This is “Jet” a nine month old Los Angeles shelter rescue, and kittens.. Born o/a April 12, 2008..

Homes are now being scrutinized! Several have wonderful homes waiting til they are weaned..

Make some noise while you walk around the neighborhood! Animals can hear you from great distances. If your pet has a favorite “squeaky toy” bring it along and use it to help you make familiar noises. It’s also important to stop regularly, be quiet, and listen for your pet to make a noise in reply. Especially at dawn and dusk.

Place strong-scented articles outside your home to attract your pet. Leaving the pets bed, a piece of your clothes or personal blanket. They will help to give the pet an anchor to stay near or on if he or she is lost when you are away from home or if you have to leave the last area where you saw your pet.

Put flyers everywhere. It is extremely important to post MANY flyers within at least a 1-mile radius of where it was lost. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME OR ADDRESS ON YOUR FLYER! List the date and place your pet was lost, breed of dog or cat, sex, age, weight, color, markings, and your telephone number. Offer a reward, but don’t state the amount. It is very important to always withhold several identifying marks and characteristics of your lost pet. Beware of the scammer. Post the flyers at waist level on telephone poles and at eye level in such places as veterinary offices, pet shops, beauty shops, grocery stores, community bulletin boards, churches, pizza parlors, convenience stores, near schools, and on school bulletin boards, on windshields, in mailboxes, fire stations, Starbucks, food trucks and construction worksites. Examine your posted flyers frequently and replace the ones that are missing or damaged.

Walk the neighborhood and talk to everybody. Go to each house in the area where your pet was lost and talk to the residents; give them your flyer. If no one is home, leave the flyer attached to his or her door, don’t forget to bring tape. Talk to everybody you run across ie, neighborhood children and parents waiting at the school bus stop.
This also includes the paperboys, school crossing guards, neighborhood crime watch groups, garbage pick-up crews, postal workers, sanitation workers, construction workers, etc. Give them your flyer.
Place an ad in your local newspaper. Some will do this for free. Be sure to advertise in the Sunday edition as well as during the week. Also place an ad in any “Penny Saver” type of publications. Check the newspaper “found” ads every day. Also check online “Lost and Found”. Most newspapers provide free ads to people who have found lost pets.

Call local veterinarian offices during the day. After 5 PM, call veterinarian emergency clinics. If an office has taken in or treated any animal that even remotely resembles your pet, VISIT THE OFFICE IN PERSON. Your description of your pet and their description of the same pet rarely match. YOU MUST GO SEE FOR YOURSELF!

Get phone numbers of local rescue organizations. The free Pet Press (at the library and pets stores) has current lists. Call each of the rescue organizations and ask for their help and find out if they have your pet. These groups generally network with each other and will pass the word about your case. VISIT your local Animal Control, humane societies, and animal shelters, including the ones in surrounding areas. You must actually visit the animal control and humane shelters every day or two. It works well if several family members can take turns visiting the shelters. Be sure to check all areas of the shelter, including the infirmary. Also be aware that dogs may be housed in the cat section and vice-versa.

Leave a picture of your pet and your phone number at each shelter, befriend them. Find out the holding period of each animal control and humane shelter. Be aware of how much time you have to claim your pet before it is euthanized!

Check shelters out of your area in person and online. A Good Samaritan may have taken your pet in only to have it escape a week or more later.

Don’t ever give up! Pets have been known to find their way back home after being lost for several months.

PREVENTION: Get your pet Micro-chipped, keep tags current.

Keep pet tags current and check that they are still in place and legible. A good idea is to write your phone number directly onto the collar. I do not remove my dog’s collar even when she is being bathed. I have heard the excuse that the lost pet was not wearing a collar and id because they were just bathed.

Your tag should have more then one phone number, your home number, cell, your vet etc.. I keep two collars and tags on my dogs as well as a microchip.

Get an “Acme Dog Whistle”. Blow the whistle whenever you feed or give treats to your pet. Leave the whistle next to the treats so that you will remember to use it, this really works. The high-pitched sound from these whistles can carry up to a mile or more. Cats are attracted to this sound as well as dogs. (It is also a great way to teach a pet the “come command”.)

Keep fence gates closed securely. Self closing gates area good idea. Always transport a cat in a carrier. Never take your cat to the Vet or anywhere else unless it is secured. A hand carried cat can bolt and hide if frightened by loud noises. When a cat is frightened in strange surroundings, especially with traffic noise around, it will hide and will not come to you.

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

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/health/la-he-capsule3mar03,1,417749.story

From the Los Angeles Times

CAPSULE

Catalyst for good?

By Jeannine Stein
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

March 3, 2008

CAT owners are often fiercely loyal to their furry companions — and such devotion may be rewarded in a surprising way: Owning a cat may lower one’s risk of dying from a heart attack.

Non-cat owners appear to have a 40% higher risk of dying from myocardial infarction than those who don’t have a cat, according to a study presented at the American Stroke Assn.’s International Stroke Conference last month in New Orleans. Researchers examined the data of 4,435 people from the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. (Dogs didn’t factor into the findings because fewer participants owned them.)

“The big question is,” says lead author Dr. Adnan Qureshi, executive director of the Minnesota Stroke Institute, “is this the direct effect of having a cat or a variable of people who own cats?”

Adds Qureshi: “There isn’t enough evidence to recommend [getting a cat] as a standard practice. But the flip side is that unlike other medical interventions, which have a risk and a cost associated with it, this has minimal risk and isn’t as costly. There’s not much harm to it.”

The exact cause of feline acne is not known, but several factors appear to be associated with its development including stress, a suppressed immune system, poor grooming habits, the presence of other diseases, contact or atopic dermatitis, and skin conditions in which abnormal amounts of oils are produced and the hair follicles do not function properly.

Multiple comedones form on the chin and lips of the cat, and the chin may appear “dirty.” The comedones can develop into small abscesses, which break open and form crusts. In severe cases, draining tracts, hair loss, and swelling may develop on the chin. It may be itchy and cause the cat to scratch, which can lead to even more trauma to the area. Secondary bacterial infections can develop. The condition may appear only once in the life of a cat, it may come and go, or may remain for the life of the cat. In Persian cats, the condition may also affect the face and skin folds.

Feline acne occurs equally in male and female cats, and in cats of all ages and breeds.

Skin scrapings may be performed to rule out other causes of similar lesions such as demodicosis, Malassezia (yeast) infections, allergies, ringworm, and a condition called eosinophilic granuloma complex. A skin biopsy may also be performed to rule out these conditions. A culture and sensitivity may be performed if a secondary bacterial infection is suspected.

Feline acne can be controlled, but is not really “cured.” Very mild cases of feline acne in which there are no symptoms may not be treated. In other cases, antiseborrheic shampoos, such as those containing benzoyl peroxide (at a concentration of 3% or less), are used to break down the excess oils. Supplementation with fatty acids may be beneficial. Oral or topical antibiotics may be used if there is a secondary bacterial infection. Topical vitamin A (0.05% Retin-A) can often be used, but it is irritating, and needs to be applied very sparingly. Oral retinoid (Isotretinoin) therapy may be used in severe cases, but the drug is teratogenic (causes birth defects) in cats and humans, and needs to be handled very carefully. If there is a large amount of inflammation, a short course of corticosteroids, such as prednisone may be given.

Any underlying conditions such as ringworm, a Demodex infestation, or a yeast infection should be treated appropriately.

It may be helpful to switch food and water dishes to a stainless steel or glass variety in the event an allergic reaction may be a contributing factor (cats can be allergic to plastics and dyes). Using a very shallow dish can also be helpful. Owners should regularly clean the chins of cats who are prone to the development of feline acne and/or have poor grooming habits.