CATLINES Blog

lion

http://snipurl.com/17fah
Amazing video/slide show.
African Lion Kisses, Hugs Woman Who Saved It
http://www.local6.com/news/10726779/detail.html

animals on antidepressants

Cats and dogs chilling out with Prozac

LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- A growing number of U.S. pets and zoo animals are overcoming anxieties and mellowing their behavior with the use of human antidepressants,
a report said.

The Los Angeles Times said over the last decade, Prozac, Buspar and Amitriptyline have been introduced into the veterinary world to treat cats for indoor
spraying, dogs and birds for separation anxiety and self-destructive compulsive grooming.

Veterinarians who prescribe psychoactive drugs -- such as Dr. Elyse Kent, owner of Westside Hospital for Cats in Los Angeles -- do not immediately pull
out prescription pads. Instead, they do medical work-ups on animals to rule out physical causes for destructive or neurotic actions, and prefer to use
behavior modification instead of, or along with, drug therapy.

"We try to use these medications short-term," Kent told the Times, "because they are not without side-effects."

The Los Angeles Zoo had a male orangutan with respiratory problems, and -- after consulting with a psychiatrist -- put the primate on the antidepressant
Remeron in 2005. The ape's appetite improved, and it fathered a healthy baby in 2005 -- and is being weaned off the antidepressant, the report said.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Sincerely,
~Iva~

cat poem

  Cat Owner's Prayer
Author Is Unknown
Because I'm only human,
It's sometimes hard to be
The wise, all knowing creature
That my cat expects of me.
And so I pray for special help
To somehow understand
The subtle implications
Of each proud meowed command.
Oh, let me not forget that chairs
Were put on Earth to shred;
And what I like to call a lap
Is actually a bed.
I know it's really lots to ask
But please, oh please, take pity;
And though I'm only human,
Make me worthy of my kitty!

Let us collectively have a bright encounter with the energies of the New
Year and make 2007 the year of which future generations will say: "That is
when the change began. That is when we began to create with courage a new
nation and a new world."
--Dennis Kucinich
"Nature abhors a vacuum, but not as much as cats do." — Lee Entrekin
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