If you have kids and are thinking of adopting a pet, here’s what you should consider to make the best choice for your family and your new friend.
Getting a new pet and introducing it to your family can be a challenging and rewarding experience—this becomes doubly-so if you happen to also have children. In this extensive article written by the HSUS the different issues and possible ramifications of a pet with children.
When I was growing up, the first pet that I knew was a beautiful Siamese cat named Sesi. She was sleek, slinky and generally stayed out of my way. I only have the vaguest memories of her now, sleeping on the couch, or standing just out of reach. She and I had few interactions and she didn’t have a lot of effect on me in my childhood except as something of a living decoration. To this day I still remember her shimmering eyes in pictures, white fur, and dark Siamese points.
The first pet that I had that actually became a responsibility, and thus a close friend, was Kit-ho, my Himalayan dwarf rabbit. I loved her to death—possibly chosen because she reminded me of Sesi in a way: white bunny, black paws, black nose, black ears, black tail. Living in the country she was basically my 4H project for a few years.
Over the years I grew through more rabbits and eventually a long-time closest friend cat, Cloud, who I will miss to this day. Although, I grew up with Cloud in high school to college and not just as a young child.
Introducing a pet and a child can create an unbreakable bond. It is the addition of what could be seen as basically a new member of the family who has different needs and adorations than a normal human companion. They add a varied number of emotions to the household and fill a niche that might otherwise have gone empty.
The Cat House on the Kings is California’s largest no-cage, no-kill, lifetime cat sanctuary and adoption center. Our mission is to place rescued cats and kittens into loving, permanent homes; to provide a safe, happy and healthy home for unwanted cats and kittens in a unique, no-cage facility; to prevent pet overpopulation through spaying and neutering; and to educate the public about responsible pet ownership.
Since its founding 16 years ago, The Cat House on the Kings has saved over 16,000 cats and 4,000 dogs (not counting the 40,000 animals we have spayed and neutered!) and currently cares for more than 700 cats and kittens!
The concept of no-cage sanctuaries for domestic animals, I must admit, is a new one to me. I spent too much time touring and visiting local county facilities that are quite the opposite—rows upon rows of cages, class cubicles to contain animals. The idea is particularly alluring, in fact, and I would be interested in seeing more of these crop up.
They have a gorgeous website with a great deal of information. Founded by Lynea Lattanzio—whose statement in the video about her mother not allowing her a kitten when she was growing up brought me to laughter—the Cat House on the Kings involves themselves in a lot of animal welfare education, volunteering, and other advocacy for domestic animals.
It is probably an amazing place to volunteer, and even with their huge, open facility, they have a fostering program for people take pets into their homes. This is good because as animals are waiting for adoption they need a place to be, but also it helps socialize potential adoption candidates to living in domestic situations.
Has anyone visited them? What do you think of this sort of approach to sanctuary and rescue efforts?
A Lawrence, Kansas boy’s fondess for iconic video game character Sonic the Hedgehog has led to a successful crusade to overturn a citywide ban on the critters.
KTKA-49 reports that Judson King, 11, decided three years ago that he loved Sonic so much that he needed to own a real hedgehog, but…
Lawrence’s animal code has long prohibited the furry rodents in the city limits, a fact that didn’t particularly upset Judson’s mother. “I thought, that’s my out. Now I don’t have to get him one. Then he said, ‘How do we make them legal?’” mom Rebecca Weeks said.
Score one for the hedgepigs (as a friend of mine calls them.) I used to work at the Phoenix Zoo, and we had one of these amusing critters come to visit once a month. With a bristly back, soft tummy, and polite licking looking for grubs we always had a cheerful experience with them.
It seems odd that any city would ban them as pets; although generally jurisdictions do see wildlife as bad material for domestication. Kudos to Judson for winning one for the hedgehogs.
There is a video of the broadcast to watch, just follow the link.
Having trouble affording your pet’s care? Look to these groups for help.
We at PETS 911 actually receive a great deal of sad stories from owners who cannot keep their animals because of crippling financial situations. While we ourselves are only a web page and a hotline, a service trying our best to get the public together with the animal welfare community, we try our best to respond in kind with people looking for resources to help them.
The HSUS has created an extensive list of aid organizations across all fifty states that help people with veterinary bills. It is definitely worth your time to go through it if you happen to be in dire straights with your own vet bills or perhaps to show to someone you know who is.
We ourselves haven’t had the time to compile such a list, but will certainly be directing people to it in the future.
If you are a shelter or organization who is interested in running a Spay Day USA event: Registration opened this month on January 5th. If you want more information on the Spay Day USA events, visit the HSUS web site.
If you are a member of the public or other interested party: There are still many ways to participate even before the events open next month in February. Just visit the HSUS web page about participating and you can find out how you can get involved.
At least 1,600 pet deaths related to certain types of over-the-counter flea and tick treatments were reported to the EPA over the last five years.
The HSUS has put up a strongly worded warning about modern flea and tick products, primarily those using recent insecticides. One particular notice resonates with all advice that we like to stick to on PETS 911: before applying any medication to your pet, always consult your veterinarian. Good communication about the overall health of your pet with your vet should help you also make sound decisions on how to care for them if they do get sick and prevent them from getting sick in the first place.
There is a tendency to apply everything out-of-the-box, especially items that have extremely simple instructions. As with everything, owning a pet is not really like programming a VCR: it doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Problematically, things like flea and tick collars and medicines do come with overly simplistic instructions–put daub on back, click collar around neck–but as a result we tend to overlook the warnings and indications. In particular the HSUS article goes over some of the more toxic insecticidal chemicals that we should be watching out for.
While parts of the article do get a bit technical, it is a good idea to give it at least a once over.
It’s the winter season, so it seemed almost fitting that I stumbled across a gallery of albino animals. Entitled, “Albino animals: ghosts of the wild.”
Some animals do exhibit light colored winter coats in order to help better camouflage themselves as part of the predator prey dance; but there is also albinism–the partial or total lack of pigment production. Albino animals are certainly strikingly different than the others in their breeds. Pale and white as the driven snow, and pink iris eyes.
This odd little story cropped up recently about a very young boy who had been lost for several days, discovered finally being protected and coddled by a colony of stray cats in Misiones, Argentina.
The boy, who had been missing for several days, was found by Police Officer Lorean Lindgvist, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday
“The boy was lying at the bottom of a gutter. There were all these cats on top of him licking him because he was really dirty,” Lindgvist said. “When I walked over they became really protective and spat at me. They were keeping the boy warm while he slept.”
Lindgvist said she noticed scraps of food near the boy and surmised “the cats knew he was fragile and needed protecting,” the Telegraph reported, noting doctors said the warmth of the cats saved the boy during freezing nights that could have killed him.
According to an article there is a purple squirrel which appeared at a school has baffled experts who are unable to explain its colour at Meoncross School in Stubbington, Hants.
Since the squirrel, now nicknamed Pete, was first seen, it has become a regular fixture at the school but no one has been able to say whether the animal has fallen into purple paint, had a run-in with some purple dye, or whether there is another explanation.
Dr Mike Edwards, an English teacher, said: “I was sitting in my classroom and looked out the window and saw it sitting on the fence. I had to do a double take.
“Since then it’s been a bit of a regular at the school - everyone’s seen it.
“We thought it might have been paint or something but then when you look at it up close, it’s an all over coat, not in patches like you’d expect if it had been near some paint.
“Its fur actually looks purple all the way through. It’s an absolute mystery.”
Pupils, staff and parents have contacted vets and even e-mailed television nature expert Bill Oddie to see if an explanation could be found.
Lorraine Orridge, the school’s registrar, believes Pete’s coloured fur looks like a school uniform.
From 6 inches above the ground, Cooper took 200 to 400 pictures a day on a miniature digital camera programmed to take one picture every two minutes. It swung from his collar, encased in plastic, to shoot rain or shine. The Crosses built a harness for him so the lightweight device would be as unobtrusive as possible. Observing Cooper with the camera, it’s obvious he handles it like a pro, with no indication it bothers him.
The Crosses, who operate their own film production company, Cross Films, appreciate how their vocation has rubbed off on their cat. Curiosity about Cooper’s goings-on did not kill them or Cooper.
“We wanted to see what the cat was up to while we were gone during the day,” said Michael Cross, a graduate of USC’s film school who makes feature narratives and commercials.
He found out his cat was kind of a lone wolf. “We were really hoping to meet some of Cooper’s friends. We wondered if he crossed the street, if he has a girlfriend on the other side of the block. Does he go into the neighbor’s yard? We had no idea he’d come back with such cool photos.”
If you have kids and are thinking of adopting a pet, here’s what you should consider to make the best choice for your family and your new friend.
…and the punch line is that he wins the day!
Having trouble affording your pet’s care? Look to these groups for help.
It’s the winter season, so it seemed almost fitting that I stumbled across a gallery of albino animals. Entitled, “Albino animals: ghosts of the wild.”
According to an article there is a purple squirrel which appeared at a school has baffled experts who are unable to explain its colour at Meoncross School in Stubbington, Hants.
From 6 inches above the ground, Cooper took 200 to 400 pictures a day on a miniature digital camera programmed to take one picture every two minutes. It swung from his collar, encased in plastic, to shoot rain or shine. The Crosses built a harness for him so the lightweight device would be as unobtrusive as possible. Observing Cooper with the camera, it’s obvious he handles it like a pro, with no indication it bothers him.