Image via WikipediaI got an e-mail from the ASPCA yesterday reminding me that April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month, and it seemed like a good time to take note of a bunch of messages I've gotten the past couple of weeks. For some reason, the ASPCA is still carrying me as a member even though I can't afford to donate anything right now (thanks, guys). This is their 145th year, and, as they do every year, they are asking people to "Go orange for animals," and selling a number of orange garments and other products on their website. They're also running a photo contest.I'm sorry to say that most of the mail I've been getting lately involves animal cruelty. For example, DogTimes has an item that was pretty horrifying about a dog who was hit by a car six weeks ago and only got medical care last week!
Healthy Dog News (from WebMD) has less distressing material in their most recent issue. The cover story is about whether or not pets should be shaved for the summer (most shouldn't, some can be), but the article that drew my attention was on feeding dogs table scraps. I'll acknowledge that table scraps were probably the main food supplied by owners before the development of commercial dog food, and that most dogs did okay on them, but I firmly believe that the potential for overfeeding and other problems is great enough to avoid giving your dog "people food" (one thing the article mentions is that dogs' "saliva isn’t designed to break down carbohydrates," while ours is, which is something I didn't know). As you know, I'm not all that big a fan of commercial dog food, but at least you won't have a situation where everyone in the house is opening a can and slipping some to Rover on the side.
It looks like my in-box has more stuff than I thought. I'll get to the rest of it next time, but meanwhile, you can do something to help some of the victims of animal cruelty right now, and it won't cost you a cent. Go to the Animal Rescue Site button that's off to the right, click on it, then click on the box that comes up. Your click means that advertisers will have to pay the site, and that money goes to help feed shelter animals.
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