For those who are having behavioral issues with their animals, you should consider getting in touch with the Anti-Cruelty Society, who specialize in the prevention of cruelty to animals and educating people. They have a free Behavioral Hotline which offers free advice to those having behavioral issues with their animals. Their phone number is 312-644-8338 extension 343.
Follow the Anti-Cruelty Society on Twitter.
Originally posted at beingstray.com
I have a new list of Pet Food Pantries and Spay/Neuter Assistance for the US to share with everyone. Though it seems to be impossible to locate one definitive source, it is heartening to know their numbers keep growing.
If you are looking for pet food assistance, you might also check with your local pet food pantry as some of them are starting to include pet food. And you might even search Facebook for “Pet Food Pantry” in the groups section.
When trying to develop a diet for cats, look no further than what a cat would eat in the wild: mice. Cats shouldn’t be eating foods that they have difficulty processing, according to Dr, Deborah Greco, a veterinarian at the Animal Medical Center in New York City.
This internal medicine specialist, who spoke at a Sunday session, isn’t arguing that pet owners should be shopping for mice to please Fluffy. Rather, they should be thinking about the nutrition in a mouse—a mouse is 3 percent carbohydrate, 40 percent protein, and 50 percent fat.
Since cats became domesticated, they have been fed various diets, and some of these diets were developed with little thought as to their natural diet in the wild. The result hasn’t been good. “Many of the diseases that we treat are a result of the diets we give them,” said Dr. Greco, who rattled off several examples.
Before the advent of commercial diets, owners fed cats organ meats that are low in calcium and high in phosphorus. This led to nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism. In the 1980s, scientists linked a high incidence of struvite stones to high pH levels in food. And in the 1990s, scientists found that feeding acidifying diets to cats with struvite stones lead to an increased incidence of oxalate stones. Diets were reformulated to a more neutral pH. The ideal pH is 6.5,” says Dr Greco, which is the pH found in a mouse.
Also in the late 1980s, scientists traced a high incidence of dilated cardiomyopathy to taurine deficiency, and other researchers found that certain diets low in potassium caused hypokalemic nephropathy. Each time, nutritionists had to go back to the drawing board.
Today, cats are facing a different problem: an epidemic of obesity that comes with a price tag. “Thirty-five to 40 percent of cats are obese,” said Dr. Greco, who says the peak years of obesity is between the ages of seven to 12 years.
“Obese cats are four times as likely to develop diabetes mellitus and five times as likely to develop lameness.” Fat cats also have a higher incidence of non-allergic skin disease, most likely caused by the cat’s inability to clean themselves as effectively, due to their size. This obesity is most likely the cause of diets with too high a carbohydrate content.
“Cats are unique in the way they handle protein, carbohydrates, and fat,” Dr. Greco said. Cats are strict carnivores and, because of this, they have a tremendous ability to produce glucose from protein, but have difficulty processing carbohydrates.
The feline liver has normal hexokinase activity, but no glucokinase activity. Thus, cats are limited in their ability to mop up excess glucose and store glycogen. “What happens is that glucose is going to hang around for a long period of time,” she said, and it eventually becomes fat.
In addition, unlike humans, protein is the stimulus for insulin release in cats. Cats have adapted to high protein diets by being insulin resistant. This maintains blood glucose during periods of fasting, convenient for a cat in the wild, but not so good for pets eating a lot of carbohydrates.
“When you take an individual that is genetically programmed to consume high protein and low carbohydrates, and you put them on a high carbohydrate diet, what happens is their insulin resistance works against them,” she said. “Their blood glucose concentrations are too high… they can’t overcome that, and they start to release more and more insulin in an attempt to reduce blood glucose levels.” This doesn’t work, however, and the cat eventually develops type 2 diabetes rnellitus. The cat gets amyloid deposition in the pancreas, exhaustion of the pancreatic cells, and glucose toxicity from consumption of large amounts of carbohydrates.
So what’s Dr. Greco’s ideal cat food diet? She recommends a wet food.high in protein, high in fat, and low in carbohydrates. It’s basically a “CatKins” diet, much like the Atkins diet popular today. This diet is going to keep a cat slim and help it avoid diabetes.
She recommends a wet cat food because if you are trying to mimic what a cat eats in the wild, just think of how much water a mouse contains. Wet cat food is going to give you a pH that is ideal and is, thus, the best way to prevent feline lower urinary tract inflammation. Dr. Greco said. In addition, a cat’s jaws and teeth are designed for shearing and tearing meat, and cats that eat dry food grind it in a way that it ends up between their teeth. There it ferments into sugar and acid, thereby causing dental problems.
According to Dr. Greco, it all comes down to common sense. “We must use a cat’s natural diet as a guideline.”
The cost of medical care for pets is rising as fast as it is for humans, and that’s helping to spur sales of pet insurance.
Pet owners are able to choose from a rapidly growing array of policies, featuring everything from high-deductible designs to coverage of alternative-medicine treatments like acupuncture. Some pet policies focus on accidents and illness, while others include wellness checkups and shots. And some things that traditionally weren’t included in pet insurance, such as hereditary conditions, are now paid for under many plans.
Consumers need to be careful, since many pet policies can be as confusing as coverage you buy for yourself. Pet insurance often places strict limits on how much it will pay for particular procedures. And policies can have tricky designs that can leave consumers with big out-of-pocket bills for their animals. Premiums vary from around $10 a month to $75 a month, depending on factors including the richness of the plan, your location and your animal’s breed and age.
This year, pet owners are expected to spend around $12.2 billion for veterinary care, up from $11.1 billion last year and $8.2 billion five years ago, according to the American Pet Products Association. Complex procedures widely used for people, including chemotherapy and dialysis, are now available for pets, and the potential cost of treating certain illnesses has spiked as a result.
Donna Oliver, in Austin, Texas, has shelled out about $32,600 since 2007 to care for two dogs who passed away earlier this year. Marley, a Labrador, got stem-cell therapy for his arthritis, surgery on his windpipe to deal with a condition that was choking off his breathing, and, at the end, medication to ease the pain of advanced cancer. Maddie, a corgi mix, suffered from Cushing’s disease, a hormonal disorder, and got treatment including surgery to heal ulcers on her corneas.
“It does cost a lot if you want to do the right thing by them,” says Ms. Oliver, a 38-year-old customer-service manager, who says she is still paying off the credit-card bills. To avoid a similar situation with her three remaining dogs, Chelsea, Jasmine and Runner, she recently bought insurance for them.
Currently, around a million U.S. pets are insured, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. The number is growing about 10% a year, the group estimates, though that still represents just a tiny fraction of all pets.
Around 90% of the insured are dogs, with about 10% cats and a small number of other animals. The biggest U.S. pet-insurance company, Veterinary Pet Insurance, or VPI, a unit of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., says it has written policies for hedgehogs, snakes, turtles and geckos, among other creatures.
![[HEALTHYjp]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PJ-AS711A_HEALT_NS_20091208191756.jpg)
Eli Meir Kaplan for The Wall Street Journal (6); Tim Evans/Saturn Lounge for the Wall Street Journal (Parrot)These pets’ owners got insurance so financial concerns don’t guide their pets’ care. “I want it to be because of quality-of-life issues,” says Karen Becker, owner of Darwin, whose policy helped cover the parrot’s broken leg.Karen Becker, an art-school program director in Baileys Harbor, Wis., has insured her African grey parrot, Darwin, and blue and gold macaw, Big Bird, since she got them in 2001 and 2008, respectively. Treatments for birds can be at least as pricey as those for larger animals, she says, and the parrots may live for decades. Ms. Becker, 52, says she doesn’t want financial concerns to guide decisions about her pets’ care: “I want it to be because of quality-of-life issues.”
If you’re considering pet insurance, start by shopping around. It’s best to start when the animal is still young and healthy, since new policies won’t cover pre-existing health conditions and some insurers won’t take on pets over a certain age.
The industry has grown in recent years, with new competitors such as Pets Best LLC, Petplan Inc., Embrace Pet Insurance Agency LLC and Trupanion, a unit of Vetinsurance International Inc., entering the market. In the past, a number of startup pet-insurance firms have gone out of business, so it is worth checking with your state regulator about companies’ age and record.
Consumers may also be able to buy pet insurance through their workplace, which can often be cheaper than buying on your own. Around 19% of employers offer the policies as a voluntary benefit, according to a survey conducted this year by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. That includes firms such as Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.
To learn about policies, you can start with overview Web sites such as petinsurancereview.com, dogtime.com and petinsuranceguideus.com. For definitive information, though, you should click through to the sites of the individual pet insurance firms, which can offer premium quotes.
Once you’ve narrowed down the list, get full policy documents, which are often posted online or available through a phoned request. Use those, in combination with phone calls or emailed inquiries to the companies, to delve into the details of the plans.
If you’re considering pet insurance, here are some resources to get you started
Here are some sites that include overviews:
Here are industry and veterinary group sites that have background:
Here are sites for pet insurance companies:
You will want to check how the company will raise premiums as you renew the policy. Often, they go up with age and veterinary inflation. They may also be linked to your animal’s claims history—so a pet with a lot of health issues in a given year could see a heftier increase the following year.
You also want to take a close look at what you would have to spend out of your own pocket if your pet got injured or ill. Pet-insurance firms tend to limit what they reimburse for various treatments. And you’ll generally have to pay the bills up front, then seek reimbursement from the insurer.
When Elizabeth Pannill’s Labrador, Crystal, needed back surgery a few years ago, the insurance covered less than half of the nearly $4,000 total bill. Then, when Crystal got a tumor removed from her rib earlier this year, spending 10 days in an animal-hospital intensive-care unit, the plan paid about $1,700 of the nearly $5,500 total, which already included a professional discount for Dr. Pannill, a veterinarian who isn’t currently in clinical practice.
Dr. Pannill says that despite the limited payouts, she also has purchased insurance for two other dogs and a pair of cats. “It just gives you a little peace of mind that you would have some financial help when an illness came along,” says the 56-year-old, who lives in Staples, Texas.
VPI pays flat amounts for various treatments. Other pet insurers pay a percentage of vet bills, although some limit payouts to a percentage of what they consider “usual and customary” fees, which may be lower than what vets actually charge.
As with insurance for people, consumers need to look closely at how the out-of-pocket charges on pet insurance are structured. Pet plans offer a range of deductibles, some as high as $1,000 a year. These may be levied on an annual basis, or charged anew for each illness or incident.
Congenital conditions, behavior modification and pregnancy-related costs are often not included, in addition to pre-existing health issues. VPI is beginning to introduce a cat-focused plan that offers limited payouts for certain common feline issues, like chronic kidney failure.
At least two companies, Embrace and Petplan, offer coverage of alternative treatments such as acupuncture and chiropractic.
Many policies now include coverage for hereditary conditions. It’s often worth paying for this, particularly for pure-bred dogs. Each insurer has its own lists of genetic illnesses, and they vary somewhat, says John Albers, executive director of the American Animal Hospital Association.
Some things to consider when shopping for pet insurance:
| QUESTION | WHAT TO CHECK FOR |
| On what basis does the policy pay claims? | Insurance plans may pay flat amounts according to a benefits schedule. Or they may pay a percentage of what the insurer considers “usual and customary” fees, or a percentage of the vet’s actual bill. “Usual and customary” may fall short of vets’ actual charges. If the payments are based on the actual bills, check for any exceptions in the fine print. |
| What does the policy cover? | Typically, policies start with “blackout” periods during which nothing is covered. They also don’t include pre-existing health issues. Many don’t cover congenital, or inborn, conditions, behavioral issues or pregnancy costs. Some include hereditary conditions, while others don’t. |
| What’s your out-of-pocket cost going to be? | Deductibles may be paid on an annual basis, or levied anew each time your pet gets sick or injured. Total benefit payouts may be capped on a per-year basis or a per-incident basis. |
| What happens when you renew the policy? | Your premiums might rise based on the age of your pet, veterinary inflation, or possibly the claims filed for your pet. You’ll also want to know if chronic illnesses the pet develops while it is insured will be covered after you renew the policy, or if they will be considered pre-existing conditions and thus not included going forward. |
This post was originally posted at That Mutt.
This is a guest post from FlexPet, a natural pet vitamin supplement with the cetyl myristoleate ingredient (CM8) used as an arthritis treatment.
Holistic pet care is gaining popularity by the droves. Holistic medicine involves everything from homeopathic treatments to acupuncture for dogs and other pets. Holistic veterinarians say these treatments can successfully treat and cure many chronic and acute diseases like cancer, liver disease, pancreatitis, allergies, asthma, urinary tract problems and behavioral problems.
So what should you consider when deciding on whether to treat your pup with traditional medicine or take the less traveled road and join those who have decided to explore a natural approach?
With holistic health care the emphasis is on the patient rather than the disease. Signs and symptoms are not the total issue. They simply represent imbalances in the patient’s body. The holistic practitioner has a large number of tools to support and motivate the body to heal. Natural therapies have the ability to allow the body to self-regulate and heal itself.
Holistic veterinarians will tell you they have seen acupuncture, homeopathy and good nutrition help cases that had seemed incurable with conventional therapy.
Reasons to consider holistic pet care:
1. Holistic pet care can prevent disease.
A holistic approach is focused on preventing disease. Part of that process includes feeding your dog natural dog food free of harmful chemicals and by-products. A natural diet is known to minimize cell damage.
Additionally, the holistic approach minimizes vaccines and the use of medications and toxins. Finally, a well-prescribed supplement regimen can reduce inflammation and oxidation in your pet’s body, decreasing the chances of your pet developing chronic diseases.
2. Holistic pet care minimizes drug intake.
Some holistic veterinarians will admit that drugs work best for acute problems, such as serious infections. But they believe more chronic problems respond best to alternative therapies like herbs, supplements, homeopathics, magnetic therapy, chiropractic and acupuncture.
Unwanted side effects are also more common with conventional drugs than alternative remedies. It is proven that prescription pain medicine administered to pets for all kinds of painful ailments can often lead to dangerous side effects such as liver damage. Pets in this scenario can realize great benefits from leading supplements and vitamins made with all-natural remedies.
Vitamin supplements today do a wonderful job treating painful ailments. What’s more, certain vitamins contain powerful and effective all-natural ingredients that actually treat the ailment. As an example, these vitamins work much like WD-40 for the joints in a dog. When joints lose cartilage resulting in painful arthritis, these vitamins work to rebuild the cartilage – in a short amount of time – so that the dog can return to its happy and healthy lifestyle
3. Holistic pet care heals the “whole” pet rather than the disease.
The holistic approach steers away from focusing on the disease; instead it focuses on the pet. This is a very different view of medicine than most of us have been exposed to through the years. Healing the patient means restoring the pet’s body to a normal, healthy condition. A normal, healthy dog or cat is, for the most part, disease free.
Holistic vets say they can restore health even in pets that have a fatal disease such as cancer. These pets can be healthy as long as possible, fighting off the cancer, keeping it in remission, and “living with their disease.”
4. Holistic pet care can save you money.
It’s usually more expensive to treat problems rather than prevent them. This is true for people as well as pets. Using natural therapies usually, but not always, costs less than conventional drug therapy because prescription medication can be quite pricey, while many supplement companies offer discounts for bulk orders or regular customers. In the long run, supplements are usually less expensive than drugs. This is especially true when generic medications are not available.
Additionally, chronic drug therapy usually requires frequent laboratory monitoring to ensure side effects have not developed, but this is usually not necessary with natural therapies.
5. Holistic pet care minimizes vaccinations.
As more and more people are questioning the need to vaccinate their children because of unknown side effects, the same holds true for our pets. Holistic vets will tell you that every pet does not need vaccinations once per year. Few if any pets need vaccines throughout their lives. The vaccines currently on the market are so good that most pets build up an immunity that can last many years or even a lifetime.
The movement towards an all-natural way of healthy living has made its way into our pets’ lives making for happier little furry loved ones and owners alike. An increasing number of holistic veterinarians are popping up all over the country to meet the needs of pet owners who are interested in providing a different kind of care for their pets.
To find a holistic vet near you, check out the American Holistic Veterinarian Medical association’s web site at www.holisticvetlist.com.
‘Tis the night before Christmas and all through the town,
Every shelter is full. We are lost but not found.
Our numbers are hung on our kennels so bare,
We hope every minute that someone will care.
They’ll come to adopt us and give us the call,
“Come here, Max and Sparkie ~ come fetch your new ball!”
But now we just sit here and think of the days…..
We were treated so fondly ~ we had baby ways.
Once we were little, then we grew and we grew ~
Now we’re no longer young, and we’re no longer new.
So out the back door we were thrown like trash,
They reacted so quickly ~ why were they so rash?
We “jump on the children,” “don’t come when they call”,
We “bark when they leave us,” “climb over the wall.”
We should have been neutered, we should have been spayed,
Wow we suffer the consequence of the error they made.
If only they’d trained us, if only we knew…
We’d have done what they asked us and worshipped them, too.
We were left in back yard, or worse ~ left to roam…
Now we’re tired and lonely and out of a home.
They dropped us off here and they kissed us good-by….
“Maybe someone else will give you a try.”
So now here we are, all confused and alone….
In a shelter with others who long for a home.
The kind workers come through with a meal and a pat,
With so many to care for, they can’t stay to chat.
They move to the next kennel, giving each of us cheer….
We know that they wonder how long we’ll be here.
We lay down to sleep and sweet dreams fill our heads….
Of a home filled with love and our own cozy beds.
Then we wake to see sad eyes, brimming with tears ~
Our friends filled with emptiness, worry and fear.
If you can’t adopt us and there’s no room at your inn ~
Could you help with the bills and fill our food bin?
We count on your kindness each day of the year ~
Can you give more than hope to everyone here?
Santa Paws Drive mission is to bring these lonely shelter animals a little cheer, a little love and a few gifts this holiday season. If you can spare a few dollars to donate or toy or donate some money, the animals will surely appreciate it.
Originally posted at pets911.com
A foster parent provides a temporary home for kittens, puppies, dogs, cats, or other animals in need. The length of fostering can vary from a few days to several months depending on the amount of care or behavioral modification that is needed. The devotion and care given during this time allows the animal a second chance to be adopted by a loving home.
The rewards of being a foster parent are many. They include offering an animal a second chance and the added benefit of receiving the love and attention right back from the animal you nurture.
Oroginally posted at about.com.
Wearing Black Kitty Fur is a Badge of Honor
Reader Stories: Why I Love Black Cats
How I Came to Love Black Cats: In the town where I spent most of my childhood, there were many black cats, all supposedly descended from the legendary “Inky”. I doubt that any of us kids ever met Inky, but we all were captivated by her name, and we were all secretly overjoyed when one of the local black cats crossed our paths.
4 black cats so far! Moon, who lived to be 17 1/2; in the last year of her life we adopted 2 litter brothers, Skrufy and Veto. Veto’s still with us, along with MinJa (a stray who insisted we adopt her).
How Black Cats Differ from Other Cats: Aside from “black cattitude” (they KNOW they’re superior to the others), they’re the best at displaying the beauty of a cat’s form, IMO. They’re a living silhouette, and although they’re the most challenging photographically, they show off their talents to best advantage because there’s no dazzle camouflage to distract the eye.
Tips and Tricks:
•I’m sharing THEIR home, not the other way around
•They’re easily distinguishable from one another
•They’re (needlessly) embarrassed about any white hairs
•Some have black mottling on the roof of their mouth!
•Their funniest stunts will be performed in the darkest room, in front of the darkest background
•Black clothing is extremely practical, but
Wearing black kitty fur is a badge of honor
Please check out the link below for information on how to donate to Best Friends Animal Shelter. They have a secret Santa matching ALL donations up to ONE MILLION DOLLARS!! http://bit.ly/7o57DX
Every time I watch this video, it makes me smile. It is THE cutest thing! I lurve it!
