Assuring cats’ health: call it ‘guardian maintenance’!

Harry (top) & Billy

Harry and Billy Summers are two very lucky cats, now flashing beautiful, healthy teeth.  It wasn’t cheap, or easy.  Nor was it the first or the last time their oral health was checked and assured.

This time around, their dental adventure cost more than $2,000 – a good deal less than the highest estimate the animal hospital had projected.  The total cost also included pre-anesthesia testing by their veterinarian and a 40-mile round trip to the specialist . . . then, hours later, a return trip for pick up, all after two postponements because of winter storms.

That expenditure of time and money (and emotion!) was just for their teeth, which I’ve been convinced must be kept healthy.

And there’s much more: “the Summers boys” also eat “vet food” – that is, prescription food to maintain a healthy weight (Billy) or care for kidneys (Harry).

And besides what amount to two annual check-ups for each boy, there are also periodic visits to eye and internal medicine specialists and the inevitable emergency vet trips – the tilted head signaling an ear problem; the upset stomach with projectile vomiting . . . and so on.

Don’t misunderstand: I’m not boasting or complaining.  I’m elated we can afford comprehensive health care for the two cats we dearly love. And I wholly trust both boys’ veterinarian, the dental specialist and others.

But. . . !

But: how many people can afford such thorough, or even basic, care for their cats?  I’m betting that many cats go without – which can mean shorter, less healthy lives.  

It’s sad to think how many pet cats don’t get even an annual check-up, let alone dental care.  Or beneficial food.  And of course, community cats – with shorter life spans by definition -- have it even harder.
http://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/increase-cat-life-expectancy

I have to wonder what happens for all the cats who are adopted out by rescue groups and shelters. Once those felines move into their “forever homes,” how do their well-meaning new families deal with the need for vet visits and, sometimes, heroic or major treatments?  Are prospective adopters told about the expenses involved with having a pet cat?

No doubt this situation is also true for pet dogs, for whom veterinarian care is pricey too – a fact probably equally true for other pets – ferrets, birds and so on.

What about medical insurance for pets, you may ask.  I’ve wondered about that.  The one time we had it, for a beloved cocker spaniel, a pre-existing health condition kept it from being useful.  After that, we gave up on insurance.  

There are ways to get help with medical costs for pets.  One example: the donation jar at the hospital where Harry and Billy had their teeth attended to – although I don’t know how common such jars are or how that money is allocated. 

Other options can be found on the website of the Animal Protection League of NJ (APLNJ), which lists organizations pet parents might try.  (Worth checking them out right now?)  http://aplnj.org/Vet-Bill.php

And too, why not ask the pet’s vet about special rates and payment plans?  (Who better to ask for help treating a pet than a vet, whose mission is caring for animals?)   

For now, with gratitude and relief, I’m crossing my fingers, knocking on wood and thanking the

power(s) that Harry and Billy are two very lucky cats.

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March Madness of a far different kind

Spring Peeper

“Almost spring” – the best reason to feel good about animals and the world and animals in the world (however briefly), with bird song in the morning again!  Can spring peepers be far behind?

By now, it’s all around: emergence (of green shoots and worms and black bears); growth (of everything, it seems); rebirth (of hope!). This year’s spring equinox arrives on Tuesday, March 20, at 12:15 pm, though the signs of its coming have already worked their magic. 

“Equinox” comes from Latin words that literally mean “equal night” because the length of day and night is nearly equal in all parts of the world.  Earlier dawns and later sunsets mean longer days with more sunlight hours – all to the good for those of us who suffer from SAD and other winter blues.

https://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-spring-vernal-equinox

For “animal people,” the joys of spring also include the mixed blessing of “kitten season,” when these cunning baby animals can seem to be everywhere. Yes, they’re  adorable, and sometimes they are on their own, but remember to look carefully for mama cats before “rescuing” any babies. 

American Robin

Speaking of spring and birds and cats, it’s almost time to try the “cat fur good deed”: collect the fluff you brush from your shedding cats and sprinkle it outside.  I’ve read that birds – and I’d bet squirrels too – snatch it up to line their nests and warm their babies. It might even help prevent some young birds and squirrels from falling out of their nests.  Try it – they’ll like it!

 

Two recommended for readers

Moving away from nature's own March madness, here are 2 books to know about, thanks to a sympathetic librarian and blog-reading friend:

1 -- Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World, by Paul Shapiro  (description excerpted from Kirkus Reviews)

An intriguing argument for developing an economy of cultured, lab-born meat because "clean meat" is already a reality. The first "cultured hamburger," produced in 2013 cost about $330,000; now it costs around $11 per burger. 

The same is true of animal foods and products of other kinds, from dairy to poultry to leather. Within a decade or two, it may be possible to eat meat that has not involved the suffering of a living animal and to wear shoes made of leather that has not come from a slaughterhouse.  

2 -- Mercy for Animals: One Man's Quest to Inspire Compassion and Improve the Lives of Farm Animals, by Nathan Runkle  (description from Amazon blurb)  

Runkle’s book tells how he founded this country’s leading nonprofit organization for protecting factory farmed animals. The work of “Mercy for Animals” has ranged from grassroots activism through undercover investigations to today’s efforts for sweeping legislative change.

Far-reaching negative consequences resulted when America moved from a network of small, local farms with more than 50 percent of Americans involved in agriculture, to a massive coast-to-coast industrial complex controlled by a mere 1 percent of our population.  But Runkle offers both hope and solutions for ending mistreatment of factory farmed animals, from diet modifications to directions for how to contact corporations and legislators efficiently.

These feet were made for . . .

Finally, how better to end a post on a joyful subject than to share this story about a happy ending for one spider – actually, as many happy endings as this spider has legs:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4VlMzv0-tM&list=PLLoPYaJqlcK7bHpswgllOfjHpc0iCR6mH

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Keeping chickens, cloning pets & shelter animals (still) in need

Raising chickens has become an “in” thing around the country.  Described as “a growing status symbol in Silicon Valley,” in a recent Washington Post story, “egg-laying chickens are now a trendy, eco-conscious humblebrag on par with driving a Tesla.” 

  

It’s also happening in New Jersey. After a two-year pilot program “to see if chickens and their neighbors could live in harmony,” the city council of Woodbury (Gloucester County) unanimously passed a law allowing “chickens to come home to roost” there. A $10 license fee allows residents to raise up to 12 egg-laying hens; no roosters allowed.

As one recently subjected to boring chicken tales and pictures from a distant relative, I’m neutral, at best, on this issue.  Especially since I assume most of those chicken-keepers are also chicken-eaters – though maybe not their own pricey fowl.

Chicken consumption is a whole other not-pretty story that we’ll get to later.  For now, suffice it to say that while the practice of equating chickens with cowards goes back centuries, with flimsy supporting reasons, today’s chickens – mass-produced in factory farms -- have never had a better reason to be cowards!  Who would want their lives, or deaths? 

   

Cloning pets: all wrong

Love your dog so much you can’t imagine your future without her?  Well, if you’re thoughtless and rich enough, you can have your dog cloned – once an idle wish among pet-lovers – as Barbra Streisand recently did.

Don’t think it was easy, or even a little bit fair to every non-human and human animal involved. Cloning takes a terrible toll, as the story below details.  Worst of all to me: it leaves homeless animals in shelters right where they are, while needlessly growing the pet population – and some of those creatures may also wind up homeless some day. 

Overall, a selfish and cruel “lose-lose.”

 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/opinion/clone-pet-streisand-dog.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20180306&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=13&nlid=20760274&ref=headline&te=1

Animal shelter bill -- MIA

The “animal shelter bill” I’ve written about for more than three years, exclaiming over the good it would do for homeless animals “living” in New Jersey animal shelters: What happened to it?  Where is it in the legislative pipeline? When will it surface and be talked about and moved forward?

Work on this bill began years ago with a meeting of people who know and care about animal shelters and want to see them improved. They exchanged opinions and specifics for a couple hours on January 23, 2015.

Then came a long hiatus, when nothing seemed to happen – no meetings, no word, no action for shelter animals. 

Finally, a draft bill appeared, with feedback invited.  Then came another long hiatus, with no communication about bill status or how to support and move it.  Meanwhile, shelter animals languished and many died – unnecessarily, for sure, since so many animal shelters in New Jersey do their own ignorant, inconsistent and cruel things, pretty much with impunity.  

In fact, it was the horrors at the Helmetta shelter (shelter: such a misnomer!) that helped trigger that first and only meeting, filled with talk of a law to reform NJ shelters.  And yet today, some animals still endure filthy and unsafe shelter conditions, minimally trained staff with even less supervision, and seat-of-the-pants decisions and actions that can be lethal.  

   

What happened to the shelter-reform bill, initially numbered S3019 and now S725?  Where is it in the legislative pipeline?  When will it re-surface and be talked about and moved forward for action? 

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1 winning website & 1 death-dealing practice

Frankie

Some time ago, I confessed to a weakness for The Dodo, the website with short, effective videos and stories, all starring animals.  For a go-to-sleep picker-upper, I recommended looking at The Dodo last thing before bed each night.

Now after a few years of Dodo-ing, and still liking it a lot, I’m even more aware of some of its regular messages, which I like and have learned from.  One of the threads through Dodo content is that pit bulls are nice dogs – at least as nice, and needy, as other dogs. So many stories about heroic pit bulls, hurt pit bulls, baby- and people-loving pit bulls, all needing only the chance to show their sterling qualities.

Another Dodo message has been that animals with what might be called “deformities” are really only “different,” or “special,” and utterly lovable in their own right – as well as loving in return. What a great thing to believe, and act on!

The latest example is Frankie, the kitten born with two pairs of ears – a new phenomenon to me – who was adopted by a “mom” who recognized his high spirits and "deservingness" to live. Before him, there were bait dogs, badly scarred in their past lives; abandoned animals, left to die because they weren’t traditionally attractive; animals born with various birth "defects" that only made them different, not undeserving of life!  

https://www.thedodo.com/close-to-home/cat-with-four-ears-frankenkitten-australia

Still another worthy Dodo message has been about the friendships between different species of animals – cats and horses, dogs and squirrels, even cats and dogs.  From their stories, a big element of their successful bonding was that the people around them seemed to expect it, and fostered it.  None of that “Ohh, watch out, you know X and Y don’t get along!” stuff.

Lucas

There’s still more to be said about how The Dodo (www.thedodo.com) is good for animals, and I’m a continuing fan. For now, though, another kind of animal – a well-intentioned one -- in the spotlight: a spider.  And not just any spider, but an animated one, designed to help people like spiders (or at least respect their right to life), instead of squishing them.  Meet Lucas the jumping spider . . .  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoYVZmKSYFg&feature=youtu.be

Donating dilemma

The Olympics are over, but South Korea’s dog-meat farms continue.  There are thousands of them, and it will take much more than a few Olympians to change the culture of a country where people see dog meat as a delicacy and dog meat farms as the way to feed that appetite. 
https://www.thedodo.com/close-to-home/olympian-gus-kenworthy-saves-korean-dogs

And that leads to a donation dilemma for anyone wanting to contribute to better lives for animals: give to the organizations working to eliminate dog meat farms, which may be a century-long undertaking, or choose different beneficiaries where results are faster and more comprehensive?
It can seem like the proverbial drop in a bucket to donate to, say, Humane Society International (HSI) on behalf of those terrified caged dogs who know their end is coming.  But then, donating nothing toward their possible rescue seems callous and cruel.

                                        Gus Kenworthy image

The only other option I can think of is hoping that humane millionaires will seize on this issue and donate mega bucks to eliminate dog-meat farms.  Maybe for long-standing problems that require long-time solutions, organizations should reach out to people with deep pockets, instead of working with much less to encourage Korean farmers, one farm at a time, to grow mushrooms instead of dogs.  

What do you think, readers?

Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more. --Franz Kafka

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