Joe Leas’s puppy, Scrat, was stolen along with property from his home. As with so many people, Scrat, really contributes to Lea’s health and well-being. Happily, Lea, who is waiting for a heart transplant, was quickly reunited with his Jack Russell puppy when a viewer realized the dog he’d just bought was the stolen puppy.
California Close To Mandating Spaying & Neutering
California is one step closer to passing a bill that would require most cat and dog owners to spay or neuter their pets by the time they are four months old. It is in effort to lower the animals euthanized every year in California—over 400,000—and to bring down the costs of animal control services. The numbers are staggering. Over a ten year period, California took in 8.9 million animals and had to kill 5.3 million of those. The cost to tax-payers was $2.75 billion.
Bill AB1634 was based on a similar bill passed in Santa Cruz, CA. Since the bill was passed in 1995, the number of animals in shelters has dropped from 14,000 to 5,000.
You can find out more about the bill here at the California Healthy Pets Act site.
This FAQ addresses many of the fears about Bill AB1634, including whether it will cause a pet shortage, elliminate dog breeders, end dog shows, end service dog and police enforcement dog programs, or endanger old or sick animals. The answers? No, no, no, no, and no.
This video discusses the bill.
Fierce Kitten, Very Sweet Husky
Interesting to watch the differences between feline and canine play behavior. Pretty cute!
Pet Food Recall: Salmonella
Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition Dog Food is being recalled due to the presence of salmonella bacteria. The recall involves 55 lbs. bags with the code 04 0735 1 and a “best by” date of April 13, 2008. The affected lot was distributed to Wal-Mart stores in Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Doane Pet Care, the makers of Ol’ Roy dog food, have more information, including which individual stores received the food.
This recall is not related to the huge pet food recall due to melamine related contaminants.
You can find out much more about that recall on my Pet Food Recall Archive Page.
Pet Food Recall: New Contaminant, Acetaminophen
acetaminophen molecule
EperTox, a medical testing lab in Texas, has found acetaminophen in numerous samples of pet food. (Acetaminophen is the generic name for Tylenol.) Due to a confidentiality agreement the lab cannot release the names of the foods affected. However, at least one sample was a variety Pet Pride brand cat food. The test results were reported to the pet food makers who should then have reported the findings to the FDA. But as of June 5th, the FDA still has not investigated EperTox’s findings.
Cats are very sensitive to acetaminophen. Dogs are less at risk, but are still sensitive to acetaminophen. Find out more about the signs of feline and canine acetaminophen toxicity. And find out much more about the pet food recall on my Pet Food Recall Archive Page.