No Scaredy Cats This Halloween: Top 10 Safety Tips for Pet Parents

Attention, animal lovers, it's almost the spookiest night of the year! The ASPCA recommends taking some common sense precautions this Halloween to keep you and your pet saying "trick or treat!" all the way to November 1.

1. No tricks, no treats: That bowl of candy is for trick-or-treaters, not for Scruffy and Fluffy. Chocolate in all forms—especially dark or baking chocolate—can be very dangerous for dogs and cats. Candies containing the artificial sweetener xylitol can also cause problems [remember this post?  :-O]. If you do suspect your pet has ingested something toxic, please call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435.

2. Popular Halloween plants such as pumpkins and decorative corn are considered to be relatively nontoxic, but they can produce stomach upset in pets who nibble on them.

3. Wires and cords from electric lights and other decorations should be kept out of reach of your pets. If chewed, your pet might suffer cuts or burns, or receive a possibly life-threatening electrical shock.

4. A carved pumpkin certainly is festive, but do exercise caution if you choose to add a candle. Pets can easily knock a lit pumpkin over and cause a fire. Curious kittens especially run the risk of getting burned or singed by candle flames.

5. Dress-up can be a big mess-up for some pets. Please don't put your dog or cat in a costume UNLESS you know he or she loves it (yup, a few pets are real hams!). For pets who prefer their “birthday suits,” however, wearing a costume may cause undue stress.

6. If you do dress up your pet, make sure the costume isn't annoying or unsafe. It should not constrict the animal's movement or hearing, or impede his ability to breathe, bark or meow. Also, be sure to try on costumes before the big night. If your pet seems distressed, allergic or shows abnormal behavior, consider letting him go au naturale or donning a festive bandana.

7. Take a closer look at your pet’s costume and make sure it does not have small, dangling or easily chewed-off pieces that he could choke on. Also, ill-fitting outfits can get twisted on external objects or your pet, leading to injury.

8. All but the most social dogs and cats should be kept in a separate room away from the front door during peak trick-or-treating hours. Too many strangers can be scary and stressful for pets.

9. When opening the door for trick-or-treaters, take care that your cat or dog doesn't dart outside.

10. IDs, please! Always make sure your dog or cat has proper identification. If for any reason your pet escapes and becomes lost, a collar and tags and/or a microchip [or tattoo!] can be a lifesaver, increaing the chances that he or she will be returned to you.

* Article compliments of the ASPCA.

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Poor boy ... our thoughts & prayers are with Buster & his family. ♥ ♥ ♥

Buster, a fawn boxer, nearly dies protecting his St. Paul home

Article by: ROCHELLE OLSON , Star Tribune - October 25, 2011 - 10:39 AM



Nine-year-old Buster fought so hard to protect his home that he shattered several teeth as he chomped on his attacker's hunting knife. He also suffered gashes to his throat, shoulder and jowls.

"Every room of my house was filled with blood. It was like a murder scene," said Larry Wagaman, who returned home to the crime scene about 10:20 a.m. Thursday at his east St. Paul house.

Buster, a fawn boxer who survived his latest surgery on Monday, was home alone while Wagaman went on a 20-minute run to buy supplies for a weekend bow-hunting trip.

Wagaman, an Anoka County corrections officer, returned to find Buster slumped in his basement kennel in a puddle of blood and gasping for air through a sucking neck wound.

A thief (or thieves) broke in by smashing two windows of the house on the 1800 block of E. Maryland Avenue. Cash, computers, a hunting bow, three rifles and Wagaman's corrections uniforms were stolen. The invader turned Wagaman's own 6-inch hunting knife on Buster, then left the bloody weapon on the kitchen table.

Wagaman wasn't surprised Buster fought so hard to protect the house he's lived in since he was a puppy.

"He's a dog that comes around every 100 years. He's just awesome," Wagaman said. Buster "fought him off every room they were in."

The dog spent Thursday night at the University of Minnesota veterinary hospital and spent the weekend at home, where Wagaman fed him soft food, kept him warm and medicated with painkillers.

Buster's Monday surgery was to repair his face wounds and to extract broken teeth.

The dog's care exceeded $3,000 -- before the latest surgery. "That's a lot of money, but I don't care. He's a hero," Wagaman said.

Employees in the St. Paul emergency communications center, who heard the initial emergency call, have already raised $500 to help. A fund has been set up for Buster's care in his name at any Wells Fargo branch. The "Buster Fund" is account No. 642-89-22-071.

Still whiny and sore, Buster's getting TLC at home from 16-year-old Brandie Wagaman, who is sharing a sleeping bag with Buster on the living room floor.


Although he's been moving slowly, Buster has resumed his post as watch commander at the house. Wagaman said: "Even with all the wounds, he wants to sit up and look out the window."

St. Paul police spokesman Howie Padilla said the case is being investigated but police don't yet know if there were multiple intruders. "We have limited suspect information," he said.

He noted, however, that burglaries of residences have been up this year and that police already have sent out warnings about being vigilant, keeping homes maintained and garage doors locked. Padilla asked anyone with information on this case to call 651-266-5616.

We have "Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet-Week" , "Deaf Dog Awareness Week", and "National Dog Week" ... all occurring this week!

Cougar's prowl from Midwest to Connecticut astonishes scientists

By Dave Orrick
dorrick@pioneerpress.com

Updated: 09/07/2011 06:46:49 PM CDT

Video from the St. Paul Pioneer Press | TwinCities.com.

A mountain lion killed last month on a busy Connecticut highway outside of New York City was not, as officials initially had concluded, a captive animal that had escaped.

Nor was it, as they had speculated, the victim of illegal exotic pet trade.

No, this was an American beauty, a native cougar born and bred in the wild and whose demise marked the end of a cross-continental journey that included the Twin Cities and Wisconsin, and has amazed scientists, officials said Tuesday.

Genetic testing of the animal in a Montana laboratory matched samples of what became known as the "St. Croix Cougar," a young male that passed through Champlin en route through central and northern Wisconsin during the winter of 2009-10.

"It's one of those amazing animal stories," said Adrian Wydeven, a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, who helped track the cat when it passed through here.

"This probably represents one of the longest movements ever recorded for a terrestrial mammal," Wydeven said.

Scientists from several states pieced together the trek of perhaps 1,600 miles, based on DNA evidence collected from the animal's corpse, as well as scat and blood collected at various sites over the years.

Automated trail cameras and paw print evidence added less-certain locations of where the animal traveled, but there are still massive gaps, leading researchers to speculate as to how a cat might find its way past the Great Lakes, across wide rivers and through mountains on its eastward journey.

"I wish it were here to interview so we can find out," said Susan Frechette, deputy commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

If cats could talk, this young male no doubt would have had a memorable tale to tell as it emerged from its likely birthplace in the Black Hills of South Dakota and crossed a nation that had nearly hunted its kind into oblivion, before finally arriving on the doorstep of New York City, where no mountain lion had been confirmed for more than a century and where federal officials had formally declared it extinct just this year.

(Courtesy of Wisconsin DNR)