Urgent help needed to fight canine cancer

This plea for help comes from Melissa Becall, our friend in California on behalf of Tish Graber and her beautiful Sydney. Even though tomorrow is June 9th, Sydney's nineth birthday, it's never too late to help eliminate cancer in dogs. I recently read the alarming statistic that one in three dogs dies of cancer. What we help to cure in our fur families, we also cure in ourselves... we are one.

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Sydney was been diagnosed with Melanoma Cancer and most likely Osteosarcoma (bone cancer). I am involved with an organization called We Are The Cure.

The National Canine Cancer Foundation is a nationwide, contribution funded,501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem in dogs by funding grants for the scientific efforts of cancer researchers who are working to save lives, find a cure, find better treatments, find more accurate, cost effective, diagnostic methods in dealing with cancer, and diminishing dogs’ suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy, and service.

My goal is to raise $1K before Sydney’s 9th b-day on June 9th. In the last few weeks I have raised $670. Every little bit helps and would very much appreciate your support. Please forward this link www.wearethecure.org/friends/sydney to any animal lovers that you may know.

The donation amount is not important as no amount is too small.

Please pray for my girl as she is really struggling to be strong.

Tish Grabar

Planned new tax to add to vet cost

Here in British Columbia, we already pay a 5% Goods & Services tax on veterinary services and it has always rankled me. After all, our fur babies are our family members and taxing their care just isn't right any more than it would be to tax my medical care.
Now with the economic downturn, California is considering adding a 10% tax on veterinary care. If it passes, it could very well spread across the country and the results could spell disaster for pets and their owners. Seniors on fixed incomes may no longer be able to afford the care of their companion animals, people who have recently lost their jobs may have to give up the family pet. No matter where we are, we need to take action even if we are not in California, we could be next.

Please read the following from Tippi Hedren - The Roar Foundation - The Shambala Preserve

*Please Protest **California's Proposed Veterinary Tax Plan*
January 27, 2009
Hello everyone

We are sending this to our California animal lovers and asking you all to
read the following and then make a quick call to Sacramento.

It's no secret that California is in dire need of money, but the governor is
proposing that pets be considered 'luxuries' and therefore a 9% to 10% tax
should be levied on services rendered by vets. While most of us can afford
such a tax, others will be pushed beyond their ability to pay, resulting in
the abandonment of many pets.

Please protest this tax by calling Sacramento. The number is to an automated
survey at the governor's office. The call is not free, but it It will take
less than a minute and will cost very little.

Dial: 916-445-2841

The numbers to press in response to the questions are: 1 - 5 - 1 - 2
(i.e., 1 = for English; 5 = to transfer to veterinary tax proposal; 1 =
to choose to comment on the veterinary tax proposal; and 2 = to oppose the
tax.

Take a moment and take action NOW. Please tell your friends and ask them to
do the same.

Our beautiful Cuja Lula Belle has gone...

Our dear old kitty, Cuja Lula Belle, past away just before noon yesterday. We had decided the night before that the first thing we would do the next morning would be to take her to the vet for her very last ride. Painfully, the thought of her leaving us had become more real with each passing day. She had been with us for only 14 years ... just 14... but the horrible agonizing pain she had been enduring, had already gone on too long, it was enough and we knew it was time to let her go.
All morning our daughter, Minka, and me did what we could to make her comfortable. Our little Doxie/Jack Russell dog, Rutgar, was never far from Cuja's side or mine. Cuja would crawl away to be alone and Rutgar was the only way we could find her.
Unfortunately, our vet no longer works on Saturdays and he can be difficult to reach in an emergency outside of office hours. While we were deciding what to do next, I went to check on her and let her know that we were close-by. I knew the moment I bent down, and looked into her eyes gleaming sightlessly out from under the guest room bed, she was gone.
I ran to get Minka and we pulled her out from that private, sheltered place she expired in. She had well and truly died and was crossing the Rainbow Bridge at that moment as we stroked her soft fur made moist by our tears.
She died at home, and that was a blessing.

I know all our dear fur family members are special and Cuja Lula Belle was no exception. Our son, Inyo, rescued her when he found a woman standing in the middle of the bridge that crosses the river near our home. In her hand she held a burlap gunnysack in which she had placed several heavy stones and a writhing and complaining kitten. She was about to toss it over the bridge railing when Inyo managed to grab it from her. He opened the bag and discovered the little orange kitten and the woman turned and left without a word.

He brought the kitten home and because the little tyke seemed like such a tough little fellow, he named him Cujo. Six months later Cujo had a litter of kittens and immediately her name was changed to Cuja and later Lula Belle was added. As soon as homes were found for her gorgeous babies, off she went to the vet for spaying.

Hers was a happy life. Time spent on the farm and surrounding forest, life in a small village and finally here in a beautiful home overlooking two lakes.

Her body lay in a rose embroidered shroud with flowers and tiny crystals laid upon her. One by one, the two dogs and remaining two kitties took turns sitting by her side. Modesto sat for several hours and Rutgar led visitors into where she lay and pointed to her with his nose. We buried her this morning with her crystal bowl and a few of her favorite toys, close to her old friends, Jack the dog and Vladimir, our daughter’s cat that left us earlier this year.

Modesto and Basshat will now be filling her position at Plume n’ Tails as Product Quality Control Managers. She is greatly missed by everyone here by those with fur and those without.

Good-bye Cuja Lula Belle

Pet Passports

Summer is over and as winter rears it’s stormy head above the horizon and for those of us soon to be snowbound, thoughts of traveling to warmer climbs fills our dreams. There are a number of places to visit on the world-wide-web that will give pet owners excellent information for taking their pets along, comfortably and safely but what about traveling abroad with your dog or cat?

A newly married friend just moved to Egypt from Canada to be with her husband. She decided that she and her daughter could not go without taking their two cats. She purchased two carry-on soft carriers, halters and leashes for the kitties for their thirty-hour trip. An eight-hour stop over in Amsterdam allowed her to take them from their carriers for a bit of exercise, water and a small amount of food. Fortunately, a few months before making the trip, she researched what documents would be required for the emigrating cats. Passports. Yes, pets require passports too, consisting at the very least of vaccination and health documents from a veterinarian.

Here is an excellent website for finding the information you need if you are taking your pet with you on a trip to distant destinations both foreign and domestic. http://www.pettravel.com/passportnew.cfm
A good rule to remember is, if you require a passport to travel and you’re taking your fur-kid along… he or she will need a passport too and the criteria will be different depending upon where you’re going.

Our family will be traveling to Hawaii next November. Chances are that we will leave our little Mr. Rutgar with friends here at home as we are not planning to be away for more than a couple of weeks.

None-the-less, I am looking at what the requirements are in the unlikely event we should decide to take him. The lengthy and somewhat complicated process would need to start four to six months in advance as blood work that looks for rabies and communicable diseases that develop over time is compulsory. Micro-chipping is also required. Thankfully, the very discouraging six- month quarantine is no longer mandatory. Instead, pets now have to enter Hawaii through Honolulu and are then transported to a designated veterinary hospital where they are checked over and released to their owners the same day as their arrival. There is an advance payment of $165 that must accompany your pets documents no less than 10 days before their arrival in Hawaii.

I would only consider the above if we were moving to Hawaii or planning to stay for more than a month. Traveling can be hard on some dogs and cats. I say some only because, Ms. Lilly Zha Zha, my daughter’s Pomeranian, has been flying to and from Hawaii since a tiny pup and she absolutely loves to travel. She is completely undaunted by what other dogs might easily experience as traumatic.

So, before you embark on long distance travel with your pets, consider what is best for them and if you feel it’s better they accompany you, then give yourself plenty of time to get those all important pet passports in hand and take the barking out of ‘embarkation.’

Taming the Wild… or Killing it

We have seven heavily laden apple trees and I’ve canned so many quarts of applesauce, if I never see another apple it will be too soon. Well, we’ve barely made a dent in the bumper crop on the two transparent apple trees and the other five trees are bending under the weight of the apples on their branches. I’m seeing apples in my dreams.
Everyday we pick up buckets of windfalls. “Where are the bears?” I asked my husband. We could always count on the bears to clean up the windfalls during the night. I know, we should be happy that we don’t have a ‘bear problem’ but in the 38 years we’ve lived around them, we’ve never ever had a serious incident and we’ve never had to shoot a bear.
True, our little Mr. Rutgar was foolish enough to chase a 450-pound black bear out of the orchard last year, but it’s really our fault for not having him under control and letting him bolt out the door unchecked. Lucky for him, he’s a small and fast moving target and I’m certain my screams scared the bear as much, if not more, than my little bouncing red dog.
Regardless, this year we have not had the bear activity that we have grown accustomed to, and frankly, we miss them.
When the cherries were in season, we saw signs of a cub in the neighborhood. In fact, we had left the driver’s side window open on the car and guess who clambered inside? Yes, baby bear. We were fortunate that it hadn’t done any real damage other than a bit of cherry juice smeared on the inside of the passenger door and window and a few well placed tooth marks on the upholstery.
Since then nothing… but gun shots in the night. We observed our neighbor burying something in the field below, but we were unable to see what he put in the ground.
The general opinion in the surrounding rural communities is that all bears are bad, extremely dangerous, and should be eliminated. Period! The push is on the cut down every fruit tree in the nearby village to rid the town of such tasty bear attractants.
When our daughter asked the local Bear Aware folks why we couldn’t take our fruit waste up into the forest or plant fruit trees far from human habitation, the answer was simple. “It’s not natural.” Yet, somehow, our ever-increasing expansion into their habitat is natural… and, I guess, so too are bullets. We just can’t seem to wrap our thinking around this logic.
Just what is natural during this time of climate change? This year we had a long, cold, wet spring and the result was practically no huckleberries or blueberries to sustain the bears. Summer was hot and brief and now an early Fall that is colder than usual. None of this bodes well for wildlife depending on what nature usually provides for them in the surrounding forest.
We can’t tame the wild and we wouldn’t want to… nor should we kill it. We can live with bears. All that is required is a little knowledge, a lot of respect, appreciation, understanding and compassion. Give them the space they need… and don’t begrudge them a few apples.

Pets and Wildlife

Those of us who live in less urban areas eventually become familiar with the wildlife that is common in the area in which we call home.
Living in the interior forest of British Columbia, we have a wide range of wildlife just outside our doors. Bears are most common this time of year. Over the past two summers, we’ve had a grizzly bear try to break into our porch, a 450-pound black bear eating our apples and a young sow with her first cub visit our premises.
Coyotes proliferate just about everywhere and are a constant concern for our pets as it is not uncommon for coyotes to dine on domestic cats and will sometimes pack up to take down large dogs if left unattended. Even city dwellers are now learning to be cautious as coyotes adapt easily to human habitation and have moved into urban areas, becoming a threat to domestic pets there.
Stealthy cougars have been seen prowling in our neighborhood from time to time and they see anything that moves as prey.
Even majestic eagles are a threat to cats and small dogs. Even if they can’t fly away with a pet, they can inflict irreparable damage with their talons.
Don’t get me wrong, we value the wildlife, that’s why we live here. We love to watch the bears amble through the orchard and listen to the coyotes serenade on wintry nights. We’ve been privileged to watch a handsome whitetail buck courting three lovely does in our front yard. Nothing is more thrilling to hear elk whistling on the mountainside behind our home or to catch sight of a bighorn sheep running through our neighbor’s yard.
We are fortunate that wildlife is abundant here but what does that mean to our domestic pets and their safety? We can all live together quite nicely if we observe a bit of caution.
I used to let our little dog burst joyfully out the backdoor for his morning constitutional… but no more. Before I could stop him, he ran right up to huge black bear that had been visiting our apple trees. He actually ran the bear off, or maybe I did with my screams. All it would have taken is one swat from that giant, well-clawed paw and our little dog would have been gone. Now, I make him and my daughter’s two dogs, sit and wait until I’ve checked the yard in all directions before they are let out and I watch the sky for eagles too.
A few nights ago, we had a visiting skunk. Unfortunately a friend who was visiting from Vancouver didn’t know the protocol for taking the dogs out and simply opened the door, resulting in an encounter between a skunk and my daughter’s big wolf cross dog. Needless-to-say, this is one little animal we don’t want to stumble upon too often. To read more about this unfortunate meeting, go to:
http://pets-people-and-possibilities.blogspot.com You will also find a recipe for de-skunking your pets there and it’s one you’ll want to keep handy if you have skunks in your area.
Regardless of where you live be it country or city, caution is always the best way to avoid unfortunate encounters with wildlife. And if you’re planning on a camping trip this summer with your family pet(s), keep them close and don’t let them run loose through the countryside… for their sake as well as those fur folks who live there year ‘round'. Stay safe… be happy

Crossing the Rainbow Bridge

Saddness has kept us from posting as we grieve the loss of Vladimir, my daughter's 13 year old kitty. He was mercifully put to sleep after a brief and sudden illness. Our veterinarian thinks he was most likely diabetic. Being naturally big, he always was a bit on the plump side. We will miss his clumping footfalls around the house. We could always tell he was coming from two rooms away sounding like he was wearing boots.
Vlad's diabetic condition has given us pause to think about the diets of our other kitties. Cuja Lula Belle is 16 years old has already had a major diet change to wet and raw food when we learned that she too has diabetis. She's much slimer now and although her health is still not perfect, she's not doing too badly for a girl her age. Modesto and Bashat are now being offered a diet similar to hers. (They're not crazy about it, so we have to make the change over slowly to give them time to adjust.)
We have an amazing house that once belonged to a semi-retired veterinarian. They loved all the animals that came into their care and many of their spirits still dwell here. Often, out of the corner of our eyes, we get a quick glance at a black and white Persian type kitty. Today, when I was cleaning upstairs, for just a moment, I saw Vlad sitting in his favorite place by the window and next to him was the black and white kitty. It's nice to know he's still with us.