How cool is this! Not only do dogs teach children how to be better people; they actually reduce allergies too!

Thanks to The Register for this article.

Dogs reduce allergies in kids
The benefit of mutts as pets
By Lester Haines
Published Tuesday 29th April 2008

German researchers have apparently confirmed that keeping a dog as a family pet will reduce the chance that kids will develop allergies - a finding which backs a theory that having a mutt about the house “trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever”.

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Thanks to all of you who barked in this article from ConsumerAffairs.com. Are we on the verge of another recall?

String of Illnesses Afflicts NUTRO-Fed Pets
Company insists its food is ‘100% safe’

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
April 18, 2008

A worrisome health trend among dogs and cats across the country has surfaced in the past few months. Scores of pets from California to South Carolina have experienced sudden and recurring bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, and other digestive problems.

Through an examination of reports submitted by readers, ConsumerAffairs.com has uncovered a common link among these pets: They all ate the same brand of food: NUTRO pet food.

In all of the cases we’ve examined, the animals’ conditions improved once their owners switched them to another brand of food.

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I am so glad to be able to share this list with you. I have been looking for a list of Chinese-made drugs. While this list is ostensibly published for humans, many of the drugs on this list are also prescribed for our furbabies.

Knowledge is power and knowing which drugs are Chinese-made gives us the power to look for other options and, at the least, be aware that we MUST pay closer attention to our dogs, cats and ourselves in case of dangerous side-effects caused by tainted products.

Even if your furbabies are not taking any drugs at this time, please take a close look at this list for drugs you or your human family members may be taking. For example, penicillin is on this list. How many of us get penicillin without ever being aware that it comes from a country KNOWN for poisoning their own people and other people around the world with tainted products?

Then there are other drugs like tamoxifen which is given to women fighting breast cancer. These women already have lowered immune systems. How many of these women have suffered and even died from tainted tamoxifen? Hopefully none but since its coming out of China and NO ONE seems to be testing it, how do we know for sure?

Please be aware that I am NOT saying don’t take a needed drug. What I am saying is that we MUST limit the import of potentially deadly drugs until we can effectively oversee their safety and efficacy.

And why are these drugs made in China? It’s NOT because the Chinese are known for their superior technologies or safety records. It’s because some pharmaceutical executives have placed their bonuses and corporate well-being above that of the humans and other species who trust them and depend on them for life-enhancing or life-saving drugs!

Please share this post with your friends and relatives. The more who know about these drugs, the better.

Thanks to KMOV.com for putting together and sharing this list of Chinese-made drugs.

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But remember, its not just pollutants that can damage our furbabies; things like lawn products can hurt them too. Who spends the most time rolling around on those artificially green lawns with all those weed and bug killers? Dogs and cats, of course. So while pollutants are terrible things please keep in mind that we can protect our furbabies from some things.

Meanwhile, join Eddie at his blog and the Pets for the Environment to work together against the pollution killing us all.

Thanks to the Environmental Working Group for letting me know about their recent report on taxic contamination in pets. How sad!

On the other hand, Dogster Eddie is leading the way for all dogs, cats and other pets to take a stand (or sit) for the environment. I look forward to hearing more from Pets for the Environment!

Hi Joy,

I just wanted to give you a heads-up about a report EWG is releasing today on pet body burden. We tested 60 dogs and cats for 70 different toxic chemicals and found that in many cases, pets are even more contaminated than people.

Considering rising rates of cancer in dogs and rampant hyperthyroidism in cats, we think there’s cause for concern. You can see the report at the Environmental Working group site.

We’re launching a campaign to go along with the report: Pets for the Environment — the idea is to rally pet lovers to advocate for toxic chemical reform while providing tips to help us all keep our pets healthy. We’ve got a supercute spokesdog named Eddie (who’s on dogster, of course!), and supporters can even upload their own pet photos to Eddie’s Wall of Cute.

Here’s the article:

High Levels of Toxic Industrial Chemicals Contaminate Cats And Dogs
Summary and Findings

They are trying their best to warn us.

In the first study of its kind, Environmental Working Group found that American pets are polluted with even higher levels of many of the same synthetic industrial chemicals that researchers have recently found in people, including newborns.

The results show that America’s pets are serving as involuntary sentinels of the widespread chemical contamination that scientists increasingly link to a growing array of health problems across a wide range of animals—wild, domesticated and human.

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Here’s big barks for the sterilization program and no rabies for 10 years but the article says that the rubber docking method doesn’t hurt the dogs. I find it hard to understand why it won’t hurt. If anyone knows anything else about this, please bark in.

Thanks to the Bhutan Observer for this article.

Mass sterilisation of stray dogs
12 April 2008
Pema Gatshel: Under a makeshift garden umbrella, a team of veterinary technicians sterilize a female dog, sedated with drugs for the operation.

A few minutes later the dog is removed to a safe place under the shade. A tight rubber nozzle is clasped to the tail to identify the dog has having been sterilized and vaccinated. The process, called rubber docking, will result in the painless shedding of the dog’s tail in a few weeks.

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Here’s some excellent news for dog parents with children.

Thanks to Israel21c for this article.

Dogs may help lower children’s blood pressure
By Samuel Levine
April 13, 2008

Dogs, long known as man’s best friend, may be more than just loyal companions: they may also have a positive impact on your children’s health, according to new Israeli research.

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Thanks to CBS3.com for this article.

Dog Brain Disease
Reporting Ukee Washington

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― Could your dog get Alzheimer’s? No, but there is a canine condition that’s similar. Dog owners should know what to look for, because there are ways to help.

Renee Payne dotes on her shepherd husky Wray. So when Wray starting acting strangely, Payne knew something wasn’t right.

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Lucky and Nala’s Mom barked this terrible report in to Dog Park and Pawty Playground Place Group today. I haven’t heard anything this product but if you have, please bark in.

hi everyone i have not had time to log into the group but since it has been a EXTRA long night for me… i wanted to share with all of you dog and cat lovers what took place for me last night….i have not slept in 24 hours…

what i thought would be a normal trip to walmart… became a night mare…

to make the long story short… i had to wait on my order of REVOLUTION for Lucky and Nala… so since i live in a area that has many fleas and ticks outside… i decided to buy them something in walmart just in the meanwhile…

it was the 1st time i ever tried it…. BUT NEVER AGAIN….

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Isn't it wonderful how many ways service dogs can help out? Big barks to forest and his family!

Thanks to SouthDeltaLeader.com for this article.

Boy’s best friend B.C.’s first autism service dog lends helping paw to Delta family
By Kristine Thiessen - South Delta Leader - April 04, 2008

B.C. Guide Dog Services has trained it’s first autism services dog, and it’s making a huge difference for one Delta family.

Dave and Kim Harding’s five-year-old son, Maxwell, is autistic.

“He’s pretty well in the middle range,” said his father. “He has some speech and he’s cognitively aware of what’s going on but he does have communication issues.”

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Thanks to BBC News for this article.

Viagra helps heart condition dog

An impotence tablet is helping to keep a pet dog with a heart condition from an early grave.

Talisker, a border collie, was living on borrowed time after vets found his heart had become dangerously enlarged.

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