After Pet's Surgery. Pet Friendly Emergency Shelters. Take Your Pets With You. Pet First Aid Kit. Women's Suffrage. Radiation Released.

 

For "Mammal Monday":

Help Your Pet Recover After Surgery

"After your pooch or feline friend has gone through surgery, it may feel a bit uneasy for a while. It's up to you, the owner, to help the healing process go smoothly. Depending on the procedure that your pet went through, it will have a different recovery time, according to Vet Street. Here are a few tips to ensure your furry friend is adapting well:

A New Routine:

For the time being, your pet may need to rest a bit more than usual and go to the bathroom more often. If you normally take Fido for a morning walk, you'll have to ease him back into it. But give him a few days off - he should only head outdoors to go to the bathroom.

Help your dog in and out of the car as sudden movements can damage his stitches. Lift the dog by wrapping your arms around the dog’s chest/front legs and rear/back legs.

Pets recovering from surgery should only be allowed outdoors to relieve themselves, but be aware that some pets may need more frequent bathroom breaks than usual, especially if they were given fluids during surgery or hospitalization. When taking your pet outdoors, make sure that he’s urinating and defecating as expected, and keep him on a leash at all times.

You may also need to provide him with small amounts of food and water throughout the day. Always supervise meal times after surgery.

 

Rest

Some vets will recommend "crate rest" post-surgery to restrict activity and keep your pet safe. Although this may be the last thing your pup wants, try to accommodate him as best as possible by putting it in a room that is appropriate for his personality – like a high-traffic area for a pup that loves being around people.

ACTIVITY
• The healing process takes 7-10 days.
• Any strenuous activity could disrupt the healing process.
• Some animals are active after surgery, while others are quiet. It is very important that you limit your pet's activity during the healing process.
• Pets must be kept indoors where they can stay clean, dry, and warm.
• No running, jumping, playing, swimming, or other strenuous activity during the 7-10 day recovery period.
• Do not bathe your pet or have it groomed during the recovery period.
• When outdoors, dogs should be on a leash and taken for short walks only to relieve themselves for next 10 days.
• Non-feral cats should be kept indoors.
• Keep animal away from all hazards (including stairs)."

Read more at: http://www.assisianimalhealth.com/news/2013/04/30/helping-your-dog-recover-after-surgery-the-10-best-things-you-can-do/

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From me:  We are nearly out of Hurricane September, but hurricanes are not the only disasters!  Fires and Floods happen, too.   So Be Prepared.

Pledge To Take Your Pets With You

Teddy is ready in his raincoat.

"Do you have a pet? Are you prepared? Unfortunately, some pet owners are not prepared when a disaster strikes. In fact, we have seen first-hand through our disaster rescue efforts that pets—especially cats—are left behind to fend for themselves.

Disasters can happen at any time; so plan ahead, be prepared, and don't lose sense of your priorities—pets are family and should never be left behind. Pledge now to be a responsible pet owner who will take ALL pets with you.

How can you prepare for you and your pet? Check out the Pet Disaster-Preparedness Kit."

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Pet Evacuation, Pet Friendly Emergency Shelters, and Disaster Preparedness for Pets

TIPS AND INFORMATION FOR HELPING YOU AND YOUR PET IN AN EMERGENCY

Do Not Leave Your Pets Behind
"If you evacuate your home, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PETS BEHIND! Pets most likely cannot survive on their own; and if by some remote chance they do, you may not be able to find them when you return. If you are going to a public shelter, it is important to understand that animals may not be allowed inside. Plan in advance for shelter alternatives that will work for both you and your pets; consider loved ones or friends outside of your immediate area who would be willing to host you and your pets in an emergency.

The electricity goes out

Keep your pets with you. If you're forced to leave your home because you've lost electricity, take your pets. If it's summer, even just an hour or two in the sweltering heat, whether outdoors in a yard or inside an apartment, mobile home, or house, can be dangerous. Find a pet friendly hotel. If it's winter, don't be fooled by your pet's fur coats; it isn't safe to leave them in an un-heated house.

If you stay at home during a summer power outage, ask your local emergency management office if there are pet-friendly cooling centers in the area.  Don't rely on a fan. They don't cool off pets as effectively as they do people."  Full article at: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/animal_rescue/tips/pets-disaster.html

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Why have a Pet Emergency Shelters?

"Mistakes were made during disaster planning and relief efforts when major hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit.  This has motivated a revision in the way the emergency response and aid organizations deal with pets and their owners.

Some owners were so reluctant to leave their pets in jeopardy that they delayed evacuation until danger was imminent or refused to evacuate at all.  The result was dead pets, dead owners, and many more injuries - many of which could have been avoided.

Now Homeland Security, FEMA, and the American Red Cross encourage and support the creation of local and regional pet friendly emergency shelters." 

NOT ALL COMMUNITIES OFFER PET FRIENDLY EMERGENCY/EVACUATION SHELTERS. TO FIND OUT IF THERE IS A PET FRIENDLY SHELTER IN YOUR AREA, CALL YOUR COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICE OR LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER.

It may be difficult, if not impossible, to find shelter for your animals in the midst of a disaster, so plan ahead. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL DISASTER STRIKES TO DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Click on the links on this site, to find designated pet friendly emergency/evacuation shelters in the US:   http://www.petfriendlytravel.com/pet_shelters

Be prepared: Google: "Pet Friendly Emergency Shelters" in your area, BEFORE disaster strikes.

If you need to go to a pet friendly shelter during an evacuation, make sure you have the following items ready to go for your pet: a leash and collar, a crate, a two-week supply of food and water, your pets' vaccination records, medications, and written instructions for feeding and administering medication. If your favorite four-legged friend is feline, be sure you bring kitty-litter and an appropriate container, too."

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What To Include In Your Pet First Aid Kit

"What if you walked into your living room to find your pup just chowed down the bowl of grapes you accidentally left on the coffee table?

What if your kitty is stung by a bee and her head swells up like a watermelon?

In the first moments following an emergency, your pet’s outcome may depend on your ability to respond swiftly and properly until you can get her to a vet — and having a well-stocked pet first aid kit is rule #1."  More at: http://www.blogpaws.com/2013/07/what-to-include-in-your-pet-first-aid-kit.html   ASPCA Poison Hotline (888-426-4435)

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On This Day:

Wyoming legislators write the first state constitution to grant women the vote, Sep 30, 1889:

"On this day in 1889, the Wyoming state convention approves a constitution that includes a provision granting women the right to vote. Formally admitted into the union the following year, Wyoming thus became the first state in the history of the nation to allow its female citizens to vote.

That the isolated western state of Wyoming should be the first to accept women's suffrage was a surprise. Leading suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were Easterners, and they assumed that their own more progressive home states would be among the first to respond to the campaign for women's suffrage. Yet the people and politicians of the growing number of new Western states proved far more supportive than those in the East.

By 1914, the contrast between East and West had become striking. All of the states west of the Rockies had women's suffrage, while no state did east of the Rockies, except Kansas. Why the regional distinction? Some historians suggest western men may have been rewarding pioneer women for their critical role in settling the West. Others argue the West had a more egalitarian spirit, or that the scarcity of women in some western regions made men more appreciative of the women who were there, while hoping the vote might attract more.

Whatever the reasons, while the Old West is usually thought of as a man's world, a wild land that was "no place for a woman," Westerners proved far more willing than other Americans to create states where women were welcomed as full and equal citizens."

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Radiation released at Japanese plant, Sep 30, 1999:

"Large doses of radiation are released at Japan's Tokaimura nuclear plant on this day in 1999. It was Japan's worst nuclear accident, caused by a serious error made by workers at the plant. One person was killed, 49 were injured and thousands of others were forcibly confined to their homes for several days.

The Tokaimura nuclear plant is located 87 miles northwest of Tokyo and supplies power to much of the surrounding region. On September 30, workers were mixing liquid uranium when they made a serious, and inexplicable, mistake. Instead of pouring five pounds of powdered uranium into nitric acid, the workers poured 35 pounds, seven times too much. The resulting chain reaction caused gamma rays and stray neutrons to flood the purification chamber, where the radioactive water was treated. One employee immediately collapsed and the others fled the scene.

The emergency team at the plant were forced to seek outside assistance, as they could not contain the reaction themselves. As a precaution, trains and roads leading to and from the area were blocked. However, the plant workers forgot to turn off the plant's ventilation system and radiation was inadvertently sent into the air, reaching nearby towns. The Tokyo Electric Power Company brought in 900 pounds of sodium borate to absorb the radiation, but they could not safely get close enough to the source to deploy it properly. Eventually, many hours later, they figured out how to get the sodium borate into hoses so that it could be sprayed onto the source of the radiation. By that time, it was too late to save everyone."

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Yesterday:

Jay called wanting to work, but he had been a horse's patoot the night before, banging on people's doors asking for money for beer.  He doesn't even remember doing it.  I told him there was nothing here for him to do.

Ray and I had already planned on doing some of the punch-out list on the cargo/camping trailer. We lost interest in the trailer over the summer, it was just too hot on that side of the house. It needs those last little fiddly jobs, that we never got around to.   We thought we had better get 'a-round-tu-it'. Although I already have one hanging in the workshop!

First, we put some trim on some of the paneling seams.  The kitchen ones had to be cut with precise curved ends to go under the radius corner edges of the kitchen windows.  It was drizzling rain, and sometimes I had to go back and forth to the workshop with an umbrella.  A few areas were touched up with some caulking. Then, the rain cleared.  The outside bottom of the cargo door needed to be finished with some new white metal, but to do that we had to remove some hardware, and put it back exactly in the same holes through the metal.  It wasn't easy, so we didn't get it all done before we called it a day.