Mews and Nips: Controversial new AVMA Policy on Raw Food
Would you vote for a cat to be mayor? The residents of Takeetna, AK did! According to Catsparella, Mayor Stubbs was jokingly elected through a write-in ballot, and hasn’t left the post ever since. The political fat cat makes his headquarters at Nagley’s General Store, where local tour guides get their kicks by tricking visitors into asking to meet with the four-legged mayor. Visit Catsparella for the full story, and more photos of Mayor Stubbs, including one of his ritual daily drink of catnip laced ”wine.”
Stories of lost cats are usually heartbreaking, because they rarely have happy endings. This story about Wolfie, a cat who found his way back home from a shelter, has some unusual twists and turns, but it does end well. Life with Cats reports that Wolfie was surrendered to a Bedford, NH shelter when his owner could no longer care for him due to a medical emergency in the family. Once things settled down, Wolfie’s owner began to think about bringing Wolfie back home. When her daughter adopted Wolfie to surprise her mother, Wolfie got loose in the shelter’s parking lot. Three and a half days later, Wolfie’s owner spotted him outside her house. Read the full story on Life with Cats.
If you are a raw feeder, or if you believe that you, and not the big petfood companies, should be able to choose what you feed your cats, you’re going to want to be aware that the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Assocation) Council on Public Health and Regulatory Veterinary Medicine will vote next month to create a policy to “discourage the feeding to cats and dogs of any animal source protein that has not first been subjected to a process to eliminate pathogens because of the risk of illness to cats and dogs as well as humans.” This vote is rather ironic in light of the fact that all of the recent pet food recalls were for contaminated dry pet food.
Susan Thixton broke this story on The Truth About Petfood, and I concur with her assessment that when “a national veterinary organization takes the public stance raw pet foods are dangerous, lobby organizations (such as the Pet Food Institute, which represents the pet food industry), could take this ‘opinion’ to law makers.” For the full story, and information on how to express your opinion on this proposed vote to the AVMA, please visit The Truth About Petfood.
Today’s video about a very determined cat makes me laugh out loud no matter how many times I watch it. Enjoy!
Have a great weekend!
Photo sources: photo of Mayor Stubbs from Catsparella, photo of Wolfie from Life with Cats, photo of cat eating by Jan-Erik Finnberg, Flickr Creative Commons
What does the kitty have? Is that a feather duster wrapped in plastic, and what’s the cord?!
I’m really disappointed to hear about the raw feeding warning. I will definitely have something to say.
the cat’s human said it was a feather duster.
It’s a feather duster, Bernadette. I was wondering (and a little worried!) about the cord, too.
The AVMA vote will be tainted by powerful lobbyists just like in Washington. Sad.
Sad, but not surprising, Layla. The AVMA is no different from the AMA in that respect.
What a determined little kitty indeed!! I felt like clapping at the end of the video!
I know! That kitty really loves her feather duster!
Re Wolfie the traveler. I posted on another place thinking it was here. Anyway, I know the Bedford, NH shelter where Wolfie was. It is new, immaculate, beautiful, loving staff. A No-Kill where adoption is high. However, I presume Wolfie was there for some months, & being older and black, his chance of adoption delayed. (I heard black cats are not that adoptable.) And it appears he was only with the family for a few months before husband had a stroke. Before all this, Wolfie was a STRAY. He has had a time of it in less than 1 year! But one resilient, determined kitty going HOME where he must have found LOVE. Imagine how he must have fought to get out of the box from the shelter? Imagine little kitty Willie doing 6 miles in 3 1/2 days??!! And in a heavily wooded area, predator wildlife, in addition to traffic and highways. But finding HOME!! I pray his Forever Home. If not, I will be in line with the, for sure, competition to adopt him. Wolfie ~ A beautiful, *spiritual story. Thank you, Ingrid.
Thanks for providing some more background on Wolfie’s amazing story, Ronnie.
[...] and Sanctuary with a prize package worth $7500 to help cats in need. There’s a cat in Alaska who is mayor of an entire town. Hank the cat is running for a senate seat in Virginia on a platform that [...]