If Something Happens to You, What Happens to Your Pets?

So many times we hear about someone passing away and the dog or cat got left unattended in the house or yard for days or even weeks before someone rescued them. This happens more than we would like to think.

If you live alone and have pets, you need to be thinking of what would happen to them if something happens to you. Here are some simple tips to provide for your pets:

• Carry a Pet Alert card in your wallet with detailed information about how many pets you have and a contact number for a friend or veterinarian. You can make up your own card or buy one. 

• Tape up a new pet In Case of Emergency sticker on the front or back door of your home. This will alert emergency personnel about how many pets you have and what kind. Make sure you keep this updated - use your own tape to allow for changing it if needed. The self stick ones will not come off easily. ASPCA offers a free decal online - just go to their website.

• Give two or three people close by who know and like your pets, keys to your home with pertinent information concerning pet medications, and veterinarian phone numbers. Make sure each person knows who the others are with contact numbers for all.  If you are not in good health, set up regular check-in times  with these people so they know how you are doing.

• Make up a list of all your pets, their ages, medications, names with photos, emergency contact numbers and veterinarian numbers and post in a visible spot in your home. If you have a lot of pets, create a binder with all this info at your fingertips.  Leave on in a visible spot in your home.

• If you are traveling with your pet in a car, RV or truck and you have a serious accident, make sure you have information in your vehicle about your pet - contact numbers, vet number to prevent rescue crews from placing them in a shelter. 

• Provide for your pets in your will. Choose a primary beneficiary and alternative one from people who you know will take care of your pets. You can even name your pet as beneficiary in your will. Some states will allow you to set up a trust fund for your pets.

• Lastly, give all the emergency contact information to your veterinarian so they have this on hand should someone contact them first.

I found a great website  that offers a complete packet of emergency decals, placards etc. called Pet Alert Info System.  This will give you a good idea of the kinds of things you should have on  hand and set up for pet emergencies.  If you do all of these things, your pets will have a stable future in the event that something should befall you.

Cats Need Sunshine Too - True or False?

I was talking to a friend today and she told me something interesting about cats needing sunshine for vitamin D like we do. I looked this up online and found out that it is false.

People make vitamin D from being in the sunshine but cats are one type of animals that does not. In fact, cats require very little vitamin D, unlike other animals.

In the wild, cats get  vitamin D through eating their prey - felines normally  hunt at night, then sleep during the day. Domestic cats get their  vitamin D from cat food, which is why it's important to feed your cat high quality cat food. If cats were kept indoors with no sunlight at all and they would not be ill from being without it.

Cats love the sun and spend all their time soaking it up.  If you have a white cat, be very careful because they can get skin cancer from too much sun exposure especially their ears and noses.

Cats always seem to want to sit in the window or lay out on the floor where the sunlight is coming in. So while cats don't need sunlight to be healthy, you should try to have a sunny window available for them to sit in.

Make a comfy seat in a sun facing window or let them follow the sun puddles around the house as the sun moves.

Dental Scares

We have been hearing of many cats and dogs, especially older pets, who have died during dental surgery from the anesthesia.  It is very worrisome and I have been looking for some products that can be used to prevent dental issues.

One product is called PetzLife - it is an oral care spray and gel to help remove plaque and tartar, control bacteria and freshen breath.  It is endorsed by veterinarian Dr. Michael Fox.  For more info on this product and testimonials visit PetzLife.

Another product came into being when  Lisa Guerin took her dog Mercy in for a dental cleaning and the dog passed away even though her vet said she was in excellent health.  Lisa became obsessed with finding an alternative to the risks of anesthesia for dental work.  Her product, Leba III, is made from the herbs mint and rose, stabilized  in 25% human food grade ethyl alcohol and distilled water. The herbs change the chemistry in the mouth, stimulating enzymes and causing tartar to soften and fall off.  To find out more visit LebaLab Inc.

We have not used these personally but they are worth looking into as an alternative to dental surgery!

Dogs and Crowds

Is your dog afraid to be in a crowd with lots of activity going on?  Do you have a hard time walking your pet if there are many people around?  Here are some tips to help your dog cope with crowds:

• Slowly introduce a new or young animal to the bustle of crowds. It takes time to help them learn to be comfortable  in new situations.
• Start by taking him out during less busy times of the day and then work your way up.
• Keep up with the local goings on to make sure you know when activities like sports events, festivals or conventions are being held near where you live or walk your companion.  Avoid these chaotic events and schedule his walk another time.
• If your dog is approached by other people or small children, make sure you explain tot hem how your pet likes to be greeted.

Information courtesy of Animal Wellness Magazine.

Standar Process Nutritional Supplements

Great for FIV cats.

 
When my senior cat Chica was diagnosed 4 years ago with chronic renal failure, the first thing my vet put her on was Standard Process Feline Renal Support - she is doing well and is holding her own.  I still don't need to give her subcutaneous fluids yet.

The company Standard Process began in 1929 in Wisconsin, struggling to stay open during the Great Depression.  Founder Dr. Royal Lee dedicated his life to finding solutions for all sorts of challenges, but his greatest passion was improving the nation's health by providing high-quality, whole food supplements and educating others about them. He devoted the majority of his life to spreading the truth about nutrition. They grow all their plant products organically on local farms.  Quality is very important to them in their products.

While the company began by offering human supplements, they have expanded into veterinary supplements but either can be used on our pets.  Here is a testimony from another Standard Process Renal Support happy customer -

This product contains Standard Process's patented Protomorphogen (PMG) kidney extract, an extract derived from nucleoprotein-mineral molecules.

While this is decidedly a product in Standard Process's 'human' line, as a glandular extract it can also be used in animals. We have a cat diagnosed with early kidney failure and since starting to use this product and Standard Process Renafood 90 Tablets adjunctively with Standard Process Feline Renal Support we've seen her downgraded from early kidney failure to kidney impairment.

Having seen what it can do in cats, if (salt over shoulder) I should ever have problems with my own kidneys, I would use this and Renafood in a heartbeat. 

They offer 8 supplements for cats and 12 for dogs covering all health issues from heart, kidney, immune system and thyroid.  I also give the Feline Whole Body or Immune Support interchangeably to Ivy who has FIV.  Their products must be purchased through a veterinarian but I have found some places online that offer them.  I highly recommend any of their products for people and pets!

For more information about this product check out their website - Standard Process.

Oliver Alert - A Tool For Finding Lost Pets

One of the other pet bloggers I follow wrote about a great web site for finding lost pets.  The story begins with a young couple who adopted a Brussels Griffon named Oliver and while they were away on vacation he got away from his sitters and they have been searching for him since.  Along the way they realized that even tho there are so many ways to look for lost pets no one place offered a complete list of every method  so their web site Oliver Alert was born.

It is a wonderful resource for anyone who has lost a cat or dog.  They give pointers on how to post online, making fliers, who to contact and even have a number of success stories on their site from people who used their ideas and found their pets. 

Unfortunately they have not yet found Oliver but in looking for him have created a thorough avenue for others to use in their search. Please do help them find Oliver and check out their site.

The missing Oliver.

Give and Let Live

On our other blog, we just took part in Livestrong Day sponsored by the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are going pink for October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  If you love animals like I do, then this can put you in a quandary - so many of our loved ones have had or have cancer but did you know so many organizations still test inhumanely on animals for research?

Many people don’t realise that much of the money they give to medical research charities will be used to fund animal experiments. Apart from captivity and the suffering, animal experiments often give misleading results that cannot be extrapolated to the human condition. Even different strains of the same animal species can give a different reaction to drugs and different experimental results. Investment in humane non-animal based research may therefore be the best use of resources and lead to faster medical progress. 

According to many scientists, the best hope for the prevention or cure of many diseases is relevant and progressive nonanimal research methods, such as in vitro cell and tissue cultures, microfluidic circuits, computer modeling, microdosing, and epidemiological studies. This knowledge, as well as ethical considerations for animals, has led many people to be concerned about the continued use of ineffective and outdated animal methods in medical research. They prefer to support charities and corporations that sponsor more responsible and humane alternatives.

One web site I found, The Council on Humane Giving, offers an ever expanding directory of charities that fund only humane, human-based research or patient services, as well as a list of corporations that have pledged to support such charities. Your support of Humane Seal-certified organizations allows you to Give and Let Live. Check out their breast cancer listings for organizations that use non-animal research.