Nettie Blanco is sporting some fresh battle wounds this
week after a chance encounter with a coyote that attempted to make a meal of
her small 9-year-old shih tzu, Sammy, reports CBS News. Nettie claims that she
had just let Sammy out into the yard when she looked up from the window and
realized the coyote was headed for her dog. She sprinted outside and did the
first thing that occurred to her, which was to hit the coyote square in the
face. The coyote got spooked and Nettie raced Sammy to the vet, where the dog
was treated for bite wounds.
“That coyote had him in his mouth and looked up, because
Sam was laying … and he looked up at me and I just hit him with all my force
right in the face,” she told CBS. “And then he looked at me … and then just
jumped over the fence and took off.”
Any pet owner would like to think they’d do anything to
protect his or her animal in a time of crisis. But Nettie has elevated herself
to a league for which only one other person immediately comes to mind: Carl
Moore, the man who punched a bear in the face. Moore also had defended his
small four legged companion when a bear wandered into his backyard and was
headed for his small chihuahua. But based on his recollection of the events,
that bear won’t be back anytime soon. It’s probably safe to assume the same
applies to Nettie.
“If I could save one dog, that would be my gift to
everything,” she says.
With the competition for jobs fiercer than ever, the
director of communications position at a new start up was always going to be
popular job advert.
700 people reportedly applied for the top position, enticed
by its salary and bonus package.
Yet applicants might have been a little surprised to learn
that they were beaten to the top job by a surprise candidate, a nine-month old
cat.
Bossy the cat put paw to paper, accepting a contract for
the top job as Director of communications at a Romanian company.
Based in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, the start-up
company appointed Bossy, reportedly after a thorough application process.
With a salary of £110 per month (170.46 US Dollar) plus a
healthy bonus of cat food, the nine-month old cat will earn more than some
Romanians working in rural areas.
Catbox.ro is an online store, selling original presents
that can be delivered in less than 24 hours.
Bossy appears to be a blue Scottish Fold cat, known for
their striking orange eyes, lilac colored fur and folded down ears.
It is believed the breed originated from the Scottish
highlands with the cat breed being known as lop-eared.
As demonstrated by Bossy, some Scottish Folds also have a
unique party trick; they can stand up on their hind legs.
Photographed wearing a fetching cream tie and a smart white
collar shirt and black suit jacket, Bossy certainly looks the part.
He appears to be very at home sitting in his new swivel
chair, all ready to make all the tough decisions required as a company's
communications director.
However it would appear employees will have to tread
carefully as with his fierce orange stare, it doesn't appear Bossy will be too
happy with slackers.
Bossy is set for a busy schedule as he will reportedly be
promoting the brand by doing a series of voice-overs for company videos, posing
for brand photo shoots as well as giving his own paw print seal of approval to
over 20 presents a day before they are delivered.
So proud of their latest recruitment coup, Catbox.ro
reportedly collected Bossy for his first day at work in a silver limousine.
Accompanied in the limo by four impressed secretaries,
Bossy looked sharp in his suit, peering confidently out of the window.
Company spokesperson Alexandra Cozac said: 'He came dressed
in a suit like a corporate manager and had an impressive attitude.
'He checked the computer and seemed quite intimidating
particularly because nobody really knew what message he was trying to convey. I
guess it's the first demo and he needs time to settle in.'
As well as his monthly salary, the gorgeous feline will
also enjoy bonuses of cat food worth £37 (57.42 US Dollar) and other unspecified perks.
This cat certainly did get the cream.
Bossy beat off the competition of 700 other applicants for
the top job of Director of Communications at a new Romanian startup.
The Romanian start-up company appointed Bossy reportedly
after a thorough application process.
Bossy appears to be a blue Scottish Fold cat, known for
their striking orange eyes, lilac coloured fur and folded down ears.
Catbox.ro reportedly hired a limousine to take Bossy to
work for his first day of his first ever job.
Never shy with the ladies, Bossy laps up the attention as
he rides to work with four company secretaries.
Putting paw to paper, Bossy the cat appeared only to happy
to sign his first contract at the age of nine-months.
Looking slick in his suit and tie, two female members of
staff attend to Bossy's knees as he gets at home in his new office.
A very pregnant Northern California mom is getting
attention for her quick instincts after her 4-year-old son was bitten by a
rattlesnake. But state wildlife officials say what she did was dangerous.
Jaclyn Caramazza and her family were walking on a bike
trail in Folsom over the weekend when her son Vinny stepped on a baby
rattlesnake, KTXL-TV reported. The snake quickly coiled up.
Minutes later, Vinny’s foot turned purple and began to
swell. Caramazza removed her son’s shoes and found two puncture marks.
Nine months pregnant, this mother sprang into action.
“Mama Bear instinct in me decided to suck the venom because
that’s what Bonanza does,” she told KTXL.
Vinny was taken to an area hospital and is doing well.
But trying to suck out venom with your mouth is a bad idea,
state wildlife officials say.
"That's an absolute 'do not do,'" said Warden
Chris Stoots of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, because of the
risk for the person sucking out the poison of becoming ill.
There are venom-suction devices that help remove the
poison, Stoots said, but few people carry them when hiking.
According to Fish and Wildlife, if possible, a rattlesnake
bite should be washed gently with soap and water. Rinsing with water alone also
will do.
The bite victim should be kept calm and rushed to the
hospital and the wound site should be kept below heart level.
Most snake bites occur when people accidently step on or
try to touch a snake, Stoots said.
Attempt to move or kill a snake, Stoots said, and in most
cases "you'll lose."
Crumbs & Whiskers, Washington DC’s first cat cafe, will
open its Georgetown doors to the public June 20 after a successful Kickstarter
campaign raised twice as much as the owner expected.
Owner Kanchan Singh plans several pre-grand opening parties
to thank those Kickstarter supporters.
Crumbs & Whiskers, at 3211 O St. NW, will have about
two dozen felines in residence at a time, all vetted and vaccinated by the
cafe’s partner, the Washington Humane Society.
Why would you go to a cat cafe?
A boyfriend who’s allergic to cats, stress relief or just
the desire to enjoy a cat’s company without the responsibility of owning one,
Singh’s Kickstarter pitch suggests.
She also says the cats have a much better chance of being
adopted in an environment like this than they would in cages at the Humane
Society.
Singh signed a lease for the O Street space in April and
spent the last two months going through the permit and building process.
The Crumbs & Whiskers Kickstarter campaign had an
original goal of $15,000, and raised almost $36,000 from more than 700 backers.
You can watch Singh’s Kickstarter pitch video here:
Denver, Colorado - Amanda
Jamrogiewicz filed the lawsuit on behalf of her mother, Sue Hodges. The two
claim they visited the cat cafe back in February and a cat named
"Morpheus" bit Hodges.
"[Morpheus] flipped onto his back when my mom still
had her hand out," Jamrogiewicz told 9NEWS. "When she was going down
to continue petting him, he bit her on her hand rather aggressively and
wouldn't let go for at least 15-20 seconds."
"When she finally got her hand away it was bleeding in
about 7 or 8 different spots," she said.
Jamrogiewicz said her mother was treated for the bite at
the counter. But after she got home, she realized it was infected.
She went to an urgent care clinic for treatment and was
charged $305. She asked the café to pay the medical bill, but the owner, Sana
Hamelin, wouldn't agree to it.
The suit demands $5,920 for the $305 in medical bills plus
missed work and the emotional toll for the entire endeavor.
"We wouldn't be able to survive as a business model if
we were opening ourselves up to taking responsibility for a cat's behavior,
because we can't guarantee that a cat won't bite or scratch," Hamelin
said.
Hamelin said she did offer to pay part of the bill, but
admits people get adequate warning about how unpredictable cats are with signs
warning people to "pet at their own risk."
"We just let everyone know [petting] is a risk. If
they're not willing to take that risk, then they shouldn't pet cats that don't
belong to them," she said. "I don't think there's a cat in existence
that hasn't bitten or scratched."
Jamrogiewicz said her mother missed a week of work because
of the infected bite and complications from an antibiotic she was prescribed.
She said her mother is the sole provider for the household after her father
went on disability because of a brain tumor.
"They're under a lot of financial stress,"
Jamrogiewicz said. She claims the missed work hurt her parents' finances even
more.
She said the day of the bite, Hamelin asked if it was
Morpheus who bit her mother. Jamrogiewicz claims Hamelin knew he was a dangerous
cat and should have been removed from the café.
However, Hamelin told 9NEWS Morpheus was one of the most
popular cats in her shop.
"He was here for a long time and was very popular with
our customers and managed to interact with a lot of people," Hamelin said.
Hamelin says after Jamrogiewicz and her mother started
asking for compensation for the bite, she told the rescue that provided the
cats for the café. That rescue then decided to pull all of their felines from
the café for risk.
"Because of your claim, the shelter has terminated its
relationship with the café," Hamelin wrote in an email to Hodges on March
11.
Jamrogiewicz said Hamelin is blaming her mother for losing
that rescue, and the accusation is causing emotional stress.
Hamelin said she agreed to pay more than half of Hodges'
medical bills in the beginning, but the family refused to agree to that
settlement demanding the entire total.
Jamrogiewicz offered another settlement to Hamelin: if the
shop paid her mother's medical bills, Jamrogiewicz would make a donation to a
cat rescue for the same amount.
Hamelin turned that settlement down and instead offered to
make the donation herself in lieu of paying the medical bills.
Jamrogiewicz and her mother refused and filed the $6,000
lawsuit in early April. Hamelin was served last week.
"I guess a lot of people think this is frivolous, and
to us, to be honest, it is too," Jamrogiewicz said. "She should have
just paid the $300."
Hamelin said she could have just submitted the claim to her
insurance, but it was already close enough to the deductible. Also, she worried
about her insurance rates going up.
She also said she didn't want to create a precedent for
others to sue over an issue she clearly warns people about before they walk in.
"I'm just a solitary person trying to do this by
myself so it's tough to be sued when you're not a big corporation," she
said "We're not rolling in money here."
If you're like many people, you might want to give your dog
some peanut butter as an occasional treat. Or you might want to use peanut
butter as a trick or reward to get your dog to take their medications? In many
cases this is perfectly fine (so long as it's not in excess — as too much can
cause pancreatitis and/or contribute to obesity).
However, with the introduction of a unique line of peanut
and other nut butters onto the market — Nuts ’N More — the answer to the question of whether or not
it’s safe to give, even a small quantity of, peanut butter to your dogs is no
longer a straightforward one. Why? Because of the sweetener that’s been used to
replace the sugar in this line of peanut and other nut butters. That sugar
substitute is called xylitol.
Is Xylitol Safe For Dogs?
Xylitol is a sweetener that's gaining in popularity because
of its dental beInefits for people as well as its suitability as a sugar
substitute for people with diabetes. Because of its ability to help prevent
cavities and tooth decay and its low glycemic index, xylitol is proving to have
some good dental and other health benefits for people. Unfortunately, while
xylitol appears to be perfectly safe for people, it is extremely dangerous for
dogs — even in small quantities.
Ingestion of as
little as 0.1 gram (g) of xylitol per kilogram (kg) of body weight (0.1 g/kg)
can cause a rapid and dangerous drop in a dog’s blood sugar (a condition called
“hypoglycemia”). Hypoglycemia can show as staggering, appearing disoriented,
collapse, weakness, and seizures.
Just slightly more than that, approx. 0.5 g/kg xylitol
ingestion, can lead to debilitating, and sadly often deadly, destruction of a
dog’s liver cells.
These quantities, or toxic doses, are based on the data
that the animal-specific poison control hotlines have collected from reported
cases. To highlight that these are reported cases is important, because not
every case of toxicity makes it to the vet, and not everyone that does go to
the vet is called into the animal poison control hotlines. So the actual toxic
doses could be even lower, and dogs with certain pre-existing medical
conditions (such as diabetes, hepatitis, and others) are likely to be even more
sensitive to the toxic effects of xylitol.
The gaining popularity of xylitol as an ingredient in a
growing number of products (incl. gums, mints, chewable vitamins, and many
others) highlights the importance of reading ingredient labels, as well as the
danger of assuming that what's safe for you, or even your kids, is also safe
for your pets.
Below are their current packaging label (from their
website) and their website FAQ on xylitol.
Product Description
In the meantime, please learn more about the danger xylitol
poses to dogs and the range of products xylitol is commonly found in. And since
awareness is truly crucial to helping people avoid xylitol toxicity in dogs,
please share what you’ve learned here with your dog-owning and dog-loving
friends and family.
If you think your dog has eaten xylitol. Please contact a pet poison control hotline away and they'll be able to guide you as to what to do next.
Springfield, Virginia - Authorities are warning residents of
possible rabid raccoons after two people are recovering from recent attacks in
Fairfax County.
Raccoon tracks are still visible along a creek nearby South
Run Rec Center where a 75-year-old woman was attacked during her morning walk.
Officials said she stopped to take a photo of the animal and it charged at her.
“It bit her severely on her right leg and it attacked both
of her hands and her forearms,” said Fairfax County Animal Control Sgt. Mary
Zambrano.
Her bloody handprints mark the railing along the
footbridge. The raccoon eventually ran off and two joggers came to her aide. An
ambulance took the victim to the hospital to be treated for rabies exposure.
“If there is an animal that is vocalizing, whether it is
whimpering, crying, that is wet or heavily matted, that might have an obvious
injury or bite wound, a lot of times they will act like they are drunk and
disoriented and they will stagger around -- those are classic symptoms of an
animal that might have rabies,” said Sgt. Zambrano.
The attack happened on the trail not far from the Lee
Chapel Road overpass between Burke Lake and South Run parks where children play
just steps from the woods.
The trail has been closed to the public, but we saw some
bike riders and joggers ignoring the signs notifying people of the closure.
“I've been running on this trail for about ten years and
this is the first time I have ever seen this happen,” a resident told us. “I
have never seen the trail closed.”
Just a few miles away in the Kings Park area, a man out
gardening on Sunday was viciously attacked by a raccoon which later tested
positive for rabies.
While it is not uncommon to spot raccoons, even during the
daytime, residents are asked to look for signs that any area wildlife may be
sick.
“They are attracted to movement and to noise,” said
Zambrano. “If you have the ability to take a big step back and turn and run,
you definitely want to get away from the animal. But if it is right there at
your feet … you can use your shoes to protect yourself and kick it away from
you and leave as quickly as possible.”
Falls Church has also issued a rabies alert after a spike
in raccoon attacks in the city. Police say a rabid raccoon was euthanized after
an attack on two dogs on June 4 in the 100 block of E. Jefferson Street.
More and more, animal therapy is proving an incredible
outlet for the psychological and physiological betterment of people from
diverse walks of life.
For instance, we recently reported a story about a
documentary called Castaways that chronicles the rehabilitation program of
unwanted dogs who are paired with prison inmates. There’s no question of the
lasting effect that that two have on each other by the end of their program —
but similar programs with different animals are also successful. The ranch
below is one such example.
Much like the dogs of the aforementioned program, the
horses at Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation are castaways of their own — former
racing horses from many different backgrounds who, for any number of reasons,
were no longer of use to their breeders. ABC News reports that a program called
The TRF Second Chances Program is pairing inmates with horses at correctional
facilities in nine states. Equine therapy has long been proven effective for
victims of trauma and PTSD, as well as for people with unique physical therapy
needs. But it’s benefits at Second Chances yield something else entirely.
“While TRF Second Chances began as a vocational program,” says its website, “it
wasn’t long before other benefits of the program were realized; inmates not
only learned a viable skill but also gained confidence and a sense of empathy.
Studies have shown a reduction in recidivism rates at facilities that host the
program.”
“It taught me patience,” says Jose Sotomayor from the
Bronx, NY. “Now I look at things differently. I’m more calm. I think things
through. It keeps me out of trouble.”
