The United States Department of Agriculture today release this statement about IAMS animal testing:

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released an official complaint stating that the contract laboratory investigated by PETA in 2002 and 2003, which was employed by pet-food manufacturer Iams, “has shown a lack of good faith.”
The government complaint alleges that the following violations, among others, were documented by government inspectors at the contract laboratory from 2002 to 2005:
Failure to provide pain relief to sheep used in experiments that caused pain or distress
Failure to ensure that personnel were trained to perform experiments on animals
Failure to provide veterinary care and to observe animals daily
Failure to properly ventilate housing facilities for dogs and cats
Failure to house cats with a sufficient number of litterboxes and resting surfaces
Failure to keep animal-housing facilities clean and in good repair, resulting in injuries
Failure to maintain comfortable temperatures in animal-housing facilities
Failure to provide animals with sufficient space”

Click here for the full statement.

Yeah - I’m not a big fan of PETA AT ALL, but I have to admit that they got the IAMS animal cruelty thing right WAY before anyone else did.

It’s time for the Pet Blog of the Week! This week, it’s a dog blog called BAD RAP: Bay Area Dog-lovers Responsible About Pit Bulls.

The BAD RAP blog is one of my favorites. As it says on the group’s website, BAD RAP is “a diverse and growing group of owners, rescuers, and supporters of the American Pit Bull Terrier.” They are one of the most highly respected pit bull rescue pet groups out there. Their animal shelters for pit bulls are highly functional, well-run, successful, and warm and caring.

The BAD RAP blog chronicles the lives of the rescue pets the group has, and is mostly concerned with educating people about pit bulls. There are posts about dogfighting and the following the Michael Vick dogs, about dog breed information, about training the dogs, and more.

Whether you are a pit bull lover or if you don’t really like pit bulls, I would encourage you to visit the BAD RAP blog. You will definitely learn something about the dog breed of pit bulls and it just might change your mind about the breed.

Ever wanted to get inside your dog’s head? Did you ever wonder what your dog is thinking and saying to himself?

You can find out. Well you can find out what one dog thinks and says anyhow: Shilo.

Emails from Shilo is about a Golden Retriever and his quest to understand almost everything about his life. Through emails to his canine cousin that his Mother came across, the book tells the life story of Shilo. Shilo talks about his fears, his worries, his dreams, his wishes and his happiness.

Thanks to the intelligence of the neighbor dog, a Bassett Hound named Sammy, Shilo is able to figure out nearly everything he wonders about: Ancient wolf lore (his ancestors), opposable thumbs, wild cats, bad dreams, why he has a problem with other dogs around his parents, and more.

Emails From Shilo

I must admit I was captivated by this book. Shilo is a witty, fun, inquisitive (aren’t most Goldens?) and smart Golden Retreiver who you can just see being a big old sweetheart (and a little worry-wart, as most rescues are). The book is illustrated, alas it’s in black and white so it’s kinda hard to get the full effect of the pictures. Nonetheless, they help move the story along quite nicely. Shilo is a handsome specimen who I just wanted to hug and snuggle with.

And I must admit this book made me cry. Twice. Once was when Shilo finally talked about what happened when his first owners gave him up and why that’s caused him “issues” today. It made me cry because it’s true and it’s sad what humans can do to animals sometimes. Some of us forget that they have feelings, too.

I won’t tell you what the second thing that made me cry is. You’re going to have to read it to find out. (It was a good cry!)

Anyhow, I highly recommend Emails from Shilo for some GR-eat reading, good stories, and good entertainment. It will make you think twice about what your dog is thinking when you take walks, go to the park, pass other dogs, go for a drive, etc. Trust me.

So long Sammies,

Jaime

It’s time for the cutest kitten of the week. Hooray (say Theodore and Sasha. “Bo-ring” says Benson and Gibson)!

This little guy looks like he’s laughing (or crying I suppose). I would not be able to resist him if I were in the same room. This picture makes me want to just scoop him up and snuggle him…

You also gotta love the kitten butt sticking out in the background! LOL! Possibly not that baby’s best angle but it’s too funny to not mention here.

This picture is from the “igorkro” album on Webshots.com. You can check out the full kittens album or go to the Pets page or Cats page on Webshots for more cute cat pictures and cuddly kitten pictures.

Purrs,
Jaime

Here is an update on our friend, Mr. Capone, the English Bulldog. He is our hu-Mom’s friend Nicole’s dog. Boy is he a sweetie. And boy is he funny. We just love Capone (and English Bulldogs for that matter. They are just a comical dog breed we think.) It’s been awhile since we last heard from Capone.

Capone the English Bulldog

The past few months have been a little crazy to say the least. In a short matter of time, Capone was not only fixed, but he also had his hernia repaired, and had a “nose job.” (Like most celebs, let’s just say it was due to a deviated septum.) *wink, wink!*

Yes, that’s an awful lot, but let me explain why we had all of these procedures done. (After all, we’d do anything for our little guy!)

To Fix or Not to Fix

We really had no intentions of breeding him. While my husband and I would love a little friend for Capone, we realize we’re not breeders and would have absolutely no idea what we were doing. Plus, it’s very expensive!

According to our vet, Bulldogs, who have a short life expectancy as is, are expected to live a little longer once this procedure is done. Besides, had we not had him fixed, he’d be able to smell a female dog in heat almost 5 miles away, and you better believe he’d try to find her!

Hernia Repair

When Mr. Capone was just a pup, we noticed he had what looked like a protruding belly button. Well, upon examination, the vet informed us that when he was born, the vet who delivered the pups cut the umbilical chord too close, thus preventing it from completely healing. (Hence, the hernia. )

We knew right away that when we were going to get him fixed, we’d have that taken care of in order to avoid any complications later in life.

A Nose Job?
The vet had noticed over the course of a few months that Mr. Capone’s nostrils were unusually narrow. (Before any assumptions are made, let me just say that my husband and I LOVE Mr. Capone’s snoring and grunting like a pig!)

I was afraid to get the procedure done for a few reasons. First, the vet mentioned the snoring might completely go away. (Thank goodness it didn’t!) Secondly, he might get a “piggy” nose. Fortunately, that didn’t happen either! (Either way, we’d love him just the same!)

Anyways, we had his nostrils enlarged, thus enabling him to breathe more easily. This, too, will hopefully enable him to live a longer life than the average bulldog.

Looking back, I’m amazed at just how well he recovered.

As I picked him up from the vet, I broke down. He was on so many medications, had so many stitches and it looked like he either didn’t remember me, or he was so upset with me for taking him to get all of this done, he didn’t want to know me. I swear, I thought it would take months to get my lil’ Capone back in tip-top shape.

Well, it took about 6 weeks until he was completely healed. Let me tell you that Mr. Capone definitely is back to normal, and boy is he full of energy! He’s taken up a new sport, softball and even has a new lil’ lady in his life, Maggie May. (Friends of ours got her just a few months ago.)

It was a tough decision to have all of these things done, and it was a bit pricy, but the well-being of our Capone has made it all worthwhile. The fact that he can breathe more easily, and run for longer amounts of time definitely allowed us to see that we had made the right decision.

Mr. Capone’s giving me his puppy dog eyes right now. It looks to me like he’s ready to “Play ball!”

Here’s a picture of him and his new girlfriend:

Capone Getting a Kiss!

Wags,
Benson and Gibson

On September 20th, animal welfare advocates, volunteers, animal-lovers and pet charities alike are supporting organizers from the state of Ohio who are partaking in a very important national event: Puppy Mill Awareness Day.

Puppy Mill Awareness Day makes it easy and fun to help raise awareness with downloadable flyers, lawn signs, sample letters to newspaper editors, t-shirts, buttons and more! On PMAD, you can meet up with event organizers and volunteers to hand out flyers and information to people who need to know the truth about puppy mills and the pet trade. You’ll give out information about pet adoption options (so people don’t go to the pet store!) and basic information about puppy mills. (All the materials are positive and educational.)

The PMAD website also recommends the following activities leading up to Puppy Mill Awareness Day:

- Join a meetup group in your area (or start one). Meet and join others who want to educate the community about puppy mills by handing out flyers, tabling at PetSmart, PetCo and other animal-friendly businesses that don’t sell puppies. If you live in Ohio and want to join the campaign, click here. Visit the PMAD website for a list of currently participating cities.

- Send a Letter to the Editor at your local newspaper about Puppy Mill Awareness Day. You can download a guide and sample letter, as I said above, on the PMAD website.

- Hang a flyer at work, the grocery store, the dog park, veterinarian’s office, groomer etc. There are flyers available for download on the PMAD website.

- Organize a pet store protest in your area. Click here to learn how.

For all kinds of other information and more details, visit the Puppy Mill Awareness Day website.

Yesterday we blogged about our lazy weekend. Today we want to show you what our cousins (the Pit Bull mix and the Bassett Hound) did. They went to this beautiful area called the Cleveland Metroparks. It surrounds the cities of Cleveland like a green necklace (it’s really neat and beautiful). There is hiking, biking, creek-walking, dog-walking (or running), swimming and all kinds of other grrr-eat activities to do there.

Here are some pictures of our cousins Henry and Tux in the water.

Creekwalking Dogs!

Tux with a Big Stick

The Bassett Hound Swims

We are a little jealous of all the fun they had creek-walking, swimming and chewing and chasing sticks in the water. Our parents promised us we can go this weekend though so we are really looking forward to it!

Do you have a favorite swimming spot? Share it with us!

Benson and Gibson

This is how we dogs spent our weekend…

Benson the Golden Retriever

Gibson the White Golden Retriever

It was the dog day afternoons of summer this past weekend for us Golden Retrievers. Too hot to even go squirrel and bunny chasing on a walk, and too hot to even laze around outside on the deck…

We know what our friend Rusty did over the weekend; he started this awesome Squirrel Patrol club. Anydog is invited to join so you should go and visit Chasing Squirrels with Rusty to find out how. We signed up already! It may have been too hot to chase those pests this past weekend but we are always on high-alert, even inside!

Tell us what you did this weekend. Or tell us what you plan to do for Labor Day weekend. I think we are going to get to go down to Lake Erie for a walk/swim at the beach! Hooray! Plus Labor Day = barbeque which means we’ll be sneaking some delicious table scraps from unsuspecting family members! Hooray again!

It’s time once again for the Pet Blog of the Week! We haven’t done this in awhile because there has been so much other stuff to write about. Much to the canine counterparts’ surprise, this week’s Pet Blog of the Week is a cat blog! Yikes! At least it’s a really good cat blog: William of Mass Destruction.

We think the play on words in the title of this blog is really clever! William is this beautiful, big black cat who has a brother, Russell, and a sister, Caroline. His blog chronicles his life and all his antics, as well as those of his brother and sister. William always has a funny way of explaning cat behavior, and always seems to do stuff to get a “Mom scowl!”

This is one of our favorite pictures of William:

We love the way William explains normal kitty behavior and we think all his quirks are really funny. So if you are looking for a funny cat blog, a cat blog with lots of pictures, or a cat blog that just explains us felines, then William of Mass Destruction is a great place for you.

Purrs,
Sasha, a fellow black cat, and Theodore