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Monday morning roundup: My, we’re getting catty
By David S. Greene
January 11, 2010
I have an uncle who has become an avid Pet Connection reader since I joined the staff (Hi Fred!). He’s a cat-lover, and has told me I’m too dog-centric in my posts. For Fred and all other similarly-inclined cat owners, this morning’s post is for you. Not all cats, but mostly. Never let it be said I can’t take a hint…
Lower your cholesterol — get a cat! An article courtesy of my friend Pete Hansen, who acquired a cat a few months back. You’ve probably seen essays and news stories saying that owning a pet relaxes you, therefore lowering blood pressure. Now there’s some evidence indicating it helps your cholesterol, too!
The cat who came in from the cold: The first paragraph of this heartwarming story from the Edmonton Journal, by way of Gina, made me reach for my parka and boots, while still sitting in my living room:
Bob the cat showed up at Air Canada cargo services’ warehouse at the international airport on a morning when a Siberian front swept through Edmonton, plunging temperatures into the -30s.
I don’t care if it is celsius, thirty below is still way too cold. Bob, who the airport workers soon learned is female, settled in over time. Now,
there’s never any doubt she runs the place, though, and that she has the men wrapped around her little paw.
Always be prepared. It’s not expensive, and could make all the difference. You may have a first aid kit at home for your adults and non-furry children, but do you have one for the ones with tails and paws? You should. I admit that I don’t, but I’ll be using this well organized, easy-to-follow post from Smartdogs to create one. It’s a great idea, because you never know. Don’t wait. Please take advantage of the great hints here. I know I will.
Tiger Ranch operator sentenced to 27 years probation for cruelty: Sorry, I didn’t promise these would all be happy stories. A tip of the cap to Mary Mary for the final chapter of this terribly sad saga from Pittsburgh. She and I are both convinced that the Tiger Ranch venture probably started out as a terrific idea, but quickly spun out of control. Now, almost two years later, it stands as a tragic cautionary tale. My personal belief is there was likely some mental illness in play as well, but in any case, the judge’s words at sentencing remain accurate:
“I came into this case thinking … you were most likely a woman who had good intentions but became overwhelmed. From that perspective until today, I have learned quite a lot,” said Rangos, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “You have chosen not to cooperate and spew vitriol in others’ direction without taking any personal responsibility for the disaster that Tiger Ranch became.”
Kudos to Amy Worden at Philly Dawg for her work on this story. She has followed it from the beginning, and Amy is always worth reading.
Three new breeds at Westminster: Petville tells us there will be three new breeds shown at the 2010 WKC Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on February 15 & 16: the Irish Red and White Setter (pictured: not just a color variant, but a different breed from the Irish Setter), the Norwegian Buhund, and the Pyrenean Shepherd. If I may say so, these are three gorgeous dogs, and I’m looking forward to seeing them in the show.
Have a great morning. I’ll be back later today with something completely different. And don’t forget: If you have something good to read, add a link to the comments, or e-mail me.
Photo credit: Codie McLachlan, edmontonjournal.com
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I spent some time with the Red-and-White setters at the Crufts dog show in 2004. I was very taken with them, although they weren’t too excited to see me, clearly. Picture here.
Bob is a lovely, lovely cat!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 11, 2010 @ 6:37 am
Please thank your uncle for me, for clueing you in to write cat stories, which I read with avid interest. Delightful story about Bob, I say.
Sometimes there comes a time when a person has to own up to who they really are, and that time has come for me now. David, I hope you don’t mind me writing it on this blog, since I, too, was a Northeasterner.
I am going to change my signing name. I would have like to use Eustace Tilley, Minnie Mouse, Amazing Matilda, Wizardess of Oz, or Moosey the Great.
I am going to change my signing name from Colorado Transplant to Evelyn, if it is okay with Gina.
David, I will look forward to more interesting cat stories, mainly because I love cats so much. (I do like dogs, too!)
Comment by Colorado Transplant — January 11, 2010 @ 7:36 am
Oops, I forgot to change my name!
Comment by Evelyn — January 11, 2010 @ 7:37 am
I don’t know, Evelyn. I think Moosey the Great has a certain je ne sais quoi, but it’s your moniker. Truth be told, I really *do* look for cat stories, but apart from “what to do about hairballs” and gruesome cruelty stories, I tend to see fewer feline clips of noteworthy content, compared to a plethora of writing in the dog world.
I also keep a weather eye out for blurbs on bunnies, horses, birds, chinchillas, and stories of any pet-related angle (I once owned a chinchilla, and he was a great companion). This week just happened to be a bounty of the kittehs.
Comment by David S. Greene — January 11, 2010 @ 7:47 am
Evelyn, CT, Moosey, you know the saying “A rose is a rose….” I’m sure I speak for all the regulars here when I say that we enjoy your comments no matter what signing name you choose to use!
Comment by Rori — January 11, 2010 @ 8:22 am
Evelyn, I like your real name better. And it’s a beautiful name, too, that more people should have! I never understand why some really pretty traditional names just get “lost” while others become wildly popular again.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 11, 2010 @ 8:24 am
David …
you look for bunny stories?
Oh you are going to be sorry you said that …
Comment by Mary Mary — January 11, 2010 @ 8:42 am
Thanks, Gina. I saw my name Evelyn rather than Colorado Transplant on one of your comments so I thought I would own up to my identity.
Anyway, I am transitioning into a Westerner rather than staying a transplanted Coloradoan. Having so much space out here is loosening the tightness I felt with the overcrowding in Boston and the burbs.
My daughter told me to “GO West, Mother” so I did and now I get some human and animal medical advise from her (with her D.O. and D.V.M. degrees) and if she doesn’t know she sends me to someone who does know, although I cannot STAND going to doctors anymore than it is absolutely necessary.
David,
David, I agree that it is hard to find stories about cats and that is why I enjoyed the story on your blog posting today. However, all the animals stories you bring to this blog I read, because each animal is interesting in its uniqueness.
If I ever come across a good newspaper article, I “swear” I will send it to you.
Gina, don’t charge me for running over my writing limit, please!
Comment by Evelyn — January 11, 2010 @ 8:52 am
I love seeing more and more evidence that cats, and pets in general, are good for our health! Of course, those of us who love our pets have always known this.
Comment by Ingrid King — January 11, 2010 @ 8:59 am
David - thanks very much for the Monday morning info to go along with the cuppa joe. I really enjoy your posts, and I personally think you should focus more on stories about chupacabras and eels - under-served members of the pet community. Just a helpful tip from your fellow blogger!
Evelyn - glad you are setting in and I like the new/old moniker. Shame that Eustace is taken, isn’t it? Gina ratted me out for that bit of plagiarism.
If you are looking for cat stories, I have plans to start the series about my own pets very soon - they all have something interesting behind them, and 3 are cats! Stay tuned, tinies!
Comment by Dr. Tony Johnson — January 11, 2010 @ 9:01 am
Delicious. Three more working breeds with small gene pools for the dog shows to eat ‘em all up and poop out something “pretty.”
Nom nom nom.
Comment by H. Houlahan — January 11, 2010 @ 9:04 am
Oh, boy, more cat stories on the blog. Can this Pet Connection get more better than what’s comin’?
Actually, my daughter never treats me medically by exam or prescription giving. She just sees that I am still living, breathing, and walking. However, since she is primarily a vet now, she has helped me tremendously with cat problems that arise.
Tony, Eustace Tilley is a great name, and I didn’t want to modify it in anyway so I took my own name back instead.
Comment by Evelyn — January 11, 2010 @ 9:18 am
I’m more looking forward to seeing the red and white working in the field, the Basque shepherd herding sheep, and the buhund working milk cows on a Norwegian farm.
The red and white is the original coloration for the Irish setter, and even today, field-type Irish setters and their descendants (golden retrievers) have flashes of white on them.
The red and white dogs held on the longest in Northern Ireland, where a Presbyterian minister named Noble Huston established them as a separate breed.
A buhund is a relative of the two breeds of Norwegian elkhound, just these dogs herd stock and don’t hunt moose or lynx.
A Basque shepherd is one of the breeds that was ancestral to the so-called Australian shepherd, which is from the United States.
Comment by retrieverman — January 11, 2010 @ 9:56 am
Missing dog turns herself into the local lost and found: http://www.spiegel.de/internat.....87,00.html
Comment by Snoopys Friend — January 11, 2010 @ 10:23 am
And it’s a DACHSHUND! You know how to guarantee a story’s inclusion, S.F.
Comment by David S. Greene — January 11, 2010 @ 10:30 am
Some posts I enjoyed reading this morning:
— Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly on her dining room table covered with iguanas and other thawing reptiles: http://www.dolittler.com/2010/.....again.html
— Luisa from Lassie Get Help on game wardens: http://lassiegethelp.blogspot......these.html
— KC Dog Blog on the slaughter in Los Angeles and why mandatory spay neuter continues to be a disaster, more dead pets everywhere it’s tried. Can we stop pushing it now? http://btoellner.typepad.com/k.....ear-2.html
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 11, 2010 @ 11:10 am
On Tiger Ranch, what makes this even more tragic than it already is, is the fact that she was well-intentioned, was in fact a life-saver for years being the only cat-specific sanctuary in the area. I knew the place and I knew her through working with local shelters and rescue groups, and the frustration was that many of us saw her spiraling out of control and tried to stop it, but ironically the animal welfare laws are not necessarily with us when we try to save animals. The best we could do was tell people not to take their cats there.
Comment by Bernadette — January 11, 2010 @ 11:19 am
Another good read: LA Times on puppy-milling scum feeling the heat. Look, we’re not giving you a break because you’re Amish, chumps. Cruelty is cruelty.
http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....2235.story
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 11, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
Re: Tiger Ranch
The Philly Dawg states that “the PSPCA - which removed nearly 400 cats from the 28-acre property, and spent hundreds of thousands caring for them”.
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars” sounds like an awful lot of money to take care of 400 cats. Oops. Make that 240 cats, because 150 of the 390 live cats seized were euthanized.
If those numbers are right - that’s about a thousand dollars per cat…
Comment by Janeen — January 11, 2010 @ 2:07 pm
Gina,
Thanks for that link.
“Nearly four out of every 10 commercial kennels in Pennsylvania told the state they would be closed by the end of December.”
Yahoo!
Comment by Mary Mary — January 11, 2010 @ 3:53 pm
Wouldn’t it be nice if they switched to sustainable small-scale agriculture instead? The Amish region could become the Capay Valley of the East, the center of sustainable, organic produce.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 11, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
Yes, that would be nice.
On a negative note, I wonder if other states will increase their puppy mill volume to make up the slack. States with more lax laws.
I met some of the folks from the Governor’s task force last summer at an animal law seminar. It was so interesting to hear how they worked with various groups in order to get something passed that would, if not please everyone, at least infuriate fewer people. For example, deciding that “60” was the magic number of annual dog sales for making a breeding operation commercial or not.
Comment by Mary Mary — January 11, 2010 @ 4:35 pm
Uh … the Amish sort of ARE the mavens of sustainable small-scale agriculture in North America. They’ve just kept at it for the past 100 years while the English “got big or got out.”
Most — perhaps not all — of the Amish/Mennonite puppymillers are also farming. They know about being diversified.
One reason Lancaster County got so infamous so fast was the encroachment of high-dollar gentrified sprawl and tourist-trap crap that made farmland prohibitively expensive. The most productive un-irrigated farmland in the WORLD is being paved over for outlet malls for the shopping pleasure of tourists who were originally drawn by the bucolic landscape created by those same Amish.
So, with large families and a shrinking land base, the Amish have to make a living without enough acreage to do so by traditional means. Many do so with small factory/craft work — furniture, etc. Others, modern industrial animal production, which has a small land footprint.
(When things get crowded like this, another thing Amish communities do is split, with some members moving to new areas where land is cheap. But in Lancaster, it’s not just a matter of the farming population outgrowing the available farmland — the farmland is actually going away, crowding out any possibility of a traditional community of the same scale as existed before.)
A broiler shed produces more money stuffed full of schnoodles than it does crammed with Cornish cross. Consumers only pay .89/pound for chicken. One pup sold to a broker brings a couple hundred; sold direct to a tourist, up to a thousand or so. A productive bitch of a breed or mix in fad demand can gross the miller $10,000 in a year, after costing a few hundred to purchase and less than that to feed. Can you think of any other kind of livestock that can do that?
The Amish, like all other puppymillers, responded to market forces when they got into puppymilling, and it will take new market forces (and effective humane laws applied to that market) to get them out. I’d like to see effective regulation that protects farmland as a treasured resource as another curb on “the market.”
I think the transfer of breeding stock to millers in Ohio has already begun. Ohio seems more interested in demonizing pit bulls than in dealing with its humane issues, so that looks to work out well. I live much closer to the mill areas of Ohio than I do to Lancaster County, so I’ll be seeing plenty more of those pups — many of them sold at “puppy fairs” held on weekends just over the border — in the coming years.
Comment by H. Houlahan — January 12, 2010 @ 8:41 am
Heather,
Thanks for that. Very interesting.
Comment by Mary Mary — January 12, 2010 @ 9:00 am
Interesting article about the truth of packaging and selling of organic raised meat http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....again.html
Comment by Snoopys Friend — January 12, 2010 @ 10:37 am
“The Amish region could become the Capay Valley of the East, the center of sustainable, organic produce.”
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 11, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
I know that 20 years ago, young Amish families of Lancaster County were having to outbid developers for the farms their parents were selling. This resulted in 60+ year mortgages on land “worth” 100’s of dollars per square foot, to support 2-3 generations and multiple families of Amish living on it at the same time.
I’m sure Capay Valley is the standard they aspire to.
Comment by eli — January 12, 2010 @ 10:39 am
One reason Lancaster County got so infamous so fast was the encroachment of high-dollar gentrified sprawl and tourist-trap crap that made farmland prohibitively expensive. The most productive un-irrigated farmland in the WORLD is being paved over for outlet malls for the shopping pleasure of tourists who were originally drawn by the bucolic landscape created by those same Amish.
So, with large families and a shrinking land base, the Amish have to make a living without enough acreage to do so by traditional means. Many do so with small factory/craft work — furniture, etc. Others, modern industrial animal production, which has a small land footprint.
Comment by H. Houlahan — January 12, 2010
Excellent points all, Heather.
Without the religious aspect, the Capay Valley — and indeed much of central California — faces similar pressure. It’s astonishing to see how much top-rate farmland has been developed here. And even sadder when you realized that many of the homes in new subdivisions and storefronts in new stripmalls are now empty, with homeowners foreclosed on and businesses closed for lack of customers when the homeowners were evicted.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 12, 2010 @ 10:48 am