In Michigan it is legal for shelters to sell animals for research who have been surrendered by the families they lived with or animals who are seized by the authorities. If they end up in the shelter system in that state look out, they could very likely end up in a research facility as an experimental subject.



This is Maxine, she is being used by Iams in their test lab. She is trying to hide in the back of her cage. She has trouble eating when locked into the metabolic test cage. She was debarked along with several other test dogs.



This dog has no name, she is also being used by Iams for testing purposes. She has no access to natural light or to the outdoors, she is not allowed out of her cage even when it is cleaned. According to an undercover investigator she is sweet, lonely and depressed.



This is Fifi who has been used as a lab test subject for six years.



This is Maisy who has been in a cage since 1997. She has also been debarked.

Is this where you want your pets to end up???

Over 127 dogs were killed today in Wilkes County North Carolina for no reason except ignorance and prejudice. The dogs had been seized from a person who used them for fighting. Not all of them were fighting dogs, some were nursing mothers who had puppies after the seizure. They and the puppies were all killed. There is no reason for this. Several reputable agencies had offered to evaluate and place the dogs in places where they could have been rehabilitated. Others had offered to pay the cost of spay/neuter for all of the dogs. All these offers were ignored. All of the dogs were killed today. We kill the victims. The perpetrators were given a slap on the wrist and set free.

Here's a chilling statistic - 575 animals are put to death every hour in shelters across the US. If you want a pet don't buy one - ADOPT - YOU'RE SAVING A LIFE.

I’ll always remember all of you with much love. You were a very large part of my life and if there is anything beyond this existence I want to be with all of you again.

 

Ceilidh –   1988 – 12-7-2003

            You were such a sweet handsome little sheltie man. I still miss the way you curled up on the leg of the recliner next to me in the evenings and the way you always wanted to be close. Whoever dumped you outside the shelter where I found you did me a huge favor. I’m glad I knew you, even though I only had you as part of my family for 7 years. It wasn’t long enough.

 

Shelley –   1995 – 7-5-2005

            The first dog in my family since I was a kid. You looked so much like a small yellow lab it was hard to believe there was some chow somewhere in your background. You were blond and beautiful and cheerful and outgoing and always, always loving. I like thinking that now you and your best buddy Snow are playing together again. 10 years as part of my family was entirely too short. I miss you still.

 

Honey –   1989 – 9-7-2007

            I only knew you for about 3 years and you were already an old dog when I met you. Such a tiny poodle, only 8 lbs when I brought you home. They were wonderful years. You were a grouch who wanted to be loved when you wanted, not on my terms but yours. That was fine, I’ve always had a liking for grouches. I wish I had known you longer.

 

Snow –   1996 – 12-31-07

            My so handsome, white chow. Shy, gentle, never mean. The nine years you lived with me wasn't long at all. I remember how scared you were when I met you, laying with your head under the fence because you had made friends with Shelley and wanted to play. Even that first night when you followed her into the the house and I dumped you in the tub for a bath because you were so dirty you never even snapped at me. Whoever abused you and then dumped you on the street deserves any bad thing that happens to him. I loved your gentle nature and sweetness. You were a very special gentleman. I’m going to miss you for the rest of my life.

Ripped off from The Ninth. This is the first one of these I've done but when I saw the list  I couldn't resist.

Bold the ones you’ve read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish. Add * beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend (even if you read them for school in the first place), and a dash next to books you own but have not read.



Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury*
1984 - George Orwell *
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson*
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card*
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel - Margaret Atwood
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin A. Abbott
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven*
Dune - Frank Herbert
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' - Gene Wolfe
Foundation (Foundation Novels) - Isaac Asimov*
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams *
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman *
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein*
Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein*
Out of the Silent Planet - C.S.Lewis
Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton*
A Fire Upon The Deep - Vernor Vinge
Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov*
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury*
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven
Valis - Philip K. Dick
Time Enough for Love - Robert A. Heinlein*
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer - Neal Stephenson
A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (and the others in this trilogy)*
Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein*
Ringworld - Larry Niven*
The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke*
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Startide Rising - David Brin*
The Reality Dysfunction Part I: Emergence - Peter F. Hamilton
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov*
The Incredible Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson
Gray Lensman (and the other Lensman books) - Edward E. Smith
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Ubik - Philip K. Dick
Contact - Carl Sagan*
The Postman - David Brin*
To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer*
The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke*
His Master's Voice - Stanislaw Lem
Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin*
Eon - Greg Bear*
A Stainless Steel Trio - Harry Harrison
The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells
The Uplift War - David Brin*
Burning Chrome - William Gibson
Ilium - Dan Simmons
Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester*
The Door into Summer - Robert A. Heinlein*
Way Station - Clifford D. Simak*
Fiasco - Stanislaw Lem
The City and the Stars and the Sands of Mars - Arthur C. Clarke*
The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov*
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks
City - Clifford D. Simak*
More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon*
A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Gateway - Frederik Pohl*
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
Ender's Shadow - Orson Scott Card
A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
Citizen of the Galaxy - Robert A. Heinlein*
The Lathe of Heaven: A Novel - Ursula K. Le Guin
Puppet Masters - Robert A. Heinlein*
The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain
Blood Music - Greg Bear*
Have Space Suit, Will Travel - Robert A. Heinlein*
The Chrysalids - David Harrower

Snow died today. He had come home from the vet on Saturday morning after treatment for the initial mauling and was doing well, up, walking around, frustrated he couldn't go outdoors, etc. By Sunday night he was not interested in eating much, as the night went on he got more and more listless and by 10:30 it was obvious he did not feel well. I took him back to the vet this morning early and they attempted to give him more iv fluids and medications. He initially perked up a little but about 10 minutes later he started downhill again and for the last hour was in what seemed to be a coma.

Goodbye my handsome, gentle boy. I'll always miss you and remember you with love. You spent 11 great years with me and I loved every one of them. You were so shy and scared when I first found you on the street but you never bit or were mean to me. All you showed me was love and I miss you.

End of the year/beginning of 2008 hasn't ended/started to well for Snow, my white chow mix. He got into neighbor's yard 2 days ago through a hole in fence that no one was aware of and the neighbor's dog mauled him pretty badly. He's back home from the vet now, very sore, lots of stitches, on antibiotics and pain meds for the next week or so. The other dog bit him in several places and the worst injury of all was that she tore a sizable flap of skin back from the muscles on one side of his abdomen. Luckily she didn't do any deeper damage but right now Snow looks horrible, lots of staples and stitches plus a drain in the worst injury and bruises everywhere. Hopefully the skin flap will stay viable and reattach after some time. Right now he's limping round the house and staring wistfully at the back yard since he can't go outside for the next few days. He's also very frustrated by the e-collar he has to wear to prevent his biting at the drain and staples when they irritate him.

Am kind of down and weepy right now, just got back from the vet where I had to put Honey down. She had been in a lot of pain since yesterday and hadn't eaten anything for over 24 hours. The cancer just got the better of her and she couldn't fight anymore. It was the right thing to do for her. She was a wonderful, 18 year old poodle, weighed at most 9 lbs, and was one of the most stubborn, grouchy, set in her ways individuals I've ever had the privilege to know. She was part of my life for only about 3 years and I'll miss her and her stubborn "pet me now, but for only 10 minutes, then I'm going to bite you" demands for a long time to come. Whoever dumped her at that shelter let me meet one of the best dogs around. Loved her a lot.

“God doesn’t limp” House said as he turned and left Wilson ’s office.



Wilson dropped his head into his hands as the realization of what those words meant swept over him. House knew about the plan to “humanize” him and understood, with his usual clarity, how the entire plan to deceive him about the patient had been conceived by Wilson and executed by Cuddy at Wilson's urging .



As remorse struck with full force Wilson got to his feet and followed his friend in an attempt to do – something, say something that would begin to make things right between them. The few moments delay was too long though, House was already gone. All Wilson saw when he reached the parking lot was the taillight of House’s motorcycle vanishing in the night.

I saw this on another site and got curious

This past weekend was my unintended dog rescue weekend. The part of the country I live in had heavy rains this weekend (4 inches of rain in an hour and a half) with resultant flooding problems. The idiots who live two houses down from me had GONE OUT OF TOWN and left their dog in the backyard with her five 2-week old puppies (no food, water or shelter). As a result of the rains the mom dog had moved the puppies to higher ground and two of them had gotten stuck hard in the fence between the idiots house and the woman next door to me. She's 80 years old and called me during some of the worst of the rain about the puppies being caught. I shoved the puppies out of the fence so mom dog could get them (all cold, wet and shivering but OK). Spent the rest of the weekend leaving food, water for the mom dog (a very sweet lab mix) who is starved for affection and attention.

The next day (after the rains) I spotted a young small mixed breed puppy who had been dumped on the street when the jerks who owned her found out the animal shelter was closed for the weekend. I picked her up and she is now at the shelter waiting adoption.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE ANIMALS AS PART OF YOUR HOUSEHOLDS THEN TAKE CARE OF THEM.