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Need a(nother) reason to quit smoking? Your pet!
By David S. Greene
May 13, 2010
It’s admittedly hard to quit smoking, but it might help to have a great reason. USA Today tells us the ASPCA has joined the American Legacy Foundation, a stop-smoking group:
Studies have shown that toxins in secondhand smoke can cause lung and nasal cancer in dogs and malignant lymphoma in cats.
“The evidence is striking,” says Steven Hansen of the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center.
Good news for shelter pets: Ask the average man or woman on the street if they’d get their next cat or dog from a shelter or a store, and better than 50 percent will say shelter. That’s from a new AP/Petside survey.
More change coming to Austin: Via FixAustin.org, news that Dorinda Pullman, who has been under fire for years for her management of the city’s animal shelter services, is going to leave that position immediately, and spend the months until her planned retirement in 2012 assisting “with special projects in other divisions within the department and other corporate level projects.”
This announcement followed a unanimous vote by the Austin City Council to implement a series of new programs and policies aimed at making the city no-kill.
The city will be launching a nationwide search for Pullman’s replacement. Considering the incredible infrastructure Austin’s no-kill and rescue community has built, this could be quite an opportunity for a shelter director to ride into town and make guaranteed history.
The kids leave the nest, and then….the parents get a dog, according to the Wall Street Journal. Hey, they won’t have to bail him out, or yell at him to get off the phone, stop texting, or clean up his room. I don’t love that the article makes the new moms look a little loony, but I guess they were already on their way there.
Two VERY cool diversions: The first is a chuckle is from The Oatmeal, which is second only to The Onion (America’s Finest News Source) for original fun stuff. And then there’s this, from Draw the Dog…..
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I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories. Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.
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The study on shelter vs. pet store is interesting but I wonder how useful it is.
Other research has put shelter acquisition about about what, 15%?
And I have to wonder how fair it is to lump dogs and cats together in this. I know of many pet stores that sell puppies, and 20-30 puppies per store. But I have seen kittens in a pet store ONCE.
If the research was limited just to sources of puppies/dogs the numbers might be very different (lower) for shelters.
Comment by Mary Mary — May 13, 2010 @ 6:50 am
Yeah, I’d like to see some numbers on where people actually get their pets v. where they SAY they will get a pet.
Of course, it is not a dichotomy between “stores” and “shelters.” Or even a trichotomy that includes “breeders.”
“From a friend” is still very common, and can be a fine way to adopt — but tends to be rather passive, and thus bode poorly for the long-term commitment.
Comment by H. Houlahan — May 13, 2010 @ 8:03 am
RE: the WSJ article.
Great. So straight from overscheduled, helicopter-parented kids to overscheduled, helicopter-parented dogs.
Once upon a time, both kinds of critters got included in adult activities as appropriate, and also had some time to themselves, during which they were expected to provide their own entertainment. This was how they became civilized, to the degree appropriate to each critter.
Obviously, most of us here do some dog-centric activities. Nothing wrong with that — those are our hobbies (or work), which we enjoy pursuing with our canine partners.
But dog-centered and child-centered organized activities can create a ghetto that separates their objects from human/adult society, rather than a conduit that integrates them.
Comment by H. Houlahan — May 13, 2010 @ 8:12 am
Re:Need a(nother) reason to quit smoking? Your pet!
Being a former smoker myself, I know that a lot of smokers will likely disregard or “poo poo” this article. I know I would have back when I was smoking.
However, I would like to say that when I gave up smoking 4 years ago, quality of life and breathing in particular improved for my ENTIRE family, pets included.
I have since discovered that burning stick or cone incense puts oily residue in the air that can be harmful to small pets like cats, dogs and birds. So now we use reed diffusers. Better for them, better for me.
Here’s hoping we can all provide a smoke free environment for our families, furry, finned or otherwise, in the very near future.
Raven Fabal, The Cat Lady
Comment by Raven Fabal — May 13, 2010 @ 10:14 am
I really LOVE the reed diffusers. Someone gave me one as a gift a few years ago, and they really are amazing.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 13, 2010 @ 10:32 am
Heather, the Shelter Pet Project research looked at both, however, the structures of the studies were very different and so can’t be directly compared.
My understanding is that approximately 21 percent of all dogs and cats are acquired from shelters, and around 36 percent of all people who get a pet who say they are willing to get a pet from a shelter but haven’t made up their minds. (There are also 12 percent who say they will ONLY get a pet from a shelter.)
There’s a shortfall, if you will, of around 3 million of those “undecideds” who, if they followed through and adopted, would account for all healthy and treatable shelter pets dying in shelters each year.
This doesn’t require changing the mind of anyone who has already decided to get his or her pet from another source, simply persuading 25 percent of the people who are WILLING to get a shelter pet to actually do so.
Comment by Christie Keith — May 13, 2010 @ 11:06 am