Our photo of the week comes from Kathy and Matt Shields of Bent Mountain.
They took this photo last Sunday as the temperatures soared.
Kathy wrote this caption: "Our 20 month old puppies, Angelina and Moon Doggie, enjoying the first 85 degree day."
Summer's coming!
If you indulged in a few too many Girl Scout cookies this year, know that those extra calories may have indirectly helped to feed hungry pets.
(Hey, I don’t judge when it comes to throwing down on GS cookies. Give me a glass of milk and I can finish off an entire box of those chocolate-coconut-caramel cookies all by my little lonesome. Seriously.)
The young ladies of Girl Scout Troop 173 chose to donate 25 percent of their profits from selling their tasty treats to the Roanoke Valley SPCA Pet Eat Too program.
According to the press release from the RVSPCA, the girls wanted to give back to the community and they liked the feeling of helping pets that other people have chosen to love but are unable to feed.
The troop members know that a pet is truly your best friend for life.
They shopped at PetSmart near Valley View mall and, being savvy consumers, they used coupons to get the most for their money. The girls delivered the food to the RVSPCA and took a tour of the facility.
The PET program provides pet food to clients of Meals on Wheels, and sends food to Manna Ministriesand Bethel Baptist Church for distribution at their food pantries. A fourth partner, Botetourt Food Pantry, recently joined the program.
Food donations are accepted at the RVSPCA, Black Dog Salvage and Ukrops supermarket. (Until the end of the month, BDS will also give customers that donate pet food at their store a 25 percent discount.)
Cash donations to help purchase supplies such as Zip Lock bags and plastic containers used for repackaging the food are also accepted.
For more information about the program go to the RVSPCA Web site.
If you like country music, you are likely familiar with the long career of singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris. Besides being a member of the Grand Ole Opry and selling millions of records and concert tickets, Harris is also active in animal rescue.
She runs Bonaparte's Retreat, a shelter that takes in adoptable pets that face euthanasia in the overcrowded Metro Animal Control, from her home in a Nashville, Tenn., suburb. She is an active supporter and spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States.
She also chatted with our music writer, Tad Dickens, about her rescue work last weekend when she performed at Merlefest.
Click here to get the podcast and here to read Tad's blog.
Click here to read today's Happy Wag newspaper column, which is all about a dog's life at Six Wags Dog Park in Salem.
Click here to see the pooches in action and hear Katie Halsted, the parks's owner and operator, describe what the dogs in day-care do all day.
Halsted and the day-care attendants Sue Grimm, Kristi Lilly and Matthew McMillan were very helpful and gracious putting up with all my questions for a day. And I met so many nice dogs that I wasn't able to mention in the article.
If you have an active pooch, spending a few hours running and playing in the great outdoors can expend the excess energy that can lead to destructive behavior. While bad-dog behavior may be amusing in films like "Marley and Me," it's not funny in real life.
Dog park play can have other benefits, too. Grimm told me that her beagle, Lucy, has lost seven pounds since Grimm started bringing her to work.
I hope the story and video inspire you to get your pooch out to enjoy some of the spring sunshine. We got out and played with our dogs Saturday evening in our own fenced-in backyard and they were joyous, and completely tired, when we went to bed.
Sleeping in on a Sunday morning is a beautiful thing.
Today is National Hairball Awareness Day. Thanks to the good people at Furminator for reminding me of it.
Here's a link to the column I wrote a while back about hairballs. While I have indeed been known to make a few jokes about hairballs, it turns out they really are serious business.
If your cat is hacking up more than his or her share of the nasty little gobs, you do want to make sure to take kitty to the vet. Excessive hairballs can be a sign of stomach irritation or other digestive problems.
As long as the vet says your kitty's plumbing is in good working order, you can help alleviate the hairball burden by relieving your kitty of excess hair. Thai loves, loves, LOVES a good brushing and it is nothing short of amazing how much hair I can glean off that cat. Seems like he should be bald after I de-fluff him, but he has plenty of fluff left.
Just remember, every handful of loose hair you can brush off your cat is one less hairball that will be deposited directly on your route to the bathroom. In the middle of the night. When you are barefoot. And can't see.
Yeah, all you cat people know what I mean.
I think I have three very lucky dogs. They lucked out when they came to live at Chez Nelson Resort and Spa for Pampered Pets and I feel lucky that I have the opportunity to serve them.
My cat thanks his lucky stars every day that he has a puppy to beat on.
But does your dog feel lucky? Well, does he?
Then your pup could be the next face on the Virginia's Lucky Dog scratch-off tickets being sold by the Virginia Lottery.
From now until May 26, you can enter a photo of your pooch in the Lottery's Web site's virtual dog park. You can enter as many images as you like, but beware that it is not free to enter; each photo has to have a Dog Park entry number from a losing Lucky Dog scratcher ticket.
Click here for complete rules.
Dog lovers who work for the Virginia Lottery will choose 20 winning dogs to appear on the tickets for Virginia's Lucky Dog II game. Criteria for winning will be based on image quality and they promise to choose a variety of dog mugs, from purebreds to mutts, in all shapes, sizes and colors.
Winners will be announced June 30.
One of the mugs on the current batch of tickets, by the way, is a Roanoke pooch named Murphy (a nice fellow named David from the Virginia Lottery was kind enough to send me Murphy's picture. Isn't he cute!)
The little Shih Tzu's pet mom, Cindy, works for the lottery and Murphy's made a few personal appearances around town to promote the game.
At this point I leave it to your good senses how much money you can comfortably to invest in this; please don't spend your entire kibble budget on lottery tickets.
Today is Earth Day, an occasion when we should honor the planet on which we live.
Stormy says adoption is the ultimate way to recycle.
While I do not want to start any political arguments here, I proudly adhere to the policy of reduce, recycle and reuse. Less waste not only preserves the environment, but it saves money and energy and I know most of us are in favor of both of those things.
My homestead, also known as Chez Nelson Resort and Spa for Pampered Pets, is a sanctuary for recycled pets. All five of the critters who are a part of my family are adopted from the streets, a rescue group or a shelter. Adopting a pet is the ultimate in recycling, and making sure all pets are spayed and neutered helps reduce the need for rescue.
Here are a few other things we do to be green in our pet care:
With three pooches with big appetites, we buy huge bags of dog food. Instead of just tossing them in the trash, we reuse them as garbage bags. They hold a lot and are very sturdy.
I tote my own reusable bags to the grocery store, but I still use the plastic bags in the produce section for my fruits and veggies. Those produce bags make ideal poop receptacles; just save them for when you take your dog out for a walk.
The cats get into the green movement by turning their kitty noses up to store-bought cat toys. They prefer laundry baskets for hiding and the ring off the top of the milk jugs for batting.
What do you do to reduce, recycle and reuse in your daily pet care?
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is urging all horse owners to vaccinate their noble steeds now against the West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis.
Boosters are required for the vaccines every six months in mosquito-prone areas, including southeastern Virginia and the Tidewater area.
The decreased number of reported cases of the infections in Virginia horses in the last two years has VDACS officials concerned that horse owners will become lulled into a sense of security that the diseases are no longer a threat in the commonwealth.
"A major factor in the decline in cases in 2007 and 2008 could have been the weather conditions," Dr. Joseph Garvin is quoted in a news release. Garvin is the program manager for VDACS' office of laboratory services. Dry conditions in Virginia may have meant fewer mosquitoes biting over the last two summers, but that may not hold true in 2009.
"It is possible weather conditions this year may again favor increased mosquito populations," Garvin said.
West Nile virus claims the lives of 30 percent of infected horses, and Eastern equine encephalitis is far deadlier, with a 90 percent mortality rate.
An infected horse cannot transfer the disease to healthy horses. Humans are not at risk of getting either illness by handling an infected horse.
Besides keeping your horses up-to-date on their vaccines, the VDACS recommends using insect repellents, dumping stagnant water where mosquitoes breed and staying clear of areas heavily inhabited by 'skeeters. (Um, yeah. Good advice for anyone, I'd say.)
Angels of Assisi, the no-kill animal shelter in downtown Roanoke, is now offering wellness checks and vaccinations for pooches and kitties.
For as low as $20 per pet, you can get your dogs and cats seen by a vet and up-to-date on their vaccines. It's really important to make sure your pets are protected against rabies, especially as the weather gets warmer and more wild -and possibly infected- critters are out and about foraging for food.
Call 344-8707 for an appointment, Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The shelter is located at 415 Campbell Avenue.
The good folks at the Wine Gourmet had a "name our dog" contest with the shop's customers and received over 100 entries, according the the store's e-newsletter.
They asked for the name to have a beer theme and said they got many excellent choices, including some complex titles that might have left the little fellow with an identity crisis.
"...(You) can imagine how cumbersome it would be to be calling, 'Here, little Allagash-Bud-Hoppy-Leghumper..."
Wisely, they chose to keep it simple.
They narrowed the suggestions down these three choices, copied and pasted directly from the newsletter:
3.) Barley - This was suggested by several folks. There's just something about that name, something sweet and brown. (He's sweeter than he looks.)
2.) Rogue - Another multi-suggester name and a fine one. He certainly appears to be a bit roguish. He wouldn't be out of place with an eye patch and a knife tucked into his belt
- if he like, . . . you know, wore a belt and stuff.
But finally, the winner:
1.) Tusker - It just made us laugh. His personality is certainly elephantine. He has no problem charging his much larger siblings and, as can be seen in this photo, he enjoys displaying his dental work.
The shop credited customer Jerry Clark for his winning submission. And the little pooch will make a personal appearance tonight to celebrate his new moniker.
"Tusker would love to yelp at all and will be available for oooh-ing and awww-ing over, at the store, [tonight] from 6 to 7p.m. We will, of course, be tasting out Tusker beer at that time as well."
The store is located at 2219 Franklin Road in Roanoke.
