http://www.petconnection.com/blog The Web blog of the Pet Connection, a pet-care feature syndicated internationally by Universal Press. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:43:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en First, the laugh for the day. Nancy Peterson is drawing names for door prizes and one of the prizes is a 15-minute reading from a cat communicator. Amy Shojai, president of CWA, pipes up: "I don't want to know what my cat thinks." Laughter all around. Marion starts by telling how ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/20/politics-of-pet-food-safety-live-blogging-marion-nestle-at-cwa/ I'm here at the Cat Writers Association conference, and David Frei is speaking on pet-assisted therapy. I apologize in advance for any typos or missing info. I'm typing as fast as I can. I have misspelled Teigh's name throughout, I see; it's Teigh, not Tighe. What they bring to us every ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/20/live-from-white-plains-david-frei-on-animal-assisted-therapy/ The secret ingredient in combating the sky-high incidence of respiratory disease in cats in shelters may turn out to be nothing more than room. "Can you imagine living in a space the size of a bathtub?" Dr. Kate Hurley,  Director of the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at the UC Davis School ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/20/what-do-shelter-cats-need-to-stay-healthy-space/ The San Francisco SPCA announced today that Jan McHugh-Smith would be leaving her position as director in March of next year and returning to her home state of Colorado to be closer to her family and work for the Humane Society Pikes Peak Region. Controversy and criticism have plagued McHugh-Smith and ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/19/director-to-leave-san-francisco-spca/ It's been a while since my head exploded, but all that just ended. Thanks, as usual, to the animal-haters at PETA. I've been following the story of Tom Skeldon, dog warden of Lucas County in Ohio, mostly over on Brent Toellner's KC Dog Blog: Skeldon has been coming under increased fire over ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/19/peta-loves-dog-killers/ Interesting tidbit from the Seattle P-I, courtesy of the AVMA news feed: Kirkland police were called to a veterinary clinic in the city on Oct. 11 after an employee there reported a theft. The employee told police a woman identifying herself as Molly Keicko entered the clinic claiming to be traveling from ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/19/scamming-for-tramadol-a-former-vet-tech-gets-busted/ Suddenly, my brother and I (we're best friends, with different houses,  some merged finances) have more vehicles than we need. He has a convertible, currently blanketed and tucked in gently at our mother's garage until summer. He's driving a used pick 'em up truck. I'm driving a used pick 'em ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/19/truth-in-advertising-so-i-shouldnt-have-mentioned-the-dogs-or-the-bumper-sticker/ Peggy Frezon is a writer whose blog I check in on from time to time, and always enjoy. She also has just about the cutest dog in the world. She came to my attention as one of the contributors to our book, "The Ultimate Dog-Lover." She has a thoughtful little piece ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/19/thanksgiving-your-pets-and-being-grateful/ This morning one of the pet-insurance companies -- not the one that advertises here, please note-- sent out a fear-mongering bulletin on Canine Influenza that was really little more than a sales pitch to sign up for insurance. I am a big believer in pet health insurance (even more after I ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/18/canine-influenza-what-is-it-what-its-not-and-what-you-should-do/ I am not holding my breath, but some cautious and skeptical semi-quasi-optimism about the safety of our food supply is not entirely irrational at this moment, pending the further analysis and developments that will undoubtedly make this all entirely meaningless -- and of course, no mention of the pet food ... http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/11/18/will-our-food-and-our-pets-be-safer-soon/