Weekly Watch Tip for week of Aug. 8:

Watch for dogs and cats that are near or on railroad tracks in your neighborhood. Odd as it might seem, some animals don’t seem to fear or even notice oncoming trains. Lure animals away from alongside the tracks and don’t step between the tracks. Remember: trains move faster and may be nearer than they appear! Their enormous size can fool your senses and you could die yourself while trying to save a dog who may move quickly enough to escape being hit.

Trains are high-risk for companion animals and their humans!

I’ve read a number of news accounts recently about dogs darting in front of oncoming trains. Their panicky owners follow and are killed while the dog escapes injury because they move so quickly.

Please be thoughtful around trains when you are walking your dogs or cats. They will do surprising things as you know! You would never jump in front of a moving train but a dog or cat will occasionally do just that. It’s as if they don’t hear the train or possibly they don’t comprehend the danger of being hit by it (similar to cars). Veterinarians will tell stories about companion animals injured or killed by trains and the story is usually that the animal darted right in front of it, surprising the owners.

Walk your animals well away from the tracks, beyond leash length. Remember that retractable leashes may be longer than you think and your thumb on that lever might not be fast enough to save your pet from being hit. This warning holds true of walking dogs alongside busy roads using retractable leashes too, especially if you have a strong dog or if something very interesting is just across the road!

“Someone found them in an abandoned old building in Floyd County”

… said the rescuer in an email.  Someone looked inside, maybe alerted by kids, and saw two thin, friendly dogs with red patchy skin, swollen faces, and runny eyes. Someone noticed how Mary’s teats dangled long and thin. Someone knew the breeding cycle would begin again soon, and decided to take them away from the horrors of backyard breeder life in coal country Kentucky. This is how Mary and George’s rescue begins. (This is Mary at left).

Mary and George needed urgent medical care and weeks of recuperation, too much for this kind but poor Good Samaritan. So they were given to someone else who searched for a rescuer to take them. Mary and George were lucky; they were purebred Boxers. An independent rescuer, Moran, took them. (This was the third temporary home.) She wrote that they didn’t even know how to eat food from a bowl. They had only been fed on hard ground.

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If you are using IAMS Renal Cat Food it’s time to check those lot numbers. Proctor & Gamble has released a recall due to possible Salmonella contamination.

Here is the basic information from the official FDA announcement.

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