On March 23, 2015, the Love family, from Banks County, Ga., was traveling on Interstate 85 with Georgia, their son’s 14-month-old German Shepherd. A drunk driver hit their forcing it to roll over multiple times. Fortunately Mr. and Mrs. Love walked away from the accident unharmed, but Georgia got spooked and ran away from the scene. Five days after the accident, and after dozens of volunteers stepped up to help search for Georgia, the pup was found and reunited with her owner. As soon as the accident happened, Eric Love, Georgia’s owner, took to social media to ask for help finding his dog. He posted pictures of the pet and asked everyone in the area to keep and eye open for his dog. Many volunteered to drive around and search, but no one had any luck spotting or finding the dog. On Saturday, March 28th, Georgia was finally spotted off exit 160. Love rushed to the area to find and reunite with his dog. Many expected a long chase. Usually when a dog gets lost the pet goes into survival mode, and even though a strong bond exists between the pet and the owner, it takes a lot of coaxing for the dog to come around, trust those trying to help and recognize his or her owner. However, this was not the case with Georgia and Eric. “She walked right up out of the woods and into my arms,” Love told Fox 5 News. Five days apart seemed like an eternity for Eric, but in just one second that Saturday morning, Eric’s life and heart became whole again when Georgia walked into her owner’s arms. Georgia was unharmed and Eric said that “after three cheeseburgers, eight pieces of bacon, and a bag of treats, this little girl is trying not to fall asleep!”
Bentley the piglet has been in the hospital for a little over a month now, recovering from an illness, believed to be meningitis, that has left him blind. Adoptive mom Corinne DiLorenzo, the founder of Illinois-based EARTH Animal Sanctuary, goes to visit Bentley most days. And when she does, the trained opera singer sings an old Irish lullaby, the "Connemara Cradle Song," to her 9-month-old, 14-pound piglet. "It just comes out naturally to me, when there is someone who needs comfort," DiLorenzo says. Traditionally, the lullaby's lyrics celebrate fishing for herring. But DiLorenzo has changed the words a little, so now the song's about sailing with the herring instead of sailing with them caught aboard the boat. "We need to start changing the way we view animals," explains DiLorenzo. Until Bentley is discharged, she'll keep going to the hospital, singing a version of the cradle song that she used to croon to her own son when he was a baby. Home for Bentley, DiLorenzo, and her now 13-year-old son is a 7-acre farm in central Illinois, where DiLorenzo takes in primarily, sick, elderly and special needs animals. "Mostly our sanctuary is for the unadoptables," says DiLorenzo, who bought the property about a year and a half ago. She hopes in the future to open a bed and breakfast and vegan restaurant on site. More >>>
Brightly colored neck attire can hamper cats from chasing birds, however researchers warn that non-safety versions can be lethal. Dr. Michael Calver of Murdoch University, Western Australia, has published several studies on techniques to reduce the toll domestic cats are wreaking on native wildlife. Calver and his PhD student Catherine Hall discovered a website, Birdsbesafe, selling multicolored collars resembling scrunchies that claimed to stop cats catching birds by ruining the cat's camouflage. While the website claims the collars reduce bird kills by 87%, at that time there was no independent evidence to verify the claim, so Hall went to work. Her results have now been published in Applied Animal Behavior Science. Hall couldn't back up the 87% claim, but she did find the collars cut down kills by 54% compared to similar periods with no neck attire. This could make a big difference to the hundreds of millions of small animals killed each year. Numerous native species are being pushed to the edge of extinction by cats, and while much of the damage is being done by those that have gone feral, domestic animals are also a big factor. Hall found that the 114 cats unwillingly enrolled in the program brought home far fewer lizards and frogs when wearing the collars, and that there was also a reduction, albeit smaller, in the number of birds they caught. She observed the cats did not seem to adapt to the collars as some do to bells, and received reports that birds were more likely to avoid the ground when a collar-wearing cat was on the prowl. A study run around the same time in North America found the collars to be even more effective for protecting American birds, but did not investigate reptiles or amphibians. However, Calver stresses that no one should be rummaging around the back of their cupboards for a scrunchy the 90s forgot, as some have suggested after the story broke. “That's really dangerous,” he told IFLS. Birdsbesafe products attach to safety collars with breakaway buckles that prevent the feline from throttling itself if snagged. “Captures of mammals were not significantly reduced,” the paper reports. Calver attributes this to most small mammals lacking color vision. He acknowledges, “Some marsupials have color vision, but they are mostly nocturnal and the cats probably hunt them at night so it may not do much good.” Rodents' lack of color vision could prove an advantage, however. Cat owners who want their pets to control rats and mice but stay off the birds can use the scrunchy collars to achieve both effects. In this way, the scrunchy-style collars do much better than previous control mechanisms Calver has tried, including cat bibs that prevent pouncing and alarms that sound when the cat charges its prey. Unlike all the previous methods Calver's team have tested, the scrunchy-collars protected frogs and lizards as well as birds. The cats spent more time at home now that their hunting was curtailed. A few dropped out of the trial because the owners believed the scrunchies had given them dermatitis, but 96% either showed no signs of distress or quickly got used to wearing the scrunchies, proving the study was done in Perth not New York. Most of the owners planned to continue with the collars after the study finished. However, one cat left the trial because its owner reported the household dogs wouldn't stop barking at it.
Primal Pet Foods is voluntarily recalling a single batch production code of Feline Turkey Raw Frozen Formula 3-pound bag. FDA tested product in response to a single consumer complaint. Primal Pet Foods was alerted by FDA that the testing of two bags of this lot resulted in a low thiamine level. Neither FDA nor Primal have received any other reports concerning Thiamine in Primal products. No other product manufactured by Primal Pet Foods is involved in this voluntary recall. Only the product with the following Best By date and production code is included in the voluntary recall. It is best to check the production code on the back of the bag to determine if the product has been recalled or not. The lot involved in this voluntary recall is: Primal Pet Foods Feline Turkey Raw Frozen Formula 3-pound bag (UPC# 8 50334-00414 0) with Best By date 060815 B22. Primal takes very seriously, the need for adequate Thiamine levels in our feline diets. We include Organic Quinoa Sprout Powder as a natural B-Complex supplement to ensure that adequate levels of Thiamine are met. Additionally, Thiamine occurs naturally in other ingredients contained in our Feline Turkey Formula such as: Turkey Muscle Meat (including heart), Turkey Liver, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Dried Organic Kelp, Organic Collard Greens and Organic Squash. Consumers who still have bags of cat food from this lot should stop feeding it to their cats and call at (866) 566-4652 Monday through Friday, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm PST. Cats fed only diets low in thiamine for several weeks may be at risk for developing a thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is essential for cats. Symptoms of deficiency displayed by an affected cat can be gastrointestinal or neurological in nature. Early signs of thiamine deficiency may include decreased appetite, salivation, vomiting, and weight loss. In advanced cases, neurologic signs can develop, which may include ventriflexion (bending towards the floor) of the neck, wobbly walking, circling, falling, and seizures. If your cat has consumed the recalled lot and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian. If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.
