Treats on the Internets

~ YesBiscuit

At the end of this piece on the ethics of spay-neuter, there is a quote from veterinarian Ben Hart, one of the authors of the recent Golden Retriever research paper we discussed this week:

[Vasectomies and tubal ligations] are much less expensive and less traumatic for the dogs. The weird thing is we don’t teach these simple operations yet in vet schools, but shelter vets could learn it in an afternoon wet lab.

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A 15 year old St. Louis girl fell in love with a friendly stray dog who followed her home.  Authorities are threatening to seize him due to his body shape.  She called the local news for help.

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Psychology Today looks at the link between animal abuse and mass killers:

When we keep animals safe from harm, we also help keep children and adults safe.

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Last year’s corn harvest yielded a bumper crop of aflatoxin.  So much in fact:

In September, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska received FDA approval to increase the amount of aflatoxin-afflicted corn that could be blended for animal feed.

Let the recalls begin!

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Or not.  This Pittsburgh couple changed their dog’s food to Beneful and she died just weeks later.  The vet said it was poisoning and suspected aflatoxin.  Purina says Beneful is super-awesome-crazy-safe and totally delicious too.  (Thanks Dot for the link.)

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List of no and low cost spay-neuter services by state.  (Link submitted by Sharon.)

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It’s got a good beat, I could dance to it.  (Courtesy of Valerie.)

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I assume everyone in the world is an Edward Gorey fan.  So here are some Gorey cats.

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I wish there was a sloth channel on TV.  I would watch it all day and all night.

5 thoughts on “Treats on the Internets”

  2. Sloths are a strange people. I always get the sense that half of them is in another dimension.

    Aflatoxins suck and are scary. I wish they’d just burn contaminated grains.

    Beneful may or may not be killing dogs, but Purina’s response to concerns is less than inspiring. How long before companies realize that they can’t keep ignoring questions in this day and age of social media?

    Reply

    1. I think ignoring is the worst thing they can do. Then the only thing circulating online is the “My dog died” stories. Wouldn’t Purina rather have the link to its daily test results page on its website making the rounds too? Not that they have such a page but…

      Reply

      1. That would be proactive and responsible. In fact, I asked them to post test results some time back. They deleted my post.

        This approach makes people think that they are either testing and something is showing up not good or that they’re not testing despite reports of illnesses/deaths. Neither one is a good thing.

        They don’t even seem to be attempting to have a PR firm spin it for them. Just ‘please get in touch with us so we can talk about your dead dog’ and then nothing. Not cool.

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