Michael Vick’s Dogs Today

pitpuppyengland-copy.jpgSports Illustrated has a good article on several of the dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s dog fighting operation, Bad Newz Kennels.  Many of these dogs have really blossomed in foster homes, while others still have a lot to overcome.  Jasmine, in particular, is a dog absolutely gripped by fear, but she is making progress thanks to a dedicated foster mom.

Our dog, Saffron, had big fear issues when we adopted her.  I know how much work it takes to build a dog’s confidence and I know how wonderful it is when that dog reaches each new milestone.

Maybe Michael Vick’s dogs will help change the image of the pit bull and society will stop blaming the breed.  Check out the great gallery of these dogs living the happy lives they deserve.

Michael Vick could be released to a halfway house as early as January 2009 and is also filing for bankruptcy. You can read more about the history of the Vick case.

FDA Issues Warning For Chicken Jerky

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The FDA has issued a warning about the possible danger of feeding pets chicken jerky from China. This follows Australia recalling Chinese chicken jerky. Australia recalled KraMar Supa Naturals Chicken Breast Strips after it was link to dogs falling ill.  If this issue with chicken jerky sounds familiar, it’s because this is a repeat of  the same problem a year ago.

The FDA warns that feeding your dog chicken jerky from China may result in illness and sometimes death.   Signs of illness include:

  • decreased appetite
  • decreased activity
  • vomiting
  • diarrhea (sometimes with blood)
  • increased water consumption
  • increased urination

If your dog shows any of these signs, stop feeding them chicken jerky.  If any of the symptoms above are severe or last more than 24 hours, get your dog to a vet immediately to check for kidney failure and Fanconi syndrome.  Scientists don’t yet know what is causing transient Fanconi syndrome in affected dogs.

Fanconi syndrome is more commonly seen as a genetic disease found in Basenjis affecting the kidneys. The cases of Fanconi syndrome linked to jerky treats are acquired not inherited.

DIY: Holiday Round-Up Of Gift Ideas

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Here’s the collection of DIY projects I’ve written about recently that would make good, inexpensive presents this year when money is tight for so many.

PetProject hopes all of you are enjoying the season, that you & yours are healthy & happy, and that the coming year is filled with joy.

On with the projects!

Cat Toys:

Dog Toys:

Pet Beds:

Dog Sweater:

Shout Out To Stephan Reiter

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PetProject says a big “Thank You!” to Stephan Reiter for his super useful & splendiferous plugin Scissors for WordPress.

I’m not an expert on this stuff, so I’ll describe it in my non-tech way. WordPress lets you resize images after you upload them, but Scissors goes further. It lets you crop images, and when you resize them, it creates a copy of the file at the new, smaller size, which means your page loads faster. Ordinarily you’d have to do all that in Photoshop, etc, and then upload the photo again.
Scissors does this by going back to the original image to get the best quality so it looks good at the larger size.

Not to mention Stephan was responsive and nice about suggestions on making the resizing function integrate so well with the WordPress editor.  And he’s doing this for free.  Cool!

Here is his blog.  Some of the projects he’s worked on.  And papers he’s published.

And to make this unexpectedly pet-related, here’s Stephan’s cat, Bruno, overwhelmed with excitement about the Scissors plugin.

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“Goth” Pierced Kittens Rescued From Home

I don’t even know what to say about this story—the mind just reels.  This started when a man in one state noticed kittens in another state with piercings in their ears, neck, & tail were being sold as “goth” kittens on eBay. This compassionate man drove to  Pennsylvania, saw the kittens at the woman’s home, and then called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Luzerne County.

Humane officers and state police found three kittens with piercings, an adult cat, and a dog who also had pierced ears.  I hope authorities look into the welfare of the child living there. Other than swearing, I’m pretty much speechless.  I do not understand how anyone would think this was ok.

The ad also ran on a pets classified ad site. It looks like she docked their tails too.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania only rates average when it comes to their state laws concerning animal protection.  How does your state rate?

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