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Keagan, the Australian Shepherd inspects the Kersey Valley Maize Adventure with the cameras rolling.

High Point, NC, USA – 08/11/08 – Keagan, the Australian Shepherd representative of Animal Rescue Groups of NC and Classy Sassy Paws, Inc. inspected the Kersey Valley Maize Adventure in High Point, NC; yesterday after learning the Maize Adventure had expanded its fun filled family events to include the pets of its guests. With cameras rolling Keagan had a blast sniffing out the fun! The Maize Adventure is all about the adventure in getting lost in the maze created with Maize, also known as…corn. Lights, Camera, Action!

Keagan felt it was vitally important to ensure the Maize Adventure would even be of interest to pets like himself, so he inspected it personally yesterday. Keagan reports to us that, “BARK! BARK, BARK, ARRRRF, ROTE, ROTE, BARK!” and his mom, Ginny Wiltsey, President of Animal Rescue Groups of NC and Classy Sassy Paws, Inc., kindly translated his excited dogspeak for us.

She said, “Keagan wants you and all the pets out there to know how incredibly fun his day was! He went panning for gems, an activity he really recommends for those pets who don’t mind getting a little wet. Oh and the fossil dig, well you know how dogs love to bury bones!” Keagan added, “BARK, BARK! ARRRFFF, BARK, WOOOOOF!” Ms. Wiltsey again translated and said, “Keagan is telling you how nervous he was when he first entered the Maize. He said not being able to see over the corn was a little intimidating initially, but once he got further in, he loved it and it became like a mission to get to the end.”

Keagan, smiling happily as his mom translated, jumped in again to add, “WOOOOOOOOOFFF, BARK! AHRRR-ROOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Ms. Wiltsey laughed heartily and translated, “Keagan is telling you about how he got to stand on the Look Out Bridge in the Corn Maize and all the people there with him raised their arms and starting cheering, so he joined in with his own howls of excitement!”

This high draw attraction is celebrating the addition of pets with The Amaizing Pet Adventure - A Paws Adopt-A-Thon Production on September 27, 2008 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Keagan excitedly reports that pets everywhere are going to love the Kersey Valley Maize Adventure and highly recommends everyone to go there as a family…..the WHOLE family, too.

Watch for more from Keagan as he has been chosen to be a spokes dog and model for Envy Pets and he says “mums the word on Envy Pets or in his case barks the word!”

  Animal Advocate Ginny Wiltsey Joins the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of the Piedmont 

 High Point, NC, USA – 08/01/08 – Local Animal Advocate and Business Owner Ginny Wiltsey was unanimously voted in and inducted to the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of the Piedmont Wednesday, July 30, 2008.

“I am deeply honored to be given this incredible opportunity to assist The Humane Society of the Piedmont in its efforts to eliminate animal cruelty and the tragedies of pet overpopulation through an aggressive spay and neuter program,” said Ms. Wiltsey. 

The Humane Society of the Piedmont addresses a variety of animal issues, but is currently focused on the need for implementing widespread sterilization programs by educating pet owners on the urgency of spaying and neutering all companion animals.  The issue has been critically compounded by the housing crisis as pet owners all over the nation abandon pets when they abandon their foreclosed homes.  Additionally, more people are giving up their pets as they determine ways to trim their budgets due to rising gas prices and the impact to the cost of living. 

“I’ve been directly involved in animal rescue and related efforts for years now and I consider this my challenge to advance to the next stage, which is creating an educated public whose single-minded goal should become reducing animal population to controllable levels,” added Ms. Wiltsey. 

Ms. Wiltsey went on to say she does not intend to cease her efforts in animal rescue.  “I think we must address the absolute need to change society’s view of animal issues by championing new laws to reduce cruelty via stronger and harsher penalties, and by creating avenues of animal welfare education that jump start our youth at an early age onto the path of compassion and responsible care for the animals in our world.  Early education on responsible pet ownership is the key and the challenge is to find multiple ways to create a different mind-set in our society so future generations are not as careless about animal population control tactics and more caring towards saving animals.”

Ginny Wiltsey is the Owner, President and Designer of Classy Sassy Paws, Inc., a locally based wholesale pet couture company.  She is also a couture designer for people and celebrities on a custom order basis.  She is an animal welfare & rescue advocate active in rescue, event coordinating, adoption, fostering and fund-raising.  She is a public speaker on various topics related to animal advocacy such as Responsible Pet Ownership.  Ginny is also the creator of Animal Rescue Groups of North Carolina (www.argnc.com), a web site dedicated to being a one-stop information clearinghouse for various aspects of animal advocacy, including rescue, spay & neuter clinics and public education on animal welfare.

Where is the Outrage? op-ed Kevin Belton 

When did it become acceptable to use fish for a pedicure? On Good Morning America this morning they did a segment on a northern Virginia spa that now uses over 1000 fish (in lots of 100 per tank) to start the pedicure process. Customers soak their feet in tanks while hungry fish devour loose skin. Once this process is complete the pedicure proceeds as usual. Here is my problem, if this were any other animal people would be crawling out of the woodwork screaming abuse but since it’s just fish who cares! Let me tell you what happens to fish when the water conditions are not ideal, they start to gasp then as water conditions deteriorate the get lesions on the gills and eventually suffocate because they can no longer extract enough oxygen from the water. The spot on TV says nothing about the type of care or filtration used to maintain the health of the fish. Continued exposure to human feet will introduce bacteria and lack of stability in the waters PH levels. I would be interested to know out of the 1000 fish on hand how many are dead every morning when the employees come in. My point to this little rant is the value we put on life. Fish rate low on the scale obviously, everyone will go watch shark week on Discovery and cringe when they see how the reefs are being killed by commercial fishing and pollution and after donating to some cause to make them feel better about themselves enjoy the new fad of fish pedicures that will soon be sweeping the nation.

 People are quick to cry out against a puppy mill or and overcrowded shelter but have any of you ever been to a commercial fish wholesaler? Most experience a 5% loss per day of livestock, but as long as little Sarah has a goldfish in her bowl when she wakes up, well that’s fine. Tell me what breeder or puppy farm you think it’s ok to have a 5% loss per day. I didn’t think so. So do I think we should stop commercial fishing for the pet trade? No, I think we need to stop being hypocritical when an acquaintance buys a dog or cat from a breeder instead of adopting, or when a horse breaks it’s leg at the next Kentucky Derby or your next door neighbor goes hunting and kills a deer (that he also eats). People condemn those without a second thought. Meanwhile killing 50 fish per day for a pedicure is just an acceptable loss for a service provided. Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.

Junk food is causing pet obesity epidemic
By Andy Bloxham
Last Updated: 6:06PM BST 20/07/2008
Pet owners are increasingly feeding their animals a dangerously unhealthy diet of junk food, including curry, pizza and ice-cream, a charity has warned.

JOHN ROBERTSON
Pets are being fed chips, cheese, scones and even curry

Researchers for The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals found that in the past year there has been a 10 per cent increase in the number of overweight animals.

Around 500,000 pets are affected, ranging from cats and dogs to rabbits, rats and even budgerigars.

They are suffering symptoms identified with obesity in humans, such as low energy levels, breathing problems, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, liver and heart disease and poor fertility.

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PDSA senior veterinary surgeon Sean Wensley said the pets’ weight gain could be down to their owners giving them fatty and sugary snacks with little knowledge of what harm they were doing.

He said pets were being fed chips, cheese and scones.

“Others that have been mentioned are crisps, curry, pizza, ice-cream, cake, and sweets,” he added.

He said owners appeared not to understand that a single biscuit or crisp for a pet could be equivalent to an entire packet for a human.

The experience of the PDSA is reflected elsewhere.

The Guinness Book of Records has withdrawn its listings for heaviest animals over worries that some owners may be overfeeding their pets to gain recognition.

Inspectors from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals last year took a labrador called Rusty away from Derek Benton, 62, of Fordham, Cambridgeshire, and his brother David, 53.

The pair had allowed the dog to reach 74.2kg (162lbs/11st 5lbs).

There have also been cases of a cat called Ginger which was too fat to get out of the cat flap and a dog that was so overweight after being fed English breakfasts that it could not move.

Helen Briggs, of the RSPCA, said: “Overweight animals tend to be made objects of fun, but it’s a serious animal
“Overweight animals tend to be made objects of fun, but it’s a serious animal welfare issue.”
Helen Briggs, of the RSPCA.

11:52 AM CDT on Monday, July 21, 2008

By JESSICA MEYERS / The Dallas Morning News
jmeyers@dallasnews.com Debra Gwathney spent her $600 stimulus check on her three cats.

Pet owners spending more on veterinary care

07/21/2008

Summer Rose took on a second job to pay for her pug’s hip replacement.

And Christine Lewis says she dishes out more on her beagle than her friends do on their toddlers.

Quirky, neighborhood cat-lady types? The kind who dress their animals in knitted sweaters and feed them organic cheese-nip biscuits?

Far from it. But the three Dallas women are part of a growing legion of pet owners around the country choosing to invest in their animals’ well-being even as their own health-care costs are rising.

“If you are an animal lover, it’s worth it,” said Ms. Rose, 30, as she waited for her dog to get $300 worth of shots at Hillside Veterinary Clinic on Mockingbird Lane.

Jake, a 16-year-old cocker spaniel, recouperates at Hillside Veterinary Clinic in Dallas.

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She has shelled out at least $12,000 on a litany of dogs and cats in the past decade.

And that’s only scratching the surface.

Even with the latest accounts of abandoned pets and packed animal shelters, owners are expected to spend a record $43 billion on their pets this year, $2 billion more than last year, according to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.

About 67 percent of U.S. households own a pet, and chances are they spend half their pet costs on vet visits and over-the-counter medicine, the survey said.

“Pets don’t live in the back yard anymore,” said Dr. Bonnie Beaver, a professor of small-animal medicine at Texas A&M University. “They live in the house. Their role in our lives has changed. Some say they’re family members.”

This means pet owners are making more sacrifices, especially since veterinary advancements in the past two decades have made health care pricier, Dr. Beaver said.

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“It parallels human medicine,” she said.

Today, CAT scans actually include cats, and doggie sonograms are routine.

Katherine Wells, a veterinarian at the Veterinary Referral Center of North Texas, said she’s seen clients take out a second mortgage to pay for their pets’ surgery.

Her Far North Dallas clinic offers everything from animal ophthalmology to radiology and internal medicine. Surgical procedures can cost more than $3,000.

Still, on a recent weekday morning, dogs and cats filled the small waiting room.

Although pet owners – many of whom are young professionals without children or empty nesters who have replaced their kids with animals – are willing to pay for major procedures, veterinarians worry they will cut down on basic care with the economic downturn.

“They are shying away from preventive things that will cost them more money in the long run,” said Bernadine Cruz, a veterinarian and official of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Dr. Cruz recommends pet insurance – a health-care option better known in the United Kingdom – along with annual trips to the vet.

Less than 1 percent of pet owners in the U.S. have pet insurance, but the market is expanding. Only a handful of companies existed when Veterinary Pet Insurance, the country’s oldest and largest animal health-care provider, started business in the early 1980s, said company spokesman Brian Iannessa. That number has since doubled, and Mr. Iannessa said business is better than ever.

“People are recognizing its value more so these days and holding on to their medical plans as they face economic uncertainty,” he said. “They want to make the best medical decision without finances getting in the way.”

The company has about 450,000 clients, double what it had six years ago. It charges about $25 a month for dogs and $20 a month for cats.

None of the current 11 pet insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions, a factor that has Fort Worth residents Ben and Carolyn Cason skeptical of such organizations.

“I just don’t trust it … all those disclaimers. You think, ‘Gosh, what are they going to do?’ ” she said.

The retired couple, both 66, has spent more than $50,000 on their Shih Tzus in the past decade.

Sometimes it’s been “bread or the dog bill,” Mr. Cason said.

This week, they took Sassy, one of their five Shih Tzus, to the Veterinary Referral Center for a swollen lymph gland.

The cost?

Ms. Cason shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. They’re just like our children. They’re a reason to get up in the morning.”

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TODAY’s Natalie Morales talks with Alayne marker, who founded Rolling Dog Ranch with her husband, along with Glenn Bennett and Nicci Hensell Bennett who adopted one of the dogs.

Got a sweet tooth? Think twice before picking up a Mars candy bar! You should know that candymaker Mars, Inc.—creator of M&M’s, Snickers, Twix, Dove, Three Musketeers, Starburst, Skittles, and other candies—funds deadly animal tests, even though there are more reliable human studies and not one of the tests is required by law.

Mars recently funded a deadly experiment on rats to determine the effects of chocolate ingredients on their blood vessels. Experimenters force-fed the rats by shoving plastic tubes down their throats and then cut open the rats’ legs to expose an artery, which was clamped shut to block blood flow. After the experiment, the animals were killed. Mars has also funded cruel experiments in which mice were fed a candy ingredient and forced to swim in a pool of a water mixed with white paint. The mice had to find a hidden platform to avoid drowning, only to be killed and dissected later on. In yet another experiment supported by Mars, rats were fed cocoa and anesthetized with carbon dioxide so that their blood could be collected by injecting a needle directly into their hearts, which can lead to internal bleeding and other deadly complications.

Click here to find out more about Mars’ cruel experiments.

Mars’ top competitor, Hershey’s, has pledged not to fund or conduct experiments on animals. Other major food corporations—including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Ocean Spray, Welch’s, and POM Wonderful—have also publicly ended animal tests after hearing from PETA.

Click here to read PETA’s letters to Mars CEO Paul Michaels.

Tell Mars to Drop Deadly Animal Tests!