pet connection

Happy MLK Day, my little pretties (and don’t say “stop, David, I’m not pretty.”  Yes you are, because I say so).

Tiny bird rescue: We’ll start off with two pieces from my hometown Boston Globe.    You will be happy to know that here in the frigid climes of New England, we watch out for our smallest, and I do mean smallest, creatures.  Even hummingbirds who may be seriously lost. This counts as pet news because 1) Gina said I should read the article , and I generally do what she says, and 2) My wife has been trying to attract hummingbirds to the red nectar feeder on our back porch for three-plus years, and when she finally gets one, I know she’ll chat with it.  Therefore: pet.

Generosity from the Cat Lady of Newton: Again from the Globe… Newton, Mass., if you’re not familiar with it, is a Boston suburb of some wealth which has always been known as a pet friendly community.  When Muriel Bayne passed away in her late 70s, she made sure to take good care of her surviving pets, a la Leona Helmsley (though Mrs. Bayne passed before Leona, so perhaps that’s where the late Mrs. Helmsley got her idea)  For the record, this is what I call a good neighbor:

In her will, Bayne requested that a next-door neighbor, Michiko Finstein, attend to the basic needs of the cats. Finstein, 77, said that over seven years she visited twice a day to feed and play with them. She brought fresh chicken as a treat and changed the litter regularly. She also vacuumed and cleaned, and let the animals out into the yard. In winter, Finstein kept the heat at 75 degrees and in summer she set up fans to circulate air. She brought the cats to the veterinarian for routine care, and made sure they had been spayed or neutered.

Next, two from Pet Connection BFF, Dr. Patty Khuly:

“Convenience euthanasia”:  The topic is in quotes because I respectfully disagree with the word choice.  More precisely, Dr. Khuly compassionately and thoughtfully examines convenience killing.    You may (or may not) already be aware until reading this superbly written essay that the debate within the veterinary community has only become a serious discussion in the past decade or two.

Predictably, this dispute comes down to yet another battle between the conservative, old guard, practice-owning vets against the younger, less powerful, more idealistic types among us. The war is waged on many fronts, among which convenience euthanasia is merely the newest nexus for conflict.

Go read the rest.  She frames a very tough issue with heart and reason.

Sourcing alternative vet care: It’s hard not to respect a trained health care professional who is willing to consider alternatives to the standard paths in which they’ve been schooled.  When it’s a vet who offers alternative ideas, this is a progressive health care provider.   Once again, Dr. Khuly is to be commended for thinking about what’s best for her clients, even if it involves potentially unorthodox paths to the best possible outcome.

Dog people and cat people, analyzed: Dog people are of a type, even if they don’t own dogs.  So says a study from the University of Texas at Austin noted on cnn.com.  If you’re a dog person, you are more likely to be extroverted, agreeable and conscientious.  Cat people, meanwhile, score higher on measures of neuroticism and openness.  The study says that, not me.  Thanks to Snoopy’s Friend for the link.  I didn’t ask her how she scored on the survey….

Kitteh meow fail:   Your laugh for the day is courtesy of Tom Cox over at Cat Diaries.  The video (from icanhascheezburger.com) is titled  Kitteh meow fail.  It’s not funny.  Well OK, it really is.

Find a cool post?  Get your nose for news mentioned here.  Put it in comments, or email it directly to me.

Photo credit:  Colorado Hummingbird: Flickr Creative Commons

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