Protect Your Pet this 4th of July

This is an excerpt from the Linda Blair Worldheart newsletter. Linda graciously granted me permission to re-post these important tips for keeping our pets safe this year. Thank you, Linda!

You can read the entire post here. 

Please go see their website and learn more about the incredible work they do for animals and how you can help!


Protect Your Pet this 4th of July

Follow these precautions to ensure a SAFE and HAPPY 4th of July:

• Resist the urge to take your pet to fireworks displays.If possible, stay with the animal during the majority of the fireworks. They often react more intensely to loud sounds and flashes of lights when humans are not around.
• Keep your pet indoors! Never leave pets outside unattended, even in a fenced yard or on a chain. In their fear, pets who normally wouldn't leave the yard may escape and become lost, or become entangled in their chain, risking injury or death.
• Do not leave your pet in the car. With only hot air to breathe inside a car, your pet can suffer serious health effects-even death-in a few short minutes. Partially opened windows do not provide sufficient air, but they do provide an opportunity for your pet to be stole
•  If you know that your pet is seriously distressed by loud noises like thunder, consult with your veterinarian before July 4th for ways to help alleviate the fear and anxiety he or she will experience during fireworks displays.
• Always keep proper identification securely fastened to a dog's collars in case it gets out. Consider talking to your veterinarian about implanting a universal microchip.  Make sure your veterinary hospital and animal shelter have your correct contact information in their database.
• Keep them away from the front and back doors. They may be under significant stress, which could result in unnecessary injury to others or cause them to dart out the door and become lost.
• Create a special area or "den" in your home where dogs can feel safe. A properly introduced crate or kennel can be a calming refuge.  
• Some dogs become destructive when frightened. If you don't use a crate, be sure to remove items from the room that they could destroy or would hurt them if chewed.  
• Keep windows and curtains closed to reduce noise and bright flashes.
• Turn on a TV or radio at normal volume to distract them from loud noises. 
• Consider hiring a pet sitter to stay with the animal while you are away from home.

“My Cause is Better than Your Cause” Syndrome

This is something I see and hear a lot of, and it really bothers me. Some issue or cause comes up, and someone or some group is trying to do some good, and inevitably someone pipes up with the suggestion or condemnation that “cause X” is less worthy than some other cause and that those who help out should be helping with something else.

Sometimes it is a thoughtful suggestion that I can sympathize and generally agree with. For instance, Americans probably should help starving and underprivileged kids in the U.S. before devoting their resources to other countries. For that matter, I personally believe that it’s best to start with your own family and friends, then branch out to your local community, and so on.

But, that’s just how I feel and how I choose to do things. I don’t pass judgment on people who choose to do something, anything, out of kindness. I do feel that my opinion and choices matter when it comes to what the government does with my money, but that’s a different subject.

In other instances it is more arrogant and insulting. Yes, there are people who will say that if you support animal welfare projects you are a piece of shit because no one should do anything for animals until all humans have been helped. Or, the people who think you should divert your donations to organizations that “help the environment” or work for world peace, or whatever. There are even people who believe that other individuals should only be allowed to give to certain causes.

That’s where I lose it.

We could argue all day long about which causes “should” be the priority, but the reality is that people give the most and give the best to the causes that move them and speak to them personally. We should be glad when anyone wants to do anything good and helpful. Trying to dictate to what and why a person chooses to give of themselves, and condemning them for their choices, only discourages people from doing anything good at all.

So, here’s my point (or one of them, anyway). When you do something that other people say you should do, or that you merely feel obligated to do, it’s usually half-assed. When you do something you are passionate about, it’s full-on and effective. And, you feel better about it. It’s actually rewarding and that trickles down to your personal goodness and how you treat those around you.

I would rather see people being passionate and effective in causes that don’t mean much, or anything, to me than a bunch of mediocre, ineffective crap going to the things I find most important.

Feral Cat Emergency, Helping Only Takes a Few Seconds of Your Time

I had planned to post something that would give you more of a taste for the general flavor of my blog as my first real post, but this is an urgent matter that cannot wait…

This is a feral cat emergency in Waco, TX. You cn do something to help with just a few seconds of your time.

From The Petition Site:

In the summer of 2007, Lions Club granted Heart of Texas Feral Friends access to Lions Park so our volunteers could spay/neuter and vaccinate the park’s cats through a process called Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

Our volunteers helped TNR more than 40 cats, at NO COST to Lions Club. Today, there are only 9 TNR cats living at the park, all are spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, and cared for daily by volunteers.

Now, five years later, Waco Lions Club board members voted to evict these 9 cats from Lions Park…

You can go read more and sign the petition here.

You can get updates on the situation and find out what you can do at the Heart of Texas Feral Friends website. This is the latest update:

Sun., Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.

It's outrageous!
"NO TRESPASSING" SIGNS HAVE BEEN POSTED at our "COMMUNITY" LIONS PARK,
preventing HOTFF Volunteers from feeding the 9 Park Cats.

Who would have expected this from a respected long-standing "service group"
towards a fellow volunteer group providing them a free program
on land leased to them by the City of Waco for the "public good"?