Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats

An East Texas dog owner found a piece of plastic in a can of Beef N’ More dog food. And he wants to warn other pet owners to be cautious of what is in your pet’s food.

Last month, William Sikorski opened up a can of Beef N’ More dog food and found the foreign object. He said he normally mixes canned dog food with dry dog food and found it by accident.

Sikorski contacted Beef N’ More, which is based in Texas, and they sent him a refund check in the mail. But Sikorski said that a check is simply not enough.

He stated, “It’s more than a check, it’s the point that something that was foreign was found in the dog food which, doesn’t need to be there. I want to be sure that the company is doing their part so it won’t happen again.”

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The new Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center is earth-friendly and hopes these “green” practices will help the animals at the shelter get a better chance at being adopted.

This 52,000 square foot facility can hold up to 800 animals. Natural light fills the whole building and each kennel. Compost and native landscaping are used in the exercise areas, and recycled materials are used in kennels, countertops, and the carpet.

“This is a brand new, state-of-the-art environmentally friendly facility, and if I was an animal, this is where I’d want to come,” said Paul Curington, Dallas Animal Services operations Manager. “We needed something that would benefit the animals, as well as staff taking care of the animals, as long as they’re with us.”

Environmentally safe paints and flooring were also used, so air quality will be better in the animal shelter.

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A shelter dog named Prince saved the life of Princess, an anemic stray boxer mix.

Princess was found in a Dallas parking lot and was brought to a veterinarian. The vet said that Princess needed a blood transfusion within 24 hours or she should would most likely die. Princess was half her normal weight.

Because there was no supply of blood on hand, the search began for a donor.

And that’s where Prince enters the story.

This happy 11-month-old shepherd-terrier mix (pictured here) has lived at Operation Kindness, a no-kill animal shelter, for six months and seemed to be the perfect donor.

Jonnie England, the executive director of Operation Kindness, said, “Fortunately, Prince had a lot of good, healthy blood to give and the transfusion worked. She responded immediately. She was a new dog.”

England added, “Since she’s here today because she has Prince’s blood, we settled on [naming her] ‘Princess’. ”

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When the American Inn motel in Dallas, Texas was demolished, a stray dog’s life was spared when crews saw the dog.

Lucky, the dog, was then brought into the Dallas animal shelter where he is currently being cared for. Veterinarians said that Lucky needs an expensive amputation surgery due to his injuries.

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert has stepped in to help Lucky and is paying all of the dog’s medical bills out of his own pocket.

Source: Dallas Morning News

Texas Tech has banned the sale of T-shirts that have caused controversy on the campus and led to many fans and students calling them tasteless.

The red and black shirts say “VICK ‘EM” on the front which is a reference to their rival, Texas A&M, and their slogan of “Gig ‘em”. The back of the shirt has a football player wearing a No. 7 Vick jersey holding a rope with Texas A&M’s dog mascot attached to it.

The shirts were created by a Texas Tech student who was trying to sell them before this Saturday’s game against Texas A&M.

Texas Tech officials have banned the sale of these T-shirts and added that they would not allow anything to be sold that was “derogatory, inflammatory, insensitive, or in such bad taste.” No more shirts are being produced.

The fraternity that was selling the shirts has been suspended temporarily and will face judicial review for allegedly violating the solicitation section of the students’ code of conduct.

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Do you spoil your cat? And if you admit to spoiling your cat, what do you do?

Valerie Maros, a Texas woman, spoils her best friend, her cat Buddy.

To celebrate Buddy’s 16th birthday, she took out a full-page ad in her local newspaper announcing her cat’s special day.

Maros said she has two homes, and both of the homes are actually Buddy’s. She added that he simply allows her to live with him.

This Himalayan mix has ten beds to sleep on between his two homes. He even has a $500 wooden bed in one of the rooms, and above the bed hangs a custom oil painting made especially for this pampered cat.

Maros has a custom photo of her best friend above her bed, and she wears custom designed jewelery with images of Buddy adorned on them.

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Warning: This story might disturb some readers.

The Dallas Morning News reported that a 22-year-old North Dallas man who tortured his dog by setting her on fire has been sentenced to four years in prison for animal cruelty.

Deshawn Brown was prosecuted for stabbing his dog, dousing her with gasoline and setting her afire in April 2006. Prosecutors say he was mad because she wouldn’t mate. Operation Kindness, a no-kill animal shelter in Carrollton, took her in but she died 10 days later.

Jonnie England, the shelter’s executive director, was disappointed with the sentence. The offense carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. Prosecutor David Alex asked jurors to give Mr. Brown that sentence — one year for each day the dog, named “Mercy” by shelter workers, suffered before dying.

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More than 240 neglected dogs living in horrible conditions were taken from a puppy mill and were taken to safety.

Authorities were tipped off by a man who went to the Texas property to buy a camper trailer, but instead he saw hundreds of dogs that were underfed and malnourished. Seeing the conditions, he was prompted to bring back food for the dogs.

When the SPCA of Texas came to the scene, they saw hundreds of dogs in cages and kennels all over the property. Some were dead already and some were in need of desperate medical attention.

One worker said that this was one of the worst she had ever seen. She said there was feces and trash everywhere, and the dogs were living in horrid conditions.

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Here again is another athlete that has voiced his opinions about Michael Vick and dog fighting. Every day, there seems to be someone new that opens their mouth and comments on Vick. I guess they haven’t learned that “no comment” is sometimes the best answer.

Terrell Owens (also known as T.O.), a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, said he saw his uncle involved in dog fighting, and it was part of the culture.

“Being from the South, that’s something that’s very prevalent in that area,” Owens said. “So when I say it’s a cultural situation, I’m not trying to bring a racial barrier into it. If anyone wants to dig that up, I will dispel that.”

Owens said he loves animals and when he was young, he had German shepherds. He compared his love for dogs as the same way his grandmother loved dogs. He stated that he is not saying dog fighting should be accepted.

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The Tsougarakis family was relieved when they found their lost dog at an animal shelter, but were then completely heart broken to find out their pit bull was mistakenly euthanized.

The one-and-a-half year old pit bill ran away on Saturday, and he was found at the Mesquite Animal Shelter on Wednesday. There were no tags or any identification on the dog.

The family went to pick their dog up at the Texas shelter on Wednesday, but the employees told the family they had to come back with documentation and photographs to prove the pit bull belonged to them.

They came back the next day, but they were too late. The shelter had already euthanized their dog.

The shelter said the staff employee should have placed a special hold on the pit bull as soon as the family came to claim him. The Mesquite Animal Shelter said they will review procedures to ensure a situation like this will not happen again.

Source: MyFoxDW.com

Jim Stevenson is the founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society and is an avid bird lover. He also is set to stand trial this month for a felony cat murder.

A jury may decide if Stevenson acted within his rights when he shot a feral cat that was preying on a bird.

It comes down to the feral cat versus bird debate. Stevenson struggled with the question if feral cats are pets or pests.

“They see it as a choice,” said Stevenson. “Does Jim shoot the cat or not shoot the cat? But that’s not the choice,” he said. “It’s a choice of who dies, the cat or the bird. By acting or not acting, I had to choose who dies.”

The incident happened in November 2006. Stevenson drove to the beach that was 15 minutes from his house. He saw some piping plovers, which are endangered birds, sleeping. A limping cat was about to come up on the birds when Stevenson appeared, and the cat escaped into the darkness.

He went home and went on the Internet to research Galveston’s city code. The code requires pets to have tags, and all pets are prohibited on the beaches. Texas penal law made it a crime to kill animals, but only those “belonging to another.” Stevenson felt like this cat that he saw on the beach was not someone’s pet because there were no tags and it was on the beach.

The next morning, Stevenson got his .22-caliber rifle, loaded into his Ornithological Society van, and decided to go cat hunting.

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Would your cat like this stylish cat house?

Miss Widget is the official mascot and office cat at the Dallas Wind Symphony. This 10-year-old black shorthair cat lives out her days listening to Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin.

She describes herself as “svelte, ebony-hued, with a sleek coat, of American ancestry.”

Recently, Miss Widget has been getting quite some attention. Actually her house was. The Dallas Wind Symphony was chosen by the American Society of Interior Designers Dallas Design Community to receive an office makeover. And this included Miss Widget’s house.

“When we had our first meeting at the Dallas Wind Symphony office, it became clear that Miss Widget was in charge of things there. As an animal lover, it was important to me that we made sure to include her in our design,” says R. Scott Frelick, ASID Dallas Design Community chairman.

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A new Texas dog bite law went into effect on September 1. Pet owners will face felony charges if their dogs seriously injure or kill someone and could go to prison.

The new law came after the fatal mauling of a 76-year-old Central Texas woman.

Under the new law, the owner of a dangerous dog can still face misdemeanor charges if the animal injures someone. That same owner now can be on the hook for a felony and prison time if the victim dies or suffers wounds requiring hospitalization.

Eliminating the so-called free-bite defense, a dog’s first attack can be a felony offense – if the injuries are fatal or severe enough and if prosecutors prove the owner’s criminal negligence in not securing the animal.

Officials said this adds some sting to laws that are difficult to enforce, easy to disregard and that usually punish the dogs instead of their owners who are responsible for them.

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A North Texas animal shelter has dealt with a huge amount of criticism after they implemented a controversial policy on pit bulls. Since March 2004, the Erath County Humane Society automatically euthanizes pit bulls or dogs that look like pit bulls without giving them a chance for adoption and a new home.

“The decision was based not only on our 23 years of experience with dogs and cats of all breeds and cross breeds, but also the statistics and facts provided by various other types of organizations and media sources. The information provided and used in our decision indicates that pit bull dogs, also known as the American Staffordshire, whether full blood or crosses, pose the greatest risk and liability threat of all dog breeds,” Gail Johnson, president of the humane society, said in a letter.

The organization said they have the best interest of the public and believe the genetics of pit bulls causes the shelter to be at risk for possible liabilities. So, any dog or puppy that resembles a pit bull is euthanized and is never offered up for adoption after the required three-day reclaim waiting period.

Johnson stated she doesn’t think there are any good pit bulls.

The director of Erath County Humane Society, Judy Hallmark, agreed.

“They’re very strong. [It] takes everything out of me. We don’t have any choice, we can’t run the risk of them turning,” Hallmark said.

She added that she used to ask rescue groups to take the pit bulls, but she said now they don’t even want them. She also sometimes had pig hunters take the dogs.

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