Nov 25
Yesterday, I was on my way to the Foster and Adoptive Parents Association, which has a “store” and allows those parents to “shop” for clothing, toys and baby gear at no cost to them. Basically, they give stuff away, unlike…
When I was asked if I wanted to read Jeff Corwin’s 100 HEARTBEATS (Rodale 2009) I was ambivalent. I know he’s a “conservationist,” therefore I know he will advocate for “managing” the “resources” that are sentient nonhumans. And managing means…
Nov 18
Thanksgiving 2010 will be Baby Sky’s first, and our opportunity to introduce her to the notion that our family doesn’t eat animals (not to mention that other historical story we’ll be correcting). There will be no greyhound corpse on our…
Nov 1
When I agreed to read and review Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s THE DOG WHO COULDN’T STOP LOVING (Harper 2010), the regal Charles Hobson Booger, III was still with us. When it arrived, the day after Charles died, I’ll admit to wanting…
HIGH IN THE CLOUDS, by Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh is supposed to be for Grades 2-4, but its themes, vocabulary and syntax are more advanced. From Barnes and Noble: “Wirral the Squirrel is homeless. The evil Gretsch…
Oct 22
Charles died a week ago today, and if you haven’t seen Deb’s tribute, it’s a must-see and we’re very grateful and humbled by her post as well as all of the e-mails and cards and calls we’ve received. In all…
Oct 16
My boyfriend. That’s what I called him. Loverboy, Charles, Charlesez, Gorgeous. My husband called him Charlie. He’s no longer with us, and our hearts ache. Charles’ death was sudden, tragic and avoidable. He had a corn removed Thursday morning, left…
Oct 13
I’ve been under the radar for a bit, anxiously awaiting the adoption finalization of Baby Sky. But now that she’s officially ours, I feel like I can write about a topic that means a lot to me without the fear…
Aug 25
An Animal Person reader wrote me with the following question: There are many species of cichlids in Lake Victoria that are on the verge of extinction, and most are hardy and small enough to be kept in an aquarium. There…
Yesterday, in the comments of An Affront to the Idea of Family, Brian wrote: I understand your concern for those cows that were beat by that man and the unfortunate death of all the cows that died in the snow…
Aug 12
In “Move to Limit ‘Factory Farms’ Gains Momentum” in today’s New York Times, we learn that farmers in Ohio have agreed to phase out gestation crates within 15 years and veal crates by 2017. I won’t get into whether I…
Aug 10
I’m not one of those people who thinks family is composed of only humans or humans who are biologically related. That’s one of the reasons adopting wasn’t a stretch for me at all mentally. The idea of family is currently…
Jul 25
Thanks, once again, to James LaVeck and Jenny Stein of Tribe of Heart for kindly and carefully bringing attention to what should be a stunningly-obvious moment of hypocrisy by groups that exist to advocate for and save animals. I understand…
I somehow became the non-vet, go-to person regarding dogs and diabetes, I suppose due to my frequent blogging about Violet Rays (left), my greyhound who has been through diabetes, blindness (then cataract replacement), glaucoma and retina detachment. As you may…
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