Thursday, August 27, 2009

Smoking Cigarettes and Your Pets


A number of clients that we see at the hospital are smokers. How do I know? Their pets reak of cigarettes.

According to the American Cancer Society, second-hand smoke is responsible for:

- an estimated 46,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers
- about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults
other breathing problems in non-smokers, including - coughing, mucus, chest discomfort, and reduced lung function
- 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children younger than 18 months of age, which result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations annually
- increases in the number and severity of asthma attacks in about 200,000 to 1 million children who have asthma
more than 750,000 middle ear infections in children.

There isn't much difference between our lungs and our pet's lungs! Just like humans, our furry friends are also susceptible to lung disease due to second hand smoke.

We've discussed this at a hospital before and we bring it up to our clients that in the best interest of their pets, we recommend that they do not smoke around them.

Even if you choose not to stop smoking (come on people!), maybe you could smoke outside, away from your pet.

These animals don't have a choice. Make the right choice for them!

Keep Wagging and keep your kids (both kinds) safe and healthy.

Monique

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Equine Spirit Sanctuary

I recently visited the Equine Spirit Sanctuary in beautiful Taos, New Mexico and met a wonderful person in Ruth Bourgeois who happens to be the director there. Ruth was very gracious with her time and gave us a tour of the wonderful facility. They do wonderful work there but, predictably, they are understaffed and underfunded! No surprise there! I encourage you to visit their website and see what they are about.
I posted a video so you can see what a beautiful home these horses have...and I encourage you to make a donation! I know times are tough but these are also tough times for some of these horses! Many are brought to the facility after being with someone for 10, 15, 20 years...because the families that raised them can no longer afford to keep them! In fact, there is a timely and informative article in DVM magazine about the impact the economy has had on horses...you can read it here.

Ruth introduced us to Soxy, Bindy and Ginger among others...all were magnificent creatures and you can look for more video to appear shortly!

Keep wagging everyone!