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Pet safety during earthquakes

Posted by
on November 8, 2011 at 11:59 am

I can’t believe I’m actually writing about this, but with the number of earthquakes we’ve had in the past few days, some disaster preparedness info is in order. Here is some excerpts from a couple of ASPCA Q&As about earthquakes.

Hi! I’ve read a lot about pets and flooding, but not so much on earthquakes. I have two cocker spaniels and a cat who hides when she’s scared. I’m worried that if there’s an earthquake, I won’t have time to find them in order to protect them. And when I do find them, what’s the best way to protect them? Thanks!
—Thea N.

You are right, there is less notice for an earthquake than other types of disasters. But again, it all comes down to proper planning. Work to develop a plan—if you know where the animals hide, is that a safe area of the house? Or could you set up a nice hiding space where you want them to be? Can you do training with the dogs (and maybe even the cat) so they come when called, regardless? Those things may help to save their lives.

How can I make sure my cat is safe during an earthquake? Thanks!
—M-A

Typically, a cat’s natural inclination is to hide under things when she’s scared. In the event of an earthquake (and also flooding), this can prove to be fatal. It’s a good idea to avoid storing lots of stuff under beds and dressers—when items shift during an earthquake or flood, your hiding cat could become trapped. If you must store things this way, please arrange them in a way that creates multiple exit points. This will increase your cat’s ability to escape from that hiding spot should one route become blocked.

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In case of rapture, please feed my dogs

Posted by
on October 19, 2011 at 1:34 pm

I am so excited. I’ve been waiting for months to write about this: how people plan to take care of their pets after the rapture. Is there a company for that? You better believe it. Click here to read my column. Here are the first few paragraphs:

I’m pretty sure my dogs will do the same things before and after the rapture.

One will be napping and the other will be trying to sneak off to chew one of my shoes.

I’m not sure how the rapture would go down, but I imagine rivers of lava dotted with drifting boulders. My old dog would be asleep on his dog bed on one of those boulders. The young dog would leapfrog away with one of my flip-flops in her mouth.

I guess that’s what they’ll be doing Saturday morning.

The world’s ending Friday, you know. True story.

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Pets in the paper – gorilla fans come to OKC

Posted by
on May 12, 2010 at 5:02 pm

Holy smokes! We have some catching up to do! Check out these animal stories in The Oklahoman today -

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

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Why dogs aren’t allowed to play baseball

Posted by
on April 13, 2010 at 6:00 pm

Meet Mona. The seven-month-old beagle mix was the Northwest Arkansas Naturals’ Iams Adoptable Pet of the Game at a recent minor league baseball game. But she wasn’t content with her brief appearance and decided to do some “relief” work. Unfortunately, it was in the outfield and had nothing to do with pitching.

The good news is, Mona found a home, as did two other pups at her shelter, when folks began lining up the next day to adopt her.

- Staff Writer Bryan Dean

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Pets in the paper – bad day for centaurs

Posted by
on April 7, 2010 at 9:40 am

Check out these animal stories in The Oklahoman today -

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

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Kittens eating lunch

Posted by
on April 6, 2010 at 9:50 am

There aren’t any animal stories in The Oklahoman today, so I give you this: a video about the various ways kittens can eat lunch. The best part is the hilarious music.

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

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Pets in the paper – pets can’t be people now

Posted by
on April 1, 2010 at 3:01 pm

Check out these animal stories in The Oklahoman today -

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

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Cute but wrong

Posted by
on February 18, 2010 at 6:22 pm

I know this is cute, but part of me also thinks it is very wrong.

Ruben Gaviria rescued an injured red squirrel at a local park near his home near Medillin, Columbia. Luckily, when he took the critter home to recover, his cat took to it. Tita the cat even feeds the little guy her milk.

Tita’s kitten also plays with the squirrel.

These pictures are undeniably cute, but I wonder how long before natural instincts take over and this ends badly.

- Staff Writer Bryan Dean

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Pets in the paper – closer to teeth floating

Posted by
on February 4, 2010 at 10:50 am

Check out these animal stories in The Oklahoman today -

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

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Snake with a bad habit

Posted by
on February 3, 2010 at 4:12 pm

Apparently some guy in Taiwan taught his snake how to smoke.

I’m not sure how much of this story I trust, and not just because of how ridiculous it sounds. The story identifies the nicotine-addicted snake as Po the pit viper, but the snake in the picture is obviously not a pit viper, which is a venomous subset of snake you would want nowhere near you. smoking snake

The commenters on the story say it is a Taiwanese beauty snake, and a quick search on Google seems to indicate that is correct.

Either way, this is just wrong.

 

- Staff Writer Bryan Dean

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