Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Animal News, Facts and Fun Stuff: Spotlight on...

Sharing a great online resource: About Vet Med written by Janet Tobiassen Crosby DVM.

<<< A few of my pets and my first foster Greyhound, Hammer

I am the Guide to Veterinary Medicine on About.com where I have written about veterinary medicine, pets and vet news since 1999.

This site has been a few years in the making.  I kept going back-and-forth, since I didn’t want to duplicate my about.com site content and my time is always short. (And honestly, sometimes writing ideas are precious and few.)

Since joining Twitter though, I have met so many fascinating people and learned so many new things that I wanted to have a place where I could write a little more than 140 characters now and then. I also want to be able to spotlight friends, web sites and business that I enjoy.

You can read my about.com bio here and follow me on Twitter here.

I recommend this site for daily viewing. I first met Janet at BlogPaws and have come to have a high regard for her work and for her as a person.

Betty White - Pet Photographer (almost)

Couldn't resist this funny video from Morris Animal Foundation. If YOU'RE a better photographer than Betty White (and me - if you knew how many pictures I have to take every week to get a good one for Wordless Wednesday, you'd die laughing!)... you should enter your dog in this contest.

 

Taken right from the Morria Animal Foundation website - About them: (cause I thought you should know; plus, they're right here in Denver!)

A history of improving animal health

Morris Animal Foundation was established in 1948 by Dr. Mark L. Morris Sr., a visionary veterinarian who believed there was a need for a foundation that solely addressed animal health and welfare. Dr. Morris was a veterinarian, humanitarian and animal health pioneer who was one of the first veterinarians to use diet to control disease.

One of Dr. Morris’s first patients was Buddy, who was among the first guide dogs in the United States. Buddy suffered from kidney failure, and his owner, Morris Frank, then the national ambassador for the Seeing Eye, sought Dr. Morris’s advice. Dr. Morris created a special diet that dramatically improved Buddy’s health, and soon he and his wife, Louise, were canning the food in their kitchen.

When they couldn’t keep up with demand, they partnered with the Hill Packing Company to produce what later became the first Hill’s Pet Nutrition Prescription Diet. Dr. Morris used the royalties from that diet to establish Morris Animal Foundation, and the first two studies funded looked at nutrition in cats and dogs.

I highly recommend visiting their blog, too. I especially like this post about animal cruelty - who does it and why.

The 10 Golden CPU Rules - ala Oscar, head of CPU, Local 555

A little fun from a friend (I have so many friends, I could just post all their stuff forever and never have to repeat anything! life is good!)

From Oscar -left- (and his mom, Lisa) who is the Head of the Cat Patrol Union (what, you thought CPU was something else?)... here are the 10 Golden Rules all of us must abide by:

"With the Cat Patrol Union just getting started, it's a good idea to outline the 10 Golden Rules that all CPU members should abide by. As head of the CPU, Local 555, Oscar is at times questioned about his motives for forming such an organization. He wants to be very clear that by no means are dogs to inflict any ill will or harm to their fellow feline citizens. The main goal of the CPU is to monitor/patrol for cats ensuring that they do not take over the dog world."

Wordless Wednesday: Emily and Chester

Did I get it? Need another scratch? I'm here for ya, Chester.

Looking to market your writing? Some advice...

Robbi Hess, who is the BlogPaws blog manager, and also manages the bloggers over at Lip-sticking, writes the fun Henrietta the Dish blog. This post is more informative and reflects Robbi's expertise in writing and editing.

It's too fantastic not to share: (with a few of my own comments in blue)

How to find a market for your writing -

Wordless Wednesday - 3 Dog Night

3 Dog Night

Okey's Promise

Regular readers may remember Okey's Promise, a project I've written about many times. Here's the artist's description:

"Some say that domestic violence and child abuse are more important concerns to address than the needs of animals.  Here is the truth.

When animals are suffering in society, children are too. When there is violence to animals, there is likely violence to children and others who may be defenseless.

Okey's Promise, named for a small rescued cat, is a public art initiative designed to create awareness about the connections between animal abuse, child abuse and domestic violence. Its purpose is to create six highly visible public artworks to bring the awareness to a national and global audience. (Watch the video for the first project that explains the genesis of Okey's Promise.)"

For Love of a Ferret

The first time I met Snotface, I was a bit worried. Back in the day, when I was a vet tech, ferrets were still 'exotic' animals - translate that to, "wild!" We all wondered why anyone would adopt or raise a ferret. I'll admit that I was a big snob and thought people who kept ferrets were just mean. After all, wild animals belong in the wild, not in someone's home.

Snotface changed all that for me. Mind you, it's been a few decades since I was a vet tech, anyway. So, ferrets have come a long way. I can  honestly say that they make great pets - they're fun, they're loving, they're easy to care for - what else do you need?

I found this article on All Pet News that shares some reasons ferrets make good pets:

Blog Carnival: Get On Board for Pets!

Our friends at Bissell (seriously, the best cleaning company ever! would I lie to you?) - is working with PetFinder to help pets across the U.S. find their "furever homes".

They are working on a Blog Carnival via BlogPaws. For those who do not know what a Blog Carnival is, here's the scoop: "A Blog Carnival is a community-wide BlogPaws event in which we all post around the same topic. We invite you to tell us about your adoption story and the happiness your pet has brought you. You MUST be a community member to participate - if you're not, hop over and join today here!"

Here's how to enter and participate - C'mon, let's do it for our pets! (not to mention, it will help build traffic to your blog! w00t!)

Pet Bloggers Are the Best!

This won't really be about BlogPaws, but it comes out of the chatter at BlogPaws.

Aren't pet people the best people? Our closing keynote, Francois, who is the co-author of The Hyper-Social Organization, showed that pet people are more likely to give back, than just your average person. We support shelters and projects and each other at a higher rate than the average citizen. But, of course!

The conference brought about 375 people together (more were registered but that pesky hurricane kept them away) and throughout the weekend I heard over and over that people were thrilled at getting a chance to not only meet their blogger-buddies, but their blogger-buddies pets. We had tons of dogs, cats, a guinea pig, and three ferrets in attendance.