Casper needs a new loving home too!!

Hi, they called me Casper. I am a very friendly cat, like Casper the friendly ghost. I am a young neutered male cat who came to the Clarenville SPCA in a sad state. I was severely matted, extremely dirty, had an injured paw and a severe ear mite infestation. Since arriving here, thanks to some great people, I have been neutered, shaved, treated for my ear mites and put on medication for my injured paw. I love attention and can't believe how good it is here at the shelter. Lots of food and scratches. I hope to find a great new home soon. They put a new picture on of me shaved. Don't laugh when you see it but boy does it feel great to be rid of those yucky matts! I'll look very handsome when my fur grows back.Thanks to Ruff Spots for sponsoring Casper's neuter and to all the people who donated to take care of his other problems. We wish you could hear his purrs of appreciation like we do.

Samuel really needs a loving home

I'm Samuel. I am a young neutered male who came to the Clarenville SPCA in quite a mess.

I was severely matted and dirty and I had ear mites. I have since been all cleaned up, shaved and neutered. The girls here were told my owners moved and just left me behind to fend for myself. I am a very friendly male cat who just loves attention. I need a new family to love me and take care of me a lot better than the my last, "so called," family.

Thanks to Ruff Spots for sponsoring Samuel's neuter and to all the people who donated to take care of his other problems. He sure is glad that people stepped up to help him out.

April 2, 2007 --- Eight In One Pet Products Voluntarily Recalls Dingo CHICKEN JERKY Products in Canada

EIGHT IN ONE ANNOUNCES CANADIAN RECALL OF ALL LOTS OF DINGO® CHICK’N JERKY TREATS FOR DOGS, CATS AND FERRETS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Cincinnati, Ohio – April 2, 2007 -- Eight In One, a division of United Pet Group, Inc., is voluntarily recalling across Canada all lots of Dingo® CHICK’N JERKY treats due to company concerns that the jerky treats have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, which can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination, in people, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems.

The products affected were sold at various retailers. The products subject to this voluntary recall are Dingo CHICK’N JERKY 3.5 oz. and 8 oz. for dogs and Dingo Kitty CHICKEN JERKY 1.5 oz. for cats and Dingo Ferret CHICKEN JERKY 1.5 oz for ferrets.
Laboratory testing has shown that some samples of these chicken jerky treats were contaminated with Salmonella. The company is recalling all these products out of an abundance of caution.

Salmonella can potentially be transferred to people handling these pet treats, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products. Healthy people infected with Salmonella can have some or all of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers..
Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Apparently well animals can be a carrier and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.
The company has received one report of Salmonellosis in a dog. There are no reports of human illness.

These products are being removed from retail stores. Consumers should immediately stop feeding these treats to their pets. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is aware of the recall.
Consumers who purchased any of the above-identified CHICK’N JERKY TREATS should discontinue use of the products and should discard the unused portion. Consumer can obtain information on receiving refunds by contacting the Eight In One consumer affairs department at 1-888-232-9889.

Retailer and other inquiries into this recall should also be directed to the Eight In One consumer affairs department at 1-800-645-5154 x 3.

Humane Society in Washington state holds yoga class for dogs and their owners

Yoga instructor Brenda Bryan, performs a yoga pose as she stretches "Gus," her mixed-breed dog. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) - By the end of their doggie yoga class, most of the wandering and sniffing participants are passed out on their mats, in a position their instructor calls the "upward facing belly pose."

Beans, a majestic 2-year-old Vizsla, however, is ready to play. The overgrown puppy has tried to relax with his owner, Chantale Anderson, but once Magnet the black lab heads off to explore the room, Beans is ready to go. Mostly, however, both the dogs and the humans on a recent evening at the Seattle/King County Humane Society seemed relaxed and focused for about 40 minutes of "doggie yoga."

Leilani the toy poodle is the star of the class, perhaps because the tiny 11-year-old is too timid to venture off the mat to play with the big dogs. Her owner, Suanne Nagata, said afterward that Leilani just loves being touched. "I could just feel her relax," she said.

Brenda Bryan, who teaches human yoga as well as the new class for both dogs and humans at the Humane Society, says the dogs react to the gentle energy in the room. "As we get into it, the dogs all kind of calm down," said Bryan, who developed the poses for the class by working with her own two dogs - Gus, a mixed breed, and Honey, a Shar Pei-Boxer mix - and talking to instructors in other cities like New York, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh where yoga for dogs and their owners is starting to catch on.

The question she and the Humane Society get the most from prospective human students is how do the people and dogs interact? In Bryan's class, the humans do traditional yoga poses - yes, including "downward facing dog" - while staying in contact physically with their pets.
Part of the class includes gentle stretching and dog massage, another specialty of Bryan's, but most of the time the humans gently use the dogs like yoga props.

In downward facing dog, for example, the humans rest their heads on their companions, who are relaxing - napping? - on the mat. The yoga poses are modified both for the humans of different sizes and abilities and for the dogs. During class, Bryan reminds the people not to push their canine partners to perform. "Don't be too ambitious," she said. "Honor where your dog is and remember that dogs respond to our energy."

The class was designed to offer a new way for humans to spend time with their pets. "This is 80 percent fun," said Eve Holt, director of community relations for the Seattle Humane Society.
Bryan calls it "partner yoga," because the class encourages both the human and the dog to increase their awareness of each other. "Magnet and I were just in this little bubble," said Emily Keegans afterward. She said her dog really loves getting the one-on-one attention he receives in yoga class and she likes having another opportunity to both exercise and spend time with her dog. "I love doing yoga and I'm just really busy. Just to spend time with him and be with him is great," added Keegans. She said she was doing dog massage at a Humane Society fundraiser - a dog fashion show - when during a conversation with the agency director she mentioned that she is also a yoga instructor. And the idea for doggie yoga was born.

"It was really just a marriage of all the things I love," Bryan said. She said she hopes the class will open up yoga to a variety of people - and dogs - who have never done this kind of exercise before. "We've been having a lot of fun with this," said Bryan, adding that her own dogs rush to the mat as soon as she unrolls it at home, whether or not she was planning to involve them.
Both the humans and the canines seemed to enjoy themselves before, during and after a recent doggie class at the Humane Society. Shadow visited every mat during the class and made a complete circuit of shoe sniffing toward the end. Beans seemed a lot more interested in making new friends than relaxing, as his owner predicted before the class. "He likes to nap. He is a cuddle bug, but playing is so much more important," Anderson said.

Nearly every dog in the group took at least one break to sniff a canine or human or both, but Bryan seemed pleased with how the class was going and was neither outwardly amused nor flustered when Honey and Shadow crowded onto the mat with her and Gus. Although her voice was yoga calm, her words showed she shared the other humans' amusement.
"Everyone is being so good - and the dogs too."

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Strip from Mutt Comics