Wayward Creatures

12/01/2025

https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2025/01/articles/animals/cats/raw-pet-food-recall-yet-another-high-pressure-pasteurized-diet/

Blue Ridge Beef has (again) recalled a diet because of Salmonella contamination - this time a kitten diet. As is often the case, the issue was identified

09/01/2025

https://www.facebook.com/KIRO7Seattle/posts/pfbid02Rkcwty8nbFS2bxX6iT5S1cJKGtxS8AiRbvyobgmiZKSCzmveEgM5SV5eqL7rxuWtl

05/01/2025

https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2025/01/articles/animals/cats/h5n1-influenza-raw-diets-and-petsan-overview/

Short list of risk avoidance:
*Keep your cats inside
*Do not let cats, dogs, poultry, or yourself contact wild birds, especially sick or dead ones
*Do not feed (or eat) raw meat
*Do not feed (or drink) raw milk

Issues with raw diets and H5N1 influenza risk in cats (and dogs) have gotten a lot of attention in the last week or two. Like most emerging disease

04/01/2025

Ginger and Luna (nee Hope and Grace) were adopted in 2017. These cuties had a rare condition, their eyelids didn't develop fully. They got corrective surgeries at the Animal Eye Clinic of Spokane prior to adoption.
We just got an update from their adopter (It's always fantastic to hear that our alumni critters are doing well!):

We get the biggest kick out of them. Ginger (Hope) is so neurotic but so delightfully lovable. I think she makes us laugh (in a nice way) at least every single day. Unfortunately she has hip dysplasia/ arthritis and we just started her on Solensia this week. We are very hopeful that she will be more comfortable. She loves me but is still a daddy’s girl. Luna is just a cutie and my special lap cat. She is so smart and curious about everything. Nothing new escapes her attention and she must check everything out. We have to watch her a bit closer because of that. Luna is probably going to need cryo again. She goes back to eye doc soon for a check. My vet checked her for any abrasions and she’s cleared, but she thought Luna might need another treatment.
Again, thank you for saving their lives. They are our little gems!

17/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/hutchinsonzoo/posts/pfbid02tjG7imfwzaG7GqAf1iYkZNyqfvDBqFVDVeAyCJt4oa6gKdzfz61UEzpve3g8Ua9El

12/12/2024

We will be at Spoko, alongside the Reindeer again this year! Dec. 22! Sunday! Noon to 3! We will have some stocking stuffer treats for your fur babies! We will have a basket raffle, too! We will have a couple adoptable dogs!

13/11/2024

Hedy Lamarr update - she's been adopted :)

From the adopter: Just thought I would let you know I adopted Hedy Lamar today from Petsmart! I just had to put my 3 year old cat to sleep last week. I have been heartbroken. Hedy reminds me of her. I was sent a picture of the most beautiful kitten I had ever seen but I chose Hedy instead. Hedy is also very beautiful! I love the more mature girls! I have another big black Manx cat who I introduced to her and she just hissed at him! I also have 4 dogs who are used to cats so hopefully she will get along with them. She is beautiful and Im sure she will do a good job of easing my broken heart.

08/11/2024

Hedy and the babies' last day! Everybody's all neutered or spayed, and Mango has been adopted by one of the veterinarians at Chewelah Veterinary Clinic; the rest have been transferred to SpokAnimal for their adoption program. If you want one of them but didn't mention it to me before, please contact SpokAnimal and ask about them!

02/11/2024

Tickets are not on sale until the 12th of November!

23/10/2024

More about leptospirosis in pets, livestock, and other animals

21/10/2024

https://www.longmontleader.com/letters-to-the-editor/letter-one-state-reps-opinion-on-prop-129-9660791

"I feel a deep responsibility to educate voters about what is behind Proposition 129"

20/10/2024

Save the date! Saturday, November 23, Pub Crawl and Poker for Pets! WIt until you see the cute shirts that will be available!!

20/10/2024

Kitten cuddles!

18/10/2024

This seems like a good time to dust off this list too, as it's been a few years since I last posted it:

Here is the list of things that I can remember off the top of my head personally treating outdoor cats for, which would not have happened were they indoors.
This is not a theoretical list, and is not an all-inclusive list of dangers, but it is (I think) a pretty convincing list of reasons to keep your cats indoors.
>Dog bites
>Cat bites
>Coyote bites
>Bat bite, and subsequent 4 month in-clinic isolation because cat was not vaccinated for rabies
>Owl talons
>Eagle talons
>Rattlesnake bite
>Porcupine quills
>Hit by car
>Fell out of car
>Trapped in car engine
>Stepped on by horse
>Fell out of tree
>Electrocution (did you know cooked cat smells like pork? now you do.)
>Frost bite
>Burns
>Skin cancer (yes, this is an outdoor danger, because it pretty much only happens in white cats with UV exposure)
>Trapped in neighbor's shed for days/weeks without food
>Trapped in unused car for days
>Trapped in crawlspace/under house
>Gunshot wounds
>Head slammed in dumpster/broken neck (yeah, it was still alive when found)
>Trapped under closing garage door - stuck there all day while owner was out
>Antifreeze toxicity
>Anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity
>Covered in motor oil
>Smashed with thrown firewood
>Hit with axe (didn't *quite* take the leg clear off, but damn near)
>Drowned in neighbor's pool
>Caught in bear trap
>Feline Leukemia - this is a viral contagious disease of cats, spread by fluid contact. Indoor-only cats are at effectively zero risk for this terminal and untreatable disease.
>Entirely too many to count strays that people never claimed and were sent to rescue. Did you know that only about a quarter of cats taken in as strays are claimed? Nobody comes looking for them, even though most were obviously not feral.
>Who the hell knows how this happened injuries - cat just shows back up on owner's porch after being missing for some time. These include broken legs, broken pelvis, missing ears, missing eyes, ruptured eyes, penetrating chest wounds, broken jaw, skinned jaw, lacerations, abrasions, etc. Some of these are probably subsets of something higher up the list, but we'll never know, because nobody was watching out for the cat.
>It's also a lot more difficult to notice things going wrong when you're not observing appetite/food intake, defecation, urination. Indoor cats that have urethral obstructions get NOTICED. Outdoor cats that get urethral obstructions don't get brought in until they're nearly dead, and may be in kidney failure. If you never see your cat's f***s how soon are you going to notice if they get diarrhea?
In addition to the dangers cats face, they pose a huge danger to native wildlife. Cats are NOT native to the United States. They are an introduced, invasive species. They have literally driven entire species of birds and rodents to extinction; 33 known extinctions so far have cats as the or a major factor.

There is absolutely no reason that cats need to go outside. Provide them with enrichment, toys, safe places, and companionship indoors and they will be fine. They'll also have an average life expectancy three times longer than an outdoor cat's. "Because they like it" is not a reason to let cats roam - lots of people like jumping off of things too, and for that we have bungee cords and parachutes. Want to take your cat out? Put her on a leash, or keep her in a fence/catio.

12/10/2024

Hedy and kitten update! They are getting bigger (and cuter!) and eating solid food.
Getting organized to take all the kittens in for spay/castration in a few weeks.
Miranda Cleveland, Kendall Larson

10/10/2024

https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2024/10/articles/diseases/rabies/bats-and-rabies-risk-assessments/

Bats are getting a lot of attention around here following the recent death of a person in Ontario from rabies. The infection was "suspected to have been