As many of you have heard, it's National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, though to be fair the news cycle has been dominated by other events. Such is life. As regular readers may remember, I usually end this week with the Blogathon, a 24 hour marathon of posts with prizes and fun, and potentially zombies. But life happens and things evolve, and as it so happens I will be on a plane on Saturday, on my way back to Granada, Nicaragua. I am doing a one week course in Technical Animal Rescue ... Read more »
Blogathon
Welcome home, Sugar Bear
For those of you who were around this fall, you'll remember I did my blogathon Blogpocalypse from the Alpine sanctuary Lions, Tigers, and Bears, in the company of lions, tigers, and bears. At the time they were just about to finish construction on a new bear habitat, but there was still just a few weeks left before the bears went in, which meant I got to hang out in it. It's since been completed, much to the delight of Blossom, Delilah, and Liberty. Founder Bobbi Brink has continued her ... Read more »
YOU get a new car, and YOU get a new car…
I miss Oprah's favorite things show. That was the best show ever, and also how I ended up with a pile of things I never knew I HAD TO HAVE until Oprah said I had to have them. That is how I wound up with a quilted pink Burberry jacket six years ago, and I don't even like pink. Anyway. Giving stuff away is fun. I spent all day yesterday sorting through the giveaways to pick winners, and to make my life easier I'm listing them all here: Biscuits by Lambchop giveaway: Susan ... Read more »
Behind the scenes at a blogathon
Normally when I do these blogathons, I park myself on the couch with a pile of chocolate and a liter of coffee and just go for it. But this year, this year I decided to be ambitious. I will do my blogathon on location, I thought. Let's make it NUTS. The week before, I drove out to the Lions, Tigers and Bears sanctuary to verify they had working wifi. It was slow, but not too slow. Good enough for the blogathon, I figured. My friend Star and I hatched plans. We'll camp out in the bear ... Read more »
I am not a zombie
Though I am perilously close to feeling like one. Yeegads. When I am not so sleep deprived and my fingers are no longer curved into arthritic claws from typing a month's worth of posts in one day, I will give you the behind the scenes look at a blogathon that, for all intents and purposes, really did end up feeling like a real life apocalypse. There were cops and power outages and insanity and late night evacuations and everything. But it all worked out in the end, and we raised $1240 for Lions, ... Read more »
Epilogue
The sun rises over a new landscape. Dusty, quiet, ravaged. Cleansed, if you will. Not much left by way or man nor beast. Under the cover of darkness, Amanda Brown slipped into her Hummer while Dr. V covered her escape and made a run for Los Angeles, where she found Dr. Patrick Mahaney under the Hollywood sign at dawn. They lived and shopped happily ever after. They never did find that blond vet or her cute little red dog, but it's said that she strode out into the maelstrom with her ... Read more »
Meet Your Meat Eaters: The Bears
I love these sweet black bears. Liberty, Blossom and Delilah rock. We fed them some zombie bits this morning. And Liberty likes zombie fingers. Mmmm! Ugh, that bit was a tad bit rotten. Cower before me, flesh eater! I'm a BEAR! Rawr! (And yet so cuddly) As you can see, the bears are currently living in fairly small enclosures while they are waiting for their big awesome 3 acre habitat to be completed. First priority is the dental work for Blossom and Delilah, who have a decade's ... Read more »
I’m feeling faint…pass me the Africa pics
I thought I would tempt you with some more Africa pictures. Wildlife is beautiful no matter where it lives. The wild carnivores are surprisingly lackadaisiacal. I have video of me 10 feet from him in a Land Cruiser a little panicked he might try to pounce. Did I tell you about the time the elephant almost took out the tour guide? No? Well I might... if I survive. I'm feeling a little peckish this morning. I had to cover Amanda Brown's escape and I think a zombie peacock pecked ... Read more »
Giveaway: Biscuits by Lambchop!
Annette Frey from Biscuits by Lambchop has been there for me from the very beginning, always the first to offer generous giveaways of her awesome Biscuits by Lambchop each and every time I have a harebrained scheme like, say, this blogathon. She is a great friend and she also happens to make a great product for sensitive dogs- which by the way are quite delicious- so check them out! Biscuits by Lambchop is giving away a set of 4oz. Choppers & Starlets dog biscuits! Leave a comment and ... Read more »
Brody versus Zombies
Can dogs become zombies? According to World War Z, no: Like all animals, dogs who bite zombies do not turn into zombie-dogs, but instead contract a fast-moving fatal infection and will rapidly die. Thus it is important to train dogs being used against zombies never to bite them. Instead, they're trained to circle around and pounce on the zombie's back, pushing with their forelegs between the shoulder blades, to knock the zombie down. But according to Resident Evil, they ... Read more »
Giveaway: Iams Cat Pack Number 2!
It's time for another Iams Cat Pack Giveaway! Don't forget: cats are your friends. Take care of them and they will take care of you. To refresh your memory, this is what the Iams Cat Care Pack will contain: a bag of Iams cat food cat toys a brain protection device (ie a hat) Info about the Iams Home for the Holidays project, because the only thing better than one cat is two! a comfy cat bed Want to help more? For every badge that gets posted to Facebook this week, Iams ... Read more »
Meet your Meat Eaters: The Lions
The Lions of Lions, Tigers and Bears are hungry. Hungry for zombie flesh. Luckily for us we managed to take a few out overnight and we'll be feeding them when it's light out and safe to go back outside. Yesterday, we primed them with a little chicken and catnip. In a pumpkin, because it's festive. Lions, Tigers and Bears goes through chicken shipments by the hundreds of pounds. With 13 cats and 3 bears, that's a lot of mouths to feed. But hoo boy, look how happy it makes ... Read more »
Guest Post: The Cat’s Guide to Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse
By Romeo the Cat There seems to be some confusion as to whether or not zombies will attack pets or other animals. When I assigned my staff this research project, it appeared at first that pets are not typically the targets of zombie attacks. I’ve come to learn that this isn’t entirely true. Some zombies attack pets and some do not. According to The U.S. Zombie Tactical Squad, here are the different types of zombies and whether or not they are interested in eating ... Read more »
Stick Figure Theater: For Marcie
The last I saw poor, sweet Marcie, she was at the Hope Telethon fighting off the zombie hordes. *wipes away tears* I hope she's OK. When I solicited ideas for Stick Figure Theater she was the first to respond: "Your revenge on Mike Arms for making you read that letter at BlogPaws." Here you go, Marcie- this one's for you: ... Read more »
Guest Post: Dr Patrick Mahaney Promotes Pet Cancer Awareness Month on petMD
For this hour, another fantastic post from the multi-talented Patrick Mahaney, who in addition to his work on his own site and Teddy Hilton is also now blogging at petMD! Thank you for sharing this great post, Patrick! This article appeared on petMD as part of Dr Mahaney’s The Daily Vet series. The photo is of Quinn, one of my patients who valiantly fought his cancer battle but has since passed on (see Memorial for Quinn the Border Collie Mix). Cancer. The Big C. The Crab. Regardless of ... Read more »
Giveaway: Scent of the Missing
It's cold. It's dark. And you need something to read to get your mind off the apocalypse. How about Scent of the Missing? Here's the description: In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Susannah Charleson clipped a photo from the newspaper of an exhausted canine handler, face buried in the fur of his search-and-rescue dog. A dog lover and pilot with search experience herself, Susannah was so moved by the image that she decided to volunteer with a local canine team and soon discovered ... Read more »
Guest Post: There’s no such thing as a free pet AND Lickety Sticks Giveaway!
And don't we know it! This is exactly how pets wind up flooding shelters and lions end up at places like Lions, Tigers and Bears. This hour's guest post comes from Jim Tedford at PetSafe. If you survive the zombie apocalypse, you may find yourself looking for a new pet over the holidays, as do many of us. As Jim notes, "free" rarely means "free." By Jim Tedford, Director of Pet Identification, PetSafe.net. To be honest, I don’t remember much from my college Economics class. But I do ... Read more »
The Gruesome Belen Marketplace: Guest Post
This hour's guest post comes from Dr. Patrick Mahaney, who if you recall was with me on my Amazon Cares adventure to Peru earlier this year. I thought this post showing the horrors we encountered in the Belen Marketplace was more than fitting for this blogathon horror theme. There was some crazy stuff there. I will echo his warning that the photos are graphic. Warning! This article contains graphic descriptions and photos of slaughtered wildlife. On my final day on my vets abroad trip to ... Read more »
