Pawcurious Vet Blog: Pet help, stories, and information with Dr. V

You know I don’t write on the weekends very often, but given my post on Friday I wanted to make sure to come back and give credit where credit is due. We just got back from Circus Vargas with 2 tired and happy kids. I can’t believe how much the show has changed from what I remember!

It was more like Cirque du Soleil than the old school three-ring circus, with aerialists, trapeze artists, and unique acts from different corners of the world. Plus popcorn. I didn’t miss the animals (obviously) and from listening around, no one else in the audience did either.

I am so heartened that a traveling show can change with the times and continue to succeed, and so glad I could share the fun and excitement of the big top with my family in a way we all felt good about. I wish Circus Vargas- and others who have done the same- many years of success! We’ll see you next time around!

I was terribly saddened to read the news yesterday that a trainer was killed at a Sea World park in an incident with a captive orca. It’s not the first time this sort of thing has happened- it’s not even the first time it’s happened with this exact same orca.

We live fairly close to a Sea World park, and I view it with an uneasy apprehension. We went a few times in school when I was a kid, and I remember the focus at the time on Sea World’s conservation efforts and education. At least they kind of made an attempt to be educational. My friends are used to my moue of distaste when the suggestion to go comes up, so they don’t bother inviting me. But it’s hard to be the killjoy all the time, especially with little kids- so against my better judgment I agreed to go with them, hoping the experience would be a positive one for all of us.

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January 29, 2010- Stunning the digital media world and tech insiders alike, Apple today swiftly announced a new product right on the heels of the much discussed iPad.

Introducing the iPawd:

The best way to experience pet ownership, adoration, and companionship. Hands Down.

Ingenuity

By digitizing the household pet, we’ve streamlined the pet ownership process from start to finish.

An all-in-one experience

Surf the web. Check your e-mail. Take it for a walk. Whatever your day has in store, the iPawd is ready to go. In fact, if you don’t plug it in and start using it by 6 am it will start whining.

Unsurpassed portability

Unlike animalogue versions that can weigh over 100 pounds, the iPawd weighs in at a sleek 1.5 pounds. Heavy carriers are a thing of the past.

Versatility

With our wide selection of yApps available online, you can customize your iPawd to your specifications. Trying to impress the ladies? Check out the Puppy yApp. Going for a run? Download a sturdy protective Rottie yApp.

Convenience

Unlike traditional models that need to be taken to expensive vets, your iPawd can be serviced at any Apple store. If you decide you no longer want your iPawd, just turn it in at the store and we’ll adopt it out to a loving home.

Where to buy

The mall (prices vary from $600 – $3000 and susceptible to early breakdown)

a reputable iBreeder

adopt an iPawd in need of a home for $45

One of my relatives was looking at me in befuddlement this week as I sat at the computer at 1 in the morning, tap-tap-tapping away at the keyboard. “Why are you doing this?” he asked, looking over my shoulder at the pictures I was uploading for one of the auctions. “It seems like a ton of work.”

I nodded magnanimously. Truth is, I was sharing the guest bedroom with my mother and she was snoring so I would have been up anyway- so it was either raising funds for the Red Cross or playing Peggle. Every time I started to regret taking this on, I’d flip on CNN and immediately regret regretting anything.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I have a little bit of an explanation here. Short version is, buy some pet stuff and support Red Cross. That’s really the gist of it.

Now that all the auctions are live, I’ve combined the week of individual listings all into one massive gargantuan mosaic of awesomeness so you can gaze in wonder all in one peek. But to make your life easier, since it is one massive picture and list, I’ve placed it dramatically behind a jump.

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One of the best parts about reading a blog is finding other blogs. Looking at the blogroll of a site you enjoy visiting often leads you to corners of the internet you would never have found otherwise. Soon you start commenting, then you’re going back and forth on Twitter, and before you know it it’s 11 at night and the dog’s still waiting to be fed. Not that I know from personal experience or anything. Point is, it’s a community.

Certain specialized blog niches- parenting bloggers, for example, and food bloggers- have vast networks that promote, support, and encourage their colleagues in a sort of collective Blog Borg. Pet bloggers, as far as I can tell, have not reached that level of organization yet. Why we persist in being the sad scruffy little cast-aside group in the vast world of bloggers is beyond me.

It’s not that pet bloggers are insular or antisocial- quite the opposite, as far as I’m concerned. The care and concern I have seen and experienced, the willingness to step in and help one another with no link aside from a common love of animals, is nothing short of astounding. We are amazing. We just need a little help figuring out how to share that news with everyone else.

I’m dipping my toe in and doing what I can to help promote the wonderful world of animal blogs through the Brody Awards. The banner at the left will take you to the nomination page.Voting will begin by the end of the month, but the whole point of the exercise is to get us exposed to new bloggers, which you can do right now.

My hope and wish is that the pet blogging world will continue to grow and grow together. We have SO much to accomplish. read more >>

Did you all hear about this hero dog Angel? An 18 month old Golden Retriever saved her 11 year old little boy buddy from a cougar in their backyard. No, not a Courteney Cox kind of cougar, a real, live, scary growly wildcat.

Just look at that sad, yet strangely happy face. I dare you not to say “Awwww!” She’s saying, “Yep, I sure did show that silly old cat, didn’t I? Golly!” Left side: mauled. Right side: could care less.

I’m not saying Goldens are always the brightest bulb in the box, but man these dogs are loyal.

Fortunately the gods of irony were asleep this weekend and did not take the Angel name thing too literally, as she is still with us despite being pretty well beat up by the neighborhood wildcat.

I read this story with a smile on my face, as I reached down to pat Brody on the head. “Aw, Brody,” I said, “You’d save me from a cougar, wouldn’t you?” He looked up from his Bully stick and gave me a lick. Got your back, he replies.

As I’m relaying this story to my co-workers, the clinic dog, a 14 year old arthritic labrador, comes slowly waddling over with her rawhide. As she’s easing herself into a sitting position, Brody nuzzles the rawhide.

She growls mildly.

He yelps, expresses his anal glands all over my shoes, and huddles under the counter.

Yep. Sure am glad it was Angel there that cold Canada morning and not some other dog who shall remain nameless. And, sure glad that mountain lions are not too common around here.