Current News

By Marnie McGann

Professional pet care makes

summer travel easier

Summer travel and vacations are meant to alleviate our day-to-day stress. However, leaving pets behind or even bringing them along is not always easy. People with pets know that dogs especially, like children, thrive in familiar surroundings and from routine and schedules. When you have made the choice to leave your pets behind and know that they may suffer intermittent or constant anxiety separation, a few options may help.

In the Valley, there are several pet resorts from which to choose. Paws Concierge, which opened in 2005, is committed to both outstanding pet care and donating a total of 5 percent of each customer’s payment to pet rescue groups, with 2 percent going directly to Phoenix Animal Care Coalition (PACC911), aligned with Paws Concierge. “They do such a wonderful job organizing rescue groups,” says Paws Concierge owner and founder, Tom Murray. “I believe they should get a portion of the money.”

Paws Concierge boasts a cage-free environment with webcams so parents can “watch their children 24/7,” Murray explains. “This relieves much of their concern when they can see for themselves how well their pet is doing.” Dogs are kept distracted by lots of play and activity (to lessen anxiety separation), and by bedtime, or what Paws Concierge refers to as the Slumber Party, they can even choose their own bed in separate rooms. Paws Concierge is also listed as the pet concierge for five high-end Valley resorts and often transports pets by limousine service. Paws Concierge has two locations: West Valley [(602) 588-7833 (RUFF)] and East Valley [(602) 442-7833].

If boarding your pet is out of the question, there is also the option of a pet sitter. The National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS) is a nonprofit whose self-proclaimed mission is to provide tools and support to foster the success of members businesses and to promote the value of pet sitting to the public. The organization’s website can help people with pets locate pet sitters in their area—all of whom are certified by the association.

For more information, visit PetSitters.org.

Summer camp offers children

veterinary experience

Children and pets are a great combination. As the innocents of this world, they not only identify with each other, but also look out for one another. So it should come as no surprise that children take a keen interest in veterinary medicine.

Suzanne Higgins, DVM, of the Deer Creek Animal Hospital and her hospital staff noticed this interest and decided to do something about it. A spring camp—the Junior Vet Tech Experience—was offered as an idea and given a test run as a possible summer camp.

Armed with handbooks and complete emergency kits (provided by the Deer Creek Animal Hospital), the junior vet techs began learning first aid and safety. They were also shown the principles of a proper exam and how to recognize common health problems. Gowned and masked, the kids performed lab tests and even practiced suturing a pig’s foot. They also observed surgery as a mass was removed from a patient’s leg.

The camp proved a success, so another summer camp has been scheduled for June 13. The cost of $300 will include lunch, T-shirt, emergency kit, and handbook.

“I am a strong advocate of education,” says Higgins, “and believe it’s important for children to be exposed to a variety of learning environments at an early age. Peaking their curiosity will encourage further education and lifelong learning.”

For more information about the camp, call (602) 404-0066 or email Deandra Robbins at drobbins@deercreekah.net.

Rescuing reservation dogs proves rewarding

You have to admire the person who sees a need and, despite all obstacles, finds a way to fill that need, even if it means dipping into her own pocket. Such is the case with Sheila Iyengar, founder of Reservation Rewards Animal Rescue, a nonprofit that has recently gained momentum with additional volunteers and interest from the Queen Creek and Gila River Indian Reservation communities.

As a resident of Queen Creek, owner and head trainer of Lotus Dog Training and Boarding, and a fervent animal activist since she was a child, Iyengar would periodically visit “the res” for tribal ceremonies. There she began to single handedly rescue injured dogs and pay for their care until they could be placed in forever homes. She also brought food for reservation dogs and provided training. However, the animal crisis Iyenger witnessed on the reservation needed a solid plan of action along with a heart of gold. “I saw this enormous need,” she explains, “and soon began thinking of the bigger picture.” Reservation Rewards Animal Rescue was formed and eventually offered a spay and neuter program. There are thousands of dogs on the reservation who cannot be cared for due to poverty, Iyenger reports, even though dogs are important in the tribal society. “Families were approaching me asking for help,” she says. “I felt I had to do something. I believe you can stay in the trenches for too long. There comes a point when you have to be proactive to beat the cycle.”

Thirty dogs a month are spayed or neutered by Reservation Rewards (at a cost of $30 per dog), and also given necessary vaccinations and a new bright red collar, an idea that came to Iyenger while spending time in Peru. “I noticed the community there began to take pride in that red collar—red being a sacred tribal color—and I hoped the same thing would happen here.”

Although recent fundraising events such as the Motorcycle Shelter Run, Rummage for Rescue, the ongoing Kans for K9s (in which collected aluminum cans are turned in for cash to buy dog food), and car washes help fund the organization, Iyengar still personally pays for many of the expenditures.
“My eventual goal for this organization,” says Iyenger, “is for it to focus on the children of the reservation.” Iyenger has already met with the tribal counsel, and members agreed to have the children earn points toward training and caring for the dogs who are to be put up for adoption. The children will have a say in who will adopt a particular dog. “This will be empowering,” Iyenger explains. “I think it’s important that the children have a voice.

Arizona leads the way in

homeopathic vet education

Statistics show that today more than 50 million Americans use some form of homeopathic medicine and that homeopathic sales have risen 35 to 40 percent in the last five years. So it’s no wonder that veterinary medicine has also seen the tide turn as more people with pets seek out vets with homeopathic training and certification as a way to complement conventional medicine.

In Arizona, the interest in homeopathic veterinarian medicine is growing. This September, a 500-hour training program for veterinarians will be the first offered in the country. In addition, Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD, and director of the American Medical College of Homeopathy, says a first-of-its-kind program for a new profession—homeopathic veterinary assistance—will also be offered.

With a strong focus on research, innovative curriculum, and a diverse, professional faculty, the school will offer 167 hours of clinical training over the course of two years.

For more information, call (602) 347-7950 or visit
AMCOFH.org/programs/veterinary.html.

Olympic clean-up effort involves extermination of cats

The world is well aware of the massive clean-up effort under way in Beijing prior to the 2008 Olympic Summer Games—but people may not know that ridding the city of stray cats through grossly inhumane means is part of this endeavour. The Chinese government is reportedly engaged in the extermination of hundreds of thousands of stray cats throughout Beijing. Officials, according to the UK newspaper the Daily Mail, are systematically taking cats from off the streets to “death camps,” where the cats perish from starvation and disease.

The government is exacerbating the presence of cats roaming city streets through a propaganda campaign claiming that cats carry several diseases contagious to humans, including the SARS virus. The campaign has created mild hysteria in the population. Animal activists say the fear of contracting diseases from their cats is prompting many guardians to abandon them.

The government claims that citizens can adopt stray cats from 12 pounds throughout the city, but animal activists say that accessibility to these facilities is severely limited. A group that had adopted 30 cats from one compound reported that half of the cats subsequently died from disease. The government has since barred the group from entrance to the pounds.

An estimated 500,000 cats have been culled by the Chinese government thus far. —Melissa Wiley