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February, 2006 |
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Dear Friends:
Hope you are
well and happy! Jim and I and our two dogs made it back all right from Georgia
and Florida. We had a great time with our friends in Augusta, Georgia, and we
enjoyed the 85 degrees in Florida tremendously too. Jim went fishing just
about every day. He caught some very good fish, and our small car-refrigerator
was filled to the top with frozen fish of all varieties. The bad thing about
that is that he does not like to eat them, which leaves me in a bind. I have
to cook two different meals, fish for me, non-fish for him, and that’s no fun.
But he was happy catching them, and that’s what counts. Our trip was
overshadowed by our loss of Buddy, who had to be put to sleep three days
before we left due to old age and kidney-failure. He had a check-up in the
middle of December because he |
was
just not eating right, and even though I fixed his favorite meals of
chicken, hamburger and whatever else tasty I could think of, he would
not eat anymore. He lost 7 pounds in 10 days, and when we took him back
to our Vet, she told us it was time. Once again we found out that it
seems to get harder the more animals we lose, instead of easier. .We can
sadly live with that, after all, Buddy was at least 14 years old – but
how the people who lost their healthy companions due to toxic pet food
deal with their loss, I can’t even imagine. Because some of you may not
have heard about that, I will get right to it before you lose interest
or patience in my newsletter. This is really first page news, please
read below and tell your friends and relatives who have pets about it!
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FDA -- US
Food and Drug Administration
Diamond Pet Food Recalled Due to Aflatoxin
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Diamond
Pet Food has discovered Aflotoxin in a product manufactured at their
facility in Gaston, South Carolina. Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring
toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Asergillus
flavus, on corn and other crops. They have notified their
distributors and recommended to hold the sale of the following Diamond
pet foods:
Diamond Low Fat Dog
Food
Diamond Hi-Energy Dog
Food
Diamond Maintenance Dog
Food
Diamond Performance Dog
Food
Diamond Premium Adult
Dog Food
Diamond Puppy Food
Diamond Maintenance Cat
Food
Diamond Professional
Cat Food
Country Value Puppy |
Country Value Adult Dog
Country Value High
Energy Dog
Country Value High
Energy Dog
Country Value Adult Cat
Food
Professional Chicken &
Rice Dog Food
Professional Reduced
Fat Chicken & Rice Food
Professional Adult Dog
Food
Professional Large
Breed Puppy Food
Professional Puppy Food
Professional Reduced
Fat Cat Food
Professional Adult Cat
Food
The
states serviced by the Gaston facility include Alabama, Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mass.,
Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West
Virginia and Vermont.
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Cornell
University, College of Veterinary Medicine
has the following on the Internet:
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“We
suspect that dogs have been dying since November, perhaps even October,
but it took the perfect storm of circumstances to get the diagnosis”
said Karyn Bischoff, the veterinary toxicologist at Cornell. “I’ve been
working with liver disease in dogs for 30 years, and I’ve never seen
such miserably ill dogs” .
Dogs
keep dying: Many owners remain unaware of toxic pet food. Please read
the following:
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Dog owners may want to
seek veterinary testing for animals that have been fed affected food
even if they are apparently well. Apparently healthy dogs can develop
liver damage after 2-3 weeks.
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If your dog has been
eating food from the suspect lots of Diamond Food, call your
veterinarian. Have a test done for liver function.
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Owners also should take
cats that might have eaten contaminated dog food to a vet. Two cats
that may have eaten the tainted dog food have died, but no cause of
death was determined.
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The Cornell
veterinarian also recommends that any suspected food be stored away
from animals and children!
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Early signs: lethargy,
loss of appetite and vomiting, and, later, orange-colored urine and
jaundice (a yellowing of the eyes, gums and nonpigmented skin that
reflects substantial liver injury). Severely affected dogs produce a
blood-tinged vomit and bloody or blackened stools.
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While dogs keep dying
from eating pet food tainted with Aflatoxin, Cornell University is
announcing it has developed protein tests that accurately indicate a
dog’s liver failure caused by this toxin.
There
is much more on the subject, but I am sure you know now what to watch
for, if you had not known about this contaminated food all ready.
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Thank
God the following dogs died probably all of old age, and their human
companions don’t have to go through all the guilt the poor people above
are probably dealing with:
“Our”
Ted lost Fluffy Duke in December. You may remember Duke, the German
shepherd and proud owner of his own little wheelchair as featured in a
newsletter in summer.
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Michael Kane lost his companion of 16 years, his
dog Higgins. Jean and Ralph Catignani also had to deal with a beloved
dog’s death, their dog Shadow. And our volunteer Karen lost her dog
Nick, who had been with her since Charley died in 1996. |
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To make you, and myself
feel a little better, please read the following, which was mailed to me
by our supporter Janice Clowes. It’s the story about a couple who are
taking their dog to his last trip to the vet, before he joins the Great
Majority. After his death the people and the vet are sitting together, |
wondering aloud about the
sad fact that animals’ lives are so much shorter than human lives. The
little four year-old boy from the family, who had been listening
quietly, piped up, “I know why”. What came out of him was a very
comforting explanation. He said: |
"People are born so they can learn
how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice,
right? Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as
long.”
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The photo of the little cutie on the first
page is of our Angel. Her family divorced and no one wanted her, probably
because she was a gift to the wife. She is 9 years old, never had puppies
and is spayed. She acts like a two-year old, loves to snuggle and loves
the outdoors. She is not the average Pekinese or small dog, being very
active and easy going. She weighs 8.5 pounds, has her shots, and is
healthy. She would make a great family dog.
Several
more dogs came in, each one has a bad story to tell…One of them, another
Pekinese, was very lucky indeed: Several months ago Ruthann rescued a
little dog, suffering from malnutrition. Neither food nor water were
anywhere in sight. This is a puppy mill in Maine. The dog was very ill,
but the person who runs the shelter, who in my eyes, is an insult to
humanity, tried to charge Ruthann a huge amount of money. Ruthann
threatened the woman by telling her she would send an animal control
officer to the place, so this person gave the dog to Ruthann. He now has a
beautiful home with Ruthann’s parents.
A couple
of weeks ago there was an article in the local paper that the place where
this woman and her dogs lived, burned down. 15 dogs were rescued; the
rest, lots more I suspect, supposedly escaped into the woods. This
happened at night, the next morning Ruthann and Mike donned boots and went
into the woods to look for survivors. They did find one, brought him
straight to our vet, Dr. Slack, who diagnosed him with malnutrition and
dehydration also. The small guy had to stay at the clinic through the
weekend in order to be nursed back to health. The following night was one
of the coldest up here in Maine, so chances are that none of the others
survived out there. That was not the end of a rough week for Ruthann and
Mike; the following night they had to drive to Bangor Airport where we
expected a dog to arrive from Washington State! They managed to get out of
the airport by 1:30 in the morning.
The dog’s
story is probably just as bad: A gentleman from Pasado Safe Haven
contacted me. Somehow Ruthann and my name seemed to have found a way on a
Katrina-list, and this gentleman who had rescued over 1200 animals with
his wife was at his wit’s end. He needed to place several pit bulls before
their time on earth runs out. First I refused, knowing we can never place
a pit bull: The best example is our oh-so-gentle Heresy. But listening to
this man, telling me his heart was breaking for every dog he had to put
down because no one wanted him or her, well, I just could not say NO. I
talked it over with Ruthann, who instantaneously said: “We’ll take them.”
Two were out of the question because they will most likely stay with us
the rest of their lives. So we agreed on one dog.
As soon
as I gave the man from Washington the okay, he made arrangements with an
airline. He paid for the airline tickets, vaccinations, everything, and
the dog was flown out to us two days later. Again, not the end of the
story. I had received a photograph and the shot records for a very cute,
very small two year old female. When Ruthann picked up the dog, it was a
very big male. |
She was
also told by the airlines that they were expecting another one for us the
next day! So, lots of calling to Washington and the airlines. So come to
find out, two pits were supposed to be transported to Alabama, the little
one to us, but the Airline had switched names or tickets. I hope they
don’t do that with children who board a flight alone, or with someone’s
grandmother! Imagine, picking up someone else’s grandpa who may have
Alzheimer’s and thinks he is yours! And then you’re stuck with him! Okay,
no more jokes, this is a serious subject. As I write this, the airline
still has not coordinated anything about getting the two dogs to the right
places, all I know is that there will be another trip back to Bangor
Airport with the big boy, off to Alabama. Meanwhile Alabama, who had
received the other male, plus “our” girl, will have to do the same thing.
If we are lucky, the dogs will come in at the same day and time, so we
don’t have to make three trips to Bangor.
We ended up with yet another dog: a little
Border Collie who bit a child and was under quarantine for 10 days. He had
been wandering around on the end of our road. Ruthann got a hold of the
dog officer that does the quarantine business, asking if they would
release the dog to us. He said YES, any place would be better than the
place he came from. So, that tells us a lot. More about this dog next
time.
And last, but not least: a one year old German
shepherd girl was brought to our Shelter- the people had her since
puppyhood, did not want to keep her because of allergies?! It took them a
year to figure out that they had dog allergies? Well, I guess some of us
are awful slow…..
Right now there are yet two more dogs looking
for a place to stay. It seems that if it rains, it pours -- DOGS!
J
J J
And just as I was going to finish this newsletter, I
received the following message from Ruthann:
"I just got back from rescuing this little 6 pound Maltese and my heart is
wrecked. She is just shaking and shaking. I gave her a little rescue
remedy and sat with her for an hour. She is
PETRIFIED.
If she does not start to relax slightly I am crating her into your
building, I would bring her up here but she supposedly does not get along
with other dogs."
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CAT
REPORT – February 2006
Our cats’ friends
have helped make this a happy month for them. Carol Jarosz, who has
donated generously to the dogs and the cats over the years, brought 10
brand-new cat beds early in February, and Jane Katkus, who lives in
Alaska with the funny-foot who was known as Lottie at my house, sent a
box of catnip for Valentine’s Day. Alas, I’m too selfish to distribute
the catnip when I can’t stay and watch them enjoy it, and I’ve not had
time to celebrate yet. I hope I get caught up before the month ends.
Four of the beds are
in use, supplementing or replacing old ones. Downstairs, Baby and
Kennebec each claimed one. Brook sleeps on the adjacent pillow until one
of the bedded ones moves; then she slips into the bed, and the displaced
one takes the pillow. The wall space isn’t long enough for a third bed
until the pillow gets worn out. The upstairs beds belong to Robin and
Speedo most of the time, with Agnes sometimes curled up in either one.
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They’re lined up
along the back of the human-size twin bed, with the big bed Linda Voss
gave last fall and a pillow, making a big soft area that usually has
lots of cats on it. The other choice is the south end of the room, where
the wide windowsill and the cat tree Teresa’s husband made offer
sunbathing spaces.
When I wrote the
last newsletter, Tippy was quarantined so I could watch for infection in
a scratch on her forehead. She healed without complications, and rather
than put her back with the larger group I moved her upstairs with Evita
and Tess. That arrangement seems to be working well. There are enough
sleeping places so no one has to share, which suits all three of them
just fine. The other two like to swap food dishes and Tippy doesn’t, so
I feed Tippy on top of the bookcase and the others on the floor.
The sad news is the
death of one of our donors, and a friend of mine for many years, Dorothy
Biron from Waterville, Maine.
As always, my thanks
to the Charles’ cat for weekly cans of food, to Teresa and all her
family for the many things they do, and to all of you for your support.
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Thank you!
Because of the generous help of
the following people, we were able to once again provide many cats
and dogs with food, warmth, vet-care, treats, blankets, and lots
of TLC: |
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Beverly Maheu,
China Village
Carole
Parker, Stoughton
Cindy
Houston, Woburn
Cristine
Cardello, Melrose
Doris Lary,
Hartland
Dorothy
D’Alessandro, Ossipee
Dorothy
Eckstein, Medford
Elizabeth
Johnson, Sanford
Enid Hayes,
Halifax
G. & R.
Welch, Stonington
Harriet
Snyder, Brockton
Inge
Maiellano, Marblehead
Irma Simon,
S. China
Janice
Solimine, Stoneham
Joan Ryan,
New Bedford
Joe
D’Alessandro, Tuftonboro |
John Caswell,
Newport
Jon & Barb
Anderson, Augusta
Josephine
Ford, Holden
Judy & Al
Smith, Belmont
Judy Rohweder,
Northport
Kathleen
Hillman, Chelmsford
Linda
Merriam, Dresden
Lisa Cope,
Virginia Beach
Lisa
Montmarquet, Raymond
Marcia Smith,
Bucksport
Marcia Smith,
Bucksport
Marian
Delarue, Woburn
Marlene
Kaplan, Melrose
Mary Klayda,
Winchester
Mildred
Walker, Presque Isle
Nancy Brown,
Waltham |
Nancy Capone,
Wakefield
P. A. Lenk,
China Village
Pat Thain, N.
Billerica
R. D.
Bournival, Palm Beach
Robert Hull,
Lawrence
Sandra
Nicholson, Beverly
Viola
McDonald, Woburn
Willa Rockett,
Belmont
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