4 All Pet Lovers

AUGUSTA, Kan. — It isn’t every day a porcupine punctures a dog with its quills, Dr. Douglas Nielson says, and owners — and their dogs — should be thankful.

“It’s a horrific, hideous way to die,” Nielson said.

Nielson, a veterinarian in Augusta, Kan., can’t verify that information with firsthand experience, but is able to convey the “genuine and horribly sincere pain” he has seen in a few affected, unlucky dogs.

In the past few months, Nielson has treated three dogs who got a little too curious about the prickly rodents.

While a porcupine’s quills do not contain any venom and are not fatal, if left embedded and untreated for too long, their effects may prove deadly.

“One guy came in with his dog early in the morning and we just gave the dog a ton of anesthetics and treated him, and he went home fine,” Nielson said. “But then after work, the guy came back with his other dog, who apparently had had quills in him, too. It had been eight or nine hours before the dog came here, and he died.”

When a porcupine leaves hundreds of quills in a dog’s mouth and tongue, if left untreated, the dog can suffer from dehydration, as it is unable to swallow.

Run-ins with porcupines can’t always be avoided, or predicted.

“It’s just dogs checking something out, and porcupines can usually sense when there is some sort of imminent danger,” Nielson said.

“The dogs might try to get closer to or bite the porcupine and then they get quills in their faces, and it hurts, so they bite the porcupine again, and again.”

While porcupines don’t shoot their quills at predators, they do raise them if threatened. Porcupines possess over 30,000 quills on their body, according to The Augusta Gazette, and can dig the hooked quills at least 1-inch into a predator’s body.

The porcupine is one of the largest rodents in North America, and usually weigh between eight to 14 pounds.

Source: Augusta Gazette

Herding cattles - maybe you’ve heard of it.. if not seen.
What about “herding” cats? Aha.. watch this video to find out more. It’s darn unimaginable and funny!

This is an excerpt which I find interesting from Dr. Jon (petplace.com). Just to share with you:

When I arrived there were 4 pets in the “waiting room”.  There was a dog with a broken toenail that had been bleeding, another was a dog that started vomiting a few hours before arrival, the third patient was a dog what was limping and the fourth pet that came in was a cat that couldn’t urinate. 

Which pet would you see first? The dog with the broken toenail? The cat that couldn’t urinate? The limping dog?

I know that we all hate to see any pet suffering, but  emergency medicine is to quickly evaluate a patient to determine the severity of their problem to ensure that the most critical patients get attention first. This helps to maximize survival to the pets that are sickest.

So which one did the emergency vet see first? Well, actually the cat had the most life-threatening problem. Cats with urinary obstruction are life-threatening emergencies. The cat was immediately taken to the back room to be examined.   The cat was examined, treated and released.

The other three pets were important but not deemed as critical and therefore taken in the order they came in. After the cat was treated, the veterinarian on duty saw the torn nail dog first and then the dog that was vomiting. Then…another dog came in. It was a dog that had been it by a car that appeared to have a broken leg and was having trouble breathing. He was triaged to be the most critical and was seen next. Then back to the limping dog…

That is just a glimpse of what happens. This can be a very emotional experience and that is why I am encouraging all my readers to think through what they would do and develop an emergency plan.

Dogs (and pets) are a part of us, a part of our family – agree? =) Read this.

By Joseph Ruzich and John Bisognano | Chicago Tribune

November 13, 2008

Cicero officials said a 68-year-old man, John Petrik didn’t want to leave his 13-year-old German shepherd mix, Regis in his burning home had became unresponsive after being put in the back of a patrol car and later died.

Petrik was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m. Wednesday in MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. His dog suffered smoke inhalation and burns and is under intensive care with an Oak Park veterinarian.

Officials said that when they arrived at the home about 2 a.m., Petrik was in the house. After being approached by emergency crews, he refused to leave, saying he didn’t want to leave his dog.Petrik ran into a back room and held a door shut, according to town spokesman Dan Proft. Police forcibly removed Petrik. As paramedics were called, Petrik was put in the back of a squad car, where he was frantic saying his dog was still in the house, Proft said.

When emergency officials arrived, Petrik was unresponsive and rushed to MacNeal. Proft said firefighters went into the house and saved the dog.

Officials said, according to a preliminary investigation, the fire likely was caused by a short in a space heater.

Source: Chicago Tribune.com

SINGAPORE: A Sarawakian man working as a cleaner at the Singapore Zoo died Thursday after he was mauled by a white tiger.

Nordin Mondong, 32, is believed to have fallen into the moat surrounding the white tiger enclosure at about 12.15pm and was immediately pounced on by the three big cats weighing over 100kg each.

The Singapore Zoo has three Bengal white tigers - Omar, Winnie, and Jippie.

Earlier this year, nine-year-old Omar was shortlisted as a possible contender to replace Ah Meng as the zoo’s icon.

Terrified visitors near the section watched the vicious attack in horror and screamed.

Three zoo keepers were alerted to the commotion and sprang to rescue Nordin. Two of them tried to distract the three tigers and managed to keep them under control but a third kept on mauling Nordin.

The keepers managed to pull the cleaner to safety and rushed him to hospital. But he died on the way.

Nordin started working at the Zoo in June.

It is believed he was not supposed to be in the tiger enclosure and was assigned to clean the chimpanzee section.

He was seen behaving in an agitated manner before he fell into the moat. - ANN/Straits Times

Here are some tips from the Code of Practice for animal welfare in England, with some of it being downright disgracing human intellectuals. But then again… if these what is contained in the code is common-sense.. why, then are people doing it? Ironic, isn’t it? =)

Top tips from the code of practice:

§     Your cat should not be too fat or too thin. You can assess your cat’s weight by gently seeing if you can feel its ribs; if they are hard to find, it may be overweight.

§     If you live in a tall building you should ensure that windows and balconies are cat-proofed to prevent your cat from falling.

§     It may be safer to keep cats indoors at night, when risk to their health and welfare could be greater.

§     Avoid walking your dog during the hottest part of the day. Early morning or in the evening are the best times to walk your pet.

§     If a dog eats too much and exercises to little it will put on weight leading to a reduced quality of life.

§     Avoid feeding your dog from the table or your plate as this can encourage your dog to beg and bark.

§     Dogs need a bed with no sharp corners of splinters as these may cause injury.

Source: mailonsunday.co.uk

My personal additional code: Do not dry your dog using these methods: hanging them, or leaving them caged or tied-up under the hot burning sun.