Cross-posted from the ASPCA Newsletter

  Swine Flu Infects Housecat—Are Your Pets Safe?

Ever since the news broke earlier this month that an American cat caught the swine flu, rumors about how pets can catch this disease have been spreading—but we're here to set the record straight!

"On November 2, test results confirmed that a pet cat in Iowa was infected by the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, which was most likely transmitted by human family members," reports Dr. Louise Murray, Director of Medicine at the ASPCA. "All family members, including the cat, have now recovered. In unrelated incidents in other states, a few pet ferrets also recently tested positive for H1N1, and one of them has died.” Although we already knew that infected humans could transmit H1N1 to both pigs and turkeys, these are the first reported cases of the virus affecting cats and ferrets.

According to Dr. Murray, there are no known instances of a dog catching H1N1 (but remember, it is flu season, and your dogs are still susceptible to catching other flu bugs). In addition, there is currently no evidence that H1N1 can be passed from pet to human—it seems to be going only the other way, with people transmitting the illness to their pets.

A little common sense will go a long way in decreasing the likelihood of passing the illness on to your pets. If members of your household are exhibiting flu-like symptoms, the ASPCA recommends protecting your pets by:

• washing hands thoroughly,
• covering coughs and sneezes and
• avoiding close contact with pets during the course of the illness.

In fact, if you’re sick, it’s a good idea to give your pets a place other than your bedroom to sleep at night until you get better.

If any pet displays symptoms such as lethargy, loss of appetite, coughing, sneezing or difficulty breathing—especially if a human family member has recently suffered from influenza—please contact your veterinarian.

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 ....and just in time for your Holiday Gift Giving. 

Have a hard to please pet lover on your shopping list? Worry no more! The Cat People Cook Book is the perfect gift for any cat lover. You can purchase the book for only $10.00 at our store "Pawsitively Cats" at 602 18th Street, Bakersfield, CA 93301, 661-327-7297, open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 -6 PM or got to the website (follow the fundraiser link) and have it mailed to you. Don't forget, we can drop-ship to all your out of town friends as well. How is that for easy gift giving?

 Don't miss out......order early....supply is limited!

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 Hi everyone, only one week till Thanksgiving. Wow, how time flies......

While you are planning you holiday with your family, friends and pets please don't forget all the homeless and abandoned animals in our community. Wont you go to the cat people website and be as generous as you can to help our volunteers to put a little extra food in each kitties plate during Thanksgiving week, maybe even add canned food to make the day a little extra special.

Remember our volunteers will be at Petco on Rosadale on "Adoption Saturdays", so open your heart and bring home a kitty for the holidays, it will make your celebration so much more special when you have a sweet kitty to share it with. If you are not able to adopt right now, maybe you donate some extra cat food for our foster kitties and feral cats.  Our volunteers will gratefully accept your donations and give you a tax deductible receipt. If you donate online your receipt will be mailed to you.

Please remember while you are enjoying Thanksgiving with your families the dedicated Cat People volunteers will be out feeding the feral (and abandoned) cat population of Bakersfield. Won't you help make their job a little easier?

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Did you know that the cat was domesticated in Egypt, and that most modern cats are descendants of the cats of ancient Egypt.  One reason it is difficult to say precisely when domestication occurred is that the ancient Egyptians did not distinguish between wild and tame cats in their descriptions of them. There was one word for cat-and that was miu or mii, meaning "he or she who mews." 

Bouhaki is the earliest cat name on record. It dates back to Egyptian writings of 2000 B.C. In the hieroglyphs of that period, bou signifed “house” and “hak” was the symbol for “divine ruler.”

Hmmmm, things have not changed much....

Cats still rule!

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It's difficult to know which rescue organizations truly care about animals. Peta has done some good things and brought attention to the plight of animals in our society but there are certain practices they believe in that Catgirl could never support

Locally Catgirl knows from personal experience that the "Cat People" use every dime they get to help cats in need. All are volunteers and most use their own $$ to pitch in for  emergency rescues and veterinary expenses, feeding feral colonies, fostering rescued cats and kittens till they can be adopted and taking turns spending their Saturdays at Petco on Rosedale hoping their favorite foster baby will find a purrfect forever home. Catgirl cannot even go to adoptions, it breaks her heart to have to put one the cats or kittens back into the car after they have been at Petco all day, patiently waiting for someone to give them a forever home.

The Cat People's long term vision is for a sanctuary with an adoption center for feral, homeless and adandoned cats, hungry, abused, neglected, injured, hurting! A Sanctuary that houses, protects and cares for cats who have one simple request, expressed only through their eyes, "Please, Help Me". With that simple request comes the enormous and very complex task of providing that help - not easily done in a world dominated by money when the only reward we can offer is the reflection in those same eyes that were once frightened and pleading for help --that reward is love, pure and unconditional. Once you see that in those same eyes,  you know it is all the reward you'll ever need!

Won't you help the Cat People with this quest? Please go to the Cat People website and support our efforts to help homeless, abandoned and feral cats and kittens in Bakersfield. The Cat People have found a sponsor who will match all the funds raised for the sanctuary for the next 90 days, so please be as generous as you can and be sure to mark your donations "for sanctuary".

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I would never ever feed Purina, too much corn and other fillers that cause allergies and digestive problems, Purina and Hatz Mountain flea products are a HUGE NO in my house! But so many people are either not aware or cannot afford the organic or premium pet foods.  No one would intentionally hurt their pet and it is devastating when such a thing happens. Right now Purina has issues and these need to be addressed. Purina is stonewalling the pet owners whose pets have been injured or killed by contaminated pet food and that is so wrong.  Even if the contamination was caused during storage etc. it would go a long ways toward creating good will and customer relations if the company would step up to the plate and find out. Personally I feel it is their responsibility towards pets and pet owners.

This is from the Consumer Affairs Website. To read the full articles and all the complaints please use the link at the bottom! This is not just about DOG food it is CAT food as well, and the problem is nationwide!

Shellee of Evansville, MN September 22, 2009
 

I purchased a bag of beneful dog food. Just a couple of days later found airtight container to be covered inside and out with millions of what I learned are grain mites. My dog was experiencing severe itching and hair loss due to scratching as well as an awful odor.

Ginger of Glendale, AZ September 16, 2009
 

Tonight we purchased our first bag of Purina One. We were horrified to open the bag and find tons of live and dead bugs. I was hoping it was just an isolated incident, but after looking around it appears they have a real problem on their hands! Thank God I didn't feed the food to my dogs, like so many others have, which would have made them very ill.

Sara of austell, GA September 7, 2009
 

About two months ago I switched from Purina One to Purina Nature's Recipe. After about three days one of my dogs became very ill, with bloody diahrea and vomiting. It took a week of feeding him home cooked chicken, rice etc before he recovered. Shortly after that the other two dogs became sick with the same symptoms and I likewise cooked homemade food for a week until their symptoms lessened. I had a feeling it was the dog food and I quit giving them the Nature's Recipe and have not had a problem since.

Christian of West Palm Beach, FL August 1, 2009
 

We have purchased a brand new bag of Purina One (PurinaOne) Urinary Tract Health Formula for Cats. Upon Feeding this to our cats and them not wanting to eat. We noticed that there are thousands of live insect larvea and cocoon inside of the bag, jumping all around. This is a very dangerous product as we have heard that other cats have died from this.

We have staged a complaint with Purina, very doubt it will go far. We are now returning the food to the store that we purchased it and will never buy that brand again. Our cats have been very sick for days.

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs....
 

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About a month ago Baby Sasha went to her forever home. As much as she enjoyed and was loved in her foster home she needed to have a home and family of her very own. She now is the loved and treasured companion she was always ment to be. Sorry, Catgirl has no pictures to post but was told she is growing into an exeptionally beautiful cat! How could she not....after all, she was a gorgeous kitten!

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Since Catgirl does not believe in using chemicals she is always trying to find the least harmful and invasive solution for annoyances. So  another thing that works quite well keeping feral cats out of the flowers is regular old chinese take-out  "chop sticks", bury them in the ground 6 to 8 inches apart with the flat tops exposed. They are inexpensive and also quite effective, best of all they will not harm the environment, the cats or the flowers. Over time they will become mulch and improve the soil. It does not get much better than that!

 NOW,  PLEASE DO NOT use toothpicks, they are too pointed and will injure the cats feet. 

I posted the wrong link for ally cat allies, I have corrected it in my previous post but just in case here it is again:  Ally Cat Allies They really do have excellent info for all feral situations and very helpful hints how to reach people that really HATE feral cats.