Holiday on wheels

Just in time for the holidays Callie got her wheels. This 18 YO has been unable to walk with her mom Tamara; that changed today when For Paws brought this loaner cart just in time for the holidays. For Paws friends donated almost the entire cost and Dr. Parkes and the lovely folks at K-9 Carts East http://www.k-9cart.com/
in MD. made a generous discount and worked all weekend to build and ship Callie's Cart to FL. Now Callie can walk with her mom again. K-9 Carts also donated a second refurbished cart at no charge so that another pet might have a chance to walk and run again. Dr. Kimberly Cox at Tampa Bay Veterinary Specialists http://www.tbvsecc.com/ who has been caring for Callie fitted the cart. For Paws makes carts available at no charge to pet families under a loaner program called "Bosco"s List"http://www.forpawshospice.org/hospice-wishlist.php making the gift of mobility to disabled pets. We wish you and your family all the best of the season and thank you for the gift you give your pet all year long, a home.

JustGive - The Destination for Online Charitable Giving

www.justgive.org

Girls get caught for late-night goat walk

MANKATO MN— A couple of young rustlers attempted to use their imagination to escape the long arm of the law Saturday, but after about an hour of story telling they eventually learned they’d made a baaaaad decision. A Mankato resident called 911 at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday to report two very young ...

Girls get caught for late-night goat walk

Petties Awards announces the Best Pet Bloggers 2011

DogTime Media's Petties Awards Recognizes Eight of the Best Pet Bloggers and Donates $20,000 to Animal Shelters and Rescues Nationwide

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- DogTime Media, the largest vertical media community focused exclusively on pet owners, announced the winners of the 2011 DogTime Pet Blog Awards, also known as "the Petties."
The DogTime Pet Blog Awards are considered by many to be "the Oscars of the pet blogging world." This year the 2011 Petties recognized 32 nominees chosen by their fellow bloggers and pet lovers from across the DogTime Media community.
On Friday, August 26th, DogTime Media announced the eight Petties winners via a gala awards ceremony broadcast on YouTube®, and hosted by DogTime's editor-in-chief Leslie Smith.
"Congratulations to all the nominees and winners of this year's Petties," said DogTime Media CEO, Trevor Wright. "We are very proud to have had the opportunity to share these great blogs with a larger audience than ever this year."
2011 DogTime Pet Blog Award Winners:
Each of the winners will receive a Petties award trophy and a $1,000 donation to the non-profit animal shelter or rescue of their choice.

Best Designed Blog
Kate Benjamin for Moderncat
Chosen rescue organization: All About Animals and Arizona Safe Haven for Animals
Best Social Media Integration Blog
Stephanie Harwin for Catsparella
Chosen rescue organization: Tabby's Place
Funniest Pet Blog
Angie Bailey for Catladyland
Chosen rescue organization: Feline Rescue Inc.
Best Cause Related Blog
Kim Clune and Amy Burkert for Be the Change 4 Animals
Chosen rescue organization: Best Friends Animal Society
Best Blog Post
Sparklecat for her post "Celebrating National Feral Cat Day – for Humans and Cats"
Chosen rescue organizations: Animal Advocates and Feline Ranch
Best Cat Blog
Robin Olson for Covered in Cat Hair
Chosen rescue organization: Kitten Associates
Best Dog Blog
Carol Bryant for Fido Friendly
Chosen rescue organizations: Gulf Coast Cocker Spaniel Rescue and Camp Cocker
Best Overall Pet Blog
Ingrid King for The Conscious Cat
Chosen rescue organizations: Casey's House and Kitten Associates

"The dedication of the Petties winners and nominees is inspiring to their fellow bloggers and the legions of dedicated readers who follow their posts," said Wright.
DogTime Media will also provide two additional $1,000 donations to non-profit animal shelters or rescues chosen by two Twitter followers who tweeted congratulations to the winning bloggers during the awards ceremony.
As part of the 2011 Petties Awards program DogTime will also donate $10,000 to a non-profit shelter or rescue organization chosen by a blogger who hosts the Adoptable Dog or Cat Finder iframe by October 31st. The iframe gives bloggers the opportunity to increase awareness for over 70,000 dogs and cats currently in shelters across the country.
Petties winners will be interviewed by DogTime's editor-in-chief Leslie Smith for an article that will appear on DogTime.com, CatTime.com and across the DogTime Media Network.

Pet inheritance: the trouble with Trouble’s money

By Jessica Martin

August 4, 2011

Washington University in St. Louis

Reprinted with permission 8.11.11

Estate planning with Fido in mind? Better be careful, says a trusts and estates expert at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.     

The issue has been in the news recently. British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who died in February 2010, left a sizeable sum of money to his beloved dogs; Trouble, the recently deceased dog of “The Queen of Mean,” Leona Helmsley, famously inherited $12 million.

Beyond celebrities, a powerful pet inheritance constituency thrives. Between 12 percent and 27 percent of owners have provisions for their pets in their wills. But what happens to the inheritance when the pet passes?

“Poor Trouble already had her bequest reduced to $2 million among other problems with the inheritance,” says Adrienne Davis, JD, the William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Davis

“The remainder of Trouble’s money will go to Helmsley’s charitable trust. And yet, the legal issues do not end there. Typically gifts to charitable trusts, including remainders such as this one, would qualify for a tax deduction. However tax law excludes charitable remainders following pet trusts from qualifying.”

Davis notes that there is one final anti-pet outrage in Trouble’s case. In addition to reducing Helmsley’s gift to Trouble, the probate judge overturned Helmsley’s directive that her charitable trust be used for animal welfare, instead permitting the trustees to distribute Helmsley’s assets to non-animal charities of their own choosing.

“Although pet inheritance in America was recognized in 1923, and despite several recent innovations, the law remains unstable,” Davis say

“One basic problem is that estate planning attorneys and their clients do not take advantage of the substantial legal reforms that have come in the last decade. Trusts must be properly drafted and should name caretakers who are willing to comply with the trust terms. If a final resting place is desired, lawyers should check that it will accept pets.”

Helmsley’s final request for Trouble, that she be buried beside Helmsley in the family mausoleum, cannot be fulfilled as pets cannot be buried in human cemeteries.

Davis says that other reforms are still needed.

“One proposed bill would extend the charitable remainder tax deduction to pet trusts,” she says.

“Other reforms would make it easier to create trusts for future generations, or ‘grand-kid pets.’ That ‘companion’ feeling has spilled over owners’ lifetimes into their estate plans, with no end in sight.”

Frances Foster, JD, trusts and estates scholar and the Edward T. Foote II Professor of Law at WUSTL School of Law, tackles the issue of pet inheritance reform in her recent Florida Law Review article, “Should Pets Inherit.”

“Trouble — and the millions of American pets like her — should inherit,” Foster says.

“American inheritance law is trapped in an outdated family paradigm. That paradigm assumes that the decedent’s closest relatives by blood, adoption or marriage are the most deserving recipients of the decedent’s estate, the so-called ‘natural objects of the decedent’s bounty.’ For many Americans today though, their pets, not their human family members, are their nearest and dearest.”

Foster argues that the idea of “natural” wealth distribution permeates law and decisionmaking and creates significant human costs.

“By ignoring the actual relationships between decedents and survivors, the family paradigm excludes the very people a particular decedent may have valued most — those connected by affection and support rather than by family status,” she says.

Foster notes that recent reforms have focused on enforcing pet care arrangements on an ad hoc basis, improving legal mechanisms to provide for decedents’ pets and redefining the legal status of pets.

“But these strategies offer only partial solutions because they fail to challenge the family paradigm,” she says.

“Reformers must look beyond the family paradigm’s abstractions and develop more individualized approaches that encompass a decedent’s actual natural objects ― be they human or nonhuman.”
  

Veterinary relief effort, Japan

LOVELAND, Colo., March 21, 2011 In partnership with World Vets, Heska Corporation today announced an important opportunity to support relief efforts in the wake of the crisis in Japan.

Wordvets.org is one of the winners in Heska's 2010 Inspiration in Action Contest (www.heska.com/action), World Vets, is a non-government organization (NGO) providing veterinary aid around the globe, in collaboration with animal advocacy groups, foreign governments, U.S. and foreign military groups and veterinary professionals abroad.

In response to the recent earthquake and tsunami, World Vets has reached out to the veterinary community in Japan, specifically in Sendai - an area affected by the tsunami where animals are reported to be isolated and injured. Working with a large coalition of Japanese animal welfare groups and international aid organizations, World Vets has already deployed a first responder assessment team and is currently mobilizing their resources to set up ongoing support activities.

Heska's purpose is to support the well-being of animals and the people who share their lives. We encourage all like-minded individuals and organizations to take action by learning more about opportunities for involvement and financial aid. Please visit their website: worldvets.org.

"Discarded" in Sacramento

Sacramento 1/31/2011- 

"I gotta see them folks that’s gone out on the road. I got a feelin' I got to see them. ... their own sperit is downcast an’ sad?" The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Amá,  Navajo - translation, "mother"

SacPaws blogger Kari Bluff's story about her chance encounter one morning last week with an abandoned dog "Discarded" has now touched a chord with animal communities on two coasts.

"Discarded" - photo by Kari Bluff

The photos caught our attention at For Paws and with the aid of some dedicated people at the Sacramento Bee this "Discarded"dog was found Sunday, she's at the Sacramento City Animal  Shelter. 

Shelter Director Penny Cistaro said Monday that the "Discarded" pit is badly underweight. "She's just skin and bones but eating and appears to have recently given birth."

Cistaro, estimates she's three to four years old and while she's not socialized, the director added, "She is not aggressive and accepts food from our hands, but she will not ask for anything." For that reason, Cistaro explained, the abandoned dog needs expert rehabilitation and she wants the public to know the abandoned dog will not be offered for general adoption.

After Tuesday when she will be evaluated Cistaro has agreed to release her to a qualified rescue organization willing to provide the necessary care and rehabilitation this dog needs. 

CHAKO, Sacramento based pit bull advocates have generously offered to "pull" this girl from the shelter on behalf of a responsible 501(c)3 rescue that would be able to provide care, rehabilitation and a secure rehoming for her. This is her break, she likely hasn't had many but it will take a community to make it happen. To that end For Paws Hospice, Tampa Bay will sponsor relocation and any necessary veterinary costs.

Please contact For Paws at 727.639.9285 or by email: Harlan@ForPawsHospice.org/ 

if your organization can assist.

"Discarded" pit Sacramento follow up

The compelling photos of an abandoned female pit bull and some old furniture posted by SapPaws blogger How I See Life prompted some concerned emails through our network.

By Sunday a fellow blogger produced this image from Google maps which bears a strong similarity to the location where the pit was apparently last seen Thursday.

If you look closely at both this screen shot from Google and the photos from the author here we think there is a good chance they are the same location, the 3600 block of Winters Street.

If anyone has seen the dog or knows where it may have been taken please let us know and we will try to intervene. We have some volunteers in the community that will assist in locating the dog, making sure it gets to a vet and then fostered. Thanks, Taxi