Pet Tails

Yesterday, I made the last of my donations to the Chester County SPCA, and boy were they excited along with me for doing it. For those that may not be aware of the March Madness Drive I completed during the month of March, I will explain all that I did.

In the beginning of March I emailed my clients along with posting it on Facebook that I wanted to do something for certain area shelters and collect donations to assist them. So I started the March Madness Blanket and Towel Drive. This was the first time I did this and I was more than pleased by the number of donations I received.

The shelters that were recipients of these donations were: Cat Angel Network, La Mancha Animal Rescue, Main Line Animal Rescue and the Chester County SPCA. All of these shelters depend upon individual donations either monetary or material items to run their organizations. All of these animal rescues and shelters have on their website “wish lists” that states all that they are looking for, so I sent that out with my email to my clients and the response that I received was fantastic to say the least!

I was overwhelmed by the donations I received: cat food, dog food, kitty litter, rawhides, towels, blankets, sheets, dog beds, dog crates, kennels, dog toys, cat toys, litter boxes and various cleaning supplies and I could go on and on.

You may be thinking well that isn’t that much, but I filled my spare room with all I received.

I collected over 100 pounds of kitty litter, 50 pounds of dog food, at least 8 dozen towels, 5 large comforters and over 48 rolls of paper towels.

I filled my truck up 4 times to deliver all the donations to the organizations which all were very thankful and happy to receive them.

I am just a small business, one person, with one mission; to help those in my own community, those that are speechless and need our help the most.

It didn’t take much time, or much effort. But the feeling of gratitude I received from those organizations and those that donated was what made this a success and to those that are my readers that did donate, I want to send a personal Thank You! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!

I also did this to inspire others to reach out to your own communities, start something in your church, in your neighborhood, the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, or any group that you may be involved in. It took an email, collecting the items, and giving to those that needed those items the most.

My personal donation that I gave to all the organization was each shelter or rescue group received coupons for 6 free visits to give to those individuals that adopt from them.

Reach out to your community and maybe You can also do something to help those that are speechless and have no choice other than to be born with 4 legs and end up in a shelter or rescue waiting for a forever home of their own. Every pet; dog or cat, deserves a second chance. Donate or volunteer, we can all make a difference.

Thanks again to EVERYONE who donated!

Have a Happy Pet Day Everyone!

In the last week or so, I have had a number of clients and friends contact me because they have already found ticks on their dogs or themselves. All of them asking me, “What do you use on your pets? What would you recommend?” That means they are going to be out in a strong force this summer, so you must be prepared.

There are a number of products out on the market, so I am not going to endorse one product over another, but I am going to tell you what I do know about as many products as I can along with the pros and cons that go with them.

Frontline is a very popular product and is used widely for both dogs and cats. I used it last year on my dogs, but they still had fleas. I do not like using topical products on my pets, because it is a poison that you are applying to their skin and if it poisons the fleas and ticks what is it doing to your pet? I later found out that pharmaceutical company changed the chemistry of this product and it was becoming less effective on killing fleas.

One of my clients purchased a product called Anibio Tic Clip for her dog and she had great success with it last year. It is a little pricey at $69.99 but the length of the product is 2 years. But when you weigh in that it is a holistic product and causes no harm to your pet, which is a big plus, it may be the way to go.

You can find this product at http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/default.aspx

Another product that I am familiar with is Revolution. Now I used this on my dogs believe it or not in March, because I could still find the occasional flea on them. I purchased this because it is also a heartworm preventative. But keep in mind, it is still a topical. Here is an excerpt from their website:

“Revolution is a prescription-only, FDA-approved medication available only through a veterinarian – and is NOT a pesticide registered by the EPA. Although topically applied, Revolution is a systemically acting, broad-spectrum parasiticide that has a well defined safety profile combined with excellent efficacy to help protect your dog and cat against a wide variety of parasites. Your veterinarian is the best source of information to ensure the proper healthcare of your pet.”

One thing I do want to point out is the following; over the counter flea or tick preventatives ARE NOT MONITORED BY THE EPA! Many products that are labeled Hartz, Sergeant or Zodiac can and may contain poisonous pesticides that can cause irreversible side effects ranging from motor skills issues, skin burns or rashes or neurological problems such as seizures when used on your pet, either cat or dog. See link below for the severity of what it can do to your pet.

Another reminder is NEVER USE DOG MEDICATION ON YOUR CAT! I can tell you from experience that happened to a friend of mine. She accidentally put flea and tick medication on her cats one time, even though she “split” the dosage of the dispenser, “Frontline”, both cats had severe seizures and had to be rushed to the emergency vet for care. Both lived but the price tag that went with the visit was close to $1000.00. To this day both cats are still alive, but the one cat never recovered completely from this experience.

Another product that is out there is called Cap Star. This product you can purchase at either your vet or at Petco or even on line. This is a quick fix to kill fleas only and it is administered orally. It will kill all living fleas within 30 minutes, but it is not a long term fix for a problem. I have never used this product, so I can’t tell you the effectiveness of it, but I know people that have and they said that they were pleased with how it worked.

One product my one friend recommends and uses for her dog is Bug Off Garlic. She purchases this product from Springtime Inc. This also is an all natural product, but you need to start it weeks before the weather gets warm. Though this product works great for her dog, which is a Rottweiler, it may not work for everyone. Speaking with another client about this product, she stated to me, your dog has to have so much of the garlic in them for it to make an effect on killing ticks. This product does state it is good also for flies, gnats and mosquitoes. This is a chewable table that you give to your dog.

When deciding which product works best for you, always do some homework it will help you making an intelligent decision about your pet’s life and may actually save your pets life.

I am attaching some links below for you to also read what the EPA is doing along with the severe effects of over the counter pesticides used on cats and dogs.

http://www.springtimeinc.com/

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/petproductseval.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/fleatick02.html

Read this link before you think about buying an OTC flea or tick product.

http://tinytimmy.org/

Have a Happy Pet Day Everyone!