Most all dogs love to ride. It is so hard to resist their excitement and the begging to go. Sadly, it is early in the summer season, but there has already been one fatality due to heat in the vehicle. One of my dearest friends lost her beloved Old English Bull Dog today. It was a short period of time, the windows were down, fresh water was in a bowl...but it was too long and too hot apparently. She found her treasured friend dead in the seat of her car.

Please, please remember that altho' they like to ride, waiting in the car is very risky. If you intend to run errands and choose to take your dog, make sure you can take the dog out of the vehicle with you...don't leave them in the car in the heat. Don't risk their health or lives. Vehicles get hot quickly.

The Fix A Feline program that the Animal Control, SPCA and Rescue community is putting on this summer will be starting June 1st. Check the SPCA WEBSITE for more information on this program if you have a cat that needs to be spayed or neutered and you can't afford it.

Well, my great kitten rescue isn't going very well. I was out of town over the holiday weekend, and Cindy took care of the sick kittys for me. Despite the tube feeding and meds, 3 more of the kittens died. Now we have one kitten left who is barely holding his own, and the Mama cat. Mama doesn't want to have anything much to do with this last baby, so Cindy is being mama cat. Mama cats' milk will be dried up by the time the kitten gets better.

I wish people would thing of the damage they are doing by not spaying and neutering their pets, then letting them fend for themselves, or dumping them. Pets are a commitment, not a plaything for as long as it takes to get bored with them. So many of us in rescue suffer heartache over these unnecessary situations. I've just spent half of my morning in tears after Cindy informed me of the kittens fate. I'm sure Cindy is suffering too, after all the committment she put in trying to keep these kittens alive.

The entire litter of 5 kittens and Mom came down with Upper Respiratory about 3 days after I got them home from Animal Control. They were all on medication, and the kittens were being force fed.
Unfortunatley, the runt of the litter did not survive. One other kitten is very iffy. Cindy is nursing them right now, putting tubes down the throats of 2 of the babies to get nutrition into them. We still are not sure if they are going to survive.

If this isnt' enough to make people want to spay or neuter their pets so things like this don't happen, I don't know what is.

Hopefully the Fix A Feline program that the Animal Control, SPCA and Rescue community is putting on this summer will put a small dent in the number of kittens. Check the SPCA WEBSITE for more information on this program which will be starting June 1, 2008.

Imagine not being able to shed your winter clothes on a hot summer day, and your only means of cooling off was by panting. Dogs and cats have little choice when it comes to keeping cool in summer heat. Recognizing the signs of heatstroke will allow for prompt treatment; and time is of the essence when treating this condition.

Signs of heat stroke include (but are not limited to): body temperatures of 104-110F degrees, excessive panting, dark or bright red tongue and gums, staggering, stupor, seizures, bloody diarrhea or vomiting, coma, death.

Short-nosed breeds, such as Bulldogs and Pugs, large heavy-coated breeds, and those dogs with heart or respiratory problems are more at risk for heat stroke.

I get lots of calls regarding the small dogs I have in rescue...on the web-site we state the small dogs will not be placed in a home with younger children. Many people with young children still call...wanting to explain that their children are "dog friendly", insist they just need to be allowed to meet the dog to prove it would be a good home and why would I restrict placement in such a way. The reason for such a requirement...most all of the small dogs I get into rescue have already had a negative experience with younger children and I choose not to place them in a situation where they will fail placement or need to be euthanized due to biting.

The #1 reason pregnant women get rid of their cats is the fear of contracting toxoplasmosis from their cat or the cat's litterbox.

Some doctors are all too hasty with pregnant women to be negative about cats in the household. One of the first things out of their mouths, once they know you have a cat, is the need to get rid of it. Some put the fear of God into these woman about how their babies can be born deformed or with birth defects and make it sound like cats are evil and full of cooties.

You are more likely to contract toxoplasmosis from handling raw meat or unwashed fruits and vegetables then from your cat's litterbox providing you clean it out on a daily basis (which should be done anyway). Those people who clean out litter boxes once a week or once a month run a much larger risk of contracting toxoplasmosis whether they are pregnant or not. Doctors give cats a raw deal (pun intended).

It’s not only the male cats that can spray, females do too. (The #1 reason people tell me they want to adopt a female cats vs a male.)

Every time a dog/cat is allowed to go into heat, it increases their chance of breast cancer when they get older.

Dogs and cats don’t get fat because they get spayed. It is lack of exercise or feeding them too much that makes animals fat.

Pets grieve when they lose a friend they are particularly close to, whether furry, has feathers or is human.

That cats DON’T need to go outside, especially to roam. A cat that has never gone outside generally doesn’t know what it is missing. True, it’s always nice to take them out when you go outside to enjoy the sun but there are those cats that once allowed to experience the great outdoors and you decide you don’t want them to go out, start exhibiting behavioral problems such as yowling and spraying.

Well, here we go again. Kitten season. There are many pregnant cats coming into Animal control, and having their kittens in the maternity ward there. Animal Control has foster parents that some of these litters home with. Some of the rescue groups take others. Most of the kittens go back to Animal Control when they are 8 weeks old to get adopted out.

I pulled one litter of kittens last saturday that had been born from a stray at the shelter not long after she was brought in. There is a 4 day hold on strays, so the little family had to live in the maternity ward until I was able to pick them up.

I have cats everywhere, they run the house. At any one time, I have about 15 cats and 2 dogs on the bed with me any given night. I slept with the window open all winter and one blanket on the bed. Who needs an electric blanket when you have fur bodies surrounding you and laying on top of you. I've learned to sleep with cats on my head, my chest, my arms and legs. It does make turning over or repositioning myself a little difficult. It's like a surfer riding a wave, you roll over and the cats just roll with you. Then, always in the middle of the night, Finn my 6 month old who was rescued out of a dumpster when he was a newborn, decides it's time for attention.

We had a great weekend for adoptions at the Pet Zoo in Eagle River. Cindy and I each adopted out 4 cats on Saturday. I think we set a record with 8 cats being rehomed in 1 day.
Sue

Okay, it's spring (or some semblence of one anyway). Time for all the couch puppies to quit lounging on the couch, eating yummie chummies in front of Animal Planet and start working off that winter weight. Get your owners involved. Now is the time to get in shape and setting your goals for the Dog Frisbee Championships, Dog Jog, Run Rover Run and other dog oriented events. Exercised pooches are happy pooches.

So, what's with this stigma that so many people have put on black cats? Especially is this day and age?

I get so many calls from people looking for a cat or kitten. They start out describing what they are looking for, about not caring what sex it is or how long the hair is, and sometimes I get "and I don't care what age it is" (a real bonus), and I'm thinking 'hey, way cool, I have the perfect cat for you", but then in that last breath they finish by saying, "it can be any color except black".

Check out Animal Control and you'll notice an over abundance of black cats. Sue and I both have several black cats in rescue.

Here is a great website on cat care, stress, behavioral issues, aggression, declawing, etc. Check out Cats International website. the You never know, you just might learn something new.

Wow it has been a bit since I had time to get on the blog...sorry.

I received an e-mail from a lady tonight and thought I would ask our blog friends to assist me with an answer. It is a bit long...but here it goes...

Hi,

We have a 2.5 year old poodle-terrier spayed female (15# or so). We have had her since her original owners left the state when she was almost 1 year old. She settled into a pretty good fit with our family (myself-work outside the home part-time, my husband-who works 2 on/2off @ North Slope, 16 yo daughter, 12 yo & 7 yo sons..and a college aged son & his wife who visit on breaks between terms) and things were going relatively well until recently. More about that at the end of this email...first the good stuff:

Good Night, Precious
Copyright Jim Willis 2002

Before you die, unwanted one,
I swear there was no way,
I tried - I did! - I promise...
I cried, I cursed, I prayed.
I mailed, I called, I pleaded,
for one to make room for you,
but only Heaven responded,
and there you'll find your due.
You've the most honest eyes I've seen,
a heart so loyal and true —
but our society has decided,
you've no purpose or value.
I wish that I could change things,
you've been wronged —it is not right!
But all I can offer, Precious...
a gentle passing into that good night.

Did you know that declawing a cat is a form of amputation? It's like cutting off your finger or toe down to the first digit so your nails will never grow again.

People declaw for all sorts of reasons...a minute few have merit, most do not. If you have ever lost a toenail, then banged your toes against something, you know how sensitive and painful it is. Now imagine all 10 of your nails missing. Some cats adjust to this painful procedure, some do not. Those that do not often start exhibiting behavioral problems -- not using the litterbox, biting, aggression.

There are several alternatives to declawing..cat scratching posts - various sizes and shapes, cutting nails on a regular basis, glue on nail covers, etc.

A woman contacted me today about rescuing a kitten she found on Easter. She has a resident wild rabbit living in her backyard that she has been feeding over the winter. When she went out back to feed it, out popped a kitten from the rabbit hole. The story has a happy ending. She dropped the kitten off at PET for a medical check up and her sister will be adopting him. If they could only talk...

Any strange but true stories that you know of?

If you have ever tried cutting a kitten's nails, you know they just don't sit still. To get a cat comfortable with nail trimming, you need to start early when they are kittens. The easiest way to trim the nails on small kittens, with the least amount of stress (yours & theirs), is to take a clothespin, lift the fur up at the nape of the neck (like the mother's do when transporting them) and attach it. It's simple, it's easy, it's harmless and it renders them immobile for the brief time it takes to clip the nails.

It's getting to be that time of the year again. Spring, when all the kittys' want to go outside after a long winter inside. And raging hormones in cats that have not been spayed or neutered. Please help us have less kittens to rescue this year.

****Neuter Your Male Cats

This is the most proactive step. Neutering is a simple surgery with a very quick recovery period. Besides preventing unwanted pregnancies, neutering a male will help mitigate certain problem behavior found in whole males, and it will help prevent certain medical conditions, too.
• Neutered cats are less likely to spray strong urine