Most of us
who are into animals are probably aware of the health issues some dogs confront
because of their “squished-in” faces. It’s
hard to look at some of those animals — including college mascots! — whose
lives may be shortened or at least very uncomfortable.
That’s what
happens when people “style” dogs for their own purposes, changing their looks
and often their health.
Play back
the pictures you saw of canine contestants at the recent Westminster dog show:
Afghan hounds, with long, narrow snouts and impractical coats; bulldogs and
others with relatively flat faces; teeny-tiny short-haired dogs with spindly
legs and high-pitched barks. All of them
and many others: “designer dogs” — far from the gray wolves they all descended
from.
A welcome
relief from canine modifications and their mixed results is Alexandra
Horowitz’s succinct answer to the question, “Has Dog Breeding Gone Too
Far?” (Answer: Yes!)
A cognitive
scientist who studies dogs (and whose work was cited earlier here for her
compassionate take on President Biden’s dogs who bit people), Horowitz has
nothing good to say about either inbreeding (at its worst, the equivalent of
human incest) or selective breeding (“designing” dog breeds – from 4-pounders
to dogs of 170 pounds).
Her wonderfully
illustrated opinion piece took up a full page of the Sunday, May 19 NYTimes
– with most space devoted to images of dog breeds and their related problems. Some anatomical changes humans have caused in
dogs are so “drastic” that they affect reproduction, respiration and
recreation.
“We are a
species that is willfully damaging dogs,” Horowitz writes, and shows. Unarguably. https://tinyurl.com/4bhusx6s
Saluting
Savannah
She was so
much more than a beloved pet. Savannah,
an 8-year old retriever, spent 7 years walking around the world with her dad, a
New Jersey man who adopted her in Texas, early in his 25,000 miles over 6
continents.
As she grew
from a 4-month-old puppy, Savannah moved from being pushed in a cart to walking
30 miles a day, experiencing and enjoying wildly different places and adventures. Unable to rally from health issues, Savannah
died earlier this month. https://tinyurl.com/y96ffra7
Pet
consumer report
People who
want to buy a “pre-owned” car often ask their mechanic to check it out
first. I did that myself.
But how
about adopting a pet? Should would-be
parents ask their vet to take a close look first, to assure the animal’s good
health? I didn’t do that
myself. >sigh!<
That
omission helps explain why my dear rescue cat Jersey needed major dental
surgery soon after moving in with Billy and me.
He had no teeth (from an unknown life outdoors before then), yet he
still needed to have tooth shards and debris extracted, to assure his future
good health.
Soon after
he got here, I realized Jersey is deaf.
While a recent MRI showed no tumor or massive trauma, the specialist
said a microscopic inner-ear infection could be behind the problem. At which point I remembered that a really bad
ear infection had caused a long delay before I could adopt him. (“Just sayin’!”)
Jersey’s my
smart and fun little lovebug for as long as he and I may live. Even so, readers, I still recommend having a
vet go over any could-be pet you hope to adopt into your family!
Cicadas are safe — just noisy!
From her
Tennessee home, essayist Margaret Renkl has written appreciatively about the cicadas
making their presence heard in her state this summer. Their numbers and noise may suggest otherwise,
but cicadas are wholly harmless.
They don’t
bite or sting, and they have no means of self-protection. Nor do they hurt the trees they’re intimately
related to. That coexistence is so
strong that if the tree dies, the cicada nymphs attached to its roots will too.
Once up and
out from under the trees where they waited for years, cicadas star on countless
animals’ menus, their great numbers providing a feast. https://tinyurl.com/3ywahfxk
Start
thinking about this now!
 |
| Annie |
June is
“adopt a shelter cat month,” so please seriously consider doing just that! The cat and you will both be better off.
. . .
& start protesting this now!
Canada geese
continue to be slaughtered all over in New Jersey. They are cruelly trapped when they can’t fly
and gassed to death: a horribly inhumane fate! Watch for or request APLNJ (www.aplnj.org) specs about a protest on Saturday, June 1.