Thursday, May 31, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

The Family That Couldn’t Sleep

There’s nothing I love more than sleeping, so I was particularly horrified to recently find out about a rare, genetic disease called Fatal Familial Insomnia.  It’s sufferers will live normal lives until they hit middle-age, and then suddenly, they’ll develop insomnia.  A number of other nasty symptoms manifest themselves, and the infected person will eventually die, their brain filled with holes caused by an invasion of prions.  FFI is just one of many diseases caused by prions, and it’s the basis for a book I just finished, The Family That Couldn’t Sleep.  The book is a history of prions (aka, “misfolded proteins"), and it traces a pretty fascinating path as it meanders through discussions of “scrapie” in sheep, “mad cow” disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a disease called “Kuru” which only occurs on one South Pacific Island, and FFI.  The author ties all the different aspects of the book together by putting a human face on prion disorders with an Italian family who can trace instances of FFI in their family tree back to the 1700s.  The family had always known that there was some sort of medical issue in their family tree, and each generation lived in fear of developing it, yet the disorder was never diagnosed or truly identified until about twenty-five years ago.

I was really glued to the book, and the author did a great job of making it informative yet a bit “gossipy”.  The politics and ego of the scientific research community will horrify you, as will an in-depth look at how the “mad cow” problem has been bungled in both the UK and the US, mainly by greedy bureaucrats.  There’s a fair amount of information about chemistry and genetics included, but it’s all very well-explained and easy to understand.

The book should leave you a little bit scared, and rightly so.  Prions can just spontaneously start reproducing themselves to infect you, as in cases of spontaneous Creutzfeldt-Jakob.  You can be infected by prions by ingesting them, which leads to a great anthropological discussion of how our ancestors were probably all cannibals until a prion disease wiped out entire populations and made cannibalism a taboo.  Prions can jump species, which is how sheep with scrapie led to cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which led to people with infected with “mad cow”.  Sheep with scrapie are also believed to have been the cause of Chronic Wasting Disease, which affects so many elk and deer herds in North America.

I finished the book just as beef producer Creekstone Farms was making the news headlines again.  They’re the fairly small ranch which announced a few years ago that they were going to test every one of their cows for BSE.  The USDA stepped in and put a stop to it, complaining that if Creekstone Farms tested every cow, the USDA would be expected to test every cow, and it would be too expensive (boo hoo!).  The case went to court, Creekstone won the right to test their cows, and they were going to start doing that as of June 1st until the USDA stepped in and got an injunction to stop them.  The arguments the USDA is using are ridiculous, and I can’t imagine any citizen thinking it’s acceptable for a government agency to prevent a private business from ensuring their products are safe.  It’s also ridiculous that YOUR TAX DOLLARS are paying the USDA’s legal bills, to help them do something which isn’t in your best interests!  It’s extremely likely that BSE exists in some cows in the US, and if they aren’t ending up on your plate, they’re ending up in your pet’s food dish, so we all need to speak up and tell the government to put safety before profits.  I’ve been trying to eat less meat lately, yet I’m willing to buy from Creekstone just to make a point. Here’s a little news story about the issue:  Legal fight over BSE testing drags on

Getting back to the whole point of this entry, The Family That Couldn’t Sleep was a great read, and I highly recommend it.  I’m not sure what I’ll tackle next in my book pile… I’ve gotten so far behind in my reading since I started to work for a living.  Working is for suckers, man.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/31 at 04:49 AM
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Cows and whales, coming to a farm near you?

An Australian newspaper reporter has posted an online article implying that hunting whales is no different than eating cows.  No, seriously—look.  It’s almost amusing because the argument is so full of holes that it seems like it should be a joke (one of those big, obvious, in your face jokes, like a banana peel), but I think he asked the question seriously.  And I think he was proud of his profound insight.  He was probably envisioning an end to all whale hunt opposition, as sane folks everywhere issued a collective “Aha!” when they pondered his question, “Is it because whales aren’t so tasty?” I guess in Australia they have domesticated whales that grow on farms—I’d hate to be the person who had to muck out that stall!  And I guess they don’t teach the concept of the food chain in school.  I’ve never seen a food chain diagram featuring a cow, or a chicken for that matter.

It’s interesting to me that the question the reporter posed was about how whales taste.  When dealing with people who support seal hunting, they like to claim that anti-hunt factions are only up for the fight because seals are “cute”.  The pro-whaling people can’t claim whales are “cute”, so I guess they had a meeting and decided that they’d claim we only want to save whales because we have no invested interest in eating them.  I wonder what ideas they rejected?  “Is it because they don’t want to steal your wallet?”

I normally don’t post about these sort of issue in this blog, but the lack of critical thinking skills exhibited by many people in the public eye, people who should be teaching us and challenging us, is really scary.  I think the real reason people want to hunt whales is because they’re smarter than us, and they’re eventually going to have to take over.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/31 at 03:17 AM
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Friday, May 25, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

Nine weeks!  Nine!

My little kittens are now nine weeks old!  I don’t know what happened to eight weeks, but I guess I missed it.  Please don’t assume that my silence about Carlo and Bunny is a sign of lack of love or lack of interest.  I adore them, but Carlo’s continued bowel problems mean that their care is extremely time-consuming, and between that and having a lot of freelance work to do, I just haven’t found time for photos.  I do have at least three structured playtimes with them every day, but I’m often too exhausted to get the camera.  Luckily, Flippy was feeling artistic today, and she took a ton of photos.  Here are their grown-up portraits:

carlo_9_weeks

bunny_9_weeks

As I mentioned in a post a few days ago, I’ve thought since they were a day old that a specific person was going to adopt them.  That person has backed out, and doesn’t want Carlo if he has health problems.  As I don’t have that luxury (not that I’d exercise it), I’m persevering with the adorable fellow but he’s not making progress.  He’s a normal kitten except that he’s small, and he has bowel problems.  More graphically, his stools have always been soft, they’re abnormally frequent, and they seem to be associated with cramping and gas.  He’s been on every dewormer in the universe with no results.  Metronidazole didn’t work.  He’s now been on sucralfate for a week for “IBD”, and it hasn’t helped either, except that his stools are no longer “puddles”, but are more like “soft serve”.  Besides his obvious discomfort, he’s stopped using the litterbox for 90% of his bowel movements, and that really concerns me.  I’ve kept him confined to an area with a linoleum floor, and every.single.morning I have to get down on my hands and knees to scrub the entire floor with bleach and water.  I then do it all over again two or three more times each day, which is why I’m lacking for time to take pictures!  I’ve kept him on the same food since he started solids, so I guess he could have a food sensitivity, but he’s one of my rare foster kittens who didn’t have constipation problems.  He’s been a diarrhea kind of guy since he was born.  In contrast, Bunny is a litterbox champ.  At least Carlo pees in the litterbox all the time, so that’s one potential problem which didn’t happen.  Still, can you imagine trying to find someone to adopt him in his present state?

I need to call the vet’s office to report that sucralfate hasn’t worked.  I also need to call to order Eli’s eye meds, as mentioned below.  Both kittens need their first set of shots, too.  They still haven’t been tested for FIV/FeLV, and Carlo hasn’t had any liver function tests performed, but I was advised to hold off on that until the kittens were twelve weeks old.

These photos show just how mature they’ve become.  They’re ready to march out into the world to slay dragons together, but so far, only Carlo has ventured out by climbing the confinement gate, and he only made it as far as the livingroom.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/25 at 06:16 AM
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Return of pannus

After three years of keeping Eli’s pannus under control, it’s returned.  It’s certainly not the end of the world, and it’s fixable, but I feel guilty that I failed to keep on top of the issue.  In all honesty I didn’t do anything wrong—the ophthalmologist has been telling me for years to try giving Eli her eyedrops every other day, instead of every day, so I started that a few months ago.  Earlier this week I noticed the conjunctiva in one of her eyes seemed sort of red, and then I spotted an area of brown pigment which seemed to be misshapen.  Today, it’s progressed to a pink spot, the beginnings of vascularization of the cornea.  It sure didn’t take long for her eyes to go from “perfect” (as they were pronounced last summer) to the shape they were in when the problem first emerged a few years ago.  The one good thing is that right now her right eye seems fine, and it’s just the left eye which is affected.

I’ll call in for a refill of her eye meds today, and I’ll go back to twice a day drops for about a month.  Then I’ll cut back to once a day, and leave it at that permanently.  There was definitely a big financial savings with cutting back on the meds (she has two types, and each cost about $45), but she’s already deaf and cannot afford any damage to her vision.  Last summer I was told that she has some very minor cloudiness (the beginnings of cataracts), but that she was otherwise in fabulous shape for her age.  I want to keep it that way!

Pannus is an auto-immune disorder of the eye, and it predominently affects German shepherds, huskies, and greyhounds.  Eli didn’t develop it until she was nine years old, and many dogs develop it earlier.  If not treated, it can lead to complete blindness, but it’s easily treated with cyclosporine and prednisone eyedrops.  If you have a GSD, it’s something to watch out for.  The most obvious sign of it is a pink spot on the eyeball, usually away from the center of the eye.  If you’re really observant you can catch it sooner—look for a “bloodshot” eye, with a dark pigment growing on the outer edges of the cornea in an obviously odd way.  It might almost look lumpy.  The condition is thought to be triggered by UV rays, and that may be a reason it flared up after we moved in the house, and Eli started to spend so much time in the back yard.  I’ll find her sitting in the yard in the middle of the day, practically staring into the sun.  Yes, she has Doggles, but she’s sort of high-strung and has never kept them on for any length of time.  I’m sure she’d knock them off, Dante would eat them, and then we’d end up at the emergency clinic for a bowel obstruction :p

The fancy new name for pannus is “chronic immune mediated keratoconjunctivitis sicca”, but we’re all friends here, so we can just call it pannus.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/25 at 05:27 AM
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Thursday, May 24, 2007 , terribly early in the morning

The job opportunity which wasn’t

About a month ago, I sent my unsolicited resume to PETA.  I saw that they had a large number of job openings, and I thought that perhaps there might be one I could do via telecommuting, even if it was only part-time.  They wrote back to me almost immediately with a sort of “quiz”—it was a number of questions, as varied as, “Are you a vegetarian?” to “What are your five favourite online marketing tools, and why?” I spent quite a long time answering them, sent them back, and a week later I was invited for a job interview.  The person interviewing me had the perfect position in mind, and it was full-time, and I could telecommute, and I would get health insurance!  The Holy Grail!  I was so excited, and after speaking to the interviewer on the phone, I felt that I could not only do the tasks they had in mind for me to do, but I could help them delve into areas where they hadn’t yet ventured.  I thought it would be a good partnership.  The only sticking point was the “in-person visit”.  I would have to fly to their headquarters in Virginia for two full days of office meetings.  At my own expense.

I did the research on airfares, and it wasn’t pretty.  It was going to be a minimum of $400 just for airfare, and that didn’t include my meals.  PETA offered to give me accommodations in one of three houses they own for visiting staff members, and they offered transportation, but I would still be responsible for meals, transporation if I wanted to leave the house, etc.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about sleeping in a house, either.  How many people would be there?  How many bathrooms were there?  Would I be able to sleep properly in a house with strangers?  I was a bit uptight about it, but willing to embrace my inner youth hostel to enjoy the experience.

The airfare issue still bothered me, however.  We’re always one step behind the bill collectors, and we’re in one medical crisis after another, and we just don’t have any extra money.  We especially don’t have $500+ for me to go off galavanting for 48 hours on the other side of the country (even though it would make a great blog entry).  I really wanted the job, though, so I wrote to the guy who interviewed me and asked what my chances were of being offered the job after I visited.  I was hoping he’d say something like, “I have a good feeling about you and think you’d probably be a great addition to our office, but we need you to visit so you can get to know everyone, and we can make sure that we’re all comfortable working together, yadda yadda yadda.” That’s not what he said.  He said, and I quote, “most of the people I’ve invited into the office for a working interview are not offered jobs.” That really made my heart sink.  I even wrote back to clarify that he hadn’t made a typo, and he said that the majority of office interviewees are not hired.

So, I pondered, and wondered, and wished (but no genie showed up), and the only conclusion I could come to was to turn him down, and to just accept that I won’t be working for PETA, and I won’t finally have my beloved health insurance.  It seemed selfish and irresponsible of me to go to that interview, especially if I didn’t get a job and had just wasted a whole lot of money.  That money would pay for all of Flippy’s prescriptions for a month, or it would allow both Eli and Dante to have their overdue vet checks.  Even if I’d been offered a job, we would have been in the financial hole for quite a while because of that extravagance.  Perhaps the worst part for me was that I had no idea what sort of criteria were being examined at the office visit, so I had nothing to prepare for, and no way to assess my performance.  It would be like writing a test where every questions had two possible answers, and you had no idea which answer would be considered correct.  Usually, an applicant has a degree of control at a job interview, but in this case I felt I was deliberately being sent into it unprepared.

I’m sad.  I really wanted that job.  I didn’t want it enough to gamble for it, or to lose money because of it.  The health insurance sure would have been nice, though.  Now I’ll start sending out more applications… the “cold calls” (i.e., “cold emails") really get quite a good response.  I’m going to apply for a position at Yahoo, because if they want to meet me, I think they’ll pay for the plane ticket smile

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/24 at 05:58 AM
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Wolf and donkey share a cage

This is a really horrible, horrible story, and I hope the attention it’s receiving will lead some “authority” to step in and put a stop to it:  Wolf befriends his dinner

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/24 at 02:05 AM
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007 , the wee hours

Pinch me

In an unexpected twist which makes me very cheery, I’m now writing posts on IFAW’s three blogs.  Specifically, I’m writing entries for the Stop the Seal Hunt blog, the Stop Whaling blog, and the main Animal Rescue blog.  I still feel nervous when I’m writing, like I have stage-fright, because the other folks who write do such a great job.  Still, I figure I’ll eventually relax and start to feel “at home”, and then I’ll be able to write with a bit more personality.  If they don’t take the job away from me before that.

In other news, well, I really like Cold Stone Creamery’s German Chokolatekake ice cream.  I do not like all the children in the store (I’m sorry… I’m a tired old fart now), and the stuff is pretty expensive.  It’s a nice occasional treat though.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/23 at 01:15 AM
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Sunday, May 20, 2007 , early evening

National Dog Bite Prevention Week

Today through May 26th is National Dog Bite Prevention Week!  That sounds like an excellent thing to prevent!  For more information, visit the website of the American Veterinary Medical Association, as they’re sponsoring the event.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/20 at 07:59 PM
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Saturday, May 19, 2007 , late at night

ChemNutra owner speaks out… finally

Today’s (Saturday’s) Las Vegas Review Journal featured an exclusive interview with the head of ChemNutra (one of the companies which imported tainted wheat gluten from China).  It’s about time these folks said something, because the only comments they’ve made previously sounded angry and confrontational.  The interview is pretty interesting, because even though I’d previously heard that the Chinese manufacturing plant had been “shut down” before anyone from the US could inspect it, it turns out the factory was actually bulldozed into the ground before anyone could inspect it.  It makes the Chinese claims that “melamine isn’t dangerous” seem pretty suspicious, because they obviously never believed that.  Anyway, here’s a link to the interview so you can read it yourself:  LV importer ‘totally stunned” by tainted pet food ingredient

I’ve also been meaning to rave about a magazine called ”Animal Wellness” for quite a while, and now is a perfect time, because their home page features an article about the pet food recall.  Noted authorities like Dr. Michael W. Fox are quoted as saying they think the tainted food ingredient will eventually turn out to be GMO wheat, not melamine.  Fox says GMO wheat could be engineered to produce its own pesticides, some of which have melamine as a precursor.  In any case, read the article by going to the Animal Wellness magazine homepage.  If you like the article, you should consider ordering at least a single back-issue of the magazine to read at home, if not a full subscription.  I bought one a couple of months ago and enjoyed the variety of articles, as well as all the ads for homemade food products and supplements.  I’m planning to buy a three-year subscription, which includes a CD containing health and nutrition articles, but still haven’t sprung for the $48.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/19 at 11:45 PM
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An open letter to Halo Pet Foods

Dear Halo Pet Foods:  I’m writing you this open letter because you don’t have any contact email information on your website.  I’ve used many of your products (including Spot’s Stew, DreamCoat, and Vita-Mineral Mix), and I like them.  I recommend them to others when the opportunity arises.  I raved about “The Whole Pet Diet” book in a previous entry, and I just generally have a good feeling about your approach to pet care.  It was with great horror, therefore, that I stumbled into your Forums and found the most awful and dangerous pet care information being spouted by your moderators.  One forum poster was trying to convert her cat from dry kibble to Spot’s Stew, and the cat hadn’t eaten in four days.  Your moderator, “Binker”, replied “I haven’t heard of any cat starving itself when food has been present.” Another poster said her cats didn’t like the texture of Spot’s Stew, and moderator Warthog72 replied, “if you don’t offer them any other food - they will eat Spot’s Stew and be healthier for it.” Warthog72 told someone else, ”Remember, cats are creatures of habit and like what they ate yesterday. Sometimes you have to put your paw down and make them eat the healthier blend.” As if it needed to be said even more clearly, Warthog72 made another bold statement, ”Our motto is, “PUT YOUR PAW DOWN!” You aren’t helping your cats (or dogs) by continuing to feed them non-healthy food. You will do better by switching cold-turkey.”

I would suggest that both your forum moderators need to research the medical conditions of hepatic lipidosis, and feline anorexia.  I know all about hepatic lipidosis because I once tried to make a cat switch to a new diet, “cold turkey”, and she just stopped eating, period.  I didn’t know any better at the time, and when I finally realized she hadn’t touched any food in days, she was so sick that she required a $1200 feeding tube and nearly died.  Cats are stubborn about their food, yes, but you can’t outwit them by forcing them to eat something they don’t want.  Not all cats will eventually give in and eat.  Many cats will starve themselves, and liver problems can take as little as four days to set in.  It’s foolish and dangerous to be allowing your representatives to instruct cat owners to switch foods abruptly, because one day, a cat will die, and you’ll have a big problem on your hands.  The only good advice I saw from a moderator was when Binker instructed someone to mix “a little yogurt” into the Spot’s Stew if it would entice the cat to eat.  The best advice is to plan to transition any cat to a new food slowly and gradually, by serving the old food on top of the new food, or vice versa.  It’s just common sense.  Cats aren’t dog - dogs eat garbage, they eat shoes, they eat their own poop.  When’s the last time you saw a cat with such flexible taste buds?

I won’t get into the incorrect/dangerous statements I saw being made in the other forums for now, but I’ll close this email by suggesting that your moderators should stop repeatedly insisting that Spot’s Stew “is the healthiest pet food on the planet.” You don’t know this, and you can’t possibly prove it, and in the case of bird food, I think you’re flat-out wrong.  I think your dog and cat foods are great, but you’re just asking for some cranky consumer to take you to task for making claims you can’t support.  It sounds, silly, too.  You make a good product, and you can be proud of that.  There’s no need to brag excessively, because it starts to sound like crazed hyperbole.

I understand your goals in wanting to have a forum where you can interact with pet owners.  It’s a fine idea, but either ease off the medical advice, or get better-educated moderators.  Why not search for a licensed vet tech to be a moderator?  I’m sure you could find a tech who likes your products, and who also has the education to dole out advice about health and nutrition.  The forum arrangement you’ve got now is a pox on your website, and really, a blemish on your entire brand.

IMO.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 05/19 at 05:07 AM
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