can about non-profits and hopefully open my own rescue or another similar non-profit. At times I have wavered between a concentration in non-profit and case management with the idea of possibly getting a masters in social work or even doing child welfare law. I feel as though my major and my decision to stick with non-profit has benefited me greatly! This semester I'm taking a class where I will have the ability to develop my own non-profit based upon needs assessments and evaluations, and I am also taking another class in which I will learn about the involvement of the community.

In one of my courses this semester we have been put in groups and told to choose a non-profit that is important to us that we will use throughout the semester as an example for what we are learning. As a group we were all very open to what it is that we end up doing, I mean, a non-profit that is related to the human service field is only going to do good! After some discussion regarding what our interests are and the population we want to help our group decided to find an organization that works with assistance dogs and people who are in need of them.

So. We ended up finding an organization that just happens to be based out of Georgia calledCanine Assistants. Canine Assistants is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1991. Their mission is to provide service animals for adults and children who have physical disabilities or other special needs. Their website also states that their program has helped individuals to not be seen as disabled. I am so excited about learning more about this organization! Canine service dogs have always been such an interesting thing for me and I think what they're doing is awesome!!

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Critter of the week!!

Please meet Ernie!!!

I found Ernie online at HALO (Helping Animals Live On) Animal Shelter in Arizona. Ernie's a small 1 year old Corgi mix and I think his little legs are just adorable! On their site it says that he likes to play with balls and toys!

UPDATE UPDATE!!!

It has been too long since I last updated! The very last time I wrote on here I briefly mentioned my cat, Bumble, getting sick. Well here is what happened: In the past Chris and I have been out shopping and I've considered getting a plant or some flowers and I've hesitated because I do not always know off the top of my head what Bumble is allergic to and what he is not so I have resisted from buying anything. Well, about 6 weeks ago Chris and I got in a bit of an argument he brought home a bouquet of lily's. I had recently just watched that show Cake Boss and they had discussed how poisonous lily's are. For whatever reason, it never clicked in my brain to worry about Bumble..I simply knew they were poisonous to humans.

Well, that was on a Sunday and on a Tuesday morning Chris notified me that when he had come home from work on Monday Bumble had eaten part of one of the lily's and vomited. Initially I wasn't that worried, and then I began to look up lily toxicity in felines online and immediately started to freak out. By this point Chris has already called the vet and they said to bring him in. Apparently with something like this all you can really do is run blood work and make sure the kidney levels are okay and consistently keep the animal on fluids to help the kidney's flush out any sort of toxicity.

Now let's take a step back. I know I'm writing this weeks later, but this only took place about two weeks after we had to euthanize Midnight. In my mind, I was unable to deal with this, there was NO WAY I was about to euthanize another animal or watch another animal die. I couldn't go through it. Fortunately, the doctor who was on the case knew who I was and knew that Bumble was not going to die because I was unwilling to let it happen.

Long story short, after about 4 days of constant fluids and blood work and urinalysis Bumble went home happy and healthy. I'm writing this because first of all it's my blog and thought I'd provide an update, but secondly when Bumble was at my clinic and I was at home googling and researching this lily toxicity, at no point did I find anything that was positive. I honestly got to the point where I thought he was just going to die 'cause let's face it, all the other cats I read about it died as well. I hope that when someone else has to go through this and is perusing the internet for information, maybe my blog will come up and they'll get a tiny bit of positive information!

On another note, I live at home and typically when my parent's go out of town I stay at home to take care of Midnight. Well, they went out of town this weekend and I feel drawn to stay at home, even though Midnight is no longer here. Call me crazy but I can literally hear her in my house. I miss her so much!! So I have decided I want to get a tattoo on my foot with her paw print on it. When Midnight was euthanized they took a clay paw print and gave it to us. I haven't decided on the exact tattoo and I probably won't be getting it until February or March, but I miss her like crazy and I never want to forget my dog face!

Lastly, yesterday I FINALLY caught Animal Planet's Pitbulls and Parolees and I love it!! The pitbull is one of my favorite breeds. I believe that they are completely misunderstood and 99.9% of the one's that come into my vet are huge baby's! I can't say that about any other breed. Unfortunately, for all the times that Chihuahua's and cocker spaniel's bite the pitbull gets a million times more publicity! Check out this show, it's awesome!

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CRITTER OF THE DAY

This is MEI!

I decided today to pick a dog from a local shelter here in Atlanta. This is Mei and she comes from the Atlanta Animal Rescue Friends. Mei has been on AARF's site for a long time and it breaks my heart when I see her, she's a beautiful girl! Mei is 5 years old and was picked up as a stray, but clearly had an owner at some point. She appears as though she's had multiple litters and her teeth are worn down from possibly chewing on a chain. Mei is a lap dog and would do best in a home with no kitties. AARF is offering 3 free training sessions for Mei with a certified trainer. I would love to see Ms. Mei go to a good home!!

A Quickie

It's getting late here so this entry's gonna be a short one!

This past week has been an emotional roller coaster with my cat, Bumble. I will promise to update this coming week!

But first I wanted to share with you a book I recently heard about through NPR. The book is titled, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (that's right, author of Everything is Illuminated) Apparently Foer is quiet the philosopher and while in the past he switched between being an omnivore and a vegetarian, his recent ownership of a dog made him really question the meat industry.

I have yet to read it, but the second I have a bit of time to read anything other than textbooks I will pick up a copy.

And just because this is a quick entry does not mean we can't include a pet of the day.

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Meet Tuffy a pit bull from Manchester, New Hampshire. I found him at the Manchester Animal Shelter. He's approximately 1 year old. They did not mention anything about his background, but they did state that they'd rather him go home with someone above the age of 21.

Oh and P.S.: I'm learning to knit!! Look forward to future (and I mean, very future) dog and cat sweaters!!!

Difficult Choices...and Wally!!

So this week I have been dealing with this inner-conflict with a decision I made to call Animal Control on a family that lives nearby. I do not know this family at all, so the majority of my decision making was based upon what I observed from driving by their home.

The first sign of neglect began about a year-or-so-ago. This family resides on a major busy road about a mile-and-a-half from my home; a road that I, as well as my other family members I live with, travel very often. My brother was driving down said road when a dog came running out in the road and he accidently hit the dog. My brother, being a caring human being, pulled into the median and witnessed the dog being hit a second time by another moving vehicle, who chose to continue driving. My brother proceeded to pick up the possible chow chow mix and, I'm not sure how he knew what home the dog came from--I think a neighbor may have pointed the way, took the dog to its home. Upon telling the owners that their dog had been struck by a 2 ton car their response was, "....he looks fine!!". The owners were in a hurry to go somewhere and took the dog from my brother and placed him in the yard, carelessly. My brother, confused and a bit stunned, just kinda walked off.

To be honest, I had never really noticed this dog before my brother had the accident with him. Since the accident I look for the dog every time I pass by the house (which is at least 3-4 times per week). This house, as I already stated, is on a main road and the owner's of the home have chosen to fence in the front of the house. Every time I pass by the house this dog is just lying in the middle of the yard or sitting by the door. There is no shelter in the yard for the dog (even though I don't personally believe this makes up for the dog not being indoors) and his thick orange coat appears to be all matted. All of these things are observations I have made over the last year. I don't agree with dog's being left outside--they're a member of your family and you would not leave a child outside over night in a thunderstorm! (I know some people would...but that's a whole different discussion for a different time!)

So recently I was driving by the home and, as always, I looked for orange dog and I saw him walking around the yard...except this time he was on three legs instead of four. That fourth leg he was holding up, appearing as though it was a cruciate tear, but I can't know for sure. At this point, the animal being outside at all hours, the matted coat, and the leg injury made me make the decision to call Animal Control. Is this enough evidence? Should I have attempted to speak to neighbors regarding the dog??

I called Animal Control stating possible animal neglect knowing that if it was nothing, then it was nothing...but if the animal was truly being neglected something could be done! But what is that something?? Would Animal Control take him and he'd merely end up euthanized?? I truly don't see him being adopted, he appeared to be middle age and he looked pretty rough around the edges.

So I'm dealing with this inner-conflict. Did I do the right thing by calling and possibly making this family deal with false allegations? or Did I do the correct thing by looking out for an innocent animal who may really be neglected?? I've called Animal Control since to see if there are results of the case and the owner's of orange dog stated that he's hardly every outside. Who knows!!

I very well could be wrong and orange dog could belong to a very loving family, but I don't think it's wrong to call and be safe if you're concerned.

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Pet of the Day!!!!!

My pet of the day is Wally!!!

I don't have too much info. on Wally because there isn't really anything on the website. But I found Wally at the Louisiana ASPCA and I think he's adorable!!