I've written about this topic before, but with California close to running out of cash as it nears a deadline for a state budget, it bears repeating.
If you haven't heard, one way Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to reduce the state's $24-billion deficit is to cut funding to city and county animal shelters. Part of this funding is used to support California's "animal adoption mandate," which keeps shelter animals alive no fewer than six days. The window allows owners time to relocate their lost pets and gives rescue groups a chance to claim unwanted or unclaimed pets so they can find new homes for them.
But Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposal would suspend the mandate - along with other services and programs - and trim the minimum holding period to just three days.
If you've lost a dog or cat, you know how important it is to continually check with your local shelter to see if your pet has been found. If the waiting period is reduced from six days to three, it's likely that many pets will be euthanized before they can be found, adopted or taken in by rescue groups.
What can you do? The ASPCA recommends that you call your state senator or assemblyman and urge them to oppose Schwarzenegger's plan to suspend the animal adoption mandate. Their site makes it easy to find your legislators' phone numbers.
If you live in California and have been thinking about adopting a pet, do it now. If you can't, make a short phone call. It could help save many pets' lives.
If you own a pet and live in California, the state's budget crisis is about to hit you in a strange way: When you visit your veterinarian next year, it's very likely you're going to be taxed.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to broaden the sales and use tax to include such so-called "luxury" items as amusement parks, sporting events, golf and ... vet services. Also lumped in with those services are appliance and furniture repair and vehicle repair.
Does any of this make sense? Didn't think so. I'm not sure where Schwarzenegger's logic comes from, but when my dogs get sick, I don't consider a trip to the vet to be a luxury. It's a necessity. And if you own more than one animal, as my wife and I do, a simple visit for a check-up or a heartworm test could become more costly than it already is.
At a time when many people are surrendering their pets to shelters because they can no longer afford to own them in today's economy, think how many more are likely to be given up - or how many will simply forego a trip to the vet.
"Our companion animals are family members, and taking care of their health is a responsibility, not a discretionary spending decision like golf or furniture repair," Judie Mancuso, president of Social Compassion in Legislation, said in a statement. If passed by the legislature, the tax would take effect Feb. 1, 2009.
The California Veterinary Medical Association has asked its 6,000 members to write to the governor to express opposition to the tax, which would be about 9 percent.
What can you do to voice your opposition? Call Gov. Schwarzenegger's office at 916-445-2841 and tell him that a tax on vet services doesn't fit his definition of a luxury tax. A dog or cat is not an appliance.
Do it now because this could become law soon. Then tell us what you think.
A confession: When I drive, I let my dogs sit on my lap. I know this is probably wrong, not to mention potentially dangerous, but it's not illegal.
Two of my Dachshunds, Scooter and Sadie, love to ride up front and stick their heads out of the driver's side window. I don't know why; maybe it's just a need to see all the activity outside. Maybe it's simply inherent in most dogs.
I don't feel this impairs my ability to drive safely, but I fear what might happen if I were to have an accident, setting off the air bags. My dogs and I might all be severely injured, and one of them could be killed from the impact of the air bag.
A bill in California was going to make it illegal to drive with a dog in your lap - it would have been a $35 fine -- but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it Sunday. With the state in a budget crisis, the governor said he only wanted to sign bills of a high priority, and this didn't fit in that category.
So my dogs and I safe. But I still worry if I'm doing the right thing. There are companies that make car seats and seatbelts for dogs, and some people keep a crate in their back seats.
I'm going to look into one of those options. I just don't know if I can convince Scooter and Sadie that the view is just as nice from a crate.
