“I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance….” ~Reuben Blades

There is nothing wrong with celebrating the birthdays of your pets.  In fact, I highly encourage it if you aren’t currently doing so!  It’s a fun way to bond with them and enjoy your time together, and also reminds you to take pictures of and with your beloved fur baby.  Time always flies by too fast with our pets, and birthdays are a wonderful reminder to reflect and celebrate!

To honor Monty turning 9 on the 9th of August, we did the Nine Days of Monty!  Two of the days were planned for outdoor fun, but Monty sprained his ankle on day 3… so activities were unfortunately limited, and his birthday hike/swim has been postponed.  (way to finally show your age, pup!)

Happy Golden Birthday, Mr. Montague!

Cecil the Lion (and how being mad at his murder does not mean I don’t think black lives matter).

Unless you have been unplugged from all electronics the past week, you already know about the tragedy of Cecil the Lion’s murder by a Minnesota dentist, Walter Palmer.

Trophy hunting is near the top of my list of horrible things people still do for some dumb reason.  I will never understand the mind of a person who wants to kill the most magnificent creatures on this earth just so they can put their body parts up on a wall.  It is the makings of a serial killer to have the capacity to see a beautiful living thing and have your first thought be “I want to murder that being and put it’s head in my house”.

I was happy to see the amount of people upset at this and took a moment to really appreciate how far we have come that so many are up in arms about Cecil.  Then a few moments passed, and the other voices online, in the news, and in person started flooding in.  Comments about “Cecil the Pig”, about the companion animal euthanasia problems, that more people are upset about a lion than the most recent black person to be killed by a cop.  And I got frustrated.  Really, really frustrated.

There are THOUSANDS of problems with our society and our world.  THOUSANDS.  If people are up in arms about an incident, that doesn’t mean the general population isn’t upset about other things, too.  It means their focus is on the tragedy that just occurred.  Yes, I am livid that millions dogs and cats are euthanized each day in this country.  I am livid that billions of farm animals are tortured their entire lives just to be slaughtered for meat.  I am livid that so many cops abuse their power and are killing innocent people every day.  But that doesn’t mean I am not allowed to be pissed that a trophy hunter killed a vital animal in a nature preserve.

Some people are civil rights activists.  Some are animal rights activists.  Some people aren’t activists, per se, but do have morals and emotions, and get upset when an unnecessary tragedy happens.  This does not necessarily mean that a person dedicating their life to animal rights doesn’t care about people (or the other way around).  Or that someone who normally isn’t push for a better world in some capacity on social media doesn’t care.  I cried tears of anger when I heard about Cecil the Lion.  I also cried tears of anger after watching the video of Sandra Bland.  I didn’t post about either on my Facebook page.  Does that mean I don’t care about either living being that lost their life in a horrendous way?  No.

So please don’t knock someone for standing up for a positive change in this world.  If we all focused on those one or two issues we are personally passionate about and demanded positive change, this world would be an amazing place.  So focus on your one or two issues – and I’ll focus on mine…  And I look forward to a day where all lives truly matter and this wonderful earth of ours is a happy, healthy place.

There are so many ways to give back to your community and the world in general.  I’ve listed a few ideas to get you started, but please consider what you can do to make a difference!

Volunteer

I personally volunteer with the Fort Collins Cat Rescue, currently as a weekly cattery cleaner for their off-site adoptions location at the local PetSmart.  It takes only 2 hours out of my week, and I feel absolutely amazing afterwards.  Volunteering doesn’t have to take a lot of time, and there are nonprofits in every sector looking for help – finding one that supports something you are passionate about is as easy as using Google to search for local opportunities!

Join a Nonprofit Board

There are so many amazing nonprofits, and all of them legally have to have a board of directors.  This board is the nonprofit’s governing body, and most nonprofits struggle to make their boards as effective and diverse as possible.  If you are passionate about a specific cause and/or have expertise in an area that can help a nonprofit (examples are law, accounting, insurance, human resources, etc), consider joining a board!

Donate Blood

This is such an easy way to give back and feel great about it!  When I was 17, I received a blood transfusion that helped save my life so I now give back by donating four times a year.  I prefer to donate directly to the local hospitals so they don’t have to deal with the middle man like the Red Cross (they charge hospitals for your blood donation).  Here in Northern Colorado, I donate to the Garth Englund Blood Center, which is part of the Poudre Valley Health Systems.  Even if you have a fear of needles, give it a try – you could save several lives with that one pint of blood and it only takes an hour to do it!

Donate Hair

Every two years, I cut a foot of hair off and donate it to a nonprofit that makes wigs for children suffering from hair loss (usually from cancer treatments).  I used to joke that I needed to be careful when I cut my hair while in a relationship because I would like to have long hair for my wedding, but that doesn’t seem to be something I need to concern myself with anymore.  (one of the few benefits of being single!).   If you have longer hair and are looking for a new hairstyle that would involve at least 8 inches of hair being cut, donate it!

Places to donate your hair

Join the Bone Marrow Registry

I joined the registry a few years ago when my friend, Tia, was battling cancer and needed a bone marrow transplant.  She asked all of us to register after she learned how difficult it can be to find a match.  The odds of there being a match is pretty slim, but for the person who could be a match with you, it will save their life.  It only takes a minute to do the test and drop it in the mail!

Info to join the registry

Attend a Charity Benefit

It could be a 5k, dinner at a specific restaurant, a sale at a bookstore, a fun and fancy gala … nonprofits are constantly putting on events in your community that help benefit their cause.  Just this past week, I ran in a 5k benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County and shopped at the Eclectic Reader and had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant to support the Fort Collins Cat Rescue.  It’s a fun way to support a cause while enjoying your community!  I have never been to that bookstore or restaurant before and this was a great excuse to explore what Fort Collins has to offer while also knowing I was supporting a great cause.  Many local community calendars will post these types of events, or your favorite local charity will post it on their website/facebook page.

There are many other ways to help than what I just listed here.  Get out there and help however you can… if we all do a little, this world would be a much different (amazing) place!

We all know about the horrible drought facing California.  Local governments all over that great state are enforcing ordinances about using sprinklers, communities are sharing tips and guidelines on reducing water use around the house, and people all over the country are pointing at green lawns and golf courses while shaking their heads at the waste.  However, direct use of water in California (toilets, sinks, sprinklers, etc) only makes us 4% of the state’s water use.  So while the average person thinks they are doing their part by flushing the toilet less and taking shorter showers, it actually won’t put much of a dent on the state’s overall water use.

What will?  Most people in the United States are not going to like the answer.  Eat less meat.  The cattle market in California alone uses up almost 50% of the states water use.  HALF.  For one ounce of beef, it takes over 106 gallons of water to produce.  That’s 66 flushes of a standard toilet.  6 showers.  For ONE OUNCE of beef.

The meat industry in general takes up a lot of water to produce.  Below is a very handy chart that shows how many gallons of water is needed to produce one ounce of food.  The top two?  Beef and Lamb.  If we want to be serious about conserving water and avoiding these droughts, we need to stop eating so much beef in this country.

I commend people for being more conscious of their water use, and communities for putting in measures to help us conserve this precious resource.  But if we really want to make a change and put a real dent in our water use, we need to reevaluate our dieting habits.  If everyone in this country ate one less beef-related dish each week, we’d save 135,213,600,000 gallons of water.  In one week.  Let’s all pledge to eat less beef – maybe join in on meatless Mondays – and help avoid these horrendous droughts.

Even the most careful can have a companion animal go missing – it is a scary situation, but hopefully these recommendations help you be prepared and be reunited with your family member safely and quickly!

• Make sure your pet is microchipped! And once your pet is microchipped, make sure to keep the contact information associated with it current. All shelters, vet offices, and police states have microchip scanners, so your odds of being reunited increase exponentially when your pet is microchipped.
• Call all area shelters and rescue groups to report your missing pet. Give them a detailed description of appearance, your pet’s name, age, breed. But don’t stop there – physically go to those shelters at least once every three days to walk through their stray holding areas to see if your pet is there. Many shelters mean well, but too often they aren’t able to match up your report with a pet that shows up, so go there and check yourself! The three day recommendation is because most states allow shelters to put animals up for adoption or euthanize pets after three days.
• Make a flyer and distribute it around your neighborhood and surrounding areas. Also post your flyer on local community boards in your area (libraries, coffee shops, visitor centers, etc). Include on your flyer a clear, full bodied picture of your pet, your contact information, and their name. A reward is up to you, some say to not do one, but I don’t see why not if you think it will help in your neighborhood.
• Put out food and water on your property. Most pets don’t actually go very far when they get lost, and some become so spooked they forget they have you and a home. Putting out food and water may attract them back.
• Go looking! As I already mentioned, most pets don’t actually go very far, so look at local places that would be a safe hiding spot (under neighbor’s porches, barns, etc), places that have food available (dumpsters, farms, etc) . Do not be discouraged if you find your pet, but they run away. If they are spooked enough, they forget they have a safe home and become semi-feral to survive. Don’t chase after them, use some high value treats (hot dogs are always a good option) to coax them back, and consider setting some live traps with those hot dogs near where you saw them. If you do set the live traps where you spotted them, make sure to check those traps at least twice a day.

Don’t lose hope, and keep looking!

Summer is a tough time of year for shelters across the country. Unaltered dogs and cats are having their puppies and kittens in droves, the summer celebrations and holidays spook many pets into running away from the yard and getting lost, and summer storms also spook pets into becoming strays.

Strays

To avoid losing your pet, first and foremost, keep them inside where they are safe – especially during the holidays and storms. When outside, make sure you are keeping an eye on them, even if you have a fence. You’d be surprised how quickly and easily a scared dog can scale a fence.

Secondly, make sure your pet is microchipped and, once they are, that the information attached to the mircochip is current. This is the easiest way to be reunited with your pet! And if your pet does go missing, make sure to report it to your local shelters and rescue groups, and stop by on a regular basis (at least every three days) to walk through their stray holds and see if your friend has shown up. It also helps to put posters with clear photos of your pet around your neighborhood and surrounding areas.

Adopt!

Now is the PERFECT time to adopt!!! If you have been thinking of adding a new member to your family, summer is the perfect time to adopt from your local shelter or rescue group. Since they are bursting at the seams with unclaimed strays and puppies/kittens and their parents, you will have a great selection and usual a good deal for the adoption fee because many shelters run specials to help get those animals adopted.

Help!

With shelters at capacity and nonprofit involvement from the community at all time lows in summer, your shelter/rescue group needs YOU! Consider a donation, volunteering, fostering, or all three. It is extremely rewarding to help companion animals and the shelters that care for them. Plus not only will the human staff be eternally grateful for your help, so will those four, three, two, one, and no legged pets. 🙂

Be safe and Happy Summer!

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

It’s that time of year: where across the country, American’s celebrate our independence day with parades, cookouts, fireworks, and general revelry! It’s a wonderful tradition, but for your companion animal, it might not be so much fun. Here are some tips for keeping your pets safe and happy during the celebrations this coming weekend:

• Parades are tons of fun to watch and participate in, but it might be a good idea to reconsider taking your dog along with you to enjoy it. Most dogs are not fans of large, compact crowds of people. Plus, there will be scary noises coming from the bands, firetrucks, etc as well as many children running wild who may not be as respectful as they usually are with dogs. The vast majority of dogs I have seen at parades are demonstrating nervous and overwhelmed behavior – help Fido keep calm and leave him safely inside at home instead of joining you at the parade.
• Fireworks are TERRIFYING for dogs. There are very few that don’t react to noise of the explosions and how can we blame them – they don’t know it’s pretty and not harmful to them. Definitely DO NOT bring your pup to go watch the fireworks and PLEASE keep your pets safely inside for the entirety of the weekend. The loud explosions of fireworks spook dogs, and many will run away due to fear. Shelters across the country have a huge influx of stray dogs during and after July 4^th because so many got out of the yard and ran. Keep Fido safely inside and don’t bring him along for fireworks watching.
• Cookouts are awesome, even for vegetarians like me. 🙂 My main caution for your pets is to make sure they are not getting into the human food and that you keep an eye on them in regards to the grill. It is all too common to see pups with severe burns due to trying to get at that burger on the hot coal grill! And so many human foods are harmful to pets, so it’s best to not chance it and keep Fido away from the picnic tables and ask guests to not put their plates on the ground (helps avoid ants, anyways!). Keep the food away from Fido and have a watchful eye on him with the grill.

The Fourth of July is a great American Holiday – enjoy the celebration, be safe, and Happy Independence Day!

Nesting Blanding’s Turtle

Yes, it is nesting season for turtles everywhere in the country, so you will probably spot a few out of water walking around this month.  Don’t fret, they are just looking for a good spot to lay their eggs and will head back to water right after the job is done.  But if you do see a turtle on or near a roadway (or near any other kind of danger), please help them!

Most turtles look like rocks from a car on the road and many get killed trying to cross. If you do see a turtle near a roadway, simply pick them up by the back of their upper shell (avoid the front or upper sides, their necks are long and they can bite!) and move them off the side of the road that has the water.

If you see a turtle nesting (laying her eggs), leave her be!  If you get too close and scare her, she will abandon the nest which does not bode well for her eggs.  Consider standing guard for her if she is in a high-traffic area, just make sure to give her several yards of space so she doesn’t spook.

If you aren’t sure what to do or are worried the turtle you’ve found is hurt in anyway, call the local wildlife rescue and they will be able to help talk you through it or come get her.

Happy Nesting Season!