GAF, a leading roofing manufacturer, is hosting a contest asking What do you treasure most under your roof? For those of you who read Pet News and Views, I thought you might like to boast a bit about your pets, and enter to win a prize.

    Prizes include: 

• Weekly winners of a $100 Home Depot gift card
• One Grand Prize winner of a $2,500.00 Home Depot shopping spree
• One GAF roof owner will be selected to be featured in a GAF webisode created by celebrity filmmaker James Minchin III (He has created webisodes for Jakob Dylan, Mumford & Sons, and Miley Cyrus.)

Here’s how to enter the GAF Share What You Treasure campaign:

• Sign into www.sharewhatyoutreasure.com app on Facebook, start uploading photos and videos, and tell them what you treasure most about your pets.
• You will have a personal page where other users can view your “Fan Collections.”

To learn more about GAF roofing products, click here.

Dexter and Zoe (the groom and bride) of the Wigglebutt Wedding painted by artist Missy Johnson.

I just started writing a pet column for parade.com.  The stories will compliment the ones that you read at Pet News and Views. My first post is about two dogs getting married.

You may know about Dexter and Zoe, the two cocker spaniels that will be wed at the end of this month. Nicknamed Wigglebutt Wedding, the nuptials were the brainchild of Dexter’s (human) parents Carol and Darlene Bryant, and Zoe’s mom Val Sorensen to raise money for Life’s Little Paws Cocker Spaniel Rescue. Carol writes the blog Fidose of Reality.  You can read the entire story here.

Thanks to all of you for continuing to read Pet News and Views. I hope you will visit parade.com and read my pet column there too.

Eldad with Clyde, the German Shepherd he rescued on his Birthday!

Most people celebrate their birthdays with cake, a few friends, and presents.  For Eldad Hagar, the co-founder of Hope For Paws, yesterday was far from a typical birthday celebration.

Yet, it was a pretty typical day. He rescued two stray dogs. This time it was in Sunland, CA. He heard about a Mastiff and German Shepherd named Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie is a female Mastiff and Clyde is a male German Shepherd.  The two, estimated to be about a year-and-a-half, have been spotted in the area for almost a year.  They even have their own Facebook page.

Over the course of many months, people have been feeding the inseparable pair. Eldad noted that they seemed healthy except for being underweight and covered with ticks. “Rescuing them was a gift,” he says.

One observer who watched as Eldad lured Bonnie and Clyde to safety said that Eldad had super special powers in order to gain the trust of these two dogs. If you watch Eldad’s YouTube videos, you, too, will spot his super special powers.

Thanks to Eldad’s generosity, Bonnie and Clyde are at Veterinary Care Center in Hollywood getting bathed, dipped, and spayed and neutered.  “Once they are in good shape, they will be fostered by Coastal German Shepherd Rescue  until they can find permanent homes,” says Eldad.

“They were actually quite friendly,” says Eldad. “They seem well adjusted and used to being around people. Hopefully, we will find good homes for them.”

That would certainly make for an even better birthday celebration.

To inquire about adopting Bonnie and Clyde, visit Coastal German Shepherd Rescue.  To learn more about Hope For Paws read my first post about them, and then visit their home page.

I remember seeing a black bear up close. It was the bear’s long sharp claws that made me back away. Yes, they do look cuddly, but thankfully common sense kicked in!

Have you ever encountered a bear, coyote, or other animal while hiking in the woods? I remember years ago, I spotted a black bear. I was so excited. While part of me wanted to get closer, the smart side kicked in and had me head back to my car.

Summer is prime season for spotting wildlife, and in case you encounter a wild animal, “it is important to be always alert and to remember that wildlife belongs in the wild,” says Adam Roberts, Executive Vice President of Born Free USA. “You are on their turf and you need to respect that.”

“Never feed wild animals,” says Roberts. “Once a wild animal becomes accustomed to hand-outs by people, they will feel very comfortable making it a habit to get close, and a deadly cycle begins.  They will eventually be regarded as ‘nuisance animals’ which opens the door to lethal control and other issues.”

Coyotes and Bobcats

Aggressive behavior toward people by coyotes and bobcats is most often a result of habituation due to feeding by humans. If approached by a coyote or bobcat, make loud noises (bang pots and pans; blow a horn or whistle; shake a can with rocks). Show dominance and re-instill their natural fear of humans.  Do not run, as this may elicit a chase response. If hiking with dogs, in coyote country keep them on a leash. Small dogs may be especially tempting to a coyote.

Black Bears

Most negative black bear encounters are caused by surprising a bear or luring them with food.  Bears have an exceptional sense of smell—seven times more powerful than dogs—and can detect odors over a mile away.  Avoid packing odorous food and fragrant nonfoods (i.e. lotions), and use airtight canisters. Do not leave food or ice chests on decks or in vehicles.

Become familiar with techniques for hanging food out of bears’ reach. Hang food and scented items at least 10 feet off the ground and five feet from a tree.  Be sure tents, sleeping bags, and clothes are free of lingering food odors.

When hiking or in the back country, make plenty of noise to avoid surprising a bear. If you do encounter a black bear, do not run. This may elicit a chase response in the bear. Slowly back off and allow the bear room to pass or leave. Avoid direct eye contact and pick up small children to prevent them from running and screaming. Contain and restrain dogs.

Black bears may pounce forward on their front feet and bellow loudly, followed by clacking of their jaw. This is a sign of fear. Mothers with cubs sometimes make “bluff charges”—short rushes, or a series of forward pounces, also a sign of nervousness and not intent to attack.  If this happens, momentarily hold your ground. Then keep backing away and talking softly.

Porcupine and Skunk

Skunks always give warning to let their presence be known. They stamp their feet, then point their posterior. Skunks hold fire before spraying and only spray if attacked.  If you encounter a skunk suddenly, stand still for a few seconds until the skunk senses that danger has passed and allow him to wander off.  Or take two slow steps back and continue on your way.

Dogs are the most common recipients of skunk spray. If a dog is sprayed, mix 1 quart of hydrogen peroxide, ¼ cup of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of dish soap.  Lather the dog and leave mixture on for three to five minutes before rinsing.

Porcupines are also pacifists, preferring to avoid trouble unless threatened. They can be attracted to camp sites, not for food but in search of salt. They will chew on anything with salt, including sweaty hiking boots. In areas with porcupines, keep boots inside tents or cars.

Stay safe and enjoy the great outdoors.

  Whether you believe in global warming or not (I definitely do), there has been a lot of weather-related disasters lately. Being prepared for an emergency is essential.

Following are tips from Dr. Dan Aja, Director of U.S. Professional and Veterinary Affairs at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, on how to prepare for an emergency. “Because owners have such strong bonds with their pets, we want to encourage pet parents to think about how their pets factor into their evacuation plans,” says Dr. Aja.

Dr. Aja recommends pet owners take the following steps to prepare your pet for an emergency event, including evacuation:
• Ensure your pet can be identified by either a microchip or collar ID tag, with updated contact information.

• Prepare an emergency box of pet supplies that is readily accessible in the event of an evacuation. Emergency kits should include: first aid supplies and guide book; a 3-day supply of pet food in a waterproof container and bottled water; a safety harness and leash; waste clean-up supplies; medications and medical records; a contact list of veterinarian and pet care organizations; information on your pet’s feeding routine and any behavioral issues; comfort toys; and a blanket.

• Display a pet rescue decal on your front door or window to let first responders know there is a pet in the house. Include veterinarian’s contact information.

• Identify a location to take your pet if you need to leave your immediate area – keep in mind that disaster shelters for people may not be able to shelter pets. Scout hotels/motels with pet friendly policies and ask relatives or friends if they could house you and/or your pet.

• If you need to evacuate, consider taking a pet carrier or crate if possible for transport and safe-keeping.

• Carry a good picture of your pet with you in the event of separation during evacuation. Learn where your pet likes to hide in your house because pets may hide if they are scared. Finding them quickly will be help you evacuate faster.

Hopefully, you will never have to use these tips.  If you run, work, or volunteer at a shelter, check out Hill’s Food, Shelter & Love Disaster Relief Network by clicking here.

Meet Chai. She is 14 weeks in this photo, and her markings are just beautiful.

I thought I lost Chai, my new kitten. You know how fear sometimes grips you when things are wrong  This was different.  I thought she was in the house, and I searched everywhere.  It was the first sticky hot evening, and Chai didn’t come down for dinner. She and her sister, Karma, always know when I am serving food. Karma was playful and fine. She wasn’t at all upset.

Chai is the braver cat—at least that is what I thought. When we adopted them from the West Orange Animal Shelter, she came right up to us. Karma was skittish. They were living on the streets of West Orange, NJ, for the first 12 weeks of their lives. The next two they were at the shelter.

I don’t know what life was like for them, but I am pretty sure it was scary. So here at home I’ve made sure that they felt protected.  That is why something was off on Tuesday evening.  I just couldn’t find her, and when I walked through the house shaking her favorite bag of treats and cooing her name, she wouldn’t respond.

Still, I thought she was inside. We are all incredibly careful about not letting them go outside. There is a good deal of traffic on the street, and Chai and Karma are indoor cats. My husband and I searched our yard, porch, and surrounding neighborhood.  I contacted animal control, the local shelter, and animal activists in my area.

I still couldn’t find her.  Logically, I convinced myself that she got out. Intuitively, I thought she had to be home.

My Other Cat
Years ago, when I was living in NYC with two cats and a roommate, I remember one night jolting up from bed and shouting, “Gigs isn’t in the house.” My roommate came in late, and didn’t notice when Gigs, my first black cat, got out of the apartment. It was weird. I was fast asleep when my roommate came in. Just a few minutes later, I bolted up and knew that Gigs wasn’t home.

Something led me to look in the hall of the apartment building. Gigs was two floors down in the same line. Anyway, I scooped him up, and took him home. All was good.

Back to Chai
Several hours later, my husband, Steven, raced down the stairs to tell me that he found her hiding in the back of the closet on the third floor of our home. We got her to come out, and checked her for broken bones and any ill signs.  Other than being visibly shaken, she seemed fine.

I even brought her some food, which she gobbled down. She was hungry. I got her to go to the second floor, and she started playing. Finally, I tried to get her to go downstairs for food and water. She would not budge. When I carried her down to the living room she let out a distressed meow.

She looked up at the ceiling fan, jumped out of my arms, and raced back up the stairs. We have three ceiling fans on the first floor of our home. It was hot, and they were going full blast. Personally, I like ceiling fans.

When I turned them off and carried her back down, she nervously looked up at them. I stayed with her while she ate and sipped water. I promised I would not turn them back on. So we are in our hot house with the windows open, and I am thinking about getting air conditioners.

  Most of us don’t think that our pets will be harmed in the safety of our own homes. Unfortunately, accidents and aggressive behaviors can occur. One of my neighbors told me that her dog was attacked by a friend’s dog who was visiting. The dog was not trained, and the owner said the dog never acted like this before. My friend’s dog suffered a lot of damage, and had to be treated by a veterinarian immediately. Thankfully, the dog is on the mend.

I told my friend that he should report the incident, and that his friend and her dog must take training classes. I also spoke to Dr. Valarie Tynes, DACVB and Veterinary News Network member on what to do if your dog is in a fight.  She offers the following tips:

1. Some pets carry specific pathogenic bacteria that could cause some serious illnesses if introduced into a human’s bloodstream.  If you are bitten by a pet, thoroughly cleanse the bite with a good antiseptic and then seek medical attention.
2. To disrupt a dog fight, consider using any sort of loud noise that might distract the animals.  Whistles, air horns or even bells could work.
3. If your pet responds to the doorbell, go ring it. Other options might include using words that typically motivate your pet, like “walk,” “car ride,” etc.  Be sure to use a loud, but happy tone of voice.
4. Physically interrupting the altercation by covering the dogs with a large, thick blanket can also help to disorient and calm them down.  Another successful option is to use a baby gate or chair to force your way in between the dogs.  This might then enable you to move one dog out of harm’s way.
5. Spray your dog with water or plain carbonated beverage.
6. An important thing to remember is that if your pet has shown any aggressive tendencies, towards people or pets, you need to seek professional help.  Far too many owners wait until the problem becomes severe.
7. The longer a behavior issue continues, the more difficult it will be to correct.  This could mean relinquishment or even euthanasia of the pet.
8. If your pet has shown aggressive behavior, please seek a consultation with your veterinarian immediately.  He or she can help you find ways to help you correct the behavior or even have you consider a consultation with a veterinary behaviorist.

For up to date and accurate pet health information, visit the Veterinary News Network.

  If you visit my house, you have to be careful where you walk. We have two flights of stairs, and have to maneuver carefully so we don’t trip on the cat toys left on the steps.

Karma has adopted a stuffed toy snake with a bright red fuzzy ball on one end. It is her baby. She carries it all over the house, and it often winds up on the stairs. Chai prefers the Cat Dancer. They have other toys, but these are their favorites. Both toys are ratty, and only a few months old.  They prefer these to the other more elaborate and newer toys.

It’s been years since we had kittens in our house. Our last cat was 20 when he died, and we found him as an older cat—around age five. So, this time when we were ready to adopt, my 12-year old son petitioned my husband and me for two kittens.

Our local shelter found a pair of sisters aged 14 weeks. I was still hoping we would get an older cat. They are much more mellow, and I’m at the point in my life where mellow is welcome. I told my son that kittens are a lot more work than an older cat. (The same can be said for a puppy versus an adult dog.) Still, my husband and I promised him, and we kept our word.

The kittens do get into everything. My husband works as a puppeteer, teaching artist, actor, and director. My basement is filled with art supplies. One friend who came over remarked, “Oh, now I know why the art supply store ran out of Tacky Glue. It’s all here in your basement.” So the basement is off limits. Still, they have found ways to get down there.

Chai and Karma are a lot of fun to play with. My son and I are amazed at how high they jump when we take out the Cat Dancer.  By playing with and taking care of the cats he is learning about being responsible.

Prior to our shelter visit, my son knew that adoption was the only route for this family. With so many wonderful cats, dogs, kittens, and puppies available at area shelters it makes sense to adopt.

You Can Change A Life

Maddie’s® Pet Adoption Days, the biggest free pet adoption event in America, is going national in 2013, and the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals is leading the charge in New York City. They want to place hundreds of dogs and cats in qualified forever homes, and are hosting Maddie’s® Pet Adoption Days on June 1 & 2. Free adoptions will be offered throughout the weekend at participating shelters and other adoption locations, and at two large outdoor adoption events in Manhattan.  Please click here to learn more.

Editor’s Note:  This is a sponsored post, and I am happy to support this cause.

  The Boston Marathon bombing was heartbreaking. I have visited Beantown a number of times, and am a fan of the city. I am also a native New Yorker, and listening to the news brought me back to September 11, 2001.
I used to live in Battery Park City, and could see the World Trade Center from my window. With the planes crashing into the World Trade Center and the Boston Marathon bombing, I not only felt sad, I felt helpless and was sucked in by the news. I found it hard to work. 

I was recently contacted by the people of The Fish and Bone, a pet boutique located one block away from the site of the bombings in Boston. They are selling T-shirts for dogs, men, women, and kids, and ALL the profits go to The One Fund Boston, set up by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to help the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred on April 15.

You can order  the t-shirts here. 

A cicada can do a lot of damage to trees.

Have you heard about the cicada invasion? They are expected to arrive in CT, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA, and D.C. in late spring.

I spoke with Anand Persad, Ph.D.,B.C.E., Regional Technical Advisor/Lecturer Entomology at The Davey Tree Expert Company in Ohio.   He suggests doing the following to protect your trees:

1. Delay pruning your trees until the cicadas are gone. This can help remove some of the limbs they have damaged.

2. Protect smaller trees by covering them with a breathable covering like a cheesecloth.

3. Put out additional bird feeders because birds naturally prey on cicadas and other bugs.

I also asked him about getting rid of cicada killers, which come to my yard in NJ every summer. Cicada killers look like bees on steroids. Here is my Q&A with Anand:

Pet News and Views: Are there any natural or eco-friendly products to use on cicadas? This has to be bird and pet friendly.
Anand: Cicadas are large, robust insects and past research shows any type of pesticide, natural or not, may not be very effective as it would require direct contact application.

PNAV: I’ve heard about setting up bird feeders, since birds are natural predators. Any particular birds? Any particular bird seed to put down to attract those types of birds?
Anand: Dry branches placed as perches may provide launching areas for birds which aggregate to feed on cicadas. Insectivorous birds such as blue birds, house sparrows, wood peckers etc. are fairly common predators. A bird feeder placed outdoors with suet and wild birds mix may help, as birds will be more familiar with your yard. Place bird feeders where your youngest, most susceptible trees or shrubs are.

PNAV: How many more cicadas are expected this year and why?
Anand: 2013 is expected to be a year of emergence in colossal proportions in several states in the northeast. It is expected that emergence will start in the south of its range probably early May in the Carolinas and work its way north to the New England states and potentially inundate much of the east coast. Because of overlapping generations, the 17-year cicada belonging to the Genus, Magicicada, may emerge at different times in different locations between the 17 year period. Cicadas that emerge in the same synchronized generation are known as a brood and are designated a Roman numeral which differentiates each brood.

The cicada killers in my yard really frighten me.

PNAV: I have been battling cicada killers for the past 5 years. They look like bees on steroids. Can you comment on getting rid of them? And if there are more cicadas, does that mean that there will be more cicada killers?
Anand: Cicada killers actually prey more on the annual (dog day/summer) cicada and will emerge later than the Brood II in most of the range in the east coast. Thus, they will miss being a significant natural enemy of the periodical cicada.