Vet News Dolittler’s weekend news trio: On Vick, the Supreme Court on cruelty and birthday eggs

You’ll all be pleased to hear that this week’s string of public policy-related animal rants has come to a close. You’ll have to forgive me as sometimes my mind goes on a tear and there’s no way to rein it in until it’s expended itself (and I’m pretty sure it has).

This post will hopefully make up for some of the stress with a couple of interesting tidbits you may have missed in the world of animals and pets:

The Eagles crash and burn...yet again

It’s not enough to hear that Michael Vick has been loosing his lips on the subject of his elusive starting quarterback status. If the petulant, unrepentant, uber-entitled attitude isn’t bad enough, the Eagles’ PR machine has been backing his boo-hoos with first amendment-bashing tactics fit for Castro’s Cuba...not a football game.

The scoop:

“Losers fight pit bulls” is apparently an epithet worthy of censorship in the Eagles’ stadium. A woman sporting a T-shirt with the slogan on the front and “Vick,” redlined on the back was denied admittance to the stadium on the basis of her sartorial selection. Obscenities are normally denied. But a position statement of reasonable tone? The Eagles go too far.

A word to the bold: Protest the Eagles by wearing your bra all by itself (brave the cold, it’s worth it). That’ll make a statement. Alternatively, keep your T-shirt under your hat until kickoff.

Censorship, redux

Along those lines, we’re gearing up for this upcoming Tuesday’s Supreme Court hearing of a case on animal cruelty depictions. Stay tuned for Monday’s surprisingly complicated discussion of the issues involved.

Then there’s the good news...

I celebrated another birthday this week. On the very day, my two Easter hens celebrated, too. They laid the first of a series of five, absolutely delicious pullet eggs. We consumed them last night under a light sprinkling of salt and pepper atop a bed of baby arugula in a mild, white truffle vinaigrette. Fantastic!!

When the Fourth of July hens start laying it’ll be mayhem in the laying boxes. Time for more DIY!

What’s YOUR news of the week?

October 3rd, 2009

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My DIY projects for today are related to Smart Cat. She's figured out how to open the sliding door to the computer room, where she loves to have the laser printer make test prints, and she's also figured out how to open the drawer where "Da Bird", her favorite toy, is put away after a play session. I found the drawer open and the bird on the floor this morning. Some very strong magents are about to be installed where indicated. I'm sure she's going to want to help with that too.

Will October 3rd, 2009 01:59:33 PM

My DIY: Thinking about a cat enclosure along with the nesting boxes. I've got a great spot. But will it be fair to house cats in a 5 x 20 x 12-tall area? Lots of climbing. But would it be a happy place for the foster cats I'd love to take on?

Dr. Patty Khuly October 3rd, 2009 02:08:08 PM

"Happy Place"? In my experience perfection is the enemy of the possible. 5'x20'x12' sound a whole lot happier than the cages at the shelter we got Smart Cat and Pretty Cat from. One does what one can, not what would be ideal in some other universe.

Will October 3rd, 2009 02:33:00 PM

Thanks, Will. On that note (OK, another), this weekend's current DIY project was marred by the goats ripping through tar paper (for the roof of my son's treehouse) and sending a box of screws flying into the brush. Damn them, they're curious and vexing creatures!

Dr. Patty Khuly October 3rd, 2009 03:03:08 PM

The big news at tripawds this week? Today is the one-year anniversary of our setting Jerry free from his broken body. Cancer finally took him, but his spirit shall live on forever in the new and improved Tripawds Blogs community. Thanks for asking!

tripawds.com October 3rd, 2009 04:06:09 PM

Tripawds: You are so dedicated. Your news is pitch perfect bittersweet. That's why you're my BFFs.

Dr. Patty Khuly October 3rd, 2009 04:44:08 PM

Tripawds: Jerry's spirit does indeed live on! An 3 yr. anniversary is approaching soon for me: Pocket's Story from NH and my involvement in a pending 501c3 organization called Companion Animal Protection Alliance, debut newsletter almost complete!

Oh, that picture is one for the albums! That pristine hen is gorgeous and looks like she is freshly bathed with a feather-fluff dry! Colors, including legs/feet are striking! uh, you too-Dr. K. :-)

Also read rumors of Nutro food recall & premium edge cat food :

http://itchmoforums.com/your-problems-with-pet-food/premium-edge-cat-food-voluntary-recall-t9328.0.html;msg138589;topicseen#msg138589

Barbara A./NH October 3rd, 2009 05:41:48 PM

"the Eagles’ PR machine has been backing his boo-hoos with first amendment-bashing tactics fit for Castro’s Cuba"

I am as horrified as anyone over Vicks cruelty to his dogs. But I just want to mention that the first amendment applies only to government functions. So the Eagles and the NFL being private concerns can do as they please as can your employer, the business down the street, and your directives in your own home. If NFL football were a government enterprise, their actions would be a violation of the first amendment. But since it is not, the Constitutional guarantees do not apply and your freedoms are curtailed by business. Fans can prostest all they want and the Eagles can throw them out, dictate what they wear, etc.

Pat Herrmann October 3rd, 2009 06:31:53 PM

No DIY project here. Took my beloved elderly cocker Sunny to have his picture taken professionally today. Held my breath until it was complete as we've tried this before but he's gotten sick each time. I'm thrilled with the results and know that no matter how much time he has left his image and soul will remain with me forever.

Carol October 3rd, 2009 06:36:35 PM

Nothing cookin' this weekend except trying to keep poor Agadore from licking his first hotspot in 6 yrs...... haven't had any allergy issues since we switched to raw and/or EVO..... wonder if this is a really bad year as I am sneezing my head off also.....

OT, Dr K and anyone else who travels with pups- I had the pleaseure of staying at Ponder Cove Bed and Breakfast last weekend...it's just outside Mars Hill, NC in the heart of the Smokey Mountains.... u can check it out on www.pondercove.com Had a GREAT time and so did Agadore---Dr K how about a column on great places to take your pet?

agadoresmama October 3rd, 2009 07:26:52 PM

Dr. Khuly:

First let me tell you that I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan. I should add that I became a vegetarian based on ethics. I also want to tell you that I have always loved animals, especially dogs, so much that people were calling me to ask my opinion regarding the Eagles signing Vick. What I told them was that my first reaction was anger, but I saw that something positive could come from it. That was reinforced when I saw that the Humane Society of the United States was supporting the Eagles decision.

The reason was that someone like Vick could become a spokesperson for animal rights. If he could do anything to help reverse the thinking that says that dog fighting is OK, that what he did was wrong, that it would be a positive. Keep in mind that he's a football player, not an honors student from an Ivy League university. He made a mistake and he paid for that mistake. We can argue about his sentence but that was the justice system that gave him only 18 months.

He was wrong and we can hate him for that, but one thing that I've learned from my dogs is forgiveness. Dogs never hold a grudge. All that the Eagles are saying is that he deserves a second chance to build a life. If he can do that and help educate a culture that allows dog fighting to exist, then I say do it.

I also want to draw your attention to an article in USA Today a couple of weeks ago that helps support what's happening here. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2009/09/animal-activist-a-lot-of-good-has-come-from-michael-vicks-dogfighting-case/1

Thanks, I love your blog.

Gerry Beetham

G Beetham October 3rd, 2009 08:53:19 PM

Mr/Ms Hermann --

The stadium in which the Eagles quash free speech was paid for by tax dollars from the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

MY tax dollars.

Seems pretty feckin' public to me.

H. Houlahan October 3rd, 2009 11:07:16 PM

Well, according to the googles, "Gerry Beetham" does not exist.

Try again, HSUS and Eagles PR hacks.

H. Houlahan October 3rd, 2009 11:11:40 PM

Gerry - I've got to add something to your view of dog's feelings about people and things that happen to them. You say "one thing that I've learned from my dogs is forgiveness. Dogs never hold a grudge."

1) Dogs don't always forgive, as anyone who's met a truly abused dog can tell you. While they may become more accepting of new people, they will always remember bad things and bad people. If they never have those bad things happen to them and if they never see those bad people again, they often can get to a place where life is good for them again. But it takes very little to bring back memories caused by fear and pain.

2) While I love and respect the amazing mind and emotions of all animals, most especially dogs, and I don't thing humans are better than - just different from other creatures - I do not believe that the concept of actual forgiveness is completely possible for animals that are governed more by their emotions and senses than by logic. There are humans who can't process the concept of forgiveness either, whether because they're not mature enough or they also are ruled more by emotions than logic, so it's not that I think animals, especially dogs, are stupid. Forgiveness requires higher levels of rational thought. The caring that dogs exhibit certainly shows the emotion of sympathy, but forgiveness requires self awareness, i.e., empathy, not just sympathy.

3) I don't agree with you about dogs not holding grudges, but that's not the point. Humans are different from dogs (not better, just different), and this human, and many others, do not feel that we are 'lessened' in any way by our ability to hold a grudge. Being able to hold a grudge means being able to remember that there is a damn good reason to not forget bad behavior by another human. Every single human can exhibit bad behavior, and many will exhibit it over and over and over. Not forgetting their bad behavior is an important way to care for their victims. It doesn't mean we don't give them second chances. It does mean we don't blindly trust they won't exhibit bad behavior ever again. That's a perfectly good way to describe a rational grudge.

KateH October 3rd, 2009 11:45:42 PM

"Dogs never hold a grudge." You've apparently never met a dog if you can say that. I know 2 Labs, a Lab mix, and a Shiba Inu who are quite capable of and do hold grudges and those are just the ones in my household. My Shiba can also hold a mad longer than most humans, perhaps because she's of an ancient breed. These are merely expressions of emotions and forms of survival instinct. Forgiveness comes with time and is ours to give or withhold, Vick's to attempt to earn. Society would be a better place if we weren't so quick to forgive. Letting someone "off the hook" before they've established new habits (oh, and we all know habits aren't an easy thing to break or change) is a very dangerous precedent. People "reform" in jail because they lack opportunity so that doesn't count as a portion of the "change of habit" period in my book. The test is whether or not their habits change while they are free to make their owns choices so, as to Vick, we'll see - in time...

PJBoosinger October 4th, 2009 04:43:26 AM

Sorry - it would be better, IMHO, for "fans" who feel the Eagles were wrong to hire MV to stay away from the games. That would send a more powerful message than the writing on a t-shirt (although I agree with the message 100%).

dottie October 4th, 2009 09:18:58 AM

I'm all for boycotting the entire commercial sports industry. I just don't get it. However, for those that do and want to go, they shouldn't be chased out by the presence of one offensive individual. Since, "Pamela Browner Crawley, the team's senior vice president of public affairs, said she knew of no specific policy banning such shirts", perhaps they'll all wear anti-Vick shirts to the next game and send the message that way.

Personally, I enjoyed Nike's message to Vick: Dude, you're just a customer! (WooHoo Nike, more of that please!)

PJBoosinger October 4th, 2009 11:10:38 AM

Happy belated, Dr. Khuly.

When I had Easter chicks, they surprised me by starting to lay in mid August of their first year. Wow, much earlier than I expected, and so I didn't have anything set up. But they had free range of my farm during the day, and they picked where they wanted to lay their eggs: some unused shelves in my feed room. Okay, no big deal. After I found the first egg sitting there wobbling on the shelves, I built them a few little nests in the area and thought that would do the trick.

No, not at all. They not only all wanted to lay on those shelves, they all wanted to lay in the EXACT SAME SPOT on those shelves. Only one of the nests I built fit in that spot, apparently. If two wanted to lay at once, they'd fight for the nest (more of a shoving match than anything violent)--and when one hen won the nest, the other would WAIT. Every so often the second hen would just squeeze in next to/on top of the first. I had three hens and FOUR nests, but they only wanted that one.

Chickens are funny.

Galadriel October 4th, 2009 11:24:57 AM

The legal case is inordinately complex, as are all free speech cases, on the one hand and not at all on the other hand. If the case stands that this guy can't sell stuff like this: "Among the videos he had for sale was one about using the dogs to hunt wild boar and pigs. Others included scenes of pit bulls fighting each other in Japan, where the activity is legal."; then the next extension is that HSUS needs to take down all it's videos of animal abuse because that too is a commercial use of the same type (actually much worse) videos. The prosecuted guy sells his, HSUS uses theirs to get donations - not a big difference. If the threshold question is whether or not the depicted activity is illegal, HSUS is actually in a worse position than the guy they want convicted. I'm sure HSUS will argue that the ends justify the means but...

Dreary rainy weekend in Houston so I'm puttering around the house, catching up on-line, and found I couldn't resist the temptation to order a DNA kit for my newbie stray. What the heck, it's only $80, 170+ breeds :)

Happy birthday. Libran, hm, ...

PJBoosinger October 4th, 2009 11:49:29 AM

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