From the mailbag

I’m trying to tidy up my email inbox, so here are bits and pieces of information from emails I’ve been saving, and have wanted to blog about.  I hope you’ll find something of interest.

  • There are brand new episodes of Animal Precinct airing all this week at 10pm.  I’m a day late in posting this, but each episode repeats a number of times, so you should be able to catch Monday’s episode sometime before 10pm Tuesday (or this coming weekend).  Click the Animal Precinct link above to go the broadcast schedule on the Animal Planet website.


  • The College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell has a number of very informative cat care videos on their website.  They’ll walk you through everything from Caring for Your Diabetic Cat to Taking Your Cat’s Temperature.  I had no idea these existed until Flippy stumbled across them a couple of weeks ago.  She was probably sick and tired of waiting for me to trim all our cats’ claws, so she decided to figure out how to do it herself.


  • The Animal Care Expo is being held May 9th through 12th in Dallas.  I’m very disappointed that I can’t afford to go… I’d bet the exhibit hall is full of amazing products and ideas.


  • Will any of you be in Washington, D.C., July 28th through 30th, to attend the Taking Action for Animals 2007 conference?  Could you squeeze me into your suitcase?  This conference is designed to motivate, inspire, and teach animal advocates from around the globe, and they’ve got some great guest speakers lined up.  I’d even love to have my own booth in the exhibit hall, telling people that I’m looking for a full-time job!  Hire me, hire me!  It’s very exciting that so many animal-themed events are popping up all over the country, but not one of them has been in Las Vegas.


  • August 18th, 2007 is Homeless Animals Day, sponsored by the International Society for Animal Rights.  Last year, more than 30 US states and 10 countries around the globe participated in ISAR’s National Homeless Animals’ Day by having spay and neuter events, walkathons, vigils, and other activities which drew attention to the plight of homeless animals.  If you’d like to participate this year, contact ISAR via their website link, and they’ll send you a free event planning packet.


  • Here’s the next educational project I’ve got my eye on: The Companion Animals Studies certificate program at Clayton College of Natural Health.  The full program is actually called, “Holistic Care for Companion Animals”, and teaches things like Flower Essences, Chinese Medicine, and Nutrition.  I’m not very spiritual, and I’m definitely not religious, but I think many holistic treatment methods have their roots in sound science (the science just hasn’t caught up yet!).  At the very least, I like to know as much as possible so that I have a variety of choices of action in any given pet health situation.  When I’m dealing with neonatal kittens, for example, western medicine doesn’t have much to offer besides antibiotics and dewormers.  Maybe there are other more subtle, but just as effective, treatment options to be found via alternative therapies.  If this program interests you, it costs about $1850.


  • Here’s a great opportunity for anyone with a blog:  Sign up at Dog Detective to receive lost dog alerts for your area of the country.  You can specify what types of alerts you want to receive, and how often, and then you’ll receive a notice via email whenever a dog has been reported missing near your home.  All your contact information will be kept confidential, of course, but if you often blog about a particular city (I think everyone knows I live in Las Vegas), you could repost the alert on your blog to focus extra eyes to the problem.  You can also do old-fashioned things like open your front door and look for the dog wandering down your street smile This could potentially be a great system, and the more people who sign up, the better.  I’m going to sign up as soon as I finish this entry.


  • On a similar note, you should also sign up at a new site called Lost and Pound.  This is another website designed to help owners find lost pets by sending out email alerts, but it seems as if this group might have a bit more money behind them.  Join both, it can’t hurt… and look at the photos of all the missing pets and then go give your own pets a big hug.


  • I’ve saved the most peculiar item for last.  This website offers to spin your pet hair into yarn.  With the yarn, you can knit a lovely memento of your beloved pet, I guess.  For a while I thought the site might be a spammy joke, but it’s too poorly designed to be a joke - I think the site owner is serious.  It’s an interesting idea, but the yarn isn’t very pretty to look at.  The best part of the website is the page about the legalities of the process, as I guess many site visitors thought it was somehow cruel to collect pet hair.  I don’t even have to actively collect pet hair around my house - I just turn on the ceiling fan, wait a day or so, and air currents thoughtfully form a massive pile of dog and cat hair in one convenient location (in the corner, under the table).  I won’t be taking advantage of this hair spinning service, but I’m sure someone out there is going to jump at the chance.

Thank you for helping me clean up my email.  I deleted about one hundred messages this evening, but I’m sure there will be more in there tomorrow.  Email… the gift that keeps on giving.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/17 at 02:16 AM

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