Roll back the bad stuff & help end pandemics

They don’t have to run errands, cook, clean or fret over PC problems, but most animals have one big, all-important job: staying alive.  Oh, sure, we may worry about getting Covid-19 vaccine and try to avoid other health hazards . . . but we’re not actively fleeing poachers and hunters aiming to kill us or being live-captured for “wet markets” or seeing our habitats being “developed” right out of existence.  

Over the last four years, our federal government has done colossal harm to birds and wildlife with “a Migratory Bird Treaty Act that no longer protects birds, a watered-down Endangered Species Act, and a policy that allows hunters in Alaska to crawl into bear and wolf dens to shoot mothers and their babies.” 

And those are only some of the worst offenses of the former administration. Estimates vary for how long it will take the current administration to restore wildlife protections in America. This Washington Post article details further egregious attempts to cut back on animal welfare. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/22/biden-wildlife-protections-trump/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2dc9411%2F5fe21f279d2fda0efb90c282%2F5b2db69bae7e8a6f6d31c7c9%2F56%2F68%2F5fe21f279d2fda0efb90c282  

Of course, that’s not all, either.  There’s the matter of the infamous border wall partially erected during the last four years, every day destroying more animal habitat for hundreds of now-ugly miles along the US-Mexican border.  This ego-trip-wall has caused all sorts of destruction along its path.

The only good news we’ve heard about it so far is that further construction will stop.  But that step can’t bring back wildlife habitat, nor can it rid the area of people installing sensors, lighting and other surveillance technologies, and maintaining the 30-foot high barrier.

Endangered jaguars are among the animals to lose habitat because crews have dug and blasted their way through mountainous terrain, leaving gouged-out sections that will remain unfinished – and as one person observed, “You can never un-dynamite a mountain and piece back together wilderness that has been blown apart.”  Check out this link.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/02/biden-border-wall-trump/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2d3ac25%2F5fc7c2cf9d2fda0efb7bd4ac%2F5b2db69bae7e8a6f6d31c7c9%2F57%2F68%2F5fc7c2cf9d2fda0efb7bd4ac

Back to Covid-19

Yes, coronavirus hospitalization and death numbers are coming down, and yes, the vaccines offer hope for an eventual escape from this horror.  But, as often indicated, other such horrors will continue to happen and spread and kill.  

                    Chinese wet market             Alamy pic

Since this plague seems to have been traced back to a notorious wet market in Wuhan, China, one of many such places in the world where live wildlife is sold for human consumption, the great risk of another such pandemic continues.  

The Humane Society of the US (HSUS) has spoken out in favor of protecting wildlife and public health alike by passing an “important bill that will ban the import, export and sale for human consumption of certain live wildlife in the U.S. and will bolster resources to end the trade globally and eliminate wildlife trafficking.” 

The bill that we and our legislators should support – early and often! -- is H.R. 151 and S. 37, the “Preventing Future Pandemics Act,” because “Despite the immense cruelty and inherent spread of disease, wildlife markets continue to operate around the world.” 

As this “deadly coronavirus continues to devastate the globe, it is more important now than ever to address the dire public health threats posed by the sale and trade of live wildlife.  Innocent wild animals and the American public deserve better,” the HSUS argues.

            Selling grilled rats in Indonesia            Getty image

And we agree!  So, please, readers, urge your Congressional representatives and senators to support H. R. 151 and S. 37.  Now!

Good news (so far)

I’ve referred to the growing pet (and people) food-insecurity and home-insecurity I’ve read about, assuming it’s happening here too.  Well, maybe not yet, anyway.  A local shelter manager says it really hasn’t hit there (yet?) and a statewide animal advocacy organization reports the same.  So there’s time to plan how to help when the time comes . . . !   

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Amazing animals abound around the world

Mallard

Walking around a lake on a cold, windy day, you’re bundled up and comfortable enough – but those crazy ducks in the water are diving below the surface, practically doing hand-stands, then paddling around as if it were a summer afternoon.  When a few of them head for the bank, you think they’re finally getting smart, but they just bob in the shallows for a while before heading back out to the middle.

Crazy ducks?  Not really.  They’re ducks, not humans, and ducks don’t react to  cold winter water the way we do.  Assuming they’d behave as we would is called anthropomorphism, or “the attribution of human characteristics, emotions, and behaviors to animals or other non-human things (including objects, plants, and supernatural beings).”

That means right now during the nor’easter battering us with snow and wind gusts, I shouldn’t be worrying about how squirrels and birds deal with such weather.  Unlike me, they don’t need to be inside, looking out.  (Right?  I do hope they’re OK, with living quarters so much more exposed to the elements.)

A day like this, happily home-bound, allows lounging, reading and thinking about animals I’ve encountered recently . . .

·       *     The raccoon who squatted on our deck table earlier this winter, happily eating all the snacks left there for squirrels and birds.  S/he looked ginormous as I peeked through the blinds to see what Harry had been so agitated about.  The overhead light prompted the freeloader to move on, and since then I haven’t been so generous with treats there.

A naturalist friend told me later that raccoons are omnivores and will eat almost anything. They don't hibernate, but if it gets extremely cold for a few days in a row, they may hole up in their dens (usually a hollow tree), but they may use a cave, or "borrow" another animal's burrow.

Najin & Fatu, the last 2                     NYT pic      

*     Northern white rhinos on the brink of extinction.  A mother and daughter, Najin and Fatu (“Say their names!”), live a heavily guarded life in Kenya because they are the last of their kind, and when they go, that is the end.  Peaceful creatures who “once flourished across Asia and North America, Africa and Europe,” they have been reduced to this state by human hunting and habitat loss. 

Wanting to “understand what we are destroying,” Sam Anderson visited the two rhinos and wrote about them in “A Mother and Daughter at the End.”  It’s very sad.  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/magazine/the-last-two-northern-white-rhinos-on-earth.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

*     The platypus, a most unusual mammal, native to Australia.  “What other animal has a rubbery bill, ankle spikes full of venom, luxurious fur that glows under black light and a tendency to lay eggs?”  I first encountered the creature in a Patrick O’Brian maritime novel whose hero is (excruciatingly) stung by a male platypus’s poisonous spur. 

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/science/platypus-genome-echidna.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20210112&instance_id=25911&nl=science-times&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=49049&te=1&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd

*     The African crested rat: the world’s only known toxic rodent.  Kinda cute, maybe, but deadly, this creature nibbles from a poison arrow tree, then spits chunks back out onto his   fur.  It’s poisonous enough “to bring an elephant to its knees,” and curious dogs who survive go to pains to avoid the rat.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/science/african-crested-rat-poison.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20201126&instance_id=24498&nl=the-morning&regi_id=20760274&segmen

     

Harry 

*   Cat & his mats, much closer to home!  I’ve already mentioned our Harry and his mats and my frustration.  Now, though, I'm happy to report that he and they were taken care of, beautifully, at his vet’s, where he was brushed, combed, bathed and de-matted (at least for now).  And he came home loving himself!

This article in Catster cheered me up about “cat mats,” by reinforcing some of what I’ve learned lately. https://www.catster.com/cat-grooming/winter-cat-grooming-tips-to-help-kitty-through-the-cold-dry-months   

Give your pet(s) an extra hug and enjoy the snow!

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Insecure about these possible insecurities

I look at our beloved cats, Harry and Billy, and wonder how I’d feel and what I’d do if we couldn’t afford to feed them.  Then I consider what we’d do if threatened with eviction from our home-for-four.  What, in other words, could we do about both food insecurity and home insecurity?

Both conditions are very much in the media right now, with the very real pet-food problem likely to become part of homelessness as both the pandemic and unemployment rage on.  What months ago were heartwarming stories about people adopting shelter animals in droves have now become ominous stories about their inability to feed and shelter those same animals. 

When I wrote about food insecurity here on November 18, I included a few suggestions for both people and their pets with food insecurity (because of course they're linked).  That post includes a number of ideas from the ASPCA, ranging from finding area food pantries and asking local shelters and vets for ideas, to checking supermarkets and pet stores for food samples and coupons.

I’ve also received messages from HSUS about combatting this growing problem so animals will not have to be surrendered to shelters.  People are struggling, HSUS says, to provide food and other resources for their pets during this difficult time.  Happily, though, its “Pets for Life” program works across the country to provide critical services like delivering pet food and supplies, and providing veterinary care to animals in need.

By now, however, nearly a year into the pandemic and economic crises, the added challenge has become housing for both people and their pets.  “Eviction” is the big black cloud hanging over countless Americans without jobs or the means to pay rent.  Evicted from their homes, people can find it very difficult to find new places to live that also allow, if not welcome, their pets. 

The fact is that anti-pet policies, especially for lower-income renters, prevail in this country, suggesting that those who are evicted may have to choose between their home and their pets.  (Ahead of financial difficulties, housing is the second most common reason people surrender pets to shelters, HSUS notes.)

It’s very hard to find rental housing that permits pets – often with all kinds of fees on top of basic costs that in themselves can be hard enough to pay.  Even though an estimated 72% of renters own pets, until 2006, there were virtually no laws protecting them in times of crisis -- and many more laws are still needed.  

So now, many of the same “family member pets" who boosted people’s mental health during the pandemic will be in peril if their owners are evicted and must choose between them and another home.  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/realestate/rentals-evictions-pets.html?searchResultPosition=1

Tips for animals in winter

My latest mailing from the ASPCA includes at least three timely winter tips for pet owners and animal lovers: (1) ice melt toxicity in pets; (2) four tips for sheltering community cats in winter (use foam coolers and straw, not blankets!); and (3) a winter watch-outs infographic (keep those handwarmers out of pet-reach!).   

https://email.aspcapro.org/your-primer-on-ice-melt-toxicity-in-pets-%EF%B8%8F-1?ecid=ACsprvte-OHxmWNGG-8G0_WblynpnfJmu7t6fuKpJYOEidMusnEudKVnMLz3QP7K4Lpd1FoGjo-k&utm_campaign=Tox%20Insider&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=105952082&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_XcbeTKxtgXs0kgWJjprFV8V_WrQC2VlzedwE_COUEiSt120F-nrEp6-tx_zmfe3dDDWguC0SC4rEBqKrCwb5JRTPJXw&utm_content=105805715&utm_source=hs_email

Recommended reading

With thanks to an animal-friendly reference librarian, these two “book briefs” suggest ways to while away the time on a cold winter’s night. 

(1)       When Harry Met Minnie, by Martha Teichner.  The CBS correspondent tells how she and her bull terrier Minnie met Carol, a dying woman with a bull terrier named Harry, who would soon need a new home.  The book describes how it all came to pass. 

(2)       Lost Companions: Reflections on the Death of Pets, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson.  It’s horrible but it happens: the death of a loved pet.  Suggesting how to help dying pets and how to memorialize them, Masson discusses the need to mourn our nonhuman family members.

Pet's Ideal World, Part 1

                                                                                                    Dodo pic

Part 2

                                                                                                      Getty pic

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Rioting humans made animals look even better

Besides inflammatory chants, signs, flags and clothes, some brought weapons or improvised them.  Or threatened legislators and beat up police officers.  Or invaded and desecrated a building sacred to democracy.  Or caused extensive property damage.  Or tried to overturn crucial Congressional action underway on January 6.  Ultimately, these law-breaking rioters caused the deaths of five people.

Possibly never since the Civil War has Walt Whitman (1819-1892) been so on target:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and
self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of
owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of
years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth. 

--Walt Whitman

As far as I’m concerned, when one person calls another person an animal, that’s a compliment.  And the current definition of “animalistic” – wholly negative – deserves a positive rewrite, one much closer to its current antonym!

Mink murders                                                                           

Washington Post pic

Since last year, I’ve avoided mentioning the fate of minks in Denmark.  It’s very ugly.  Remember that first it was bats, then various other animals “daubed with the brush” of connection with Covid-19 – either as carriers or as creatures who could catch it. 

Minks have long been raised in Denmark’s barbaric fur farms to be brutally (but oh so carefully) murdered for their fur.  In fact, Denmark is the world’s largest producer of pelts.  But when a mutated strain of the coronavirus was found in the animals, that pelt goal was superseded by fear that minks might transmit the disease.

 At that point, the prime minister called for a mink cull, so mass murder ensued: wholesale slaughter of minks (15 million estimated), followed by their “burial” in shallow mass graves.  Then reason – and fear – resurfaced: officials wondered whether they had acted too fast.  And people grew apprehensive about whether the millions of dead minks, then resurfacing, might infect the ground and drinking water. 

Guardian pic

A murderous mess, right?  Nor is it the first time humans have wiped out animals, including pets, from fear.  Yes, these minks were slated to die by other means, but. . .  the fur industry is another story, coming soon.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/denmark-mink-coronavirus-zombie-/2020/12/17/1f8cb00e-3bea-11eb-aad9-8959227280c4_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2d

Lasso the loose llama!

Gizmo, who recently moved from Indiana to New York State, ran away from his new home and caught people’s attention near and far.  Or, from the article about the errant llama, “In this moment of unfathomable worry, of airborne plagues and economic ruin, the opportunity to fret over a lost llama became its own kind of balm.” 

BBC pic

And “fret” they did, too.  The myriad ways that myriad people tried to find the llama included infrared drones, search parties, a lasso and hundreds of “lost llama” posters.  The  lasso worked first, thanks to a Guatemalan cowboy-turned groundskeeper.  He roped Gizmo’s BF llama, Sandman, before he got very far. 

But despite all efforts and a mix of weather that included a nor’easter, Gizmo remained elusive for more than two weeks, starting Dec. 13.  Finally, a person who saw the poster and had seen the llama broke the case, and Gizmo was retrieved about a mile from home. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/nyregion/missing-llama-westchester.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20210102&instance_id=25588&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=48210&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd

                                  Gizmo & Sandman                                                            Jones-NYT pic

Yum!?

OK, kids, get into your jammies if you want to have your Doggy Desserts!  What’ll it be: pumpkin with cookies or peanut butter with pretzels?   https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/video/ben-jerry-s-releases-ice-cream-for-dogs/vi-BB1cHa3R?ocid=mailsignout

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2021 good news & a continuing threat

Welcome back!  Here’s to 2021 and every possible good thing.

And on that subject, here’s a great thing: a message on behalf of animals who need vet care – a message so wonderful, it should attract millions of donor dollars to aid this eminently worthy cause. 

The call came in at 5:51 pm on Friday, December 11. Janine, our programs director, was still in the office. “Can you help?,” the caller asked, while crying. She was sitting in her car in a veterinary hospital parking lot with her dying cat. He had a urinary tract blockage - a life-threatening condition. Romeo had been examined by the vet, but nothing was done because she did not have the money. Instead, they brought him back out to her car. Her son was crying, she was distraught and Romeo was surely going to die. Then she found Animal Protection League of New Jersey.

She had learned of another hospital that was still open and would see her. Would APLNJ be able to pay the bill? If our Veterinary Bill Assistance Fund was empty, we would not have been able to say: Absolutely! Once there the vet immediately put a catheter in to allow urine to pass.

 Romeo spent four days in the hospital until he was able to pass urine on his own. He’s been home now for 12 days and his mom says he’s doing great!

When Janine told me about this, I knew we had to tell you this positive story. Because of YOU Romeo’s life was saved! This is one example of your donation at work. Your support is life-saving and we know Romeo would agree!

 If you’d like to see that our Veterinary Bill Assistance Fund will always be available, so that we may be able to help others like Romeo, please click below.

 Thank you! 

Signed by Angi Metler, Executive Director of the Animal Protection League of NJ (aplnj.org), this message had gone out to those on the organization’s mailing list, and it prompted both generous contributions and responses such as  

• how could a veterinarian be so cruel as to withhold treatment for lack of money?
• was that vet's refusal to provide lifesaving help a breach of professional ethics?  
• so much for "24/7 emergency service"! 

Programs director Janine Motta handles the requests for help with vet bills.  They arrive regularly -- especially now, during ongoing pandemic and economic crises.  She dreads ever having to tell a pet owner APL can't be of help because there are no funds available.   

 

People with pets know ensuring their good health can be expensive.  To help those who can’t handle vet bills right now – to help all the other Romeos out there! -- please donate to APL’s Veterinary Bill Assistance Program (VBAP).  It’s easy to do; just click here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=B74TL9ELP8J8Y

 

True Christmas miracle  

“One plant worker saw something abnormal: a moving, crying backpack.”  Three kittens had been stuffed inside and discarded in a Burlington County recycle bin.  

Sonny, 1 of 3 saved kittens 

The two girls and one boy then survived the recyc truck’s compressors and a trip through some of the plant’s heavy-duty sorting machinery, including a wheel designed to break down recyclables.  Only then was their (oddly-behaving) backpack spotted by Barrie Donaldson, a plant employee – and hero.

Checked out and judged to be OK, the three kittens were soon adopted.  Light a candle to St. Gertrude of Nivelles, the patron saint of cats?  https://whyy.org/articles/miracle-kittens-found-in-backpack-rescued-from-n-j-recycling-plants-conveyor-belt/

Mutually harmful

Covid-19 relief may be coming, but more viruses are sure to follow as humans continue to destroy habitat, maintain notorious wet markets and consume wild animals.  Links to earlier articles by David Quammen on this subject have appeared here; this is his latest: “The Virus, the Bats and Us.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/opinion/covid-bats.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20201211&instance_id=24934&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=46651&te=1&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd

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Cat camp offered much more than hiking & water sports

                                                                   Catster pic

When a virtual event lingers in the mind for weeks afterward, it must have been a notable offering. That’s 100% true of “Jackson Galaxy’s Cat Camp: @ home for the holidays!” sponsored by Petco, an all-day production on Saturday, Dec. 5. 

Apparently the latest annual Cat Camp in a series, this one offered myriad options, with a focus that couldn’t lose: “A Life Well-Lived” for cats of all ages.  Who doesn’t want that for their cats?  The day’s programs dealt with kittens, winter shelters for community cats, forms of play, prime time, making homemade toys and senior cats, among others. 

I “attended” the session on senior cats hoping as always for tips on caring for Harry (15) and Billy (13) Summers.  I learned much that I’m still mulling over and acting on as possible.  (Some key ideas appear below for other cat parent-worrywarts.)  

But first, basic info to use if you want to attend Cat Camp now.  The basic link – catcamp.com – still gets you to all the day’s programs, running about 5 hours, give or take.  You can check the schedule and scroll around, visiting different sessions.  

With no regrets, I revisited the Senior Cats segment to fill in blanks after the first go-round, when I couldn’t keep up with the lively conversation between Galaxy and Ellen M. Carozza, an LTV who lectures widely.  The two seemed like kindred spirits in their devotion to cats and to felines of all ages living vital lives. 

                                                                          ASM pic

As for senior cats, they advised seeing your cat for what she is, not what you fear is happening.  Don’t apply your own fears about aging or sickness to your cat!  Same with dementia: age-related changes are not always dementia.  Because many other health issues have similar symptoms, it’s crucial to get the broadest possible picture through vet testing. 

By age 12, 99% of cats have arthritis, which can happen all over the body.  That’s a big deal for cats, who need to balance their weight on all 4 paws.  Observe: can the cat “go to the bathroom,” eat and drink, curl up in a ball to sleep . . . comfortably?  

It may be time to raise food and water bowls and consider litter pans with an open side (as in “puppy pans”). 

Is the cat grooming at all, or properly?  If not, expect dander accumulation, greasiness and mats.  (Mats, BTW, are my current challenge with long-haired Harry, who fights any brushing near them!) 

Galaxy and Carozza offered much, much more – and you can get all that plus the other sessions by visiting catcamp.com.  Commit some time, listen and take notes if that’s your learning style, and like me, you too can become a “happy camper”! 

2 seasonal reminders 

One easy cat tip: Remember that this is (gift) box season, and cats love ’em.  Instead of re-cycling boxes, save them to re-style into fun places for felines – and their fascinated families. https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/turn-excess-holiday-boxes-into-hangout-spots-for-your-cat?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=Catster%20Ful%20ListAol%20yahoo%2030%20day%20actives%20and%20all%20others&utm_campaign=CED20201202 

Br-r-r-r-r-r!

With the cold setting in, it’s important to be alert to pets left outside. The HSUS reminds us that body fur isn’t enough protection, and it can be a crime to leave pets outside in extreme temperatures without 

food and shelter. 

If we see animals left out in the cold, we should speak up.  Here are some specifics. https://www.humanesociety.org/news/what-do-if-you-see-pet-left-out-cold?s_src=em_ha_12192020_132738.0&utm_source=convio&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monthly_donor_update&utm_term=132738.0&utm_content=image4 

                                                                                                         HSUS pic

AnimalBeat II will return in January ’21.  For now, wishing all animals and their advocates the happiest, healthiest new year possible!  And, at any time, readers are invited to comment on blog posts and suggest topics for future attention. 

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Bear hunt underway casts a pall over other animal news

                                                    APLNJ/Bear Group pic

As I write, and probably also as you read, New Jersey black bears are being killed by trophy hunters, many from out of state.  (Yes, we’re still at crisis level in this pandemic, but hey, that shouldn’t stop hunters from flocking here to kill bears, now should it?) 

The second part of this year’s bear hunt began this morning, Monday, Dec. 7, and it will run through Saturday, Dec. 12, with a possible 4-day extension Dec. 16-19. 

Bear hunters must be accommodated. 

The Animal Protection League of NJ plans protests and daily vigils, with the latest information at https://www.facebook.com/AnimalProtectionLeagueNhhtJ. Contact Doreen.Frega@aplnj.org with questions about vigil times. 

The black cloud of the bear hunt hangs heavy over any other animal news there might be.  So I’ll open with the best thing I’ve heard lately, about an Asian elephant named Kaavan.  Long described as “the loneliest elephant in the world” -- elephants are highly social, family-oriented beings, remember – he lived alone for years in a “decrepit” zoo in Pakistan. 

Then, thanks to pop star Cher, her charity and other animal rights groups, Kaavan was flown to a conservation park in Cambodia, where he’s temporarily quarantined before exploring his new habitat, which includes three other elephants. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/05/942214125/he-will-be-a-happier-

                     Asian elephants                                 Wikipedia pic

elephant-vet-describes-what-it-was-like-to-rescue-kaavan 

Scorpions, anyone?  

My last post in October, a lengthy poem, (https://1moreonce.blogspot.com/2020/10/evolution.html) included an image of a scorpion, and the more I looked at it, the more it looked like a lobster to me. This, despite the significant differences between the two animals, starting with size. 

Later checking out the similarity, I learned the two are related.  Both have pincers and are part of the same group (Phylum Anthropoda).  However, scorpions are even more closely related to spiders (Class Arachnida), and unlike insects which have 6 legs, both scorpions and spiders have 8 legs. 

Fierce hunters, scorpions prefer their own species after insects; the link below contains an un-appetizing description of “sticky stew,” or what happens when a scorpion meets up with a cricket. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/scorpion-anatomy#:~:text=Anatomy%20of%20a%20Scorpion,part%20of%20the%20Phylum%20Arthropoda. 

Ahhh, dogs!

From the most grizzled oldster to “Teddy,” the 8-week old Lab puppy I met this morning, dogs are undeniably lovable and unarguably the best friends of many humans.  They also have great sniffers, which accounts for their behavior on walks when often their heads are not up, but down, to pick up scents their people could never detect. 

That’s because “a dog’s sense of smell is estimated to be 10,000 to 100,000 times better than that of a human.” (Humbling, isn’t it?) They have 300 million olfactory receptors to our 6 (measly) million of them. That difference is like “detecting one teaspoon of sugar in enough water to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools.” 

Little wonder dogs love “sniff walks” for learning so much about the world around them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/dog-love-working-home/2020/10/30/75adc50e-1895-11eb-befb-8864259bd2d8_story.html 

“Cat Camp” 

Its name alone sounds like a good place to be: "Cat Camp."  And last weekend, it was.  I learned about it late but still got in on a session about older cats that offered excellent, helpful info. Jackson Galaxy (of “My Cat from Hell” fame) headlined the event, joined by a number of cat and kitten specialists. 

I’ll share what I got from Cat Camp next time here, when I hope to have found links too.  For now, this was one major point made and stressed: The goal with older cats is not merely their surviving, but their living a vital life.   And the person-cat relationship must be kept vital if the cat will have a vital life.

Think about that . . . .

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