Archive from May, 2016
May 23, 2016 - Pet Care    No Comments

Close Call with a Miraculous Ending

It is hard to read this without feeling a chill. What a close call:

Vet intern spots tick just before paralyzed dog was to be euthanized

Was the dog suffering from Cancer? A spinal fracture? No…

A tick was found lodged behind Ollie’s ear, and Fate thought he may have picked it up on a recent camping trip.

The parasite was discovered just in the nick of time by a veterinary intern.

“He was in the room about to get put to sleep, and it was just pure grace that the people found something and decided to check it out further,” Fate explained.

“They have a neurotoxin in their saliva that prevents nerve transition to the muscles, and that takes time to build up in the body and cause paralysis like what we saw in Ollie,” Stone said.

In less than 10 hours after having the tick removed, Ollie the Collie was up and about — thank goodness. If there has ever been a more powerful reminder of the value of sharp eyes, of a willingness to run through all the possibilities, we’d certainly love to hear it!

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May 11, 2016 - Pet Care    3 Comments

Am I Bad for Getting a Dog from a Breeder, 900th Edition

Another day, another “Am I bad for getting a dog from a breeder?” self-flagellation…

It has become a very tired conversation, but the answer provided in the link above is reasonable (though some of the numbers are questionable), and there is a wise reminder in the final sentence:

“Having a preference for one kind of dog (or person) is not morally equivalent to being hostile to all others.”

There is truth in this. Are you drawn to a specific breed because you have always loved that breed’s traits? Awesome! Does this mean you are hostile toward shelter dogs? It shouldn’t! Is your best friend a dog of unknown heritage that you bonded with while visiting the local shelter? Great! Does this mean you are hostile toward breeders and deliberately bred dogs? Again, it shouldn’t!

And really, we think this may be the ultimate niche issue: there are so many people out there who own — and love — multiple dogs from different backgrounds and sources without feeling a need to beat themselves up over it. It is a shame that otherwise thoughtful dog lovers are wracked with guilt over a simple matter of choice.

At the end of the day, as long as people are informed, behave ethically, and are able to put the interests of their dogs ahead of their egos, there are no bad choices.

 

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May 2, 2016 - Animal Husbandry    No Comments

Shout-out to the Canine Breeder Excellence Seminar at Penn Vet!

Dog breeders attending a conference at the University of Pennsylvania last weekend got one heck of a lesson in the finer points of animal husbandry:

[…] a serious, sophisticated group of about 40 dog breeders who had traveled from as far away as North Carolina to learn about reproduction, genetics, behavior, and the dog microbiome at a scientific conference at the University of Pennsylvania.

Serious and sophisticated? Do those adjectives sound snobby, maybe even a little cold? They shouldn’t — at the heart of the work so many purebred dog breeders put into the dogs they love is the “serious and sophisticated” knowledge offered by seminars like this!

Doing it the right way, with the health and well-being of your dogs and puppies (and their puppies’s puppies!) as prime concern is a lot more complicated than just “throwing two intact dogs together,” especially with the smaller populations many breeds of dogs are working with. How cool it is to see these breeders putting in the time and effort to ensure the best lives for their dogs — and how cool it is that there are so many opportunities like this available today!

 

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