Unusual Pet of the Day… Made Me Smile!

Name: Remy
Age: One year, two months old

Gender: Male
Kind: Huacaya Alpaca

Home: Pennsylvania, USA

Pet of the Day: This is Remy, and his is my Huacaya Alpaca! Remy is the biggest ham you will ever meet. If you call his name he will instantly put his tail in the air (an alpaca sign of submission) and come running over with a toothy "grin". He is a wonderful cuddler and enjoys being trained for show and agility. Being a lover of food, he took right to clicker training and is willing to try just about any new trick to get his treat! After volunteering at the alpaca farm where he was born, I fell in love with his personality and trainability and decided that he would be perfect to add to my family. And he is!

He gets along great with the other alpacas. He is a roommate to another young male at the moment. He is sheeted once a year. Alpacas cannot sweat! So in the spring they must be given their hair cut. He is sporting a show cut, the fiber being left on his face, legs and tail so that it grows in properly for the fall show season. To be shorn they lay them out on the floor and stretch them out so they don’t get hurt. They use clippers like they use for sheep. The fiber is taken to the mill and turned into yarn. Many things are made from it! I have loads of socks and shoe insoles. But there are also scarves, clothing, stuffed animals, jewelry, etc. it is next to cashmere in its softness and quality.

Remy was bred and raised at Cider Press Alpacas. In case you are wondering what "huacaya" means, alpacas come in two types:   "huacaya" (like Remy) which have fiber like a teddy bear and "suri" which have fiber more like a angora rabbit. Alpacas also have no teeth on the top front of their mouth! They use the bottom teeth and the hard pallet to cut grass.

You know your are smiling!!

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Pet Dads With Their Pets (Furkids)

UCLA Shutterbug – Wyoming Outing

Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival

UCLA Schutterbug  -  Kisses for Schatze

Reddit/orangefever  -  Just Wrestling

UCLA Shutterbug -  Having a PowWow

UCLA Shutterbug  -  Whole Family is Asleep… Pups 7-Weeks Old

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Two-faced kitten

Two-faced kitten  -  It’s oddly adorable!

Radio Patriot:  A rare, two-faced kitten was born in Amity, Ore., on Tuesday. Stephanie Durkee, the owner of both the female kitten and its mother, took the two-faced cat to a vet, who say she’s in good health. (She meows "loudly from both mouths," according to the Guardian.)

Durkee told Portland’s KGW-TV the kitten — named "Deucy" — has been rejected by her mother, so she’s been feeding her warmed kitten formula from a syringe.

"The kids … came in and said, ‘Mom there’s a kitty with two heads,’" Durkee told Portland’s NBC affiliate. "And I said, ‘I think you guys are just tired, you’re crazy, that doesn’t happen.’"

Durkee, who plans to keep Deucy, says the kitten was born at "6:11 a.m. on 6/11 under the ‘Gemini’ astrological sign." Durkee said she "can’t help but wonder at the ‘double’ coincidences surrounding Deucy’s birth."”

Two-faced cats — known as Janus cats, for the two-faced Roman god who also gave us the word "January" — are unusual but not unprecedented.

In 2012, a Port Charlotte, Fla., couple’s cat gave birth to a two-faced male kitten. (They named him Harvey Dent, after the two-face "Batman" character.)

Sadly Harvey died after two days.

Examiner:

Deucy is just the latest of animals born with two faces or heads, a condition known as polycephaly, or having more than one head. Specifically, having two heads is called bicephaly or dicephaly. It is a product of the same genetic malfunction that causes conjoining, or, as in some cases, a parasitic twin.

The condition can also be a product of diprosopus, or craniofacial duplication, where, as the latter name suggests, a genetic disorder causes the parts or all of an animal’s face to be duplicated on the head.

In April a pig was born in China with two two faces, complete with two snouts, the heads meeting at a single eye (giving the pig an odd three-eyed visage).

A two-headed blue shark fetus was discovered in a pregnant shark caught in the Indian Ocean earlier this year, and, in 2011, the first ever two-headed bull shark was pulled out of the Atlantic just off the Florida Keys.

But of all animals, snakes are the most common to produce polycephalic offspring.

It is unclear if there have been any astrological significance placed on the births or their timings, but it is not unusual for people to attach supernatural or superstitious portentous import to such occurrences.

But one has to wonder, if such births are in any way significant as "signs," why there aren’t hundreds of such two-faced animals born in Washington, D. C.

Frank and Louie, the two-faced cat who was born 13 years ago, like the two-faced kitten born in Oregon, has made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest recorded Janus or two-faced cat.

“Janus cats appear to be conjoined twins, but their condition is actually not the result of incomplete separation of two embryos in the womb. It’s triggered by a protein called sonic hedgehog homolog (SHH). Yes, there’s a protein called the sonic hedgehog protein,” reported BuzzFeed in February of 2013 in an article about 13-year-old two-faced cat Frank and Louie.

Like two-faced kitten Deucy, two-faced Frank and Louie was brought into a pet hospital when he was a just one day old. Today, two-faced Frank and Louie is 13 years old and therefore has a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest living two-faced cat. Maybe eventually two-faced kitten Deucy will join Frank and Louie in the Guinness Book of Records — the world is rooting for the little two-faced kitten.

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Pet owners turning to non-traditional

TownHall: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It’s the age old and seemingly answerless question: What in the world is my dog thinking? And one that has spawned a growing market not only of scientific research but of everything from decks of pet tarot cards to television and radio shows and books by pet psychics and animal trainers.

Whether any one of them can ever provide real answers to what dogs are thinking or what drives their good or bad behavior is a matter of opinion – or belief. But pet owners can spend a lot of time and money trying.

And even if they never find a real solution, people who love their dogs admit they can learn to better connect with their pets, or sometimes just have fun trying.

Andrea Gladstone and David Radis of Encino, California, wanted to know more about what was going on in their rescue dog’s head, so they bought "The Original Dog Tarot: Divine The Canine Mind," a set of 30 cards and guidebook that were developed by Heidi Schulman, a freelance writer and former television news producer who now lives in Santa Fe, N.M.

They spread the deck on the floor, then asked LoLa why she chewed up her puppy training book and the Dog Tarot guide.

The answers, they divined from the three cards she picked – The Cat, the Pack and Justice – was that she was insecure with her place in the new home and wrecked the books to establish her security and see if they held grudges.

Radis said his wife gave him the deck of cards as a gift.

"For me it is more the fun of it than the life lessons to be learned. But I respect the tarot," he said. "I have done one reading for each of my dogs and they were both spot on. I spread the cards out and ask the dog to touch the cards with their nose or paw."

But not everyone consults the latest books for gimmicks or fun. Cathy, an entertainment paralegal in California who asked that her last name not be used, called on pet psychic Jocelyn Kessler, author of the Secret Language of Dogs, to help her communicate with her 11-year-old lab Champ when he fell ill.

Kessler, she said, "communicated with him energetically so that she could not only learn what he needed through his veterinary care, but also to understand whether he wanted us to stop medical treatments."

Through Kessler, Cathy said, she was able to learn that Champ needed fewer injections, and she was able to surround him with his favorite plants in his final days.

There is no real research to show spending on dog mind-reading or behavior-related services, but a report from the American Pet Products Association says Americans spent $53 billion on their pets last year, including nearly $4 billion on services not related to food, supplies or health care. That category, which includes grooming, pet-sitting and pampering, was the fast-growing, increasing 9.7 percent over 2011. And it is forecast to remain the fastest-growing.

And anecdotal evidence indicates pet owners are willing to spend a lot. Kessler, for example, charges about $350 a session and her book has been displayed prominently on coveted airport bookstore shelves.

Another pet psychic, Sonya Fitzpatrick, who used to have a television show on Animal Planet and now hosts a popular call-in radio show on Sirius XM, recently hosted two sold-out $500 a day workshops that promised to help owners deal with everything from dogs that pee on the rug to biting children.

Like Kessler, Fitzpatrick says she has been able to communicate with animals since she was a child.

And like Kessler, she keeps her client list private, but shares stories of being called to help with everything from caged crocodiles to finding lost cats.

Fitzpatrick offers telephone consultations, asking only that the pet owners send pictures.

"The pet can be anywhere. Telepathic communication works no matter where you are," she said.

Albuquerque veterinarian Jeff Nichol, who specializes in behavior work and writes a weekly column for the Albuquerque Journal, says he has seen a noticeable increase in pet owners who have turned to the nontraditional methods since the explosion on Animal Planet and other networks of shows involving pet trainers and other self-proclaimed experts.

He cautions against such services for behavioral or medical issues.

"Often the methods worsen the problem, and the behavior becomes more challenging to turn around," he said.

That it turn, he says, results in more pets going to shelters or other action "that is completely unnecessary if they get this thing properly evaluated."

Neither Kessler nor Fitzpatrick pretends to offer medical care, but both say they can often aid vets by opening communication about what is bothering a pet. And Kessler said she is very careful not to take on cases of, for instance, aggressive biting dogs.

For Schulman, development of the dog tarot was simply "to bring people closer to their animals."

She said she came up with the idea when she was ill, and cooped up in a small apartment with her beloved rescue dog, Bosco, who has since died.

"I noticed he was very tuned into me," she said. "He knew exactly when to leave me alone, when to bother me. We seemed to develop this nonverbal communication and he looked like he wanted to talk…. I thought if he could speak what would he say? I tried with logic. But I couldn’t figure it out logically. So I thought, ‘What if we could just invoke a little magic?"

Related:

‘Dogs Have The Intelligence of a Human Toddler’

Photos From the Frontlines–The Dogs of War 

He Doesn’t Want a Cookie… 

Are Our Pets Spiritual Assignments

 

Technorati Tags: pet intelligence,pets,dogs,JOMP,Just One More Pet,telepathic communication,connections with pets,pet-owner connections,you be the judge

Outlaw For-Profit "High-Kill" Animal Shelters – Sign Better Fed Than Dead Petition

We petition the Obama administration to: Outlaw For-Profit "High-Kill" Animal Shelters

Outlaw for-profit "High-Kill" animal shelters throughout the U.S.

For-profit “High-Kill” animal shelters across America kill as many animals as possible, lining the pockets of veterinarian’s associated with these inhumane “High-Kill” shelter enterprises and feeding the need for more taxpayer funding; all the while masking their “pay-per-kill” operations with an aura of humanity by establishing 30-day “waiting periods” before euthanization; a period all too brief to save most from certain death.

We seek to eradicate these “High-Kill” Animal Shelters throughout the United States and turn them into “No-Kill” Shelters.

We demand that the U.S. Government immediately outlaw these for-profit “High-Kill” animal shelters across America.

Sponsored by Pet Food Stamps Inc.:  www.PetFoodStamps.org

Better fed than dead

Related:

Pet Food Stamps

Homeless With Pets – Choosing Pets Over Shelter

The “ex”-Middle & Upper Class Homeless

Foreclosure Crisis Leads to More Homeless Pets to the Rescue!

Where there is a will…

Is Your Pet a Voiceless Victim of the Tanking Economy?

Unconditional Love

Can the U.S. Become a No Kill Nation?

Chinese City’s “One Dog” Policy Has Residents Howling

Homeless Shelters that Allow Pets

How to Help Pets of Homeless People

A Patchwork of Food Assistance for Pets

Help Feed Hungry Pets

Humane Society list of pet financial aid-related organizations

N.J. Pets Welcome at Hurricane Evacuation Shelters

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals … and its weakest members.” …Ghandi

Technorati Tags: animal advocacy movement,aninal petition,animal advocates,Pet Food Stamps,stop pet euthenization,high kill shelters,no-kill pet movement,Better Fed Than Dead,No Kill Shelters,JOMP,Just One More Pet,food assistance for pets

Help Your Dog Overcome These 3 Common Allergies…

Story at-a-glance

• Three very common allergies in dogs include flea allergy dermatitis, food allergies and environmental allergies.
• Treating your dog’s symptoms is only a temporary fix.
• It’s extremely important to find the root cause of an allergic reaction.
• Tips to relieve the suffering of your allergic dog.

By Dr. Becker

If your dog seems to have an allergic condition, it’s important to get an appointment with your veterinarian as soon as you can.

Unlike the vast majority of traditional DVMs, I wholeheartedly disagree your pet should be started right away on a regimen of anti-allergy drugs and antibiotics and/or anti-viral medications.

There are safer ways to relieve your dog’s symptoms than pharmaceuticals while you and your vet work to discover the root cause of the allergic reaction.

Relieving symptoms without addressing the source of the problem is a short term fix to what can become a lifelong health problem. And certain drugs used to stop the allergic cycle have significant, potentially very serious side effects.

Flea Allergy Dermatitis (FAD)

Flea allergy dermatitis, which is actually sensitivity to flea saliva, is a very common condition in dogs. It’s not the bite of the flea that causes most of the itching in dogs with FAD, it’s the saliva.

The saliva causes irritation way out of proportion to the actual number of fleas on the pup.

Lots of dog parents assume if their pet isn’t infested with fleas, the itching can’t be caused by fleas. But if your dog has FAD, the saliva of just one or two fleas can make him miserably itchy and uncomfortable for many weeks (long past the death of those two fleas).

Suggestions for flea control:

• If you suspect or know fleas are a problem for your dog, I recommend you comb her at least once daily, every day during pest season with a flea comb. Do this on a white towel or other light colored cloth so you can see what’s coming off your dog as you comb. Flea ‘dirt’ (actually flea feces) looks like real dirt, but when suspended in a little rubbing alcohol or water will dissolve and release a red color (blood) allowing you to discern real dirt from flea dirt.
• Bathe your dog often. A soothing bath will kill any fleas on your dog, help heal skin irritation, and make her feel more comfortable and less itchy. Also, clean animals aren’t as attractive to fleas. Pick a non-grain (no oatmeal) herbal shampoo.
• Make liberal use of an all-natural pest repellent like Natural Flea and Tick Defense during flea season.

For some dogs with a serious case of flea allergy dermatitis, I prescribe an oral drug called Comfortis. It is a chemical, but it’s considered the least hazardous of all similar drugs. All drugs can have side effects, but Comfortis has reportedly fewer than topical insecticides.

Food Allergies

If your dog has an allergy to something he’s eating, it may show itself not only as digestive upset (gas, diarrhea, vomiting, etc.), but also as one or several of these symptoms:

• Itchy or oozing skin
• Red, irritated eyes
• Nasal discharge

• Coughing or sneezing; asthma
• Inflamed ears
• Swollen paws

If you suspect your dog is sensitive to something in her diet, there are a number of things you can do to learn the source of the allergy and solve the problem:

• If your dog is over a year old, consider using Dr. Jean Dodds’ Nutriscan saliva test to determine if your pet is allergic to beef, corn, wheat, soy, eggs and/or milk (the most common antigens for dogs). Dr. Dodds will be adding additional antigens to the test in the near future.
• If your pet has been eating the same food every day for months or years, there’s a good chance she’s developed an allergy to it. Contrary to what you’ve probably been led to believe, pets need diversity in their diets just like humans do. She might be sensitive to the single source of chemically-laced protein she’s been getting (chances are the meat is loaded with antibiotics and hormones causing immune system over-reaction). She’s also probably grown sensitive to certain allergenic ingredients in the food, typically grains and other carbohydrates.
  Work with your holistic vet to develop an allergy elimination diet to help pinpoint the source of the problem. I recommend a three-month diet, which is longer than what many vets suggest. I like to give adequate time for an animal’s body to clear the allergenic substances, detoxify, and clean out cellular debris.
  At the end of the elimination diet, new foods are added back in slowly, one at a time to gauge your dog’s response. It’s not uncommon for pets to be able to re-incorporate previous problem foods or clean proteins into the diet once the body is detoxified and the GI tract is healthy again.
• Your holistic vet should also suggest natural supplements to help with detoxification, allergy relief and immune system support during and after the elimination diet.
• To be optimally healthy — which includes avoiding food sensitivities and building resistance to all types of allergies — your dog should be fed a balanced, species-appropriate diet. The diet I recommend is preferably raw, either homemade (again, as long as it’s balanced) or commercial. Rotating the protein sources your dog eats is extremely important, as is strictly limiting or eliminating grains.

Environmental Allergies

In addition to flea saliva and certain foods/ingredients, your dog can also be allergic to an infinite variety of irritants in the environment. These can be outdoor allergens like ragweed, grasses and pollens, as well as indoor irritants like mold, dust mites, cleaning chemicals and even fabrics like wool or cotton.

As a general rule, if your dog is allergic to something inside your home, he’ll have year-round symptoms. If he’s reacting is to something outdoors, it could very well be a seasonal problem.

Also, your pet’s immune system is partly genetic, so he can actually inherit a tendency toward environmental allergies.

Finding the root cause of this type of allergy is extremely important, because what usually happens is the more your pet is exposed to an irritant, the more his sensitivity and reaction to it grows.

Some suggestions for finding and resolving environmental irritants:

• Clean up your pet’s indoor air environment. Don’t allow smoking around your pet. Switch to non-toxic cleaning products. Consider investing in an air purifier to control dust mites.
• Make sure your dog’s drinking water is high quality and doesn’t contain fluoride, heavy metals or other contaminants.
• Don’t allow your dog to be over-vaccinated or over medicated. Vaccines rev up your pet’s immune system – too many vaccinations can send it into overdrive. An over-reactive immune system sets the stage for allergic conditions.
  Antibiotics wipe out good bacteria right along with the bad guys. Since the majority of your pet’s immune system is in her GI tract, the right balance of gut bacteria is crucial for her health. There’s also the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in pets.
  Steroid therapy (prednisone, for example) is often prescribed for pets with allergies. What these drugs do is turn off the immune system so it stops creating the allergic response. It does work for symptom relief, but unfortunately, the side effects make this a very serious, potentially dangerous drug.
• Bathe your dog. If your pet has irritated skin, bathing will rinse the allergens away and make her feel better immediately. Don’t be shy about how often you bathe your pet, especially if she suffers from allergies that itch and irritate her skin.
  If you suspect something outdoors is irritating your dog, in between baths, do foot soaks. Chances are the allergen is coming inside on your pet’s feet. She can’t escape it, and she’s spreading it around indoors to every room she visits.

Technorati Tags: dog allergies,pet allergies,pet food allergies,flea allery dermatitis,pet environmenal allergies,Dr.Becker,JOMP,Just One More Pet

Animal Moms – Happy Mother’s Day 2013

h/t to Liana Smith

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How Long Will Your Dog Be with You? It Depends Heavily on This…

Story at-a-glance

• When it comes to species of mammals, generally speaking, bigger animals live longer than smaller ones. But within species, this isn’t always true – for example, in the case of mice, horses, and especially dogs — the bigger the body, the shorter the lifespan.
• According to a new study, big dogs die younger than smaller breeds mainly because they age quickly. The average lifespan of a Great Dane is about 7 years; a Yorkshire Terrier, from 13 to 16 years.
• The study concludes that large breeds seem to age at faster rates than smaller breeds, and the speed at which the risk of death increases with age is also greater with big dogs. Bigger dogs more often get cancer, which makes sense since cancer is the result of abnormal cell growth.
• There are many things breeders and owners of big dogs can do to help these pets live better and longer — including proper nutrition; regular maintenance of the musculoskeletal system and organs; fostering a strong, balanced immune system; and following responsible, health-focused breeding practices.

By Dr. Becker:

When you evaluate species of mammals, it quickly becomes obvious that as a general rule, the bigger the creature, the longer it lives. Elephants in the wild can live well into their 60’s, whereas squirrels only live about six years.

But when you look closer at individual species, this general rule doesn’t always hold true, and dogs are a good example. As any canine enthusiast knows, big dogs have much shorter lifespans than small dogs. The same holds true for mice, horses, and possibly even humans.

Large Breeds Age Quickly and Die Younger

According to a study published in the April issue of the journal American Naturalist¹, big dogs die younger primarily because they age quickly. Study authors believe these new findings can help scientists understand the biological links between growth and mortality.

Dogs seem to be a perfect subject for the study, because humans have bred them throughout history to be wildly variable in size. According to LiveScience, the heaviest dog on record was probably an English Mastiff that weighed 343 pounds, while the smallest was a terrier weighing in at under a quarter-pound. There is no other species of mammal with such tremendous size disparity.

Giant breeds live the most abbreviated lives of all dogs. For example the Great Dane has an average life span of about seven years, while a Yorkie can be expected to live 13 to 16 years.

A Big Dog’s Life ‘Unwinds in Fast Motion’

The American Naturalist study took a look at ages of death in 74 breeds and over 56,000 dogs that visited veterinary teaching hospitals.

Researchers learned that large breeds seem to age at faster rates than smaller breeds, and the speed at which the risk of death increases with age is also greater with big dogs. According to study authors, “… large dogs age at an accelerated pace, suggesting that their adult life unwinds in fast motion.” For a dog, every 4.4 pounds of body mass takes about a month off his life.

The researchers next want to look at the growth and health histories of dogs to narrow down the leading causes of death for large breeds. For example, bigger dogs more often acquire cancer, which makes sense when you consider they grow more than small dogs, and cancer is the result of abnormal cell growth. It’s possible that humans have inadvertently selected for characteristics – like rapid growth – that predispose large dogs to cancer.

Other large animals like elephants that have many more cells than smaller creatures, and should therefore also be at greater risk for cancer, have undoubtedly evolved special defense mechanisms against disease. These mechanisms probably developed through natural selection over a very long period of time, whereas most dog breeds have evolved through selection by humans, and over a much shorter period of time.

Evolutionarily speaking, dogs have evolved in the blink of an eye, and protective mechanisms against cancer and other diseases haven’t had time to catch up.

Extending the Lives of Large and Giant Breed Dogs

If you own a large or giant breed dog or are thinking about getting one of the big guys, I hope you’ll watch my interview with Dr. Jeff Bergin.

Dr. Bergin and his partner, Christine, raise and breed Newfoundlands, and in my opinion, they do things the right way. In fact, it’s not unusual for their giant breed dogs to live into their late teens. In the world of Newfies, a 17-year lifespan is almost unheard of.

Some of the wonderful practices Dr. Bergin follows with his Newfies include:

• Feeding exclusively raw diets.
• Breeding for health, first and foremost. Dr. Bergin breeds his dogs only once or twice during the course of their lives, with at least six years between litters. He does not breed dogs with congenital defects, and so far only one of his dogs has had a genetic health issue, a heart problem. (Heart problems, osteosarcoma and hip dysplasia are the most common health challenges for this breed.)
• Performing regular chiropractic adjustments. With large and giant breed dogs, it’s very important to take care of the frame. Dr. Bergin happens to be both a licensed animal chiropractor as well as a human chiropractor. He performs regular manual orthopedic manipulation on all his dogs, from the moment they first stand on their own through the remainder of their lives. This practice is one of the keys to keeping a big dog’s musculoskeletal system from degenerating with age. Dr. Bergin’s dogs are typically fully mobile even at the end of their lives.
• Limiting vaccines and other assaults on the immune system. Dr. Bergin only vaccinates his dogs against rabies, because the law requires it. By strictly limiting the number of vaccines they receive, he helps keep his dogs’ immune systems strong and resilient.
• Insuring Newfie litters go to the right families. Dr. Bergin and Christine perform a mandatory home visit to families interested in their dogs. They won’t release a dog without seeing the new home. They conduct in-depth interviews with prospective owners to insure the puppy will be well taken care of. They also insist on a commitment from prospective owners to feed raw.

For most pet owners, it’s the quality of their dog’s life that is most important. You may have your precious pup with you for eight years or twice that long. By focusing on the three pillars of health – nutrition, maintenance of the frame, and a strong, resilient immune system — you can insure you’re providing her with everything she needs for an excellent quality of life, however long her life may be.

Calculation of Pet Age

Most people think that calculating the age of dogs and cats in "human years" is quite simple: multiply their age by seven. For example, a 4-year-old dog or cat would actually be 28 years old in human years. But when you really begin weighing out the arithmetic, this method doesn’t add up. Say a 1-year-old dog is the equivalent of a 7-year-old human — get out of here! How many 7-year-old humans are sexually active and capable of reproducing? Dogs and cats are much more likely to have babies at 1 year old or even at 10 years old, than any person who is 7 or 70.

Many veterinarians now agree that a pretty good guess on the age of pets can be made using the following formulas for dogs and cats.

DOGS
Aging is much faster during a dog’s first two years but varies among breeds. Large breeds, while they mature quicker, tend to live shorter lives. By the time they reach 5 they are considered "senior" dogs. Medium-sized breeds take around seven years to reach the senior stage, while small and toy breeds do not become seniors until around 10 or older.

But with all the vitamins, probiotics, stomach enzymes, better food (raw or home-cooked) or at least natural and organic pet foods that pets are now eating plus the fact that many live inside out of the elements and are pampered, pet age is increasing. So while many veterinarians agree that a pretty good guess on the age of pets can be made using the following formulas for dogs (and cats), the average is changing daily.

So, A Dog’s Life Can be Longer Than You Think…

Although still simple, it is much more accurate than the seven-year method. (Use these as a guestimate and guide. More and more pampered dogs are living an additional 3 to 5 years over the top averages, or even longer)

Assume that a 1-year-old dog is equal to a 12-year-old human and a 2-year-old dog is equal to a 24-year old human. Then add four years for every year after that. (Example: A 4-year-old dog would be 32 in human years.) Since this method takes into consideration the maturity rate at the beginning of a dog’s life and also the slowing of the aging process in his later years, Martha Smith, director of veterinary services at Boston’s Animal Rescue League, feels that this is the more accurate calculation formula.

Here is a chart, for easy reference:

A dog’s ‘average’ lifespan, factoring in all breeds and sizes, is around 12 or 13 years, but again, this varies widely by breed. The larger your dog is, the less time it will live. Female dogs tend to live a little longer. (Great Danes only live between 7 and 12 years.)

Wikipedia: List of Oldest (Known) Dogs  -  The oldest dogs on record were in their upper 20’s with Max, a terrier, (still) living at 29 years and 245 days old and a Labrador mix at 29 years and 193 days at the top of the (known) list.

CATS
Now let’s take a glimpse at a simple formula for calculating feline age in human years. Assume that a 1-year-old cat is equal to a 15-year-old human and a 2-year-old cat is equal to a 24-year-old human. Then add four years for every year after that. (Example: A 4-year-old cat would be 32 in human years.)

The following chart shows this formula of calculation:

Check out this and more great stuff from PetsAdviser.com and WebVet.com

Related:

Part 2 of Dr. Becker’s Interview with Bestselling Author Ted Kerasote: The Seven Factors that Determine How Long Your Dog Will Live

Pukka’s Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs, by Bestselling Author Ted Kerasote – Available in Bookstores This Week!

If I Should Die Before My Dog…

A Dog’s Life… Can Be Longer Than You Think…

A Natural Herb That Fights Cancer, or Chemotherapy for Your Sick Pet… Which Would You Choose?

Do Vaccinations Affect the Health of our Pets? 

The Nutrient Your Pet Needs More of As They Age: Protein

DNA Study Unlocks Mystery To Diverse Traits In Dogs

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Non-Profit Provides Food Stamps for Pets

Pet Food Stamps, a New York-based nonprofit that will give qualifying pet owners throughout the U.S. (who must be receiving government assistance for themselves) funds to buy food for their animals from the website PetFoodDirect. Applications can be filled out here on the –> Pet Food Stamps website

WSJ: If you believe the economy is improving, you’ve likely never met someone who still can’t afford a can of cat food.

Marc Okon, who has worked as a stockbroker, entrepreneur and business consultant, has a friend from his old neighborhood in Bayside, Queens, N.Y. He’s known her since age 10. Her parents died. She fell on hard times. And the economy hasn’t come back for her yet.

"She told me she sometimes fed her cat before herself," Mr. Okon said in a telephone interview.

In February, as headlines raged about a strengthening economy, Mr. Okon started a privately funded nonprofit called Pet Food Stamps. People who are already on government assistance can apply for free pet food.

The group has been swamped with more applications than his staff of a dozen people can readily process. Most applicants send letters detailing how they lost their jobs to outsourcing, their homes to foreclosure or their health to disease or accident.

"I just heard from a lady in North Carolina who has an autistic son whose only companion is a Jack Russell Terrier," he said. "It’s cookie-cutter sadness. … Little details change but the gist of each story is the same."

Despite nominal improvements in the unemployment rate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture counts more than 47 million people in its food stamp program—nearly one out of every seven Americans.

Food stamps cannot be used to purchase pet food. But they can be used to buy Coca-Cola.

Last week, the National Center for Public Research complained at Coca-Cola’s annual shareholder meeting in Atlanta that the beverage maker lobbies heavily to keep soda on the list of wholesome things that food stamps can buy.

Taxpayers subsidize about $4 billion worth of soda sales each year, the group groused, even as the sugary drink contributes to an obesity epidemic that drives up government health-care costs.

But you know what they say? Food stamps go better with Coke.

Mr. Okon, 36 years old, said he spent his 20s chasing money, first as a stockbroker, then as the founder of a company that sold pay phones as cellphones displaced them. He also did consulting work that took him into the bowels of many other companies.

He said he briefly worked for a firm that sold dubious medical benefits to seniors in the South. "Their whole corporate philosophy was to manipulate seniors who didn’t have any type of insurance," he said. "I could only do that for about a week and half."

He is a man so disgusted with the lack of ethics he witnessed in private enterprise that he founded a nonprofit to hand out dog food.

"I’ve been around enough shady businesses and surrounded by salesmen-types who were always talking about the deal," he said.

Self-dealing helped destroy the economy—so focused on the bottom line and so unfocused on consequences for everyone else. Dogs and cats don’t know what hit them.

"Millions of pets are surrendered to shelters each year and euthanized because their owners can’t afford to feed them," Mr. Okun said.

And to top it all off, the people in charge of fixing the economy are the same ones who helped destroy it.

"The people in power were put there by fat cats, who have money and control," Mr. Okun said. "I see it getting worse and worse, decade after decade. I don’t know what’s going to change."

See CBS News Video: Non-Profit Provides Food Stamps for Pets

(CBS News) SALEM, Ore. – Tough economic times in recent years have led to heartbreaking decisions for many pet owners. But now, there may be more help on the way.

Marissa Jenkins’ 6-year-old Dachshund, Olivia, is more than a dog.

Marissa Jenkins is thankful for an organization that helps feed her dog.

"She’s been part of our family, she’s definitely not a dog," Jenkins said. "She’s a kid to us."

Recently, the Salem, Ore., family welcomed a new addition – and a new challenge.

"My husband lost his job in February and we just had a baby in December, and so all the costs of having a baby and a dog and a family is adding up," she said.

Now on food stamps, they turned to a non-profit for help to feed their dog because food stamps cannot be used for pet food.

Launched in February, Pet Food Stamps has received over to 160,000 applications from needy families across the country. Marc Okon is the charity’s founder.

"Hundreds of thousands of pets a year are put to sleep, simply because the owners can’t feed them," Okon said.

Okon says dog and cat owners on public assistance are eligible. He’s partnered with a company called Pet Flow to provide free delivery.

" It was a relief for us that we were able to get some help for our dog and because we couldn’t provide for her, somebody else could," Jenkins said, wiping away tears.

While Marissa is grateful for the free pet food, there’s an even more valuable benefit.

"We wanted our child to be able to grow up with animals and our dog is really great with her," she said.

Once back on their feet, the Jenkins say they will donate to the program to help other families in need.

Related:

Pet Food Stamps

Struggling families can now apply for nonprofit’s Pet Food Stamps

Homeless Shelters that Allow Pets

How to Help Pets of Homeless People

A Patchwork of Food Assistance for Pets

Help Feed Hungry Pets

Humane Society list of pet financial aid-related organizations

No-No Foods for Pets

Homeless With Pets – Choosing Pets Over Shelter

“One can understand a society by how it treats the weakest among them… the sick, the elderly, the children and the animals!”

**If you can donate or perhaps work with this program, Pet Food Stamps, to help all families in need feed their pets, please do so.

Technorati Tags: pet food stamps,WSJ,pet nutrition,JOMP,Just One More Pets,hungry pets,pet food,for the love of a pet,pets are family,animals are family members,Help Families Keep Their Pets

Busts of presidential pets Barney and Miss Beazley at George W. Bush Library

Busts of presidential pets Barney and Miss Beazley are seen during a tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Center – which will house the George W. Bush library.

Related:

Pampered pets and pet survivors

Jeb Bush says brother taken to painting dogs ‘with a vengeance’

Bush and Barney, Just Like Old Times

President Bush and His Pets

Presidential Pet Museum.com

Technorati Tags: Barney and Miss Beazley,George W. Bush,presidential pets,JOMP,Just One More Pet