Apr
05

Pet Finder - When A Pet Finder Becomes Very Important

Posted under Pets

Over the millennium domesticated animals have moved from the barnyard into our homes. Pets that started out as animals used for work or food have now become members of the family. Pets come in all shapes and all sizes. There are dogs, cats, pigs, snakes, even roaches. If the animal exists, it is probably a pet somewhere.

Many people do not have children. Their pets have become like their children and they care deeply for them. It is very traumatic when a pet becomes lost. In years past the only way we had to find our lost pets were to put up signs in the neighborhood. We could advertise in the newspaper and call our friends. When pet shelters and animal control were created we had a place we could go to look for our lost pets. Lost pets that are collected are taken to the local animal shelter. This is a great system and is necessary in our big cities where roaming lost animals are a big problem.

Having animal control and shelters does not mean your pet will be found. This is not enough for people today. When their beloved “Fluffy” is lost, they want to be able to find them immediately. This need created a market for new devices to track and locate pets.

These “Pet Finder” devices come in a variety of ways. Some of these are:

- The dog tag: a simple tag attached to your pet s collar which vital information is engraved. Some of this information is your pet s name, your phone number and possibly your address.

- Tattoos: a serial number is tattooed on the pet s skin. The number is put into a database and can be used by veterinarians or animal control. This was a good idea but has not been widely adopted or implemented.

- Microchip: small chips were created to be implanted under the animal s skin. Shelters and Vet s could scan the chip and gain information about the pet. More than one manufacturer for the chip led to more than one standard. This means there must be more than one scanner to read the chips. This led to the microchip not being very popular.

- Mobile locators: simple device that will beep or flash a light to locate your pet when a button is pushed on a remote. Remember your old key finder device, the mobile pet locator works the same way.

- GPS locators: this is the hot new way to track and locate your pet. Technology designed for the military has made its way to the private sector. This was good news for us. It led to many new electronic devices and gadgets. GPS uses satellites in space to locate and track devices on the ground. It is incredibly accurate and is used today in everything from kid and pet locators, cell phones, and our automobiles. For a Pet Finder device it is used by attaching a GPS locator device to your pet s collar. You can then track your pet s location through your computer, cell phone, or by calling the company you bought the service from. It is amazing technology. You can set up safe zones such as your yard. If you re pet leaves the yard you could be notified in several ways a cell phone text message, a beeping noise from your pet s collar, notification on your computer, and even a phone call from the company.

Pet finder technology has come a long way. It is has been good news for us. Gone are the days where we have to roam the neighborhood shouting out our pet s Name. Today we can flip open our cell phones and know exactly where “rover” is. Note: this same technology is being used to help track and locate our children. If you have children you should look into this ever changing technology to help keep your children safe.

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Victor C. is an Engineer in Computer Systems who loves to read and write about any subject, as long as it s interesting and useful for the reader.

He is specially interested in Health, Flirting and Babies And Animals

A New Year For Our Pets & Us

Posted under Pets

For so many of us, the New Year begins with the promise of dreams, goals and aspirations to be achieved. We resolve to make our lives healthier, more prosperous and fulfilling, to benefit from our prior experiences and to learn lessons from our past “mistakes”. We may make plans to simplify our lives and to take more time to reflect and contemplate the meaning and purposefulness of our lives. We may wish to expand our spiritual awareness and relationship with the natural world from which we have all evolved and yet which has received little of our attention or significance in light of our frenetic, technologically oriented daily lives. We may finally have recognized that to maintain our overall health and well -being we require more time to relax and bask in the beauty of nature and with her creatures from whom we derive comfort, solace and support.

Some of us have pets who are simply household fixtures and to whom we have paid little attention. Others of us have pets who are “our children” and are regarded as dearly loved family members with whom we share our daily lives and routines. For those of us blessed to have the companionship of a beloved pet, we can, in this New Year, decide to view his or her role in our lives with a new, and perhaps, heightened awareness and perspective. We can attempt to more effectively understand, appreciate, “communicate” and empathize with our finned, furry and feathered companions. We can further enjoy the link and connection they provide us with the natural world. We can admire their beauty, grace, purity, vulnerability cleverness, resourcefulness and ingenuity. We can further appreciate and enjoy their spontaneity and childlike simplicity. We can enjoy their playfulness and joie de vivre. We can recognize and appreciate the feelings and emotions they share with us. After all, don t we share the planet - aren t we on this journey of life on earth together?

Our animal companions have much to teach us - we can learn so much about life and death and the aging process from them. We can learn much about compassion and responsibility as we act as their nurturers and caregivers. After all, they depend upon us - their lives are in our hands.

In this New Year, take time, make time to experience those around you - and, in particular your loyal, trusting, forgiving, empathetic and unconditionally loving animal companions. Take nothing -and no one for granted. It is time to recognize and celebrate the beauty of our world and those with whom we share it!

DIANE POMERANCE received her Ph.D. in Communications in 1979 from the University of Michigan, and has written the highly acclaimed children s nonfiction book on pet loss, “When Your Pet Dies” which teaches children how to cope with and recover from the loss of a beloved companion animal as well as those inevitable losses in life. She is also the author of “Animal Companions: Your Friends, Teachers & Guides”, “Animal Companions: In Our Hearts, Our Lives & Our World.”, Animal Elders: Caring About Our Aging Animal Companions”, “Finding Peace After the Loss of a Loved Animal Companion”, and her most recent book “Pet Parenthood: Adopting the Right Animal Companion for You.” Dr. Pomerance counsels those mourning the loss of a beloved companion animal. As a writer, teacher, counselor and animal lover, she recognizes that the loss of a pet can be devastating to adults as well as children. For over 25 years, she has also worked in a wide variety of capacities in the entertainment industry both in New York and Los Angeles, including production work with such programs as NBC s Sports shows “NFL Live” and “Grandstand”, PBS “MacNeill/Lehrer Report”, and “Bill Moyer s Journal.”

Should Drug Giant Coverup Trigger Questions About Its Flea & Tick Product?

Posted under Pets

Under mounting pressure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Bayer Corporation suspended the sale of its hugely profitable drug Trasylol in November 2007.

A blood clotting drug used during heart surgery to control bleeding, Trasylol was given to more than four and a half million people worldwide. About one and a half million Americans received Trasylol during its 14 year run on the US market.

Studies found that patients who received Trasylol during heart bypass, heart valve replacement and other cardiac surgery were more likely to die than patients who received other available blood clotting drugs. Deaths were due to heart failure, kidney failure, heart attacks and strokes the patients suffered after surgery.

In 2007, Bayer designed a major Canadian trial to show that Trasylol was better than other drugs in controlling bleeding. The trial was terminated, however, because of an increase in deaths among cardiac surgery patients using the drug. Patients receiving Trasylol had a 50 percent increased risk of dying compared with patients receiving other drugs.

What s a few thousand deaths among friends?

60 Minutes reported in February 2008 that Bayer had known about Trasylol s safety concerns for decades and about the abnormally high incidents of deaths associated with the drug since 2006. Yet Bayer continued aggressive marketing of the drug, raking in well over $300 million annually. The FDA permitted Trasylol to stay on the market, contributing to an estimated 1,000 deaths a month for the 22 months before its recall.

The 60 Minutes report went on to describe Bayer s own internal study evaluating
the risk of patient deaths from Trasylol. Medical records of nearly 70,000 patients
were examined by a Harvard professor who was placed on the Bayer payroll.
What the professor found was that patients given Trasylol had an elevated risk
of acute renal failure.

Bayer concealed this study from the FDA during a safety review of Trasylol in
2006. The drug giant further charmed the FDA into allowing Trasylol to
stay on the market. More than a year passed before the FDA got around to
reviewing the adverse effects of Trasylol again. Finally, the FDA recalled the drug
but imposed no fine or penalty on Bayer.

What does this have to do with fleas &amp ticks on dogs and cats?

Another way Bayer works wonders is with its insecticide Imidacloprid, the active
ingredient in Advantage Flea &amp Tick treatment for dogs and cats. Laboratory test
results on file with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show Imidicloprid
to be neurotoxic to dogs and other laboratory animals, also causing a breakdown
of coordination, labored breathing, reduced birth weight, increased birth defects,
and lesions of the thyroid.

Of course, Bayer has remained silent as a stalactite about these adverse health
effects on our precious pets. Could this be yet another 60 Minutes report in the
making?

Sooner or later, responsible dog lovers and cat lovers need to ask themselves
the question, Am I trusting the big drug companies too much with the safety of
my best friends? Sooner or later you need to ask yourself whether toxic
chemicals are really necessary when safe and natural flea &amp tick treatments are
readily available.

What s my advice? You can t ask questions too soon, but you can ask them
too late. Discover now why pet lovers everywhere are turning to TripleSure Natural Flea &amp Tick Spray For Dogs And Cats.