Archive for category: Health

There was some great news yesterday regarding the feral cat situation in Randolph, Iowa. There are so many amazing people working in animal rescue and I hope that those involved in this situation will take a moment to appreciate their great success in this town which is only about 2 hours from where I live.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Cats may be breathing a bit easier in a tiny Iowa town after officials rescinded a five dollar bounty on their heads.
Instead, Randolph, Iowa, has agreed to work with animal rescue groups on a catch, neuter and release program.
The City Council signed off on the bounty after numerous complaints about stray cats. Under the initial plan, cats without collars would be taken to a vet and euthanized if they weren’t claimed. The policy drew protests from animal lovers.
The 200-person town ended the bounty this week and has voted to form a task force involving animal rights groups.
A spokeswoman for one of the groups says feral cats will be returned to the outdoors, while strays will be adopted into homes.

I read the neatest story about a senior living facility called Silverado Senior Living, which has locations throughout California, Texas and Utah. They care mostly for seniors with some type of dementia and attribute the health gains that they are seeing in the residents to their mandatory animal rule:

The rule requires atleast 1 dog and one cat for every 25 residents, 1 bird for every 4 residents, and an aquarium for every 40 people.

Part of everyone’s daily schedule involves grooming, walking, feeding and caring for the animals. Noticeable benefits among the residents include heightened self-esteem and lessening of depression. This contributes significantly to improved mental and physical well-being.

The majority of the animals who live at the facilities are adopted from rescue groups. Very cool.

I just read about an interesting study on flea control done by Ohio State University.

In studying the cat flea, the researchers found that 96 percent of adult fleas and 100 percent of younger fleas are destroyed by vacuuming.

Pretty amazing statistics for those of us who do not want to use chemical flea control on our dogs and cats. The study was repeated several times and they got the same results each time.

Apparently, the brushes on the vacuum damage the waxy outer layer of the fleas–they become dehydrated and die.

Vacuuming, flea combing and the use of diatomaceous earth are the cornerstones of my flea control in the summer and fall.

Looks like I will be doing even more vacuuming this summer!!

It looks like there are still recalls out on some dog and cat foods. This is a link to the latest list that I have been able to find. It was updated the end of January 2008.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov:80/scripts/petfoodrecall/

I am doing some internet research into remedies for cats who have motion sickness while travelling in the car.

My cat Kate gets very car sick–even on short trips (1/2 hour or so). She is almost 3 and has always had this problem. She will vomit, drool, and generally be queasy for a while after we get home.

I would like to bring her on a trip to the Cape this coming summer, but need to be sure she will not be sick or uncomfortable along the way.

My research is still in the beginning stages, but I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions. Obviously, one solution would be not to take her on a trip…but other than the car sickness aspect, I think she would have a wonderful time. And it is hard to find excellent cat sitters for extended amounts of time.

I would be very interested and grateful to hear from anyone who has had experience with this situation.