Dog Treat Recall: Nature’s Recipe Oven-Baked Chicken Biscuits

Posted on October 14th, 2012 by Trish Roman-Aquilino

“Nature’s Recipe brand is voluntarily recalling a limited supply of Nature’s Recipe® Oven Baked Biscuits with Real Chicken, manufactured in one of its U.S. production facilities.  This is being done as a precautionary measure, as the product has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.  Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products.”  To read more about this recall and how it may affect you, please click here:

Nature’s Recipe Recall of Oven-Baked Chicken Biscuits

 

Watch Tip Classic – Watch for Strays

Posted on August 29th, 2012 by Trish Roman-Aquilino

Watch Tip LogoThis Watch Tip was originally written by Anna Nirva.

With the upcoming holiday three-day weekend almost upon us, this classic watch tip bears repeating – many families will be traveling with pets to strange areas, and many pets will be either boarded or watched over in their homes by either professionals or friends and family.

Watch and listen for stray dogs and cats that could go missing while traveling with their families, or be frightened by holiday fireworks. Take action to save them. Read the rest of this entry »

Diamond Pet Foods Recalls Some Bags of Dog Food

Posted on April 10th, 2012 by admin

Here we go again… Diamond is involved in another recall.

 

Here is the report I just got from the FDA:

 

04/10/2012 12:30 PM EDT
Diamond Pet Foods is voluntarily recalling Diamond Naturals Lamb Meal & Rice. This is being done as a precautionary measure, as the product has the potential to be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported and no other Diamond manufactured products are affected.
Here is the complete information from the FDA site:

Are you looking for a great present for a new pet parent? Pick up a copy of Perfect Puppy in 7 Days: How to Start Your Puppy Off Right. Dr. Sophia Yin has written a book with lots of excellent advice for first time pet parents as well as those of us who have spent more time with puppies than we can remember.

Yin has done a top notch job of taking us through the pups’ developmental stages and showing the best way to move them through their socialization to become the best possible companions. The directions are very thorough with many helpful pictures.

What I really appreciate about Perfect Puppy in 7 Days is Yin’s attitude towards puppies as individuals. These are not “one-size-fits-all” directions. Instead, Yin explains how dogs develop and learn. This info helps us to tailor the training for the behavior, not the age,

There is something for everyone to learn from Yin’s book. Even the most experienced dog lover can pick up tips but Perfect Puppy in 7 Days should be in every puppy starter kit.

 

Now we all know that a darling Pekingese named Malachy toddled away with this year’s Westminster Best in Show. Very nice for that dog and guardian, not to mention the handler. What is not so nice is the fact that Westminster supposedly felt they had to dump long-time sponsor Pedigree because the Westminster leadership felt the sad eyes of the shelter dogs turned off their purebred viewers.  I can only assume that the Westminster leadership has become completely disconnected from the bulk of dog companions, many of whom have both purebreds (whether bought from a breeder or adopted from a shelter or other rescue) or they leadership wants to avoid feeling any guilt for not making more efforts to prevent the millions of unnecessary dog deaths in shelters every year.

Either way, Westminster, you need to rethink your haughty attitude toward rescue dogs. Working with a breed rescue I can tell you that some of your precious show dogs can become shelter dogs. Every day dogs go from riches to rags whether its because their humans die or have to relinquish custody due to health or finances. Other dogs get unceremoniously dumped in shelters for a variety of reasons. Dogs get stolen and dumped, never to be found as they are executed for the crime of being homeless and unclaimed. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Walk — A Love Story

Posted on February 5th, 2012 by admin

As we come up on Valentine’s Day its time to talk abut love. And what better love than that between rescuer and rescued?

This story is dedicated to all the brave, marvelous people who adopt old dogs.

 

Last Walk

This story is about love, love that carries through death. Oh, it’s not a story about romantic love. There are plenty of those. This is a story about an unselfish love. This is a story about love that accepts unconditionally and asks for nothing. This is a story about the love between a rescuer and the last dogs she saves.

Margaret was an old woman who loved dogs. She loved big dogs and small dogs, short-haired dogs and long-haired dogs, quiet dogs and not-so-quiet dogs. She loved puppies, too. But what Margaret loved the most were old dogs. You know, the ones who sleep a lot and maybe can’t see so well any more. They’re the ones who hang back when the treats and pets are being given out because they have a little arthritis or aren’t so sure on their legs. They don’t want the other dogs to bump them or even knock them over. They’re the dogs who might have trouble eating hard food but try anyway. You know those dogs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Watch Tip: Prevent Puppy-Kitten Diseases, Vaccinate

Posted on September 25th, 2011 by Anna Nirva

Watch Tip Logo

Deadly pet diseases are everywhere these days. Prevent tragic death of puppies and kittens by following a strict schedule of vaccinations recommended by your vet. If you can’t afford vaccinations immediately, don’t get a baby dog or cat until you can. DO NOT let your puppy or kitten paws touch the ground or floor in parks, public places, pet stores or vet clinics until a week past the day that vaccinations are completed. Don’t surrender your unvaccinated baby pet to any pound or shelter or they will likely contract disease and die or be killed after falling ill.

Deadly germs are common, live for months, and are very hard to kill

With the economy challenging millions of families, pet illnesses are spreading like never before because more families are trying to reduce money spent on pet care. Your personal health rule for adopting a puppy or kitten should be to start vaccinations immediately. Get that series of vaccinations started because you will track home deadly viruses on your shoes and tires. Remember, some deadly germs are only killed by harsh chemicals.

Germs live up to a year in dirt, grass, roads, sidewalks, store floors, parking lots. Some veterinary health experts question if annual vaccinations may be necessary, but don’t be misled by this. Virtually all experts insist that puppies and kittens absolutely NEED their baby shots to survive those early months. Do not doubt it. Do not delay.

Follow these rules:

  • Vaccinate your kittens and puppies, following your veterinarian’s recommendations carefully.
  • No paws on the ground in ANY public place until a week past the final vaccinations. If you see a baby pet playing on the floor of a retail store, go speak with the owner. You may save a life.
  • Clean the soles of your shoes with bleach & water mixture after visiting vet clinics or stores with vet clinics inside, until after your baby pet has finished final vaccinations plus one week. Some keep a plastic dish tub near the house entrance door with a folded towel and bleach-water mix to step into upon entering. It’s simple and quick.
  • Visiting baby pets must follow the same rules or don’t allow the visit to your home.
  • Don’t accept free kittens or puppies from Craig’s List, backyard breeders, or “oops” litters as they are likely to be already infected with disease, parasites, and fleas, and treatment is expensive. Good breeders always vaccinate their baby pets. (Don’t ever buy puppies or kittens from a pet store because they acquire them from puppy and kitten mills.)
  • If you adopt a baby pet from a pound or shelter, ask about vaccinations. If the baby has not had vaccinations, go to your vet immediately with your new pet. Adult pets for adoption are likely to have developed immunity to the common baby pet diseases.

In addition to diseases, parasites are extremely common. You must actively prevent disease and parasite infestation in young puppies and kittens so they survive to adulthood, and you must guide others to do the same if they have not been taught about the extreme dangers of puppy and kitten germs and parasites.

This post is written with great sadness to memorialize all puppies and kittens that have died in the past week of preventable diseases, especially sweet shepherd mix puppy Tawny in Indiana, who contracted parvovirus in a city pound and died, despite dramatic efforts by her rescuer Tara Harris and volunteers to save her. RIP in peace, Tawny. She showed first symptoms on Thursday morning and was dead by Saturday morning.

Read one vaccination schedule for puppies and kittens here. Vaccinations may vary; follow your veterinarian’s recommendations.

Watch Tip: Tails Slammed in Doors

Posted on January 22nd, 2011 by Anna Nirva

Watch Tip LogoWatch Tip for week of Jan. 23:

Be watchful and deliberate when you load your dog into the vehicle. Make sure your dog gets all the way into the vehicle—tail too—before you slam that door shut or you will injure or break the dog’s tail in the door. Amputation might even be necessary. The dog’s pain will be severe and bleeding may be profuse, yet the accident was entirely preventable.

Every rescue dog in our family has scars from an old tail injury

Most of our dogs, present and departed, are (or were) short-hair dogs so you couldn’t miss a scar. One lovely red tail was straight about half-way, then at a knobby joint in the tail, bent left. One butterscotch tail is pudgy about a third of the way and suddenly gets skinny. One mostly white tail had a round bald patch in the middle. One black and white spotted tail had a bald spot AND a slight narrowing of the tail.

I remember when that last one happened. I was in a hurry and as our young Great Dane jumped into the back seat of my old (heavy-built) sedan, I absent-mindedly swung that heavy door shut. Samson let out such a loud bellow inside of the car that I jerked and almost knocked myself out on the top rim of the front door. He was in obvious pain and as you can imagine I was FURIOUS at myself for hurting him. Luckily he didn’t connect his injury with me so he let me examine his tail. Somehow it didn’t break the skin. But the damage was permanent anyway.

Don’t ruin your trip for a preventable reason! Make sure your pets are loaded safely and securely before you set out.

Turning it in

Posted on September 13th, 2010 by admin

Hello, readers.  My name is Gerri Bara – I’m a Realtor, a Rescuer and a Writer – not necessarily in that order.  The following post was originally an email that I sent to my rescue contacts in Maricopa County, AZ (Phoenix area). We have a horrible animal overpopulation problem here and there are (thankfully) hundreds of people who make up an informal network of rescuers. We reach out to each other to save homeless animals, share information and – sometimes – vent.  I was asked to post this story on the Sunbear site to help create awareness of the issues we face.  The “E” referred to in the story is the Euthanasia List.

Turning it In
Gerri Bara, Chandler, AZ

My car found its way to the East Side county shelter yesterday again…  all by itself, darned thing.  I brought home a little guy – I think he’s a Beagle mix and maybe some chi – he’s small.  He needs neuter surgery and has been in some nasty fights – he was a stray and street life was cruel to him.  Extremely sweet and gentle.  Great with our dogs, cats, LOVES kids.  While we were filling out paperwork in the lobby at Eastside he wanted to go up to every kid in the place.  Tail never stopped wagging.  They say he’s about 2.

He was on the E for fear.  Same old story.  G et him out of there and he’s a charmer.  🙂  He’s sleeping on the floor by my chair and I sit here and think “if I hadn’t stopped there yesterday he’d be dead now.”  Makes me sick to my stomach.

He has a nearly healed puncture wound on one ear and an open puncture wound on his flank – lots of little and not-so-little scars.  But the biggest concern is his right front paw.  He hobbles and scoots – full of energy – but won’t put that paw down.  Holds it out in front of himself when he walks or runs. I can’t tell if it was broken and healed wrong or if it’s a current injury.  Waiting to hear back from Suzy at CircleL re: vet appointment.  He is already using the doggie door.  Had a bath last night and was very good.  Loves being in the car.  Loves being alive.  We will foster him until we can find him a loving permanent home.

I lost my temper with a lady yesterday … well, not a lady – a lady wouldn’t take her dog to the pound and dump it off like a sack of garbage. I was standing in line in the back at Eastside, waiting for my little guy to get his rabies shot and a much needed Frontline treatment.  He was snuggled in my arms – I swear they know it the second they’ve been saved off the E list.

Anyway, here comes this well-dressed woman with an old black and white chihuahua in a cage.  Just a little tiny dog. He was stressed, panting, laying on his side and looking up at the woman with both love and fear in his eyes. He already had a sense of what was to come. It was SO hot, and I had just looked at so much heartbreak in so many upraised eyes behind a hundred kennel doors.  I was not feeling politically correct.

So I said, “Is that your dog?”

“Yes,” she says.  A little haughty.

“What are you doing?” I asked, knowing, heart sinking – but still hoping I was wrong.

“Turning it in.” she says, with not even a tiny hint of a crocodile tear.  I notice her use of “it” instead of “him.”  Not a good sign.

“Why?” I asked, in a voice I still had control of, but half an octave higher.

“We’re moving,” she explains in a condescending voice, as if that is the reason the world is round. Like those two words provide a perfectly reasonable justification for the fact that we are murdering thousands of animals in this country every day and she has generously let silly little me in on an insider’s tip.

And just like that, here comes my Scottish temper, boiling to the top.  It doesn’t happen often (thank the Lord, because I can’t control it), but when it’s here, it takes over my vocabulary and I never know quite what to expect.  “How can you DO that?” I demanded.  I looked more closely at the dog.  So cute, so tiny, so trusting.  The woman turns her back to me. “They’ll probably euthanize him.  Don’t you know that?” I say in a pleading voice.  “No one adopts the old ones. He’ll be terrified and confused, and he’ll will wait and wait for you. He won’t understand that you’re never coming back. And he’ll shake and cower and cry, and finally he’ll just shut down, and then they’ll put him on the kill list for fear, and that will be the end.  Because you moved.”

She didn’t answer me or turn around.  I think we were both stunned – maybe me more than her. I couldn’t believe those words came out of my mouth, but there they were.  The truth – hanging right out in the blazing open air.  No sympathy and no empathy for her lack of responsibility or her lack of compassion.  How can there be?

Come on.  A chi eats what – a quarter cup of food a day? The lady had a diamond on her hand worth thousands.

“We’re moving.”  We sure as heck are. And it isn’t in the right direction.

Maybe some rescuer with a kind heart will see that dog and step up to the plate – assume responsibility for a life that the woman so casually threw away.  I sure hope so.

The guy behind the counter called “Next?”  I turned around and went inside, out of the heat, carrying my little guy and my paperwork.  He looked at the cute little dog in my arms and asked, “Turn-in?”  Then he saw my paperwork, with the bright, shiny rabies tag stapled to the top and smiled a little.

“Nope,” I smiled back.  ” New Hope .”

As we drive home I think my normal thoughts and dream my normal dreams: the shelter I’ll build when I win the lottery, the never-ending need for creating awareness, my inability to understand a heart that could leave a loving, trusting animal behind, my gratitude for the thousands of others who rescue, and for those who love their pets “’til death do us part.”

Then the little guy on the seat next to me whimpers a little, and I reach over to give a reassuring pat, and for a while I just think about him.

One at a time…

Book Review — Saving Gracie

Posted on July 20th, 2010 by admin

Saving Gracie is more than a well-written, compelling book that should be in every animal lover’s  collection.  This is the book that makes the case against puppy mills and their supporters in a clear voice. Moreover, if I had the money I would make sure to give a copy of Saving Gracie to every legislator in the US.

Author Carol Bradley has written a rare book. It is an important book that is also a good read. The history and information in Saving Gracie makes the case against puppy mills while the writing carries you along like a good crime novel.

This book is a slap in the face to those who deny the absolute evil of puppy mills. I defy someone to read even the first few chapters of Saving Gracie and walk away with any ability to defend puppy mills for any reason. Bradley has woven a strong story line around some very painful facts and the figures to support them.

Read the rest of this entry »