A Wisconsin woman is facing an animal neglect charge in South Dakota for allegedly having 42 dogs and cats in a sport utility vehicle. Spearfish police officers responding to an animal welfare call last weekend found the 36 toy-breed dogs and six cats inside the vehicle. The Black Hills Pioneer reports most of the animals were housed in what police said were cramped, dirty kennels with no food or water. Lisa Dietzel, 54, of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, was arrested. She faces a misdemeanor charge that carries a maximum punishment of a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney. Police say Dietzel was traveling back home from Washington state when she stopped in Spearfish. Police took the animals to a shelter. Source: AP A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
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According to Army Veterinary Corps Lieutenant Colonel Dr. James Giles, military working dogs are the first to enter hostile buildings or encounter hidden explosive devices. Hopefully they subdue the enemy fighters or detect the booby-trap bomb for safe disposal. Because they are the first-in, these dogs are often targeted by enemy snipers or are injured during their attack on enemy occupants of buildings. Many are wounded by explosives that are manually detonated from afar or by suicide attack. Like their human counterparts, these dogs need medical care. The stages of treatment for military dogs are just like that seen on M.A.S.H. and relived every day in Afghanistan and Iraq. Stage 1 Treatment The first line of treatment for military dogs is the field medical staff. They are treated by the same medics that attend to the wounded soldiers. The military, with the help of veterinarians like Dr. Giles, have developed training programs for medics so they can adequately stabilize and/or treat wounded dogs in the field. If the injury is minor, military dogs are treated in the field like soldiers and immediately returned to duty. If the injury requires veterinary care, the dogs are evacuated by land or air to the next stage of medical treatment. Stage 2 Treatment Stage 2 treatment areas can be any makeshift location and is staffed by one veterinarian and his or her support staff. These facilities are very limited compared to your veterinary hospital, so it requires veterinarians to be imaginative and creative in their care of wounded patients. Dr. Giles showed a slide of intravenous tubing used to temporarily replace a section of severed artery until a dog could be transported to a facility that could perform an arterial graft. For this dog, treatment was in Germany and, ultimately, the U.S. Those dogs that cannot be adequately treated and returned to duty from a Stage 2 treatment area are then moved to the next level of veterinary care. Stage 3 Treatment Dr. Giles, a board certified veterinary surgeon, works at a Stage 3 treatment facility when he is deployed to Afghanistan. He works with only one other veterinarian as the staffing for these hospitals is limited to two doctors, of any specialty, and their support staff. Dr. Giles's hospital is a tent, just like in M.A.S.H. Fortunately, his hospital is adjacent to a human hospital and, when possible, he uses that facility for advanced care of his patients. Because this is the highest level of veterinary care in a war zone, Dr. Giles treats the most serious cases that need extended hospital care. As mentioned in the previous post, the attack dogs require the presence of their handlers at all times in order to control them for treatment. The bond between handlers and their dogs is incredible. Dr. Giles showed multiple slides of handlers curled up on the floor, on cots, or in any makeshift area in his hospital tent with their dogs, who were hooked up to fluids or other lifesaving equipment. Many stage 3 wounded are treated, repaired, and returned to combat, but some are flown to the American military medical hospital in Germany for more treatment, or are finally flown to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. Source: Pet MD / Dr. Tudor A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
It’s been reported that up to 79 percent of pet owners allow pets to share beds with their human family members. Despite the popularity of the practice, physician and veterinary groups have taken turns speaking out against human-pet bed sharing for a variety of reasons. Let's take a look why. In the case of some physician groups, the warnings are human health based. Confirmed transmission of MRSA skin infections and H1N1 influenza, for example, gives fodder to the speculation that humans who share the covers with their furred family members are more likely to become ill. While this is certainly more of a possibility with immunosuppressed humans (HIV-positive, transplant recipients, or chemotherapy patients, for example), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer no explicit warnings on this issue beyond the standard warnings for these immunocompromised groups of people. In fact, when it comes to infectious disease transmission, physicians and veterinarians agree there is scant evidence that healthy, well cared for pets are detrimental to human health under these circumstances. Indeed, human family members are much more likely to transmit diseases to each other during bed-sharing than our pets are. SO IT'S OK TO SLEEP WITH MY PET? Not exactly. "Although uncommon with healthy pets," the CDC wrote in a 2011 report, "the risk of transmission of zoonotic agents [those transmitted from animal to human] by close contact between pets and their owners through bed sharing, kissing or licking is real and has been documented for life-threatening infections such as plague." Some veterinarians also believe that allowing dogs to sleep on human beds is a not a good thing, behaviorally speaking. Puppies that are more prone to issues with aggression may fully develop these behaviors when allowed to sleep with humans. Housebreaking may also be affected if beds take the place of crates, for example. That’s why bed-sharing should always be delayed until training is complete and social maturity is achieved, behaviorists suggest. SAFETY TIPS FOR SLEEPING WITH A PET To reduce the health risks associated with bed sharing and other close contact with a pet, the CDC recommends that pets have regular veterinary care. This should include keeping up to date with vaccinations, treating illnesses with medications, and using flea and tick preventives, since often fleas and ticks carry bacteria and diseases that can also be transmitted to people. Source: Pet MD / Dr. Patty Khuly A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
Being a successful search-and-rescue (SAR) dog and handler requires intense training. There are a kennel’s worth of commitments and sacrifices involved, say the experts. The first consideration is the age, breed and temperament of your dog. Because young dogs are easier to train, “you need to start as early as possible during puppyhood,” said Ken Chiacchia, the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based owner of Sophia, a two-year-old female German shepherd, and Pip, an eight-year-old female English shepherd. An older dog can be properly trained if it has already established a good working relationship with its owner. Older dogs trained for police and security work can also be good candidates for search and rescue (SAR) missions, provided they are not aggressive and can be trained not to bite or attack rescue victims on command. A dog of nearly any breed can be trained for specific SAR missions, said Harry Oakes, owner of International K-9 Search and Rescue Services, a training and SAR-for-hire company based in Longview, Wash. Larger dogs such as Labradors, German shepherds and golden retrievers are popular choices for the rugged and demanding nature of many of these jobs, including water, wilderness and avalanche rescues. “But medium-sized dogs like border collies and Australian Kelpies seem to live longer and do well in all aspects of SAR,” Oakes said. “And small dogs are great for disaster work – they can get into tight spaces.” Teaching a young dog old tricksAccording to the Centreville, Va.-based National Association for Search and Rescue, training typically takes a year before a dog and its handler are ready for SAR missions. Some trainers, such as Oakes, are more rigorous in their stipulations. “Our program requires a minimum of four hours of training a week with your dog for 18 months,” he said. To attain “expert” status, that time span stretches to six years. Oakes says dozens of private and public SAR training organizations exist around the country to educate future handlers. Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency offers an urban SAR certification program for dogs and handlers. After the minimum training is completed and you gain certification from that organization or individual trainer, “you have to get certified as a search-and-rescue team member by your county sheriff’s office if you want to get called out on search-and-rescue missions in your county,” Oakes said. “In our area, for example, this is a 40-hour program.” Your homework doesn’t stop there, however. Once trained, “you typically spend 10 hours a week keeping your dog in shape and ready to work at peak performance,” said Michael Lueck, a member of the Search One Rescue Team in Dallas, Texas. “A rescue situation can happen any time, anywhere, so you need to be ready at all times.” Cash commitmentSAR involvement can total up to $4,000 a year or more in out-of-pocket expenses, said Debbie Palman, game warden specialist in Aurora, Maine, who owns an 8-year-old male German shepherd SAR tracking dog named Alex. “I’m lucky, because I get paid to do this professionally, but I also do it on the side as a volunteer,” Palman said. “But most people do it strictly on a volunteer basis.” “There are no municipalities in the United States where there’s enough business to do search and rescues and make a profit,” Chiacchia said. “The only people really making money doing this are being paid by the government as law enforcement personnel, firefighters or rangers.” Making a differenceSo, if there are no greenbacks to be made from becoming a search-and-rescue dog team, why do it? Chiacchia says SAR volunteers do it “out of the kindness of their hearts to make a difference in the lives of others. Let’s face it – there aren’t a whole lot of boy scouts out there.” Most people do it “because they really love spending time with their dogs,” Palman said. “It’s also nice to have a talent or ability that few other people have.” Ultimately, asks Oakes, “What can be more rewarding than the ability to use your dog and your own skills to help save a life or bring closure to a family’s suffering?” Source: webvet A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
When you hear the word “oxytocin” you probably think of moms nursing and bonding with their babies. This hormone, oxytocin, is also known as the “bonding hormone.” But its power is not limited to human bonding. A new study from Australia suggests that the hormone of love may have played a role in leading wild dogs to man’s fires and eventual domestication. What is “Oxytocin”? Oxytocin is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus of the brain and released from the back half (posterior) of a pea sized pituitary gland. Oxytocin is important for sexual arousal in both sexes for orgasm and sexual reproduction. It is particularly important for its effect on the cervix and uterus during childbirth and breast nipple stimulation that causes milk “letdown” for nursing. The effects of oxytocin on other parts of the brain during these activities are thought to bring about positive pair bonding, maternal bonding, and positive social recognition bonds. A PhD researcher at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, has found that oxytocin plays a role in the interactions between dogs and humans. Why Oxytocin May be Important in the Domestication of Dogs Previous studies have shown that just three minutes of petting and talking to a dog increases blood oxytocin levels in both dogs and humans. Other studies have shown that humans who are particularly close to their dogs have more oxytocin in their urine. This data lead Jessica Oliva to conduct her PhD thesis experiment. 62 dogs, 31 male and 31 female, were tested to see if oxytocin increased their ability to read cues from humans to the whereabouts of bowls with hidden treats. The dogs were scored on their abilities after receiving either a nasal administration of oxytocin or a saline placebo. Nasal spray was used because it ensures the direct passage of oxytocin to the brain in order to eliminate other factors that could cloud the response results. Not only did the dogs respond more accurately when given oxytocin, but the enhanced performance lasted 15 days after administration of the oxytocin. Oxytocin in some way aids a dog’s ability to read human cues. This far exceeds the ability of wolves to do the same. Oliva cited research that has shown dogs were far better at using non-verbal cues from humans than even wolves that were highly socialized and hand-reared by humans. This research only demonstrates the role of oxytocin in man’s relationship to dogs but does not explain the exact brain interactions involved. Oliva wants to conduct the same experiment on wolves to see if there is a different result. That would really help clarify the evolutionary separation of the wild dog from wolves and their eventual domestication. She also suggests that the identification of a genetic sensitivity to oxytocin in modern dogs may lead to better performing dogs. This could have an impact on breeding dogs that may be better suited as guide or service dogs, military dogs, or customs dogs. Maybe the dog-human bond boils down to a famous song lyric, “All you need is love.” Thanks oxytocin. Source: Pet MD A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
Tests on 34 patients showed an 88% success rate in finding tumours. The team, presenting their findings at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, said the animal had an "unbelievable" sense of smell. Cancer Research UK said using dogs would be impractical, but discovering the chemicals the dogs can smell could lead to new tests. The thyroid is a gland in the neck that produces hormones to regulate metabolism. Thyroid tumors are relatively rare and are normally diagnosed by testing hormone levels in the blood and by using a needle to extract cells for testing. Smelly job Cancers are defective, out-of-control cells. They have their own unique chemistry and release "volatile organic compounds" into the body. The canine approach relies on dogs having 10 times the number of smell receptors as people and being able to pick out the unique smells being released by cancers. The man's best friend approach has already produced promising results in patients with bowel and lung cancers. A team at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) had previously showed that a dog could be trained to smell the difference between urine samples of patients with and without thyroid cancer. The next step was to see if it could be used as a diagnostic test. Frankie the German Shepherd was trained to lie down when he could smell thyroid cancer in a sample and turn away if the urine was clean. Thirty-four patients, who were going to hospital for conventional testing, took part in the trial. Frankie gave the correct diagnosis in 30 out of 34 cases. There were two false positives and two patients who would have been incorrectly given the all-clear. Dr Donald Bodenner, the chief of endocrine oncology at UAMS, said: "The capability of dogs to smell minute amounts is unbelievable. "The medical community over the next few years is going to have a great appreciation [for them]. E-nose Some researchers are trying to strip out the canine-element and test for the unique pong of cancer with an "electronic nose". This approach is also being trailed outside of cancer and has been used to find dangerous infections such as Clostridium difficile. Dr Bodenner added: "We would like to know what Frankie is smelling, nobody knows." Commenting on the findings Dr Jason Wexler, an endocrinologist in Washington, DC, argued: "This is a fascinating, interesting study and it has high potential in areas of the world that may not have access to biopsy techniques. "There are many patients who are reluctant to undergo fine needle aspiration so I think that if you could design a technique where you have no invasive procedure that can have tremendous widespread appeal." But Dr Emma Smith, from Cancer Research UK, cautioned: "Although there's some evidence that some trained dogs can sniff out the smelly molecules given off by cancers, there have been mixed results on how accurate they are and it's not really practical to think about using dogs on a wide scale to detect the disease. "But carrying out lab tests to understand what the dogs are smelling might help to inform the development of 'electronic noses' to detect the same molecules, which could lead to better diagnostic tests in the future." Dr Bodenner says it is an approach that he is actively pursuing. Meanwhile, the lab is also trying to find a new home for canine-veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of sniffing out bombs, they will be trained to hunt for cancer. Source: BBC News A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
It has been a rough year for Dale "Bucko" Franck and his wife Nancy. According to Iowa Public Radio, Bucko spent some time in the hospital for health problems and Nancy was diagnosed with cancer. Nancy recently had cancer surgery, but there were complications, and the Cedar Rapids woman was transferred over to Mercy Medical Center after spending a few days in intensive care. While Nancy’s situation is devastating to Bucko, it also appears to be hard on the family’s two Miniature Schnauzers, Sissy and Barney. And Sissy missed Nancy so much that she decided to take matters into her own paws. In the middle of the night, Bucko woke up and discovered his furnace wasn’t working. While he was up trying to fix the problem, he took both dogs out into the back yard. Usually, the dogs run right back into the house after Bucko unhooks them. He assumed that Sissy had already run into the kitchen, so he went back inside. But it only took a few minutes for Bucko to realize Sissy was gone. Bucko was distraught. “I was scared to death,” he told Iowa Public Radio. “I was crying. That’s my baby.” He called the animal shelter and the police trying to locate his lost dog. Sissy has an identification tag, so Bucko hoped that someone would pick Sissy up and return her. At approximately 5:15 in the morning, Bucko got a call from a security woman at Mercy Medical Center, who said that they had Sissy. The dog — who had never run away before and never visited the hospital in the past — walked twenty blocks away from her home and right to the hospital’s doors, where she actually made her way into the hospital lobby. It was there that the security staff recovered her. Bucko’s only explanation was that Sissy somehow used her sixth sense and was trying to visit Nancy. When Bucko and Nancy’s daughter, Sarah Wood, went to pick Sissy up from the hospital, Sarah asked if she could take the dog upstairs for a quick visit. A security guard escorted them up to Nancy’s room so that Sissy could spend a few minutes with her beloved pet parent. When Nancy saw Sissy for the first time, she thought that Sarah had somehow snuck the dog into the hospital. But when Sarah relayed the story to her mother about how Sissy ran away in the middle of the night to come to the hospital, Nancy could only say, “You little stinker. How did you do that?” Sarah and Sissy were only able to visit with Nancy for a few minutes, but Sarah believes that seeing Sissy brightened her mother’s day. Hopefully Nancy makes a full recovery so that she can get back home to her loving two-legged and four-legged family members. Source: Pet MD / Iowa Public Radio A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
An Arkansas judge remained in a Little Rock hospital Tuesday after he was attacked by his family's pet zebra, authorities said. The man was attacked Sunday night by a zebra owned by his father, a Searcy police spokesman said. The Daily Citizen newspaper of Searcy, in White County northeast of Little Rock, identified the man as state District Judge Mike Derrick. The court clerk's office confirmed to The Associated Press that Derrick sustained injuries to an eye and an arm. His condition wasn't available Tuesday. Authorities wouldn't discuss details of the attack — including any explanation for why a family happened to own and maintain a zebra on private property. Police said they were pursuing no action because the incident appeared to be an accident involving an animal legally owned by Derrick's family. Source: NBC News A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
Cats, long stereotyped as aloof and highly independent creatures compared to dogs, may be getting a bad rap. Research recently published in the journal Animal Cognition posits that cats are quite in tune with their owners’ emotions, and respond to those emotions. The study, “Social referencing and cat–human communication,” details the results of an experiment conducted at Italy’s University of Milan with 24 cats and their owners to see what cats do with emotional information provided by their people. According to the study, the first of its kind involving cats, researchers put each cat-owner pair in an unfamiliar room with an object sure to cause the cats some anxiety: a running fan with plastic ribbons attached to it. One group of owners provided positive reinforcement by talking in a happy voice while looking from the cat to the fan. The second group talked to their cats in a fearful voice while looking from the cat to the fan. Researchers then assessed what they call “social referencing” in the cats, defined as “looking to the owner immediately before or after looking at the object.” The cats clearly participated in social referencing, with researchers concluding that 79 percent of the cats alternated between looking at their owner and the fan. The study found the cats even changed their behavior “to some extent” according to their owners' emotional message. Interestingly, the cats responded more overtly, in terms of looking at their owners, to the negative emotions than to the positive emotions. “Overall, cats in the negative group also showed a higher frequency in their interaction with the owner than cats in the positive group, potentially suggesting they were looking for security from their owner,” according to the study. “Cats are social animals, but their sociality is defined ‘optional,’” says Isabella Merola, lead author of the study and the owner of two cats herself. “Cats usually decide when and with whom to interact." Merola notes that all of the cats in the study focused on their owners because they were in a strange situation. Even cats that usually ignored their people felt compelled to look to their owners for direction in that scenario, says Merola. Source: PetMD A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
It has been a rough year for Dale "Bucko" Franck and his wife Nancy. According to Iowa Public Radio, Bucko spent some time in the hospital for health problems and Nancy was diagnosed with cancer. Nancy recently had cancer surgery, but there were complications, and the Cedar Rapids woman was transferred over to Mercy Medical Center after spending a few days in intensive care. While Nancy’s situation is devastating to Bucko, it also appears to be hard on the family’s two Miniature Schnauzers, Sissy and Barney. And Sissy missed Nancy so much that she decided to take matters into her own paws. In the middle of the night, Bucko woke up and discovered his furnace wasn’t working. While he was up trying to fix the problem, he took both dogs out into the back yard. Usually, the dogs run right back into the house after Bucko unhooks them. He assumed that Sissy had already run into the kitchen, so he went back inside. But it only took a few minutes for Bucko to realize Sissy was gone. Bucko was distraught. “I was scared to death,” he told Iowa Public Radio. “I was crying. That’s my baby.” He called the animal shelter and the police trying to locate his lost dog. Sissy has an identification tag, so Bucko hoped that someone would pick Sissy up and return her. At approximately 5:15 in the morning, Bucko got a call from a security woman at Mercy Medical Center, who said that they had Sissy. The dog — who had never run away before and never visited the hospital in the past — walked twenty blocks away from her home and right to the hospital’s doors, where she actually made her way into the hospital lobby. It was there that the security staff recovered her. Bucko’s only explanation was that Sissy somehow used her sixth sense and was trying to visit Nancy. When Bucko and Nancy’s daughter, Sarah Wood, went to pick Sissy up from the hospital, Sarah asked if she could take the dog upstairs for a quick visit. A security guard escorted them up to Nancy’s room so that Sissy could spend a few minutes with her beloved pet parent. When Nancy saw Sissy for the first time, she thought that Sarah had somehow snuck the dog into the hospital. But when Sarah relayed the story to her mother about how Sissy ran away in the middle of the night to come to the hospital, Nancy could only say, “You little stinker. How did you do that?” Sarah and Sissy were only able to visit with Nancy for a few minutes, but Sarah believes that seeing Sissy brightened her mother’s day. Hopefully Nancy makes a full recovery so that she can get back home to her loving two-legged and four-legged family members. A Peaceful Farewell provides compassionate at home pet euthanasia to fellow pet owners in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, and most of the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
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