Happy New Year!
I thought you might like this picture but also wanted to encourage you to follow http://twitter.com/petparenting for the 31 Days to Happier, Healthier, Better Behaved Pets or #31HHBBPets tips. The program will be posted on one of my blogs so keep your eyes peeled. Check out the pet parenting series or find me at my pet expert blog.Not to long ago I wrote about the Walt Disney World Pet Resort.
But what is not know about our California park is that Disneyland is cat friendly.
No, not pet friendly, feral cat friendly.
They currently manage a colony of about 200 feral cats that help keep the famous theme park free of rodentia.
Now, Mickey Mouse has nothing to worry about because he has already reached a ripe old age--and he is too big for any real cat to be interested!
It is not known just when the cats moved in but the feral cat colony has had a home on Disneyland Resort’s grounds for at least a quarter century and perhaps since the park opened in the 1950s.
Always innovative, the Disneyland staff have not tried to get rid of the felines but are setting an example as a corporate giant in managing the group.
The cats hide during the day time but are free to come and go as they please and are part of the everyday park operations.
Although these natural exterminators live in the Circle D Ranch and have been around for ages, it has been only over the past seven or eight years that the park has implemented a Trap-Neuter-Return program and began actively managing them.
Their help has come from organizations such as Best Friends CatNippers & FixNation who have assisted the park in implementing a protocol for long term humane care of the resort’s cats.
You can read more at Alley Cat Allies--and Best Friends.
Thanks to them for sharing the story and inspiring me to share the news with you!
Looking for me? Try visiting my pet expert site.
You might have seen the last post I put up about this topic.
I've long heard rumors about dead animals rendered in pet food but never have seen actual documentation on it or a journalistic investigation into it.
As a follow up to the last post, you might also want to explore this post about dogs and cats in pet food. (Be sure to read the comments.)
Do some dead pets really end up in chicken feed?
Do others end up in pet food?
Some say yes and some say no.
Now some people still trust the FDA who says that dogs and cats are not in pet food.
Dogs, cats not found in dog food Because pentobarbital is used to euthanize dogs and cats at animal shelters, finding pentobarbital in rendered feed ingredients could suggest that the pets were rendered and used in pet food. CVM scientists, as part of their investigation, developed a test to detect dog and cat DNA in the protein of the dog food. All samples from the most recent dog food survey (2000) that tested positive for pentobarbital, as well as a subset of samples that tested negative, were examined for the presence of remains derived from dogs or cats. The results demonstrated a complete absence of material that would have been derived from euthanized dogs or cats. The sensitivity of this method is 0.005% on a weight/weight basis; that is, the method can detect a minimum of 5 pounds of rendered remains in 50 tons of finished feed. Presently, it is assumed that the pentobarbital residues are entering pet foods from euthanized, rendered cattle or even horses.
So basically they did not find dog or cat DNA in the protein of dog food in 2000 but only assumed that the drug residues were from rendered cattle or horses--but they didn't test for that?
They also only tested two samples ten years ago and it looked like it was not comprehensive selection. (Hence the term, "sampling.")
What do you think about this and do you have any good sources to share?
Looking for me? Try over at my pet expert site.
