Monday, December 17, 2012
Pets remind us the meaning of Christmas - if we only slow down enough to notice
'Twas the week before Christmas And all through the house All the creatures were stirring - Well, all but the mouse. These pets knew, in their wisdom, Santa'd be on his way in, And they hoped that he realized How good they had been. Sure, Bear had represented them At Lake Humane's Santa Paws, Delivering all his friends' lists To the jolly old Claus. But could Santa read paw prints, And would he forgive it, All those times Bear jumped up? Would he let him outlive it? “Stupid dog,” Tiger growled, But tried not to be shrill. This was Christmas, after all. And cats appreciate goodwill. Tabby Tiger purred to imagine New toys, but instead This year's wish to Santa Was a heated cat bed. Bear has his eyes on one thing, too - And he made …
Monday, November 12, 2012
Does the Fourth Amendment Protect Us From Dogs Without Warrants?
There must have been a point in my life when I thought, “Dogs can sniff out drugs? No way.” Some distant point in my youth I no longer recall. Seems a socially accepted truth these days. So it may surprise some that the question, in part, is now before the U.S. Supreme Court — casting doubt on the training of the dogs and how well they do their jobs, and whether the Fourth Amendment, the one that protects us from unreasonable search and seizure, should be able to stop them from doing their jobs at all. “Dogs make mistakes. Dogs err,” lawyer Glen P. Gifford told the justices during argument in October. “Dogs get excited and will alert to things like tennis balls in trunks or animals, that sort of thing.” However, Justice Department lawyer …
Monday, November 5, 2012
It's About Time Rescuers Treated Pets Like the Family Members They Are
Around here, we see signs hurriedly stapled to telephone poles fairly often. Lost cat. Lost dog. Please help. Reward. Now imagine how many of those signs could go up in the line of Hurricane Sandy. Even as hundreds, perhaps thousands, are still displaced from their neighborhoods, an act-alike Facebook page has caught the attention of the media, and a warning — it's equally touching and heartbreaking to visit. Hurricane Sandy Lost and Found Pets, established the day before Sandy made landfall in the U.S., doesn't recommend any particular charity deserving your dollars, nor take donations. (Refreshing a week before Election Day, isn't it?) It exists solely to create a place where people can post photos of lost and found pets in affected …
Monday, August 13, 2012
While Welcome in the Yard, Honeybees a Nuisance to Our Birds - and Must Go
I have an update to my pledge to care for our neighborhood hummingbird population. The feeders are down. Precious little ones, I apologize, but I'm trying to relieve you of your bane, the honeybee. Please stand by. Yes, weekly readers, we finally spotted the first hummingbird at our feeder a week after this column on attracting them. It was a Sunday when I spotted its tiny flit near the perch, and there it rested to feed. We lay still on the grass with our ball gloves, thrilled, to absorb it. Soon I could spot four distinctly different birds in one sitting around 6:30 or 7 p.m. (Thanks to reader Kim for your friendly timing advice.) Two weeks later, however, we had also attracted a couple handfuls of honey bees. Well that's actually pretty…
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Girls Got the Whole Second Floor - Was That Really Punishment?
“They think we're moving again,” my husband said when we dragged all our furniture out onto the side porch. The girls -- that is, to say, our cats -- were distant and disoriented. Sistercat retreated to the attic unless we could prove we had a treat to offer, a shaking bag or tin. When I accepted the insurance money to repair the damage left by our refrigerator installation in March, I signed a document that I would not discuss the company or the process — so yeah. But the long and short of it was, the Wards received a free refinishing of their first-floor hardwood floors, worn decades upon decades, and finally arranged to have that done last week. Sunday night I carried the cats to their food and water, for the week displaced to our …
Monday, June 11, 2012
Help your pets beat the heat before the heat beats them
When it's hot out and somebody asks me how I'm doing, I always respond, "Better now that I'm in this air conditioning!" I'm sure this weekend's heat wave affected us all differently, and for me it apparently dehydrated my creativity. For my cats, it shot their mobility. Seeing their bodies splayed out on the hardwood, hours on end, seemed to elevate the heat index by itself. Poor kitties. It must be so miserable to wear a fur coat in that weather. We watched carefully for symptoms of heat stroke — rapid panting, salivating, dizziness or upset stomach — but not seeing any, just kept their water fresh, kept the air-conditioned bedroom available, and kept offering them our sympathies. Mentor stayed equally attentive. Calls to the four …
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
It's better to prevent a dog bite than have to deal with the consequences. Here are some tips as well as data.
Remember that scene in the Wizard of Oz where Toto bites Miss Gulch and she demands the dog be put down or she would sue? Well apparently more folks in that situation are suing the dog owners. Especially in Ohio. In fact, Ohio ranks fourth in the nation for the dog bite claims to State Farm Insurance for 2011, according to the insurance company. In Ohio, 215 people made dog bite claims to the insurance company, resulting in payouts of $5.4 million. California was number one with 527 claims and $20.3 million paid out. Closer to home, Cleveland ranks fourth in the nation for postal worker dog attacks with 44 reported in 2011. Most of those attacks happened after the owner said, "My dog won't bite," according to the United States Post …
Monday, May 28, 2012
Both dangerous and illegal, dog bites also a national drain on insurance payouts
Hopefully you've all made it through National Dog Bite Prevention Week unscathed. Dog bites are a sensitive subject for my husband. I held one familiar dog like a baby for years before it suddenly bit my husband's leg chasing a football, leaving a small scar — but, for him, a jaded distrust to the animal. And long before that, when I was very young, my parents' timber wolf hybrid mauled my best friend Chris when the little boy let himself into her pen. He would wear a large scar by his left eye until middle school, when he would endure surgery to remove it. Dog-biting behavior is unjustified, save rare situations, and so is all the money wasted toward making amends. I didn't realize this until Saturday, but standard homeowner's and renter'…
Monday, April 2, 2012
Unseasonably Warm Weather, Acorn Production Has Made Them More Common Than Usual for April
There's nothing like a little unseasonably warm weather to spill us back out onto the sidewalks. But since we've had an unseasonably warm winter and a rather May-ish March, we haven't been alone in our instincts. Ticks, specifically black-legged or deer, rarely found themselves dormant under snow drifts this year; and, after a warm March, they're active a month or two earlier than usual this spring, scientists and vets say. Plus, after last year's boom in acorn production, with a significant drop this year hitting the mouse population hard, scientists suggest this year's ticks may be especially hungry for blood meals. According to Newswise, the majority will be nymphs – ticks stuck between larvae youth and adulthood. “The last time (an …
Monday, March 26, 2012
Most common poisons are chocolate for dogs and lilies for cats
Congratulations. You just lived through National Poison Prevention Week. For five decades this observation has kept people safer — or at least tried. Some always fall through the cracks. It's no surprise Pet Poison Helpline also embraces the week to raise awareness of household items potentially harmful to our pets. Coincidentally I also needed pet poison pointers last week, as we discovered that we share our new kitchen with a team of hungry ants. “Place bait in areas inaccessible to children and pets,” the package said, and I did. But according to Pet Poison Helpline, the tiny bit of sweet insect attractant inside probably wouldn't cause much more than minor stomach irritation if injected. (It's the chewed up plastic bait that could do …
Victor Sanders
11:17 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
At least you had the company of your pet cats while you were refurnishing your floor. Isn't it dangerous to have them around when there is use of chemicals? I would keep dogs and cats out of the way if I were you. - http://www.londonfloorsanding.org.uk/ more ›