The PetsitUSA.com Blog

One of my MySpace friends emailed me recently with a snippet of an article about pet owners who don’t give their pet sitters necessary information about their pets. An example in the article was about a dog that required medication every day. On the first day of her pet sitting assignment, when the pet sitter tried giving one of the dogs his medication, he bit her. It was a very bad bite and when she talked to the owners about it they said the dog always bites them too. They hadn’t told her ahead of time that the dog, who is normally very laid back, might bite when being given medication.

And recently, another pet sitter told told me about a pet owner who did not let her know that while she was away, her cat would need medication. The pet sitter found out the cat needed medication when she went for the first visit and found a note, about the medication, on the kitchen table.

The cat has always been one to hide whenever the pet sitter comes over, so it was next to impossible for him to get his meds. It took about 45 minutes in extra time, and a great deal of patience for the pet sitter to give the cat his medicine. And, even though she had put some extra padding in her schedule, having to spend extra time with the cat put her behind schedule…and then there’s the scratches on her arm. They weren’t severe but  she did get scratched. Thankfully, for the cat and the pet sitter, the owner was only gone for two days so the medicine ordeal was not repeated! It was able to wait for the owner to give in the evening when she got home.

So what’s the moral of the story?

Tell your pet sitter everything! Let him or her know anything you can think of that’ll make taking care of your pet a good experience for everyone involved - you, your pet, and the pet sitter. Be honest, and don’t forget anything, no matter how small or inconsequential it may seem.

Even if you think your cat or dog may possibly bite the pet sitter, she needs to know about it. Being honest may mean working with your pet sitter to make the situation work, or possibly even finding a new pet sitter. It could also mean having to board your pet at your veterinarian’s office. And, although it may be terribly inconvenient to deal with the issue, not addressing it is not the answer…for anybody. Ignoring it could lead to even more inconvenience, or worse.

Potential biting isn’t the only thing your pet sitter needs to know about. Some of the other common issues your pet sitter needs to know about are whether or not your pet is an escape artist, if he is known to chew on things he shouldn’t, aggressive behavior (to people or other pets), fears, and of course, health issues.

Technorati Tags: pet sitting, pets, pet sitters, dogs, cats

Congratulations to our winners in our SmartScoop® Odor Control Litter Box Spray contest. Ahh…the sweet smell of victory…and a clean litter box!

Sabra Welles, Connecticut
& Smudge

Susan Paretts, Nevada
& Pumpkin, Sammy, Cougar and TJ

Kristin Rowe, North Carolina
& Nigel, Nacho, Ganga, Macy Gray, Moo Cow, Lucy Liu, Gato, Simba, The Mexican & Sanchez

Tara Miller, Pennsylvania
& Finnegan and Stella

Lisa Roberts, California
& Kaiya

Congrats to our winners, meows to all who entered, and thank you for reading the blog!

Technorati Tags: cats, contest, SmartScoop® Odor Control Litter Box Spray

In my pet first aid class I talk about pets who swallow things - shoes, balls, socks - and string. String is a favorite of cats and potentially very dangerous. If the string gets as far as the intestines it can twist around and cause some real damage. For that reason, cat owners are cautioned not to try to pull the string out, but to get the cat to the vet.

Here’s an example of a dog, named Cody, that swallowed a string…but not just any string. This string was actually a fishing line…and on the other end of the line was a fish hook! Can you say OUCH?! Had his owner tugged on the line to try to get it out, it could have been really bad news for little Cody.

It was one fishing trip that almost killed an East Texas man’s best friend. Ed Pauley of Lake O’ the Pines is used to having his dog by his side when he fishes, but last week his four legged friend just didn’t look right. That’s because his dog has swallowed a fish hook.

He is a pint-sized bundle of energy named Cody, barely three pounds, but a familiar site at the Bullfrog marina every weekend with his owner Ed.

[…]

Last weekend Pauley and his friends were fishing off the dock when he looked back and saw fishing line hanging from Cody’s mouth.

“Oh I don’t know really what I thought right then, but I knew I had to get it out,” said Pauley. Cody had swallowed treble hook, or triple pronged hook, which can be deadly for dogs. Pauley rushed him to a Longview vet and after a two hour surgery Cody was back in business.

“He had to have it out, and I’d do anything I could,” said Pauley. For both, the bond between owner and dog is strong.

Read the rest here.

So, the moral of the story is if you see string…any kind of string…hanging out of your pet’s mouth, it just might be time for a visit to the vet!

Technorati Tags: pet emergency, dogs, dog swallowed a fish hook

“Perfect”

That’s how the vet described Lydia’s progress so far when we saw him today.
She was scheduled for her second round of chemo last week, but since her WBC had dropped too much, it was rescheduled for today. The vet said the level would come back up over the week, and it’s not uncommon for some dogs to need an extra week for the blood work to bounce back.

Believe me though…I worried…not excessively, but over the past seven days there were times when I thought “what if it doesn’t?”

So, today as I waited, I watched the clock. They’d taken Lydia back and I knew she would be out sooner rather than later if they did the blood work and not the chemo. Once the clock went past a half hour I actually breathed a little easier. Sure enough, when I talked to the tech who brought my girl out to me she said everything went well. The vet had examined Lydia and was pleased, the blood work was all normal, and they did the chemo with no problems. In fact, she said Lydia’s tail didn’t stop the entire time they worked on her. Then the vet came out and told me the same thing! It was a good visit with the vet today.

And, to top off the day, since her blood work was OK, the vet said taking her out would be fine. So this evening Archie, Lydia, and I went to my brother’s and visited with him for a while. It’s the first time since mid July that they’ve been anywhere besides the oncologist’s office.

Lydia’s next visit to the oncologist is four weeks from now, when they’ll do an ultrasound and round three of chemo. She’s doing great now, so hopefully that will continue and the ultrasound will give us some good news. Until then though, I’m going to have to put any possibilities out of my mind (yes, easier said that done) and enjoy how good she’s feeling right now! One day at a time.

Technorati Tags: canine cancer, dogs, anal gland cancer

As a San Marcos, TX man rushed his girlfriend and her two-year old poodle to an after hours emergency animal hospital he was stopped for speeding. The poor guy was in hysterics, knowing the dog was in bad shape. But rather than trying to help the guy, the officer kept asking what the guy ‘was on’ and told him repeatedly that it was “just a dog” and that he could get another.

San Marcos — As San Marcos resident Michael Gonzales recalls, one of the first things a police officer said to him after pulling him over for speeding early Wednesday morning was asking him “what he was on.”Gonzales acknowledges he was hysterical after being pulled over on IH-35 going well in excess of the speed limits. But the reason, he said, was plain to see — the two- year-old teacup poodle in his girlfriend’s lap was gasping for breath, and the couple were rushing to an after-hours veterinary hospital in New Braunfels.

Gonzales and his girlfriend Krystal Hernandez say the dog, Missy, died during the time it took for officers to cite him for speeding. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the couple say police repeatedly told them it was “just a dog” and that they could buy another.

[…]

Hernandez, who received the puppy from Gonzales following her high school graduation, said a female officer “kept telling me my dog was dead and I kept telling her she was alive and had a heartbeat. I had my finger in her mouth so she wouldn’t’ bite down on her tongue. I felt like she still had a chance if they could please help us.”

Hernandez said she even offered to leave Gonzales there and drive the rest of the way. “I said ‘please let me go.’ They told me no. We waited like 20 minutes and they never did anything and my dog ended up just dying there.”

Afterwards, Gonzales went to police headquarters and talked to the night shift commander, who he said had already seen video from the patrolman’s in-car camera. “He said legally (the officer) didn’t do anything wrong, but the way he handled the situation should have been handled better,” Gonzales recalled. “He said the most they can really do is set up a counseling session where he will speak to the officer about what he did wrong and how he could have done better. That’s it. A slap on the wrist.”

Here’s the rest.

I can’t find it online yet, but KXAN News showed the video from the officer’s dash cam, and it was awful!! Yes, the guy was very upset and couldn’t stand still - he was panicking! Who wouldn’t be a bit upset if they were trying to save a life and were stopped?! Maybe speeding isn’t a good thing to do, but I don’t know why the cop couldn’t have just escorted the guy to the animal hospital and then dealt with the ticket. What an ass!

I’ve wondered what a police officer would do in a situation like this. I hope this cop, Officer Paul Stephens (according to a UPI story) is an exception to the rule.

Update: I’ve had a number of people email me privately to ask if I knew who they could write to about this. So, here’s the contact info from the San Marcos Police Department website:

Howard Williams, Chief of Police
SMPD_Info@ci.san-marcos.tx.us
512.753.2108
512.753.2190 FAX

Technorati Tags: animal emergency, dog, San Marcos

Menu Foods, the company at the center of the massive pet food recall last year, released their quarterly earnings today. They’re back in the black - the first time since 2006.

TORONTO, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Menu Foods Income Fund (MEW_u.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Wednesday reported its first quarterly profit since 2006 as it worked to rebound from last year’s tainted pet food recall.

Menu Foods made C$735,000 ($694,000), or 2.5 Canadian cents a trust unit, in the second quarter, up from a year-earlier loss of C$3.6 million, or 18.9 Canadian cents a share.

The Mississauga, Ontario-based company said revenue rose to C$60.3 million from C$47.2 million in the second quarter of 2007, when sales suffered from a massive recall that began that March, following reports of some animal deaths.

Reuters has more, or see the press release from Menu Foods.

Technorati Tags: Menu Foods, pet food

Help Your Dog Fight Cancer by Laurie Kaplan, MSC is, as far as I can tell so far, a book that everybody should read if they have a dog that has cancer. Admittedly, this is the first book I’ve read (so far) about canine cancer but I’ve learned a lot…more, in fact, than I’d ever hoped I would need to know about cancer in dogs.

For me, what makes this book so good is that Kaplan isn’t writing purely from a medical standpoint, she’s writing from personal experience. She understands the fear, confusing, and anger that comes along with cancer. And it’s obvious she wants to share what she knows to help others.

Kaplan’s dog, Bullet, was diagnosed with lymphoma in July, 2000 and she went to great lengths to help him fight the cancer. She sought out top veterinary advice, changed Bullet’s diet, learned about supplements, researched the pros & cons of various treatments, and devoted the next four years to keeping her dog as healthy as possible. (He died in November, 2004 at the age of 14, of renal failure, not cancer.) It’s this journey that she shares with us in Help Your Dog Fight Cancer. Since it’s written in layman’s terms and since it includes her personal story, it’s easy to relate to and just as easy to apply to what’s going on for Lydia and me.

Having never cared for a dog with cancer before, I felt completely blindsided, overwhelmed and even in a bit of a panic when Lydia was diagnosed with anal gland cancer. After reading this book though, I already feel more confident in what I’m doing with Lydia’s treatment. Kaplan explains things very well, and even though I got a lot out of reading it the first time, I intend to start reading again right from the beginning. I’ll take more notes this time around and then do a bit more research on some of the topics she touches on.

Help Your Dog Fight Cancer is the first book I’ve read about canine cancer, but I highly recommend it to anybody who’s helping their dog fight this nasty disease. It’ll give you a foundation to build on, which can really help with peace of mind!

I have a few more canine cancer books on order and will be reviewing those soon as well. If you know of a good one, let me know. I’m all about arming myself with information these days!

You can get Help Your Dog Fight Cancer from Amazon, or visit Kaplan’s website.

Technorati Tags: canine cancer, Help Your Dog Fight Cancer, dogs, pet health

Mars Pet Care is recalling bags of Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites dog food.

A salmonella scare has forced Mars Petcare US to recall 100 of its 20-pound bags of PEDIGREE Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites sold at some Albertsons in Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada.

The company also makes Nutro pet food, which scores of consumers nationwide blame for the recent illnesses — and even deaths — of their dog and cats.

Nutro products, however, are not included in this recall.

Mars said a “component” that tested positive for salmonella was inadvertently shipped to its Tracy, California, plant and used in the production of 100 bags of PEDIGREE pet food.

The affected bags have the “best by” dates of July 7, 2009.

“Our primary concern is the safety and welfare of our pet owners and their pets,” the company said in a statement. “Although the finished product tested negative and we have received no reports of illness of pets or their owners, out of an abundance of caution we are issuing a voluntary recall of the limited number of bags of Pedigree Complete Nutrition Small Crunchy Bites containing the component in question.”

Consumer Affairs has more.

I don’t see anything on the Mars website yet, and since the Pedigree website isn’t coming up at all for me right now, I don’t know if they’ve issued a press release about this or not.

Update: I found the press release. The recall was announced on Friday (of course!) Here it is.

Technorati Tags: pet food recall, Pedigree, Mars Petcare. dogs