Sunday, December 23, 2007

For Pet Owners, Too, Toys a Reason for Concern

When Lane Nemeth, who founded Discovery Toys in 1978 and sold the company to Avon two decades later, decided to start a pet products company a few years ago, one of the first things she did was to look for regulations about how to manufacture pet toys safely.

She could not find any.

“It was totally shocking,” said Ms. Nemeth, whose company, Petlane, sells items like doggie tiaras and squirrel-shaped chew toys. “I was stunned because I had come from such a highly regulated industry to one that has no regulations.”

After the pet food contamination this year, which is believed to have caused the deaths of at least 300 dogs and cats, and a spate of children’s toy recalls, which highlighted the problem of lead in products from China, pet owners have been stepping forward to ask: How safe are pet toys?


Read More...



I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

  • The best blogging techniques.
  • How to get traffic to your blog.
  • How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Is Your Puggle Dog Dehydrated?

Author: Richard Cussons

Summer is the best time not just for you and your family but also to your Puggle dog to enjoy more outdoor activities. But you must remember that along with the fun and excitement these activities bring is the risk for your dog of becoming dehydrated. Dehydration is an excess loss of bodily fluids that usually involves loss of both water and electrolytes.

Yes dogs get dehydrated too! And dehydration in dogs can be a serious matter. There are lots of reasons why dehydration among dogs occur. It could be caused by illness, exposure to extreme heat or lack of fluid intake. Prolonged vomiting and diarrhea can also cause dehydration.

Read More...


To make your dog live longer, click HERE

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Pet boutiques lapping up profits

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Rocko Doppler Westerfield, a 9-week-old Boston terrier puppy, stayed calm but looked a little uncertain as owner Jessica Westerfield and sales associate Kim Norse slipped a set of Christmas antlers on his head to see how they fit.

Rocko left without his headgear, but Norse's employer, Vicki Wagner, co-owner of Silly Willie's pet boutique, said customers have been snapping up items like the antlers, edible dog treats called "chicken people," stuffed animals, squeaky toys and holiday outfits for their pets. Wagner and her sister, Joann Bennett, bought the store at 218 Flagler Ave. Nov. 1.

"We have a policy in the store that all pets are welcome, as long as they keep their owners on a leash," Wagner joked. Owners often bring in their dogs to try on pet outfits, she said, or to find out if their dog is the right size for a stroller or carrier before buying it.



Read More...

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Is Your Pet Bad For The Environment?

Companies Offer Green Pet Products

UPDATED: 11:43 am EST December 5, 2007

If you drive a Prius, haven't brought home a plastic shopping bag this millennium and gave copies of "An Inconvenient Truth" to everyone you know last Christmas, isn't it time to get your four-legged friend on the eco-friendly bandwagon, too?

Candace Smith said she started sniffing around for more natural pet products for her dogs, Cain and Able, when she wondered which was worse for them: a flea bite or the chemicals used in many products to repel fleas.

Read More....

Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty Can Keep Two Dead Pets

A court has ruled that a Massachusetts woman convicted of animal cruelty can keep a dead dog and cat, as long as she complies with health codes.

Heidi Erickson was charged in May 2005 with animal cruelty to five cats and a dog. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail for the cruelty to cats and 90 days for cruelty to the dog.

During her pending case, a judge ordered that her six pets be returned to her. During that time, four cats were living, while one cat and the dog were dead.

The city of Boston challenged the judge’s order, and after Erickson was convicted, the city forgo its challenge the order to return her living animals to Erickson, but continued to challenge the order of returning the dead animals to her.

In 2005, a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Erickson could keep her dead animals if she arranged for the “prompt and proper disposal” of them “in compliance with health codes.”

She appealed the ruling saying that she should not be forced to dispose of her pets.

On Thursday, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the ruling in 2005 meant that she does not have to discard or destroy the animals, but “that whatever she does with them, including keeping them, she must comply with all applicable health codes.”

Erickson said that she is innocent of the animal cruelty charges and she has filed an appeal of her case.

Source: Boston Globe



Monday, October 15, 2007

Organic Proves Major Food Trend at Expo



The major food trend at last weekend’s Natural Products Expo East show in Baltimore was easy to spot, even though thousands of organic items were vying for attention. It wasn’t something that people were spearing with toothpicks. The trend was in fresh pet food.

Companies that make it believe they’re on the verge of big sales, due in no small part to this year’s pet-food recall concerns. “It may take some retraining on the part of grocers to find a place for fresh pet food on the refrigerated aisle,” said Cathal Walsh, chief operating officer of Freshpet, based in Seacaucus, N.J. “But other countries are well on their way. Fresh pet food accounts for 20 percent of the Australian market.”



Read More...

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

An Urgent Message For All Dog Owners....

Want to Increase The Lifespan Of Your Dog by up to 134% And Save Up To $10,000?



How do you do it? How do you raise a healthy, incredibly happy dog that can live up to 8.3 years longer? By NOT feeding your dog commercial dog food! It's just too risky.

Here's what I mean;





I hope that video clip opened your eyes just a little. Fortunately, there's a way to steer clear of this pet food minefield by learning from other peoples experiences. A gentleman by the name of Andrew Lewis has written an excellent report called "Dog Food SECRETS", that covers nearly everything you need to know about raising a super healthy and happy dog. He explains;

  • How commercial dog food is responsible for up to 87% of all dog deaths,
  • Banned chemicals in dog food that cause a myriad of diseases and behavioral problems,
  • cancer causing preservatives to look for in the ingredients of commercial dog food,
  • The 9 Best Dog Food Brands in all of North America,
And more. This report is the culmination of 3 years of research by Andrew to find out the truth of why his pet dog died just by eating commercially available dog food. He explains nutrition, recipes, how to diagnose for illness, keeping healthy teeth etc, etc. So here's the link to "Dog Food SECRETS"

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Pet Food: A Dark and Dangerous Business

Live Holistically is a multi-author site.
This post was written by: Gailstrail

Annie OakleyLast week I attempted to do an update with regard to the Pet Food Recall and got side tracked: Pet Food Recall: Trail of Tears, which gives a heart wrenching account of the loss of my Golden Retriever, Annie Oakley.

This week, I’m taking a long look into centuries of food industry practices. Practices which began innocently enough, but, in many instances have developed into a dark and dangerous business; bringing disease and death to the planets inhabitants!

The Truth Will Sit You Free!


Read More...

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Tainted Pet Food Vs. Lead-Paint Toys

More Claims Of Chicken Jerky Strips Causing Death And Illness In Dogs

Posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 10:00 am in News for Cats, Dogs & Owners, National Dog, Cat & Pet Info, Dogs, Pet Food Recalls & Safety.
By Emily Huh

TacoFirst it was Kate Collins from Pennsylvania. Then it was Sherri Shelton from Indiana. And now there is Vicki Stone from California, and Jodi Zeremski also from Pennsylvania (Zeremski’s dog pictured here).

All four women say that chicken jerky strips purchased from Wal-Mart caused their dogs to die or become ill. And still there has been no official recall on these chicken jerky strips.

Read More...



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Thursday, August 9, 2007

Dogs, Fleas and Natural Remedies

Everybody wants to protect their dog from fleas and nobody wants to be bitten by their dogs fleas!

Fleas are small dark insects that run through the fur rapidly.

Dogs will show signs of infestation by grooming and scratching excessively, some dogs will show signs of hypersensitivity to flee bites (the saliva) with raised red bumps on the skin which may even appear like eczema and could cause loss of fur.


Read More....

Monday, August 6, 2007

Dog Allergy Treatment

When treating your dog, it is always important to make sure the products you use are organic and chemical free for a completely healthy pet.


Monday, August 6, 2007

How To Treat Dog Allergies

Dog allergies can be very frustrating for both you and your dog. The constant itching and scratching, paw licking and chewing, skin rashes, or chronic ear infections can make life very unpleasant. Need some help dealing with your dog's allergies?

Read More

Dogs Sniff Some Pirates



Dogs sniff out pirate DVD factory
Sniffer dogs Lucy and Flo
Lucky and Flo are trained to detect certain chemicals

Sniffer dogs have helped shut down a factory in Malaysia that was producing pirated films, according to the Motion Picture Association (MPA) trade body.

About 18,000 discs were seized from the premises near Kuala Lumpur, including illegal copies of The Simpsons Movie.


Read More.....

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Sometimes We Have To Remember They're Just Dogs :-)

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

- Stupid Dog causes accident in Tour de France -



Even Homemade Dog Food Has Its Dangers


Here are some tips on selecting food sources for your fido when preparing homemade dog food. Put this in your shopping bag and refer to the list when shopping for your home made dog food. This is to ensure we do not accidentally add on food sources not appropriate for pets that could jeopardize their health if fed in the long run.


Read More

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Moooooore Recalls......

China Closes Two Food Exporters Involved In Pet Food Recalls

Posted on Saturday, July 21st, 2007 at 5:52 am in News, National, Dogs, Cats, Other.

Chinese factoryChina has revoked the business licenses of two firms that exported melamine-tainted protein products. These contaminants ended up in U.S. pet food.


Read More....

Friday, July 20, 2007

Very important tell-tale signs to look for on your dog.

How To Tell If Your Dog Is Sick?
"Dog ownership comes with responsibilities and one of them is to learn how to tell if your dog is fine or is probably sick with illness. I have come to know many dog owners who are not aware of early signs of health problems and when they have found out, it becomes more challenging to heal the condition. To prevent that from happening to your pet, read on to get yourself more intune with Scooby’s health condition."

Read More

Put Dogs In With The Crazies

Pfizer's pet project

Two
months ago, drug giant Pfizer (maker of Lipitor and Viagra) achieved a
pair of firsts when the FDA approved 2 new products in their pipeline -
a weight-loss medication and a new motion sickness drug…

For DOGS.

Yep,
apparently the human drug market just isn't big enough, so Big Pharma
is setting its sights on the millions of dogs and cats currently
occupying American households. According to a recent article in the
Chicago Tribune, the market for these pet-meds is an impressive one, to

  • 6 in 10 U.S. households have at least one resident pet
  • Americans currently care for 66 million dogs and 78 million cats
  • The animal health business grew 5% globally last year to $2.3 billion
  • Sales
    of animal health products in America jumped a full 8% last year (to
    $6.8 billion) - more than double the rate of growth for our economy as
    a whole
Read More


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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Malnourished Dogs

Give a dog a bone

Hold onto your leash. Pet supply mega-chains are peddling
over-priced pseudo-foods that are responsible for the
malnourishment of our hounds on a massive scale. Not only
that, they're intentionally steering dog owners AWAY from
the natural raw foods canines really need to stay as healthy
as they can be.

Read More


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Cloning Our Pets

Cloning goes mainstream

Like something out of a Ray Bradbury novel, we're slowly but
surely beginning to embrace the idea of genetic duplication
as a tool to make our world more pleasing or long-lasting to
us - starting with our pets



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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Cool Website Review

Announcing the Launch Of Zootoo.com

NEW YORK, July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Zootoo.com, the nations' first unbiased, user-generated Web site designed to review and rate pet products and services, went live today.

Richard Thompson, founder of Zootoo.com and ex CEO / Top Cat of Meow Mix Company, said: "Zootoo will create an entirely new proactive pet community. We intend to raise the bar for the pet industry and help pets and the people who love them by rating and reviewing products and services. Users will help other pet lovers make the right choices for their pets and Zootoo will identify issues -- like tainted pet food -- before manufacturers announce a recall."

Zootoo participants will earn valuable Zootoo Points that can add up to big cash awards for users and big contributions to pet shelters. All this leads to a really exciting event to be announced in August 2007. Zootoo also registered Zootoo House Inc. a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation dedicated to aiding needy animal shelters.

Yet Another Use For Your Dog!

Earthquake Predictors


Since 373 BC when the ancient Greeks first noted that rats, weasels, snakes, and even centipedes fled the city of Helice days before the earth violently shook, people have believed that animals are able to predict earthquakes. When the Tsunami of 2004 devastated the countries along the Indian Ocean, it took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, but animals faired remarkably well. The Chinese have long believed dogs and cats are able to predict quakes. In 1975, the city of Haicheng was evacuated days in advance of an earthquake based on the behavior of dogs and cats. An estimated 150,000 lives were saved. Stories like these lead many to believe that animals have some kind of sixth sense.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Another wrinkle in the great Chinese food scandal…

The new "China Syndrome," part one

You may remember the hit 1979 movie called "The China Syndrome," starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas. It was about cover-ups of safety violations at an American nuclear power plant.

Ironically, the movie was released just days before the real-life partial meltdown at Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In the film, the phrase "china syndrome" referred not to anything as insidious as faulty Chinese materials the reactor core was built from, but to the facetious notion that, should a "total meltdown" occur, the plant would have burned clear through the Earth to China. (And, actually, the plant responded exactly as programmed and shut down with no injuries at all - but you know Hollywood.) But as usual, I digress…

Today, there's a different deadly threat to the safety of American citizens that really DOES center on China: The flow of tainted foodstuffs and other ingestible products for both animal and people.


Read More...

Pet Shop Heist

Dogs aren't the only ones that should be neutered.

CCTV shows family stealing dog

Wednesday Jul 4 13:00 AEST
Stolen Italian greyhound, Coco.

By ninemsn staff

Security cameras have captured a family of four stealing a $700 pure-bred puppy from a pet shop at a Melbourne shopping centre on the first day of the school holidays.

The puppy, known as Coco, was returned to Pets At Home in Fountain Gate Mall about 12.30pm today — two days after it was stolen, the shop's managing director David Herman said.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Update on Protein-gate

More Gold from the good doctor...


The scandal that won't die…

As you may recall, a few weeks ago, I regaled with a 3-part series about the recent bulk dry pet-food scandal that involves, among other elements…

  • Vast quantities of vegetable-based pet foods that are contaminated with a toxic fertilizer and by-product of the plastics manufacture industry (melamine)
  • The collusion of the Chinese government in the exportation of raw food ingredients intentionally "fortified" with protein-mimicking melamine
  • The ridiculously lax U.S. inspection process that allowed these ingredients to find their way into pet foods (and other places, as you'll discover momentarily)
  • The knowing complicity of bulk pet-food manufacturers AND big-box retail pet supply outlets that peddle these products under dozens of different brand names.

As if this weren't intrigue and conspiracy enough for you, I ended up that 3-part series with a reference to how some of this pet-food may have seeped into the livestock food supply - which could end up threatening us humans.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Pet-food Protein-gate, part two

By William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

.....poisonous melamine was being added to these victuals. The purpose: To sell more pet food by deceiving pet owners into believing the dry vegetable junk food they're feeding their cats and dogs is protein-rich and good for them....

....As it turns out, like everything else in this country nowadays, the raw ingredients for ALL of the banned varieties of pet foods came not from hard-working American grain farmers......But from communist CHINA, where pollution and environmental waste is rampant, regulation scare, and where the jack-booted government values nothing (not even life) so much as the influx of American dollars.

....
According to FDA sources (like their Chief Veterinarian, for one), raw melamine has been found - not just in the U.S, but in other nations, too - in rice protein concentrate, wheat gluten, and corn gluten supplies earmarked specifically for pet foods. All of these tainted stockpiles were imported from China.

Dr. William Campbell Douglass II, M.D on Pet-food Protein

Dr. William Campbell Douglass is a doctor to notice. He is known as medicines' most acclaimed Myth Busters and "the conscience of modern medicine". Dr. Douglass has done pioneering work in natural medicine, set up a clinic in Uganda, Africa to treat the sick, invited to work at the renowned Pasteur Institute, flown with U.S Navy crews as a flight surgeon, traveled the world to add to his vast knowledge of alternative medicine and hailed today as an authority second to none, giving a fresh perspective on different treatments for people to make informed decisions. And as a bonus, he is also an animal lover! Here's a summary of his thoughts on pet food protein. So fire away Doc;

The Pet-food Protein-gate, part one

....recommendations on how to safeguard your kitties and pups against this fate: To feed them ONLY raw liver, chicken necks (most other uncooked meats are OK as well), and at least one daily raw egg - including the shell - rounding out their diet with cut vegetables added to the bowl.

.....this advice of mine directly contradicts not only everything you'll hear down at your local PetSmart store (or Petco, whatever), but also what several mainstream books recently published in wide release have to say about canine and feline diets. Believe me, though - I'm right and they're wrong.

....
More information has surfaced about exactly WHY our precious pets are dying. And as usual when it comes to nutrition - human or animal - one thing lies at the root of all the evil...

Vegetarianism.


......the U.S. FDA is all but certain the source of the contamination that's sickening and killing our cats and dogs is melamine, a toxic chemical used in the manufacture of plastics, pesticides, and as a fertilizer. Melamine is high in nitrogen

....Though deemed safe in low concentrations....
direct ingestion of the substance can be deadly. Yet according to the FDA, melamine poisoning is likely what's sickening and killing so many of our pets nowadays. This kind of contamination would be VERY DIFFICULT without somebody adding melamine directly to pet foods, or to their ingredients.

...most brands of modern pet foods - especially the dry varieties - are made almost entirely of vegetable ingredients. There are several reasons for this, foremost among them being cost. It's far cheaper to make pet foods from soy this and wheat gluten that than it is to use real meats (which is impossible in the dry foods anyway)...

But since the average pet owner is at least aware of the fact that animals, like people, need PROTEIN to survive, pet food makers are big on adding things to their food to boost the appearance of nutrition. And in this case, that "additive" was very likely poisonous melamine.

.....According to a recent USA Today article, the agricultural industry typically gauges a raw grain's protein content by measuring its nitrogen content. Nitrogen levels generally correspond quite closely with protein levels...


...That's right. The FDA and other groups strongly suspect that nitrogen-rich melamine fertilizer was added in raw form to large quantities of ALREADY HARVESTED wheat and rice earmarked for pet foods in order to create the illusion that these worthless grains were higher in protein that they actually are.

Adamant about killer additives,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.


Sunday, June 17, 2007

The Enormous Job of Food Inspection

It is so difficult for authorities to inspect even a minute amount of the enormous amount of the pet food products coming into the country. This makes it all the more important for consumers to ask questions and demand answers of what is really contained in these products.


FDA likely to boost inspections of imported food


WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is likely to propose a major shift in how it inspects and regulates imported food, as Americans continue to devour vast amounts of imported, and sometimes exotic, food.

The goal is to shift to a "risk-based" system under which FDA inspectors, using extensive information, would focus on shipments posing the biggest potential hazards. To do that, the agency would collect much more data from overseas on how foods are produced and handled — called "life-cycle" data — and feed it into a database for its inspectors.

Read More.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Dr. Clark's Pet Parasite Cleansing Program

Pet lover Dr. Hulda Regehr Clark has written this enlightening article on her website, which is an excerpt from one of her books, that can be used as an alternative to using conventional medication for your dogs. All the ingredients are available from her site or your kitchen. The main points are as follows;

What you'll need:
  • A bunch of parsley
  • Black Walnut Hull Tincture
  • Wormwood
  • Cloves, ground
1. Parsley water: cook a big bunch of fresh parsley in a quart of water for 3 minutes. Throw away the parsley. After cooling, you may freeze most of it in several 1 cup Containers. This is a month's supply. Put 1 tsp. parsley water on the pet's food. You don't have to watch it go down. Whatever amount is eaten is satisfactory.
All dosages are based on a 10 pound (5 kilo) cat or dog. Double them for a 20 pound pet, and so forth.

2. Black Walnut Hull Tincture (regular strength): 1 drop on the food. Don't force them to eat it. Count carefully. Treat cats only twice a week. Treat dogs daily, for instance a 30 pound dog would get 3 drops per day (but work up to it, increasing one drop per day). Do not use Extra Strength [or dilute it 1:4].

Start the wormwood a week later.

3. Wormwood capsules: (200-300 mg wormwood per capsule) open a capsule and put the smallest pinch possible on their dry food. Do this for a week before starting the cloves.

4. Cloves: put the smallest pinch possible on their dry food. Keep all of this up as a routine so that you need not fear your pets. Also, notice how peppy and happy they become.

Go slowly so the pet can learn to eat all of it.

See the rest of the article and a Handy Chart by clicking here








Greedy Jack Russell Gets Hooked

What The?

A greedy Jack Russell went fishing with her owner and swallowed the hook and bait. Welshman Elwyn Thomas, 59, was about to cast into a lake when Candy snatched bread he had fixed to the 5cm barb. She scoffed the tackle hook, line and sinker. An X-ray showed the hook lying in her stomach, but a vet said nature should take its course. Two days later it did, with no damage.
Thomas had to cut the line out of the dogs mouth.

Source - MX News, Wed 13/6/07.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Western Ground Beef Recall Hits 5.7 Million Pounds (Progressive Grocer)


JUNE 11, 2007 -- VERNON, Calif. - First it was pet foods, and now ground beef is at the center of a food safety recall that won't go away, as United Food Group, LLC here had to expand its June 3 and 6 recalls to a total of 5.7 million pounds late last week.

I Just Stared At My Cat - Arrest ME

Woman escapes charge for 'making faces'

Friday Jun 8 15:29 AEST

AP - A US prosecutor dropped charges against a woman who was arrested for staring at and making faces at a police dog.

Jayna Hutchinson was about to go on trial on charges of cruelty to a police animal and resisting arrest, but the case was dropped.

"I think it was going to be difficult to prove her conduct changed the dog's behaviour," Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter said. "Most of the time (in harassment cases) people would come tell the court what it felt like. Dogs can't do that."

Read More

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

A most heart warming story

The things we do for our dogs!

Puppy rescue horror

May 22, 2007 12:00am

A WOMAN was fighting for life last night after diving into her burning house in a vain bid to rescue a litter of puppies.

The fire began about 11.15pm on Sunday after the woman, in her 50s, and her son, in his 20s, had gone to bed at the house in Staceys Rd, Lara, southwest of Melbourne...

...The mother and son escaped through a rear window, but she went back for the puppies...

see the whole story here

Monday, June 4, 2007

Hello!

Hello World!

We hope to bring you the best news & info about the world of dogs. We would love to hear from you. Just press the comment button and introduce yourselves!

Shawn.