Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and Pet Matchmaking
Elaine Hendrix, Pet Matchmaker

From the hit FX television show, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, Elaine Hendrix is Animal Radio's special guest this week. During the day she's an actress, during the evenings she's an animal advocate.

The last time Elaine Hendrix was a guest on Animal Radio, she had started The Pet Matchmaker, a pet matchmaking service. No, this is not a dating service for dogs, but to actually match people up with the appropriate pets. Elaine wants people to find a pet that is suitable for them. She does this by finding out a little bit about the person and their lives.

Most people adopt an animal on an emotional impulse. They see a pet and think they're cute! They might also see a pet at a rescue event and think that it needs help. Unfortunately, they don't always think about what type of home they have? What type of family do they have? What do their finances look like? Elaine wants people to be really practical and really reasonable when it comes to getting animals.

And if you've already found true pet love, The Pet Matchmaker can help you, too! From expert advice to fun activities and ideas on how to enrich your animal/human bond, The Pet Matchmaker is filled with useful information. They are the ultimate resource community dedicated to the well being of pets and their pet parents.

Elaine is busier than ever now, and she loves it! Her day job as an actress is also going really well and her nighttime, Super-Hero job as an animal rescuer is never ending. She only wishes she could devote more time to the animals.

Elaine is from East Tennessee and currently lives in Los Angeles, CA with her rescue companions. She also has a revolving door of fosters at any given time! Elaine admits that she lets everyone sleep in the bed with her.

Online CPR Course For Pets
Melanie Monteiro - Safe Dog Handbook, & Online Course

Melanie Monteiro, author of "The Safe Dog Handbook," released an incredible 3-hour online course to educate pet professionals and pet guardians about CPR and other emergency care. Covering everything from bloat to car accidents, she'll teach you what you need to know to save your pet's life!

Whether you're a pet parent or a pet professional, this web-based dog safety course provides you with lifesaving skills, knowledge and confidence to set yourself up for success in a crisis during a life-threatening emergency, in those moments before you can reach a vet for treatment. There may be times when you need to react before you get to a veterinarian, if an animal is choking or if they are suffering from heatstroke, and you may even have to perform CPR.

Many people live in areas whether there aren't any hands-on training courses for pet emergencies. So Melanie has taken all of the things she teaches in her hands-on courses and workshops and has put them into this video-based course. The videos contain mannequins as well as real dogs.

One of the videos available is on "bloat." Melanie actually made this video available for a free preview to anyone who visits the site. It is amazing that this was actually caught on tape. Melanie worked with an Akita group who had accidentally videotaped a dog "bloating." They had just rescued this dog and were filming him for their website, when he started exhibiting signs of bloating. But because the dog was elderly and blind, they originally thought he was just disoriented.

Bloating is one of those things that if you've never seen it in person, it is very hard to recognize when it is happening to the dog. Bloating is extremely life threatening and every moment counts. It requires an immediate trip to a veterinarian. Luckily, the Akita in the video made a full recovery.

The on-line course is broken up into 36-individual lessons. It is set up to allow you take it at home on your computer. You can take the lessons just bit by bit, individually, whenever you have time. You can also go back and take a refresher course.

The course has been approved by some of the top veterinarians in the country. Visit the Dog CPR, First Aid & Safety Online CPR Course to learn more. Upon completion of the online course, you will receive a downloadable certificate, containing your name and date of completion.

Who knows, the life you save may be that of your own pet!

Second Hand Smoke Sickens Pets - Dr. Debbie

Looking to save money on veterinary care or wondering how to keep your pet in peak health? If you are a smoker and have pets, there are some very compelling reasons to quit - second hand smoking's link to causing cancer and illness in pets. If threats from your spouse haven't gotten you to stop smoking yet, maybe looking at that furry friend on the couch next to you will. The life you save may be his.

It's long been known that smoking causes serious health repercussions in people, even to non-smokers in the same environment. According to the Center For Disease Control (CDC), secondhand smoke contains 7,000 different toxins, hundreds which are toxic and 70 which cancer-causing.

In people, secondhand smoke is linked to cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and childhood asthma, ear infections and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Similar research in pets has found that animals from smoking homes are at greater risk of chronic lung disease like asthma and bronchitis, respiratory cancers and other cancers.

Pets are exposed to smoke and chemicals not only through inhaling air, but also by ingesting the toxins directly. Smoke particulates settle on pet's fur or are transferred from the owner's hands through petting. Pets then ingest cigarette's toxins through licking humans, self-grooming and grooming other household pets. Cat's especially fastidious nature permits increased intake of smoke residues through kitty grooming behaviors.

What Are Secondhand Smoke Effects In Pets?
Research from Tufts University discovered that cats exposed to smoking had a higher risk of developing the malignant cancer, lymphoma. In fact, cats living in smoking homes had double the risk of developing lymphoma as cats from non-smoking homes. When two people in the home smoked, the risk of lymphoma in cats increased to four times.

Other veterinary research identified increased rates of oral, nasal and lung cancer in pets from smoking households. Cats from a smoker's home are four times as likely to develop the disfiguring cancer, squamous cell carcinoma. And in yet another study, long snouted dog breeds from smoking homes were at greater risk of developing nasal cancer, likely due to greater absorption area in long nasal passages.

How Can You Safeguard Your Pet's Health?
If you are a smoker, consider stopping - for your sake and your pets. Short of giving up the habit, take steps to minimize second hand smoke on your pets. Only smoke outdoors, away from pets. Wash your hands after smoking, before handling your pets. If you enjoy lighting up in the car when driving, leave your pet at home. Even with car windows down, cigarette smoke inside a car creates a toxic environment for pets.

Have your dog and cat examined by your veterinarian every six months. Alert your veterinarian to any lethargy, trouble breathing, and coughing or unexplained weight loss. Early detection and treatment permits the most effective treatment of chronic respiratory conditions and cancers. Your pet's veterinarian can detect illness through regular exams and preventative screenings.

While smoking isn't the only factor causing cancer in pets, it is increasingly scrutinized as a significant health risk, one that we humans can control. The health decisions we make not only influence our children's health, but also affect those devoted pets that warm our hearts and beds.

Animal Radio News - Lori Brooks

Baiting Big Game Is Illegal
What American dentist Walter Palmer did, using bait to lure Cecil the lion out of the African conservation park, is as illegal in most states as it is in Zimbabwe. It's alleged that the hunting party tied a dead animal to their vehicle to lure Cecil out of the conservation park and scented an area about quarter of a mile from the park. Let's take a state; Nebraska for example, banned the baiting of big game animals for over a decade. It's law is pretty standard in that hunters cannot hunt within 200 yards of any location where there is bait, meaning ANY kind of food material that might attract a large animal. But in Texas, where most of the deer live in brush, where they are hard to see, baiting for deer in Texas is a common practice. And in Nebraska where it's illegal, it's only a class 3 misdemeanor.

Increased Sighting of Forest Animals In Urban Places
It can seem like wild animals are everywhere these days, like deer, foxes and bears. Wildlife Management experts say increased sighting of forest animals in urban places continues. It's said that building a house on an empty 1/4 lot doesn't just disturb the animals living on that space; it starts a chain reaction, causing the loss of another 2 and 1/2 acres due to road construction, schools and things like that. Protecting animal habitat, which includes more swaths of nature in our environment isn't just be good for wildlife; studies have shown that it improves the quality of life for humans, too!

Scammer Claims To Help Find Lost Pets For A Fee
Pets FBI Ohio and its volunteers, which reunite lost pets with their owners, had trouble solving a case where a scammer was taking advantage of worried pet parents. This individual called people who lost a pet and said he would help find them, claiming to with Pet FBI Ohio. He also asked for a fee to find the missing pet. Like any phone call where someone asks for money, further investigation on your part is needed. Pet FBI never charges for its services. Authorities say if you get a phone call from an out of state area code and someone on the line claims to be Pet FBI Ohio, hang up the phone, it's a scam and happens all over the country.

Company Gets Employees Involved - 15 Animals Get Adopted
Here's a super inspiring story of a company in St. Petersburg, Florida, where a local electrical contracting company called Power Design was looking for a fun way to get its employees involved with the community. They made a $500 donation to their local animal shelter, which brought out 18 puppies and kittens to the company. Fifteen of those furry visitors found a new home!

Listen to the entire Podcast of this show (#1278)