What kind of an evil mind would purposely do this to an animal?

If you look at steel-jaw leghold and Conibear (body-gripping) traps objectively instead of through the filter of "rugged individualism" or "Western frontier tradition" and you have even an ounce of empathy in your soul, you have to wonder what kind of evil mind would purposely set one of these pain-inflicting contraptions, much less invent one. They remind me of something out of a torture museum that I visited once in Europe. Truly, the depth of cruelty that lies in the hearts of some people is absolutely mind-boggling. And as a race, we humans can't seem to rid ourselves of this character flaw. According to an article in The New York Times on Wednesday, called "Montana Dog Owners Find Wild-Animal Traps Put Pets in Harm's Way," Montana issued more than 4,000 trapping licenses last year, so this sadistic mentality is still very much alive and well.

That's the thing about these trappers―since they couldn’t care less about inflicting pain, if a "nontarget" animal, like a dog, cat, or bird, is caught in one of their traps―oh, well!―they just call them "trash animals" and throw them away because they can't make money off them. It's not tragic to them―it's more of a nuisance. My view is that catching a beaver or a muskrat or a fox in a trap is just as tragic as catching a dog. The only difference is that hopefully, the dog will have someone who cares enough about him or her to make a fuss about it and do something to try to stop this horror.

That's exactly what’s happening in Montana right now. Enough dogs have been killed or maimed in these hideous traps that a group has formed called Footloose Montana to try to get the traps banned. The group is running a heart-wrenching ad campaign, keeping records of people's encounters with traps, distributing graphic images of dogs caught in traps, and generally spreading the word about how pervasive the traps are, where they have been spotted, and how destructive they are. Please join them! You don't have to live in Montana to help. These torturous traps are being set all over our lovely country.

Another thing that Footloose Montana is doing is teaching people how to spring Conibear traps, which clamp down on an animal’s body, suffocating him or her. Again and again, we hear terrible stories of people whose dogs got caught in Conibear traps and who couldn't free them in time to save them. The dogs suffocated before they could figure it out. So why don't we all prepare ourselves for this hideous situation, just in case, heaven forbid, it should ever happen to us? Ironically, a hunting enthusiast has posted explicit instructions on his Web site, The Checkcord, describing how to spring a Conibear trap. For that, I'm extremely grateful, and I doubt if I'm the only one. Take a look and follow his advice: "Go to a trapper, borrow a Conibear from him in the summer for a week or two and PRACTICE your technique!!"

Theresa: "Ahhh, what a relief! No more pain in the neck!"

Last week got off to a rocky start but ended on a very high note. At breakfast time, I called little foster Chihuahua Theresa to the kitchen, but she didn't come, which was highly unusual, so I went looking for her. My heart nearly stopped when I saw her: She was lying on her side but with her head up and her mouth half open, staring into space like a zombie. I approached her, called her name, and reached out to my normally hyperactive little lady, and got no response. It was horrifying. I thought she was dying right in front of my very eyes. I scooped her up and ran to my car, repeating over and over again, "You're going to be fine!" and off we went to the vet.

The vet did blood work and a chest x-ray, but both were negative. After ruling out a "syncopal episode" (loss of consciousness resulting from insufficient blood flow to the brain), the logical explanation remaining was that she had had a seizure. I learned that many dogs have a single seizure and then never have another one again. So I thought, "Well, that's the case here, I'm sure―a fluke. No worries!" But 12 hours later, when I came back from taking my big dogs out to the beach, I could see that it had happened again because Theresa didn't greet us at the door in her usual excited manner. Instead, she looked very subdued, and the other two Chihuahua girls were licking her and hovering over her as if to protect her. My heart sank.

I remembered that back in the mid-90s, my cocker spaniel, Rogan, had had several petit mal seizures, and a holistic veterinarian had figured out that they were being caused by whipworms. We got rid of the whipworms and he never had another seizure again. So the next day, I got a stool sample from Theresa and took it in to the vet to check for every conceivable intestinal parasite, but it was negative. Drat!

I began to do some Internet research (I found this site particularly helpful) and learned that there are an awful lot of conditions and environmental factors that can cause seizures. Epilepsy is only one of many, many possible causes. But how to get to the root of the problem? I recalled learning a few years ago that a misaligned neck could cause seizures and that chiropractic could be very useful in that regard. So I set up an appointment with my local veterinary chiropractor at Animal Chiropractic.

As soon as Dr. Rowan got his hands on little Theresa's neck, his face registered surprise. He said that the joint between her skull and her first vertebra (C-1) was completely frozen and inflexible. Eureka! He adjusted her neck and loosened it up, and, given the fact that the brain stem runs right through that area, we both felt pretty confident that her seizure days were over. There's no way to prove it, except just to wait and see if she remains seizure-free. She's got another chiropractic appointment next week, but so far, so good. I didn't realize it until after the chiropractic adjustment, but between the time when she had the first seizure and her appointment with Dr. Rowan, her behavior had been off and she had even had an unfamiliar look on her face. Now, however, she's back to her old self, frisky and mischievous as ever!

This whole episode got me thinking about all the dogs who have been put on powerful, anti-seizure medication, complete with all their deleterious side effects (especially for the liver), when what they may actually need is a good chiropractic adjustment. I think it would be worth exploring alternatives such as this for any dog having seizures, even one who has been on anti-seizure medication for a long time. Besides, a misaligned vertebra is undoubtedly a royal pain in the neck!

My lovely Koro suffered because of my ignorant recklessness.

Sometimes it can really be cathartic to get something off your chest and admit that what you did was wrong. It can also be instructive to others who may be engaging in the same type of behavior without really thinking about it. Maybe they need a swift kick in the pants, and your confession is just the thing to jolt them out of their complacency.

I'll start things off. When I adopted my first dog, Koro, in 1980, I knew nothing whatsoever about dog care. I was in college, and puppy Koro was roaming around on a street corner. Someone scooped her up and said that she was going to try to find out where Koro lived, and I said, well, if you can't find out where she lives, bring her to me. It was that casual.

One day, when she was 6 months old, a friend said that he was going on an errand and asked if he could take Koro along. Without a thought, I said sure. And out the door they went, with the leash in his hand but not attached to Koro. Moments later, she had been struck by a van. She ran back to my apartment in terror, but the next day it came to light that she had actually broken her back. Literally smashed a vertebra.

What followed were two surgeries and, I'm sure, a lot of pain for my innocent little puppy. And then arthritis at age 5 and occasional flare-ups of joint inflammation throughout the remaining 12 years of her life. All because of my ignorant negligence!

I'm so sorry, Koro.

For the rest of her life, I tried to make it up to her. Thankfully, I discovered holistic medicine a few years later and was able to keep her mostly pain-free and limber through the use of nutritional supplements in spite of the arthritis that resulted from the trauma to her backbone.

But I'm still trying to make it up to her. Why do you think I write this dog blog?

If you have a confession to make about the way that you treated an animal, please visit PETA's new "I Confess" Web feature, where you can tell the whole world how sorry you are. Why don't you leave us a comment here, too, just for good measure?

Tiffany (center) outlived her DCM prognosis by more than three years.

A while back, I met a woman on the beach who clued me in to the presence of foxes there—they had managed to survive in spite of a massive assault on their forest habitat by the construction industry. She was able to solve the mystery of the stinky stuff in the sand that Sunny kept rolling in: fox urine! (And just a few days ago, I finally saw one of those gorgeous creatures in the moonlight for about five seconds.)

Anyway, I digress. I ran into the same woman again last weekend, but this time she was near tears as she told me that her Springer spaniel had just been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and only had a few months to live. My ears perked up because that rang a bell for me big-time.

In the early '90s, I was doing some research on that very topic, and I picked up some useful, even life-saving information that, unfortunately, your average vet will not share with you. However, I was lucky enough to meet the late veterinary cardiologist Eugene Musselman, who confirmed all the information that I had learned on this topic.

When dogs get dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), their heart muscle becomes weak and flabby and can no longer pump blood at a sufficient rate. The onset of this disease can be quite sudden. Some dogs even die of it before showing any noticeable symptoms. Sometimes you do get a little bit of warning in the form of a cough, exercise intolerance, and listlessness, but you have very little time to intervene if the disease has already progressed that far. Luckily, only a small number of dogs (about 2 percent) get this disease—mostly cocker spaniels, Springer spaniels, Dobermans, boxers, large-breed dogs such as Great Danes, and a few others. But if your dog gets it, it will break your heart because it's so unexpected and primarily affects middle-aged dogs or even younger.

The good news is that dogs with DCM are usually deficient in L-carnitine and taurine and can benefit enormously from supplementation with these amino acids. These amino acids can be given preventively, just to be on the safe side (500 mg L-carnitine and 250 mg taurine per day for a 50-lb. dog), but once your dog has DCM, the dosage is much higher and can be expensive: 1 gram of L-carnitine per 10 lbs. of bodyweight per day and 500 mg of taurine per 10 lbs. of bodyweight per day (both divided into a morning and evening dose). The cheapest is to buy it in loose-powder form online. The point is to flood the blood plasma with these amino acids in an effort to push more of them into the heart muscle, since the deficiency seems to stem from an inability to transport the amino acids from the blood into the heart muscle tissue.

While I was doing this research, the middle-aged Springer spaniel of some friends of mine, Tiffany, got the dreaded diagnosis of DCM. She was given less than a year to live. My friends had already endured the sudden death of their large white German shepherd from the same illness. So to avoid additional tragedy, I advised them to give Tiffany 5 grams of L-carnitine and 2.5 grams of taurine per day. Well, the effect was astonishing. Within 24 hours, she was outside chasing squirrels again! And she went on to live for four more active years.

For even better results, I recommend adding coenzyme Q10 and the herb hawthorne to the regimen. Coenzyme Q10 is extremely beneficial to both the heart and the liver (as well as the gums). In fact, a friend of my parents was diagnosed with DCM years ago, and he cured it primarily with coenzyme Q10. And I heard that a similar story aired on Dateline once, but I can't claim to have seen it. Hawthorne has been a folk-medicine heart tonic for ages. Expert ethnobotanist James Duke strongly recommends it too.

So I conveyed all this information to my beach friend and her husband, and they attempted to memorize it all since none of us had any paper to write on. As we parted, she hugged me and said, "I was praying for a miracle, and I got one!" I fully expect her Springer spaniel to be bounding through the waves for years to come.

Georgia: "Hey, torturing beagles is never OK!"

This is really outrageous. As many of you know, I despise the fact that rabies vaccinations are required for dogs every three years and even annually in some states. I've read about all the adverse reactions and the belief of many holistic vets that rabies vaccinations confer immunity for a lifetime. Nobody would like to see the laws changed to allow dogs to be vaccinated for rabies less frequently more than I would. However, I draw the line at torturing animals in order to accomplish that.

Apparently, some people have no such scruples, such as two people whom I admired and respected up until recently, when I read the "Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust Research Study" for which one of them is fundraising and the other is the principal investigator. In this study, two rather large groups of beagles (each with at least 35 members―it's not known exactly how many) will be isolated for five years or seven years, depending on the group; at least 25 of them will be vaccinated; and then they will all be injected with rabies virus to see who dies and who doesn't. The man doing the experiment is Ronald Schultz, D.V.M., chair of pathobiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and an outspoken critic of the laws regarding rabies vaccinations, and the person raising the funds for the experiment is none other than W. Jean Dodds, D.V.M., a veteran of the holistic veterinary medical community. I find this terribly disturbing and hypocritical.

Death by rabies is ugly indeed. The virus infects the brain, causing encephalitis, and can also attack the spinal cord. There can be everything from fever and flu-like symptoms to anxiety, confusion, erratic behavior, aggression, disorientation, seizures, partial paralysis, coma, and death from respiratory arrest. One of the horrible aspects of the disease is that the jaw and throat become paralyzed, making it impossible to drink or even swallow one's own saliva, causing the characteristic drooling.

Of course, none of this is mentioned in Dodds' fundraising. I doubt that she would get a dime if it were. She is soliciting funds from dog lovers of all kinds, preying on their fears for their own dogs' health while totally misleading them. Her Web site and her flier contain not a single word about the negative aspects and gruesome details of the actual experiment. This is deceitful at best. The idea of torturing upwards of 70 dogs in order to improve the health of the rest of the dog population is no different from deciding to torture 70 children in order to improve the health of other children. Those 70 dogs matter! Each one matters! None of them wants to die a horrible death, be killed prematurely, or spend their entire life in a kennel.

We all want our own dogs to be healthy, but people with true compassion don't want that to be at the expense of any other dogs. I'm sorry to have to say it, but in this experiment, the ends, as laudable as they are, do not justify the means.

A better way to spend the $1.25 million being raised for these experiments would be to develop an acceptable serological method to test for rabies antibodies and immunity to the rabies virus.

If you agree, why not shoot Dr. Dodds an e-mail at hemopet@hotmail.com and let her know how you feel?

Darla: "I just can't resist―chewing gum is so tempting!"

I used to say that my dog Dexter couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, because whenever we were out on a walk and I gave him a treat, he would stop walking in order to chew. He's gotten quite a bit better at this, but I hope he never really gets to try out his gum-chewing skills because many gums today are extremely toxic to dogs. Sugar-free gum very often contains a sugar substitute called xylitol.

A recent blog post by an editor with the Los Angeles Times Sports Section, Steve Clow, detailed the ordeal that can follow when dogs get their paws on xylitol-containing gum or other xylitol-containing products. Clow's dachshund, Hershey, wolfed down 15 mini-sticks of sugarless gum and had to be rushed to the emergency room.

Xylitol is the sweetest of the sugar substitutes sold in bulk, and it has really taken off in the food and dental hygiene industries. Not only can you find it in chewing gum, it's also added to toothpaste, mints, mouthwash, candy, and many foods as a sugar substitute (you'll see it on the label). It's great for humans―it inhibits the bacteria that cause tooth decay and can cut calories from sugar―but it does a number on dogs. When dogs ingest it, their blood sugar plummets to dangerous levels and they need medical attention right away.

If you catch Fido eating a xylitol-containing product, try to induce vomiting by giving him a tablespoonful or two of hydrogen peroxide. Then rush him to the vet, but on the way, try to get him to eat something sweet and rich, like soy ice cream. This can help to prop up his blood sugar while you're en route. Without veterinary treatment, Fido can start to experience vomiting, lack of coordination, and weakness within a half-hour and proceed quickly to seizures, coma, and, finally, liver failure. This is serious!

So keep that sugar-free gum, toothpaste, and any other xylitol-containing products out of your chowhound's reach. Don't keep gum in your coat pocket, either.

Cooper: "Remember, I love you."

1. My life is likely to last 10 to 15 years. Any separation from you will be very painful.
2. Give me time to understand what you want of me.
3. Place your trust in me―it's crucial to my well-being.
4. Don't be angry with me for long, and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment. I have only you.
5. Talk to me. Even if I don't understand your words, I understand your voice.
6. Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.
7. Before you hit me, remember that I have teeth that could easily crush the bones in your hand, but I choose not to bite you.
8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I've been out in the sun too long or my heart may be getting old.
9. Take care of me when I get old. You, too, will grow old.
10. Go with me on difficult journeys. Never say, "I can't bear to watch it" or "Let it happen in my absence." Everything is easier for me if you are there. Remember, I love you.

―Author unknown