written by MoshiAndKibo on May 23, 2009
Last night when we were returning from our walk, we found a duck and her 5 ducklings by the curb in front of our house. They were all exhausted and had apparently been wandering for hours in the streets near our house. The nearest lake is about 8 blocks away, so we took a lesson from the banker/duckling episode and led the family back to the lake. All was well when we got them to the water.
written by MoshiAndKibo on May 18, 2009
written by MoshiAndKibo on Apr 30, 2009
With all the media attention on swine flu, we wanted to see if dogs can get the swine flu.
According the CDC, dogs get the “canine influenza virus” - a specific Type A influenza virus called the H3N8 influenza virus (not a human influenza virus) and it is (so far) only spread between dogs. The current outbreak is a new strain of influenza A - the H1N1 virus - and dogs shouldn’t get it .
In a separate CDC article, the specific types of the the influenza viruses and transmission possibilities are explained: Influenza A viruses are found in many different animals, including ducks, chickens, pigs, whales, horses and seals. Influenza B viruses circulate widely only among humans.
So - can dog’s get the swine flu?
It appears - probably not. But, any time your pet begins to show any symptoms of illness, it is always best to contact a veternarian and be on the safe side - swine flu or not. And remember to keep those vaccinations current!
written by MoshiAndKibo on Apr 01, 2009
Bijou de Minuit is the beautiful family dog of New York Times editor, Dana Jennings, who writes each week on living with advanced prostate cancer. Bijou de Minuit is also in failing health. This is the story of a pet owner and a pet facing life’s unknowns and knowns…together.
Life Lessons From the Family Dog
New York Times editor Dana Jennings writes every Tuesday about coping with an advanced form of prostate cancer.By Dana Jennings
Our family dog started failing a couple of months ago. Her serious health problems began at about the same time I was coping with my own — finishing my radiation and hormone therapy for prostate cancer.
Since last summer, I’ve learned that my cancer is shockingly aggressive, and the surgery, radiation and hormone treatments have left me exhausted, incontinent and with an AWOL libido. These days I’m waiting for the first tests that will tell me the status of my health.
Even so, as I face my own profound health issues, it is my dog’s poor health that is piercing me to the heart. I’m dreading that morning when I walk downstairs and … well, those of us who love dogs understand that all dog stories end the same way.
Her full name is Bijou de Minuit (Jewel of Midnight) — my wife teaches French. She is a 12-year-old black miniature poodle, and she is, literally, on her last legs. Her hind quarters fly out from beneath her, her back creaks and cracks as she walks, she limps, she’s speckled with bright red warts the size of nickels, her snore is loud and labored (like a freight train chugging up some steep grade) and she spends most of the day drowsing on her pillow-bed next to the kitchen radiator.
Bijou’s medicine chest is impressive for a 23-pound dog: A baby dose of amoxicillin for chronic urinary tract infections; prednisone and Tramadol for pain; phenobarbital for seizures; Proin for incontinence – all of it wrapped in mini-slices of pepperoni.
She is, I realize, “just” a dog. But she has, nonetheless, taught me a few lessons about life, living and illness. Despite all her troubles, Bijou is still game. She still groans to her feet to go outside, still barks at and with the neighborhood dogs, is willing to hobble around the kitchen to carouse with a rubber ball — her shrub of a tail quivering in joy.
I know now that Bijou was an important part of my therapy as I recovered from having my prostate removed. I learned that dogs, besides being pets, can also be our teachers.
Human beings constantly struggle to live in the moment. We’re either obsessing over the past (”Gee, life would’ve been different if I’d only joined the Peace Corps.”), or obsessing over the future (”Gee, I hope my 401K holds up”). We forget that life, real life, is lived right now, in this very moment.
But living in the moment is something that dogs (and cancer patients) do by their very nature. Bijou eats when she’s hungry, drinks when she’s thirsty, sleeps when she’s tired and will still gratefully curl up in whatever swatch of sunlight steals through the windows.
She’d jump up onto my sickbed last summer, nuzzle me and ask for her ears and pointy snout to be scratched. It made both of us happy as she sighed in satisfaction. And she was the subject of one of our favorite family jokes as I recuperated: “You take the dog out. I have cancer.”
In spending so much time with Bijou, I began to realize that our dogs, in their carefree dogginess, make us more human, force us to shed our narcissistic skins. Even when you have cancer, you can’t be utterly self-involved when you have a floppy-eared mutt who needs to be fed, walked and belly-scratched. And you can’t help but ponder the mysteries of creation as you gaze into the eyes of your dog, or wonder why and how we chose dogs and they chose us.
Dogs also tell us – especially when we’re sick – of our own finitude. And, partly, that’s why we cry when they die, because we also know that all human-being stories end the same way, too.
Good dogs – and most dogs are good dogs – are canine candles that briefly blaze and shine, illuminating our lives. Bijou has been here with us for the past 12 years, reminding us that simple pleasures are the ones to be treasured: a treat, a game of fetch, a nose-to-the-ground stroll in the park.
Simple pleasures. As I lazed and dozed at home last summer after surgery, there was nothing sweeter to me in this world than to hear Bijou drinking from her water dish outside my door. It was if her gentle lap-lapping ferried me to waters of healing. I’ll miss her.
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written by MoshiAndKibo on Mar 27, 2009
An article published today in the Washington Post, CDC Analysis Tracks Falls Related to Pets, states that
“the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that an average of 86,629 Americans visit the emergency room each year after a fall caused by pets or their paraphernalia.”
The article goes on to say, “Dog-related falls account for 88 percent of the total, cat-related ones 12 percent. ”
Hmm. We would have thought cats were definitely a bigger problem.
Guess it probably makes sense - they are busy typing on their cat blogs. 
