Dogfighting is No Game

Special Guest Blogger
Stat Quo

There is no place for dogfighting. That’s why I am joining Michael Vick and other compassionate people to call on Google to pull an app called KG Dogfighting (formerly called Dog Wars) from its Android Marketplace.  Check out Michael Vick’s statement in a press release article posted by The Humane Society of the United States here.

According to Martin Mersereau of PETA, the developers say the app–in which players train and fight dogs against other players–is “just a video game.” But for living, breathing animals, the consequences of glamorizing cruelty are deadly serious. At best, this game trivializes the horrendous suffering that dogs endure at the hands of dogfighters and sends the dangerous message that abusing animals is entertaining. At worst, it is a training manual for wannabe dogfighters and may pique some players’ interest enough to inspire them to move from virtual dogfighting to the real thing.

We all agree that there are no winners in dogfighting, only victims. Dogs who are forced to fight are typically kept in tiny cages or outdoors on heavy chains 24 hours a day, and they are starved, beaten and taunted into aggression. Dogfighters frequently steal unattended cats and dogs from people’s yards to use as bait to train dogs to attack.

Damage after years of fighting.

In the pit, dogs tear each other to shreds in fights that can last for hours, until both dogs are exhausted and at least one is seriously injured or dead. The “winners” are forced to fight other dogs again and again. The losers pay with their lives: They are often used as bait, or they are electrocuted, drowned, shot or hanged.

KG Dogfighting makes a game out of this horrific cruelty, yet the app’s creators claim that they are helping animals because they plan to donate some of their profits to animal rescue organizations. Ironically, animal shelters may find themselves in need of donations to care for dogfighting victims because of this cruel game. The people have made it known loud and clear that Google needs to do the right thing and pull this ill-conceived app. There is simply no excuse for promoting, making light of or otherwise trying to pass off cruelty to animals as “entertainment.” It isn’t a game.

CALL TO ACTION

• Flag this application and both add-on packs as inappropriate here.  The application’s name is “KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars”, the 2 add-on applications are named “Dog Bucks”, and the developer is Kage Games LLC
• If you’re an Android device user, search “Dog Wars” and “Dog Bucks” in the Android Market application.  Flag all of them from your device as well.
• Email Google at press@google.com and ask they remove KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars and both Dog Bucks packs from the Android Market.
• Sign the petition to Google and Android demanding KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars and related Dog Bucks apps be banned from the Market
• Email Kage Games at pitboss@kagegames.com

WHAT TO DO ABOUT DOGFIGHTING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, in conjunction with the Humane Society of the United States, has opened a 24-hour hotline to receive tips about dogfighting. The hotline’s number is (877) NO2-FITE.

Rewards of up to $5,000 will be given for tips leading to arrests or convictions involving dogfighting. Callers can provide tips on a dog fighting ring, an upcoming dog fight or an individual who is involved in dog fighting. Calls about dog fights actually in progress should go to 911.

Together, we can make a difference to all the dogs who look to humans for compassion and friendship, not to horrific dogfighting.

Stat Quo is an American rapper who lives in Atlanta and Los Angeles. He is a trusted friend of Animal Wellness Centers and frequently works with Dr. Annie to promote animal rights.

Dr. Annie Harvilicz and her team of veterinary medicine professionals are revolutionizing animal healthcare with her forward-thinking integrative approach to health and wellness. The Animal Wellness flagship veterinarian hospital in Venice – Marina del Rey in Los Angeles is a state-of-the-art clinic designed from the ground up with your pets’ perspective in mind. Learn more here.

Why I Choose Animal Wellness Centers

Guest Blogger: Mr. Guru Thapar
http://www.guruthapar.com

The opinions expressed here are those of Mr. Thapar, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Annie or Animal Wellness Centers. Mr. Thapar is an actual client of Animal Wellness Centers and received no remuneration for this blog post.

My name is Guru Thapar. I live in Santa Monica and have a 2-yr-old Basenji named Loki. We have been coming to Animal Wellness Centers since Loki came into my life about a year and a half ago.

Loki is my first pet as an adult. He was so helpless as a puppy, and I was so nervous about being a good dad, I did a ton of research on veterinary care for him. I looked hard at quality of care as well as cost.

I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT: ANIMAL WELLNESS IS LESS EXPENSIVE!

I called around to many local vets and shopped prices for exams, medicines, and surgeries. After reading her website and learning about the way Dr. Annie practices medicine, I thought for sure she would be more expensive. I couldn’t believe it — they were less expensive than any comparable vet!

I asked her how she can be less expensive. She said they are extremely efficient and productive in the way they run their hospital. I am still surprised and hope they can expand to Malibu where Loki and I spend the weekends!

PET STORE VACCINES

Low-cost vaccines offered at pet stores were attractive at first. Then I realized not all vaccines or vaccination strategies are equal. First, there is often a huge difference in the quality of the drug inside any particular vaccine. I can only assume the low-cost places use the lowest-possible cost version. I don’t know this for sure, but I what I do know is that Dr. Annie uses the highest quality vaccinations because she specifically showed me what she uses. The crazy thing is her vaccines are just a few dollars more than the super-cheap deals at pet stores.

Second, I found out that there are several vaccines, such as Giardia and Corona virus, that, it turns out, are completely unnecessary and apparently sometimes harmful. Also, I learned that many vaccines only need to be given every 3 years. In fact, kennel cough is one of the only vaccines that needs to be administered yearly.

LOW COST SPAY, NEUTER & SURGERY

I was also enticed at first by low cost spay and neuter options I found in ads online and driving around LA. After researching it, I learned that spays and neuters are serious surgical procedures involving anesthesia. Many facets of these procedures pose serious risks. For example, I read that inducing anesthesia is essentially the same as bringing an animal very close to the brink of death. Specific surgical practices and materials used can literally mean the difference between life and death for my dog.

I called around to different vets and asked detailed questions like:

“What kind of anesthesia do you use?”
“Do you re-use endotracheal tubes?”
“How do you keep my dog warm during surgery?”
“Do you do blood-work before surgery to make sure my dog is healthy and ready for surgery?”
“Will you give my dog medicine to relieve any pain during and after the surgery?”

I got some astonishingly different answers from “I don’t know” to “Yes, we reuse endotracheal tubes, we clean them, and they are expensive.” … (When I know that “cleaning” usually means simply rinsing with water, they cost under $3, and go down my dog’s throat during surgery!)

BEFORE SURGERY

When I had surgery, I had to get blood-work before the operation to make sure I was healthy enough to have it. I asked about this for Loki, and most places told me it was “optional.” Dr. Annie said she requires blood-work before putting any patient under anesthesia. She said there is an inherent risk associated with putting any body, animal or human, under anesthesia. She said she won’t take that risk unless she has a thorough understanding of the pet’s health and can make a decision backed up by data. This makes a lot of sense to me.

DURING SURGERY

Reusing a tube that goes down your throat?

Dr. Annie told me that she does not reuse endotracheal tubes.  Instead, she uses a brand new tube for each procedure. I think it’s obvious that this decreases the chance of respiratory infection and tracheal irritation.

Anesthesia is not all the same

I learned that Animal Wellness Centers uses the drug Propofol – the same thing used in humans – to induce anesthesia. I read that using lower-quality anesthesia drugs results in at least a horrible hangover and at worst brings a higher risk of mortality. The most astonishing thing is that Propofol costs just a few dollars for each surgery!

A microwave bag of rice to keep a warm?!

Like humans, when animals are under anesthesia their body temperatures drop. I was shocked to learn that some places microwave bags of rice and put the bag of rice on the animal during surgery! Dr. Annie showed me the special warming unit she bought to keep her patients comfy during surgery. It’s similar to what is used for human infants and babies during surgery on them. This is very important to me.

AFTER SURGERY

Then I looked into how to manage pain after surgery. Believe it or not, some places told me they don’t use pain medications for “routine” procedures like spays and neuters. My understanding is that these procedures are painful and traumatic and absolutely require medication before the procedure and for several days after. I think people get confused that because the animal can’t talk, that it might not be in pain. I read that dogs and cats have actually evolved not to show pain as this made them vulnerable in the wild. I want a vet who thinks through pain issues and makes sure my dog never in avoidable pain.

DENTAL HEALTH

Since I brush my teeth twice a day, I wanted to understand what to do about Loki’s teeth. I learned that dental health in dogs is super important because germs and disease can start and fester there. Most vets and pet dental places I checked with offer dental cleaning, but they don’t have dental X-ray machines. I found out online that a surface examination doesn’t reveal anything about what’s happening underneath. Dogs and cats can have gingivitis and tooth root abscesses just like humans. The only difference is they can’t tell us they have a toothache.

Only by taking x-rays of the teeth can it be determined whether a tooth is infected and needs to receive a root canal or be extracted. Apparently, this can be a life changing procedure for an animal with dental pain.

I was surprised not many vets have a dental X-ray machine. I was psyched to find out that Animal Wellness does!

STEROIDS

I remember as a kid my family dog was prescribed steroids a lot for almost anything from itchy skin to a cold.

I wanted to find out about this and read up on steroid use. It turns out steroids offer a “quick fix” to treat the symptoms of many ailments but do not attack underlying cause of illness. I read a lot about veterinarians who prescribe steroids, like voting in Chicago, “early and often.”

I asked Dr. Annie, and she said she uses steroids as a last resort. She said steroids offer temporary relief and are not typically a cure virtually never addressing the root cause of pain. She said that before resorting to symptom-masking drugs that are expensive and often have negative side effects, she likes to focus on the underlying cause and consider how nutrition, behavior, exercise and alternative treatments can manage chronic pain.

LESS IS MORE

I asked Dr. Annie about the pressure of making money and the influence on medical decisions. She told me that her core principle is “First Do No Harm.” She said she prefers to pursue alternative treatments that have few to zero side effects, like Acupuncture. She assured me that her health treatment decisions are made free of outside factors with Loki’s wellness at the heart of everything she recommends.

SIX MINUTES?

I called and asked other vets how long their appointments are scheduled. Some places told me the actual veterinary appointment is six minutes. 6 minutes!

Animal Wellness has 30 minute appointment slots. I asked Dr. Annie why her appointments are so much longer, she said it is important to take the time to get a thorough history and complete a comprehensive exam.

I read through some of the SEC filings of the big corporate veterinary hospitals, and it says in black and white: often the shorter appointment time comes down to a financial decision rather than a medical decision.

Taking price and quality into consideration, I feel that Animal Wellness Centers is hands down the best value for money in Los Angeles. Loki and I love going there, and Vilma, their groomer, is great too. I recommend AWC for anyone with a pet, young or old.

Changing the World for Animals in 2012 by Wayne Pacelle

Wayne Pacelle
The Humane Society of the United States

Changing the World for Animals in 2012

A moral concern for animals is not a far-off, abstract, or ethereal concern. It’s as tangible as it gets—intersecting with so many aspects of our daily lives. We may see stray or homeless animals in our community, or learn of a case of malicious cruelty that causes us to cringe or to get our heart racing with anger or righteousness. But as significant as those problems are, they’re just the most obvious expressions of the deeper problems that animals face in contemporary society.

There are billions of animals in crisis today, but so many people just don’t recognize this fact as a problem. The use of animals is enmeshed in so many parts of our economy—in food production, fashion, animal testing, wildlife management, the pet trade, sport, and in so many other contexts—that these uses are normalized and, at some level, morally invisible. Many people assume or hope that some government agency is watching over the situation and acting to restrain excesses that would cause cruelty. Others listen to the assurances of industry and put their faith in the notion of adequate self-policing.

But there are big gaps in the law when it comes to the treatment of animals, and there are too many people who view them as objects, or commodities, or resources in the waiting. Animals are used in fashion—for fur, ivory trinkets, exotic leathers, or other purposes in the wildlife trade. Many household products, cosmetics, or chemicals are tested on animals before they go to market. Gamblers go to the track to watch horses or greyhounds race. They take to the field to hunt for trophies, and a small group even sets up trap lines in an activity that blends recreation and commerce in fur pelts. Americans eat more than 10 billion animals a year, most of them raised on factory farms. And even if we are physically removed from abusive or exploitative behavior, we are still connected to it up or down the supply chain. In short, there are moral problems all around us—but that means that there are also moral opportunities all around us, too.

We live in an incredible moment of contradiction, when it comes to our relationship with animals—with so many expressions of love and appreciation, yet so many varieties of cruelty and harm. And The HSUS is working to remind people that cruelty is wrong, and that we must  logically apply these principles in the real world. They don’t just kick in with some animals, or in some settings. It’s a broader ethic that must be applied logically and consistently. We cannot simply subvert animal welfare to short-term economic and cultural concerns. Values related to mercy and compassion ground any civil society.

We must see society move past certain abuses and find a new way forward:

• Increasing adoptions of homeless pets as a means of dropping euthanasia rates across the country, and seeing that puppy mills stop abusing dogs. In developing countries, it means humanely managing street dog populations.
• Phasing out the use of extreme confinement practices on factory farms; transitioning to more humane farming practices; and exhibiting consciousness about the food we eat. Eating is a moral act.
• Passing federal legislation to phase out the use of chimpanzees in invasive experiments, reducing pain and distress in the laboratory, and choosing alternatives when it comes to the use of animals for research and testing.
• Cracking down on the trade in dangerous exotics for pets, and passing laws to forbid this trade and associated auctions.
• Stopping the slaughter of horses for human consumption throughout North America.
• Putting an end to the commercial hunt of seals in Canada and Namibia and convincing Japan and Norway to end their commercial slaughter of whales.
• Ending captive shoots for animals for trophies.

In the last few years, there’s been great progress. We are on a clear trajectory—more awareness, more action, and more progress for animals. But we cannot relent, we cannot hesitate.  We must call cruelty by its name, and demand the change that we want to see in society.

Wayne Pacelle is president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest animal protection organization.

Respecting Animals by John Mackey

Special Guest Animal Wellness Blogger
John Mackey, CEO  and Co-Founder of Whole Foods

Respecting Animals

Like Dr. Annie, I believe animals have souls. In fact, the very word “animal” comes from the Latin word anima which literally means “soul.”

As Henry Beston put it: “In a world older and more complete than ours, animals move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”

My strong feelings about animals and our duty to live harmoniously with them led me to the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of the United States, whose motto, simply put, is to Celebrate Animals and Confront Cruelty.

Taking this to heart, here at Whole Foods we strive to be in the vanguard on animal respect issues. This comes into focus in our practice of Conscious Capitalism, an enlightened economic system that takes often overlooked stakeholders into account. Like Dr. Annie, we consider the animals themselves to be very relevant and important stakeholders in our company’s ecosystem.

For example, it’s often easy to forget that the burger, steak or drumstick on your plate was once an animal. How was that animal raised? How was it treated? Where did it come from? What did it eat? What about hormones and antibiotics? Was its growth artificially accelerated to get to market sooner and reduce feed cost? Here are a few things we think about in answering those questions taken from our piece on Respecting Farm Animals by Paige Brady.

Dairy Cows

Administering synthetic growth hormones such as rBST to dairy cows can increase milk yield and thus the supply of milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, etc. For your convenience, Whole Foods Market offers a wide selection of dairy products, including many from farms that don’t give their cows synthetic growth hormones. In fact, our own 365 Everyday Value® and Whole Foods Market™ brand dairy products (including cheese) are from farmers who pledge not to use rBST. Another great way to avoid them is to choose organic, since the National Organic Standards don’t allow synthetic growth hormones…vote with your dollars!

Cage-free Chickens

Cage-free eggs are from laying hens that move around freely, exercise and scratch about instead of being confined in a cage. All eggs sold in cartons and used in recipes in our Whole Foods Market kitchens and bakehouses are cage free.

Meat and Poultry Standards

Our meat and poultry standards at Whole Foods Market not only allow us to offer the highest quality food to our customers, they take into account the comfort, physical safety and health of the animals. For example, our animal welfare standards require enough space for chickens to run around and flap their wings.

Remember: Every bite has a story. Your conscious food choices make a world of difference.

The Humane Society

“We need more veterinarians like Dr. Annie who put the well-being of animals above all else. I am very impressed by her approach to veterinary medicine… I look forward to Dr. Annie’s continued involvement in the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association (HSVMA). And I look forward to building a strong partnership with AWC going forward.

- Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of HSUS, February 11, 2010

The HSUS is the most effective animal advocacy group in the world. We would be happy to help you make a donation directly to them, call us at (310) 450-PETS (7387).

Lu Parker Project

The Lu Parker Project is dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk youth and homeless animals through direct service, education, and advocacy.

Take Me Home

In just the state of California, approximately 1,000,000 dogs and cats are euthanized each year just because no one was there to take them home. Take Me Home is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization that has been saving the lives of homeless animals for more than nine years. We work in conjunction with shelters and rescues throughout California and beyond to help save animals on death row, on the streets or in unsafe living conditions. Take Me Home Rescue is on site at AWC Santa Monica every Saturday and Sunday with perfect pooches in need of homes. Please stop by this weekend, and tell your friends!

Balance It

Run by a boarded veterinary nutritionist, Balance.It.com is the best resource for homemade diets. Remember: our companions do not have the same nutritional requirements as humans so to be sure they are getting a balanced diet use this website and the supplements they carry.

Much Love Animal Rescue

We help Much Love spread the love by giving a discounted initial exam and a 10% discount for the life of every companion adopted through this organization. We offer similar benefits to companions adopted from the following organizations:

ASPCA

The ASPCA was the first humane organization in the Western Hemisphere. As a former veterinarian at the ASPCA’s flagship Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital, Dr. Annie and Animal Wellness fully support the ASPCA’s mission “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.”