Thursday, September 30, 2010


Operation SPOT (Stop Pet Overpopulation Today),
invites you to learn more about Prop B at a free public forum.


The fate of puppy mill dogs in Missouri will be decided by the voters on
November 2nd. Over 190,000 signatures were collected to get the issue on
the November ballot. This forum is a collaboration between Operation SPOT
and Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation to educate those who need more
information in order to vote wisely, and to energize those who are committed
to saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of dogs who live in misery in Missouri.

WHEN:
Tuesday, October 5th, 7:00 pm

WHERE:
Creve Coeur Community Center
300 North New Ballas Road
St. Louis, Mo.

RSVP:
Reservations are required.
Call 314-995-8678
leave your name and the
names of those who will attend in your party.



MORE INFORMATION:
For more information about the forum,
go to www.opspot.org or www.maal.org.
For additional information about Prop B,
go to www.yesonPropB.com or call 573-263-9226

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Spotlighting Animal Protective Association of Missouri

This organization is located at 1705 S. Hanley Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63144. Their website is APAMO.org and email is info@apamo.org or phone is (314) 645-4610. They are a fabulous open admission animal shelter. They are not affliated with any other animal shelter and do not receive government funding. They take in mainly dogs and cats but they will take any animal brought to them. They care for around 4000 animals a year regardless of breed, age, size etc... Some days they receive as many as 20 animals.They feel it can be challenging to make space in the shelter but they always make room. They've been around since 1922 and have so many wonderful success stories. They still celebrate every single adoption and are so grateful for people who choose to adopt a pet through them. If you are interested in volunteering with them call Stephan at (314) 645-4610 ext. 122 or email volunteer@apamo.org Please go to their website which is updated every hour to see what pets are available for adoption. Hope you'll adopt your next pet through this amazing organization in St. Louis !!!

Introducing A New Pet Into The Family.....

* Pets are NOT TOYS and should not be treated like one.
* Teach children the appropriate way to handle pets respectfully.
* Never let small children carry around pets without adult supervision.
*Always monitor interactions.
* Put away all kid's toys so they don't get chewed on !!!
* Children should never hit or discipline pets.
* Pets need their rest and shouldn't be interrupted.
* Don't approach a pet while they are eating.
* Get books or google about training your pet.
* Walk your dog everyday as they love to take walks with you.
* As much time as you invest in them in the beginning your rewards will pay off.

Celebrate Spot In St. Louis.....

Hi everyone,
We have 11 days until Celebrate Spot- all registrants get a t-shirt, free breakfast, and free lunch! Not to mention enjoying a morning in Forest Park with your favorite 4legged friend(s). The more the merrier so invite anyone you think would enjoy this event to join by forwarding this email.
Hope to see you there,
Kirsten

Who: You and your dog (bring the whole family!)

What: Celebrate Spot- a walk for dogs and their people

When: 10/10/10 8am- Free Breakfast/Check In, 9am- Walk, 10:30 am- Pet Contests, Prizes, Awards, 11:30 am- Free lunch

Where: Upper Muny parking lot in Forest Park

Cost: $30 in Advance/ $35 day of

Why: Because young women (44 or younger) with breast cancer have higher recurrence rates and the lowest 5-year and overall survival rates. Little funding goes toward research in this demographic but the Young Women's Breast Cancer Program is changing that! All proceeds from the walk go directly to the YWBCP at Siteman Cancer Center right in here in St. Louis .

If you have any questions just call me 636-279-0600 or email me
kirstenecole@yahoo.com

Monday, September 27, 2010

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Shelter Alliance in St. Louis, Missouri

Shelter Alliance was started by a group of animal lovers and trainers to get supplies donated for small rescues and shelters free of charge. We have treats and chew bones ,shampoos and cleaners ,and soon if we get to build our new warehouse food ! We are asking area rescues to join us on September 9 for Petstock (like Woodstock ) for pet adoptions s, contest and to raise awareness of pets in need . There is no cost for booths and you can sell t-shirts or have adoptable pets . The flyer is enclosed and on Sunday October 10 join us for a blessing of the animals at 11:00a.m. by Georgy Rock . If you are interested in more information or supplies from Shelter Alliance call 636-274-3385 Hope to see you all there !!!!!!

10 Things You Can DO For Your Pet......

1. Pet proof your home
One of the most common reasons for a visit to a veterinary emergency clinic is ingestion of a toxic substance. Knowing which things are toxic to your pet and keeping them out of reach can save you money. Easter and Asiatic lilies can cause acute kidney failure in cats -- even a small bit of pollen is enough to cause damage.

Grapes and raisins can also cause kidney failure in some dogs. Chocolate and xylitol are harmless to humans but can be deadly in pets. Slug bait (containing metaldehyde), compost, and some mushrooms that grow wild can cause severe tremors and even seizures in dogs. The National Animal Poison Center website is a good resource for toxicity information. (http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control)

2. Get the complete series of puppy and kitten shots
Puppies and kittens need a SERIES of vaccines given 3-4 weeks apart to be fully protected against infectious diseases such as parvovirus and panleukopenia. If only one vaccine is given, or if the vaccines are not given at the right length apart, the animal will not make enough antibodies to be fully protected.

The illnesses that these vaccines prevent can be expensive and life-threatening. As fun as it is to take your puppy to the dog park, wait until they are 16 weeks and have received the full series of vaccines including rabies.

3. Spay or neuter your pet
Uterine infections (pyometra) that require emergency surgery are common in older unspayed female dogs. Unexpected pregnancies can also end in C-section, even if there is only one puppy or kitten.

Mammary cancers are much more common in dogs that were not spayed. Male dogs can be prone to severe prostate infections and testicular tumors.

4. Plan for the unexpected
Pet insurance is more readily available than in the past. For most people, the need for emergency care on even one occasion will make the premiums worthwhile.

However, pet insurance does not pay the veterinary bills directly so it is important to have an emergency fund set up to cover unexpected pet care while waiting for the insurance reimbursement. If you are considering breeding your pet, make sure you have enough money saved if an emergency C-section is needed.

5. Do not give your pet any medication without consulting a vet
Many pain medications that we commonly take can be extremely dangerous to our pets. When a pet is painful, it is tempting to try to give them something at home. However, a single Tylenol can cause a life-threatening blood disorder in cats. Ibuprofen (Advil) and Naproxen (Aleve) can cause severe stomach ulcers and even kidney damage in both dogs and cats.

Some herbal supplements can interfere with medications your pet is taking and should not be added without talking with your vet. Most animal hospitals, and especially emergency clinics, have a staff member available to answer questions so CALL first before giving any medication or supplement to your pet.

6. Seek medical treatment early
If you think your pet might be very ill or might have gotten into something, it is best to have them seen as soon as possible. Toxicities such as rat bait exposure are readily treatable when addressed when discovered but are life-threatening and expensive if treatment is delayed.

If your pet becomes very ill on a weekend, treatment at an emergency clinic may be most cost effective even if the initial fee is more expensive. A delay of even 12 hours in a pet with an intestinal blockage may be the difference between a simple surgery to remove the object and a complicated surgery with bowel removal.

Emergency veterinary clinics that are open at night and on the weekends are now present in most parts of the country.

7. Provide your vet with an accurate history
When your pet is sick, your veterinarian will be most likely to get to a diagnosis quickly if you can provide them with a detailed and accurate history. It is important that your vet know any medications you have given your pet, any supplements or herbs they are taking, or anything that they might have gotten into.

Let your vet know when the problem started, anything that might have been associated with the start of the problem, and all the symptoms your pet is having. Let your vet know if your pet travels with you as some diseases are only present in certain parts of the country.

It is important to communicate your major reason for your visit, your goals for pet care, and any previous or current but not active health problems your pet may have.

8. Ask questions
If diagnostic tests are suggested, ask what they will tell your veterinarian and how that will change the treatment plan. When medications are sent home, ASK if you aren't sure how to give them to your pet.

Compliance with medication instructions is one of the best things you can do to make sure your pet gets better and doesn't need further care. If your pet seems to be worse after starting a medication, call and ask whether the signs you are seeing could be a medication side-effect.

9. Skipping diagnostics in the short term may cost you more in the long term
X-rays can give a lot of information and can help lead to a diagnosis for your pet..
A cat with severe jaundice was once referred to our hospital for ultrasound for liver disease. The ultrasound confirmed the cat had liver disease but we didn't know the underlying cause. We started treatment but it wasn't until 2 days later when radiographs were taken and a penny was seen in the stomach that we knew that the cat had copper toxicity.

Pennies are metal so they are easy to see on radiographs but very hard to see within the stomach on ultrasound. By originally skipping this step, the true diagnosis and thus targeted treatment was delayed for several days.
10. Ask your veterinarian about medical credit plans
Many veterinarians now offer payment plans through organizations such as Care Credit or Citihealth. These are credit cards that are specifically for medical, dental, and veterinary expenses. Some payment options will provide no interest credit for 6 months.
Information about these programs can be found online but it is important to check with your veterinarian to see which specific plans they offer.

To read more blogs by Dr. Davidow and her colleagues, please visit http://blog.seattlepi.com/accesforpethealth/

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The top ten reasons to adopt your next pet were just killed in the local shelter. Please adopt & save a life!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Heffie......

Please join us in remembering



HEFFIE

a true ambassador of love
Celebration of Life
Saturday, Sept. 25, from 4-6 p.m.
Baue Pet Services, 4175 Shady Springs Lane, St. Peters, MO 63301
(Cave Springs exit on the 70, off West Clay, around the corner from Baue Funeral Home)
Please come and feel free to share how Heffie, or any animal, has touched your life.
There is an Irish wake following at R.T. Weiler's, 201 North Main St., St. Charles, MO, where his photograph will hang in honor.
We can all toast the awesome Hef, and carry on the fight for chained dogs in his name.

Donations to Dogs Deserve Better in his memory are gratefully accepted. http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/inmemory.html


Thank you all for your support and love for Heffie.
Joan McKenna

St. Louis Area Representative
Dogs Deserve Better
www.dogsdeservebetter.org
unchainyourdog@gmail.com
In loving memory of Heffie,
2008-2010







Best Friends Rock !!!!

You absolutely must go to this fabulous site that shows you actual footage of some of Missouri's Breeders. If this doesn't convince you to VOTE YES FOR PROP B in November to help so many SUFFERING dogs in horrible conditions in Missouri. Get out there and make a difference folks !!!

Monday, September 20, 2010

I LOVE PINK !!!!

Pink Urges Fans To Boycott Pet Stores
Pink attended the Puppy Mill Awareness Day event on Saturday at La Brea Tar Pits in El Lay, which helped raised awareness on the horrors of puppy mills and encouraged potential pet owners to "Adopt, Don't Shop."

The singer used her Twitter to deliver some powerful messages.

She Tweeted:

Its "puppymill awareness day"and I just got back from the incredible event at La Brea Tar Pits. Chris DeRose is amazing.No more puppy mills!!

And I finally met Cesar! The dog whisperer! He has really nice teeth. I fell in love with a puppy mill rescue bulldog! I ate her face

Puppy mills are awful, filthy, cruel places where dogs never see daylight, sleep in their own feces, and r bred over n over for pet stores.

Boycott pet stores people!!!!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The National Puppy Mill Project Conference
Print Invitation

Host: Iowa Voters for Companion Animals and The Puppy Mill Project of Illinois
Location: Hyatt Regency O'Hare
9300 Bryn Mawr
Rosemont, IL 60018 US
When: Friday, November 5, 7:00PM Add to my Outlook Calendar
Phone: 773-663-1102
Iowa Voters for Companion Animals and The Puppy Mill Project of Illinois, invite you to join us at "The National Puppy Mill Project" conference. This will be a first time event devoted soley to the subject of puppy mills. You will have a chance to talk with leaders in this field from around the country as well as listen to speakers Jana Kohl, Mary LaHay, Kim Townsend, Debra Howard and others who are in the trenches daily and have learned what works, what doesn't, and what we need to do. Our goal is to try and find that one common denominator we can all use to eliminate the puppy mill problem on a national level. Please join us on Friday night, November 5th, for a meet and greet, Saturday, November 6th, for a day of incredible speakers and Sunday morning, November 7th, for a chance to network with fellow advocates.
Room rate is $129 with a buffet breakfast included. For room reservations contact: Diane@worldwisetravel.net.
Please indicate if you will be attending this exciting event by October 7th.
Detailed schedule to follow.
Direct questions to:
Mary Lahay mlahay@iowavca.org
Cari Meyers info@thepuppymillproject.org

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Top Ten Reasons To Adopt A Dog....

The top ten reasons to adopt your next pet were just killed in the local shelter. Please adopt & save a life!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Broadway Barks

This adorable children's book written by Bernadette Peters is one you don't want to pass up. You can pick one up at any bookstore and they are a MUST HAVE for all dog lovers. The book takes place in Central Park in New York City where a lonely dog is waiting to be found. The dog remembers being taken for walks, given dinner, and told he was a good dog. Once he was called a name as a matter of fact a wonderful name. Douglas was his name and his family adored him but now nobody knows his name.
Everything changes the day Douglas meets someone who sees his potential. Soon he's meeting stars and even going onstage himself...but will anyone in the audience want to adopt him and be his friend?
The illustrations are just adorable and the story line is precious!!! I didn't realize Bernadette Peters devotes her spare time to rescuing homeless dogs and cats. By the way Broadway Barks is a pet adopt-a-thon that has been held every year in New York City since 1998, when it was founded by Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore. Each summer, members of the Broadway acting community gather in the heart of New York's theater district to offer for adoption dogs and cats from local shelters. The event raises funds to help animal shelters and fosters awareness of the importance of caring for all the animals we keep as pets. The super cool thing about this book is all royalties from the sale of it are donated to "Broadway Barks".

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Most Common Pet names For A Dog

1. Bella
2. Max
3. Bailey
4. Lucy
5. Molly
6. Buddy
7. Maggie
8. Daisy
9. Chloe
and last but not least Sophie

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

When a Dog Loses a Loved One — An Interview with Dr. Michael W. Fox
I recently read a letter in veterinarian Michael W. Fox’s newspaper column, Animal Doctor, from a woman whose dog was so bereft after her husband died that the dog pretty much stopped eating, and was clearly depressed for a long time. It wasn’t until she brought him to the grave of her husband that the dog started living life again. The man had died in the hospital, and their dog had never known exactly why he wasn’t coming home. The visit seemed to help the dog understand, and move on.

At the time I was putting together my story about dogs at cemeteries, and I had to focus on to more “brick and mortar” notions of pets running about graveyards. But the idea of an animal grieving the death of a loved one — human or other animal — stayed with me. So I contacted Dr. Fox, and he kindly consented to let me interview him on the topic. His insights and observations are fascinating, and will surely prove very helpful to some Dogsters as time marches on.

MG: So many people seem to forget about a dog when a loved one has died or is dying. But aren’t dogs sometimes deeply affected by the loss of a special person/owner? Is it safe to call it grief?

MWF: Some dogs grieve, but others, just like many people, show no evident grief when a loved one dies. While the people know of the death, the dog may not unless he/she sees the body; is present in the room where the person is dying; picks up on the emotions of the people seeing to the dying person either in-home or at the hospital. Some dogs actually know when the loved one has died at the hospital before those at home receive the phone call, because of evident sudden changes in behavior such as suddenly howling and becoming agitated, or giving up the waiting by-the-door or driveway vigil. Such “remote sensing” is behavioral evidence of the existence of what I call the “empathosphere,” which I document in my books The Boundless Circle and Dog Body, Dog Mind.

MG: How do they manifest this sense of loss?

MWF: Grief or mourning behavior in dogs has many similarities to separation-anxiety and associated depression and disinterest in food and life as seen in dogs who are boarded, and whose lives may be at risk without empathic attention and recognition of their condition.

Some dogs may search from room to room for the deceased, or become hyper-vigilant especially around the time when the deceased used to come home from work. The deceased may have been a source of security for the dog (including another companion dog whose death is being mourned), so the dog becomes more anxious and withdrawn, or may follow a family member from room to room and fear being left alone.

The period of mourning can last for weeks: Signs include lethargy, disinterest in play, toys, walks; bouts of whining, whimpering or howling even during sleep; loss of weight due to anorexia associated with depression. If not given full attention and encouragement to re-engage in normal activities, physical deterioration may set in and the dog could die from a “broken heart.”

MG: Is there a way to handle the dying or death of a dog’s beloved human so the dog can start healing?


MWF: Many people are so self-involved with their own grief and with the business of funeral arrangements, estate details etc that they do not engage with other family members, including dogs, who are not coping well with the death of the loved one. This is especially true when the loved one was another animal and people do not comprehend how much others may suffer from such loss, be it a child or spouse or surviving dog in the family.

It can help significantly for the dog(s) to see the dead body. This is also true for many cats. Allowing them this opportunity to “view the body” helps them come to terms with the reality of another’s demise. How and what they process cognitively in terms of death we can only guess. But we do know that many animals showing distress before they view the body become more settled afterwards.

I do not like the over-used term “closure,” like shutting a lid on emotions that will re-surface at any time unexpectedly in the future. Our dog Batman, for example, who mourned the death of his buddy-dog Xylo for close to a month, refused to go on a walk with me along one of Xylo’s favorite haunts when we returned for the first time some six months after her death.

MG: That’s really something. Is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap it up?

MWF: It is also interesting how many dogs and cats react when a family member is confined to bed and how protective and attentive they can become: this is yet more evidence of their emotional intelligence and ability to empathize.

Not only do dogs and cats grieve the loss of a loved one, be it a companion animal or a human being, but also horses, geese, chimpanzees in the wild and bears in captivity, to mention but a few of the species who share this emotion with us. A wider recognition of the depths of emotion our fellow animals share with us should move us to respect their basic rights and entitlement to humane treatment. Animals were not created for man’s use. They are only “ours” in sacred trust.


Dr. Fox is a graduate of the Royal Veterinary College, London, and holds doctoral degrees in medicine and ethology/animal behavior from the University of London, England. He is author of more than 40 books, writes the nationally syndicated newspaper column, Animal Doctor, is a member of the British Veterinary Association, American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association and Honor Roll Member of the American Veterinary Medical Association. You can learn more about him at his website, Two Bit Dog.

St. Louis, Missouri

During the entire month of September Treats Unleashed of St. Louis will be selling their paw print treats for $1. ALL proceeds go to the pantry! Check out their five locations throughout St. Louis http://www.treats-unleashed.com/ and get your doggie some homemade goodness while keeping another pet's belly full. Please spread the word to all your friends and family!

Bi-State Pet Food Pantry
Keeping pets and people together
www.bistatepetfoodpantry.org