Reptiles, fish and pocket pets abound
Species other than cats and dogs are taking center stage in many homes across the U.S., and their owners are paying for food, medical care and other commodities and services to keep their pets happy and healthy. Some 15.6 million U.S. adults own fish, 10.4 million have birds and 2.5 million live with rabbits, according to a report from the research firm Packaged Facts. Altogether, there are a staggering 116 million such pets in U.S. homes. MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily (1/15)
It’s not just dogs and cats who rule the roost. American pet owners live in the company of 116 million fish, birds, small animals and reptiles, according to a report from market research firm Packaged Facts.
While research into the human-animal bond tends to focus on the special relationship between people and dogs that has evolved over thousands of years, today’s pet owners do not limit their connection with animals to dogs or cats alone. A wide range of other animals have found their way into the households and affections of pet lovers, according to “Pet Population and Pet Owner Trends in the U.S.”
Fish tanks can be found in 7.2 million households and bird cages in 4.6 million households. Reptiles are pets in 1.8 million households. Tens of millions of adults, as well as their children, enjoy the companionship of non-canines and non-felines. The report finds that 15.6 million adults reside in households with fish and 10.4 million own birds and 2.5 million have rabbits.
These pet owners represent big business for the pet industry. They groom and board their birds, buy toys for their iguanas, purchase medications for their turtles, take their gerbils to the vet and light and decorate their fish tanks. Food is bought for all of the tens of millions of pets that are owned in addition to cats and dogs.
A recurring theme of the report is the critical role that parents and children play in this segment of the pet market. Compared to pet owners who have cats and dogs exclusively, owners of fish, reptiles and small animals are much more likely to have children under the age of 18 in their households (57% vs. 34%). Nearly 90% of households with hamsters have children, and 87% of these have children under the age of 12. Around 60% of households with fish, rabbits and reptiles have children under the age of 18.
The spending power of owners of pets other than cats and dogs has a significant impact on the bottom line of marketers and retailers of pet products and services, said David Sprinkle, the research director for Packaged Facts.
After a noticeable recessionary slump, ownership of fish, birds and small animals is on the rebound. Marketers can take advantage of an improving market by leveraging the connection that consumers have with their pets, Sprinkle says.
Dr. Josie Zabala is selected by the AHF for the Cortese-Lippincott Award
On January 19, Dr. Zabala will receive the Cortese-Lippincott Award from the Animal Health Foundation at SCVMA’s Installation of Officers. It will honor her for going “above and beyond in making the world a better place for both humans and animals.”
Read on for her story.
SCVMA Legacy: Dr. Josie Zabala Gave Second Chance to Unwanted Animals
This is one in a series of stories exploring what life and the practice of veterinary medicine was like for Southern California Veterinary Medical Association members in the past.
By Jim Bell
When Josie Zabala – born and raised in Manila – was a young veterinary student at the University of the Philippines in the mid-1960s, she could hardly have envisioned the path her life would take – to a 30-year career as director of Los Angeles County’s Department of Animal Care and Control.
“Working at the county shelter, extending the lives of unwanted animals, giving them a chance to have a second home and working the best way we could on a limited budget” was the best part of her rewarding career, she said. “We were a lot like country doctors. We learned to be very creative. ”
How did the young Filipina veterinary graduate of 1968 wind up leading the largest animal shelter in the United States?
She and other members of her graduating class were offered jobs by the federal Department of Agriculture. She worked for the government for six years, mostly in the San Joaquin Valley, while preparing for the federal and California veterinary board exams.
She passed the boards in 1974 and, with two young daughters at home, went to work part-time in clinics founded in Los Angeles by a partnership that included her husband Fred, who is now deceased. When her daughters were older, she started her own clinic in Anaheim and went to work for Los Angeles County in 1982. “For a few years, I worked at the county in the morning and at my clinic in the afternoon,” said Zabala, who still lives in Cerritos. After 18 years, she turned her clinic over to an associate.
On January 19, she will receive the Cortese-Lippincott Award from the Animal Health Foundation at SCVMA’s Installation of Officers. It will honor her for going “above and beyond in making the world a better place for both humans and animals.”
Zabala retired from the county job last summer. It was “very challenging,” she said. “When I started, there were no specific shelter veterinary positions. We were aided by the county Veterinarians Office. But when Prop. 13 passed in 1978, they phased out the county office and we started Animal Care and Control. And they hired me as the senior veterinarian in charge of all the six shelters.”
Zabala said that a shelter veterinarian’s life is different today than it was when she was named director. “There was a perception by other veterinarians that we were no good because we worked at the shelter,” she said. “They thought that we were there because we couldn’t do the job in private practice. And everything we did in those early days was questioned and ridiculed by the private sector. We found [that attitude] all over. At [professional] meetings, veterinarians would stand up and say it straight to your face.
“That has changed. Shelter medicine has evolved into a prestigious part of veterinary medicine. But we hid in the shadows because of all the condescending words we got – because they didn’t understand shelter medicine. . . . At a shelter, you are not only involved in animal health but you also take part in public safety, public health. You take care of animals that can transfer diseases to people. In fact, the [county] shelters were established because of a rabies epidemic in 1937. So every time an animal comes into a shelter, the veterinarian looks for zoonotic disease symptoms.”
Bioterrorism now is part of the life of a shelter veterinarian, who must recognize the symptoms of agents such as anthrax that might be used by terrorists, she said, and report to public health officials. Finally, she said, animal mistreatment is an important responsibility. “We see animals that have been subject to human maltreatment and we investigate it and help prosecute it. The shelter veterinarian is on the front line in abuse cases.”
Dr. Zabala gives much of the credit for her success as director of the county shelters to the veterinarians who work there. (There are 10 county veterinarians and 21 registered veterinary techs.) “Without them, everything that we tried to do would not have been possible,” she said.
Today, Zabala said, veterinary medicine is “more cutting edge” than it once was. “We have a lot of specialists in the field and we have continuing education that keeps us up to date. There was a time when we did diagnosing according to symptoms and now we have so many more tools. And the specialists are ready to help you if you have a question or a problem.
“Veterinarians today [in a sluggish economy] can be creative in helping their clients. We can make recommendations of what we can do and, if the client can’t afford it, we can go to the next choice or the next plan. The bad economy helps you grow as a veterinarian because you have to be more resourceful.”
Angel Fund helps abused chihuahua get 2nd chance
In August, 2011, Oksana and Eric Schwartz took their two dogs to a dog park not far from their West Hollywood apartment.
“A man came over to us and said he had found a dog tied up to a pole there and asked if it belonged to somebody,” Oksana said. “The dog [a chihuahua] had this little harness on and he had grown into it and it wouldn’t buckle up any more. It was so tight I couldn’t pull it over his head. We had to cut it off. He was really underweight and had a broken leg.
“My husband has a soft spot for little dogs and he said: ‘Well he’s not ours but we’ll take him and . . . see what we can do.’ We took him to Blue Cross Pet Hospital in North Hollywood. We’ve been taking our dogs there for a long time. And it turned out the dog had a broken hip on top of the broken leg.
Dr. James Walters, co-owner of the hospital, told the couple that the dog needed surgery. Eric is in the Marine Corps and Oksana works as a projects manager. She told Walters that they could not afford to pay for an operation. “‘We’d love to,’ I said, ‘but this is not our dog.’ My bigger dog was in a car accident less than six months before and we had been paying off that vet bill as well,” she said.
“The hospital offered to do the surgery for almost 50 percent off . . . so we finally decided to have it done. They had to put four pins, I think, in his leg. Our veterinarian told us after the surgery that somebody probably had kicked him and that the hip injury was a really old injury.”
The hospital took more than $700 off its bill and helped the Schwartzes obtain an Angel Fund grant. Oksana created a Facebook page for Murray, as they decided to call the dog, and a couple of friends contributed, too. “The fact that we got some help with the bill was really great,” she said.
“But we couldn’t find a place for him. Nobody really wanted a dog that had a broken bone,” Oksana said. “I really didn’t want another dog, either, because we live in a small apartment where we had two dogs to begin with and we weren’t sure if we could afford him. But he was such a sweet little dog that we decided to keep him.”
Murray still has some issues that Oksana believes are related to how he was treated before he came into her life. For instance, she said, “in the middle of the night, if he’s sleeping on our bed and you accidently touch him with your foot, he can have a freak-out moment where he starts growling. But usually if you just hold him down, he’s o.k. and he’ll calm down and go right back to sleep.”
“Since we’ve had him, he’s 100 percent better than when we found him. He was about six pounds then. Now he’s about 10. He wasn’t using his leg for a long time and the muscle had deteriorated so we had to train him to use it again. And now the muscle is slowly coming back.
“He’s a great addition to our family. He’s super sweet and smart and he wants to get petted all the time and he cuddles. He loves playing with our bigger dog and our little girl dog takes care of him like she’s his mom.”
Pet Partner team Carole and Shellie on TV!
Carole Melvin and Shellie were at their regular visit at CHOC (Children’s Hospital of Orange County) when they were asked to help with a project. Channel 7 ABC news was doing a feature on charities and how a consumer should check out the charity first. So, Carole and Shellie ended up on TV in a special news segment when they were talking about the CHOC Foundation! Sometimes we’re called on to help in many different ways!
To view the whole story CLICK HERE
Israeli company trains mice to sniff out contraband
Mice are effective at sniffing out explosives, drugs and other contraband, and they’re faster to train than dogs, according to Israel-based BioExplorers. The company has devised a system that directs a blast of air at a person and then into a chamber containing eight mice, who move into a second chamber when they smell contraband. WorldTribune.com
TEL AVIV — Israel has been using mice to detect explosives.
An Israeli company has developed a method that uses mice to detect hidden contraband at airports and other facilities. The company, BioExplorers, said the mice could identify anything from explosives, drugs and even cash.
Israeli researchers claim mice are more accurate than dogs or x-ray machines at detecting explosives.
“The mice can also be easily trained, and thanks to their small size, you can use a small group of them and have multiple sensors,” BioExplorers chief technology officer Eran Lumbroso said.
The system was unveiled at the Israel Homeland Security exhibition in Tel Aviv in mid-November 2012. Executives said BioExplorers was briefing governments, police and companies on the technology.
Executives said the portable system directs a blast of air toward somebody suspected of carrying contraband. The air that strikes the person is directed into a chamber of eight mice, who sniff and move into another compartment if they detect contraband.
Lumbroso, who also founded BioExplorers, said the technology stemmed from his service in the Israel Army in 2000. At the time, the Army sought to use small animals rather than dogs to detect and foil the numerous suicide bombings by such Palestinian groups as Fatah and Hamas.
Executives said the system envisions the mice working in shifts of four hours. They said the mice can be trained much quicker than dogs.
Research may provide support for horse therapy
New software may capture the data needed to support claims that horse therapy provides tangible therapeutic benefits to children with developmental and cognitive disorders, according to the makers of the Orbis Biomechanical System Integration Suite. Research that quantifies the benefits of horse therapy may help convince insurance companies to cover the treatment, said senior research engineer Cameron Nott. Longview News-Journal (Texas)
By Glenn Evans gevans@news-journal.comLongview News-Journal
Insurance companies live by numbers, so it’s not enough to hear from an army of parents saying their children with developmental or cognitive disorders are helped by horse therapy.
That might change if research that’s in a high gait at Windridge Equestrian Therapeutic Center of East Texas pans out. Executive Director Margo Dewkett has long said the movements of a walking horse stimulate muscle groups the rider would use while walking if his or her brain were more in control.
This past week, a researcher for a company that developed software to quantify Dewkett’s claim was at the therapy ranch west of the Diana area to train the staff on how to complete that mission.
“Quantifying the improvements in the riders over a period of time while exposed to this therapy will validate it,” said Cameron Nott, senior research engineer for Orbis, maker of the Orbis Biomechanical System Integration Suite.
OBSIS, as researchers call it, uses motion-capture sensors on the horse and rider to produce a digital image of what’s going on with both.
“Our software takes that information and calculates different biomechanical measures,” said Nott, a doctor of mechanical engineering from South Africa. “We calculate the joint angles. We calculate the joint power, and then our software collects the data and processes the data. And then it generates a report on the data.”
It’s the kind of hard data that the growing hippotherapy movement can show insurers who typically deny customer requests they cover sessions of horse therapy. (The “hippo” comes from Greek roots of the word “horse,” but that probably hasn’t kept insurance claims officers from scratching their heads).
“It has not been accepted as a formalized form of therapy that insurance companies are willing to pay out,” Nott said. “We need to show that it works. They say it works, but you really need to show scientific improvement, that there is improvement in the mobility and performance of the subject.”
A second goal of quantifying the horse and rider relationship is it will set measurable marks that horses must achieve to get their own certification.
“This is sound research, and people are doing it — we are not the only ones,” Nott said. “But, Margo has the equipment and facilities to be at the forefront of hippotherapy research. We’ll keep working with them in the future, but they are training themselves to be completely independent and do this thing.”
Abused children find comfort in furry friend
At the Snohomish County Courthouse, child interview specialist Gina Coslett of Dawson Place shows off Harper Lea, a 2-year-old lab trained to comfort children who are being asked to talk about crimes, or testify in a trial. Harper is a new addition to Dawson Place, which is the county's child advocacy center.
Harper is there as young victims of abuse talk about what happened
Last month, the 2-year-old Labrador retriever started working at Dawson Place, the county’s child advocacy center that serves more than 1,000 abused children a year.
Harper is a special pooch whose job is to offer kids comfort at times when they may be scared, confused and uncomfortable.
She snuggles with children who are asked to recount horrific crimes committed against them. Her coat often soaks up their tears. Harper senses when kids need to be nuzzled or when a good dog trick will chase away the hurt.
Children often leave her side, saying, “I think she loves me. I think she’s going to miss me.”
Since she was a puppy, Harper has been raised to be a service dog. She received extensive training through the California-based Canine Companions for Independence.
Her handler, child interview specialist Gina Coslett had been waiting almost a year to be paired with Harper. Coslett was convinced that she wanted a canine partner after working with another service dog named Stilson.
Stilson, a stocky black Labrador, works in the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office and has helped out at Dawson Place.
When he came to the office in 2006, Stilson was only the second service dog in the nation used by prosecutors.
He was so good at his job that people were convinced that Dawson Place also should use a service dog to help child victims.
The center offers centralized assistance for physically and sexually abused children. Medical personnel, counselors, advocates, state caseworkers, prosecutors and police are available in the same building to help streamline assistance to children and their families.
Children and teens receive free medical exams, mental health assessments and counseling. The center also houses detectives and prosecutors who investigate crimes against children.
Now through a partnership, the county’s law enforcement agencies all pay for Coslett’s salary and Harper’s expenses, said Mary Wahl, the executive director at Dawson Place.
Harper lives with Coslett and has become a part of the family. She’s even teaching Coslett’s other dog, Duca, a miniature Pinscher and rat terrier mix, some much-needed manners.
“They really are best friends,” Coslett said.
Harper loves to play, chase balls and buddy around with other dogs, but when her work vest is on she’s all business.
As a forensic interview specialist, it’s Coslett’s job to ask children about alleged crimes, either committed against them or witnessed by them. She must remain neutral and disconnected from the emotions that often fill the room during these interviews. She can’t hug the child or offer them any comforting words. There is no parent with the child and Coslett isn’t a therapist. That’s not her role.
“It’s so hard not to reach out, whether I believe them or not,” said Coslett, a mom and grandmother.
That’s where Harper comes in.
The friendly pooch greets the children and sits next to them while Coslett asks questions. She lays her head in their laps. Small hands pet her shiny coat. Sometimes it is easier for children to talk to her about their hurt than to the adult in the room. Harper won’t leave their side until Coslett gives the command.
Coslett said it is remarkable to see the dog follow a child’s cues. She senses when to get closer without being told. Harper can smell stress and fear.
“She knows she’s there to comfort,” Coslett said. “She takes over and knows what to do.”
The kids also like her tricks. She can turn off lights, give a high-five and carry her own leash. It’s heartening to hear a child’s laugh or see him smile after hearing about his pain in such detail, Coslett said. Harper provides some of that healing.
The Labrador was named after Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
The book reflects on justice, doing the right thing and love, Coslett said. Harper seemed like a fitting name for a dog with so much heart.
Pet hospice increases options for pets and owners
Veterinary at-home hospice services provide end-of-life care for ill pets, improving quality of life for animals and potentially extending life, albeit only for a few days in some cases. Hospice care must be administered by a veterinarian who works in conjunction with the pet’s regular veterinarian to provide palliative treatment such as pain management and catheter placement. San Francisco Chronicle
Shea Cox has spent her 11-year career as a veterinarian fighting to save animals’ lives.
Now, as a provider of pet hospice, she shepherds her patients through death, tending to their needs and those of their guardians, relieving animals’ pain so they can live out their final days surrounded by loved ones, not in the sterile confines of a veterinary clinic.
Modeled on human hospice, the growing field of pet hospice offers palliative care to animals in their homes. It ushers in a profound shift in how people care for dying and elderly pets, providing an option that falls between aggressive medical intervention and immediate euthanasia.
For pet owners, in-home care gives solace as they make painful end-of-life decisions.
Jeff Aoki of Oakland was in Colorado for his father’s funeral when he got a call that would only deepen his grief. His yellow Labrador, Sunny, had cancer that had spread throughout her body.
“I was devastated,” Aoki said. “Sunny was my rock, my best friend and constant companion.”
Aoki and his fiance, Sandy Wong, arranged for Sunny to receive pet hospice care from Cox. The care, which included a urinary catheter (a tumor had made it impossible for her to urinate), gave her a few extra days at home.
Aoki flew home, and for several days the couple showered Sunny with love, trips to the beach and park – and filet mignon.
When it was time to say goodbye, Cox put her to sleep in their backyard. “It was a sad, sad time but this made it so much easier,” Aoki said.
Missing plans
Cox – who was a human hospice nurse before becoming a vet – got the inspiration for her newly launched Bridge Veterinary Services while working as an ER/critical care vet at Pet Emergency Treatment and Specialty Referral Center, a Berkeley animal hospital.
“Working in that setting, I kept seeing nothing about making a plan if a patient had an incurable disease,” she said. “The choice was between either being in the hospital to get better or having to euthanize. It seemed like a disconnect; there had to be a way to offer something in between.”
With almost two-thirds of American households owning pets, it’s not surprising that attitudes toward animals’ final days have evolved from the rural past, when they were unceremoniously put down. The overwhelming majority of pet owners consider their companion animals to be family members, according to a 2011 Harris poll. At the same time, more and more people have witnessed their loved ones using human hospice.
Extending care
“We’ve decided as a culture to support human passing as compassionately as we’re able to, with hospice and palliative care,” said Oakland resident Erika Macs. As a hospital chaplain, she is intimately familiar with end-of-life issues. “It’s a natural progression that we would extend that to the animals in our lives that we’re caretakers for.”
When her 17-year-old cat, Mittens, became critically ill last year, Macs turned to Dr. Anthony Smith, a Hercules vet whose Rainbow Bridge Vet Services has offered hospice and home euthanasia for a dozen years.
“Dr. Smith was able to bring both a medical model and a sense of respectful, compassionate presence,” Macs said.
“The beauty of human hospice is it gives time to have (final) conversations,” Macs said. “With pets, it also gives time to say goodbye. The better the closure, the more quickly a person is able to heal and move on.”
Medical supervision
Pet hospice must be provided by a veterinarian because it involves medical assessments and pain medicines. Pet hospice vets coordinate with the animal’s regular vet. As in human hospice, if pets get better, they can transition back to regular medical treatment.
The costs pencil out to be more than regular check-ups but much less than invasive medical intervention. Bridge Veterinary Services, for instance, charges $250 for an initial appointment that includes a two- or three-hour at-home assessment and such initial care as inserting IV tubes or catheters.
Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/pets/article/Hospice-for-pets-comforts-owners-too-3958378.php#ixzz2FxpiHcoa
Microchip reunites owner with cat who helped her cope with cancer
Loni Fitzgerald was reunited with her cat, Clair, after the cat went missing a year ago, thanks to a microchip implanted in the pet. “I wish she could tell me what she’s been through,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m definitely not going to be letting her outside for a very long time.” Fitzgerald was being treated for cancer when she adopted Clair. Experts say it’s essential that microchip contact information be kept up to date. HeraldNet (Everett, Wash.)
Loni Fitzgerald didn’t expect to see her cat ever again.
The female tabby mix named Clair was only a year old when she disappeared last December. Loni, 30, and her husband, Trevor, searched their Everett neighborhood but couldn’t find their beloved pet. Weeks and months went by without any sign of her.
Then came the phone call on Sunday that caught Fitzgerald completely off-guard.
An Everett Animal Shelter staff member had found Clair standing in the rain near Pacific Avenue and Grand Avenue. The cat’s microchip, implanted under its skin, helped the shelter locate Fitzgerald, who at the time was packing to return home from a family trip to Hawaii.
“I was in shock, I seriously started bawling my eyes out,” Fitzgerald said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”
Fitzgerald, her husband and their 1-year-old daughter, Faith Olivia, were reunited with their cat Monday afternoon at the Everett Animal Shelter.
“Look at how big she is,” she said. “She has the same black stripe and that face.”
Clair, nestled safely in Fitzgerald’s arms, leaned into her owner’s touch and briefly closed her eyes. Fitzgerald gave her a couple quick kisses.
She was undergoing treatment for cervical cancer in 2010 when she adopted the young cat, Fitzgerald said. The two quickly became friends.
“She was like my baby,” Fitzgerald said. “I just loved her.”
Her cancer has been in remission for a year, Fitzgerald added. In October, she and her husband decided to get another cat for their daughter to grow up with. They planned to slowly introduce Clair to their new kitten, Boots. He’ll get a microchip in January, Fitzgerald said.
When a stray cat or dog is brought into the Everett Animal Shelter a staff member will scan the animal for a microchip, said Kate Reardon, city spokeswoman. The information on the microchip often helps to locate pet owners. Four of six lost cats with microchips turned in to the Everett Animal Shelter in the past week were reunited with their owners, Reardon added.
“The good news is when the phone call matches the real pet owner,” she said. “It’s always really important that people update their information.”
Fitzgerald said she’s grateful that Clair is healthy after being discovered about seven miles away from her home.
“I wish she could tell me what she’s been through,” she said. “I’m definitely not going to be letting her outside for a very long time.”
Amy Daybert:425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
Boy with epilepsy opens up about his life with service dog
Obtaining a service dog has been life-changing for 9-year-old Evan Moss, who has epilepsy and wrote about his condition and his dog to educate people. Evan’s dog Mindy alerts his parents when he has a seizure, allowing them to treat him. Evan and his family raised money to purchase Mindy by selling a book Evan wrote about needing her, and the proceeds allowed them to help other children obtain dogs as well. CNN
My name is Evan Moss and I’m a 9-year-old boy who likes Pokemon! A lot!
When I was 1 month old I started having seizures, and when I was 4 years old I went to Dr. Weiner and he gave me brain surgery to stop my seizures. It stopped my seizures for two years but not my appetite, it just kept on growing! It is still growing.
After two years my seizures came back and now they are longer. When was little I had like 15 small seizures a day. Now I have 10-minute seizures but I only have one every 14 days or so.
I have two dogs. One is Dinky and the other is Mindy. Dinky is our family dog and he really belongs to my sister, Aria. Mindy is my seizure dog.
Getting Mindy took a long time. We had to raise a lot of money and wait almost a year to meet her and then we had to drive from Virginia to Ohio to get Mindy.
Having Mindy is very fun! When I first got Mindy it was pretty hard because she didn’t listen to me, but now she does and she knows a lot of commands. I’ve even taught her some new things, like climbing up into the fort section of my swing set. The best thing about having Mindy is playing with her and I love racing with her. If she is on her leash she runs right next to me but I know she can run really fast.
I have epilepsy but I can do some extraordinary things like ride a zip line! Epilepsy can also be bad, though, and I’ve heard about some seizures that can kill you! Sometimes I worry that will happen to me but I don’t think about that too much, plus I have Mindy to help me.
Mindy barks when I have a seizure so my parents will know. When I have a seizure, my mom and dad give me medicine to help stop the seizure. People ask me a lot what it feels like but it’s hard to describe and sometimes I don’t remember having a seizure.
If I met someone who just found out they have epilepsy I’d say, “Don’t worry, you’re not in this alone!”