‘Strong will to live’: Rescuers try new treatment for severely ill street dog Daniel
Posted: September 11, 2012 Filed under: Companion Animals, Veterinary | Tags: Forgotten Dogs of the Fifth Ward Project, NDV serum, rescued dog, starving dog 8 Comments »
Daniel battles starvation, mange, and the involuntary jerking movements left behind after a bout with distemper.
Photo: Yvette Holzbach
By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
It’s a wrenching decision. You live in a city where thousands of homeless animals struggle to survive the nightmare of the streets. You work hard, spending your own time and money, and sometimes risking your health, safety, and sanity to catch, nurse, and find homes for as many of the desperate creatures as you can. But some of them are in such bad shape—racked by disease and starvation—that the kindest thing you can offer is a painless death in a veterinarian’s office.
Kelle Mann Davis recently faced such a decision. Volunteers in her group Forgotten Dogs of the Fifth Ward Project, which cares for dogs and cats from one of the most deeply impoverished and crime-ridden areas of Houston, had found an extremely ill dog they named Daniel. Read the rest of this entry »
‘These guys are good—we don’t like them, but they are good at what they do’: farm bureau about Humane Society
Posted: August 17, 2012 Filed under: Animal Advocacy, Companion Animals, Farmed Animals, Puppy mills, Veterinary | Tags: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, commercial dog breeding, Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Prop B, puppy mills, The Humane Society of the United States 7 Comments »
Animal welfare groups say Missouri’s large-scale commercial breeders often severely neglect the tens of thousands of dogs used to create about a million puppies per year to be sold in pet stores / Photo: HSUS video (not necessarily in Missouri)
By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
“The emotion of the puppy, man’s best friend. How do you not want to protect these little innocent puppies?” asked Missouri Farm Bureau’s Kelly Smith in a speech to commercial dog breeders and other farmed animal producers. “That was very hard. And that was something that the rest of animal agriculture had to learn and deal with. It was very, very hard to do.”
The protection to which Smith referred might have been provided by a Missouri law, Prop B, the “Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act,” proposed in 2010 by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal welfare groups, who said it would improve the lives of the tens of thousands of dogs—many severely neglected and ill—who are used to create about a million puppies annually in the state’s 1,000-plus commercial breeding establishments.
But the state’s dog breeders and farmers believed it was a law against which they needed to protect themselves, said Smith, the farm bureau’s marketing and commodities director. Read the rest of this entry »
Law would have required better care for dogs than for children, says farm bureau
Posted: August 16, 2012 Filed under: Animal Advocacy, Companion Animals, Farmed Animals, Puppy mills, Veterinary | Tags: commercial breeding establishments, dog breeders, dog breeding, HSUS, large-scale commercial breeders, Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Prop B, puppy mills, The Humane Society of the United States 5 Comments »
Animal protection groups say large-scale commercial breeders neglect and abuse dogs / Photo: The Humane Society of the United States video (photo not necessarily from Missouri)
By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
While in the past few years the Missouri Department of Agriculture has seized 5,500 dogs from neglectful commercial breeders, a representative of the state’s farm bureau said that not only is more regulation unnecessary, but that a 2010 law proposed to improve conditions for the animals would have set an anti-farming precedent and in some ways would have required that breeders take better care of dogs than of children. Read the rest of this entry »
Pets get serious burns from garden hoses
Posted: August 9, 2012 Filed under: Companion Animals, Veterinary | Tags: American Veterinary Medical Association, garden hose scalding, garden hose scalding water Leave a comment »
Thirsty dog Walter / Photo: Trisha Lord St. George
by Trisha Lord St. George
Temperatures across the world have been hitting record-breaking highs. Responsible pet owners know to keep plenty of water readily available for canine and feline friends—maybe even a bath or spray-down from the garden hose.
But what about the temperature of that water in the bowl or straight out of the garden hose?
A study from Texas A & M’s Department of Pathology, published in Veterinary Dermatology and discussed at the the American Veterinary Medical Association’s convention last weekend, has identified several surprising cases of burns during the dog days of summer. Read the rest of this entry »
The ‘Warrior Canine Connection’: Wounded veterans heal themselves and others by training dogs
Posted: August 5, 2012 Filed under: Companion Animals, Veterinary | Tags: American Veterinary Medical Association, AVMA convention, military PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, service dogs, Warrior Canine Connection Leave a comment »
Service dog Huffs schmoozing at AVMA convention / Photo: Trisha Lord St. George
AIReporter Trisha Lord St. George is on the scene at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) annual convention in San Diego. In continuing coverage she’ll bring us news and info from the event.
By Trisha Lord St. George
Few canine fans can resist petting and saying “hello” to a beautiful dog. Amidst the weekend’s hustle and bustle at the American Veterinary Medical Association convention, this reporter found the calmest spot ever: scratching the ears of Huffs, who was wearing a military cammie service dog vest. Read the rest of this entry »
Raw meat diets for pets are dangerous, veterinarian group decides
Posted: August 4, 2012 Filed under: Companion Animals, Veterinary | Tags: AVMA, AVMA House of Delegates, raw diet for pets, raw meat diet for dogs and cats, vegan cat, vegan dog Leave a comment »
Should dogs and cats have raw, cooked, or no meat? Photo: Sheri Berliner (courtesy AVMA)
By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
No stranger to controversy, the nation’s largest veterinary group served themselves yet another bowl of it yesterday, stirring up a lot of raw feelings.
People who give their dogs and cats raw meat diets can get pretty passionate on the subject. Many of them really, really hate being told they ought to stick to the cooked or packaged stuff.
“It certainly has been a controversial topic, as shown by the large number of comments on our previous AVMA@Work blog entry,” read a statement on the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) website.
Indeed, raw feeders have been expressing themselves heatedly since the AVMA House of Delegates meeting at the group’s annual convention in San Diego Friday voted to recommend that pet owners “avoid feeding” what it terms “raw/undercooked animal-source protein diets for companion animals.” Read the rest of this entry »
Nation’s biggest veterinarian group to discuss animal welfare at convention this weekend
Posted: August 4, 2012 Filed under: Animal Advocacy, Companion Animals, Farmed Animals, Laboratory Animals, Veterinary | Tags: American Veterinary Medical Association, animal welfare, AVMA, AVMA convention Leave a comment »
Dr. Shelly Rubin examines Larry the dog at Blum Animal Hospital in Chicago, IL / Photo: AVMA
AIReporter Trisha Lord St. George is on the scene at the American Veterinary Medical Association’s annual convention in San Diego this weekend. In continuing coverage she’ll bring us news and info from the event.
Editor’s note: This is Trisha’s debut article for AIR. Welcome and thank you, Trisha!
By Trisha Lord St. George
“Step Ahead” is the theme of the 149th annual American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) convention, now in progress at the downtown San Diego Convention Center August 3 through August 7. Read the rest of this entry »
