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Happy Valentine's Day!
How time flies when you're busy! First, I want to thank everyone for all your continued support. It never ceases to amaze me and warm our hearts with your generosity.
During the last month we have been busy working on financial statements and government reports. You might like to know that in 2012 Pet Pals spent $6,303.90 to veterinarians and $2,895.00 just for insurance. Our insurance is high due to the "dangerous" breeds of dogs we have rescued. I would hate to think how high our insurance would be with any claims! And I would like to add that our meanest dog here is a one-eyed Chihuahua not on their list of aggressive dogs. I cannot touch her and she only loves Larry!
We are the ONLY strictly NO-kill rescue in our area including Cheyenne, WY. When we take in a problem pet, we work with them rather than opt to sell the best and kill the rest. One thing is for sure, we couldn't save all these lives without your help, THANK YOU!
Hugs, Purrs & Slurps,
Linda York, President
PS. I worked on this newsletter instead of watching the super bowl and we only received one phone call during this time wanting us to take a stray dog that killed a chicken!
There's a difference between adopting and rescuing a pet. When you
adopt, you choose the pet that you want... one that is cute, friendly, and usually healthy and so on.
When you rescue a pet, it does not matter how they
look or what shape they are in. You are going to take them and
make them better! Author unknown
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Angels Among Us!
 | | Before Mattie's Rescue |
from Lou:
Miss Mattie is still sleeping after her big day out yesterday! Walking and wagging and smiling for almost three hours wore her out. She wags at least twice for every step, and I think she managed a mile of corridors and halls. I'm sure even Miss America would still be in bed.
She really feels at home already at her new "job." I think she and Buddy (the resident Labrador) will be great friends, even though he is a bit "fresh" in her opinion. <G> He was so cute showing her the ropes. He was quite insistent she ride the elevator, with him, alone - it was too funny. J She is still working on polishing and proofing a few skills before I'll feel comfortable letting her start work full-time on her own. In a residential care facility, she needs to listen to everyone, not just me - as I'm not coming with her! She needs to be able to recognize on her own where her landmarks are: outside potty door, bed, food, water, etc. - and how to access them. I am scheduling her Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog tests so she is street ready.
I thought you might like to see what our girl looked like when she was picked up by the Winnsboro, Louisiana shelter. She and her puppies were hungry and suffering from a severe case of mange when they were found wandering. I am so very thankful the wonderful people at the shelter recognized a diamond in the rough! It took a huge investment in time, money, effort, and especially *love* among a large number of people to keep our "RSQ's Waltzing Matilda Hooves & Paws" (her official AKC name!) and her pups alive, heal them, and find them fur-ever homes. And then it took many volunteers, coordinated by Hooves & Paws Rescue of the Midlands, to organize transport, foster care, and training to bring her to her new home.
Anyone who questions the value of rescue has only to look at this angel to see why we do it. Limited resources can't save them all. By each of us sharing little bits of our time, treasure, and talent stories like Mattie's can help to educate people about animal welfare and responsibility for the pets they take into their care.
 | | After Mattie's Rescue! |
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Sled dog thrives despite being blind
 JEFFERSON, N.H. (AP) When Gonzo started tripping over his food dish three years ago, no one could explain or stop the Alaskan husky's quickly advancing blindness. But a veterinarian offered some simple advice: "Run this dog." Gonzo, one of 120 dogs at Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel, was happy to comply. With help from his brother, Poncho, he soon resumed his place pulling a sled all over New Hampshire's North Country to the delight of tourists and his caretakers, who quickly realized that if Gonzo didn't treat his blindness like an obstacle, neither would they. Given the dog's obvious eagerness, he was allowed to continue on as usual. "Even though he's blind, he still knows when hook-ups are happening. He's still very aware," said kennel manager Ben Morehouse. "When you have a dog such as Gonzo, with such a want and a drive and a desire ... you try it, you hook up, you see what happens." A frenzy of excited barking engulfs the kennel whenever Morehouse and other staffers haul out a sled. The chosen team is outfitted with harnesses and booties; those left behind scramble onto their doghouse roofs and howl. Gonzo and Poncho are lined up side-by-side, usually toward the back of the eight-member team - "brains to brawn" is how Morehouse describes the order. "A lot of people say everything about dog sledding is efficiency. Gonzo and Poncho are not the most efficient sled dogs out there. They won't set a speed record, they won't pull the most you've ever seen," Morehouse said. "To be honest, they're probably some of the goofiest dogs you can put in harness. But they're just fun." Some dogs at the kennel, including Gonzo and Poncho, were born there. But it's also home to what kennel owner Neil Beaulieu calls "second-chance" dogs - former professional sled dogs a bit past their prime - as well as dogs rescued from bad situations. The barking continues as the dogs pull away from the kennel onto a snow-packed trail. Within a few minutes, however, they settle into a nearly silent rhythm, the sled's runners skimming through the woods. While the other dogs look straight ahead, Gonzo often lifts his head up and to the right, using his hearing and sense of smell, said Karen Tolin, who has worked her way up from volunteer "poop scooper" to business partner in the years since she first came to Muddy Paw. from: http://msn.foxsports.com/home/story/blind-new-hampshire-sled-dog-thrives-012413 |
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You CAN Handle the Truth
Animals need your help! Your state legislature in Cheyenne is voting on a very dangerous bill (H.B. 126) on Monday. This bill is an anti-whistleblower bill that seeks to criminalize the documenting of day-to-day activities on factory farms -- letting abuses go unseen and unpunished.
Instead of protecting Wyoming's values on animal protection, H.B. 126 will help factory farms cover up horrible cruelty like those The Humane Society of the United States uncovered at Wyoming Premium Farms, which resulted in nine workers being charged with criminal animal cruelty.
Please make a brief, polite phone call today to your state representative Matt Teeters (307) 777-7852 and urge them to oppose H.B. 126. You can say "I am a constituent, and calling to ask you to oppose H.B. 126 because it criminalizes whistleblowers and would allow animal abuse to be covered up."
After you call please send a follow-up message to your state representative.
Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO
HSUS
ANOTHER e-mail:
Reporting Factory Farm Abuses to be Considered "Act of Terrorism" If New Laws Pass
Three states are the latest states to introduce Ag-Gag laws and
lawmakers in 10 other states introduced similar bills in 2011-2012.
...
How do you keep consumers in the dark about the horrors of factory
farms? By making it an "act of terrorism" for anyone to investigate
animal cruelty, food safety or environmental violations on the
corporate-controlled farms that produce the bulk of our meat, eggs and
dairy products.
And who better to write the Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act,
designed to protect Big Ag and Big Energy, than the lawyers on the
Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force at the corporate-funded
and infamous American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
New Hampshire, Wyoming and Nebraska are the latest states to introduce
Ag-Gag laws aimed at preventing employees, journalists or activists
from exposing illegal or unethical practices on factory farms.
Lawmakers in 10 other states introduced similar bills in 2011-2012.
The laws passed in three of those states: Missouri, Iowa and Utah.
But consumer and animal-welfare activists prevented the laws from
passing in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York
and Tennessee.
--
full story:
http://www.alternet.org/environment/shocking-reporting-factory-farm-abuses-be-considered-act-terrorism-if-new-laws-pass
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The Needle
Most of you are thinking this article is about killing pets, but you are wrong! From our very first newsletter dated March 2001 we have stressed the importance of having ID tags on your pets. Here is your chance to get a free ID tag and have fun at the same time!
Hidden somewhere in this newsletter is a picture of a needle like the one pictured with this article. Find the needle, be the first one to e-mail us with the location and we will send you an ID tag so your pet can get home and avoid a needle!
Last month..... There is another hidden needle. Good luck everyone!
The needle is below the last bunch of balloons below the article on id tags and microchips!
Keep up the good work. If there is anything I can help with, please - just ask!
Charlotte
(This was a FIRST..... Charlotte found the needle and at the same time she made a donation! Thanks, Charlotte. She won within 15 minutes of Cindy. Sorry Cindy! )
The Reason for ID tags:
We've heard it all before, "My dog never leaves my side."
All it takes is a car wreck or a fire in your home and your dog is gone.
Here's one on our answering machine from last week:
My dog fell out of the back of our pickup truck between Hawk Springs and Torrington. Do you have him? !@!
| | | KEEP ID TAGS ON YOUR PETS! |
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Tell Me It Ain't So!
 ANOTHER recall.....
January 25, 2013 - The Hartz Mountain Corporation of Secaucus, New Jersey, has announced it is voluntarily withdrawing its Hartz Chicken Chews and Hartz Oinkies Pig Skin Twists wrapped with Chicken for dogs in the United States because they contain trace amounts of antibiotic residue.
Hartz is taking this action after recent testing found trace amounts of illegal antibiotic residue in samples of the affected dog treats.
These antibiotics are approved for use in poultry in China and other countries but not in the U.S.
To read the entire message please click on this link http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/hartz-recalls-dog-treats/
ANOTHER warning that has been around for several years....
Last night at agility class, a vet, who is a fellow agility student was telling us about a case she had this week. The dog ate a child's teddy bear and was very sick. When she opened the dog up to remove what she thought was an intestinal obstruction she found a huge gelatin type mess inside and the dogs intestines were black and the tissue dead. The dog will die no surgery can fix him up there was no living intestine left from stomach to colon.
This was not an obstruction. .... so she called the manufacturer of the Teddy Bear on a quest to find out what the gel was and what killed the dog. Turns out the stuffing in children's toys contains ingredients for flame retardants and mite control! It is designed to be come a gel. It is highly toxic. Now you would think a child's toy would be safe because it is for children, but they don't expect a child to eat the stuffing of the toys... huummmm that seems a bit scary too. But we all know dogs demolish stuffed toys.
So do not give or buy your dog any children's stuffed animals... some people get them at goodwill etc. The vet will be posting a warning and story and I will send any other facts as needed and as I learn more. Maybe some children's toys do not have this ingredient, but better to be safe then sorry. So meanwhile, make sure all your dog toys are for dogs. Please pass this on... it is a horrible death she described and one that can be avoided.
No one seems to verify the above e-mail, but a veterinarian describes some of her surgeries here: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/stuffedtoys.asp
Oh NO....... Pet Pals is boarding a puppy here. While cleaning her crate, Linda noticed lots of little white glass/plastic beads covering her bedding. Her owner had tossed in a toy and nobody thought of asking if it was a dog toy. Filled with worry for several hours, we're beginning to breath a sigh of relief. The puppy appears to be okay....WHEW!
(It's okay Christine. We forgive you after ALL the work you do here! We also made an error...oops! In the last newsletter we called Gumbo Jumbo and there were two hidden needles, but we're not telling anyone!!)
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February is Responsible Pet Owner and Spay/Neuter Month
Many people don't spay/neuter/vaccinate their pets because they fear the cost.
Fortunately, kind donors help underwrite costs of these procedures in some areas across the USA. It costs less to spay/neuter your pet than to responsibly raise a litter of puppies or kittens! Plus, the health benefits to your pet will enable them to live much longer, healthier lives.
Prices are often less for IRS nonprofit rescue groups. Some of these clinics provide discounts for qualified low-income families and seniors.
These are limited services and can't replace an examination by your regular veterinarian who can diagnose and treat other conditions that may affect your pets' health and behaviour.
In many communities ***across the country*** a call to your local shelter or rescue can help you find discounted services. Check http://spayusa.org/search.php for services or www.petfinder.com for rescues and shelter locations near you.
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AWESOME UPDATES!
Hi Linda,
Sorry it has been a bit since the last update. With school and work Hannah and I stay pretty busy. Adi is doing very well and her personality is coming out more and more every day. Hannah and I really enjoy having her. It is really nice having a dog that we can leave unattended and not have to worry about her destroying anything, getting into anything, or even having an accident. She seems perfectly content just laying on her bed on the couch. Occasionally we will come home and she will have taken one or both of my slippers to her bed, not to chew, just to have near her. I think the familiar smell comforts her so we just think it's cute, not a problem:) She really seems to enjoy when we go running. She has kept up with me without hesitation for runs that sometimes go over an hour long...........(letter shortened)....
I hope all is well with you and your husband,
John
(Adi was called Fanny here at Pet Pals. She was here for a long time. She was one of MANY problem furkids who would have been killed any where else.)
From a previous adopter who adopted a deaf Boston Terrier named Peaches:
Spoiled little fart, she gets by with a lot! Grandma thinks she can do no wrong. Hope you enjoy our Christmas picture.
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Remarkable!!
 | | Heart Warming Story! |
Remarkable, and some of estate was left to animal rights.
Dogs possess a keen ability to track a scent. But some events are unexplainable - suggesting that what happened was not from a scent, but a sense. A kind of "sixth sense."
That's what Omaha professionals and others are saying about a 21-pound Schnauzer-Poodle mix named Elvis who ran out of a house and traveled miles on his own - and was spotted days later across the street from the church where his owner's funeral had been held.
How the pooch got to that exact location has amazed everyone who has heard about it.
"Animals have a sense not readily available to us," said veterinarian Dr. Melissa Garner. "I don't have a scientific explanation. I think it's a sixth or seventh sense. It's something beyond what we can recognize."
Elvis, about 6 years old, was owned by Judy Gustas, who lived in Ralston. She had been battling cancer for the past year, and the dog spent a lot of time in her bed, as if to comfort her.
Judy asked her daughter, Gayle Johnson, to take the dog after she died. Gayle declined, noting that she already has three dogs and baby-sits her 2-year-old granddaughter.
So a nurse who cared for Judy agreed to take Elvis. After Judy's death on Dec. 22, the nurse took the dog to her home near 23rd and Harrison Streets. That night, he bolted out of the house.
Yes, Elvis had left the building. And he couldn't be found.
Judy's wake service and funeral were held Dec. 26 and 27 at St. Rose Catholic Church, 4102 S. 13th St., a few blocks south of the Rosenblatt Stadium site.
Gayle thought Elvis by that time either had died from the cold or had been hit by a car. She tried one more thing, a World-Herald classified ad for three days:
LOST: BLACK DOG
23rd and Harrison area
Reward
On Monday, New Year's Eve, she received a call about 3 p.m. from Bill Beaty, who had seen the ad. He said a little black dog with a blue collar was in front of his house.
Yes, Gayle excitedly said, the dog has a blue collar. Where do you live?
"Across the street from St. Rose Church," he replied.
Gayle couldn't believe it. The dog never had been taken to that church or that part of town. It wasn't Judy's church; it was her sister's.
Judy's home was seven miles to the west. The nurse's house was two and a half miles to the south. Since Elvis ran out, nine cold nights had passed.
"Maybe Elvis was there during the funeral," Gayle said later, "and we just didn't see him."
Bill called for the dog by name, but he ran off. Gayle and her husband, Brian, drove to the neighborhood. They eventually spotted Elvis several blocks north and just west of 13th Street, near Interstate 80.
Even after they tossed ham his way and called his name, he wouldn't come to them. They returned the next day, and Gayle laid one of her deceased mother's blankets on a street, 30 or 40 feet from the dog.
Though Dr. Garner said it's not possible that Judy's scent had led Elvis to the site of the church - too much distance, and her body was driven to different places in a hearse - the scent of Judy's blanket at close range could work.
Gayle kept calling gently. Elvis finally crept over and lay next to her - on the blanket.
He was dirty, greasy and icy cold. Gayle slowly wrapped him in Judy's blanket, took him into the car and held him tightly all the way home.
Elvis needed a two-hour professional bathing, scrubbing and tooth-brushing. Gayle's other dogs welcomed him with licks. She has changed her mind - Elvis will live with her, just as her mother had wanted.
Pam Wiese, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Humane Society in Omaha, said the dog's arrival at the site of his owner's funeral is amazing.
"It's unbelievable," she said. "It boggles my mind that some animals have such perceptive abilities."
She noted other stories of dogs traveling great distances to reunite with owners, or dogs that sit at owners' gravesites. In Rockford, Iowa, at the 2011 funeral of a Navy Seal killed in Afghanistan, a touching photo showed his dog lying next to his casket in a mournful pose.
Therapy dogs, Pam said, can sense illnesses or other problems. Some dogs have been trained to detect fake gems from real ones.
Dr. Garner, who has cared for Elvis over the years, along with other veterinarians at the Mobile Animal Clinic, said he has "a spunky personality."
But how could a spoiled and pampered pooch with no canine "street smarts" survive nine nights on his own?
"Animals have a remarkable sense of survival," the vet said. "They find places to hide out. That being said, nine days on his own takes a lot of stamina."
As for the improbable journey to the street where the funeral had been held, Dr. Garner said the scientist in her says maybe it was mere coincidence.
"The other part of me says maybe he knew she was there," she said. "This just reaffirms my belief that there's more out there than we know."
Elvis is no hound dog, but he also never caught a rabbit - at least not before his nine days on the run. During that time, who knows what he caught to stay alive?
Gayle said her mother, who once had owned three dogs and three cats at the same time, loved animals and left 20 percent of her bequests in her will to animal-rights groups.
But Judy's fervent last wish was for her daughter to take Elvis in, and Gayle wryly says that her mother, as usual, finally got her way.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1132, michael.kelly@owh.com
from:
http://www.omaha.com/article/20130106/NEWS/701069923/1685#kelly-dog-escapes-travels-miles-to-site-of-owner-s-funeral
ANOTHER REMARKABLE STORY:
Cat Journeys 200 Miles to Get Home, Baffling Scientists
It sounds like something out of a children's movie. Holly the cat was vacationing with her owners in Daytona Beach when she got lost. Although her owners searched for her, they couldn't find the four-year-old tortoiseshell. Eventually, they gave up and drove home to West Palm Beach- 200 miles away. That didn't deter Holly, though. Almost two months later, the cat showed up in their neighborhood- staggering, weak, and emaciated, but still alive.
The cat's journey has baffled scientists. How did Holly, a common housecat, navigate her way back home? There have been studies conducted on the migratory nature of birds, turtles, and insects, but no research on the ability of cats to travel long distances. Although there has been documentation of dogs travelling long distances to find their ways back home, these instances are still relatively rare. In addition, scientists have chalked up a dog's sense of navigation to its nose. Currently, the closest study concerning cat navigation is being conducted by the Kitty Cams project. This endeavor has outfitted 55 cats with small cameras to research exactly what they're doing when let outside by their owners. The project collected 37 hours of footage per cat and found that the cats engaged in activities such as hunting and risky behavior such as crossing roads and drinking unknown substances.
Holly isn't the first cat to make a sizeable trek, according to Smithsonian.com. Howie, a Persian cat, travelled 1,000 miles across the Australian outback in order to find his owners. It took him 12 months, but he succeeded.
However Holly did it, the important thing is that she's now back home with her family.
from:
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/4488/20130121/cat-journeys-200-miles-home-baffling-scientists.htm
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Off Topic
The following is not about pets, but since many of us deal with the elderly or have friends or relatives who are taking medications, this is important.
Use the Internet to check medications.
Doctors Kill 2,450% More Americans than all Gun-Related Deaths Combined
Your doctor is FAR more likely to kill you than an armed criminal
Doctors, comparatively, kill 783,936 people each year, which is 64 times higher than 12,174. Doctors shoot you not with bullets, but with vaccines, chemotherapy and pharmaceuticals... all of which turn out to be FAR more deadly than guns.
http://theintelhub.com/2013/01/31/doctors-kill-2450-more-americans-than-all-gun-related-deaths-combined/
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Donate
It is so, they are all God's children. Mother Teresa
YOU have made our work of love possible, THANK YOU!
Click the above biscuit to help save a life, THANK YOU! |
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Contact Information
phone: 307-532-3861
Pet Pals, Inc.
Spay/Neuter Drive
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Pet Pals, Inc Newsletter 
