“Fountain Street Church hosts Reverence for Life Sunday expo to ... - MLive.com” plus 3 more |
- Fountain Street Church hosts Reverence for Life Sunday expo to ... - MLive.com
- Humans putting up with problem pets in tough times - Denver Post
- Danger underfoot: Many hurt tripping over pets - msnbc.com
- Many owners endure pesky pets - Houston Chronicle
| Fountain Street Church hosts Reverence for Life Sunday expo to ... - MLive.com Posted: 17 Apr 2010 06:07 AM PDT By Erin Albanese | The Grand Rapids PressApril 17, 2010, 4:07AM
GRAND RAPIDS — It's a celebration of all God's creatures great and small, and the llama particularly seems to enjoy it. Fountain Street Church appears to transform into Noah's Ark during the annual Reverence for Life Sunday service, with hundreds of people and their pets attending to honor life and the Earth and to have their pets blessed.
"He is the funniest thing. He comes every year, and he sits in the front of the church, and his head follows when people talk," said Heather Barretta, FSC events coordinator. For the second year, the event has expanded into the Animal Advocacy Expo to promote local nonprofit organizations involved with pet adoption, animal health and advocacy.
Though this year High Spirit, the llama owned by Dorane Strouse of Caledonia, has a prior commitment, people can expect to see many other furry friends, including alpacas. Senior Minister Fred Wooden said the service and expo tie in with Earth Day, which falls on Thursday, and appreciation for all living things. It starts with the creation story. "We should consciously appreciate and respect all life on the planet. We remind ourselves that every living thing has value and meaning and purpose," he said. Barretta said it's a fascinating time. "You can end up with 600 people and 300 pets, and at some point everything becomes silent," she said. Jennifer Self-Aulgur, Humane Society education coordinator, will attend the expo with two dogs and lots of information about pet adoption. "It's very cool when you can bring your animal to church," she said. "Getting together to celebrate animals and the joy that they bring us is a great idea." Other participating organizations will include C-Snip, Vicky's Pet Connection, Second Chance for Greyhounds, Reuben's Room, Carol's Ferals, Crash's Landing, Blandford Nature Center, Ashton Stone Alpacas and Mackenzie's Animal Sanctuary. E-mail the author of this story: localnews@grpress.com Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Humans putting up with problem pets in tough times - Denver Post Posted: 16 Apr 2010 11:55 PM PDT Angie Best-Boss has tried changing litter boxes, types of litter, brands of litter. But something has gone terribly wrong with Tiger. "I loathe my cat," said the freelance writer in New Palestine, Ind. "Actually, loathe might be too weak of a word." At a time when many people are scrimping on themselves to indulge their animals, the love is lost for owners of infuriating pets. Still, many can't bring themselves to dump their animals in shelters. Instead, they pay sky-high vet bills for intervention that doesn't work. So how does a human make peace with a problem pet? Venting helps, said an expert. "We all know couples who look like they like to fight. They let fights happen because, it seems, they're getting something out of it. Some people have that relationship with their pets," said psychologist Stephanie LaFarge of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. About 5 percent of the dogs and cats placed in homes by the ASPCA's adoption center in New York City last year were returned, said its senior vice president, Gail Buchwald. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Danger underfoot: Many hurt tripping over pets - msnbc.com Posted: 16 Apr 2010 07:38 PM PDT Dogs and cats are a lurking household danger, according to a new report showing the pets cause all kinds of injuries related to falls. The pet trips — estimated at more than 80,000 a year — occurred while people were chasing after them, stepping over them, breaking up a Fido fight, and other scenarios. Dogs are the biggest hazard. Those injured noted various circumstances for their injuries, including: "tripped while crossing the street with their dog," "fainted while training her dog," and "walking dog and fell up steps," among other circumstances. The researchers don't suggest you send your four-legged resident packing. "Certainly pets are wonderful and have many benefits, so we're not saying anything about not having pets," said study researcher Judy Stevens, a senior epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Dogs more dangerous From this, the researchers calculated the national estimate would reach 86,629 for fall injuries associated with cats and dogs in the United States in 2006. Though an alarming number, it's just 1 percent of the 8 million fall injuries treated in emergency departments, Stevens said. Even though cats are known to follow at your heels, or right beneath your feet, dogs were involved in nearly 7.5 times as many injuries as cats. That's "mainly because dogs are bigger and stronger, and we do see children and women are most likely to be involved in a fall with a dog," Stevens said, adding that women and children are on average smaller and weaker and so more likely to get pushed or pulled. In fact, gals were more than twice as likely as men to have pet-related fall injuries. And children and the middle-age group were the most likely to end up in the ER after an accident with the fur balls. Dogs vs. cats As cats are mostly homebodies, it's no surprise most falls involving the bossy felines (nearly 86 percent) occurred in or around the house. Nearly 12 percent of these injuries happened while people were chasing cats. In 2006, about 43 million U.S. households owned dogs and 37.5 million households had cats. Nearly 64 percent of households with pets had more than one pet, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. With so many furry residents, falls are bound to happen. But Stevens offers tips for reducing the risk: Just being aware that pets can be a fall hazard is a step in the right direction. For dogs, obedience training is important and can minimize behaviors such as pushing and pulling. Be aware of pet-related hazards, such as toys and food bowls, which can also cause falls. The findings are detailed in the current issue of the Journal of Safety Research Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Many owners endure pesky pets - Houston Chronicle Posted: 16 Apr 2010 10:29 PM PDT
Angie Best-Boss has tried changing litter boxes, types of litter, brands of litter. But something has gone terribly wrong with Tiger.
"I loathe my cat," said the freelance writer in New Palestine, Ind. "Actually, loathe might be too weak of a word. I hate it. The stupid, stupid cat pees. On clothes. Only on clean clothes. And beds. Regardless of what spray I buy, what medicine she takes, she just really, really likes to pee."
Dogs chewing through table legs. Cats diving for the family dinner. Biting cockatiels. At a time when many people are scrimping on themselves to indulge their animals, the love is lost for owners of infuriating pets.
Still, many can't bring themselves to dump their wayward animals in shelters. Instead, they pay sky-high vet bills for intervention that doesn't work. They endure in-your-face barking rants in the middle of the night or are startled awake by the routine hacking of hairballs.
Some wish out loud their pets would just run away.
When Cherie Miller's 16-year-old cat, Kitty, goes out, he wants in. When he's in, he wants out. He whines relentlessly and refuses to eat unless a human stirs the kibble around in his self-feeder. The family calls it "whooshing."
"When it scratches on the bedroom door at 3:21 a.m. to have its food whooshed, it's enticing to imagine creative ways to ditch this cat. I'm a pet lover, but come on," said Miller, who lives in suburban Atlanta and was inspired to start a blog about pesky pets called pet-peeves.org.
Love hurtsSo how does a human make peace with a problem pet? Venting helps, said an expert, though the griping may be more emotionally complicated for the humans involved. "We all know couples who look like they like to fight. They let fights happen because, it seems, they're getting something out of it. Some people have that relationship with their pets," said psychologist Stephanie LaFarge, who specializes in the human-animal bond as senior director of counseling services at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "Some people like to think they love their animals so much they're willing to be victimized by them," she said. "It's proof of how much they love that animal and proof of what a good animal person they are and what a good person they are. It's part of their identity." There's no national clearinghouse for where and how people acquire their pets, but about 63 percent of all U.S. households have at least one, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Ten to 20 percent of cats and dogs come from shelters and rescue organizations, sometimes arriving in well-meaning homes with heavy emotional baggage. About 5 percent of the dogs and cats placed in homes by the ASPCA's adoption center in New York City last year were returned, said its senior vice president, Gail Buchwald. Allergies and housing problems are common reasons, but many people don't relinquish pets out of shame or fear of being judged. "You can never predict an animal's behavior in a home 100 percent," Buchwald said. "To some extent, every adopter is expected to roll with the punches a little bit, to know that animals, like children, come with their personae and sometimes come with the sniffles and sometimes they might develop personality traits that we wouldn't have put on top of our list." Elizabeth Castro, who lives outside Chicago, finds her life with her cat Phil one huge compromise. He regularly urps between her sheets and she tried to foist him off on her in-laws, only to have him returned. "I decided to pretend he was a different cat named Morty, the smarter twin brother who doesn't have a hairball problem," she said. "My 3-year-old daughter wants to play with him so bad, and he just hates her — runs away and hisses." Taking a deep breath is a good place to start when other strategies fail, LaFarge said. "It's very hard, when the animal does something we don't like, to say why is he doing this to me, when in fact that animal may be just being an animal and fulfilling his own needs," she said.'A big love bug'Joseph Lilly in Las Vegas knows exactly what LaFarge is talking about. He and his wife have made a mission of taking in rescue dogs considered "unrescuable." They have four, including Bennie the border collie mix. He was found in a street nearly dead after he was hit by a car. "The day of the rescue, he clawed me so badly that I had a scar for a year," Lilly said. "He became violently aggressive in the car. He would let us pet him and then suddenly turn on us. I wanted to throw him off a bridge for nearly a year." Now, through training, reinforcement and discipline, Bennie is "neurotic but a big love bug." "He's still very hyperactive," Lilly said. "I still run him and train him regularly but he's just, well, he's just a border collie."Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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