Friday, December 29, 2017
TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: Top 10 Dog Breeds ...
TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: Top 10 Dog Breeds ...: TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: Top 10 Dog Breeds Suitable for Young Kids : Top 10 Dog Breeds Suitable for Young Kids What do...
What Dog Breed Should You Get Based on Your Personality Type?
Because no introvert should have a beagle
Getting a dog is a big decision, and no two breeds are exactly
the same. For example, a lazy basset hound may be content chilling all
day on his doggy bed, but that frisky golden retriever isn’t going to
entertain himself. You might want to rethink which dog is right for you.
Here are the breeds best suited for each Myers-Briggs personality type.
Pekingese
Sure, she might look like an ottoman, but this confident and self-possessed dog doesn’t care what you think about her. She likes to assert control, and she’ll ignore your scolding with little regard for the consequences. Rest assured: Once you gain this breed’s respect, they are reliable and well mannered.
German Shepherd
It would be difficult to find a more loyal breed. Watchful, obedient and intelligent, they want to serve a purpose and keep everyone safe, which often leads them to be overprotective of their families. If you can relate, a German shepherd might be the perfect companion to share the load of responsibilities.
Australian Shepherd
Originally bred to herd sheep, Aussies are workaholics that try tirelessly to tackle any task put in front of them. Energetic, intelligent and loyal, helping others is their main purpose…and it’s probably yours, too.
Jack Russell Terrier
Smart but possessing a mind of their own, these agile and energetic terriers will always move to the beat of their own drums. They are great dogs for families, but they also enjoy alone time.
Rhodesian Ridgeback
These handsome and athletic dogs are known for their exploratory and active personalities. They love to get their paws dirty and experience the world…and they can even be a bit daredevilish, unafraid to break from the pack. Remind you of anybody?
Shiba Inu
Fox-like in appearance with upright ears, this Japanese breed is easygoing, peaceful and alert. Though they make great companions, they’re happy minding their own business, laying on a patch of grass and contemplating the ways of the world.
Tibetan Terrier
These guys are notoriously aloof and reserved to strangers, but they grow to be very affectionate of the people they trust. Sound familiar? Though he’ll rarely curl up on your lap, he’ll follow you around the house like your shadow.
Chow Chow
Is that a lion!? No, it’s just a chow chow--although, this breed’s aloof and pensive personality is closer to that of a feline. Chow chows tend to be intelligent, but given their indifferent personalities, they may appear to have their heads in the clouds. That said, these fluffy giants prefer to be by your side than alone.
Beagle
Beagles are playful and active, constantly searching for new adventures. As a result, they’ll get into trouble if not given frequent attention and activity. But at the end of the day, they’re amiable and love constant social interactions.
Corgi
Just look at their constantly smiling faces: Corgis are the life of the party, and they’re always ready to play. They’re so playful, in fact, that they often have trouble focusing on one task at a time.
Labrador Retriever
Warm, compassionate and intelligent, but also built for sport and activity, these big dogs are always looking for a new adventure. A dip in the ocean, a jaunt in the mountains--they’re game for whatever escapade you take them on.
French Bulldog
This lady may be small in stature, but she’s got a big, lively personality. Don’t let her frowning face fool you: She’s friendly and lovable, albeit a bit feisty. Her stubborn personality may make her inclined to go against your wishes--like chew on your sneakers or jump on the off-limits sofa.
Siberian Husky
Ah, the active, outdoorsy husky. He is always looking for action, especially in cold weather (hence, his common role as a sled dog). While these wolfish animals are generally good-natured and very dependable, their personalities can be domineering.
Bichon Frise
The “cheerleader” of the dog world, these little white bundles of joy are, above all, social creatures. Gentle, playful and loving, they thrive on human interaction and will do their best to make people happy.
Golden Retriever
Passionate, charismatic and hands down the cutest pups, goldens are constantly standing up for the people they love. They’re impressively tuned in to the needs of others around them and live for social connections with others. They’ll be the first to dive into the pool after you or fall asleep on the foot of your bed.
Tibetan Mastiff
Charismatic and confident, these giant, furry creatures are intelligent and determined, and they love a good challenge. Be warned, they can often be commanding and fairly difficult to train, so definitely keep an eye on who’s actually the leader of pack.TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: Top 10 Dog Breeds Suitable for Young Kids
TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: Top 10 Dog Breeds Suitable for Young Kids: Top 10 Dog Breeds Suitable for Young Kids What dog breeds will get along with your young family? A dog is famously...
Top 10 Dog Breeds Suitable for Young Kids
Top 10 Dog Breeds Suitable for Young Kids
A dog is famously
considered to be man's best friend, but while it's a beautiful thought
in itself, your pet can become so much more than that. Beyond friends,
they are protectors, a source of comfort, and can easily become members
of your family. They grow to be an integral part of your life, making it
easy for you to trust them. Not just with your expensive shoes or
fragile furniture in the house, but with the people around you, as well.
This is especially the case with children. Dogs can have numerous benefits for your kids
and can help advance their development and promote harmony within your
family. Besides the fact that they're extremely cute and fun to have
around, they could be just the right addition. As long as you raise them
right, they will be incredibly outgoing, friendly, and energetic, which
is precisely what a young child needs in a companion. If you believe
yourself to be ready, and you know your kid is ready too, here are ten
dog breeds that will be suitable for your child and who will sync
perfectly with your family.
If you've seen
"Beethoven", perhaps you're already sold on getting a Saint Bernard for
your child. However, if you're not convinced yet that the furry giant
will be a suitable companion, know that this dog was bred to assist
people. The Saint Bernard has a long history of helping people through
their travels and hardships, so they developed a natural love for
humans. They have quite a relaxed temperament, playful, and most
importantly for kids, they're very, very patient. When mixed with their
sweet demeanor, this patience will make them an incredible pet. This is
especially the case since they can take any accidental hits or toys
thrown at them due to their size, without acting out with aggression.
With their tiny legs
and long bodies, Corgis have become a favorite of children. They're
adorably small and full of energy, ready to play at any time. Whether
you opt for the Pembroke Welsh Corgi or the Cardigan Welsh Corgi, expect
to have one of the sweetest and most playful critters out there. In
fact, it's a guarantee they will be able to keep up with your kid and
become a very loving companion. Their size is also a tremendous
advantage because it's easier to take care of them.
The Dalmatian is
another iconic breed of dog due to the Disney animation and movie "101
Dalmatians". These dogs were depicted as intelligent and family-friendly
animals, who are easily trained to adapt to any kind of house. And they
were right. The spotted pooch possesses excellent abilities to learn
how to handle their environment and people around them. They will be the
essence of discipline, one that will surely love to play with your
child.
These adorable
tri-colored giants are famous for being both calm and goofy. Originally
bred for farm work, such as aiding in gathering the sheep in their
stocks, the Bernese Mountain Dog is exceptionally easy to train. With
just a bit of dedication, this breed will become the perfect mix of
discipline and playfulness at the same time. They will act goofy around
your kid, make them laugh, run around, and they will immediately stop if
that's your command. However, keep in mind that they require large
spaces. They need room to run, and it's only recommended that you meet
their needs before thinking of getting one for your family.
Dubbed as one of the
happiest dogs on the planet, English Cocker Spaniels are set to bring
joy to every member of the family. They're always wagging their tail,
eager to please, and happy to just be around you. Kids love them because
of their forever-sunny disposition that borderlines on almost comical
at times. They are loving, intelligent, and incredibly loyal. Be sure
you're ready to handle their energy because these adorable critters will
always be following you and jumping around, willing to play.
"Lassie" might've made
this particular breed famous, but its exceptional intelligence and
active demeanor is what kept it among the most popular choice for
children. The Collie was originally trained for farm work, just like the
Bernese Mountain Dog, which means that it is highly receptive to
training. Collies get along exceptionally with children and have the
stamina to keep them entertained for a long time. The Collie is also
very mild-mannered. They are one of the unlikeliest dogs to bite their
human owners. You only need to remember that this breed can sometimes be
shy. Be sure to socialize them from a very young age, so it won't have
issues with other dogs in the future.
You will often find
yourself wondering if the Beagle drank all the coffee in your house
because it refuses to stay still. This little bundle of energy is
incredibly loving and happy, always willing to play. It's perfect for
children as they will run and chase them, be it around the apartment or
yard. Their size makes them the prime companion for any type of home.
The Beagle will bond quickly and deeply with every single member of your
family, especially your child. They absolutely adore children because
they're the only ones coming close to nearly buzzing with energy as this
dog is. Your kid will surely wear out after an intense playing session,
long before the Beagle will.
Do you remember Nana
from "Peter Pan"? She was the kids' watcher and a Newfoundland.
Otherwise called Newfs, these gentle giants have been nicknamed
"Nature's nanny" because of their unwavering devotion and loyalty. Never
be intimidated by their appearance. These black-furred mammoths could
not be gentler, calmer, and more careful around your child. They have a
very sweet and patient temperament, and all that extra fluff will make
your kid fall in love with them instantly. Newfs are extremely good
companions and, even more, they want to be part of your family.
One look at that
adorable face inspires the essence of the Labrador: playful, fun-loving,
and outgoing. This dog will have no problems making friends with
anyone, be it dogs, cats, adults, children, guests, your mail carrier or
virtually anyone else. As long as you have a hand willing to pet them,
they will become your best friend and your most loyal companion.
Labradors love to play, always bouncing around seeking the best next
adventure. They are near exhaustingly athletic, loyal, and protective.
In good or bad, sleeping or awake, this dog will be there for you, ready
to put a smile on your child's face.
Your Mental Health Suffers When Your Pet Is Sick
Your Mental Health Suffers When Your Pet Is Sick
The caregiver burden is an acknowledged fact in the human medical community, but this is the first research I’ve seen that addresses it in the veterinary world. In an editorial about this paper, Dr. Katherine Goldberg, founder of Whole Animal Veterinary Geriatrics & Hospice Services in Ithaca, New York, compared the experiences of caregivers looking after sick people and animals this way:
Few people in contemporary society would consider providing 24-hour care for our ailing family members without professional help. Yet, this is what we expect of ourselves for our pets and then feel guilty when we struggle or cannot do it at all. On the human side of health care, we have options when people require support beyond what can reasonably or safely be provided at home by family members—assisted living facilities, in-home health care aides, visiting nurse associations, memory care centres and, for better or worse, nursing homes. I hear myself saying, ‘You are the assisted living facility’ to my clients—caregivers of seriously and terminally ill pets—on a regular basis. Often this framing helps to provide clients with perspective around why daily life with their pet feels so hard.
Caregiver Support: Asking for Help
I have ample experience with the caregiver burden, having taken care of many of my own animals at the end of their lives and helped many owners through the process as a veterinarian. Let me share a few things I’ve learned.Caretaking duties seem to primarily become the responsibility of one person. If this person is you, please ask for help. Giving seriously ill pets all the care and love they need is very hard work. It’s simply impossible to do it well over an extended period of time without also taking care of yourself. If you don’t have family or close friends who can take over from time to time, reach out to your veterinarian. Perhaps a technician or assistant would be willing to come to your house and “babysit.” Or, if your pet needs to visit the clinic for a checkup or procedure, ask whether you can take advantage of a few hours of day care so you can go for a walk, get a massage, or take a nap.
If you are uncomfortable delegating the care of your sick pet, ask for help in other aspects of your life. Could friends, family members, neighbors, etc., cook you some easy-to-reheat meals, take your other pets or kids out for a play date, do your laundry or errands, clean your house, or manage any of your other responsibilities? People love to help but often don’t know what is needed, so speak up.
Finally, take a moment every now and then to assess how you are doing. If you are having trouble coping, know that help is available through veterinarians, physicians, counselors, religious or spiritual leaders, and pet loss support groups. You don’t have to face this alone.
Alcohol Risks for Pets: Beer, Wine, and Liquor
Sure, alcohol toxicity in pets is very rare. “We don’t see much of this in vet medicine because alcohol tends to be distasteful to most animals,” says Dr. Steven Friedenberg, an assistant professor in the department of veterinary clinical sciences at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. “They don’t regularly seek this out, and most owners don’t deliberately feed their animals alcohol.”
But during the holidays, sometimes things can get out of your (or your pet’s) control. If your pet does get into alcohol, it can affect him in the same way it affects humans—either get him a little buzzed or, in the most extreme cases, cause him to wind up in the hospital. Here’s what to know about your pet’s alcohol risks.
It Comes Down to Alcohol Content
Rather than the type of alcohol your pet consumes, what you should really be concerned with is how much they get into. “We have this mythos in humans like, ‘I can’t drink tequila,’ or, ‘Rum is really bad for me,’” says Dr. Christine Rutter, a clinical assistant professor in the department of small animal clinical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University. “You may have a reaction to something specific in that product, but pound for pound, it’s the ethanol that gets you.”The same can be applied to pets. But since most pets are much smaller than humans, a smaller dose of alcohol can prove more dangerous to them than it would be to us. “A dog weighs substantially less and is not used to consuming alcohol,” says Rutter. “So processes that break down alcohol are not regulated in a dog the same way as a person who consumes alcohol once in a while.”
If you do find your dog licking up the last remains of a bottle, worry about the strength of alcohol the same way you would if it were a friend who might have drunk too much. Light beers are the least dangerous since their alcohol content is less, followed by craft beers, wine, hard liquors, and finally, grain alcohols like Everclear. And since ethanol is what’s truly dangerous to animals, also be on the lookout for pets getting into cleaning products, mouthwash, or hand sanitizer, some of which have ethanol in them.
Although wine does have grapes in it, which can be extremely dangerous to dogs, there’s no research showing that wine is more dangerous to dogs than other types of alcohol, says Rutter. Rather, it once again all boils down to just how much alcohol your pooch got into.
Be Especially Cautious of Certain Ingredients
Although an animal won’t be likely to take more than one sip of a glass of wine or a scotch on the rocks, certain mixed drinks or alcohol-based cakes could be sweet enough or have ingredients that appeal to animals. And sometimes these other ingredients (chocolate, grapes, raisins, or macadamia nuts, for example) are dangerous in and of themselves. You should also be on the lookout for hidden sources of alcohol, like certain flavorings, including vanilla and almond, and for spices that might contain essential oils, like cinnamon. “That can be irritating to the gastrointestinal tract,” says Rutter.Notice the Signs of Alcohol Toxicity
When it comes to alcohol toxicity in pets, the signs usually appear the same as they would in humans. “Alcohol poisoning would present similarly as it might present in people,” says Friedenberg. “So there could be gastrointestinal upset. They might vomit or become nauseated, and they can get wobbly.” Other symptoms can include increased thirst and urination, lethargy, disorientation, and, in severe cases, you might notice muscle tremors, paralysis, extremely slow and shallow breathing, seizures, and your pet may lose consciousness, adds Dr. Jennifer Coates, veterinary advisor.In mild cases of alcohol exposure, pets generally recover with time and no other treatment, Coates says. “Simply let them ‘sleep it off’ in a safe environment,” she says. “But if you think that your pet could have ingested a large amount of alcohol or is starting to have worrisome clinical signs, seek out immediate veterinary care.” The vet can hospitalize your pet if need be while giving him intravenous fluids and any other treatment that might be necessary.
Although an animal getting alcohol toxicity to the extent of requiring hospitalization is extremely rare, just like for you, the holidays can be an overwhelming time for your pet. “Even if you have an amazingly well-behaved dog, the holidays are full of change in the environment,” says Rutter. Whether it be the introduction of a Christmas tree into your house or more people running around than usual, all the changes during the holidays can cause anxiety in your pet.
That, in turn, can cause them to act in ways they normally wouldn’t, like table surfing or digging in the trash for leftovers. So, avoid any dangerous run-ins for your pet by keeping any risky food or drinks out of their reach. “Even a good dog during stressful times will act up,” says Rutter.
Are Cats or Dogs Smarter? Scientists Break Down the Numbers
While pet parents of each respective animal will argue that their cat or dog is the smartest creature out there, it's dogs who have the numbers in their favor, according to recent findings in the journal Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.
The study—which was conducted by researchers from around the world (including the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark)—concludes, among other findings, that dogs have more neurons than cats. Researchers found that dogs have over 500 million neurons in the cerebral cortex, compared to roughly 250 million in the cat's brain. (The researchers studied two dog brains and one cat brain.)
Though dogs don't have the largest brain in the animal kingdom, their intelligence is on par with that of raccoons or lions.
In fact, the size of an animal didn't necessarily have an impact on the number of neurons. For instance, a bear has roughly the same amount of neurons as a domestic cat.
So, is this the end-all, be-all when it comes to whether cats or dogs are smarter? Well, it's a little bit more complex than that.
One of the study's researchers, Jessica Perry Hekman, a veterinary geneticist at MIT and Harvard's Broad Institute, told The Washington Post, "I'm not even really sure we should call intelligence one trait. It's a lot of different things."
TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: 6 Reasons Why It’s Hard for Veterinarians to Talk ...
TADDY FEEDS INVESTMENT LIMITED: 6 Reasons Why It’s Hard for Veterinarians to Talk ...: 6 Reasons Why It’s Hard for Veterinarians to Talk About Overweight Pets I’ve been a veterinarian for many years, but obesity is really...
6 Reasons Why It’s Hard for Veterinarians to Talk About Overweight Pets
1. Many pet owners won’t acknowledge that their pet is overweight or don't equate their pet being overweight with illness. The fact is that even pets who are 15 percent overweight (an ideal weight cat of 10 pounds who weighs just 11.5 pounds) already have inflammatory changes in the body causing damage. Getting the client to acknowledge the problem can make the discussion delicate and time consuming. The veterinarian may feel they risk losing trust with the client and may not go there (or go there strongly enough). At our clinic, we simply focus on always being the pet’s advocate and try and communicate the risks and benefits of obesity as clearly as possible without offending.
2. A body condition score (BCS), body weight and muscle condition score (MCS) need to be taken routinely and trends monitored. We have good tools to do this and can easily teach the owner how to monitor these at home. An accurate scale and good visuals help everyone in the family understand the goal. Monthly reassessment is recommended if pets are more than 20 percent overweight. But repeat visits also take time and cats, in particular, are usually not fond of car rides. We try and paint reassessment visits as “easy, friendly visits” and a good time to pick up food or flea, tick, or heartworm preventives.
3. A safe, effective food recommendation must be made. With over 15,000 different brands, there is currently no way for the veterinarian (or pet owner) to easily choose a safe, healthy food. That along with the “over-marketing” of grain-free, raw, and natural foods, which many times are not science-based at all, can cause us to hesitate on a recommendation. If the pet is 20 percent or more overweight, almost all board-certified veterinary nutritionists highly recommend a prescription diet for the pet to safely lose weight without losing muscle mass or depleting micronutrients. The top pet food companies all have Rx diets that are moderate calorie and higher in protein that burn fat while maintaining muscle condition and satisfying the pet.
4. The correct number of calories needs to be calculated. Calorie calculation has been made much easier by the Pet Nutrition Alliance (PNA) nutritional calculator. The PNA does not recommend a food, but based on your pet’s current BCS, it will give a starting calorie number. (Again, reassessment is stressed.)
5. Veterinarians, in general, are no better trained in nutrition than physicians. There are only 85 board-certified veterinary nutritionists in the world. Some veterinary schools aren't lucky enough to have one, they are in such short supply. But there are more and more continuing education courses focusing on weight management and the profession is slowly coming up to speed.
6. Treating pet obesity involves changing how we feed our pets, so it can be an emotional, not a “fun” topic. OK, so neither are fleas, ticks, and vaccines, necessarily, but getting a client motivated to change strong pet-feeding-related behaviors can be challenging. At our clinic, we hold an annual “Pets Reducing for Rescues” contest, donating money to rescues to increase the fun, and client motivation and buy-in. By rewarding with prizes like activity monitors, microchipped and automatic feeders, under litter box scales, etc., and holding regular weigh-ins, people are more engaged and find that weight loss isn't so difficult after all. We even have a fully equipped cat gym (yes, a cat gym!) to send the message of how important home activity is and to gather cat owners monthly to discuss nutrition and cats’ indoor needs.
Yes, we are sometimes fighting an uphill battle with all these obstacles. But the goal is a vital one. It has been proven that ideal weight dogs live an average of 15 percent longer, and that has been proven in most other species, too. Just as importantly, they feel better, have less medical problems, are more active, and the human health bond is enriched. It can be done. As they say, let's just do it!
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Meet the kind-hearted woman who saves stray cats and dogs from war-torn countries across the world
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| With a puppy in Iraq this year |
When Louise Hastie was posted to Iraq for her first tour with the Territorial Army, she thought she was prepared. They’d trained her to use a gun and shoot at targets, they’d warned her to say goodbye to her family and write letters to the people she loved in case she didn’t come home.
But nothing could have prepared Louise for the horror of war. It was January 2004,
and in her logistics role Louise had never felt fear quite like it. Bullets whizzed past the army base at all times of the day, leaving her shaking, and the ground shuddered when bombs were detonated.
and in her logistics role Louise had never felt fear quite like it. Bullets whizzed past the army base at all times of the day, leaving her shaking, and the ground shuddered when bombs were detonated.
"Those first few days were terrifying,’ says Louise. "But one thing that really struck me, that I hadn’t even thought about when I’d received my sign-up sheets, were the animals – the innocent victims caught in the crossfire."
Even without the battles, the lifespan of a stray dog or cat born in a desert country like Iraq was short. It can hit 40˚C in the summer and -20˚C in the winter. The ground freezes, and there’s no chance of finding food unless they scavenge trash. With war ravaging their turf, their lives were made even more unbearable. Louise witnessed awful human suffering, but while there were charities delivering aid to the people of Afghanistan, the dogs and cats were often left to fend for themselves.
As Louise and her troops travelled between different bases, she witnessed dozens of pitiful animals on the roadside. Some were dead, and some had been hit by armoured vehicles, so were pulling themselves around with broken bones and mangled limbs. Sadly, rabies was also rife.
"Having grown up with pets, I’d always been an animal lover. When I was 15, I’d witnessed a pet shop owner put two live mice into a snake’s cage. I marched over, bought the mice and reported him to the council," Louise says. "So seeing the pain these creatures lived in was heartbreaking. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing."
The locals saw stray cats and dogs as a nuisance and poisoned them, but the poison they used paralysed the respiratory system, leaving them to die a slow, cruel death.
"It sounds bad and it was, but despite all of that, there was something magical about Iraq. The people were lovely, the landscape beautiful. So when my six-month tour was over, I decided to apply for a job in a private security company so I could stay. I lived on a US military base, but as a civilian," Louise explains.
"Everyone said I was mad and I’d never make a difference. I wanted to close my eyes to their pain, physically and metaphorically, but I couldn’t, especially when one of our cleaners brought me a half-dead kitten. My boss told me I had to get rid of it, but I couldn’t. Instead, I nursed the poor creature back to health, and called him Simba Al-tiqriti."
Louise went to great lengths to keep Simba secret until she moved to a new camp in November 2005, when her boss pulled her to one side and said she had to let the cat go. Louise knew he was right. But she couldn’t bear the idea of throwing Simba out on the streets and knew he’d never survive if she did. So she hatched an elaborate plan: one of the cleaners would take various taxi journeys to smuggle
him over the border to Kuwait, to have him treated and eventually flown to Louise’s parents in the West Midlands.
him over the border to Kuwait, to have him treated and eventually flown to Louise’s parents in the West Midlands.
It was breaking all kinds of international laws and placing Louise and the cleaner at incredible risk, but she couldn’t see any other option and was willing to do whatever it took to keep Simba safe. Although loads of things went wrong, a friend eventually got hold of Simba and he made it safely to the UK.
"After that, word got out that some crazy woman was prepared to risk everything for animals and people started emailing, asking me to help. How could I refuse?" Louise says.
So she came up with more and more wild schemes to save cats and dogs from certain death. The American armed forces used to let me send medication and food packages to the frontline in their tanks – then they’d send back photos of happy, healthy animals our packages helped. I organised for three cats from Iraq, Doodle, Phoenix and Pudding, and two dogs, Zeus and Gabriel, to come back to the UK and live with my parents until I could join them," Louise says.
In December 2009, she moved to another security company, this time in Afghanistan. When Louise’s mum read about a local Afghan dog shelter, Louise got in touch and offered to help. Soon, she was working 20 hours a day, between her job and volunteering there.
Louise couldn’t keep going like that forever, so in May 2010 she quit her job to focus on the shelter. They couldn’t afford to pay her at first, so Louise lived on her savings for six months.
"It was hard work, but incredibly rewarding," Louise says. ‘I was getting to help cats and dogs all day, every day, and we were slowly making a big difference."
Eventually, a suitable plot of land was found and Louise and the team built a big new shelter. It was fairly basic, and because Louise wasn’t trained as a vet
all she could do was vaccinate, de-worm and de-flea the animals, as well as feed them and offer them companionship and cuddles like they’d never known before.
all she could do was vaccinate, de-worm and de-flea the animals, as well as feed them and offer them companionship and cuddles like they’d never known before.
"When an international animal charity heard about us, they got in touch and gradually they trained a local man as a vet to treat the dogs and cats properly. Slowly, we became big enough to employ a cleaner and another vet, and house around 100 dogs," Louise explains.
In October 2015, Louise decided to return to the UK because she was so exhausted. During her tenure, the Afghan sanctuary saved hundreds of animals and helped improve the way locals treated both strays and pets.
Back in the UK
"Although I was leaving Afghanistan, I wasn’t going alone. I took with me five more dogs – Robo, Joe, Bell, Holly and Foxy – and four cats – Pookie, Baron, Zabba and Shariq. It was a hell of a mission getting them home and cost £16,000, which I fundraised thanks to the incredible generosity of friends and strangers here in the UK, but I’d promised them all I’d keep them safe and I was never going to break that promise," Louise says.
"We all now live together with my Iraq pack too. I’d never wanted children – I’d seen war, it’s not much of a world to bring little ones into – so these animals are the closest things to me."
Back in the UK, Louise is still helping animals by working full-time as a yard manager for a dog rescue centre in the West Midlands. She’s also a trustee for War Paws, a charity based in Iraq, which raises money to neuter the stray population, feed them and tend to their wounds.
"We are in talks with the Iraqi government about the importance of population control and rabies medication, but it’s a long process," Louise says. "We won’t give up."
Louise also organises the exit arrangements for any dogs who are being adopted by families in the UK and US. It’s a complicated, expensive procedure, but there are lots of people like Louise out there who just have to rescue these pups.
"I may not be changing the world, but I’m glad to be giving these wonderful animals a safe, happy and healthy life," Louise says. "I’ve seen dogs that have been beaten up, starved and shot at, yet are so gentle and loving – they long for happy homes, and it’s my mission to help find them a place to belong and be loved."
Helping hounds
Some of the stray dogs Louise and the War Paws charity have saved over the years.
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
How to Treat Your Lawn for Fleas and Ticks
If your pets have fleas and/or ticks, you have no doubt gone to great lengths to treat them and to control the fleas and ticks. You have probably vacuumed the house and car from top to bottom, and washed everything in sight in your efforts to get rid of these pesky blood sucking parasites. But there is yet another step you will need to take to make sure all your efforts are worthwhile.
Many people forget that their pets also spend time outside in the yard. If your dog or cat spends a lot of time outdoors, this will be where the majority of the flea population is also living. Even if you have treated your pet for the fleas, the problem may persist because the fleas still have a proximal advantage to your home. And remember, fleas can live on your blood, too, not just your pet’s. So, along with the inside of the house, you will need to give the yard some attention in order to bring an infestation under control.
Mowing and Pruning
Look around your yard. Identifying the areas where fleas and ticks are likely to live is fairly easy. Fleas love to congregate in places where they are protected from bright sunlight and that have slightly higher humidity. This includes your dog’s house, sleeping and feeding areas, and underneath lawn structures. Ticks, on the other hand, do best in tall grasses and branches, where they can climb up to grab onto a passing animal or human.
A cheap and easy way to reduce flea and tick populations in your yard is to keep the grass, trees and shrubs trimmed and orderly. Clean up all of the piles of debris and leaves that may be littering the ground. Sweep off patios and under decks and lawn furniture. Remove or secure any garbage bins that may attract rodents or small animals that could be carrying fleas and ticks.
Chemicals
Unless you have a major infestation, keeping the yard clean and debris-free should help break the flea and tick life cycle. You may not need to use chemical treatments in your yard, but if it becomes necessary, make sure to read the labels carefully before choosing which one to use.
This last precaution is very important, since some chemicals can be harmful to pets, fish, and humans, so be sure you know the correct way to use them before you use them, and follow all application directions closely. If you are using the chemical outdoors, look for a chemical that is specifically labeled for outdoor use, otherwise you might be wasting your money on a product that will break down in sunlight and humidity/rain.
Flea treatment should only be necessary in the shady, humid areas of the yard, where fleas like to congregate. Open areas that get plenty of bright sunlight won’t need to be sprayed. Focus on areas under bushes, trees, decks, dog pens, and such. This will help control the immature stages of fleas that make up the majority of the population.
Natural Solutions
As an alternative to chemicals, you may consider using beneficial nematodes in the yard. These are microscopic worms found naturally in the dirt. Application of nematodes is done with a sprayer or spreader. These types of worms are not parasitic to mammals and do not affect humans, pets or plants.
What they do is actively seek insects, such as fleas, inserting themselves into the immature insect’s body. The nematodes then send out a toxin that kills the fleas within a short period of time. The nematodes are able to reproduce in the yard where they have been released, and their effects will last for several months.
Other options may be to spread an abrading agent, such as diatomaceous earth, on the lawn. This product is made from the ground-up bodies of microscopic fossils; it works by drying out the bodies of adult fleas, thereby killing them. Look for a natural grade of diatomaceous earth in your garden or pet store. This dust works best when conditions are not very wet, so if you live in a very humid, rainy part of the country, where this product can be washed off or broken down by moisture, this may not be the best solution for your outdoor spaces.
No matter which method you choose to use in your home or yard to eliminate fleas and ticks, be sure to get advice from your veterinarian before use. Chemicals — and even naturally derived products — can be dangerous to animals when not used in the intended manner, or when an animal’s health is already at risk.
Do Dogs and Cats Have Long-Term Memories?
We often hear the expression that “pets live in the moment,” but anyone who owns a dog or cat will tell you that they’ve experienced incidents that challenge that statement. Have you ever put your dog in his crate, opened the door several hours later, and watched him make a beeline to where he was last chewing his rawhide? What about those stories of cats getting lost and finding their way back home years later? Or the dogs who bury their bones in the backyard being able to dig them up months down the road? These types of incidents suggest that pets are capable of forming memories, and not just short-term ones.
Like Humans, Dogs and Cats Can Store an Array of Memories
“Dogs and cats have different types of memories, just like we do. They have spatial memory, remembering where things are located, short-term memories, and long-term memories,” says Dr. Brian Hare, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Los Angeles-based veterinarian Dr. Jeff Werber adds that pets are capable of storing many different types of memories—“from the little things like knowing where their food or litter box is, to recognizing people and places they haven’t seen in years.”
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Memories
According to Hare, short-term memory, or “working memory,” is a kind of memory that allows people to keep information—like a phone number—in mind for a few minutes and mentally manipulate it. “This may sound simple, but working memory is crucial for any kind of problem solving,” he explains. “Working memory has been found to correlate with skills in learning, math, reading, and language. Researchers have even found some evidence that in children, working memory is more predictive of academic success than IQ.”
Long-term memories, on the other hand, are stored in your brain and can be retrieved at will, like childhood memories, or what you did last week or last year. “Long-term memories do not fade in order. You might remember something that happened to you years ago better than you remember what you did yesterday,” he explains.
To distill it down, Dr. Bruce Kornreich, associate director at the Cornell Feline Health Center in Ithaca, New York, says that “short-term memory is anywhere between 5 and 30 seconds and long-term memory can remain almost indefinitely.”
Long-Term Memories in Pets
“There are many examples of cats and dogs having long-term memory in both studies and in real-life events,” says Dr. Jenna Sansolo, associate veterinarian at Ardsley Veterinary Associates in Ardsley, New York. “For instance, when pet owners go on vacations and come home to dogs that show the same excitement a human child would show after not seeing their family for the same amount of time, or the countless videos of dogs whose owners come home from military deployments that are all over the internet.” Sansolo also points out that pets who have been abused or in less than ideal living situations can also show proof of long-term memory. “I have seen many patients who are scared of tall men, hats, certain noises, etc., which they can relate to a negative memory or event that has happened in the distant past,” she explains.
Laurie Santos, director of the Comparative Cognition Laboratory and the Canine Cognition Center at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, notes that when we think of long-term memories in pets, we are often referring to “episodic memories—remembering particular episodes from long ago.” She adds that while the topic hasn’t been extensively studied, she and her colleagues have seen evidence that pets have some episodic memory abilities. “For example, dogs can remember where and what kinds of food were hidden over longer time horizons, suggesting they're tracking some information about how and where food was hidden,” she explains. “There's also evidence that dogs behave differently when owners leave for long versus short periods of time, suggesting that pets might remember something about how long ago their companion left.”
What Triggers the Formation of Memories in Pets?
While pets can form memories about a variety of instances, experts suspect that extremely positive and/or negative experiences are what stick with them the most. “Important events, such as those related to food and survival, and events that have an emotional impact are more likely to be stored in the long-term memory,” says Claudia Fugazza, department of ethology at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.
“These memories have the power to affect your pet’s behavior for a lifetime,” Weber says. Dr. Veronica Cruz Balser, a veterinarian at the Metropolitan Veterinary Center in Chicago, agrees, adding that it sometimes takes only one impactful moment to cause a memory to stick with a pet for a long period of time. “My dog, Tony, was near a campfire once when someone decided to add excessive amounts of lighter fluid. The fireball that came towards us was very frightening for him, as he was not expecting it. He no longer will get near campfires,” she says.
How Far Back Can Dogs and Cats Recall?
According to Cruz Balser, that’s tricky. The subject hasn’t been extensively studied, however, many experts have their own theories. The general consensus is that this is largely based on what level of impact the incident that initially formed the memory had on the dog or cat. “It depends on the type of event and emotions/reward/consequence of the event,” Cruz Balser says. Fugazza agrees. “Memory decay depends on many variables, such as the type of memory used for storing the information, its importance, and its emotional valence [the strength of a positive or negative emotion]. Important information and memories with emotional content tend to be remembered for longer times.”
Do Dogs or Cats Have Better Memories?
Studies show that dogs outperform cats when it comes to their short-term memory abilities. This leads experts, like Kornreich, to believe that the same would hold true when it comes to long-term memories. “You would extrapolate from the fact that dogs do better on short-term memory studies than cats do—that they perhaps have better long-term memories,” he explains. “We have to be careful about coming to that conclusion without it being tested. But it makes perfect sense to me to say, ‘Well, if a cat forgets where something is in 30 seconds and a dog remembers where it is for a minute, then you would think that the dog not only has better short-term memory but perhaps it has better long-term memory.’ But that is presuming that the mechanisms behind short-term and long-term memory are the same and they may not be.”
Monique Udell, assistant professor of animal and rangeland sciences at Oregon State University, points out that new research is looking specifically at fading memories in pets. “While cats and dogs do have long term-memory, the precision and accuracy of these memories can decline over time, just as it does for humans,” she explains. “We still have a lot to learn about the types of information that animals retain for long periods of time, but recent research into age-related memory decline and dementia in dogs may shed light on some of these questions, for both healthy dogs and those suffering from memory loss.”
Kornreich points out an interesting fact: Certain studies suggest that cats don’t seem to have as much of an issue with memory decline as dogs do. “In humans, special learning tasks can be inhibited with aging. That appears not to significantly occur in cats,” he explains. “Cats don’t seem to have the same decline in terms of special learning tasks. That doesn’t say that there may not be components of their cognitive function that don’t deteriorate from time to time, but in terms of special learning tasks, at least based upon this study, they don’t decline in that regard.”
Your Role in Your Pet’s Memories
While pets learn continuously throughout their lifetime, they form the most important impressions in their early days. “Puppies and kittens both have periods early in their lives where they learn rapidly about many things in their world. The memories that are formed during this period influence how they behave for the rest of their lives,” says Dr. Kersti Seksel, a registered veterinary specialist of behavioral medicine at Sydney Animal Behaviour Service in Australia. So it’s extra important to expose them to the socialization and proper training and conditioning that they need during this time.
Pet parents can help their dog or cat turn a potential negative long-term memory into a positive one, Cruz Balser adds. “Our behavior influences our pet’s behavior and memories more than people realize,” she says. “The one that impacts me daily as a vet is client’s behavior at the vet clinic and how they respond to their pet’s stress. If they're scared and you are anxious, then the memory of the building, the smell, and the people in that building will forever be scary.”
For this reason, Cruz Balser encourages people to swing by the vet clinic periodically for “happy visits” where pets get a treat and some love or just come in and then leave. “That way, the pet can have experiences in the vet clinic that aren't scary or bad and it doesn't become engrained in them that the clinic is bad,” she says.
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