pet connection

I live in California, the sunny part. I have never been on a snowmobile. You gotta understand that going in. But what is up with snowmobilers running into sled dog teams? One of the dogs killed in the Iditarod was hit by a snowmobile, and now Iditarod champ Lance Mackey’s Zorro was airlifted in serious condition during a race after Mackey’s sled was slammed into by snowmobilers. From the AP:

A man on a snowmobile ran into Mackey’s team, seriously injuring a key animal in his kennel. Mackey broke down in tears Saturday telling how a veteran race dog, Zorro, was injured as the animal rode in the sled’s basket.

The snowmobile driver has not been identified.

Mackey was in third place in the Sweepstakes around midnight Friday just 20 miles from the finish line when two snowmobiles came up fast from behind.

“I was flashing them like mad with my headlamp,” he said. “I was shining my headlamp right in his face, but they kept on coming at me. I jumped aside, and by 30 feet further up the trail, there was a snow machine sitting on the middle of my sled.”

The machine impaled the sled bag with its runners.

“Three or four dogs were sucked underneath and Zorro was trapped in the sled bag,” Mackey said.

The driver who hit Mackey and his partner on the other machine helped Mackey right the mess, then left as Mackey continued on.

“I would give my life for my dogs,” Mackey said. “I can’t make anyone know how important animals are to me.”

By midday Saturday, Zorro was on a commercial flight to Pet Emergency, a veterinarian facility in Anchorage, for medical treatment. Zorro had broken ribs and perhaps internal injuries.

“If he lives, I don’t think he is going to want to race to Nome again,” Mackey said.

Several other dogs had injuries, but they were not life threatening, Mackey said.

The 9-year-old injured dog has been a star in the teams that won Alaska’s two major long-distance races the last two years.

Here’s the rest. Would it be out of bounds to imagine that — as recreational boaters and jet-skiiers do down here in the warmer climes — snowmobiling is a recreation that often goes with an overindulgence in adult beverages?

C’mon, Zorro. We’re praying for ya!

[Updates are being posted on Lance Mackey’s Web site.)

***

Ben and Emily Huh of Itchmo are one of the handful of people behind the Web sites and Web blogs everyone turned to for information during the pet-food recall last year. Itchmo started out as a blog meant for Seattle-area dog-lovers, and then … things went crazy.

The Huhs have real jobs — Ben is one of the geniuses behind the great ICanHasCheezburger site — and it has been really difficult to keep up Itchmo with all their other responsibilities. Itchmo the Web log is now easing up. From the Huhs, as posted on their forums:

When we first started Itchmo in February 2007, it was just a hobby to share what we were doing with our dog around Seattle. Due to the needs of the Pet Food recalls, it quickly grew into a destination for all of us who needed information, support and each other.

Unfortunately, the time has come for us to put Itchmo on hold as we focus on the parts of our lives that we put on the back burner for the last year.

As a family, we decided that the ItchmoForums are self-sustaining and will continue, however Itchmo will no longer be updated on a regular basis. We were heartbroken over our decision, but it was inevitable as there just isn’t sufficient income to maintain the level of posts that we’d like.

On the other hand, these forums have become a wonderful place for pet-lovers to hang out. We’ll continue to support the forums. We thank all of you for visiting Itchmo, and hope that you will stick around and continue to make the ItchmoForums a wonderful place.

We will not be accepting any donations, if you do wish to make any donations to us, please consider making it to your local shelter.

Sincerely,

The Itchmos: Ben, Emily, Fil and Nemo

Enjoy the break guys, and hope to see you back soon.

***

The “F Word”: That would be “Foxtail.” There are few things in life I can say that I hate with all my heart, and the foxtail would be in the top five. Not that long ago, my retriever McKenzie picked up one in her hip. It took seven months, three surgeries, thousands of dollars and multiple courses of antibiotics to get rid of the thing.

Hate. Hate. Hate. Burn in hell, foxtails.

Over on Lassie Get Help, Luisa shares my feelings, my pain, and much much more.

The Associated Press offers a look at how the legal status of animals is evolving:

Fido is getting a new name — several, in fact: “plaintiff,” “trustee,” “beneficiary” and even “defendant.”

Dogs, cats and creatures of all sorts are being redefined in an emerging area of legal practice known as animal law. Once considered mere property, animals are being invested with legal standing as they’re increasingly being named as partial beneficiaries of estates, subjects of lawsuits and victims of abuse.

As animals rise in the law, so does the profile of animal lawyers, or lawyers who practice animal law.

Ninety-two of the 196 law schools in the country approved by the American Bar Association now offer courses on animal law, up from the nine that offered classes in 2000, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

“You’re seeing this real snowball effect,” said Pamela Alexander, director of the defense fund’s animal law section.

Part of the push has come from animals’ rise in prominence in people’s lives, with owners routinely spending thousands of dollars to give a cat chemotherapy and sending dogs to day care, therapists and groomers.

Here’s the rest. By the way, would it be possible to have just one story without a patronizing, “cutesy” reference to “Fido” and “Fluffy”? Every time I see this unimaginative and frankly idiotic phrasing in story after story after story, it makes me wanna hurl.

***

Elsewhere, a picture of the times: I have some 40,000 images on my big storage drive. You read that right: 40,000. And I bet 90 percent of them are of pets. I also have a full-on (and full-price) version of Photoshop, because a certain number (read: a very, very small percentage) of my images end up in our syndicated newspaper feature or in one of our books and they need to be ‘Shopped.

But what if you want to fix a pet picture without tossing down a few Benjamins for Photoshop? There’s always Photoshop Elements (a/k/a “PS Lite) and a few other bits of software. And Google’s Picasa software lets you fix a few things (while also helping you to organize it all). The New York Times has a blurb today on Adobe Photoshop Expressions, and online program that is pretty darn full-functioned:

After signing up for the free site at www.photoshop.com/express, members can upload their images and then edit them with Adobe’s simplified set of point-and-click controls for red-eye removal, cropping, exposure, saturation and other functions. Users can group images into Web albums and post them to popular social networking sites, all from within Photoshop Express.

Each basic account at the site, which is still in a beta test version, gets two gigabytes of online storage, although Adobe soon plans to offer more services for a fee.

The screen grab to go with the story? A beautiful landscape? A pretty model? Someone’s grandbaby? Nope, nope and nope. It’s a Boston terrier.

Pets rule.

Still no luck on the spy cam in Clara’s Secret Garden. Every time I look out the window those two are kissing on each other, but every time I raise a camera … they stop and stare at me as if to say, “Do you mind? A little privacy, please!”

Velocity The Rabbit (VTR) and Clara aren’t the only love-bugs of the rabbit-cat variety. Lots of people with pet rabbits and cats report a natural affinity between these two species. Dog-bunny love is a little harder to come by. Usually, the best you can hope for with a dog is that the dog will ignore the rabbit.

My old boy Ben (God rest his sweet soul) was wonderful with other pets. My first pet rabbit was Turbo, a neglect case so severe that at the Sacramento SPCA they’d named him “Flakes” because when he was brought in his furless skin looked like flakey pie crust. He’d been evaluated as unadoptable, but he was so sweet and outgoing the humane officer decided to foster him herself. After six months in her care, he was a beautiful, friendly and healthy rabbit, and I was helping a friend look for a dog to adopt when I met him.

Renamed Turbo, he soon took over the house, and was better with a litter box than many a cat. He roamed the house at will when I was home — he had a two-story “condo” to chill in when I was away — and always went back to the office when he needed to use his box.

One day, I was working with Ben stretched out asleep across the doorway of the office. Turbo (that’s him on the right, with young Velocity) hopped near, clearly intent on heading for his box, but — wow, what to do about this?! — there was 80 pounds of sleeping dog blocking the path. Turbo took a minute or two to work this out, getting up on his haunches to look over the situation better. Ben woke up and raised his head, curious as to what the rabbit was doing so close to him.

Finally, Turbo moved back a little, paused again as if to think it over one last time, and then jumped the retriever and hopped into the litter box with a satisfied bunny expression.

Ben sighed, put his head down and went back to sleep.

Both Ben and Turbo are gone now, and thinking about them always reminds me that treasured pets never really die — they live forever in your heart and memory.

***

Rabbits are such under-appreciated pets, too long relegated to the “kid’s pet” category and left ignored in tiny outdoor hutches until they die of fear, disease or boredom. This makes me crazy, because if you let a rabbit really be part of the family, you’ll find to your amazement that they are delightful to be around, playful and gently affectionate.

The House Rabbit Society has the best site on the Internet for anyone looking for information on these sweet-natured pets. The society’s Web site offers information on everything from housing to nutrition to finding a bun-friendly veterinarian.

As the spring and summer travel seasons approach, our thoughts often turn to our desire to get away. We love to pack up the pups and hit the open road, with the sunshine as our guide, as we voyage to discover faraway places and unfamiliar faces.

We pack the bags, the coolers and the dog crates for the trip, everything we need to make the adventure safe and sane for all involved. But there’s one item that may tend to be overlooked as we prepare to depart: How to keep our pet properly and adequately hydrated.

The people at PetCrew, Inc., point out that a standard rule of thumb to make sure your pet is properly hydrated is to have them drink one-half to one ounce of fresh water per pound of body weight every day. If your dog is very active on hot summer days, he should drink even more.

It’s important for this to be fresh water, not water from a strange stream or lake because one never knows what bacteria might be in that water.

Lakes, ponds rivers, streams and even standing water can harbor numerous bacteria that can make a pet sick – especially if there is chemical runoff from local farm fields, or weed killers or insecticides present. Also, it’s not a good idea to pour fresh water onto the ground for a pet to lap up. Residual chemicals and bacteria can be there as well.

Here are some clues to determining pet dehydration:

If a pet is dehydrated, his/her skin loses its elasticity. If the skin on the neck doesn’t release back to original spot as soon as you let go, that is a sign that the pet is under-hydrated.

Checking your pet’s gum line can also be a clue to dehydration.

If the gums look drier than normal and are a bit discolored, that is a strong indication of under-hydration.

Excessive and sometimes uncontrollable panting can mean a pet is overheated and on the way to becoming dehydrated.

Several ounces of cool water can help bring things back to normal. That’s why PetCrew developed a nifty device called the Handi-Drink portable water bottle that makes it easy to keep your pup wet and refreshed int he car and on hikes or wherever the travel season may take them. Handi-Drink is a uniquely designed water tray that can be filled with water with just a quick squeeze from an attached water bottle.

It’s easy to transport and use because there’s little spillage compared to a typical water bowl, and refilling is a snap.

For more information and ordering, here’s the website.

Happy traveling.

A couple months ago, my friend Sonia lost her cat Mick. Mick was an old cat in multiple-system shutdown, and after months of trying to save him there came a time when nothing more could be done, and he was suffering. So on the last day of 2007, Sonia took him to the veterinarian one last time and held him as he went over the bridge.

Now, Mick was a lucky cat, from start to finish. He had ended up with Happy Tails here in Sacramento after his previous owner died, and despite his advanced age (10 at the time) they wouldn’t give up on him. Sonia took a chance on him because she thought he was special. Mick and Sonia were together just under four years, but she had no regrets at all for adopting an older cat.

About a month ago, Sonia told me she’d been thinking of adopting another cat. She wasn’t sure she was ready, but she took a couple of trips to Happy Tails to visit with the kitties, just to see.

On her last trip, there were two new cats, a pair of young brothers. The two had ended up homeless because of a domestic violence situation, and WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment) had worked with Happy Tails to get these two cats safe harbor so the woman who loved them could find safe harbor herself. 

Now named Seth and Elijah, these two brothers are having no problem at all adapting to their new home with Sonia. They’re outgoing, curious and friendly. And they don’t know how good they have it with my friend Sonia. I hope there’s some way the woman who loved them enough to make sure they were OK before she looked out for herself can find out that they’re as safe as I hope she is now.

Don’t you just love a happy ending?