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There is an updated informative website www.LeapingBunny.org that is run by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC) and is comprised of the leading national animal protection groups:

American Anti-Vivisection Society
American Humane Association
Beauty Without Cruelty USA
Doris Day Animal League
The Humane Society of the Unites States
New England Anti-Vivisection Society

and International Partners:
Animal Alliance of Canada
European Coalition to End Animal Experiments

The Leaping Bunny Program:
Cosmetic, personal care, and household product companies that comply with the Leaping Bunny Program’s cruelty-free standard are listed in the Compassionate Shopping Guide. The Leaping Bunny Program requires that no new animal testing is used in any phase of product development by the company, its laboratories, or ingredient suppliers:

Compassionate Shopping Guide

This event is scheduled to be held on Saturday, July 11th from 9am to 4pm at PCH and Goldenwest in Huntington Beach, California. Which is exactly where the Huntington Beach Dog Beach limit starts.

Registration is open to dogs of all ages and abilities with a $25.50 entrance fee. They require that only foam surfboards are used and all participating dogs must wear a life vest.

All money raised will go to the Orange County Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
There will be a red carpet award ceremony and auction festivities being held at the Waterfront Hilton ( 2 miles south on PCH of the competition) from 7pm to 10pm.

They advertise the red carpet event as:
“Bring your pooch and walk the Red Carpet. You will receive a free 4×6 photo, printed onsite, taken by Pet Photopro’s.
Dress to impress as your dog may be asked to be a part of the Pet Fashion Show ( dress as if your gong to a nice hollywood red carpet event you see on summer TV not formal but not a back yard BBQ) .
Walk into the 5,000 sq. ft. tent, grab a drink at the cash bar, then check out our great silent auction table. Wander over and pick up your 4×6 print while checking out the vendors along the way. Next, step outside to enjoy the Hilton’s 10,000 sq. ft. wedding pavilion patio and grass area as the fountain flows and Lila Bloom from Denver sings live music. After a stop at the outdoor bar help yourself to an incredible dessert provided by HauteCakes while you watch the sun set over Huntington Beach. Shortly thereafter we will watch some pups strut their stuff with classy models all dressed up and ready for their close-up. We will then have our awards ceremony to bark up the pups that surfed that day and crown the first canine SurfinPaws Dog Jam 2009 Champion! Mingle and share stories with other folks about how you had fun either surfing or watching this inaugural event. Don’t be surprised if you see a celebrity from Hollywood or get interviewed by a news crew. Remember,we will all be there to raise funds and awareness so the Orange County SPCA can continue to provide financial aid to save animals.”

For more information visit: Surfinpaws.com

I, unfortunately will be working on that saturday, but I am planning on making a visit during my lunch to check out the competition!

SurfinPaws Surfing Dogs Nani and Kia Del Mar CA 2 Dogs on 1 Surfboard – Watch today’s top amazing videos here

I have spoken in posts pasts of a particular cat of ours by the name of “Doc”. Our almost 9 year old siamese cat, is notorious for his LOVE of food! His comfort foods are tortilla chips, cheese, doritos, and french fries. By “comfort” I mean, he is comfortable with taking these foods right out of your hands. He also takes his chances just sticking his head in the bag to grab and go. Besides his list of mainly carbohydrate weaknesses, he is a hunter, and loves meat. He has been known to grab a stack of uncooked bacon out of the butcher paper, snake a shrimp tail, and devour a rotisserie chicken. To his dismay, these things are hard to come by in our house since we are a vegetarian family.
I do find it very humorous that while the twins eat their lunch, which sometimes is a veggie dog or tofurkey sandwich, stray scraps fall to the ground and “Doc” will scoop them into his mouth. His brain is telling his carnivore self, that he is eating meat, he growls while he eats the scraps to deter others from taking his “kill”. It is so noticeable and entertaining to the twins, that they willingly throw their lunch to him and giggle as he growls.
Even if “Doc” is one extremely smart cat, and does indeed consider himself to be a person, he is not notice that he is eating tofu.

Last month we made our annual trek to the Bugfair in Los Angeles. In years past, it boasts of being the COUNTRIES largest bug fair exposition. There are vendors offering live bugs as pets, interactive scientific tables for kids, entomology societies, and specimens. You name it, if “bug” is in the word, it’s there: toys, jewelry, books, sculptures, candy, art prints, videos, clothing, photography, etc. They hold the event at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where the 4 main level halls house the booths.
This year, however, it was half the size, only 2 halls were full; just another sign of the economic times this year. Every event we have been to this year for anything has not carried as much gusto as years past. However, we did manage to have a good time, though we were disappointed.

Bugs, you are saying, yes, I know, but let me give you a little background….when I was in under graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati, I was majoring in Biology and then I started becoming interested in Entomology. I worked under a professor of Entomology for a few semesters, and was very interested in how something so small, like a bug, could be so intricate.

After graduating with my Bachelors of Science in Biology, I volunteered with an organization called “ARCAS” who dealt with the rehabilitation of wild life that was captured in the illegal wild life trade. I had the opportunity to stay in the jungles of Guatemala with this group and assist these animals in becoming well enough to be re-introduced back into the wild. Imagine the types of bugs you see in the jungle!
If I did not have such a strong connection towards the vertebrates, I would probably still be in the jungle sitting in a tree looking at bugs, listening to the howler monkeys. Thankfully, I knew I had a greater good to do with my warm blooded friends and continued on to veterinarian school.

I do, however, have a small collection of specimens (bugs under glass) that we started to collect at last years Bugfair. I am lucky in the fact that I can:
1) buy a dead bug with shared enthusiasm from the rest of the family
2) after reading up on proper preservation processes my other half will mount the dead bug (how many girls do you know that will volunteer to touch a giant dead bug?)
3) and that I get to hang them on the kitchen/dining room wall
4) our kids love bugs, we have a rose haired tarantula named “Charlotte” that is part of our menagerie.

Melia and “Charlotte”

I am very particular in purchasing a specimen though, I will not support some organization that will go into the jungle and practically exterminate these beautiful creatures for a profit. We always end up at some older gentlemen’s booth, that only does it for the love of entomology, and only has a few specimens. You always know when you are dealing with a true enthusiast, when purchasing a bug is like going through the adoption process for a child or pet. Their bugs speak of their once a year adventure they take in their retired state to some far away land.

beetle can be beautiful too

The twins trying to see the bugs in all the commotion

we had to sneak a photo of a ridiculously priced specimen, they wanted $4,500 for the bottom one?

beautiful butterflies

amazing colors

whip scorpion (the kids call them the Harry Potter bugs)

scorpion

live ones

Logan is not so excited about the scorpion? it is not soft like our Charlotte

kids can touch too

walking sticks

There were also some interesting vendors, one photographer named Bob Jensen who takes amazing pictures of these intricate creatures.

Others who let the bugs do the leg work in the painting process like Steven Kutcher.

Sometimes bugs make us slow down and appreciate how fragile life is and to live each day to the fullest!

Thanks to a borrowed camera cord, I can share our trips the past weeks. On our way camping in San Clemente, we decided to make a stop before check-in at Zoomars. Zoomars is in old town San Juan Capistrano, California. Technically, it is considered a petting zoo, which can sometimes be depressing to visit as a veterinarian. No vet wants to see animals, scared, bored, or poorly cared for, but Zoomars is a perfect example of what a real petting zoo should include. They describe their story as this:

“In January 2005, Omar and Carolyn Gonzalez purchased the Jones Family Mini-Farm, saving an area landmark and adding colorful parrots from their chain of exotic bird stores. Renaming it ZOOMARS, the couple continues to expand this adorable petting zoo, geared toward little ones between the ages of 2 and 10. The bird park is suited for visitors of all ages where they get a rare glimpse of some of the world’s most beautiful and endangered species.

Catering to over 150,000 visitors a year, ZOOMARS is home to hundreds of friendly animals to feed, pet, love and learn from. There are goats, emus, llamas, donkeys, alpacas, sheep, geese, ducks, guinea pigs and a bunny patch. All of the animals residents receive regular vet checks and are treated with respect, compassion and love. Close attention is given to cleanliness with both a handwashing and sanitizing stations throughout the grounds. After petting the animals, youngsters can saddle up for a pony ride or hop aboard the miniature train. At the front of the property is the century-old Olivares House, listed on the National Registry. Behind it sits an 1890’s bathhouse and picnic area available for birthday parties or family gatherings. ZOOMARS is located in the Los Rios Historic District of San Juan Capistrano, California’s oldest residential neighborhood.

The docile animals and precautionary safety measures at ZOOMARS make it an ideal outing for kids and a captivating place worth visiting.”

Their parking is free, their admission is no more than $5 a person, and one of the most surprising things was that they offer fresh fruit and vegetables to purchase for $2 to feed any and all the animals that you would like. For $4 we got a 2 baskets full of romaine lettuce, carrots, apples, and broccoli. Sadly, most petting zoos only offer the pellets as feed for the animals, but Zoomars offers an easy and entertaining way to ensure that their animals are being offered a variety of healthy, vitamin enriched food.

The guinea pig and rabbits had a giant area to coexist together. I think guinea pig are misunderstood animals, they should not be the squealing, running, anti-social ones you tend to see at a pet store. Zoomars had a variety of types and colors, and they would walk right up to us, look through our food baskets like a person grocery shopping.

Rabbits were happy to have fresh leafy vegetables to munch on

geese

a cow who was so happy to lounge in the sunshine

the most amazing animal there was this emu, she was so social, and loved apples

she had the most brilliant blue skin, the camera barely does it justice

alpaca that were freshly groomed, almost looked like they had poodle show cuts

this alpaca’s eyes reminded us of a blue merle australian shepherd and had the energy to boot

this llama was so social and inquisitive

she had beautiful eyes

giant tortoise

the whole back perimeter had aviaries of birds

this baby goat was only about 10 days old, he still had his umbilical cord drying out, and he was very happy and social. This was an example to us how they let their animals grow up around humans, so they would not become fearful.

they give the goats different climbing option so they can use their brains and exercise their born ability to scale

and the pot belly pigs were so excited, they were singing us songs

That is just a taste of the animals we saw and interacted with. There are horses and ponies, which some how did not make it into any of the pictures. Although, they do allow kids to get the chance to “ride” a horse around a small loop within the “zoo”.

There is a playground placed in the center of the animals, so if your kids need a break from all the stimulus they can go swing or slide. We really enjoyed our visit there, and the kids are making it a requirement to stop at when we are in route to camp now.

This year will be the 10th year that the event “Take Your Dog to Work Day” will occur.
This years date is June 26, 2009.
The reasoning behind this event is to promote adoptions of pets from shelters and rescue groups. Non-pet owning co-workers will have a chance to interact with your dog and perhaps be so jealous of your dog and owner bond that they will want to adopt a dog of their own. If nothing else you will have an exciting day at work! For those of you who’s pets are your only kids, you can experience your own “Take your kid to work day” so they can see what you do all day.

That being said, remember that you need to think of if the ordeal will be enjoyable to you AND your pet. Some dogs are just not socialites, they prefer the comfort of their own homes. You want your dog to set a good example to others with his behavior, not be eating your co-workers computer cord. So make good choices for you and your pet, and hopefully there will be some new pet owners because of it.

You can register at: www.takeyourdog.com and they also offer tips when bringing your dog and there is a photo contest to show off your dogs “work ethic”.

When clients come in knowing that their pet is going to have to travel on a plane, they are a little worried to say the least. Usually, it is not so worrisome for “toy” sized pets. A yorkie who gets to travel in a bag under her owners seat is not as uncomfortable as a highly active labrador who is mixed in with the cargo of a plane. I know clients who have opted to move across country by car ride due to the animal in flight ordeal.
On “human” passenger planes when wanting to bring your pet along, typically a pet owner is required by the airlines to get a Health Certificate by their veterinarian within 10-14 days of the flight. On the health certificate your ownership information is listed, along with your pets name, breed, age, current vaccination status, and any health concerns. A current rabies certificate also accompanies that form. If your pet is too large to fit under the seat, they are placed in the cargo section of the plane, and the health and rabies certificate are also required, along with an additional form called a Letter of Acclamation. This form states and is signed by the veterinarian that your pet will be safe in temperatures ABOVE 80 degrees Fahrenheit and BELOW 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Each airline usually has specified the exact temperature they would like listed on the form.
Sadly, those are usually the only options you have as a pet owner to travel by air with your pet.
Recently in the news, Pet Airways was founded by a current couple who owns an 11 year old Jack Russel Terrier, that throughout her life, have experienced the ordeal of pet travel on “human” planes. They advertise that your pet is placed in the remodeled passenger section of a plane that is designed to hold traveling pet crates. The lights are on in the plane, there is an animal attendant who checks on your pet during flight and makes needed notations. The do not offer water breaks or snack breaks for your pets, but an appealing option is that if your pet has a medical condition that requires medication, they will administer it during flight if needed.
They offer flights to Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver, and New York, and apparently are starting flights in July of this year. I have heard that they have been overwhelmed with response, and that when the news ran their story in April, site traffic crashed their website. So I am not sure when available flights would be?

Pet Airways Commercial

I would be interested to hear if there are any health certificate requirements for flight and if anyone knows of someone who has used or is going to use their services? Keep me posted!
Pet Airways