‘National Mutt Day’ was established to raise awareness regarding the plight of mixed breed dogs in a world where purebred pups are favored. Did you know that mixed breed dogs actually tend to be healthier, better behaved and live longer than their pure bred brethren? It’s a dog eat dog world, so if you’re considering bringing home a new pooch as a holiday gift, then please consider adopting a mutt or you might just be barking up the wrong Christmas tree!
By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com
Dear God, Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must remember to be a good dog.
Nicolas, selected from petMD
Halloween can be a festive and fun time for children and families. But for pets? Let’s face it, it can be a downright nightmare. Forgo the stress and dangers this year by following these 10 easy tips.
1. Candy Isn’t for Pets
All forms of chocolate — especially baking or dark chocolate — can be dangerous, even lethal, for dogs and cats. Symptoms of chocolate poisoning may include vomiting, diarrhea, rapid breathing, increased heart rate and seizures. Halloween candies containing the artificial sweetener xylitol can also be poisonous to dogs. Even small amounts of xylitol can cause a sudden drop in blood sugar and subsequent loss of coordination and seizures. And while xylitol toxicity in cats has yet to be established, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
2. Don’t Leave Pets in the Yard on Halloween.
Sadly, vicious pranksters have been known to tease, injure and steal pets on Halloween night. Inexcusable? Yes. But preventable nonetheless.
3. Keep Pets Confined and Away from the Door.
Not only will your door be constantly opening and closing on Halloween, but strangers will be dressed in unusual costumes and yelling loudly for their candy. This, of course, is scary for our furry friends. Dogs are especially territorial and may become anxious and growl at innocent trick-or-treaters. Putting your dog or cat in a secure room away from the front door will also prevent them from darting outside into the night … a night when no one wants to be searching for a lost loved one.
4. Keep Outdoor cats Inside For Several Days Before and Several Days After Halloween.
Black cats are especially at risk from pranks or other cruelty-related incidents. In fact, many shelters do not adopt out black cats during the month of October as a safety precaution.
5. Keep Halloween Plants Like Pumpkins and Corn Out of Reach.
Although they are relatively nontoxic, such plants can induce gastrointestinal upset should your pets ingest them in large quantities. Intestinal blockage can even occur if large pieces are swallowed.
6. Don’t Keep Lit Pumpkins Around Pets.
Should they get too close, they run the risk of burning themselves or knocking it over and causing a fire.
7. Keep wires and Electric Light Cords Out of Reach.
If chewed, your pet could cut himself or herself on shards of glass or plastic, or receive a possibly life-threatening electrical shock.
8. Don’t Dress Your Pet in a Costume Unless You Know They’ll Love It.
If you do decide that Fido or Kitty needs a costume, make sure it isn’t annoying or unsafe. It should not constrict movement, hearing, or the ability to breathe or bark/meow.
9. Try on Pet Costumes Before the Big Night.
If they seem distressed, allergic, or show abnormal behavior, consider letting them go in their “birthday suit”. Festive bandanas usually work for party poopers, too.
10. IDs, Please!
If your dog or cat should escape and become lost, having the proper identification will increase the chances that they will be returned. Just make sure the information is up-to-date, even if your pet does have one of those fancy-schmancy embedded microchips.
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by Celeste Yarnall
There’s so much that is done to our cats that is accepted and mediocre—so much so that few ever challenge it, especially Western trained veterinarians. But some of these habitual protocols done so mindlessly and often have turned out to be quite harmful for our cats. One of those is the routine use of chemical flea products. Let’s look at what we see advertised today routinely.
Flea collars (whether herbal or insecticidal) don’t work!
They don’t kill fleas, and they don’t even particularly repel them, except for the area right around the collar. The grocery/pet store variety contains concentrated toxic chemicals, and the herbal ones are irritating to odor-sensitive cats. Topical (spot-on or pour-on) flea preventatives are associated with liver disease and other adverse effects in cats. Permethrin, pyrethrin, or pyrethroid-containing products intended for dogs are extremely toxic to cats and have caused many feline deaths. Putting a dog flea product on a cat causes neurological signs (twitching, disorientation, seizures) that ultimately kill about 10 percent of cats.
Healthy cats eating a balanced, properly supplemented raw meat and raw bone diet are much less susceptible to fleas and other parasites. If your cat is experiencing a flea problem, work on improving your cat’s overall health and deal with the immediate parasite situation. This is a “holistic” approach in the truest sense of the word!
The conventional thinking that fleas are the problem is like saying “flies cause garbage” just because the two are often found together. It is the unhealthy state of the animal that attracts the parasites, just like garbage attracts flies.
Fleas, those nasty little blood suckers, are tough, highly evolved parasites that, once entrenched, are not easily eliminated. Fleas are attracted to warmth, moving shadows, and the vibrations from foot (or paw) steps. When dealing with fleas, you need to protect your cat and reach fleas and larvae hiding in carpets and yards. Even exclusively indoor cats can get fleas, which travel in on peoples shoes and clothing. (Keeping your cat indoors, however, will eliminate the risk of ticks.) And removing shoes at your front door keeps fleas out and helps keep other germs out as well.
Adult fleas spend most of their time on the cat, where they feed on blood several times a day. Flea eggs are slippery and quickly fall off the cat and onto the cat’s resting areas, floors, rugs, bedding, and furniture. The eggs hatch and go through several intermediate stages before emerging as adults in as little as two weeks, but they may remain dormant for months. That’s why even if you get rid of the fleas on your cat, reinfestation is a common and very frustrating phenomenon.
A Three-Pronged Approach to Treating Fleas
Try this one-two-three punch to eradicate fleas from your—and your cat’s—life.
ON YOUR CAT:
Use an ultra-fine-tooth flea comb daily. Pay particular attention to the neck, tummy, and base of the tail, which are favorite flea hangouts. Have a glass or bowl full of warm, soapy water at hand to drown any fleas that turn up.
Bathe your cat. Bathing your cat will drown a lot of fleas, but apply soap around the ears and neck first to keep the fleas from rushing up to the cat’s head and face. The herb Erigeron Canadensis (Canadian fleabane), found in some herbal shampoos, will help kill fleas. Bathe no more than once a week.
IN YOUR HOME:
Floor/carpet treatments such as diatomaceous earth (the fossilized shells of one-celled organisms called diatoms) and boric acid–derived powders will kill flea larvae, primarily through dessication (drying). Exterminators use borates; you can either hire professionals to treat your home or do it yourself. For a serious flea problem, it may be worth paying a professional since their work is guaranteed. Vacuuming is very effective against flea eggs and might even catch a few adults. To keep the eggs from hatching or the fleas from escaping, discard the bag immediately or use a flea spray in the vacuum bag or container, (not on the cat) either before or right after you vacuum.
IN THE YARD:
Beneficial nematodes eat flea eggs and will help control flea populations outdoors.
Garden-grade diatomaceous earth is very effective. Concentrate on areas under shrubs and decks and other cool shady spots where animals (such as rodents, raccoons, and outdoor and feral cats) have access.
Be very careful about the so-called natural approaches to flea treatment such as the use of essential oils topically or internally for cats.
Remember essential oils can be very toxic to cats even though they are highly touted by so-called holistic pet experts. Do keep in mind that:
Cats’ livers do not have the necessary enzymes to break down and excrete certain chemical compounds in essential oils. The chemical compounds accumulate in a cat’s body and are sometimes toxic to the point of death. Cats are very sensitive to morphine, certain sulfanomides, salicylic acid (aspirin), acetaminophen (Tylenol), allyl propyl disulfide (onions) and compounds containing bezene (benzyl alcohol preservative). Avoid all of the following oils around cats:
Wintergreen and birch oils contain methyl salicylate, the same chemical compound in aspirin.
Phenol-containing oils: oregano, thyme, cinnamon (cassia), clove, savory, cedar, birch, and melaleuca (tea tree oil)
Ketones, such as sage
Monoterpene hydrocarbons pinene and limonene, most commonly found in the citrus and pine oils: lemon, orange, tangerine, mandarin, grapefruit, lime, bergamot, pine, spruce, and any fir oil. Many household cleaners and even pet products have these latter substances in them to make them smell nice to the owners.
Hydrosols are the appropriate form of essential oils to use in cats. Regardless, the cat should always be given a choice as to whether to “partake.” Forcing a cat to ingest oils that have not been tested for safety in their species seems most unwise and many essential oil people will do their best to tell you it is ok. However do not ever attempt this without a vet’s supervision at best.
Let’s only use foods and supplements that are safe and proven to be safe and effective for cats. The best oils for cats come from animal sources such as those that possess anti-inlammatory benefits such as Omega-3s from marine lipids which also help treat flea bite dermatitis.
For more holistic protocols for cats and information see The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care, An Illustrated Guide by Celeste Yarnall, PhD and Jean Hofve, DVM.
by Nicolas, selected from petMD
Many people do not realize that cancer is not just a human condition — it affects our pets as well. In fact, cancer is the number one disease-related killer of dogs and cats. Dr. Lorie Huston tells her clients to be on the lookout for the following signs. While these symptoms are not purely indicative of cancer, if a pet begins to exhibit them you should visit your veterinarian immediately. Just like with people, the earlier cancer is caught the better.
10. Lumps and Bumps
Not all lumps and bumps on or under your dog or cat’s skin will be cancerous, but there is no way to know for sure without getting your veterinarian involved – this is especially important if the lump is not resolving itself or is growing in size. A needle biopsy is commonly done and a veterinary pathologist can let you know if the cells are cancerous or not.
9. Abnormal Odors
Offensive odors from your dog or cat’s mouth, ears, or any other part of your pet’s body, should be checked out. Oftentimes cancers of the mouth, nose, or anal regions can cause such foul odors.
8. Abnormal Discharges
Blood, pus, vomiting, diarrhea, or any other abnormal substance being discharged from any part of your pet’s body should be checked out by your veterinarian. In addition to that, if your dog or cat’s abdomen becomes bloated or distended it could be a sign of an accumulation of abnormal discharge within the body.
7. Non-Healing Wounds
If your pet has wounds or sores that are not healing, it could be a sign of infection, skin disease, or even cancer.
6. Weight Loss
Cancer is among the list of diseases that can cause weight loss in a pet. If you notice sudden weight loss in your dog or cat (and it is not currently on a diet), along with other signs from this list, be sure to mention it to your veterinarian.
5. Change in Appetite
Dogs and cats do not stop eating without a cause. While a lack of appetite does not automatically indicate cancer, it is still something to be discussed with your veterinarian. Oral tumors can also cause difficulty or pain when eating or swallowing.
4. Coughing or Difficulty Breathing
Coughing or abnormal breathing can be caused by heart disease, lung disease, and also cancer. Cancer can metastasize through the lungs and cause these symptoms.
3. Lethargy or Depression
If you notice your pet is not acting like itself – sleeping more, less playful, less willing to go on walks or to exercise – this can also be a sign of cancer. Once again, lethargy or depression is not a symptom confined to cancer, but an accumulation of any of these signs is reason enough to speak with your veterinarian.
2. Changes in Bathroom Habits
Changes in your pet’s urinary or bowel habits – difficulty using the bathroom, frequent bathroom use, blood in urine or stool – these are all potential signs of cancer.
1. Evidence of Pain
Limping or other evidence of pain while the pet is walking, running, or jumping is mostly associated with arthritic issues or joint or muscle diseases, but it can also be a sign of cancer (especially cancer of the bone).
by Nicolas, selected from petMD
Ever marveled at how much more livable your life is now that you’re lucky enough to have pets in it? Wondered how you could function without their presence? Yet you constantly field annoying comments questioning how much you spend on them, right? As if keeping pets was a mere luxury…
Driving to work early Sunday morning I caught a snippet of the American Public Radio show, On Being. Among other ontological tidbits, the guest, celebrated poet and scholar Elizabeth Alexander, addressed the following question: Is poetry a luxury?
Her answer, a thoughtful “no” to the notion of poetry’s ready dispensability for its elite or cushy connotations, was based primarily on its permanence as cultural touchstone through the ages. When did we not have poetry? This form of communication is purportedly as old as the earliest civilizations. Hence, it’s posited, we must harbor a quintessentially human need to engage in it.
Which, of course, got me to mulling over much the same with respect to our pets: Are they a luxury?
Excessive, indulgent, inessential, hedonistic, frilly, sumptuous, extravagant. Such are the adjectives the word, “luxury” denotes. None of which, I’d argue, apply to my own conception of the animals I keep as pets. Nor is it likely to jibe with your worldview of petdom — not if you consume animal infotainment, like this blog, on a regular basis.
After all, some of us don’t necessarily see animal keeping as a personal choice. We view animals among us as the result of the millennia old process of domestication — a complex, symbiotic relationship that serves as a significant measure of our humanity.
Which is perhaps why so many of us feel almost compelled to live alongside animals. This, despite the fact that with all our modern advances we’ve mostly “aged out” of keeping pets as ratters, hunters, and defenders (among other survival-based uses). Because, as the argument goes, there’s something so fundamentally co-evolutionary (about dogs and cats in particular) that we continue to forge lasting bonds with them in spite of the less pressing need to keep them close.
No, pets are decidedly not luxuries — not any more than anything else we might consider “essential” to our quality of life that can also be said to be a luxury. After all, we humans need no more than food, water, clothing and shelter to survive. All else is luxury, by that standard.
Yet I’m also convinced the same cannot be said for all pet owners (we all know who they are). Nor do I expect everyone to agree that pet keeping can possibly be essential. Pets, they’ll say, are nothing more than a self-indulgent drain on personal resources.
Though, to rebut the naysayers, I might offer the case of the old woman whose only reason to get out of bed is to feed her cat. I do understand the reasoning of those who wonder how far we as a society should go to shoulder the expenses not only of our human citizenry, but that of their animals as well.
Because if animals are deemed essential, non-luxury goods, our social services would surely expand to meet the demand for low income pet care. Which is sort of where we’re headed… for better or worse.
Then there’s the other end of the spectrum within the animal crowd: The puritanical animal rightists who believe pets are the ultimate luxury, and that keeping them “enslaved” to humans is no less morally egregious than wearing their fur or killing them (in the case of wolves) from helicopters for sport.
Moreover, the fact that we can and do subjugate them to our will and call them essential to our personal psyches and to our need to thrive is an affront to their own physical and psychological welfare.
High-volume arguments from both camps aside, it’s clear the case is thick as mud. All of which only serves to make me ponder this gem all the more: If pets are a luxury, what does that say about veterinary medicine?
July 4th is around the corner, along with the fireworks that inevitably come with this holiday. Almost all humans with dogs in the United States declare this day the worst day of the year for them. Veterinarians say that July 3rd is usually the most-trafficked day in their offices, with clients coming in to get drugs for their dogs. A few years ago, I found a lost dog on the 4th of July. He was obviously a well-fed, groomed, and trained dog that escaped his yard when he heard the fireworks. When I called our local Humane Society, I was informed that it is the busiest time of the year for them, as more dogs are found wandering loose on July 4th than any other day of the year in the U.S.
Tips for providing a safe July 4th for your Canine Household:
1. Make sure your dog gets plenty of exercise earlier in the day.
2. Keep your dogs inside during fireworks, preferably with human companionship. If it’s hot, air conditioning will help. Bringing your dogs to a fireworks display is never a good idea.
3. Provide a safe place inside for your dogs to retreat. When scared of sounds they can’t orient, dogs often prefer small enclosed areas. (I once had a dog who climbed in the bathtub during windstorms.) If your dog is comfortable in a crate, that is a good option.
4. Keep the curtains closed, and if possible, also the windows.
5. Make sure all your dogs are wearing ID tags with a properly fitting collar. (Dogs have been known to become Houdini around the 4th of July.)
6. Leave your dog something fun to do – like a frozen Kong filled with his favorite treats.
7. Sound Therapy: Through a Dog’s Ear is specially designed classical music clinically demonstrated to calm canine anxiety issues. The Calm your Canine series has even replaced drugs for thousands of dogs on July 4th.
8. Desensitization combined with Sound Therapy: The Canine Noise Phobia series includes the above mentioned music along with progressive sounds of fireworks and positive reinforcement training protocol by Victoria Stilwell.
Good Saturday Afternoon to you, my Sweets! I hope you are having a very relaxing day. As you can tell I took the morning off. Since the A/C is still on the blink and it was cool (77 degrees), I decided to do some cleaning. Now my little rump is dragging the ground. I finally stopped when I got a heat headache. I came in here and took one of my migraine pills. So my head is starting to ease up. At least the house is clean, lol! But they say it is suppose to stay up in the 90′ to almost a 100 all next week. I done made my mind up this witch can’t take it. I am melting fast. But that is the way my luck goes, everything happens in three’s. Has anyone else noticed that? I have when something tears up I always hold my breath because I never know what’s coming next. In other words, “when it rains, it pours!”
My son is still here. He is such a pleasure to have around. I haven’t seen him since yesterday at 12:00 p.m. He has been working 12 hours a night. He gets home around 3 in the morning. Then on Saturday’s he goes and does dog training at a local kennel. We are all affiliated with vets, kennels, groomers, pound and etc., one way or another. He enjoys it and so do I, we both love animals. I got tickled at him the other night (it seems like my critters are trying to do him in, lol!). He said he had his hand hanging off the bed. He was looking for his Mountain Dew and hit something with a strange coat of fur. He reached for his phone and shown it in that direction. He told me he liked to have jumped out of bed. There sit Razzy just sitting there staring at him. He told me she had the meanest look on her face and also she was very scary. And he generally isn’t the scared type, either. He wanted to know if I had seen her in the dark. I told him, “of course, all the time silly.” She looks like an angel curled up beside me. He said, “Bullshi&! She is a mean cat.” I told him she remembers that he is the one that brought that dog in. The one that dislocated her shoulder, animals don’t forget. So he shut up and went back to bed around 4 and I was wide awake. Oh! If life would only get back to normal!
I was thinking today since it is so late, what do you say I do something a little different? Put on some info about Crystals, Potions, Tinctures, Bath Salts, some Spells and Rituals? What do you say? Sounds good to me, hee, hee, hee! Of course it would!
Anyway I am going to run and get busy before you all replace me, lol! I hope you have a super Saturday! Stay cool and most of all enjoy!
Good morning, my dearest of friends! How are you today? Me, fantastic!!! I did some astral projecting last night. It was great. I went back to a very happy time in my life. Then I came back, I relaxed and fell asleep in the floor. Then this morning at 6:00 a.m., my son ran in the bedroom. He proceeded to hit me on the foot with a magazine, hollering, “Get up! Get up!” He then ran like hell. He woke up Kiki and she flew off the bed trying to eat him up. He came back and told me, “my damn dog bite him!” I told him not to worry she had all her shots, lol! Then he turns around and goes back to bed. I thought what the heck? So I went down to his bedroom, and told him to get his butt up! He had to get up and go do something at a boarding kennel he works at. The kid has three jobs. But his point of getting me up was something I said yesterday. For supper, I unthawed some pulled pork I had made and we had sandwiches. I told him I had slept to late to put a roast in the crock pot and let it cook. So he got me up this morning were I would have time to fix that roast. I thought you little poop!
Funny thing, Razzy remembers my son from the dog attack. I went down to his room last night while he ate. There was clothes drug out of plastic garbage bags all over the place. I asked him, if he was looking for something. He said no he figured that one of my cats had been playing. While we are sitting in there, here come Razzy. She is crouched down on the ground, sneaking in the door. The next thing, she has one of his shirt and is off and running. I laughed my rump off. My son chased her till he finally got his shirt. His dear sweet wife packed up all his stuff in garbage sacks and sit them on the porch for him. I haven’t said anything about this to anyone but she is trying to paint him as the villain. He might be my son but he isn’t a villain at all. His wife is two months pregnant and come to find out she has been having an affair. She would take their two kids to her grandmother’s and then she would be off to meet her man. It gets me, my son working three jobs. He has a brand new house, two new cars, he has given her anything she wants. Then she does him like this. I told my son, very gently, that he might want to consider having a DNA test on this third child. He agreed with me.
My son has changed so much since he has come back out here. It is expected that when he comes home from work that we sit and talk. He said talking to me clears his head. He also apologized for the way he has treated me the last seven years. He told me I was right all along. Between my two children, my son was the one most interested in magick. I asked him last night if he has a moment would he like to help me in operating the Ouija Board. He told me, I was crazy. Then I reminded him what a time we use to have. He then said, yes if he had the time he would like to help me. Then he wanted to know if I still had those Tarot Cards he had gotten me one Christmas. I told him, he was crazy if he thought I would ever throw them away. He told me, he wanted a reading. After last night, my hopes are I am getting my son back. But with children and one on the way, who knows what might happen.
My son told me that her family had run me down and talked about like I was a dog. He told me that he had gotten the point to where he wanted nothing to do with me. Especially since they had started going to church. Then listening to her grandmother yell, “Suffer not a witch to live!” I quietly told him, I knew what was going on. He started crying and saying how sorry he was. Then he asked me, how he could have turned so against me? I told him I didn’t know. Perhaps these past seven years were something he was supposed to experience. Perhaps he just married the little *&$@^ just to spite me. Who knows? All that matters is that you knew no matter what, you could always come home. You knew this was your safe haven. The Goddess’ Love brought him home. Her Love & Grace will open his eyes finally. As for me, I am going to serve them a dish best served cold! Not only for myself but also my son.
The Witchcraft Chronicles 
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