Petfinder Post: International Dog Day

Today is International Dog Day. Not that this web site is set up to do anything special about it, but it's another good reason to adopt a dog.

International dog adoptions are a hassle. Many people prefer that animals be adopted by someone "local," in the same city or even neighborhood if possible, because people know how their neighbors treat animals and some former owners or "foster families" want to visit the pets they've given up. Petfinder does enable interstate adoption, bringing surplus animals from rural areas into cities where too many animals have been "humanely" euthanized or sterilized. This web site welcomes comments from international readers about their experience with animal adoption, or animals who need adoption, in their countries.

Supposedly the Muslim Prophet Muhammad observed that, in the conditions that prevailed in the Arab countries in his time, it was almost impossible to keep dogs and cats sanitary. Muslims, as "clean" people, should be sure to bathe after touching these animals and never allow a dog or cat inside their homes. This was reasonable; fleas pullulate in hot places where there are more humid than actually rainy days, and who wants to live with fleas! Faithful Muslims take all the teachings of their Prophet literally and still, today, may refuse to sit down or take off their shoes in a house where a dog or cat is kept indoors, even though they know it's unlikely that fleas will infest their clothes. So, earlier this summer, news services reported that some Muslim clergymen have forbidden Muslims in their cities to keep pet dogs, claiming that people walking pet dogs on the streets are making the streets unsanitary. Americans who have not lived in those cities have posted hostile comments on these clergymen. 

This web site, imagining streets where dog effluvia builds up for weeks of rainless, hot, humid days where the odors only intensify with time, takes no sides but urges people to try to live, at least to bring up children, only in places where every home has a back yard with room for a dog pen where bodywastes can be buried. There's more room for better homes when people refuse to accept "housing" in unsanitary stack-and-pack "towers" as an option. Dog walking is an opportunity for humans and dogs to bond, not a way to offload your dog's bodywaste on someone else's property. The idea that Muhammad allowed his followers to keep only "guard dogs" that lived outdoors with the herds they watched over embeds the idea that clean-living people can let their dogs (and cats) live a relatively natural outdoor life.

There are ways to keep fleas from infesting our homes and our pets. When the ancestors of my social cat family were rescued from the alley, they were positively grateful for a relatively natural, herb-oil-based flea powder. I thought Mackerel especially, as a little alley kitten, had more fleas per square inch than any animal could be expected to support. I've since seen flea infestations that were much worse. This has been a wet, flea-friendly year and the fluffy black kitten a friend recently released into society, where he's a super snuggler who doesn't think he's been properly introduced until he's climbed onto a person's shoulder, still has short hair on his neck and the base of his tail where fleas and scratching had destroyed the hair before he was rescued from an alley. Flea populations evolve resistance to different chemical and herbal formulas, though, and even the herbal ones can be toxic, especially to those tiny cute kittens who have not yet developed the ability to kill their own fleas. So flea combs are an excellent idea. Infested animals usually appreciate your help to comb fleas out of their fur and drown them. Fleas are almost as unable to swim as uninstructed humans, but they are light and float well and take a long time to drown in clean water. It is humane, and prudent if you have a lot of fur to comb, to use a little pet-friendly soap or alcohol to kill the fleas faster.

Some healthy short-haired animals don't become infested. This year the flea problem was bad enough everywhere that a friend bought brand-new flea combs--one for Serena, one for Drudge, and one for poor little Zakitty. Zakitty loved the attention of being combed. Drudge liked the attention, too. Serena tolerated being petted a little while she was full of prolactin. However, Drudge's coat seldom yielded a flea; Serena's never did. Fleas bit Serena, she nonverbally told me, they were toast. Humans' teeth and nails aren't sharp enough to kill fleas easily. Cats' are. Serena spends time killing fleas that attack her young ones, too. It probably relieves any tension or frustration she feels about being only a big strong house cat when she has enough purrsonality for a lion. 

In addition to the powders and combs, this web site has discussed other things fleas hate, elsewhere.  Fleas like carpets, cushions, and layers of fabric that aren't laundered regularly, where they lay eggs that hatch and mature with astonishing speed. They don't like bare clean floors where rugs, cushions, and laundry are laundered often in hot water. Fleas don't like the herbs and spices that human cultures that developed in flea-friendly climate use in cooking, but they can tolerate odors like lemon, sage, and oregano when they are overpopulated and desperate. Bay leaves, tulsi ("holy") basil, and pennyroyal are the most effective flea repellent herbs; tulsi and pennyroyal can also upset young women's hormone cycles and should be removed from rooms that may be visited by women trying to have babies. Fleas can't live long on surfaces coated with baking soda or borax (washing soda), and neither can the surface molds that have been such a nuisance this summer. Male Grass-Carrier wasps, harmless witless tame things that I tend to kill accidentally when they are chasing gnats or mosquitoes away from me, like to live in corners under furniture where surfaces are not coated with abrasive soda; they know how to love baby fleas--for meals. The Cat Sanctuary has never had a real flea problem, but one flea is one too many for your pet's health and comfort. 

In any case, combing your pet's fur with your pet's very own flea comb is a lovely way to relax and bond with your pet on a summer evening. Check the comb after each stroke and immerse it in soapy water or alcohol if it brings out a flea. Dogs can hear the difference when they're told they're nice clean dogs as distinct from being told they're good dogs, which is a word many dog trainers reserve for use when a dog has obeyed a command correctly. Cats may or may not hear the difference, or care, but they like being clean anyway.

Zipcode 10101: Tangerine from Texas via NYC 

Her web page: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/tangerine-77953544/ny/new-york/mutts-n-such-rescue-tx2788/

Fair warning: this organization says they finalize adoption contracts via video call. This web site warns that you should never expose your face or your home via video call. If the contact person's eye cravings can be satisfied by a look at your general body language while you're wearing a hat, mask or veil, and sunglasses, in a public place, proceed. If not, you might want to prosecute the group for phishing, but you probably won't be adopting an animal from this group.

Anyway, for International Dog Day our Cat-egory is Cats Who Are Known to Behave Well with Dogs. Tangerine, described as the sweetest and spiciest in a litter of kittens named after fruits, is a baby Queen Cat--one of the minority of female kittens who inherit the red hair gene from both parents and look like ginger toms. They are normal females (she would still need to be spayed), only unusual. 

Zipcode 20202: Rosalyn from DC 

Her web page: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/rosalyn-77739304/dc/washington/lucky-dog-animal-rescue-dc20/

Rosalyn is a toucher. Her foster human says she might not absolutely have to have another cat or a small dog to wrestle and tickle with, but she'd benefit from having one. She likes to give and receive massages. She's young enough that she'd be likely to bond with anybody over time (still growing into her ears). Especially if they like to exchange paw massages.

Zipcode 30303: Esther from Tennessee by way of Atlanta 

Her web page: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/esther-77656163/ga/atlanta/your-local-fur-mama-tn1052/

Just another unwanted kitten who needs to be rescued from a shelter where she might be killed. She's very young and should probably still be with her mother, if her mother's alive, but she has that attitude of a kitten who intends to become a gracious Queen. "Why would I be afraid of anybody? Everybody always loves me because I am pretty and nice." She's unperturbed by cats, dogs, and toddler humans in the shelter. She should go far. Though not necessarily in the literal geographical sense.

Now the dogs, themselves...Just to be fair, our Dog Category will be Dogs Known to Be Nice to Cats.

Zipcode 10101: Mia from NYC 

Her web page: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/mia-76016685/ny/new-york/stray-from-the-heart-ny245/

Spayed, vaccinated, and crate trained while only eight months old, Mia is thought to be a mix of dachshund and Chihuahua and something a bit bigger. She currently weighs ten pounds. She's still growing, but she seems friendly with cats and other dogs as well as humans. Her profile is what I was looking for a few years ago when a local lurker needed to replace his neighborhood pet Cocoa, whose job was to hang out in the front yard being so cute and so friendly he attracted people to stop and chat with his lonely, retired, divorced human. I don't know whether that's an ideal job for a dog but Mia could do it well. 

Zipcode 20202: Babe Hunter from DC 

His web page: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/babe-hunter-77919425/dc/washington/k-9-lifesavers-dc19/

Whether you plan to hunt with him or just enjoy his company, who wouldn't want to adopt Snoopy? This baby beagle was rescued from a semi-feral pack in rural Maryland. Several mothers were trying to rear puppies together but apparently only five puppies survived, and each of the five ran up a substantial vet bill. But they think that, with training, Hunter will be worth it. This organization includes some professional dog trainers who will make sure Hunter knows how to behave like a perfect gentleman, at the very least.

Zipcode 30303: Milli & Vanilli from Tennesse by way of Atlanta 

Milli's web page: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/milli-77865399/ga/atlanta/your-local-fur-mama-tn1052/

Vanilli's web page: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/vanilli-77865473/ga/atlanta/your-local-fur-mama-tn1052/

Milli is male. Vanilli is female. Not much is known about their individual talents and pawsonalities, except that they are part Great Pyrenees, so they will grow into those paws, will have long thick coats that will make them look fat even if they're thin underneath, and might be happiest in a cooler climate or if their human can bear to clip and thin those gorgeous coats. Like Internet celebrity dog "Ms. Huck L. Berry," Great Pyrenees can be mellow, gentle pets but they are watchdogs--woe betide anyone who appears to intend to mess with their human or their home. They go through large quantities of food and normally live five to ten years.