Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and director of As You Like It, released the following statement today:

The Royal Shakespeare Company has decided not to use rabbits for its performances of As You Like It in New York.

The production opened in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2009 in the rural heart of the U.K. The dead rabbits used for the performances in Britain—part of a scene illustrating the contrast between court and countryside, where life was harsher and people hunted and prepared their own food—were sourced locally from gamekeepers as part of a farming control program.

The RSC and the RSPCA (the U.K. equivalent of the ASPCA) were satisfied that the rabbits used for the performances in Britain were sourced responsibly and killed humanely.

The moral of the story is: making your voice heard can make all the difference. (Thanks to Mary Cvetan for the heads up).

Rabbit bust in Oakland: Staying on the bunny theme, but with not as happy an ending, a scene out of a bad episode of “Cops” played itself out last week in Oakland, Calif. last week, when nearly two dozen rabbits were seized from a home in Lake Merritt. According to SFGate, the seized animals were malnourished and deformed.

The bunny bust comes just as Oakland enters into the debate over urban agriculture regulations, deciding how to monitor livestock – its treatment and slaughter – in one of the country’s hotbeds of urban homesteading.

“This blurs the lines for animal cruelty. When is it OK to raise something for food, and when is it cruelty?” said Megan Webb, director of Oakland animal services. “This is an issue we’re all going to have to sort out.”

In the case of the 21 rabbits, a neighbor alerted the East Bay SPCA to the rabbits’ condition last week, and on Tuesday, staff from Oakland animal services and the SPCA raided the home.

The additional details are grim, so read at your own peril. Thanks to Susan Fox for the link.

Generics meet veterinarians: It was just a matter of time. Generic medications are finding their way into the veterinary market.

Border Collie beach cleanup: Four different readers wanted to see this story covered, and it’s easy to understand why. Anyone who’s spent time at coastal beaches is familiar with the screech and the mess of seagulls. I’m a sailor, so I have a particular antipathy toward the obnoxious winged rats. The new solution? Border Collies! Back to SFGate:

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report today that suggests that using border collies to harass gulls has helped improve water quality at Illinois area beaches.

Trained to distinguish gulls from other varieties of birds, the collies patrol beaches from dawn to dusk to chase away gulls, whose droppings have been shown to contribute to E. Coli contamination.

Check out the accompanying video. I loves me some Border Collies.

Austin’s a doggy kinda town: Austin, Tex. is already a great city to visit and to live in. It already stands as a shining light of No Kill success. According to the Austin American-Statesman, it just got better if you’re a dog.

Differences between dog and cat people: Business Insider cites a survey from hunch.com that tries to detail the societal differences between dog and cat people. Check it out and see if you fit any of the survey results. I don’t, but perhaps you will.

Note: I’ll be away next week, but Christie Keith will be filling in as your news anchor. See you in two weeks.

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.

Image credits: Shakespeare, loc.gov. Ranger, bcxfour.

detect three different antibodies produced in response to the bacteria associated with Lyme disease using a single test on the sample, [and thereby] eliminates the need for separate tests. In addition, it requires smaller samples and answers more questions about the disease. Multiplex technology has been used for the last decade, but the AHDC is the first veterinary diagnostic laboratory to use it to test for Lyme disease.[...]

The bacteria that cause Lyme disease are particularly difficult to detect, according to Wagner, because after infection they tend to hide where they can’t be found. They bury in the joints of dogs, causing arthritis or lameness. Serious kidney disease has also been associated with Lyme infections in dogs. In humans and horses, they also burrow into the nervous system, in the spine or the brain, causing pain, paralysis or behavioral changes. By the time such clinical signs appear, the bacteria are usually not in circulation anymore.

Thanks, CathyA

Bionic doggie: Almost precisely one year ago, I told you about a cat who had prosthetic (bionic, I said at the time) paws installed for him in England. Today, it’s time for the canine version. In this ABC News story, Dr. Becker comments on the new veterinary trend:

Veterinarian Marty Becker said prosthetics are becoming increasingly common on disabled pets.

One prosthetic can cost anywhere form $1,000 to $3,000.

“It’s really heartwarming,” said Becker. “Dogs just soldier on. They could be in incredible pain but still greet you with their tail wagging.

Between you and me, I personally wish he had quoted Oscar Goldman’s famous line from my favorite 1970′s tv program. “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.”

Dogs iz smarter than you: It really doesn’t matter if you can’t distinguish between identical twins. Chances are good your dog can. ScienceNow has the details. (tip of the cap to Marge Wright)

Joplin Adopt-a-thon: In Joplin, Missouri this past weekend, nearly four hundred cats and dogs were placed by the Joplin Humane Society Animal Adoption Resource Center’s Adopt-A-Thon.

Though the event was set to begin at 10 a.m., people began arriving as early as 5 a.m. and long lines quickly formed.

Tim Rickey, senior director with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said they expected a good turnout, but the estimated 2,000 people interested in adoption “far exceeded expectations.”

Melissa Wallis and her daughter, Kaylee, traveled from Vinita, Okla., to adopt a small dog because “Daddy finally said ‘yes,’” she said.

“We heard about all the pets in need of a good home, and they’ve been through enough,” she said.

Thanks to the Joplin Globe for the details.

Labradoodle regret: Wally Conran is an elderly Australian gentleman who thinks he may have made a big mistake. What did he do? Mr. Conran is the man responsible for what we know today as the labradoodle. What does he regret? Read this piece from the NY Daily News and find out.

Heartworm medication update: In the wake of the Merial contretemps, there’s a growing question as to whether the problem Dr. Kari Blaho-Owens identified with respect to Heartgard Plus is or is not symptomatic of a broader issue. The Companion Animal Parasite Council released a statement saying it will be continuing to monitor research results, though it stops short of saying that medication currently on the market needs improvement.

Attacking FIP: Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is both incurable and fatal. Our own Ingrid King’s blog Conscious Cat reports on the Winn Feline Foundation‘s 33rd annual Feline Symposium, held last week in Reston, Virginia.

UCDavis Vet Med surveys: The University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is running a survey, and they would very much like to hear from Pet Connection readers. Want to help? Details below:

• Behavioral Interactions Between Children and Cats
  • A project to understand more about the interactions between cats and children from 3 to 12 years of age. If you have at least one cat of 1 year of age or older, and a child between the ages of 3 and 12, currently residing in the home with the cat, we would greatly appreciate your taking about 10-15 minutes to complete this anonymous survey. The results will help us to counsel people about cats and children.
• Dog Behavior: The Rest of the Story
  • Most dog caregivers have heard about how to train a dog to sit, stay and come, and many have heard about preventing aggressive behavior, separation anxiety and house soiling. But there are several unanswered questions, such as why dogs eat strange things, why they howl at fire engines and if they “catch” human yawns. At the Companion Animal Behavior Program in the Veterinary School at the University of California at Davis, we are conducting a voluntary web-based survey of the primary caregivers of dogs to gather information about the rest of the story. If you are the primary caregiver of an adult dog, your cooperation in taking about 10 minutes to fill out this confidential survey will be appreciated by thousands of dog caregivers.
• Cat Behavior: The Rest of the Story
  • Most cat caregivers are bombarded with talk about toys for entertainment, new types of appealing litter, ideas for upholstered climbing trees, and other products of commercial value, and which may give some insights into cat behavior. But there are several unanswered and unexplored questions, such as why and when cats purr, why they yawn and why some cats eat plants. At the Companion Animal Behavior Program in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis, we are conducting a voluntary web-based survey of the primary caregivers of cats to gather information about the rest of the story. If you are the primary caregiver of an adult cat, your cooperation in taking about 10 minutes to fill out this confidential survey will be appreciated by thousands of cat caregivers when we disseminate the information gained from this survey.

The 2011 Banfield Report: Our own Dr. Nancy Kay’s blog Speaking for Spot has a summary of the 2011 survey from Banfield Pet Hospital, reporting on key trends in veterinary health today. The data comes from more than two million dogs and 450,000 cats seen during 2010. Dr. Kay notes highlights, covering dental disease, flea infestation, diabetes, heartworm and others. Please take the time to read the entire report here.

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.

Image credit: Tick, treeandlawncare.com.

A study presented at the recent North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando looked at the factors impacting the challenges veterinary practices are facing:

One notable factor is that the number of companion-animal practitioners has exploded in the past decade, rising from 30,255 to 44,785 between 1996-97 and 2006-07, a rate of 48 percent — greater than the rate at which the pet population grew during the same period.

The upshot is that the median number of active clients per full-time-equivalent veterinarian is in steady decline, dropping from 1,200 in 2001 to 1,070 in 2009, according to Financial & Productivity Pulse Points, published by the American Animal Hospital Association Press.

The study goes on to suggest that the rising number of practicing veterinarians isn’t creating the problem, but rather, increasing it. Another cause? Believe it or not, the internet.

John Volk, a senior consultant for Brakke Consulting, the firm which produced the study with Bayer Animal Health, pointed to several causes (which Lau  recounts in her article), but he maintains that there are times when spending a day or three doing research on a veterinary issue can become problematic.

Thirty-nine percent of pet owners surveyed indicated that they always or usually look online first when they notice that their pets are sick or injured.

Fifteen percent completely or somewhat agreed with the statement, “With the Internet, I don’t rely on the vet as much.”

Volk acknowledged that some pets recover on their own but said that in those that don’t, the delay in treatment is evident to practitioners. “I’m seeing pets three days sicker these days,” one veterinarian told researchers.

It’s a thought-provoking study, and I hope people study its conclusions carefully. Veterinarians are too important to lose or take for granted.

The Honest Kitchen’s new vendor pledge: On the heels of one recall after another for various types of contamination, it’s refreshing to see a pet food company taking a firm stand for saftety.  The Honest Kitchen (full disclosure: a Pet Connection sponsor) is instituting a formal vendor pledge. Meaning, if you’re going to do business with THK by supplying them with ingredients, you must certify your adherence to a series of guidelines, including:

• Not genetically modified or subject to engineered recombinant DNA technology
• Verification that it is free of chemicals or adulterants
• Post-harvest handling: verification that it is free of chemical preservatives such as Ethoxyquin
• Sustainability and fair-trade attributes where applicable
• Verification of screening for contaminants such as salmonella, e-Coli, Coliform, lead, arsenic, mercury and melamine, in accordance with human food safety standards
• A promise that the ingredient does not originate from China

That wasn’t so hard now, was it? Certain companies out there would do well to follow THK’s lead. We don’t need to name them here.

Pet flight travel report: Did you know there’s a site where you can view an accounting of recent incidents in pet flight travel? Check out petflight.com‘s page on December 2010 reports. Since Gina’s Faith (a.k.a. FayBee, Charter Member of the Bad Girls’ Club) is going to be boarding a plane later this week for a little vacation, I thought this would be a good time to get the word out. Have fun, FayBee! Try to be nice to the inflight crew, OK?

Texas police dog undergoing treatment: A police dog from Waco, Texas is being treated at the famed University of California-Davis Veterinary Hospital for a life-threatening case of leptospirosis. News 10 of central Texas has the story. Last fall I was fortunate enough to get a guided tour of the hospital where Torro is being treated. It’s an incredible facility.  Torro is in excellent hands.

Life’s ruff: A man named Chris Dignan has created a program called “Life’s Ruff,” which is a show about shelter dogs trained to do some great stuff. There’s a video here, which you might end up watching a few times.

Puppy Bowl VII approaches: Next Sunday afternoon, there will be a nationally televised event that people have been waiting for all year. Parties are held to celebrate the athletic achievement. Commercials for the event cost more. No, I’m not talking about the Packers playing the Steelers in Arlington, Tex. I’m referring to Puppy Bowl VII, being shown on Animal Planet. This past week, the starting lineups were unveiled. Facebook users can take part in official betting pools on who the MVP (Most Valuable Puppy) will be. I have a favorite, but I’m not sayin’ who it is.

Important flow chart: People like me (dog owners who don’t have cats…what did you think I meant?) need simple visual aids to understand how the other half lives. I stumbled upon this handy dandy chart, and I feel I’m better informed now.

Hamster agility! I’ve seen dog agility. I’ve seen cat tricks. I’ve seen remarkable horses. Agile rabbits. I’ve never seen this.
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Doxy in snow: I’m asked a lot whether Cami and Harry like heavy snowfalls, and how they cope. This might be as good an answer as any (thanks, Ericka).
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Not one but TWO pictures of the day:
A very, VERY good Golden retriever (thanks again, Patti), and a street sweeper in Moscow who would prefer not to disturb some citizens (thanks to Marge for that one).

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: Cat with veterinarian, Flickr Creative Commons (Jeffrey Beall)

The topic is dog coats. Not the fur, but the coat you buy so they can wear in the cold, ice and snow. The Wall Street Journal‘s Gwendolyn Bounds discusses the need for small, short-haired dogs or those without a good, thick undercoat to have extra protection in the winter.

“There’s no question in winter with rain, snow and ice that these dogs are more at risk because of their size and inability to keep body heat,” says [Dr.] René Carlson, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Normal dog body temperature runs 101 to 102 degrees. A drop in body temperature of five or six degrees can put dogs at risk of low blood pressure and kidney damage, as well as decreased blood flow to the liver and brain, which can possibly lead to hypothermia.

Elderly or ailing animals may need to don extra layers, regardless of their breed, says [Dr.] Stephen Zawistowski, science adviser to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

In the extreme cold, and particularly on salted walkways, consider booties, too.

Labradors are No. 1 again, maybe: Labrador Retrievers are the most popular dog in America for the 20th straight year, according to the American Kennel Club. The full list of breed rankings  is here, but pardon me for not giving this news top billing.  Here’s why: The AKC’s registration numbers have been falling steadily, and if a dog isn’t AKC registered, it doesn’t count. Most dogs, even purebreds, probably aren’t AKC registered these days. So an accurate accounting of the country’s top pooch is anyone’s guess. Maybe it is the Labrador retriever, but it could also be another breed. A good guess: the pit bull.

Big news from Petmate: Two important happenings were announced last week at pet-products giant Petmate (full disclosure: a Pet Connection sponsor). They acquired Bamboo Products, the folks who brought you Fat Cat. The bigger news is that Petmate itself has been bought by a private equity firm called Wind Point Partners, based in Chicago. Interesting developments.

PETA’s at it again: In the timeless logic of PETA, No Kill is the same thing as hoarding. Hey, I didn’t say it made sense, that it was correct, or that it was even a defensible statement, I just said that’s their logic. In the current issue of PETA’s Animal Times magazine, they make their case, such as it is (it’s not available online to link to). Gregory Castle points out the problem in his recent, wordy Best Friends blog post.

PETA’s presiding mentality on pets appears to overlap that of a hoarder at the motivational level: obsessive control of pets and an almost phobic aversion to risk when it comes to trusting the public with the care of animals.

Hoarders believe that no one but themselves can be trusted to look after their animals, so they keep them under lock and key. They are blind to the pain and suffering they inflict as a result of their obsessive risk aversion.

PETA, too, is obsessively risk-averse when it comes to pets. Like hoarders, they believe that most people can’t be trusted with the care of a pet, but rather than keep them under lock and key, PETA simply kills them or advocates for killing them. They, too, are blind to the effects of depriving an animal of its most fundamental right — the right to life.

That’s about right. Altogether everybody: Why is anyone still listening to PETA?

Baltic update: Remember Baltic? The dog who was found drifting on an ice floe last year? H was adopted by his rescuers, and he’d be the first to tell you life is good now. The story is at Dogster.

There’s no excuse: Fair warning — this story will make you very angry. An 11-week-old hairless Sphynx kitten was being transported from Utah to Connecticut. The flight landed in 7 degree temperatures, and then sat on the tarmac for close to an hour. Pawcurious hits the nail on the head.

This was totally preventable. TOTALLY.

Yes, it was.

Requiem for a clinic: The saddest article I read all week wasn’t about the loss of any single animal, but a Salon piece recounting the end of a veterinary clinic. I’d be very interested in the opinions of veterinarians out there on lessons to be drawn from the story.

Catty positions: I think this big chart should be enlarged and framed. I just love it.

Video time!!

Thanks to Ericka for this one. If I remember correctly, this ad for EDS debuted two years ago on Super Bowl Sunday. Cowboys herding cats.
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Simon’s Cat is having a tough time in the snow. I know this didn’t take place in our yard because you wouldn’t be able to see Simon behind the four foot high snowdrifts, and the bird would be a colorful block of ice.
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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.
Photo credit: Dog with coat, Getty Images.

Is your list of pet-related gifts completed yet? If not, relax; we’ve compiled a list of suggestions from across the media spectrum. We even checked it twice.

First, we’ve got a selection of gadgets from the Mashable gang. A few of them are ho hum, or been there, done that, but I have a personal favorite — bacon flavored bubbles.

Also from Mashable is the Cat Attack scratching post that makes kitteh feel like Catzilla. (Pictured; thanks to Susan F. for the tip)

The Orange County Register has suggestions of their own. You can check them out, but here are a few holiday factoids from a recent Pet Supplies Plus survey:

• 56 percent of pet owners will spend more on their pets than their in-laws.
• 58% of pets will unwrap their own gifts
• 49% of people will sing holiday songs to their pets
• 63% of people will make special holiday treats for their pets
• 19% of pets will have New Year’s resolutions made for them by their owners.

I just want to say that if I had the temerity to make a New Year’s resolution on Cami’s behalf, it would be broken by first thing New Year’s morning. She doesn’t like people putting words in her mouth…just breakfast, dinner, and the occasional snack.

Bird counting time: It’s December, so that means it’s once again time for the annual Christmas Bird Count. PetHobbyist links to the Audubon Society‘s story.

From December 14 through January 5 tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas take part in an adventure that has become a family tradition among generations. Families and students, birders and scientists, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists go out on an annual mission – often before dawn. For over one hundred years, the desire to both make a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated people to leave the comfort of a warm house during the Holiday season.

If you want to get involved, click here.

Dr. Merck involved in new controversy: It was just a week ago that I noted an NPR profile of Dr. Melinda Merck, the animal CSI expert who works with the ASPCA. Dr. Merck is now at the center of a whole other kind of story, this one much less complimentary, and also much stranger. Read this odd tale from the Sun-Sentinel.

Censorship in the Old Dominion. I once lived in Arlington, Virginia, so this one caught my attention. There’s a dog park in the Shirlington neighborhood, and overlooking it is a 1,000 square foot wall-sized mural. That mural is the subject of a federal lawsuit. Why? Because there’s some question as to whether it’s art (permissible) or advertising (not so much at that size). Details at Business Week.

Those wacky, zany jokesters from PETA are at it again: PETA is a godsend for news hounds like me. I love them for exactly the same reason that late night comedians love Sarah Palin: you can never have enough great material at your disposal. This time, it’s about the Pope, animals, and condoms. I thought USA Today‘s Faith and Reason column was deliciously restrained in their reporting. Thanks, PETA. As long as you’re still in business, I’ll never run out of reasons to mock you.

Find Marisol! Marisol is a very cute, mixed breed 3 year-old dog from Medford, Mass.  She’s been missing for more than a month after a terrible moment at the Middlesex Fells Reservation. The Boston Globe reports that the search for Marisol is noteworthy because it has taken so many forms, thanks to the creativity of her owners, Andrew and Anindita. They met while working together at MIT’s Media Lab, so I retain hope that if Marisol can be found, they will find her.

Generosity from Paul Allen: The co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, dropped out of Washington State University. Nevertheless, he has given the university’s current $1 billion campaign a boost. Allen donated $26 million — the largest single gift in the school’s history — to expand WSU’s School for Global Animal Health (SGAH). As a result, it has been renamed the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health. Thanks to the News-Tribune for the story.

Chicken wedding: I cannot end today’s column without giving due mention to a particular post from the Painting Puppies blog. Alert reader Cathy B. thought I might be interested in the post’s video about a momentous chicken wedding. Ok, not me so much as someone else on our staff who has a backyard collection of featherheads….

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: Cat attack scratching post, mashable.com. Mural, ij.org. Marisol, boston.com.

The truth about FIV: The three letters every cat owner dreads need not be a death sentence.  Cats can live long, happy lives with proper care, so getting the skinny (sorry, I couldn’t help it) helps. The first step, though, is separating the facts from the misinformation.  Ingrid at The Conscious Cat has given us a readable, easy to understand post on what’s true about FIV and what’s not.  For instance:

Myth: FIV can be spread through casual contact, such as cats sharing the same food or water bowls, or cats grooming each other.

Fact: FIV is transmitted primarily through deep, penetrating bite wounds. Casual, non-aggressive contact of cats living in the same household does not spread the virus. On rare occasions, the virus is transmitted from the mother cat to her kittens, usually during passage of the kittens through the birth canal, or when they ingest infected milk.

Dogs, ice water, and bloat: I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read the urban myth email insisting that very cold water (especially ice water) on a hot day will kill my dogs. Guess what, gang? It’s Not True. Thanks to our BFF Dr. Patty Khuly’s Fully Vetted blog for this one…

Frigid water gastric “cramping” is a falsehood akin to those that inform you that your hair will grow back coarser if you shave it (myth), or that you shouldn’t go swimming for 30 minutes after eating lest you drown in a fit of cramps (myth). And though it’s not a big deal to warn people about something that will at the very least do no harm should they avoid it, it drives me crazy to get these e-mails, nonetheless.

Go Dr. Khuly!

The best place in America to be a dog is….my house. No, sorry. According to a DogFancy poll spotlighted in USA Today, Provincetown, Mass. is DogTown USA for 2010.  This just adds another reason why P-Town (as New Englanders fondly refer to it) is such a terrific destination, along with restaurants, shops, galleries, Race Point, great beaches, and just plain cool people (the previous statement sponsored by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce).   Provincetown was followed in the poll by…

• Carmel, Calif.
• Madison, Wis.
• Benicia, Calif.
• Fort Bragg, Calif.
• Lincoln City, Ore.
• San Diego, Calif.
• Virginia Beach, Va.
• Sioux Falls, S.D.
• Salem, Ore.

I’m surprised Key West didn’t make the top ten. Do you think your humble burg should get a shout out? Tell us why!

The new era of pet travel includes veterinarians: In 2009, more than 4 million animals worldwide traveled by plane.  According to this Travel Examiner post, the newest offering of the pet travel industry involves global veterinary flight services.  What’s that?  Let’s say you’re relocating from the US to Tel Aviv or Zurich, and you’re bringing your Persian cat, a chinchilla and two Vizslas with you. With this service, a veterinarian can advise clients on vaccinations and precautions beforehand, as well as the diseases and infections to be aware of in the destination country, and more. There’s not just one but two pioneers for the new service: Animal Airways and Israeli-based Terminal 4 Pets.

My favorite picture and caption this week….come from Disapproving Rabbits.

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: Cat Kiss, consciouscat.net.

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.

This last week, the LAFD’s daring and heroic rescue of a drowning dog triggered a lot of the hate mail. My response, outlined in this blog post, was a Facebook fan page to thank firefighter Joe St. Georges that now has more than 5,000 members. The L.A. Times poll says 98 percent agree with what the LAFD did, and firefighter St. Georges himself has been buried in appreciative cards and letters, including these abso-freakin’-lutely adorable ones from second-graders in Northern California, picture sent to me by their teacher, Kerry Forni, who also has flat-coated retrievers, which is how she knew where to send the shot.

All this pro-pet news really drove the haters nuts, to judge from the volume of hate we vaporized this week.

The rest of the hate I figure is a full moon thing. Love the ones that say, “All you people ever write about is pets.” Hello? Look at the top of the page. “Pet Connection.” What on earth did you expect to find here? An historical analysis of the Nazi occupation of Poland?

But here’s what has really made me guffaw — what a great word, huh? — this afternoon: There’s one regular hate-spammer who lands in our spam filter at least three-four times a day. His ho-hum refrain, coming from different e-mail addies but always the same IP address (and the same misspelled words)  is this: Pets are stupid. People who love pets are stupid. People who love pets hate people. Blah blah blah blah blah.

You never see this nut-case’s comments, because they go straight into the spam filter, as I said. Every few days Christie or I glance through all the spam for porn and mail-order pharmaceuticals looking for real, on-point comments that have accidentally landed there. We liberate those, and then we  hit “delete all” and zap the rest.  We barely glance at what this dope writes. Frankly, his comments are worse than stupid:  Stupid can be amusing, but boring never is.

And yet, he keeps on writing it, apparently never, ever noticing that no one ever sees it.

Seriously, dude, not even the stupidest pet is that stupid.

The amazing story of Druse the Dachshund:

Ketamine recall:   The Teva Pharmaceuticals story is only getting worse, and of course we’re on it.   Nobody is doing a better job of keeping on top of the unfolding saga than our own Christie Keith.  Her most recent Pet Connection post on the case, in case you missed it, should be bookmarked (until the next one).    In that post is a link to her fuller SFGate column, which, if you haven’t seen it, is required reading.

This void of information, from the highest corporate levels of Big Pharma, to the halls of government, right down to the plight of a sick dog and his worried owner, does as much damage to public health as tainted food and drugs.

It does it by destroying trust. People lose faith in their doctors, pet owners lose faith in their veterinarians, and veterinarians and doctors as well as average citizens lose faith in agencies like the FDA, ostensibly tasked with protecting both human and animal health.

“The domino effect applies,” observed Fiala. “Everybody falls.”

It bears repeating: if your pet is going to be facing surgery, make sure both you and your veterinarian are fully up to speed on what is and is not considered safe right now (and be aware that today’s list might not be tomorrow’s).

Paying tribute to Zak the Police Dog: My eldest niece (I say “eldest” like she’s 80.  Leigh is in her 20′s) lives in Connecticut and was struck by the tribute to Zak, a German Shepherd who, by all reports, was a tremendous public servant.  Zak passed away suddenly on December 12, and all of Stratford’s official community came out to pay tribute, plus more.

Police from towns and cities across Connecticut and even New York, including 44 K-9 teams, plus a number of Stratford firefighters and town residents, attended Friday’s service for Zak to pay their respects.

The dogs’ barking mingled with the mournful wail of bagpipes in tribute to their fallen comrade, and some handlers and people in the audience brushed away tears during the ceremony.

If you’re up to it, a slideshow of Zak’s memorial service is here.   Thank you for your faithful service, Zak.  You were a very, very good dog.

Rescue dogs heading for Haiti: The nation of Haiti has been devastated by a massive earthquake. The country was environmentally damaged and crippled with poverty and corruption even before the powerful 7.0 quake destroyed what some estimate as half its buildings.

Haitian rescue organizations are overwhelmed, and many citizens are either dead or trapped under rubble. A number of nations, including France and the United States, are sending aid and other forms of assistance, including dogs specially trained to search for survivors in the aftermath of earthquakes.

From USA Today:

The United States and other nations began organizing aid efforts, alerting search teams and gathering supplies that will be badly needed in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. The International Federation of the Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations.

The U.S. Agency for International Development was dispatching a disaster response team and deploying search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Va., and Los Angeles. The search teams include six sniffer dogs that can search for people trapped in wreckage.

The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, “a non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen America’s emergency response network by producing the most highly-trained canine-firefighter disaster search teams in the nation,” is also on its way to Haiti:

National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to recruiting rescued dogs and partnering them with firefighters to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters, today announced six Canine Search Teams are en route to Haiti to assist with search and rescue efforts in response to the powerful 7.0 earthquake that struck the island on January 12. The State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance are working in conjunction with California Task Force 2 (CA-TF2), a FEMA urban search and rescue task force based in Los Angeles County.

CA-TF2, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, is one of two U.S. Task Forces charged with responding to international natural or man-made disasters. All six teams deploying with CA-TF2 were trained by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation to find people buried alive under the wreckage of disasters.

“The Haitian government has requested assistance from the U.S. in responding to the most devastating earthquake to hit the island in 200 years,” said Debra Tosch, Executive Director of Search Dog Foundation. “We know that the first few hours after a major disaster has occurred are critical in saving lives and the search and recovery teams are in place now.”

Hope you caught that — these are rescue and shelter dogs on their way to help people in need. All of us at Pet Connection hope their mission is a successful one for the people of Haiti and these brave dogs and their handlers.

Got a tip?  Got a story?  Don’t keep it to yourself.  Send it to me, or give me a shout in the comments.

Photo credit: Doxie in field: DPA