Updates and News on a hot Saturday morning

It's going to be a scorcher (for Vancouver Island, though nothing like the temperatures people are experiencing elsewhere in North America), and I really have to get some housework done before it gets too hot. The dogs have been walked, with a quick stop at the Saturday morning Crofton Farmer's Market for homemade dog biscuits, and a leisurely stroll along back lanes gathering blackberries. I hate housework, so may as well update the blog. I'll throw in a few photos from the past couple of days for added colour, though they aren't specific to what I'm writing about.

Butterfly bush in bloom by Crofton Marina

Pepper, my SPCA fosterdog, visited the vet last Monday. She was a good girl, even though she had to go in the back for xrays and blood tests and have me pick her up a couple of hours later. She has a urinary tract infection, the xrays showed clear lungs and nothing sinister about the lump on her chest, and the blood tests suggest we were probably right on our diagnosis of Cushings.

Cushions?  I haz cushions? Yup, and they is very comfy, thanx you.

However, further Cushings tests - to determine if it is adrenal or pituitary - are needed to prescribe a course of treatment, and both the testing (an eight hour process) and the treatment options are expensive and unpleasant. Whether the SPCA will choose to go that route for this 16 year old dog will depend on further discussions between the SPCA manager, myself and our very competent vet. For now, she is on antibiotics for the UTI and has another appointment booked for August 31st.

Oh no! Pills!  I hates takin' pills!

She is eating like a horse and I think she is finally putting on some weight - I have added digestive enzymes and probiotics to her top quality food, and she is feeding four times a day much to her delight and Sadie's dismay (poor hard done by Sadie who only gets fed twice a day!).

Ah dunno why ah can't get fed four times a day.  Favoritism, that's what it is, favoritism!

Sadie and Charley continue to plod along. We have now banned floofy beds (the kind full of foam chips, that 'floof' up when the covers are changed and slowly flatten over time) after an incident that left me feeling like a very bad mama. I got up the other morning and noted Charley was lying at the back of her crate, on her side, unmoving. No big deal - Charley often doesn't get up until the rest of the pack. Two hours later, when I was about to feed Pepper her second meal and Sadie and Charley their first, Charley still hadn't moved a muscle. I went over to talk to her, and suddenly realized she had soiled and soaked her bed and was unresponsive to my voice. No tail wags, to eye blinks, no twitch of the ears.

Noooo!  Don't go tellin' people I pooped the bed!  Aaarggghhhh!

Fearing the worst, I knelt down and reached into the crate. Still breathing. Thank goodness. I realized then that she was simply stuck, unable to get herself upright from the position between the wires and the floofy mattress. Who knows how long she had struggled during the night before soiling the bed, or whether she had perhaps even had a seizure or another stroke - I hadn't heard a sound even though I'm a light sleeper. She was clearly in despair, having resigned herself to immobility.

I'z sowwy I scared you, Mama!

I crawled into her crate and slipped my arms behind her to turn her and assist her out of the crate, and after a few unsteady moments she wobbled over to her food dish to eat her breakfast. I disposed of the soiled bedding, cleaned the crate, and put down a very flat pad instead. I have since also removed a floofy mattress from the large basket in the mudroom, and all others that are against walls or in locations where she might get trapped. The flat pads may not be as comfy on her old bones, but they are a lot safer for her. Having an aging dog means continual adjustments to accomodate their needs. The trick is staying one step ahead so incidents like the one Charley experienced don't happen.

Dogs, dogs, dogs!  Why doesn't she ever write about CATS???

In other news, North Cowichan has once again voted to support the gassing of stray cats rather than the use of the more humane lethal injection. It's been two years since we fought this battle; interestingly, this time it was Coastal Animal Services who made the request for extra funding for injections. Turns out, their private boarding business has been suffering since word got out that they use a CO2 box to kill cats. Our two weekly papers both have stories online here and here and I have written an op ed piece for the monthly Chemainus Courier which comes out in print next week.

Given that the new (draft) guidelines of the American Veterinary Medical Association specifically spell out that shelters and animal control should use lethal injection (including distressed, dangerous and/or fractious cats, with presedation - ie feral cats), and only conditionally accept CO2 "in unusual or rare circumstances, such as natural disasters and large-scale disease outbreaks” , it is unfathomable that for a mere $5000 a year, North Cowichan council would once again opt for the less humane method.

Coastal Animal Services purportedly stopped using the gas box three months ago and has been paying for lethal injections from their own pockets, a process they say they can't afford to continue. As their contract does not specify a responsibility for feral cats, they claim they will no longer accept them. One councillor's response? We'll find someone who will gas them for us. Good luck with that.

Of course, the real issue is the irresponsibility of those who let their unspayed/unneutered cats roam freely, or worse, dump them, abandon them, to survive by their wits and to reproduce several times a year.

The whole issue of euthanizing stray cats could be eradicated if people would be responsible, lifelong caregivers. Sadly, I doubt I'll see that in my lifetime.

One of Crofton's many backlane cats

A frustrating day

I downloaded my pics of the Paws for a Cause walk this morning and discovered they all have a blurry film over them making them look like they are out of focus - looked at the camera lens and it has a big smudge all over it. Rats! I will clean up the best of the photos and post them shortly. On the positive side, the weather was perfect, the park was beautiful, the people were great, Sadie and I raised over $600 (THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!) and our team of six raised over $3000. The exact totals haven't come out yet, but by 11:00 yesterday morning nearly $12,000 had been raised in total for the local SPCA.

The day became more frustrating when I attended a meeting of the Finance and Administration committee of the District of North Cowichan, the committee which was asked to look into the gas box issue and report back. Despite the fact that the BC SPCA, the Humane Society of Canada, the Humane Society of the US, and countless other reputable organizations state the gas box is inhumane, and despite the fact that both the Canadian and the American Veterinary Medical Associations state that lethal injection is the MOST HUMANE method for euthanizing animals, and despite the fact that the mayor himself has said the extra money is not a significant amount in the total municipal budget, .....despite all that, the committee still moved, seconded and carried the following recommendation:
"That Council maintain its current practice of using carbon dioxide to euthanize feral, diseased and unwanted cats; and encourage cat owners to spay and neuter their cats."
The recommendation goes to Council on October 7th. But since all the councilors except two were on the committee.......well, you get the picture.

Then I came home to an email from the Gaming Commission to advise me that the Hearts and Noses potbellied pig sanctuary grant application for this year had been denied - every cent of it. Last year we received over $10,000 from them. Animal Welfare groups are just one of several casualties (including seniors and schools) of our premier's money grab of lottery money that had been promised to charities in the election campaigning. What a joke this premier is - has he kept a single promise?????

Next, as I took my dogs for a walk, a man with a criminal record who has just moved into a basement suite across the road, tried to make friends with my dogs and then stood watching me as I walked down the street. At the end of the block, I turned right, hidden by trees then did a quick about face and discovered he was still watching me. I calmly walked across the end of the block, out of sight and then, feeling uncomfortable about having left my back door unlocked decided to loop back home via the back alley. As I emerged from the alley at the other end of the block - there he was again! Standing there, watching me, having walked across the street and down past my house. I walked by, and he followed me and went back into his house. That just creeped me right out!

And lastly, poor little Oliver went to get a drink of water and got spread-eagled on the few inches between the rug and the runner and slipped right under the buffet while I was in my office. He was in full out panic when I came to his rescue, so panicky that he even consented to let me hold him tight and kiss his little head (actions he usually resists) while his little heart settled back down. He's having a lot of troubles staying upright these days, and even stumbles and falls on solid ground.

So....my upbeat blog is in a downer again. The good stuff though is that I got to see my piggies on the CBC 11:00 news last night - wonderful interview, Janice, and the piggies looked great! And again, thanks to everyone who sponsored the SPCA Paws for a Cause walk.

Tomorrow I will try to post something more cheerful and see what photos of yesterday's walk I can salvage for your entertainment.

Life with the critters is never boring. Sometimes I wish it were so.

A rotten day with a very nice ending

I had a bad day yesterday. It’s not often I get really, really angry but yesterday I did.

First the reno people who were supposed to come back to fix a problem didn’t show – we’d agreed I would be home for them on this particular day and I didn’t get so much as a phone call. Good thing I have a 10% holdback on their payment still.

Then I had a hassle over a potentially-tainted can of dog food. Total run-around. Wasted about four hours or more trying to find out what to do. I had two cans of Evanger’s Chunky Chicken canned dog food blow up in my face when I opened them, sending dogfood everywhere. I tried to do the responsible thing, to get it tested. The petfood company wasn’t interested – they claim there is absolutely nothing wrong with their dogfood (despite the fact they are being investigated by the FDA); the pet store wasn’t interested – they said they’d tell the rep about it, but he might not be around for ages so wouldn’t keep the opened cans; the Canadian Food Inspection Agency wasn’t interested, dog food not being within their jurisdiction; the only certified lab on the island only tests plant material so having it tested myself wasn’t an option; The FDA never responded to my emails; Health Canada referred me to Agriculture Canada who referred me to the Pet Food Association of Canada who advised me “There is no agency that should be notified.....The product can be disposed of in your regular garbage or compost."

Shock! I could have tainted dogfood and there is absolutely no way to protect the public.

Anyway, all I can say here is IN MY OPINION (just so I don’t get slapped with a libel suit), IN MY OPINION don’t feed Evangers to your dogs. IN MY OPINION, you may be risking their lives.

The day got worse: Next I received an email from a group I thought was working with us on the gas box issue and turns out they are not. Let’s just say some harsh words were exchanged. Which led to someone else tearing a strip off me for publicly addressing the issue on a forum to which I belong. (An aside: the gas box issue is heating up, and I keep meaning to write more about it here but – it is stressful. And I don’t like writing about stressful stuff. However, this week we have made the news in the Province, the Times Colonist, Abbotsford Today, as well as articles, editorials and letters in the two local papers. The publicity is great, but it does bring a certain amount of stress with it – like reading stupid comments from stupid people who either think ALL cats should be euthanized or who believe that simply spaying/neutering all cats will eliminate the need for euthanizing ANY cats all and therefore the gasbox doesn't need to be eliminated. Okay, I shouldn’t call them stupid. Uninformed. Better? Hmmm....I guess my evening didn’t quite eliminate ALL the stress.....)

I hate conflict. Have I told you how much I HATE conflict? It’s probably the main reason I live alone with my dogs. They have to do things my way, whether they want to or not. And they don't mind if I get snarky once in a while. They love me anyway.

On the advice of a friend, I stepped away from the computer and took my dogs for a walk. On the walk, I bumped in Mary and Tarben - my very favourite bulldog:




Next we bumped into Bonnie, mama of the three wolfhounds:



And then we met a lovely couple with two precious poodles ages 15 and 17 – happy little muppets (the dogs, not the people – though the people were happy too) out for their evening stroll. It is always good to meet senior well socialized dogs who have lived with their families all their lives, and are clearly well loved and well taken care of. And these two were particularly precious.


I breathed in the scent of maples turning red,



I watched the sky turn rosy, I listened to the water lap at the shore,






I came home much more relaxed, and settled in for an evening watching a dvd of the entire second season of Lynn Johnston’s For Better or Worse television cartoons – good, wholesome family fun with some thought-provoking messages thrown in.

As someone once said, some days it’s just not worth chewing through the restraints.

When you know better, you do better.

Three months ago, I had not heard of a gas box, a piece of equipment used to euthanize animals. Two months ago, I knew there was an issue brewing concerning the use of CO2 gas boxes in the area I was about to move to, but did little to learn about the issue. And just over one month ago, on my fifth night in my new home, I attended a meeting of city council as a show of support for my friends who are trying to persuade council to bring an end to the use of CO2 to euthanize cats in this region. At that meeting, I heard a former animal control worker describe her experience euthanizing cats in the CO2 gas box. It was horrific.

And that was the start of an education which has left me flabbergasted.

At a follow up meeting I attended, one councilor expressed frustration at the contradictory information she was hearing from the company that operates the gas box in this area and from the delegation attempting to have it banned. She wanted to see the evidence, the facts, the professional and scientific material.

And, unlike the Grinch whose heart grew three sizes too large, my mouth grew three sizes too large – and I offered to gather the material and summarize it into an information package, with the assistance of two other members of the delegation.

I will be honest here – as a retired social scientist and university faculty member who has spent the past 30 years reading and writing academic papers I knew I was up to the task, but a big part of my motivation was to check out the facts for myself. I had heard that 18 American states have banned the gas box, with more pending, but I also heard it said that the American Veterinary Medical Association approved its use. I heard that Humane societies in Canada and the US considered it unacceptable and inhumane, and that the Canadian Veterinary Medical association considered lethal injection THE most humane method. And I learned that dogs in my region were euthanized only by lethal injection, but cats were put in the gas box.

I am not particularly militant, and I veer away from animal activists who are. I prefer the gentler, more rational approach, and will rise up in anger and take more aggressive action only when really backed to the wall on issues I feel very, very strongly about. Mention “PETA” and I run for the hills.

And so I sat down with my computer and my university library access code, and I researched. With the assistance of two women who have now become my friends, I read articles in veterinary journals and conference papers, and position statements from various veterinary, professional, and humane associations. And I read. And read. And read.

And what I learned was frightening. What I learned was heart breaking. What I learned was an education in itself.

The package we produced contains a four page summary paper on the position statements of various professional and humane societies nationally and internationally, and an eight page summary paper on the scientific research, along with a reference section of works cited (and online links) should the reader wish to learn even more.

For the purposes of this blog, I will sum up the research succinctly: small animals like cats, dogs and rabbits who are euthanized by CO2 have one of two experiences:

a) Low concentrations of CO2 and/or gradually filling a chamber with CO2 after the animal has been placed in it leads to aversive reactions, panic, and slow death through asphyxia. The animal suffocates as it attempts to climb the sides of the box to escape the gas, and frantically tries to claw its way out.

b) High concentrations of CO2 and/or placing the animal in a chamber pre-filled with 70% CO2 or higher leads to more immediate loss of consciousness but with greater initial pain. The carbon dioxide instantly converts the nasal mucus to carbonic acid. Loss of consciousness using this method still typically takes 45 seconds or longer, much longer for neonate and young animals like kittens.

I cannot live with that. Can you?

So far, three communities in BC have banned its use – New Westminster, Victoria, and Nanaimo. Two others – the City of Duncan and the District of North Cowichan – are currently considering their position. But countless other communities across Canada and the United States continue to use this archaic and inhumane form of euthanasia.

Dear reader, I challenge you. Find out how animals are euthanized by animal control in YOUR area. And if the gas box is still part of their equipment, take action.

In the words of Maya Angelou: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” I only hope the councils in this region will do better, now that we know they know better.

You can obtain a free copy of the information package by emailing us at banthegasbox [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Do it for the animals.

Cryptorchid piggies - and a shameful event

Recently an intact male potbellied pig came into the care of a well respected shelter, a shelter which does a splendid job with dogs but with no piggy experience. The shelter contacted Janice at Hearts on Noses Potbellied Pig Sanctuary, who (as those of you following my blog and hers already know, is pushed to the limits both financially and physically right now) said she couldn’t take on an unneutered pig, and gave the shelter the name of a pig-experienced vet to do the neutering.

The shelter chose to ignore the recommendation of the internationally recognized pig expert, and selected a different vet. That vet discovered the pig was cryptorchid (undescended testes) and recommended euthanizing him, with tales of aggressive male pigs, arguments that pigs with undescended testes cannot be neutered, and other ill-informed and downright incorrect information. Instead of checking back with piggy expert Janice Gillett, the shelter approved the euth and the piggy was put down.

When I first accepted Scotch and Soda as foster pigs, Scotch was not neutered. And yet he was one of the most gentle, soft piggies you can imagine. Personable, funny, sometimes a little pushy but certainly never aggressive, he communicated with sounds and body language that were easily understandable and very manageable.

And he was cryptorchid.

When we took him for neutering, the vet was able to retrieve only one testes – the other had adhered to the bladder, but was shriveled and “almost certainly” nonproductive. Likely still producing testosterone, but not producing viable sperm, Scotch continues his life as a partially-neutered pig. And he continues to be mellow, funny, sometimes pushy, but always manageable and very loving.

Similarly, of the nine male piglets who were born from Soda (pregnant when seized in an animal abuse case and giving birth just a couple of weeks after arriving at my farm), seven were cryptorchid. All were neutered successfully by a vet experienced in potbellied pigs.

There are legitimate reasons for euthanizing an animal, the most pressing being severe, untreatable injury/pain. But euthanizing a pig for being cryptorchid is like euthanizing a human for being mentally or physically disabled. It is immoral, unethical, and downright inhumane.

The number of potbellied pigs abandoned and neglected continues to grow (and in fact some reports state that potbellied pigs, first made popular in Canada in the 1980s, are experiencing a comeback as a “trendy” pet – a thought which alarms me no end, given how many are homeless by the time they are full grown). Shame on the people who bred Freddy the pig in the first place and sold him, unneutered, to the first hand holding money. And shame on the people who took responsibility for Freddy and then abandoned him so he ended up in a shelter.

Shame on the shelter that didn’t acknowledge its own limitations and failed to rely on the expert advice available to them. And most of all, shame on the vet who failed to uphold the ethical standards of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, and who likewise failed to acknowledge his own limitations – both his limited knowledge of the species and his lack of surgical skills.

A piggy named Freddy was killed the other day, murdered by a man who believed that having an undescended testes was an incurable disease that would lead to others being harmed. His murder was condoned by a shelter who would, I am sure, have never approved the euthanization of a dog on the basis of an undescended testes.

Freddy, I am so sorry. Run free, piggyboy, in a field full of licorice and marshmallows and watermelon, playmates and cosy straw and sunshine, and all the other wonderful things you might have lived to enjoy had humankind not let you down.

What If.......

In one of the blogs I visit daily, bikesbirdsnbeasts, the author asks readers for their thoughts on “the usefulness and significance of this day set aside for remembrance.” It got me thinking. A lot.

My blog is primarily about my critters, yet also about nature, biodiversity, the environment, life. And what has greater implications for life in all its forms than the impact of war?

I have always been bothered by the glorification of war, and my pacifism leads me to ask "What if...”

• What if the ONLY media image we saw today was the 1972 Nick Ut photo of naked 9 year old Kim Phuc, burned by napalm, fleeing her bombed-out village with other crying, terrifed children?

• What if the men and women of the armed forces marched today with their heads bowed in sorrow instead of held high with pride?

• What if those men and women wore signs around their necks that said: “I killed a little girl’s father”; “I dropped bombs that killed children”; “I saw my best friend’s head blown off” ; “War was a nightmare”; “The trenches were full of sewage” ; “I was so terrified I lost control of my bowels”; "We destroyed the habitat of millions of living creatures" ?

Is that not more honest than the images and stories of war that are served up with ceremony today? Would that not go further in promoting the slogan “Never Again !” than the glorification of war we see all around us all year long?

What if we raised our children to celebrate diversity, to resolve problems without violence, to be compassionate and humane to all living things?

What if we learned to live harmoniously, respecting our differences, and with true regard for the rights of all living things?

What if war was truly UNTHINKABLE?

I believe it is important to remember those who died - not because they "died for my freedom" but because they killed and were killed in horrible, frightening, terrifying circumstances. Civilians of all ages, and soldiers who were often hardly out of childhood themselves, have died needlessly because powerful men in powerful nations lacked the skills to sort out their differences peacefully.

We have to remember the ugliness of war so that we will be inspired to find a better way. All life depends on it.

Unhappy Remembrance Day. Lest We Forget.

Humankind's Shame

Today, four separate incidents, each showing humankind's inhumanity:

A 19 month old collie with a few minor, fixable behavioural issues (from lack of training) was euthanized at the request of his owner, who had refused help from a rescue organization to find a suitable home for the dog. Shame on the owner, and shame on the vet that would euth a perfectly healthy dog.

A 14 year old Shih tzu is sitting in a vet clinic waiting for someone to be willing to adopt her, after she was "left behind" by her owners. What kind of owner abandons their 14 year old dog? What kind of owner abandons ANY age animal????? Shame on them!!

A pig, a horse and a llama are left on a property by the person responsible for them, a person who sold the property and told the purchasers "you'll have to take the animals, too". The new owners closed the deal and then proceeded to dump the animals on whatever rescue or shelter they could dump them on. One new incoming piggy for Hearts on Noses. Shame on the old owner, shame on the purchaser.

Endless ads on craigslist of people getting rid of senior dogs, young dogs, middle aged dogs, cats, horses, bunnies......animals they swore they loved and now no longer do. While there are a few legitimate reasons for rehoming (I have great sympathy for people with life-changing crises in their lives, such as having to move into an eldercare facility) the vast majority of those advertising on craigslist don't seem to give a d*mn. Shame on them.

Another pig, dumped on the sanctuary property while the sanctuary owner is away at her paid job. No notice, no nothing.....Janice comes home to find a young unneutered male pig running around her property. Good thing none of the other pigs were out for their pasture time - you can't just throw a stranger into the midst of a herd animal. Of course, the cost of building a house, building a pen, neutering the pig, feeding the pig, will all fall on the shoulders of the already over-extended sanctuary. Fingers crossed that this is a lost pig who broke out of his yard and some well-meaning good samaritan managed to grab it and didn't know what else to do with it other than take it to the sanctuary. Hopefully that lost pig has human family frantically searching for it. I'll reserve the "shame on you" until we know the full story.

Some days people just plain suck. Is it any wonder my heart belongs to the critters?