The groomer, Holly Crawford of Sweet Valley, Pa., offered the kittens for $100; Judge Kate Ford Elliott wrote in a 19-page opinion that “metal protruded from the kittens’ small bodies, pierced through their ears and necks, and at least one of these kittens also had an elastic band tied around its tail, an attempt at docking, which is a procedure to stem the blood flow so that the tail eventually falls off.”

An investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals posed as a customer and met with Ms. Crawford in 2008 and reported her to the authorities. The kittens were seized, and a jury found Ms. Crawford guilty of animal cruelty; in April of last year she was sentenced to six months of home detention and electronic monitoring, followed by probation.

Ms. Crawford, who was described in the opinion as having “several facial piercings” and being “enthusiastic about piercing,” had admitted to piercing the kittens herself without anesthetic, though she did treat them with antiseptic after the procedure.

That’s the important part of the story, but my favorite section (and yours, I’m betting) comes at the very end…

Judge Elliott wrote, “Appellant’s claims center on her premise that a person of normal intelligence would not know whether piercing a kitten’s ears or banding its tail is maiming, mutilating, torturing or disfiguring an animal.”

The judge added, “We disagree.”

Paralyzed tornado dog is walking again: Debbie and Daniel Leatherman live in Joplin, Missouri. They thought they had lost their 10 year-old cocker spaniel, Sugar, after the catastrophic tornado tore their house apart last month. Luckily, Sugar wasn’t lost. He was discovered by a stranger and brought to Joplin Humane Society, and his injuries took him to the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was grim: a traumatic rupture of Sugar’s spinal cord. He was paralyzed. The operative word of the last sentence is ‘was. ‘ Thanks to the veterinary staff in Columbia, Sugar is now walking again. Thanks, Phyllis.

Historic cancer breakthrough? A couple weeks back, Dr. Tony Johnson wrote a sobering post about the canine version of a heart attack, called hemoabdomens. As Dr. Tony explained, the root cause is often a ruptured mass on the spleen due to an aggressive malignancy called a hemangiosarcoma. A hemangiosarcoma is often considered a nearly universal death sentence…or is it? Research out of Oregon State University signals hope for a previously hopeless cancer.

No more goldfish in Baghdad by the Bay: San Francisco is pushing to enact some of the toughest regulations outlawing the sale of animals of any municipality in the nation. But they’re not stopping at outlawing trade in puppies and kittens. As SFGate reports, the city’s Animal Control and Welfare Commission wants guppies and goldfish to receive the same protections. Thanks to Susan Fox for the link.

Everybody’s got something to hide except me and my monkey: If you have a therapy animal, is he protected from seizure by authorities? Yes? Always? What if he’s a monkey? In certain places, not so much. And the authorities’ show of force can be a little over the top, too. Hat tip to Mary Cvetan.

The secret life of feral cats: Do you ever wonder what the lives of cats are like when they’re on their own? Where do they go? How far do they roam? Is there a difference between ferals and cats who have owners? Jeff Horn wondered, too. Jeff was a grad student at the University of Illinois. He put radio-tracking collars on forty-two cats, some owned and some unowned, and let them do what they do. The results are summarized in Science Daily:

One of the feral cats in the study, a mixed breed male, had a home range of 547 hectares (1,351 acres), the largest range of those tracked (red outline). A pet cat in the study, by contrast, stayed very close to home.
“That particular male cat was not getting food from humans, to my knowledge, but somehow it survived out there amidst coyotes and foxes,” Horn said. “It crossed every street in the area where it was trapped. (It navigated) stoplights, parking lots. We found it denning under a softball field during a game.”
The owned cats had significantly smaller territories and tended to stay close to home. The mean home range for pet cats in the study was less than two hectares (4.9 acres).
“Still, some of the cat owners were very surprised to learn that their cats were going that far,” Horn said. “That’s a lot of backyards.”
The pet cats managed this despite being asleep or in low activity 97 percent of the time. On average, they spent only 3 percent of their time engaged in highly active pursuits, such as running or stalking prey, the researchers reported. The un-owned cats were highly active 14 percent of the time.

Thanks, Ingrid.

Simon’s Cat: That’s right, it’s time once again for our favorite feline line drawing! Today, we’re in the kitchen.

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.

Photo credit: Piercing, a11news.com. Sugar, munews.

Cleveland rocks: Brent Toellner at KC Dog Blog reports the best piece of news. After a dozen years on the books, breed-specific dog laws are being repealed in Cleveland. From now on, the decision on how to handle a dog will be based solely on prior behavior.

Owners of dogs at each level have different requirements to meet – -and if they do meet the requirements, they can get the designations lifted over time. You can get a lot of details on the ordinance here.

More and more cities are continuing to look at ordinances like the one in Cleveland because it allows the city to more efficiently use resources by targeted dogs (and dog owners) who have shown signs of being a threat to citizens and not focusing any resources on people whose dogs are not a threat.

Even better, the state of Ohio is considering following suit. It’s almost enough to make me do that arms in the air thing they’re so fond of. Almost.

Two rulings from the bench: Separate decisions were handed down that should put smiles on the faces of pet lovers across the country. Both are discussed in this SFGate article. In the first, an IRS decision that effectively penalized a feral cat rescue organization for their work was overruled. The second one went to the heart of the age-old legal axion that pets are nothing more than property. The California Supreme Court ruled for the first time that…

the owner of an animal victim of intentional cruelty may now sue the perpetrator for the costs of medical care and treatment of that animal. Historically, even someone found guilty of a felony animal abuse who ends up serving jail time will only be responsible to the animal’s owner for the cost of “replacing” that animal; back to that earlier point of animals as “property,” the concept is replacement of that property’s “market value.” Now, that has changed.

The first case is good, but the California decision could have much wider significance in the long term. Thanks to Susan Fox for the link.

Puppy millers lose huge in Los Angeles: One more sign of the times… puppy milling scum are no longer welcome to do business in the City of Angels. Details in the Examiner.

Who knows what’s really going on here? I had a conversation with Susan Fox after she forwarded this link from Yahoo News. While there’s definitely something bad going on in the area north of Spokane, Wash., it’s such a poorly reported story that frankly, I haven’t a clue what the truth of the matter is. Are there wolf-hybrids wreaking havoc? Perhaps. Certainly something is. Do we know much more than that? Honestly, no. I have a little more faith in KXLY‘s reporting, but not too much.

Heat is no joke: Every year the warnings go out about the lethal nature of overheated cars in the summer, and every year someone else finds out (tragically) how serious it is. The headline from the San Antonio Express-News says it all. There is ‘No such thing as a five-minute errand’ in heat.

Video of the week: The New England Aquarium in Boston is more than just a fun place to spend an afternoon. The aquarium staff also performs critical rescues, and is able to take advantage of the region’s health care technology. In this Boston Globe video, a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle undergoes a CT scan. Great stuff.

Social media at work: Comedian Dane Cook lost his dog, and asked his Twitter followers to help out. The story had a happy ending, and when it was over, Dane took to Twitter to let his followers know all was well and to thank them. A high five to TMZ for the following line:

When you only get 140 characters, 13 exclamation points in a tweet means you’re REALLY happy.

Also, four instances of the word “so” has gotta count for a lot.

RIP The Cat Who: Lillian Jackson Braun Bettinger, the author of 29 best-selling “The Cat Who” novels, has passed away in South Carolina at the age of 97. The Washington Post had a kind remembrance with a quote from the late Ms. Bettinger.

Discussing the sleuthing abilities of her cat KoKo, Mrs. Bettinger once commented, “Of course when you’re writing about a cat solving mysteries, you can’t be entirely serious. He doesn’t speak English or leap tall buildings. But there are things he does that draw attention to clues that help solve the mystery.”

Pedicure time: Because you can never have enough icanhascheezburger, and definitely never enough lolcats. See you next week.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

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.
Photo credit: O-H-I-O, humorsoffice.com. Dane Cook tweet, TMZ.

Yesterday as I walked past her, she rolled over to bare her belly. I wasn’t foolish enough to actually touch her belly but I did gently rub under her chin a couple of times before walking away. I didn’t feel a purr, but she also didn’t bite me or rake me with her claws.

Then last night, she came up and relaxed on the arm of the sofa where I was sitting. I didn’t reach out to touch her, just acknowledged her by talking to her. After a few minutes, she reached out and rubbed her head against my hand.

A couple of rubs under the chin and a head rub may not seem like much, but for a formerly — or perhaps still — feral cat who only loved my late husband Paul, I feel like we’ve made huge progress.

There is still a long way to go. I can’t pick her up yet, or even brush her, without damaging our fragile peace. I’m just hoping that she remains safe and healthy until she trusts me enough that we can make some faster progress. Meanwhile, I’m trying to build trust by not pushing her too fast and by bribing her with tasty tempting bits of meat. She really likes turkey so I always have some in the refrigerator.

Last night, Xena made me laugh while she startled Sisko. I have a curly willow tree in the backyard. It’s a self pruner and drops small twigs and sticks on a regular basis. Sisko came into the house with a small stick, dragging some long twigs behind him.

Xena, who was on the sofa, took off after the twigs, playing pat-pat with them. Sisko, who is afraid of Xena, started circling the living room, with the twigs dragging behind him and Xena chasing him. I think he was so concerned about the cat he didn’t even think about dropping the stick. Eventually it broke, though, and Xena — as the victor — demolished the twigs.

I, of course, got to clean up the mess.

Photo: Xena on my clothes on the bed. Photo by Liz Palika.

Nevertheless, miraculous stories are emerging from the rubble. One particular bit of news has brightened everyone’s spirits. A rescue dog named Javier alerted his handlers that he detected someone who might be alive. The team heard moaning, and started frantically digging through the debris, eager to pull out any survivors. As it turned out, Javier was right. He had found….a fellow dog! A very relieved yellow Lab was pulled from the wreckage, and gave everyone new hope that miracles are always possible, even in the worst catastrophes. KABC has the video story. Please remember to come back to Pet Connection a little later today for another story out of Joplin.

A new twist on “Where’s the beef?”: If you sell a product and promise it contains (let’s say) shrimp, by law it actually has to have shrimp in it. If it doesn’t, that’s not just deceptive advertising, it’s illegal. Hence, the warning letter sent by the FDA recently to Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Company. The Lamb and Rice dog food contains no discernable traces of lamb, though there is “bovine material” (I don’t want to know, truly). Additionally, the Grain Free Duck pet food has the same problem. From the FDA letter:

(T)he analytical sample results did not detect the presence of duck in the product.

That’s a problem, wouldn’t you say? There’s a bit more, as the FDA alleges Evangers failed to provide requested processing and production records for 2009. the letter is just a warning, putting the company on public notice. They’re not alleging that the food is unsafe, though there is a mention of the products being “adulterated” (which is a definite no-no), only that it isn’t what they claim it to be. By extension, you could correctly infer the FDA is calling into question how the food could be priced and sold while not containing the lamb and duck it purports to include. This isn’t Evangers’ first rodeo with the feds, and you can bet this story isn’t over. Stay tuned.

Did Hepatitis C come from dogs? Dr. Amit Kapoor, an investigator with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health‘s Center for Infection and Immunity, has made a claim that could change the way we look at hepatitis, a deadly liver ailment: Hepatitis C could have “jumped” from dogs to people more than five hundred years ago. The virus, also known as HCV, affects more than two hundred million people around the world and still has no known cure. Dr. Kapoor is quoted in HealthDay explaining how his team discovered the link.

“[W]hile we were analyzing samples from dogs involved in outbreaks of respiratory disease, we came upon a virus that was more similar to HCV than other viruses of the same family. So far, we have only detected [the virus] in sick animals, a few of which had died of unknown causes. Because of its close genetic similarity to HCV, we suggested the name of canine hepacivirus.”

The Columbia study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Bad Newz turns to good: A small animal rights group in Tipton, Penn., called Dogs Deserve Better just bought a five-bedroom mansion for $600,000. That’s an unusual purchase, no? Yes, it is, but there’s a reason you should care about it. The home was the former headquarters for Bad Newz Kennels. That’s right. SickVick’s former house of horrors will forever more be used as a rehabilitation center for dogs who have been chained and penned. The new owners plan to balance the karmic scales. From NBC Sports:

“I think by us overtaking this property we are winning for the dogs. We are, in essence, giving this property back to the dogs that were abused there by using it to help other dogs just like them,” said Tamira Thayne, the group’s founder.

The organization paid for the house with a 30 percent down payment secured through donations and a loan. An anonymous donor has agreed to make payments for the next ten years, but Thayne said fundraising will continue.

Ultimately, the group wants to raise $3 million to fully pay for the site, install fencing and build a facility for the dogs. The house will serve as the group’s new headquarters and Thayne said she or another staff member will live there to monitor the dogs.

This is how it should be, don’t you agree?

Surreal story out of D.C.: Video surveillance in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C showed a woman allegedly attempting to poison stray cats earlier this month. She was arrested, charged with animal cruelty, and faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 if guilty. I’d never bother to report such a run-of-the-mill story, except the woman is a researcher working for the Smithsonian Museum’s Migratory Bird Center at the National Zoo. What’s more, the Smithsonian has no intention of suspending her while the case is investigated. Your tax dollars at work. Alley Cat Allies is on the case.

What happens when you tease a dog: I love this YouTube video about a guy with too much time on his hands, and his dog, who deserves a big ol’ steak.

And to finish off this week’s column, I give you a total “awwww” moment: Sleepy kitten and her snuggly mom.

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.

Photo credit: Video screengrab from KABC.

And so, too, is McKenzie. She now recognizes the bus as home, and trots happily to the door when asked to “Go to the bus.” She also, in just a few days’ time and never having been in an elevator in her life, knows to sit  to wait for one, trot in, turn around and sit inside when the doors open, and go left or right on request after exiting. (Her first impression of a high-speed glass elevator was  pretty funny, but while I thought I was recording it on my phone, I wasn’t, so you’ll have to take my word for it.)

Inside the bus, she also responds to “go to your room,” since the rockstar bedroom at the back of the bus is our default for when we need a safe place for her to chill out for a bit while the generators are keeping the bus air-conditioned. At the very beginning of the tour, I thought she and I would be spending a lot more time back there since we were thrown out of the first hotel room we’d checked into, owing to miscommunication between our agent, Marriott corporate and the local management at the no-pets-allowed Courtyard by Marriotts we had been told were accepting the dog as a condition of booking our national tour.

After she and I slept in the bus one night, got booted to another hotel the second and were facing doG-knows-what the third, I took things into my own hands and had McKenzie launch a “why don’t you like me, Marriott?” campaign on Twitter and Facebook, which was quickly threatening to go viral. That got Marriott’s attention in their NYC HQ, and within an hour or two a nice PR guy was asking our tour manager to please ask McKenzie to tell her fans that Marriott was working on it. Not long after, the hotel issue was resolved, and now McKenzie is greeted by name as she walks into the lobbies of the no-pet Marriott chains we’re booked into. (Me? I’m just the one holding the leash!)

Obviously, with a special arrangement for her to stay in Marriott’s two no-pet chains (Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield Inn) I have a very serious responsibility to make sure McKenzie is well-behaved, quiet and doesn’t cause other guests any problems. Fortunately, she has been up to the job, and I’m very proud of her.

While every day has been a little different, the typical schedule is local TV at dawn, a VIP (Veterinary Important Person) event in late morning, more media and then the book-signings at PETCO. Then we all hit the road for the next city, which may be up to eight hours away. And we’re doing that six days a week — a grueling schedule, but I couldn’t be more happy I’m on board. We really do have the most incredible team, starting with Dr. Becker.

We’re rolling into Jacksonville now, so let me just share some tour-related links and call it a night:

The boys on the bus: Jimmy the tour manager and Phil the bus driver are the most incredibly skilled professionals imaginable. They have easily 40 years of experience between them in handling tours a lot larger than ours, and they have worked with Lady Gaga, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Whitney Houston and many more big-name acts. Mindy Valcarcel, the DVM360.com reporter who was with us for the first three stops, gave an overview of the team here. Be sure to follow the link to the clip of Phil from “Dog The Bounty Hunter.” Our “ground support” consists of Christie, David and Ericka from our PetConnection team, along with our publicist, Kathie Kerr, and our VIP event coordinator, Ellie Shaw.

Henry the cover dog: Handsome Henry, the cover dog on the book, has his own publicist, his Mom, Jill Gibbs. She scored him a feature in the Billings Gazette. Yesterday, I saw Henry’s pawtograph for the first time, as one of our mutual friends took the afternoon off to bring the book to be signed by me and Dr. Becker. There was barely any room left after Henry’s pawprint!

I’ll try to get more blogging done this week. Jimmy warned us that the first week of a tour is a period of adjustment, and he was sure right. But now most of the major problems seem to be ironed out, and we’ve all settled in for the long run as a great team.

Don’t forget the entire tour schedule is at DrMartyBecker.com. You can also follow Dr. Becker on Facebook and Twitter, and McKenzie on Facebook and Twitter.

Every night now, when I climb into bed, Xena plasters herself up against my feet. She’s there when I fall asleep and she’s there when I wake up.  During the day if I’m sitting in the living room, I will find her on the back of the sofa –  not touching me –  but close. Twice in the past few days she has jumped up on my desk.

Although all of these things may seem normal for most cats — and for many of our previous cats they were — these are not normal for Xena and me. She slept touching Paul, sat behind him on the sofa, and would hang out on his desk.

In her own way, Xena is telling me that she misses Paul, too. She’s not crying, not hiding, and not being overly affectionate, but she is placing herself closer to me and that’s good. I have always enjoyed her company even though she was often disdainful of mine.

Today she allowed me to rub her chin and rub behind her ears. No full-body pets have been allowed yet, though. I hope that won’t take too long.

Interestingly enough, when people were in the house these past two weeks, she would come out and visit. Normally she disappears when anyone else comes inside. She’s let my friend Kate pet her– cautiously of course — and rested on the sofa next to my 11-year-old nephew. That was totally out of character.

I’m not worried about Xena, as I am Archer. She’s eating and drinking well, hasn’t had any house-training accidents, and seems to be transitioning to me even though I wasn’t her first choice. It’s going to be interesting watching the changes, though. She’s still a feral cat in many ways so I have no idea how affectionate she may become towards me. I’ll keep you all posted.

Photo: Xena. Photo by Liz Palika

This article by Steve Dale in USA Today Weekend discusses both the signs and ideas on how to keep cognitive dysfunction (CD) at bay. CD is diagnosed by excluding everything else medically relevant first, but there are signs to identify it.

“It’s always been there,” says veterinary behaviorist Gary Landsberg of Thornhill, Ontario, director of veterinary affairs at Cancog Technologies. “Our pets are living longer, and we’re learning much more about identifying cognitive dysfunction.” Landsberg is now researching the disorder in cats.

The acronym for pet owners to identify CD is referred to as DISH:

D — Disorientation and confusion, such as attempting to walk through the wrong side of a doggie door.

I — Changes in interactions, such as an outgoing pet becoming withdrawn.

S — Sleep disturbances: cats yowling or dogs pacing overnight for no apparent reason.

H — House soiling, having “accidents.”

So what can be done to prevent CD? The best wisdom points to one thing  –  exercise. Professor Carl Cotman, Director of University California, Irvine,  Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, says that dementia in people and in animals respond the same.

Cottman [sic] has studied cognitive decline in dogs and people. In one canine study, a group of dogs was enrolled in continuing canine education and followed an exercise protocol. The control group was fed a special anti-aging diet. All the dogs were periodically tested for cognitive skills, and Cottman couldn’t believe the results.

“It was a fantasy come true because the results were so definitive, proving social interactions, exercise, enrichment and diet really do make a significant difference in dogs,” he says. “We believe the same must be true for people.”

Cottman adds that if you do anything, take your dog for a walk: “We know moderate exercise bolsters brains in dogs and people.”

Shooting cats in Utah: The concept of TNR hasn’t caught hold yet in the state of Utah. The ‘Feral Cat Bill’ (HB210) was passed by the Utah House this past week. It will allow Utahns to shoot “pests” without being charged with cruelty. From the Deseret News:

The House agreed to add back a provision allowing the humane shooting of an animal in an unincorporated area of a county if the shooter “has a reasonable belief” the animal is feral.

Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, said feral animals are ever-present in rural areas. He said it’s not a matter of if they’re coming for his cows, but when.

Right. It’s all about the cows. Read the bill. The language is so broad that it could lead to some horrific abuses. Once the animal is killed, there’s no way for a person’s word to be contradicted. If HB210 passes, it’s open season in Utah. Proof that bad legislation can be much worse than no legislation.

Dog saved  –  by dolphin: Turbo got himself stuck in a canal in Marco Island, Fla. He was eventually saved, but not by a person. Check out this video from CNN.

Cats and phones: Author, cat expert and about.com contributing writer Amy Shojai examines the curious relationship between kittehs and phones.

Abuse come in all guises: Have you ever heard of someone having their dog masquerade as a service dog – even when there’s been no certification?  Check out this Wall Street Journal article. Maxx the Westie might be cute, but in spite of the vest, that’s all he is.

The problem with setting numbers: Proposed rules to hamstring breeders frequently try to set arbitrary numbers as some kind of litmus test – ‘Well, it just stands to reason if you have x number of animals, you must be a puppy mill.’ The reality is that a numbers test doesn’t work. This post from desertwindhounds is worth reading (paragraph breaks added to improve readability).

Why are laws with kennel requirements, space requirements, and all that jazz bad? Because dogs are not machines, all the same except for the size. The best husbandry, or animal care, is not institutionalized, but customized: to the breed, the breeder, the climate, and the breeding program. Good husbandry for Foxhounds will be totally different that good husbandry for Chihuahuas. Some dogs do well in groups, some don’t. Some are pretty weather proof, some are delicate. Hunting dogs, for instance, need to acclimated to the environment. Keeping them in air-conditioning all the time will impair their performance and may actually make them more prone to heat exhaustion. Sled dogs need to be exposed to the cold, so they develop good thick coats. Things like wormers and vaccines are highly individualized. Most breeders have a protocol that works for them. Likewise with food, puppy raising, and housing. People who keep multiple dogs usually have a management system that works for them. Ask twenty people what the best way to keep twenty dogs is, and you will get twenty different answers.

If the people who introduce these bills really wanted to protect dogs (assuming that the local welfare laws are good enough), they would apply performance standards instead of engineering standards. Are the dogs in good condition? Do they have shelter? Puppies healthy? Yard acceptably clean? Any sick or injured dogs taken care of? Then it would not matter how many dogs there were, or how they were housed, but whether the actual dogs were cared for.

Unfortunately this type of enforcement is harder, and requires people who are intelligent, well-versed in animal husbandry, and unbiased to do the enforcing. I don’t think that’s going to happen because protecting dogs from neglect and abuse are not what these laws are all about, that is just the surface glitter designed to distract the bleeding hearts. These laws are all about limiting or eliminating purposeful dog breeding and driving breeders out of their business or hobby.

The post’s headline goes down a whole different road, but that’s beside the point.

Hand 2 paw: Maria Goodavage at Dogster tipped me to this great video about Hand2Paw, a Philadelphia program that connects homeless kids with shelter pets.

Magic and poetry in his fingertips: People who think the now-famous quotes from Charlie Sheen’s recent interview were examples of arrogance or delusional thinking just need some context. For that, we have mediumlarge.com.

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.

Photo credit: Exercising dogs, flickr creative commons (PhillipC)

And yes, we’ve also upped our reporting from conferences and trade shows, added more places where our work shows up (such as AARP.com) and generally, just hustled our butts off to try to make it in a tough economy that’s even tougher for writers.

One thing I wanted to try was e-books. We have a team that many veterinary schools and certainly specialty practices would envy, not to mention we have some of the top writers in the pet-care world. So I had this idea of e-books, short, tightly focused and very inexpensive works on a single topic people need to know about, such as how to know if your pet needs to go to the ER (Dr. Tony, of course, in his own unique style), how to introduce a new baby to an established pet (Arden Moore and Mikkel Becker), hospice care and pain management (Dr. Robin Downing), various dog-training topics (Liz Palika) and so on.

We’re getting ready to make the first of these book available soon, with the help of an outstanding editor, Greg Melvin (that’s him at right, going over Dr. Tony’s e-book, which he’s editing on paper, being Greg).  Greg is MY editor, the person I have worked with the longest in what is becoming a pretty long career (just because, hey, I’m getting old!). Until fairly recently, Greg was at Universal Press, where he edited Ann Coulter, Aaron McGruder, Dear Abby, Roger Ebert, James J. Kilpatrick and many more writers and cartoonists, and yes, that’s the entire range of left-to-right politics, and all his writers loved him.  (Here’s an article on him, talking about what it was like to edit such a wide range of opinion.) He is an old-school editor, the kind of person whose mastery (and I don’t use that term lightly) of the language is complete, but more than that, you never see his fingerprints on your work: When he edits, it’s as if you wrote it, but better. And yes, he prefers to edit on paper, even e-books.

He is the best editor with whom I have ever worked, and I have worked with a lot of very good editors. He has also, over the years, become my very good friend.

Greg is now working for the federal judiciary, but since he has nights and weekends available in theory, I asked him to take on editing the e-books, and he agreed.

I’m writing from his home in Overland Park, Kansas, now, staying here over the weekend to talk about the e-books (and Madeira, jazz, film noir, Monty Python and Chaucer) before I head in to Kansas City for a couple days of meetings about the spring book tour.

This morning Greg took off for a four-mile walk (he walks 36 miles a week, four miles a day during the week and four miles twice a day on the weekends, no matter the weather … even during blizzards) leaving me with his utterly charming cat, Harry.

Turns out Harry is an editor, too, “helping” me with my writing this morning.

That Harry is here to harass me is a bit of a miracle. He was born on Greg’s uncle’s farm in Mississippi, and Greg saved him on a family visit. He tried to catch all the kittens and the mother, but only Harry would allow himself to be picked up.  The little kitten had every kind of parasite known to cats, and barely made the transition from farm kitten to suburban housecat, he was so sick. Now he has it so good that Greg immediately got a stern warning from me about Harry’s weight … which he’ll need to be reducing slowly before I am back in Kansas City this spring.

Hmmm … maybe the editor and the editor’s cat can write a feline weight-loss guide together. Then I can edit him.

Science Daily cites an Oxford University study showing that dogs have bigger brains than cats. More importantly, there’s a good reason. Like people, dogs are intensely social animals, and over the course of the evolutionary time line, that social nature requires more brain space, and therefore — bigger brains.

They [...] suggest that there is a link between the sociality of mammals and the size of their brains relative to body size, according to a study published in the PNAS journal.

The research team analysed available data on the brain size and body size of more than 500 species of living and fossilised mammals. It found that the brains of monkeys grew the most over time, followed by horses, dolphins, camels and dogs. The study shows that groups of mammals with relatively bigger brains tend to live in stable social groups. The brains of more solitary mammals, such as cats, deer and rhino, grew much more slowly during the same period.

Meanwhile, cats are more solitary, generally less outgoing than their canine co-stars on the pet landscape. Less social interaction, less grey area necessary. OK, gang, I’ve given you the topic for Cofffee Talk. Tawk amongst yourselves….

Pet support on attacked island: I’m sure you’ve heard about the recent North Korean rocket attack on an island off the coast of South Korea. The island of Yeonpyeong underwent an evacuation, and now 100 mostly elderly Korean veterans have returned to the island. Along with enhancing local defense, they’re looking to find — and feed — abandoned and hungry dogs left behind. Thanks to ABC News Australia for the link.

Nebraska fail: In the face of all evidence showing that TNR is the wisest route to coping with feral cat colonies, the University of Nebraska would rather shoot to kill. According the Washington Post, they’ll even show you how. Shame on the Huskers….

Medication that can kill: So many of us take prescription medications (sometimes more than one at a time), that it’s easy to forget a seemingly harmless Tylenol tablet can literally prove fatal to pets. And there are others. Here’s an indispensable top 10 from the ABC affiliate in Charleston, South Carolina.

Tragic and preventable: Dogs shocked by stray electrical currents – hardly a new phenomenon. Yet, I’m sad to say it happened again. This time, in Seattle. … on Thanksgiving Day. The story’s from the Queen Anne View, but it just as easily could have been from Toronto two years ago. Another city, another year, same completely preventable tragedy.

Welcome to the dog house: Our pal Susan at NoVA Dog Blog has my favorite blog post of the week, on what it means to be “in the dog house.” Not only am I recommending the post, but you must check out the JC Penney ad she referenced.

Fish surgery: This article completely fascinated me. Maybe I should have been a veterinarian after all. Have you ever thought about what it takes to operate on a goldfish? How about surgery to remove a tumor? Tip of the cap to the News & Observer.

Annoying pets: Not EVERY pet is irresistibly adorable.  The Boston Channel has what I think is a perfectly legitimate list of the most annoying celebrity pets.

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.

Photo Credit: Dog and cat, iStockphoto/Mitja Mladkovic. Surgery, newsobserver.com.

Killing in Arizona: Stories about dogs being accidentally killed by authorities have been spreading. This one is worse than most. It’s already been widely reported that Target, a shepherd mix who saved soldiers’  lives in Afghanistan and was later featured on the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” was put to death by a clueless shelter employee in Pinal County, Ariz. (article from the Tuscon Citizen). What happened is horrifying enough, but here’s what has continued to jump out at me: the term being used over and over again in headlines (here by Fox News, but also from the Tuscon paper I tagged above, and elsewhere) is “euthanized.” WRONG. Target wasn’t sick. Target wasn’t in desperate pain from an osteosarcoma. Target was not suffering from multiple traumas. In those cases, euthanized would have been the correct and appropriate term. Target was killed. Target was put to death. The words we use, matter. Euthanization is a kind, humanely responsible way to end suffering.  This was a killing, period.

Target wasn’t alone: A Newfoundland retriever was shot four, yes FOUR times by a police officer in Des Moines, Wash. Our friend Maria Goodavage has the story on Dogster. Rosie was two years old. Have you ever met a Newfie whose behavior merited being shot to death? Neither have I.  Most Newfies couldn’t spell “vicious” if you spottedthem the v-i-c-i-o-u … Sadly, the cop in Washington state could.

What’s for lunch? Our BFF Dr. Patty Khuly’s “Fully Vetted” blog illustrates why I don’t think I’m going to have lunch with her any day soon. …

Feral fixin’: Great work being done by staff at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, in putting TNR ideas into action. And now for a chorus of Rocky Top…

OK, let’s turn the lights down….

Vest a Dog: Right here in my neck of the woods, a non-profit called Vest a Dog is raising money to outfit Massachusetts police dogs with bulletproof vests. I love the tagline on the site, next to a picture of a gorgeous German Shepherd: “Without a bulletproof vest, I’m not a police dog. I’m a sitting duck.”  As far as I know, no dogs were harmed in the making of this video.

Silly kitteh: Cat, meet box. And I thought I had issues with spacial ability. …
.

.

VW’s got a winner: You need a song that you can’t get out of your head today. … here you go.
.

.

This is one badass cat: I’d think housecat vs. alligator would be a terribly tragic mismatch. It turns out that’s not far from the truth….from BoingBoing
.

.

And finally, it’s exercise time. The very last excuse I had for not getting myself into better shape just disappeared.
.

.

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.

Photo credit: Target, Arizona Republic.