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Hormone Replacement Drug Notice
Premarin is a hormone replacement drug named from its source: Pregnant Mare's Urine. It is a life of suffering for mares at Pregnant Mare farms across the United States and Canada.
In order to produce PMU, mares are impregnated and confined to tiny stalls for the duration of their pregnancy. While such confinement results in physical and psychological agony for the mares, their torment doesn't stop there. Soon after giving birth, the mares are re-impregnated and the horrible cycle begins again.
An equally horrible fate awaits the foals, who are separated from the mares and either slaughtered for meat sold all over the world, or used as replacements for their worn-out mothers. When mares become too old or ill to keep up with production, they are also auctioned off for slaughter.
It is estimated that 8 million women currently take Premarin or its variants, including PremPro, Premphase, or Prempak-C. Although their sales have decreased in the United States, manufacturer Wyeth-Ayerst has stepped up PMU production for expansion into overseas markets.
YOU CAN HELP END THEIR SUFFERING!
If you currently take Premarin, Prempak-C, PremPro or Premphase, ask your doctor about equally effective synthetic or plant-based alternatives including Cenestin, Estratab, Estraderm, Estrace or Ortho-Est.
Also studies show by changing to a vegetarian diet you can reduce your menopausal symptoms, especially those supplemented by soy products containing plant-based estrogens.
Share this information with friends and family about the suffering associated with Premarin.
Boycott Wyeth-Ayerst Products. Their subsidiaries produce products including Dristan, Advil and Chef Boyardee. Contact Wyeth-Ayerst at 1-800-666-7248 to express your outrage over Premarin Production.
Please do not take spot when it is hot
Did you know that a dog left in a car on a warm day can collapse from a heatstroke in just MINUTES?
On a 78-degree day, a car parked in the sun can reach 160 degrees in MINUTES. Even opening windows or parking in the shade won't prevent a dog from getting overheated. The heat is especially hard on dogs because they can only cool themselves by panting. Dogs do not sweat like people or horses, they only sweat through their paws. With only hot air to breathe, dogs, cats and other animals can suffer irreversible brain damage and even die of heatstroke.
Take the following precautions to protect your dog:
Don't take a chance--leave your dog at home on warm days. Even just a quick trip to the store can be deadly.
Don't carry a dog unrestrained in a pick-up truck bed. Besides being extremely dangerous because many dogs jump or fall out of trucks, the hot metal can burn your dogs' paws.
Learn the signs of heat exhaustion--restlessness, excessive thirst, heavy panting, lethargy, lack of appetite, dark tongue, rapid pulse, fever, vomiting, glazed eyes, dizziness, and lack of coordination.
If your dog shows any of these symptoms, get him or her to a shady or air-conditioned place right away.
Lower body temperature gradually by providing water to drink, applying a cold towel or ice pack to the head, neck, and chest or immersing the dog in cool (not cold) water.
Call you veterinarian immediately!
Puppy Mills
A puppy mill is a breeding facility that mass-produces purebred puppies for sale. Approximately 500,000 puppies per year are bred in puppy mills, which are known for their filthy, overcrowded conditions and the unhealthy animals they produce. Only half of the dogs bred at puppy mills make it to the pet store; the other half die from the mill's squalid conditions, hypothermia, starvation, or other horrors of transport. Most of the dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills.
Kitten Mills: Cat breeding occurs on a smaller scale but under similar conditions.
Mill Life: Each of the 4,000-5,000 puppy mills in the U.S., house between 75 to 150 breeding animals. Puppy mill kennels generally consist of small, outdoor wood and wire cages or crates. The animals are cramped into these filthy enclosures. Their eyes are filled with pus and their fur with excrement. Many of the puppies suffer from malnutrition and exposure; they usually remain outside year round, enduring both freezing temperatures in the winter and intense heat in the summer.
Profits over adequate care: Like pet store owners, breeders save money, and thus maximize profits, by spending little on meeting the animals, basic needs. Puppies consequently receive below-standard food, minimal if any veterinary care, inadequate shelter which, combined with the inbreeding prevalent in puppy mills, produces animals with genetic diseases and abnormalities. Puppies are frequently taken away from their mothers before weaned as a result some puppies do not know how to eat and die from starvation. Sadly at approximately six to seven years of age, when the mothers can no longer breed more puppies, they are killed.
Transportation and Sale: At four to eight weeks of age, puppies are taken from their mothers and sold to brokers (or directly to retail businesses). The brokers then pack them in crates and transport them for sale at various pet shops. Frequently, the puppies are not provided with adequate food, water, ventilation, or shelter during transport; consequently, many die en route. Those that are not sold will be killed, brought back to the mill to breed, or sold to laboratories for research.
Diseases common to puppy mill dogs: Deafness, Epilepsy, Cataracts, Eye lesions, Rentinal degeneration, Glaucoma, Hip dysplasia, Retardation, Personality disorders such as excessive Aggression, Dislocated kneecaps, Periodontal disease and Mammary tumors.
How you can help: Adopt from an animal shelter or rescue group; never buy from a pet store. Remember that 25% of shelter animals are purebreds. Do not shop at stores that sell animals. Ask your elected officials to outlaw puppy mills. Urge them to demand that the USDA enforce the Animal Welfare Act. Educate others about the cruelties of puppy mills and the importance of adopting from shelters.
Spaying will safe lives
Communities spend millions of taxpayer dollars each year coping with problems that a failure to spay and neuter causes. Tens of thousands of kittens and puppies are born each day in the United States, leaving millions of animals who already exist to face a severe lack of homes. Animal control agencies and shelters receive approximately 6 to 8 million animals annually. This is happening in your own backyard. Those who are not adopted--some 3 to 4 million of them--must be put to death. No matter what you do, you will not be able to find homes for them all.
Sterilization Makes Community Sense--and Saves Tax Money: Spaying and neutering prevents cancers of the reproductive organs. It stops male dogs and cats from roaming and becoming a "nuisance." It prevents traffic accidents involving free-roaming animals. And it cuts down on potentially fatal dog attacks.
Unaltered dogs are up to three times more likely to bite than dogs who have been spayed or neutered.
The one-time cost of spaying or neutering is far lower than the expense involved in rounding up strays, feeding and housing abandoned animals, and euthanizing those for whom homes can't be found.
You can go to our "Links Page" to see if there is a low cost spay/neuter clinic in your area that can help you get your pet "fixed."
The Humane Society of the U.S. reports that "in the towns and cities that have implemented mandatory spay/neuter laws, we've already seen the number of companion animals who had to be euthanized decline by 30 to 60 percent."
Animal Fighting
The American Pit Bull Terrier is the most popular breed of dog used in dogfighting. Although the dogs average only 40-50 pounds, their jaws are extraordinarily muscular and capable of breaking an opponent's leg. Generations of selective breeding for maximum aggressiveness, combined with often cruel training methods and conditioning regimes that can involve the use of drugs and steroids, has resulted in dogs who are capable of inflicting terrible wounds or killing an opponent.
These dogs will fight each other to the death or until one dog can't continue--all for the amusement of spectators and the profits from high-stakes gambling. Fights can last for hours, as the dogs are trained to continue even after suffering serious wounds.
After the match, if a dog had an embarrassing loss, it is not unheard of for the dog to be shot, have his throat cut, abandoned or mercilessly killed by electrocution, so the breeder won't get a reputation for selling puppies of poor-quality fighting dogs.
Even winning dogs sometimes die as a result of their injuries. This isn't surprising, considering that dogfighters can't run to the vet with battered animals for fear of being turned over to authorities. Instead, using tape or suture kits to close up gaping wounds, owners do the job themselves.
Animal fighting also involves Gamecocks, the roosters are fitted with RAZOR-SHARP, STEEL BLADES called Gaffs. They are three-inch-long, ice-pick-like weapons--attached to their legs, they are pitted against each other in small arenas. There, trained to fight and often drugged with stimulants and steroids, they plunge and slash each other in a deadly duel. The gaffs inflict deep puncture wounds, wings and legs are broken, and eyes are gouged out. Within minutes, the contestants may be staggering from their injuries, but they are allowed no respite from combat. Handlers pick up the birds and blow on their heads to revive them. Matches typically end only when one of the birds is incapable of attacking his opponent.
Cockfighters often argue that the birds are naturally aggressive. But in nature, roosters seldom fight to the death. Fighting cocks are purposely bred and trained to fight. They are often drugged and are armed and fitted with artificial spurs for fighting. Finally, they are forced to continue fighting because quitting is not permitted.
Does Animal Fighting Affect People? Animal fighting not only hurts animals but also endangers a community's safety. Illegal drugs and firearms are commonly found at the scene of animal fighting events. Young children brought to matches are desensitized to violence and taught that cruelty is acceptable. Evidence shows that those who commit animal fighting crimes and other forms of animal abuse are more likely to be violent toward people.
Does your Community have Animal Fighting? Some signs include: A large number of pit bulls held in one location, especially multiple dogs who are chained and seem unsocialized, dogs with scars on their faces, front legs, hind ends, and thighs, dogfighting training equipment such as treadmills and tires hanging from trees and many people visiting a location at odd hours. Also, if you see a large number of Gamecock roosters in one location or you see these birds with their comb and waddle cut off (the red fleshy crest on the head and under beak). You may also notice the feathers plucked out from their under belly, exposing it front to back.
What you can do: If you see any suspicious activity related to animal abuse or fighting, report it to local police or humane officers. Urge your local, state, and federal representatives to support better funding for enforcement of animal fighting laws. Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers about the cruelty and dangers of animal fighting. This raises awareness in your community and can persuade others to take action. Write letters to law enforcement officials, such as your local sheriff, police department, and prosecutors, urging them to take the issue seriously. Remind people that dogs and gamecocks are the victims in animal fighting!
Lastly, learn the truth about pit bulls, many of whom make great pets. Spread the word--one of the best ways to help these animals is by dispelling the stigma associated with the breed.
Please keep in mind and spread the word, do not post "free to a good home" when you have pets you are trying to find a new home for. Some of the pets you love may end up as bait used to train a pit to fight.
Gas Chamber
Many tax-funded animal shelters still use carbon monoxide gas chambers to kill unwanted cats and dogs. This method is considered by many to be outdated and inhumane. Your taxes are funding it!
Animals in a gas chamber do not die quickly or painlessly. They struggle for breath. They claw to get out they howl and cry. This is not a pretty site and will stay with you for a very long time. When animals inhale carbon monoxide, they can suffer convulsions, vomiting, angina and muscular spasms. Some will not die the first time.
Shelter workers are at risk from carbon monoxide poisoning when they unload the gas chamber, breathing in low levels of the gas on a regular basis. This can lead to many health problems, and even death. Counties are at risk of lawsuits from these workers if they become ill. Carbon monoxide is also extremely flammable, odorless, and difficult to detect.
There is a better, more humane way, euthanasia by injection. This method is cost effective and takes only seconds.
The Humane Society of the United States, American Humane Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, National Animal Control Association, the American Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights all advocate lethal injection of sodium phenobarbital. It is considered the most humane, safest and least stressful choice for euthanasia.
We have information on the use of low cost Lethal Injection Medication and can help you assist your shelter to make the transition. Please contact us for more information.
Importance of Spaying/Neutering
We would like to give you some stats on what goes on at a shelter in one month and why every one needs to understand the importance of getting your pet spayed or neutered.
We will not mention which county this shelter is located in. However, you can be assured this is happening in almost every county.
In one month Two Hundred Sixty-Six (266) cats were put down and One Hundred Twenty-Eight (128) dogs were put down. This is a total of 494 Four Hundred Ninety-Four animals. THAT IS NEARLY (500) FIVE HUNDRED ANIMALS LIVES DISCARDED BY SOCIETY IN ONE MONTH!!!
We are not saying that shelters are doing any thing wrong, we understand they do not have a choice, there are just NOT ENOUGH HOMES FOR ALL OF THESE ANIMALS. However, you as pet owners, do have a choice. If you let your pet have one litter you are contributing to the over population of dogs and cats in your community.
PLEASE HAVE YOUR PET SPAYED OR NEUTERED! If you can't afford it we will try every way possible to help you, please contact us.