The Best Pet Gift For Holiday

What gift would you give to your pet at the holidays?Funny pet costumes are or a the best pet toys for your pet?I think you should consider about the gift that will be useful longer for our pet just like providing the gift of good pet health.Pet health is very essential.The pet good health will be the best gift for all family members especially our pets.

So before the holidays coming, prepare your pet by giving more attention to their health by providing special nutritious foods and giving a good care.If necessary consult our pet health to the vet to ensure health.

In addition to preparing the pet's health before the holidays, also must be considered the treatment of our pet during the holidays.Here are things you must consider for your pet on the treatment during the holidays in order to maintain their health:

*Do not provide food from chocolate to your pet.You know chocolate is not good for our pet.Chocolates contain theobromine, a stimulant found in the cocoa bean which is what is harmful to the animal.

*Provide interesting special table food for our pet, so they will feel at home there and will be easy to find them.

*Make sure you are taking out the trash or food scraps into the trash that can not reach by our pet,so that cannot be eating by the pet.

*Provide fresh air for our pet when pet stress with ongoing events by take them walking out from the party for a moment.

*Avoiding poinsettias and tinsel, especially with cats in the house.

*To relieve pet stress during a holiday party, you can take them with special holiday trip to the groomer or give them special pet toys.

*Do not forget to always keep a pet emergency phone numbers in case of unwanted things in our pet.

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Avoid Pet Toys Toxic By The List

Today we must be vigilant when buying pet toys for our pets because many pet toy products containing harmful chemicals that could be danger for the pets.

According to HealthyStuff.org,the venture of the Ecology Center site of Michigan nonprofit environmental organization has tested over 400 pet products, such as beds, chew toys, stuffed toys, collars, leashes, and tennis balls, in certified labs to determine the existence of toxicity in those stuffs.

Besides examining the products above,HealthyStuff.org also has over 15,000 test results on over 5,000 common items including pet products, children's toys, apparel and even cars.

You can find out the list of items or products such as pet toys that contain toxic chemical or harmful to your pets at HealthyStuff.org.Thus you can avoid to buy pet toys that are harmful to your pet and look for other options.By visiting HealthyStuff.org. you can search result sort by category, toxicity level or brand.Have anice holidays with healthy pets.

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Pet Poison Helpline Holidays Pets Safe Tips

In the holidays period are often a lot of things from the goods or ornaments in a party at your house cause harm to your pet.The danger can be in the form of goods that are poisonous when eaten as chemicals or dangerous objects that would hurt our pet.

Pet Poison Helpline is a service available 24 hours, seven days a week for pet owners, veterinarians and vet techs that require assistance treating a possibly poisoned pet.

By charge a fee of $35 ,you can use the Pet Poison Helpline which includes follow-up consultation for the duration of the poison case by calling at 800-213-6680.

And for warning you against some common holiday pet dangers,Pet Poison Helpline gives the following precautions:

* Holiday Decorations:The ornaments like lamps may contain poisonous chemicals such methylene chloride in bubble lights, can cause depression, pneumonia and irritation to the eyes, skin and gastrointestinal tract.
* Tinsel: If you have a cat,forgot tinsel.What looks like tempting or a shiny toy to your cat can prove deadly if ingested. Tinsel doesn't cause a poisoning risk but it can cause severe damage to a cat’s intestinal tract if swallowed.
* Plants: Actually poinsettia plants are only mildly toxic. But more worrisome are holiday bouquets containing lilies, holly or mistletoe.
* "Lilies, including tiger, Asiatic, stargazer, Easter and day lilies, are the most dangerous plants for cats," said Dr. Ahna Brutlag, assistant direct of Pet Poison Helpline. "The ingestion of one to two leaves or flower petals is enough to cause sudden kidney failure in cats."
* Alcohol: Because alcohol is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, it affects pets quickly. Ingestion of alcohol can cause dangerous drops in blood sugar, blood pressure and body temperature. Intoxicated animals can experience seizures and respiratory failure.
* Holiday Foods: With the holiday season comes a delightful variety of baked goods, chocolate confections and other rich, fattening foods. However, it's not recommended to share of these treats to your pets,in some cases its too danger
* Imported Snow Globes: Recently, imported snow globes were found to contain antifreeze (ethylene glycol). As little as one teaspoon of antifreeze when ingested by a cat or a tablespoon or two for a dog (depending on their size), can be fatal. And a things you have to remember that any kind of globe can look like a fun ball to a pet.

When it comes to the holidays, the best thing a pet owner can do is get educated on common household toxins and pet-proof your home accordingly. If you think your pet has been poisoned, contact your veterinarian, another pet emergency room or Pet Poison Helpline at 800-213-6680.

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Healthy And Long Life Pets Tips

Basically our pets problem is the same with our problems, as well as in maintaining the health of pets.A healthy pets is not necessarily a long life for the pets .Besides cleanness, routine maintenance and pets health check, there are other factors you must take to keep pets healthy and long life.here are thing you can do to keep your pets healthy and long life:

1. Health check every year.Early to know if there are health problems in our pets, so they can avoid greater costs or fatal consequences to our pets .Examine including bloodwork which can diagnose things such as Cushings Disease and Diabetes .

2.Treat our pets or take it to the vet in case of health problems immediatelyin .This to anticipate the more severe disease.

3.Keep the pets cleanliness, by regular bathing could once in 3 days or once a week depending on the smell or dirty fur.Its also important to dental hygiene pets.Its can conducted using gauze sponge for removing plak and also to avoid heart and kidney problems.

4.Exercise must often be done, like humans,if pets less movement will be
easily illness.In addition will stimulate the brain exercises and agility pets.

5.wacth pets food, pets food great influence on the growth and health of pets. For bigger dogs especially, it's more of a two-year process for growth. Also, high protein foods can actually grow their skeleton too fast and cause problems growing later.Slow grow could make the pets long life.

6.diet, if necessary, do the diet for your dog, but still consider nutrition .In fact, the overweight dogs are will die faster than underfed dogs.The underfed dogs maybe would live 2 years longer.Pets like cats better kept in the house.

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How To Deal With Pets Who Like To Houseplants

Sometimes we found our pets who love to play with the plants in the home yard such as cats who love to nibble on houseplants,maybe we have to be ware about the to ensure poisonous plants are not on the menu.Many common houseplants can make your cats sicks, and a few can be fatal.

One of the most dangerous are Dieffenbachia, Philodendron, and lilies. Various ivies and yews may danger too, tubers and roots of plants popular in the flower inside the top - as Amaryllis, daffodils and tulips - can cause problems for the cat who likes to dig and chew .

The list of dangerous plants can be find at The Animal Poison Control Center (www.aspca. org/apcc) You have find such lists in most basic cat-care books too. Be sure to replace the contents of your all dangerous plants with safer alternatives.

Give the pets some plants for nibbling and put other safe plants off-limits to maintain a lush indoor environment you and your cats can both enjoy.

And now your cats have their own plants so you can work on keeping them away from yours. Make your houseplants less accessible to the bored and wandering cat because the plants on the ground or on low tables are the easiest targets, and place the plants higher or Hang them for a better.

For the plants you can't move out of harm's way, make them less appealing by coating them with something your cats find disagreeable. Cat-discouragers include Bitter Apple, a nasty-tasting substance available at any pet-supply store, or Tabasco sauce from any grocery store. Whenever you find something your cat doesn't like, keep reapplying it to reinforce the point.

Pot your plants in heavy, wide-bottom containers, and cover the soil of the problem plants with rough decorative rock to end digging. Foil, waxed paper and double-sided tape are also effective digging deterrents, but I don't like to recommend them as much because you're going to get tired of looking at these materials. Attractive, rough-edged rocks can stay in place forever.

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Halloween Pet Safety Tips

This year Halloween's,the Valley Humane Society Kennebec remind families and individuals in central Maine to keep in mind some safety tips for their pets.The following tips to help pets save as long the holiday:

*Keep the pets from Halloween candy's such Chocolate, artificial sweetener and candy wrappers can be very dangerous for your pet.Don't share the sweet stuff to your pets.

*Keep a way the candle's from the pets because its will attract the attention of your pets and if they plays with it could be dangerous causing the fire.

*Take the comfortable custome for your pets if you want to dress up your pets.Wearing your pets custome that they like and doesn't causing allergic.

*If you have black cat,take away from celebration areas cause usually become the object of pranks on Halloween.

*To avoid the pets from stressfull and scary when too many strangers in strange customes, put the pets in separated rooms

Keep the pets when holiday doesn't mean we can't brought them together to the partys or holiday celebrations,but more important to knowing your pet habits.

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Pet Store Closed Temporary Due to Parvo

A 10-week old puppy died Monday night due to the virus. A Grand Rapids pet store is closed temporarily due to a case of Parvo.

13 On Your Side went looking for the problem a few days ago after receiving complaints about the store. The situation was even worse when a local woman had her dog killed.

Kelly Cleveland says: "I think my daughter and I cried immediately, but know that it was not good." She said she felt that something was wrong with "Zoey" when the puppy began vomiting minutes after reaching her home from the pet.

When Cleveland took their own veterinarian, "Zoey" tested positive for Parvo. Dr. Terry Faber said, and the treatment can be very involved. Because Parvo is a highly infectious organism. And it is actually in the area for at least 7 months. "

Zoey was very ill, so she was killed. The vet is concerned about the other dogs that may have been exposed to the virus. "So, here we have a pet environment. I do not know how many animals with 30 or 40, who knows. Plus people coming in and out of the virus on their shoes and take it home."

The pup was purchased from Lily's Puppy Pad on Northland Drive. One of the workers, Jason Mih, confirmed the one case of Parvo. "So we immediately closed the shop and we are in the process of quarantine and treatment for all."

Mih says he has no papers available for "Zoey", but says she is vaccinated.
"Zoey's" owner Kelly said: "I had a magazine that says she is vaccinated, so we took his word. I thought she was ok. "

Mih says that the puppy is already sick when she was a local family. He says they do not buy from professional breeders. He said they buy some families. He said they visit the houses before they buy the animal. "Of course, it took from the family, we got it out, and the incubation time is 10 days, so it is not seen in time. Best we can do is to offer Cleveland family reimbursement for the puppy and do work to meet them."

Back at the office of Dr. Faber's, Kathy Olsen Vet Tech says that this is not the first time they have seen a sick dog from this store. "We had a pet that was there last week of each intestinal parasite that could had a pet. Hook worms, whip worms, you name it, had this puppy.

WZZM 13 News talked with the vet that your pet's claim is their "official" veterinarian.

I know told us the store stopped the animals on a regular basis soon after the state stopped regulating pet shops. She says she is not one of the puppies seen since September 10 and it was only because the puppy was sick. She could not find a record of "Zoey" has been vaccinated.

The State of Michigan stopped regulate pet stores in August 2009. A health certificate is no longer required by the state.

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What is the sentimental value of your pet?

By Jim Porter

Most of us grow very attached to our pets. Strong attachment. What happens if your veterinarian messes up and accidently kills your pet, then lies to cover it up? Can you recover for the dog's sentimental and emotional value? (i.e. damages beyond the cost to buy another dog?)


‘Tootsie' dies
Gail McMahon is an owner, occasional breeder and handler of Maltese show dogs. One of her favorites was “Tootsie,” who when she was 2 years old developed a respiratory illness which required surgery. The vet, Dr. Diane Craig, fully understood Tootsie's sentimental and unique value to McMahon and knew that McMahon would be emotionally devastated if Tootsie died.

Following surgery, Tootsie was placed in a cage and left unmonitored in the back of the hospital. Worse yet, she was given not only water but also baby food within two hours of her surgery to test her ability to swallow. Tootsie immediately aspirated the mixture into her lungs and died.

Dr. Craig advised McMahon that Tootsie had only been given water and had never been left alone. Wrong on both counts. Later Dr. Craig altered Tootsie's medical records to hide her negligence. A necropsy performed on Tootsie showed she died from aspiration pneumonia caused by food in her lungs.

Three days after the operation, Dr. Craig brazenly charged McMahon's credit card for the surgery knowing she would be unwilling to pay for Tootsie's treatment. That was a blunder.

Vet sued
McMahon sued for veterinary negligence, loss of companionship, misrepresentation, and infliction of emotional distress. She should have added a cause of action for “stupidity” for the billing. The trial court threw out the case. McMahon appealed.

Emotional distress
California law allows emotional distress damages in very narrow instances. For example, where a bystander is an at-the-scene witness to an injury or death to a relative and suffers emotional distress beyond that of an unrelated witness. But that does not apply in Tootsie's situation.

Another circumstance when emotional damages may be recovered is when the victim has a special relationship with the plaintiff such that the plaintiff suffers unique emotional distress damages. An injury during delivery to a baby may result in emotional anguish to the mother.

The Court of Appeal analyzed several cases and wrote: “There is no doubt that some pet owners have become so attached to their family pets that the animals are considered members of the family. This is particularly true of owners of domesticated dogs who have been repeatedly referred to as “Man's Best Friend” and a faithful companion ... Although we live in a particularly litigious society, the court is not about to recognize a tortious cause of action to recover for emotional distress due to the death of a family pet.”

Loss of companionship
McMahon, Tootsie's owner, attempted to recover for loss of companionship, based on Civil Code section 3355, which provides that damages may be rewarded for loss of certain property which has a “peculiar value” to a person if the person causing the injury or death was aware of the unique and special value to the plaintiff. McMahon sought $100,000 for loss of Tootsie's companionship.

The Court of Appeal recognized the “peculiar value” Tootsie had to McMahon, but limited those damages to the cost of replacing Tootsie, ruling out sentimental value. Peculiar value under section 3355 refers to unique economic value, not sentimental or emotional value.

The Court wrote in conclusion: “We recognize the love and loyalty a dog provides creates a strong emotional bond between an owner and his or her dog. But given California law does not allow parents to recover for loss of companionship of their children, we are constrained not to allow a pet owner to recover for loss of the companionship of a pet.”

So as surprising as it may seem, as a general rule if your beloved pet is injured or killed, you may not recover damages beyond the cost of buying another pet.

Jim Porter is an attorney with Porter Simon, with offices in Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, Incline Village and Reno. He is a mediator and was the Governor's appointee to the Fair Political Practices Commission and McPherson Commission, both involving election law and the Political Reform Act. He may be reached at porter@portersimon.com or at the firm's web site, www.portersimon.com.





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Just how healthy is that puppy in the pet shop window?

By Patty Khuly

Ever planned on buying a perfect, purebred pup from a pet shop? Or maybe you felt sorry for that little fluffy kitten you glimpsed in the window. If so, you've got company. Hundreds of thousands of pets are bought and sold from retail establishments every year.

I should know … I see my fair share. And I'm sick of them.

Now, before you rush to condemn my insensitivity, let me explain: There's almost nothing I like less than the obfuscations, corruption and abuse that underlies much of this industry. There may be animal-selling retail establishments in the U.S. that don't deal in smoke and mirrors, but I don't know about them.

In case you've never had cause to consider these outfits —— much less complain about them —— you deserve to be informed before you suddenly get an urge to "rescue" a pup or buy a "purebred" on impulse.

Here are the basics: None of these dog- and cat-selling places is federally regulated, not even by the Animal Welfare Act, from which retail pet shops are specifically exempt. Meanwhile, only about half our states regulate this industry in any way. Of these, even fewer mandate humane standards of treatment that might reasonably include items such as access to water and veterinary care, according to the Humane Society of the U.S.

Yet even in my pet-shop-regulated state of Florida, the notoriously lax oversight offered by the Florida Department of Agriculture is geared toward protecting consumers from predatory business practices, not the health and welfare of the wares themselves.

PET RESCUE: Thousand animals from Houston home
DOLITTLER-PLUS: Previous columns, Pet Talk

That's why abhorrent conditions are common. Animals are more often sick and congenitally diseased than not. Puppy mill origins are the norm. And still there's a seemingly bottomless font of willing buyers prepared to pay up for the right to buy what very well might be a purebred disaster sourced from a disreputable establishment where abusive farming practices are the norm.

Every retail pet shop I've ever visited (and I've made it a point to visit a great many) has always disputed all the above points. In the face of sniffles and severe congenital ailments alike, pet shops have patently denied the defects, pointed to certificates, cited "championship bloodlines" and —— most egregiously —— often ignored my requests that they water their "widgets."

Don't believe me? Check one out for yourself. And beware the following tall tales many pet stores will tell when selling you on their products:

1. "Puppy mills? No way! Our pups come from responsible breeders."

I've never met a pet shop that copped to the truth of the matter. Because puppy mills are breeders, this particular untruth is a sin of omission — until you factor in the word "responsible."

2. "Our pets are sourced from USDA licensed breeders."

This is another obfuscation — not quite a lie. That's because the pets often do come from USDA-certified breeders. But that means just about nothing, given the spotty enforcement of the certification's provisions. In fact, USDA is usually industry code for "puppy mill." After all, who goes out of their way to certify their pet-friendly establishment as an agriculture-based endeavor?

3. "Your pet comes with a certificate of good health."

Most states require that each puppy sold be accompanied by an Official Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (OCVI). But most veterinarians will tell you this paperwork has nothing to do with health, per se. It's just about vaccines, drugs and intestinal parasite exams, no more. For example, freedom from congenital deformities and other obvious diseases are not required for OCVI "health certification."

4. "You should use our veterinarian because she's the best!"

Veterinarians who work with pet stores are often rewarded for overlooking major abnormalities. That's usually how they get the job to begin with. Many are willing to examine 40 pups an hour and issue "health certificates" for all. They'll also work happily with pet stores because they know the first "free" exam they offer buyers means another new client.

5. "If your pet gets sick in the first X number of days, you have to see our vet or we can't reimburse you."

Pet stores want you to use their preferred vets during this period because these professionals will charge far less if they know their pet store partners are on the hook for the bill. It usually means said vets are less likely to treat your new pet aggressively and/or appropriately. It's also the case that most pet stores won't willingly disclose the presence of "lemon laws" in states where these consumer protections have been legislated. These laws will often require that pet stores reimburse consumers for reasonable veterinary expenses and always allow independent veterinarians access.

In case you're wondering where a veterinarian gets her legal spunk, I have my expert sources. I ran these five "lies" by Florida-based animal lawyer, professor of animal law and pet store prosecutor Marcy LaHart. She agreed with my assessment.

So now you're armed for a pet store visit, should you choose to see for yourself.

As for me, I've seen enough.





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18-foot pet python gets new home

A "monster" python named Delilah has been moved to a new home in Florida amid concerns her back yard cage couldn't contain her, Apopka authorities said.The 18-foot pet snake is at least 16 years old and weighs more than 400 pounds, Florida Fish and Wildlife investigator Rick Brown told The Miami Herald in a story published Saturday.

"To me it's a Goliath. It's a monster of a snake," Brown said, adding it was the largest snake he had ever seen.

Delilah was removed from her Apopka home Friday and taken to a person licensed to care for reptiles, Brown said.

Until Friday, the snake was being cared for by Melvin Cheever of Apopka, the brother of the python's owner. Cheever said his brother was moving to West Virginia and left the snake behind to prepare a new home for her.

"I fed her this morning; gave her seven rabbits. She is as docile as can be. She's as happy as can be," Cheever said, acknowledging the python had escaped its enclosure in the past.



Source: United Press International
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