pet connection

Dr. Paula Terifaj is a veterinarian who’s fighting against breed-specific legislation. A profile in the Orange County Register tells why, even after being bitten by a pit bull she was fostering, she will not give up on the breed:

Last fall, she started a Web site, www.roverlution.org. And she organized a “Luv-a-bully” dog march to bring attention to her fight.

She led the second annual march Oct. 28 in Brea. It attracted about 100 dog owners marching with 50 dogs along Brea Boulevard. Similar marches were held in Missouri, Colorado, Indiana and Alabama.

“I am not advocating everybody should own a pit bull,” Terifaj says. “They aren’t for everybody.”

Because the dogs have been bred to be fighters, they take special attention, socialization and training to ensure they don’t focus that aggression on people, she says. That takes a lot of time, love and patience.

“I’m only saying that the entire breed should not be destroyed because of a fear caused by a few bad owners.”

And on MSNBC.com, an update on Vivi, the show dog who escaped from her crate at Kennedy airport when headed home from the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Is she alive? People keep seeing her, which makes her another of New York’s animal mysteries:

According to a map published Nov. 18 by The New York Times, Vivi was reported at more than 45 different locations before Aug. 7, when the sightings suddenly stopped, raising fears that she might be dead or left the area.

Richard Gentles, director of administration for Animal Care & Control of New York City, said his organization dispatched rescue teams after “five or six calls” on Vivi in the past several months, but all proved negative.

“For a dog like that to be able to survive this long would be very difficult unless somebody picked it up,” Gentles said. “I hope it’s true that somebody has the dog and doesn’t recognize it. It does happen.”

And finally, a New York Times piece on the use of human cancer drugs in veterinary medicine:

[P]et owners are enrolling their dogs in medical trials meant to benefit humans and animals alike. And some animal advocates are applauding the development.

Most of the trials, often sponsored by drug companies or medical device makers, involve pets with cancer — a leading natural cause of death in older dogs — in which the animals receive groundbreaking drugs or other treatments that are eventually meant for people.