Texas Vet Posts Shocking Facebook Photo of Cat She Shot as Her 'First Bow Kill'

A Texas woman was so proud of her "first bow kill" that she posted a photo of herself on Facebook with her prey – an orange and white cat dangling by his head from an arrow the smiling woman holds in her hands.

Even more shocking, the smiling woman in the photo is a veterinarian, and the cat she killed might have been her neighbors' pet – not a feral cat as she suggested. Dr. Kristen Lindsey's post has set off a storm of controversy, with many demanding that Lindsey be stripped of her vet's license and criminally charged for the cat's death.

Lindsey, 31, posted the picture to her page (her account has since been deactivated) last Wednesday night with the comment, "My first bow kill, lol. The only good feral tomcat is one with an arrow through it's [sic] head! Vet of the year award ... Gladly accepted."

Earlier that day, a couple living nearby in Brenham, Texas, reported that their six-year-old orange tabby, Tiger, was missing.

"In the photos (on Lindsey's page and of Tiger), they appear to be identical," Elizabeth Holtz of Alley Cat Allies, a cat-protection advocacy organization working on the case, tells PEOPLE.

"We are positive that it's Tiger," Melanie DeAeth, president of True Blue Animal Rescue, which is working with Tiger's owners to start a fund for feral-cat education, tells PEOPLE.

"We matched up the markings with some very distinct markings that Tiger had and they are exactly the same. In addition, Tiger always came home for dinner until the day the picture was posted. His bowl has remained untouched since this happened."

After the picture went viral, Lindsey was fired from her job at Washington Animal Clinic in Brenham. Additionally, the Austin County Sheriff's Office investigated and turned over the case for filing of charges of cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor.

The case is still under review and no criminal charges had been filed as of Thursday morning, the Austin County District Attorney's office told PEOPLE. Lindsey could not be reached for comment.

The Texas Veterinary Medical Association condemned Lindsey's actions, saying she violated a vet's oath to protect animals. Even if feral cats, which live outdoors and shy away from human interaction, are to be euthanized, it should be done via injection with sodium pentobarbital, "the only legal method of euthanizing a dog or cat in an animal shelter in Texas," said Dr. Katie Luke Broaddus, chief veterinarian of the Austin, Texas, Humane Society.

The organization and other animal groups advocate instead that feral cats be trapped, neutered and then returned to the outdoors, she said.

Meanwhile, the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners tells PEOPLE it can't confirm if an investigation is underway but says the punishment for a vet convicted of animal cruelty can range from a reprimand to license suspension or revocation.

http://www.peoplepets.com/people/pets/article/0,,20918066,00.html

What's the right way of picking up a cat?

In order to pick up a cat correctly, you have to make sure the cat feels safe and comfortable in your presence before you pick it up. After that, you need to approach the cat, give it time to get used to you, and pick it up and hold it against your chest, making your little creature feel safe and secure.

◎ Support cat's body, and back legs, then lift to the chest

Introduce yourself to the cat. It can take time for cats to warm up to you, even cats that you own.
Make sure the cat wants to be picked up. Most cats will be able to give you a definite sign that they don't want to be picked up.

Place one hand under the cat's body, behind its front legs, slow and gently. Place the other hand under the cat's back legs, giving plenty of support to its legs and bottom. Now that you're holding the cat with both hands, just gently lift the cat up, towards your chest.

Know when the cat no longer wants to be held. Once the cat starts shifting around, moving, or even meowing or trying to escape your grasp, it's time to set the cat down. You don't want to hold the cat against its will.

◎ WRONG
Cats are heavy, carrying them like how their mother carry them by holding their neck part are not recommended. Other than that, lifting a cat by holding the front legs, might injure them.

Cat trapped for 2 hours is rescued.

Cat trapped upside down in wall for TWO hours is rescued by firemen with chisel

Firefighters spent half an hour chiselling a breezeblock free from the neighbour's wall, so poor Marv could be pulled out backwards

Firefighters smashed through a wall to free a trapped cat wedged upside down in a five inch gap.

Unlucky Marv somehow got wedged between his owner's garage and their neighbour's and was left dangling for two hours.

RSPCA workers couldn't coax him out and firefighters were forced to tunnel through the garage wall with a chisel to get him free.

Miraculously, Marv wasn't injured and was happy to reunited with his schoolgirl owners Tilly and Bella Veale.

Dad Brendon Veale, from Hanham, Bristol, said: "Marv does like to get into things, but this is definitely the smallest space he's managed to squeeze into.

"He was a little shaken after his ordeal and stayed inside for a day or two, but he was otherwise unharmed."

Marv was found when a neighbour heard miaowing coming from the side of his garage last Wednesday.

RSPCA animal welfare officer Simon Coombs tried to free the puss, but he was so tightly wedged in that he couldn't move him, and called Avon Fire and Rescue Service.

Fire fighters spent half an hour chiselling a breezeblock free from the neighbour's wall, revealing Marv's tail and back legs so Simon could pull him out backwards.

Simon Coombs said: "We don't know how Marv got into the space, it may be that he fell into the gap and struggled to get free only to get himself well and truly stuck.

"As usual, we are immensely grateful to the fire and rescue service for their help, not to mention grateful to the neighbour, whose garage wall came off the worst in this incident!

"It was great to see Marv reunited with his family after this real team effort to free him."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cat-trapped-upside-down-wall-5565208

Foods that can be POISONOUS to dogs/cats

Furkid's physical structure, physique, digestive system are different from human. Flavored leftover foods and other certain delicious foods, may be toxic to them and may not digest, and even cause fatal risk.

As a pet parent, do not miss out this article. Stay focus!

◎ Onion
Onions, Shallots, Spring Onions, Garlic etc. Onion toxicity results in haemolytic anaemia, where the red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. Symptoms occur a few days after eating onion. The first symptoms are generally gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea, loss of appetite and lethargy. Onion poisoning can result after a single meal containing a large amount of onion relative to body size or repeated meals containing smaller amounts of onion.

◎ Cocoa, Chocolate
Chocolate contains theobromine, a substance very toxic to pets. It makes the heart beat faster and irregularly and makes them pee more. Once in the bloodstream, it causes hyperactivity and thirst. After several hours it may cause vomiting and diarrhoea. It can lead to a fatal heart attack within 24 hours of eating the chocolate.

◎ Raw Egg
Raw egg white protein contains vitamin depletion in cats and dogs substances, likely to cause growth retardation, skeletal deformities and other symptoms. Serve only if the egg is cooked.

◎ Fruit Pits
Apples, peaches, cherries and other fruit pits, stalk, leaves contain cyanide, that can poison them easily. If you want to share your fruits with furkids, please be careful.

◎ Caffeinate
Caffeinated coffee, tea, cause diarrhea, polyuria, seizures and other symptoms to furkids. Recommended to feed drinking water.

◎ Avocado
Avocado pulps, leaves, seeds, fruits, are toxic to dogs and cats. Do not feed them. If the family member happens to have avocado, keep away from them.

◎ Alcoholic Beverages
Due to small body size, a little amount of alcohol in take, may enough to cause alcoholism.

◎ Poultry Bones
Chicken, duck, fish bones are very sharp. Bones that after heating or biting may split lengthwise, stabbing furkid's esophagus easily, and even cause stomach bleeding and other circumstances, be sure to remove the bones completely before feeding

◎ Chives
Please take note! Chives belongs to onion class, most people are not aware that they are dangerous too.

◎ Grapes / Raisins
Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure and other serious problems.

◎ Spice
Pepper, chili and other species are delicious to us, but spices, and other seasonings might be a burden for furkids.

Reminding pets parents, if pets swallow any of these foods, no matter do they have asymptomatic, they may also accumulate and damage pets' health, and must be treated immediately.

Lessons in helping pets

ANIHELP is an anti-animal cruelty awareness campaign by HELP Matriculation Centre (HMC) public relations students.

Popular deejay Patricia K and former Miss World Malaysia winner Thanuja Ananthan attended AniHELP 2015 at Kompleks Pusat Damansara (KPD).

Thanuja who was appointed inaugural ambassador for AniHELP urged people to adopt.

“There are so many pets out there in need of help,” she said.

AniHELP advisor and senior lecturer Murali Rajaratenam said the movement began as a PR initiative to urge youths to stand up for animal rights and champion the voiceless.

“I am proud to say that AniHELP has been going for six years.

“It has served as a platform for youth to be educated on the importance of animal welfare and the need to be compassionate towards animals.”

Volunteer Farahia Jaszlin Jasni said AniHELP has changed her perspective.

“I had to take care of cats and many of them had been abused

“It gave me a sense of satisfaction to know that I had played a role in helping them recover from the ordeal,” said Farahia.

Sheralyn Tan was amazed at animals’ resilience after being abused,

“I have learned that animals depend greatly on people to speak up for them,” she shared.

The HMC students teamed up with Fur Kids Farm founder and lead rescuer Manju Appathurai for AniHELP.

Manju said it all started with the rescue of her first dog, Ruff, who was almost beaten to death.

“It was a life-changing experience for me and I have never looked back.

I’m mum to all my rescued animals and we have about 200 to 300 animals under our care,” said Manju.

University Foundation Studies Faculty dean Dhanesh Balakrishnan said it was important to create a sense of understanding and awareness in students on their role in society towards living things.

AniHELP 2015 also featured a fashion catwalk by dogs from Groomers Academy.

http://www.thestar.com.my/Metro/Community/2015/04/18/Lessons-in-helping-pets-Students-find-antianimal-cruelty-programme-a-lifechanging-experience/

Why we bond with our dogs like our babies

Some dog owners treat their dogs like their babies. While this might seem ridiculous to some, a new study in Science proves the bond between dogs and their owners can be as emotionally strong as the connection between mothers and their children.

It's the latest in a growing body of science that explains how dogs have gained such an important place in human society.

"Owner-dog bonding is comparable to parent-infant bonding," writes Takefumi Kikusui, from Azabu University in Japan, via email. "And this is surprising to us … because there is not a reproductive relationship between humans and dogs."

But any dog lover who has gazed into the big eyes of a pleading pup is not surprised.

Previously, the researchers had shown the eye connection between dogs and humans increases the levels of oxytocin in people. Oxytocin, aka the "cuddle chemical," is a hormone mammals produce in the brain that encourages bonding between mothers and their offspring. It's also involved in partner and social bonding.

Most evidence shows this kind of connection works within a species— humans produce oxytocin because of other humans, and dogs produce it because of other dogs.

But the new study is the first to show the hormonal bonding between dog and human.

That is, the feeling is mutual.

Dogs know when we're happy or angry

In the first experiment, the researchers measured oxytocin levels in 28 pairs of dogs and their humans before watching them interact for 30 minutes. People talked, petted, and looked at their canines. Afterward, the researchers screened oxytocin levels again.

The owners and pups that gazed at one another more showed increased oxytocin.

Humans "use eye gaze for affiliative communications and [are] very much sensitive to eye contact," says Kikusui. "Gaze, in particular, (over touch, for example) led to the release of oxytocin."

For the second experiment, the researchers dosed 54 dogs with either a spray of saline or oxytocin in the nose. The female dogs treated with oxytocin spent more time gazing at their owners, which after 30 minutes boosted the levels of their owners' oxytocin.

"[This] suggests that this gaze behavior is really critical in oxytocin release," says Evan MacLean, senior research scientist and co-director of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, who wrote an article about the findings. "When they receive oxytocin, this causes dogs to look more at people and the more they look, it boosts [oxytocin levels] more."

What's more: Wolves, which dogs descended from about 30,000 years ago, do not experience an increase in oxytocin from gaze.

"This means that dogs have acquired this superior ability during [the] evolutional/domestic process living with humans," says Kikusui.

This provides more evidence of how deeply dogs are attuned to humans.

"We make the claim that dogs might have hijacked [the oxytocin] pathway. It is in place in humans and we use this in our romantic relations and with children. And we know it is important," says MacLean. "This is sort of an accidental thing that happens over … time."

"This special bonding relationship with dogs is fairly unique," he says.

http://www.today.com/health/gazing-our-dogs-eyes-releases-cuddle-chemical-t15746

Just plane cute: Koalas get first-class perks before Qantas flight to Singapore

At least one koala got a taste of first class — and apparently some eucalyptus — before jet-setting from Australia to Singapore.

Before four koalas named Chan, Idalia, Paddle and Pellita boarded a Qantas Airways flight for a six-month stay at the Singapore Zoo, at least one of them was presented with seltzer and hot towels in a first-class photo op.

Australia's gift of koalas is intended to enhance the country's diplomatic relations with Singapore, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence.

At the Singapore Zoo, the animals will "reside in a world class, purpose-built koala exhibit," according to a press release issued Thursday by Julie Bishop, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs. Announcing intentions to visit the zoo next month, Bishop hopes it will be able to sustain a koala colony over time.

Qantas agreed not only to fly the koalas to and from Singapore, but also to transport fresh eucalyptus twice weekly to the zoo.

But luxury can be fleeting. In reality, the animals were expected to travel in custom-built containers stowed in Qantas' cargo hold for Monday's seven-hour flight, according to reports.

The airline did not respond to a request for comment (or details on how we could arrange our seats to be next to koalas on future flights).

http://www.today.com/pets/koalas-get-first-class-treatment-flight-singapore-t14876