Be the Change 4 Animals—How the Government Shutdown Affects Us

It's all good unless The Woman who launches the rockets & feeds me is furloughed.

The government shutdown is ticking off a lot of humans, who are pointing fingers at each other. In case they haven't noticed, it's also affecting other species, Our favorite shelter, A Call 4 Paws, had a few links on their FB page to the ASCPA blog, which gave a short list. I'll summarize what I learned so I'm not just regurgitating what they wrote.

1. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is not performing all their duties under the Animal Welfare Act. One duty it's not performing is inspecting puppy mills and pet dealers. We all know how that can affect the lives of innocent animals.
2. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service  WILL be monitoring food safety and humane treatment in slaughterhouses; HOWEVER, measures to ensure the safety of pet foods are currently NOT being implemented, according to an article on CatTimes.com.
3. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will NOT be inspecting show horses to ensure that they have not been sored, putting show horses at risk.
4. The Animal Welfare Act that regulates exotic animal exhibits will NOT be performing it's duties EXCEPT the Smithsonian Institution, who retained essential employees.
5. There are no USDA watchdogs ensuring that minimum standards of care are being met for laboratory animals.
6. All National Wildlife Refuges are closed to the public meaning hunting and trapping on these lands is prohibited, which is a good thing.
7. Also, according to Cattimes.com, there is a possibility that investigations into the import and export of dog fur and cockfighting birds into and out of this country could be hampered. It can also be easier to transport dogs across state lines for dogfighting.

I'm sure this isn't a complete list but I wanted to keep this brief. For more information, read the Animals & Politics blog. Now that I see how these furloughs are affecting other species, I say it's time humans put their petty squabbles aside and end this shutdown. The law is the law and no amount of crying, pouting or posturing is going to change it. Stop acting like two-year-olds and do your job or perhaps it's time to start electing cats to run our government.

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Now for something completely different. Flu season is approaching and our humans can get whiny and demanding when they're sick. However, it's best that we keep our distance from them. I know we want to nurse them back to health and give them comfort; but, did you know you can catch the flu from your human? It's called reverse zoonosis (zoonosis meaning animals can give diseases to humans). Humans can get flu vaccines but there are currently no flu vaccines for us. If you've been nursing your human, it's important for them to make sure that you don't come down with flu or respiratory symptoms. If you do, they should take you to the stabby place to get checked. The first case of this was in Oregon in 2009 and since then, there are at least 13 cats and one dog with H1N1 flu virus that appear to have come from humans. I know I like to get treats from my human; however, this is one thing they can keep for themselves. They're doing more research on reverse zoonosis. You can read more here.