Dogs and Cats 101 » rescue

The ULTIMATE PET FINDER!! Tags.. PET FINDER

Jan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:03:40 +0000

Pet Finder.. Tags .. my personal endorsement..

You may have noticed that Jordan, The gorgeous Doberman who’s photo is on my blog, is wearing not just one tag, but THREE.. She also has a micro chip and is never out of our site..

I know of too many stories about dogs that are lost from the groomer, the vet, during a thunderstorm, in a car accident, from the airline… These heart breaking stories have made us overly protective.

A friend found a dog last month with a chip that had a non working number as well as an old ID TAG.. This old Sheltie had lived with someone for over a dozen years.

How excited was I to learn about pet finder tags. Now Jordan has a forth tag on a second collar.. this tag is light, tough and will call 3 numbers if Jordan is “misplaced”.. My cell, my son’s phone and the number of our vet…

I also got one for my Mac Book and for my camera … you get two in a package..

CLICK THEIR LINK. Let me know what you think.. $19.99 for TWO!

A forever tag.. Number can be changed instantly..

Jan

Are You Sure Your Pet Bird Gets All the Nutrients He Needs?

Jan — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:47:21 +0000

from Dr. Karen Becker

Are You Sure Your Pet Bird Gets All the Nutrients He Needs?

Jan’s 23 year old Huey and Seattle

Calling all bird owners!

In this short video, Dr. Karen Becker shares her tips for a balanced, nutritious diet that will have your pet bird feeling and looking his best.

Pet bird nutrition has evolved over the last half century.

Once upon a time bird owners were told all they needed to feed their pets were fortified seed diets. When my avian veterinarian 30 years ago suggested I add legumes and fresh veggies to the all seed diet I fed my birds, I assumed I was offering my flock the best diet imaginable.

Nowadays, much more is known about the specific nutritional requirements of domesticated birds.

Whether your bird is a psittacine such as a budgie parakeet, cockatiel, or a macaw, or a passerine like a finch or canary, you can dramatically influence the health and behavior of your feathered companion by feeding a balanced, nutritious diet.

If You’re Still Feeding a Seed-Based Diet, It’s Time for a Change

Today, your avian veterinarian is likely to recommend you replace your bird’s seed-based diet with a much more nutritious pelleted-based diet — preferably organic, dye and chemical free.

These diets come in the form of pellets, crumbles or nuggets. You can find them easily at pet stores, vet offices, and online. The formulations differ depending on what type of bird you have, so you’ll want to choose a blend suitable for your pet.

If you own a macaw or a Golden conure, for example, you’ll probably choose a formulation with a higher fat content. If your pet is an Amazon or perhaps a cockatoo, you’ll want to choose a diet low in fat and higher in protein.

If you’re not sure which formulation is best for your bird, check with your avian veterinarian.

To round out the pelleted diet and balance your bird’s nutritional intake, I recommend you add the following items:

Fresh fruits and veggies, preferably organic
Legumes and whole grain pasta
Whole, unsalted raw nuts
Seeds, but they should account for no more than 30 percent of the diet

Tips for Adding Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

As every bird owner knows, your pet can be quite finicky when it comes to her food.

If your bird is used to a seed or pellet diet, you should anticipate a period during which the fruits and veggies you offer her will wind up everywhere but in her mouth.

Don’t be surprised if your bird drops her healthy fresh food out of the cage or flings it against a wall. She may play with it, shred it, or ignore it completely. And this behavior may go on for several months, but don’t despair.

This is where your patience and persistence will pay off. Your bird might be finicky, but she’s also naturally inquisitive. Given time and the consistent presence of a new food, most birds will eventually be curious enough to sample, and then begin to eat it.

There are a wide variety of vegetables you can add to your bird’s diet, including:

Broccoli	Eggplant	Peppers (sweet)	Sugar snap or snow peas
Carrots	Endive	Radicchio	Squash
Cauliflower	Green Beans	Radishes	Sweet potatoes
Collard greens	Kale	Red potatoes (cooked)	Tomatoes
Corn	Kohlrabi	Red beets (peeled)	Turnips
Cucumber	Parsley	Romaine lettuce	Turnip and beet greens

Healthy fruits you can incorporate include:

Apples	Cantaloupe	Oranges
Apricots	Cherries	Peaches
Banana	Cranberries	Pears
Berries	Grapes	Pineapple

Does Your Bird Have Any of These Problems?

As pet bird nutrition science has continued to improve, birds are living longer, healthier lives.

However, over the years I noticed something about many of the domesticated birds I saw at Feathers Bird Clinic, my avian hospital. It seemed even high quality nutrition wasn’t enough to eliminate certain health and behavior problems, including:

Dull feather coat with poor pigmentation
Excessive powder down
Flaky beak and nails
Over grooming and self-mutilation
Itchy, irritated skin
Toe-tapping, wind-flapping and feather picking

I realized that even with the great strides made in understanding pet bird nutrition, something was still amiss when it came to providing optimal wellness for birds living in captive environments.

Birds in the wild get a much wider variety of nutrition than domesticated birds. They have access to types of seeds and berries, for example, which are simply impossible for you to provide to your companion bird.

Wild birds also have natural sunlight, complete freedom of movement, and the ability to create their own preferred habitats. These are things your pet living inside your home does not have, even though many avian owners do a wonderful job simulating as closely as possible a natural environment for their birds.

Your Feathered Companion Might be Deficient in This Important Nutrient

Around the time I was trying to solve the puzzle of why even nutritionally sound birds continued to experience certain health challenges, I was also coming to terms with the fact that I needed more fatty acids in my own diet.

These were seemingly unrelated circumstances, however, it occurred to me it might be that my birds and many others I saw at my avian hospital weren’t getting a healthy supply of fatty acids, either.

As soon as I began supplementing my flock’s diet with essential fatty acids, I noticed several improvements. My African gray’s dull tail, which also had a stress bar (a horizontal black line devoid of color or pigment), became a vibrant red color and the stress marks disappeared.

My umbrella cockatoo’s flaky beak and very dry feet improved.

And my eclectus with the dull green feathers, some of which were actually black, returned to his wonderful bright green hue.

I noticed a dramatic improvement not only in the condition and appearance of my flock’s feathers, but also in their attitudes and behaviors. They were better able to focus, and in fact, my African gray’s vocabulary began to expand.

The remarkable positive changes I witnessed in my flock made me understand my birds had been dealing with the same fatty acid deficiency I was.

If your bird has any of the problems I listed above and you’re feeding an appropriate pelleted diet plus the add-ons I mentioned, he might be lacking in essential fatty acids. These fatty acids are called “essential” because they must come from the diet – neither humans nor birds make them naturally.

What Kind of Essential Fatty Acids Does My Bird Need?

Humans can supplement their diets with fish-based oil like krill oil to get essential fatty acids.

But pet birds and psittacines in particular, are natural vegetarians. They can eat certain bugs and lizards (black palm cockatoos in the wild have been reported to consume some types of lizards), but in general, domesticated birds are not carnivores.

Carnivorous birds are called raptors and include hawks, eagles and falcons. Raptors do require meat as part of a balanced, nutrient-rich diet.

When I started giving my flock coconut oil as their fatty acid supplement, the changes were dramatic. Three months after I added the oil to their diets, the condition of their feather coats was remarkably improved.

Six months and a full molt later, they looked like different birds – so much so that I documented the changes in pictures. I also started recommending coconut oil to clients at my avian clinic.

One of my colleagues, Dr. Greg Harrison, has produced a derivative from a certain palm berry called red palm oil or dende oil. This oil is very high in beta-carotenes or carotinoids which supply natural vitamin A.

If you own a colorful bird, the vitamin A from red palm oil can enhance the vibrancy of your bird’s plumage, in addition to enhancing his immune function.

I recommend you offer your bird a small amount of coconut or red palm oil every day to insure his essential fatty acid requirements are met. I think you’ll be delighted at the changes you’ll see in his plumage and the health and condition of his feather coat.

Less obvious but just as important will be the improvement in your bird’s immune system function, which will lead to a longer, healthier life for your avian companion.

PurrEver Ranch Sanctuary (hospice for Senior cats)

Jan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:34:01 +0000

URGENT!!!!!

PurrEver Ranch is in dire need of permanent housing. Our landlord passed and the property has been appraised. Widow has been advised to sell.

We despurrately need to find a new home and soon. Ideally, we would like a farm on at least 50 acres with barns but a country home on 10 acres with a workshop would be a dream come true.

SOMEONE OUT THERE CAN MAKE A DREAM
COME TRUE AND SAVE MANY, MANY LIVES.
PLEASE HELP US FIND A NEW HOME!!

DONATIONS NEEDED TO SECURE PERMANENT HOUSING!!!

We would like to stay in this area but
will relocate should property be donated.

Please remember to include PurrEver Ranch in your will.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!! It is exactly the type of shelter I would like to have..

please donate if you can.. Jan

PurrEver Ranch Sanctuary … link
501c (A Hospice For Senior Kittizens)

“Providing A Hospice For Homeless, Elderly Felines

A Chance To Live Out Their Lives In Peace
With Dignity, Compassion & Love”

PurrEver Ranch rescues senior felines from shelter euthanization.

Providing a safe hospice where the homeless,

senior kittizens live the rest of their lives blanketed in love.

PurrEver Ranch also feeds two feral colonies every day.

Taming feral kittens to avoid shelter euthanization–

returning to shelter to be adopted after they are gentled.

PurrEver Ranch is a place of refuge for cats that would otherwise perish -

the old, the abandoned, the abused, the sick & the suffering.

FOUND… a Lost Pomeranian male (owner was found)

Jan — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:36:14 +0000

Needed to get it on the web. Saw this sign while walking “Holly GoLightly”.

The man who found him will be getting him scanned.

LOST CAT.. Feb. 11, 2008 in Los Angeles

Jan — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:20:40 +0000

Shelter needs HELP!!! not money..

Jan — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:45:13 +0000

Please Cross post

PLEASE HELP US
and “NO” we don’t need your Money!!
We run a dog rescue shelter in Mallorca, a small island off of Spain.
Our shelter has a no-kill policy & although we re-home dogs every week,
some of our resident dogs have been with us for years.
The animal-abuse level is horrible over here. We regularly rescue and
nurse back to health, dogs that have been used for dog-fighting, dogs that
have been hung by the neck with the tips of their paws just balancing on
the ground to prolong the agony, and generally dogs that have just been
abandoned or starved.
We successful re-home hundreds of dogs a year to nice animal-loving
people on the Island.
Next week, Palma Council plan to close us down. We’ve fought with them
for years, but there’s every chance that next week on VALENTINES DAY
FEBRUARY 14TH, they’re going to send the Police into us & confiscate all
of our resident dogs, cats, donkeys and horses.
Mallorca is very much an island that depends on tourism, probably over
60% of the islands income is from tourists.
So we’ve been running a ‘COMPLAIN TO THE MAYORESS’ EMAIL
campaign getting anyone we can to email the Mayoress of Palma & ask her
NOT TO CLOSE THE CENTRO CANINO.
The more bad press we can get for the Council, the more we can get
people complaining to them, the more chance our dogs have to live. Palma
can’t afford to look like a cruel city. It lives for tourism.
The email campaign seems to be working, the Council are dithering a bit &
there’s now a chance we’ll get a reprieve.
Between now & Valentines DAY, We urgently desperately need a big push, a
huge number of emails & faxes to be sent to the Mayoress urging her to leave
our dog shelter alone.
With your help we can stay open. With your help we can continue saving
the lives of lovely dogs & finding them caring good homes.
PLEASE can you email the letter below to the Mayoress of Palma & (most
most most importantly) forward this email to all of your supporters and
any/all animal lovers you know, so that they will email or fax the Mayoress.
Your help is incredibly appreciated & obviously if there is ever anything we
can do in return for you,
You have only to ask.
www.newcentrocanino.com will take you to our website, where you can
see what we’re trying to achieve. The dogs on the ‘For Adoption’ page are
just some of the dogs that Palma Council plan in killing on Valentines day.
www.palmademallorca.es will take you to Palma Council’s own website, if
you’d like to know more about our city.
www.boycottpalma.com is a campaign to try and get Palma Council to
give in & allow the Centro Canino to stay open.
PLEASE HELP US. PLEASE EMAIL THE MAYORESS OF PALMA….
Here is her email address..
omic@a-palma.es
batlia@a-palma.es
oit@conselldemallorca.net
010@a-palma.es
palmainfo@a-palma.es
info@playadepalma.net
arxiu@a-palma.es
infopsoe@psoe.es
+ please cc your email to
centrocanino@centrocaninointernacional.org
Fax: +34 971 176185 – Palma Tourist Office
Fax +34 971 225920 – Palma Council
If possible please cc a copy of your email to:
julieford@centrocaninointernacial.org & to
oit@conselldemallorca.net (which is the local tourism office)
The more we can inundate them with emails etc. over the next few
days, the much more chance we have of staying open and helping
the dogs and cats.
Here is the letter we’d be so grateful if you will send, obviously feel
free to change/add to it in any way that you like.
———————
Dear Lady Mayoress,
It is with sadness that I learn that you plan to forcibly close the Centro
Canino dog shelter and take away their dogs to be killed. The Centro Canino
do not ask for money from you, they ask nothing of you except to be left alone
to try & get on with the good job of finding homes for abandoned and
harmed dogs.
Please re-consider & allow the Centro Canino to carry on saving the lives of
neglected animals.
Spain is part of Europe, it is a modern country, please have a more modern
outlook regarding animal welfare. Please change you mind and do the right
thing. Leave the Centro Canino alone.
Thank-you for your time,I look forward to your reply,
_________________________
———————–
So please send an email to the Mayoress of Palma,
and MOST MOST MOST MOST MOST IMPORTANTLY forward
this email to all your supporters/friends & anyone You can think of
who’s animal lover.
We need 100s of people to email the Mayoress & her officers in the
next few days.
This is an honest chance for You to make a difference, I really believe
that, if you help us, and enough other animal lovers help us in the
next week, you’ll be helping save the lives of dozens of really lovely,
really friendly, intelligent good dogs, not to mention cats, donkeys,
horses and elephants.
OK – not elephants!!
THANK-YOU SO SO MUCH FOR
YOUR HELP
Best wishes,
Andrew Benjamin
on behalf of the Centro Canino Dog Shelter

please-help-us1.pdf
———————–

NITRO Senior Pet Rescue

Jan — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:14:06 +0000

Thank you to those of you who have reached out to help Nitro.. He is now safe.. I am keeping the funds coming in … These will not only be for Nitro, but as a reserve for senior pets who become in need..

Donation Happily accepted for NITRO!

see info in previous blog below:

Fiona the Bulldog

Jan — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:31:20 +0000

From Jan: I have no reason that this is that true.. I checked with snopes.. thought it was worth the post..

Fiona the Bulldog Raffle
via Dethroner by Joel on 9/13/07

This little bulldog pup is named Fiona. She was left unattended by her breeder for three months when she developed sores all over her body, causing her feet to swell up. She was left in a high kill shelter where she was picked up by “Bullies and Bassets,” a dog rescue operation in Florida.

Because bulldogs have inherent problems with their skin and iffy immune systems to begin with, Fiona’s chances looked grim, but it’s been a week since she was rescued and put on antibiotics and things are looking up, but she’ll need a lot of daily care for a long time.

I threw in ten bucks in the raffle that B&B is holding today, the proceeds of which are going entirely to Fiona’s care. We don’t know Fiona or her owners at all–Susie just came across her on Myspace randomly–but it sort of broke our hearts, as we are avowed suckers for bulldogs, especially ones that have been needlessly mistreated. I tossed the widget code in this post if you want to buy a couple of tickets for the raffle, or you can just donate directly to barronjd@gmail.com. Obviously we can’t vouch for them, but it looks like these guys are doing good work, so I figured it might be worth risking a couple of bucks for a sweet pup.

http://myspace.com/friendsoffiona

http://bulliesandbassets.com/B___B_Links.html

Update: Val writes:

Thank you for posting the information about Fiona on your website, that is awesome!! Yes, we are legit, but B&B is not holding the raffle for Fiona, I am. My English Bulldog Rudy has a profile on MySpace and I read Fiona’s story on Petfinder.com, and that’s how it all started, my heart broke after reading what happened to her. I keep in touch with Fiona’s foster mom almost every day and she sends me pictures and updates on Fiona which I post in a bulletin on MySpace to keep everyone up to date on Fiona’s recovery. This little girl has made great strides in her recovery and we all are so happy to see her getting better as each day goes by. The Chip In box expires October 22, I will be sending 100% of all contributions directly to Fiona’s vet to help with the costs of Fiona’s medical care.
Again, thank you, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the time you took to post Fiona’s story and Chip in box on your website.

Don’t screw us over, Val! And thanks!