5 Yrs REAL Male

We have signs up all over the neighborhood for a missing cat. It's a beautiful orange tabby cat. The sign reads: 5 Yrs REAL Male. Confused by this, I asked the owner what "REAL" meant. Turns out the male cat is intact. Now we know why he is missing.

It's surprising the number of men who are reluctant to neuter their males because they associate their own masculinity with their pet. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard "I wouldn't want someone to do it to me so I wouldn't do it to them", I could host my own free spay/neuter clinic. In my neighborhood, I hear this frequently when trying to educate people. Does being intact make a cat or dog a REAL male? No.

Growing up, we had an orange tabby named Bubba. Bubba was a neutered male. Bubba was the epitome of a REAL male. He could hold his own with any of the neighborhood toms. He was outdoors during the day - catching lizards, snakes, mice in the field behind our housing development or sunning in the backyard. Bubba never went far. If you stepped outside the door and called his name, it might taken him a minute or two, but he always came running. He returned home each night and stayed in. He kept the dogs in line. That cat was one bad mother...shut your mouth! He lived to the ripe old age of 17.

Our neighbor has two real male cats - both neutered. For eleven years, Jessie and Danny Boy have spent lazy days in the yard, sometimes venturing into ours to take in some sun with Lily, our pit bull mix. They've caught their share of mice, chased off their share of vermin, including a raccoon that made the mistake of coming in the cat door one night. A cat that can run off a raccoon? That's a REAL cat. A neutered cat.

Cats and dogs aren't attached to their private parts. They live longer, healthier lives without them. They are less likely to stray far from home in search of a female in heat. In our neighborhood, with coyotes just a few blocks away, this is especially important. Had the missing tabby been a neutered male, he likely wouldn't be missing. Like Bubba, Jessie and Danny Boy, he would be staying closer to home. Females in heat wouldn't bother him or cause him to stray. He'd still be alive.

For more information on the benefits of spay/neuter, click HERE. To find affordable/free services in your area, go to SpayUSA.

I Love My Job or The Story of Obed

I love my job. It's never the same - even when I'm presenting the same material. You never know what's going to come out of a student's mouth. Last week, I had the honor of teaching Careers with Animals to a 5th grade class at Fenton Charter. The class was engaging, intelligent and fun. They kept me on their toes with questions ranging from "Do I need a permit to own a tiger?" to "What do you have to do to act in a movie with a dog?" to "Can you take someone's dog if they're being mean to it?" (paraphrasing).

That last question was a heroic one without an easy answer. It came from a boy named Obed.

"What if there's a guy in your neighborhood and he's really mean to his dog? Like he hits it every day with a stick? Could you take it from him? Like sneak in at night when no one can see you? I heard that might be illegal."

First, I love the compassion of this child. It's not a common thing to see in boys. When I explained to him that he would have to sneak onto the man's property, which would be trespassing (hence the "illegal" part), he came up with this:

"But what if you're just walking by and the gate happens to be open and he comes out to say hi to you and then follows you home? Could you keep him then?"

He's not just compassionate. This is child is creative. He's a hero in the making. His creativity made me laugh. It also reminded me of a story from a man at a Humane Education Conference I attended a few years ago.

I was staying with my mother for the weekend and got to witness a sad sight. Her neighbor's five year old son taking his shoe off and throwing it at their 10 week old puppy. Before I could reach the puppy, the father yelled, "Do it again!" What had the puppy done? It had bolted off the chain it was tied to in the front yard. I stepped in to help the poor thing, but the father grabbed the puppy and ran. Ironic that I was attending a conference on Humane Education...and it happened to be at the ASPCA. I reported him first thing in the morning and an Animal Control Officer was sent out immediately.

After sharing my story with the table I was seated at, one of the men told us that he had a neighbor who kept his American Pit Bull Terrier puppy tied up in the yard. This pup was never let off the chain. It never got to come inside the house - rain or shine. Rarely did the poor thing have food or water. It didn't have shelter. He lived in an area where it snowed during the winter. As if the living conditions weren't sad enough, the young man who owned the dog beat and kicked it frequently. They didn't have Animal Control in their area. He had tried repeatedly to speak with the young man and his girlfriend, to educate them, but they weren't open to it.

One night the puppy disappeared.

"I don't know what happened to it," he said, winking at me. "But I'm pretty sure it got a really good home."

I wonder if this will be Obed in thirty years. After he wins his Oscar and is commanding $20 million a film acting with dogs.

Pet Sitters

I must admit, it's hard for me to leave my pets for the weekend. We left the cats for a week while on our honeymoon, a week each summer while we go camping and a few weekends a month. When we travel, Lily comes with us. She's welcome at every house we go to. She's a good girl - well socialized, well trained and well loved. We've left her once overnight. That's it. This past weekend brought a trip to Vegas. We left Lily with a pet sitter.

Our pet sitter is the best - she is a vet tech who is currently studying to be a vet! I've also known her since she was a pre-teen. We love Shirley. And best of all, she loves our pets - especially our Lily. Shirley has a pit mix of her own so she knows and loves the breed. She's also patient with the numerous medications and my long list of instructions.

My best friend happens to be the proud owner of Lily's favorite boy, Bubba. I arranged two playdates for her while we were gone. As you can see, she didn't miss us during the playdates.












Or after them:













Wednesday is a shy cat. She never comes out for ANYONE. Not in her five years with us. But this is what happened when we left town. Wednesday decided that Shirley's lap was as good as dad. And she slept with Shirley as well. It's not hard to go out of town when your pets are well taken care of.












List of Information we left our sitter:
Our itinerary
Contact numbers (our cell phones, a local friend, number where we are staying)
Vets Number/Address
List of Medications, times they are given Feeding Time Walk Schedule & Route


I leave extras such as:
Lights to leave on when out
Favorite TV Channels when out


Here is a great list from Home Safe Pet Sitters for owners for you to use next time you have to hire a sitter. What about you - do you have a favorite pet sitter? Do you leave long lists of instructions?

FUN Friday

Happy Friday!

Let's have some FUN animal style.

These little guys are so cute!



How to Pet a Kitty (for those of you who don't know and those of us who need reminding).


I'm not sure if the baby elephant is sneezing or trying to scare the people off. Either way, it's cute.



We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Your Pet or Your Partner

I remember vividly that morning at the shelter I volunteered for - a young woman and her new fiance brought in the woman's 5 year old shih tzu. The woman cried and shook as she filled out the paperwork to relinquish her pet. Her fiance sat stoic across the courtyard. The dog did his best to comfort his distressed owner.

We were forbidden to speak with owners relinquishing their pets. In fact, I could have lost my volunteer position for doing so. But I had seen too many of these to keep silent. I brought the poor woman a box of kleenex. As she blew her nose, I told her how cute her little dog was. She said, "He's such a good boy." She dissolved into tears again telling me his favorite toy (a little pink octopus), his favorite spot to sleep (on her pillow), his favorite walk (Balboa Park), his favorite food (roasted chicken). She bought him when her grandmother had passed away to help her ease the grief. He had been there for her at one of her darkest moments.

I asked softly, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I don't have a choice," she sobbed.

"There's always a choice," I told her. "He is going to be here for you long after that one is gone."

Two things I have learned over the years: 1) It's never about the pet. There's always an underlying issue when someone says to you "it's me or the dog". 2) If someone really loves you, they're not going to ask you to give up a pet that is such an important part of your life.

She didn't change her mind. She relinquished her little shih tzu. He was absolutely adorable and it was obvious she had loved him - well socialized, well trained. I don't think we had him for a full week. He went that quickly to his new home.

She came back less than a month later. Her fiance had left her. She wanted her dog back. He was already in a new home. There was no going back.

When I was in my early 30s, I met and fell in love with a man. I had a cat. He was allergic. I understand cat allergies because I have them as well. I still own three cats. It means air filters in every room, hardwood floors and extra cleaning but it is manageable. So him not being willing to work through his allergy meant we had to stop seeing each other.

Boy did I hear about it from EVERYONE. "You're a fool!" "You're choosing your cat over (insert name here)? You're CRAZY!" "You're going to spend your life alone!" (Really, Mom, I'm only 31. It's not time to push the panic button yet.)

I held firm. It broke my heart. I was in love. But I had made a lifetime commitment to my cat. There would be someone out there who would love him like I did. It took four more years for me to find him - and Junior had passed by then.

I hit the jackpot. I can have my cats and my husband too! I would never give up my pets for a person. That is no way to reward their loyalty to me. I promise to always be just as loyal to them.

Mercola has a great article on this same topic here.

What about you - would you give up your pet for a partner?

(The dog in the picture above is Henry, a 2 year old Shih Tzu looking for a home through New Life K-9 Rescue in Sherman Oaks, CA. For more info on him, click here. It's his Petfinder page.)

Reading Our Dog's Signals

Did you know dogs have all the same feelings that we do? They do - happy, sad, mad, scared. Can they tell us how they feel? YES. But not with words. They tell us exactly how they are feeling in their own way - with their body language. Many owners just aren't adept at reading the signals.

My husband can read them well. He just doesn't always pay attention to them.

He loves to hike with Lily. I'll admit freely he is probably the more loved parent as everything is fun with daddy. From hikes that are a grand adventure (think "map? we don't need no stinkin' map!") to treats (think "but she just looked so cute - look at that face, I had to give her a bite of my ). They almost always have a great time.

Almost.

We are fortunate enough to live close to many hikes in the area we reside in. There are so many options that we could hike every single day and not run out of new places to go. We do have our favorites, though. One of my husband's favorite hikes just happens to start out right next to a shooting range for our local police. The hike goes up the hill next to the range, skirts the rim above it and drops back down in a loop. This means gunshots echoing all around you the entire hike. Not a pleasant experience if you don't like guns (me) or if you have super hearing (Lily). Last week, my husband took poor Lily on this hike, his favorite. I got an angry phone call from him later that went something like this.

"When are you coming home?"
"In about an hour. I have one more class to teach, why?"
"Because you need to ask Lily why we didn't finish the hike and I won't be hiking her anymore."
Since Lily can't communicate THAT well with her body and I'm not into dog to human charades, I went with, "Why don't I just ask you?"
"She was acting hinky the whole way up the trail."
"Define hinky."
"Scared. Her tail was tucked, her ears were back, her eyes were wide."
"Was there shooting?"
"Not that I heard." (It should be noted that my husband only hears out of one ear and not very well in that one he does have hearing in)
"So there was. Why didn't you turn around and take her somewhere else?"
"Because we love that hike."
"You love that hike. What happened?"
"When we got to the top, I took her off leash. She was okay for a few feet, then she turned to look at me and bolted back to the car."

The car is in parking lot back down this steep hill and Lily had to cross a street to get to it.

"Did you try her recall word?" (Usually he panics and forgets to)
"Yes, I did it a few times and she just kept running so I took off after her. Can you believe she did that?"

What about you, dear reader? Can you believe she did that? Or were you, like me, mystified as to why he took a dog off leash when she had given him every indication that she was scared, uncomfortable and did not want to be in that place?

I took Lily's side on this one (not really, I don't take sides, but I did understand WHY she did this) while acknowledging his anger and frustration. She gave every indication through her body language that she was afraid. This fear was ignored by the person who was supposed to keep her safe. It was no surprise to me that she headed back to the car. Whether or not there was anything that my husband thought she should be fearful of, she was and she let him know that she was.

Tail tucked, ears back, eyes wide - all clear signs that she is feeling uncomfortable and afraid.

Instead of realizing that she was scared and had tried to show him that, he was taking it personally because she defied him - this scared dog ignored her owner. Fear is a very heavy motivating factor. I've enrolled the two of them in a rocket recall class so he can over this with the trainer (who will tell him what I said, but he won't take it personally coming from her). It will be a bonding experience for the two of them and teach him what to do in situations like this (because I have no doubt that this will happen again, I married a wonderful but extremely stubborn man).

It's important for us to learn our dog's body language and imperative for us to pay attention to it. Heed the warnings. Anything from a bolting dog to a biting dog can happen if we don't know what their signals mean and don't act appropriately when we see them.

Is that a TICK?

My husband uttered those horrible words no dog owner ever wants to hear (especially HOURS after a hike) - Is that a TICK?

I was out of my chair and kneeling in front of Lily as soon as he finished the sentence. Yes, it was. I had flicked one off her back on the trail. With her short coat, they are easy to spot. I have been in the habit of checking her over after EVERY traipse off the trail. The minute she comes back to me, she gets a good once over.

How did I miss this one? No matter, the damage was done and the little sucker (I used a different word than that, but let's keep the blog PG) was already burrowing. No problem. My husband backpacks into the woods off trail with his buddies frequently. I'm used to plucking those little suckers (again, keepin' it PG) out of their backs, off their stomachs, off their legs. (Side note for backpackers: One guy starts consuming mass amounts of garlic before their trips and I have never plucked a tick off him.)

I wielded my tweezers with confidence. My husband pinched her skin, holding it up so I could get a good grasp on the tick. I grabbed it right against the skin and slowly pulled. Nothing. I pulled harder. The tweezers slipped and cut the thing in half.

Oh crud.

I fought down panic. We repeated the process and I got everything...but the head.

Now, the panic came over me in waves. The head. The worst part. And it was still in my dog.

When this happens, Google is NOT your friend. A quick search reassured me that my dog was headed for death with several nasty diseases. This statement came up repeatedly: If you are not careful, you can leave the head behind and your dog exposed to numerous diseases.

I was upset that the part of the tick that carried disease would be in her overnight. I set my alarm and called the vet first thing in the morning after tossing and turning all night. They fit me in, but reassured me that she would be fine.

My vet said this (paraphrasing): The head of the tick = myth. Disease is not carried in the head. It's carried in the stomach. Leaving the head behind is not your biggest worry. Your dog's body will eventually rid itself of the head. The worst thing to do is squeeze the middle of the tick, sending the stomach contents (which do contain the diseases) into your dog. This is when we should worry about infection and tick borne illnesses.

We are watching Lily for signs of infection and will treat her accordingly if that happens. Tick borne illness is rare in this area. I have a list of symptoms to watch for, but the vet didn't expect we would be seeing any.

I came home and ordered a tick hook. We're not planning on having to pull any ticks in the future, but I want to be prepared just in case. We don't need a repeat. Lily was so patient with us. She let us work on her for half an hour without a single complaint. It would be nice if we could get it out in under five minutes next time - and get all of it!