Priest Lake Veterinary Hospital Newsletters

Newsletter for July 2005

In this issue:

* Fourth of July Firework Dangers
* Congress Steps in to Help with Lost Pets on Airlines
* Hot Car Dangers
* Big Exotics, Big Problems
* 2006 NASCAR Pet Calendar Available

Fourth of July Fireworks can send pets fleeing

If yours are afraid of noise, make sure they're in safe place.

Not everybody loves fireworks.  In fact, a lot of dogs and cats freak out when the booming and banging starts every Fourth of July.

"It's really bad," said Dr. Karen Hill, director of the City of Huntsville's Animal Services Department. "A lot of animals have noise phobias. It can be very mild to so severe that they feel their life is in danger."  That means they go into flight mode, trying to escape the thing that's making them afraid. Hill said she's seen animals scale fences, claw up doors and even break through glass in a fearful frenzy over fireworks.  That means more animals on the run July 5.  "It will happen," said Hill. "It always happens. We take more calls. There are more loose animals. We get more calls from people trying to find their pets."  Hill says there are medications that can help the firework-phobic pet. A veterinarian can prescribe a tranquilizer or anti-anxiety medicine to help the animal get through the holiday.  If you don't get medication for your pet, at least make sure it is in a safe place where it can't injure itself or get out, said Hill.  Also, "make sure your cat and dog has a well-fitting collar with information, with your address and your phone number," Hill said.  With good identification, your pets have a better chance of getting back home safely if the fireworks send them running in fear.


Congress befriends pets lost by airlines


The 'Boris Bill' to foster safe air travel for family-owned animals takes effect next week.  Almost six years after a U.S. senator moved by the tale of a lost dog introduced legislation to safeguard pets on airplanes, the "Boris Bill" is set to be unleashed.  Beginning early next week, the Safe Air Travel for Animals Act will require the first public reports from airlines on pets that are lost, injured or killed on their planes so passengers can make informed decisions about booking travel with a four-legged companion.  Industry officials say monthly reports to the U.S. Department of Transportation are unnecessary because animals are rarely hurt or lost, although no one knows how rare. But supporters say that the law will show passengers the airlines' track records on handling pets - an estimated half-million a year in total - and that more should be done to protect them.

"The whole purpose behind the legislation wasn't just to get airlines to report injuries and losses; it was to make it better and safer for all animals transported in cargo holds of planes," said Lisa Weisberg, a senior vice president for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a New York-based animal rights group that pushed for legislation.  "Unfortunately, we have to tell people that, in fact, flying with our companion animal is no safer than it was before the law's passage. The one thing we got is that airlines can no longer treat pets as baggage. They have to be a reported as a separate category when one is lost," Weisberg said.

In addition to the separate reports, animal rights groups want airlines required to air-condition and ventilate cargo holds - something the industry says will come in time as newer airplanes are purchased. They also want the law to apply to all animals, such as zoo and breeders' animals, but it applies only to family-owned pets.

Older planes do not have temperature controls. And before the incident involving Boris, a mixed-breed dog on his way to a new home in Brooklyn with his owner Barbara Listenik in 1996, many airlines didn't offer baggage handlers much training on proper care of pets, such as where to keep them while the plane is being loaded and when to provide water. Since then, many airlines have stepped up the training, air-conditioned waiting areas off the tarmac and even banned pets from their cargo holds during the hottest days of summer and coldest times in the winter.

Boris was lost while being offloaded from a Delta Air Lines flight from Florida to New York's LaGuardia Airport. Listenik and baggage handlers searched the surrounding neighborhoods for hours, but the dog wasn't found for more than six weeks and was badly injured. Listenik began a campaign against what she says was mistreatment by the airline.

'Banged around'

She caught the attention of Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat who introduced the bill that was passed in 2000. Debate over which agency would have authority over the airlines' reports delayed implementation for five years, federal officials said.

"The senator read about Boris," said Alex Formuzis, a spokesman for Lautenberg. "[Boris had] been on a long flight, and there were some issues with his cage and he was banged around and he nearly died. It was a compelling story, and [the senator] wanted to do something so people's pets are safe and secure."

Kevin E. Murphy, a research engineer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, often travels with his cat, Jolie, and said the reporting requirement would help people who travel with their pets choose an airline.

Still, Murphy said, this law won't convince him it's safe or secure to put his tabby in any cargo hold. He travels often with Jolie and uses a small kennel that fits under the seat in front of him.

"I don't trust any of the airlines with my luggage; I don't think there is a carrier out there I'd trust with my cat," he said. "I carry on my luggage and I carry on the cat. She's always in front of me under the seat."

The Air Transport Association, the trade group for domestic airlines, says each carrier has its own rules about carrying on pets and checking them in as cargo. Many allow pets in the cabin and in cargo because they make money off them - $50 to $200 a flight - and because it's a service for passengers.  Jack Evens, a spokesman for the group, said carriers are doing a good job of caring for the animals. But bad publicity from a few mishaps has gotten a lot of attention, he said.  He also said federal law and rules passed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture already require general humane treatment of pets. They also require specific things such as hard-sided kennels for transporting animals and providing water at certain intervals.  "There's no incentive for us not to transport pets safely," Evens said. "It's so harmful to your reputation if you don't transport them safely and good for business if you do transport them safely. Besides, pets are members of the family and no one wants to hear the story told in graphic details about something that happened. That brings me to tears, too."

No pets allowed

Some airlines seeking to avoid any stories at all, such as Southwest Airlines, the leading carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, do not carry pets. Some, like AirTran Airways, the No. 2 carrier at BWI, will carry pets in the cabin but not in the cargo hold. That means AirTran will transport only pets small enough to fit under the seat, a spokeswoman acknowledged.  The Department of Transportation officials, who began collecting airline data in mid-June, said they can't say what the forthcoming reports will reveal. Without the reporting requirement, only two complaints from passengers have been logged this year about problems with pets. Four complaints were logged last year.  The reports will be available monthly, as of next week, at the department's Aviation Consumer Protection Division Web site, airconsumer.ost.dot.gov.



        
Hot cars no place for pets, officer says


A 6-week-old pug, pants as she waits in a car parked in the Walmart lot Thursday.  In Sunday's heat, a couple pulled into the Wal-Mart , put their puppy inside the trunk of their vehicle and went shopping, leaving the animal for more than 20 minutes.  It would have been longer if another couple who witnessed the incident hadn't notified police, who found the dog's owners, still shopping, in time to save the pup.  "There's no excuse for it,"  "Don't make your animals endure anything you wouldn't endure yourself. You wouldn't lock yourself up in those extreme conditions, would you?  Don't do it. Use your heads."

Even leaving an animal in the passenger compartment of a car with the windows partially up on hot days can lead to trouble.  Dogs can suffer heatstroke, brain damage or death.  Dogs cool themselves by panting and releasing heat through their paws. On summer days, the air and upholstery in cars reach high temperatures, making it impossible for dogs to cool themselves.  "The air they're panting in is hot," "The body temperature rises alarmingly fast and internal organs just start to cook. A kid would have the same problem and most people would never leave their child in a car knowing how hot it would get, but people don't think."

If you see an animal that looks like it's distressed, do what you can to help. Be aware that making the decision to help a strange dog is a tough one because the animal can be irritable and violent.  The important thing is to get the dog in cool water up to its neck, cooling the blood and reducing core temperature. Fanning the dog and providing cool water to drink are good ideas, too.  "Try to get the temperature down as soon as possible."  Often in the time taken to locate veterinarians, the animal could suffer severe consequences, and that it's a good idea to call a vet once the blood is cooled.

They can often be save if gotten to in time - "The important thing is just to keep them cooled."

It is best to leave pets at home when running errands. Outdoor dogs should have fresh, clean water, shade from the sun, shelter from the rain and either a fenced-in yard or a chain leash at least three times the length of the dog's body that keeps free of tangling.

"I don't know what people are thinking when they leave dogs in hot cars,"  "I guess they're just not."
        
                        


Big exotic pets can be big problem pets


Tigers, lions cheap, plentiful, dangerous

For the last two years, Kendra Hirsch lived across the street from lions, tigers and a bear.  Hirsch, 13, held some of the animals in her arms when they were cubs, and says she never considered them a threat during her frequent visits to the Little Falls, Minn., home of their owner, Chuck Mock.  "They're awesome," Hirsch said. "It's not every day you get to go touch a lion or a tiger."  But when two of the animals attacked a 10-year-old boy last week, the latest in a string of attacks by exotic animals kept as pets by Minnesotans, it raised new questions about the danger they pose. The boy, 10-year-old Russell Lala of Royalton, Minn., suffered a severed spinal cord and will be a quadriplegic the rest of his life, his parents announced Tuesday.

A new state law this year banned certain exotic pets, but allowed current owners to keep their pets, as long as they register them with local animal-control authorities.  Determining just how many big cats are in Minnesota is difficult, though, with data dispersed among many agencies. And experts believe many people haven't registered their animals.

Tammy Quist, who runs a sanctuary for big cats in Cedar and is often summoned by authorities to find homes for exotic cats, estimates the state has hundreds of tigers and lions. She says she gets 30 calls a month from private owners looking for help after they find the animals are more than they bargained for.  National numbers are similarly difficult to track, but Quist estimates there are some 10,000 pet tigers in the U.S. — far more than the number left in the wild.  With plenty of cats available, they don't cost much. Crawford Allan, deputy director of TRAFFIC, a World Wildlife Fund program that specializes in wildlife trade issues, says tigers can easily be found on the Internet.  On GotPetsOnline.com, a breeder in Faribault recently was offering black-maned African lion cubs for $1,500 each. Quist said both tiger and lion cubs can be found for as little as $500.  "Breeders up the price for pet owners because those people haven't done the research, they don't know the industry," Quist said.  Quist said many owners buy exotic cats and expect them to act domesticated. But cuddly cubs can quickly overwhelm owners as they grow. An adult tiger eats 15 to 20 pounds of meat a day, she said.  "I don't consider (the attacks) lashing out," Quist said. "A tiger lives to be 20 years old and you're going to expect a tiger never to act like a tiger? It's not aggressive behavior, it's tiger behavior."  The difficulty of caring for exotic animals in captivity worries animal activists. The Minnesota registration law is an essential step in tracking the animals, Allan said. Making sure they're properly maintained is another step.  Some animals taken in by Quist's sanctuary were neglected. One 25-year-old tiger named Meme was brought in after being kept in a 10-foot by 10-foot cage filled with her own feces and the remains of her food — roadkill.

Mock, who had 12 exotic animals at the time of the attack, didn't respond to phone calls to his home or office. Hirsch's mother, Michelle Lickteig, said his animals were treated well and kept in good cages. He was devastated when the two animals in last week's attack were euthanized, she said.

Rachael Ratzlaff of Grand Rapids, Minn., has owned a lynx for more than a year.  Before buying the cat, Ratzlaff and her husband did a lot of research on how to feed the animal and keep it tame. Safety was a big concern for them, and they realized it could be dangerous if they decide to have children.  The Ratzlaffs declawed the animal and built him a 12-foot by 12-foot kennel.  Ratzlaff loves her pet, despite the work.  "But it's not a pet for everybody," she said.




2006 NASCAR Pet Calender now available


Fans will have the opportunity to purchase the new 2006 NASCAR Pets Calendar this week at the Daytona International Speedway and also attend the special calendar launch autograph session.
        
Beginning at 10:30 a.m. this Friday, July 1, fans can purchase a NASCAR Pets package from the Pit Shop located inside Daytona USA and be able to get their calendars autographed Saturday morning by four of the Nextel Cup Series drivers who are featured in the calendar along with their pets.

The first 250 fans to purchase the 2006 NASCAR Pets package ($40 each) will receive the new calendar and also be able to get their calendar autographed on Saturday at 10 a.m. inside Daytona USA by Greg Biffle, current Nextel Cup Series points leader and driver of the No. 16 National Guard Ford; Kurt Busch, defending Nextel Cup Series champion and driver of the No. 97 Sharpie/Irwin Ford; Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 DeWalt Industrial Tools Ford; and Jason Leffler, driver of the No. 11 Federal Express Chevrolet.

Proceeds from the NASCAR Pets calendar benefit the Greg Biffle Foundation. Founded in 2005 by Greg Biffle and Nicole Lunders, the foundation strives to create awareness and serve as an advocate to improve the well-being of animals by engaging the power and passion of the motorsports industry. The foundation donates to local Humane Societies, no-kill animal shelters, spay and neuter clinics and animal adoption leagues.

Fans may also purchase the 2006 NASCAR Pets calendar by visiting www.NASCAR.com or www.thegregbifflefoundation.com.

Here is the lineup for the 2006 NASCAR Pets calendar:

# January -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., and his pet Boxer, Killer

# February -- Matt and Katie Kenseth and their pet cats, Lars and Charlotte

# March -- Ryan and Krissie Newman and their pet dogs, Digger (German Shepherd & Doberman mix); Harley (Labrador & Boxer mix); and Mopar (Great Dane & Labrador mix)

# April -- Jason and Alison Leffler and their pet Labradors Daphne & Chloe

# May -- Casey Mears and his pet cats, Gus and Rags and pet dog, Kya (mini Australian Shepherd)

# June -- Jimmie and Chandra Johnson and their pet dogs, Roxanne (Shiatsu), and Maya (Havenese)

# July -- Kerry and Renè Earnhardt and their pet dogs Pepper, Greer, Luke & Chuckie

# August -- Tony Stewart and his pet monkey, MoJo

# September -- Kurt Busch and Eva Bryan and their pet dog, Jim (Terrier)

# October -- Elliott Sadler and his pet Tennessee Walker hounds and beagles

# November -- Greg Biffle and Nicole Lunders and their pet Boxers, Foster & Gracie

# December -- Jeff and Michelle Green and their pet Labradors Short Track and Vegas




The doctors and staff of Priest Lake Veterinary Hospital