September 2017 Newsletter

Forrest and Jenny are showing off their kitten cuteness, and our tiny jewelry tags.

Thanks to Megan Wilson of Everett, WA for this picture!

And this little sweetheart is Nugget, wearing our plastic collar tag. Nugget is a 10lb pug/min pin mix from Snohomish, WA. Thanks to his owner Kristin Torda for this nice pic! 

Thank you to everyone who has submitted pictures of their pets! If you have a great picture of your pet (showing off our tag would be nice!), you can submit it here.

If you haven't seen your picture submission in our newsletter, check out our facebook page. Once there, you can see lots of pet pics, submit more and chat with us or other pet fans!

As the nation watched television coverage of hurricane Irma crawling across the islands of the Caribbean, approaching the Florida Keys, it occurred to some to wonder what would happen to the Earnest Hemingway's Home & Museum, and the 54 six-toed (polydactyl) cats that live there, some of whom are descendants of Hemingway's cat Snow White.

Hemingway's home during much of the 1930's is a National Historic Landmark and a popular tourist attraction in Key West. The two story house is built of limestone block and built on the highest point on the island- yet only 16 feet above sea level.

Curator David Gonzales reported that he and a staff of 9 all decided to stay with the 54 cats to ride out the hurricane inside the house. Shortly after the worst had passed, he was able to report to MSNBC that all (and the house) had survived unscathed.

On Monday night, August 21st, Paige Locke was driving on I35 in Kansas City, MO. She had her buddy MJ riding in the back seat. It was raining and raining hard. As she made her way near the interchange with Penn Valley Drive, she lost control of her car. In the next seconds, she could do nothing but ride out the impending crash. She felt herself go upside down as her car rolled over, but when it was over, Locke was completely fine. She immediately looked in the back for MJ but she was not there.

Locke crawled out the opening where the back window had been and began looking and calling for MJ in the torrential downpour. As help arrived, they joined the search too, but MJ, who was likely thrown out of the car during the crash, was nowhere to be found.

In the following days, Locke continued to search and put up posters of her missing pup. She contacted local shelters and turned to social media. The local news did follow up stories and asked for the public to keep an eye out for MJ.

And then almost exactly two weeks later, it all paid off. A young woman got off a bus, next to I35 but blocks away from the accident. She heard something like whimpering and luckily, decided to investigate. The whimpering was coming from a box under the freeway. In the box, she found an injured MJ; she recognized her from the posters.

MJ had fractured both her front feet in the crash but is otherwise okay and obviously happy to be back home- probably almost as happy as Locke. Read more on the Fox4 site.

Beagle Makes Lifesaving Call

Belle was doing exactly what she was trained to do and it ended up saving her owner's life.

Belle is Kevin Weaver's constant companion. Weaver has diabetes and Belle is trained to use her incredibly sensitive sense of smell to detect when Weaver's blood sugar level is too low. When that happens, she paws at him and whimpers, letting him know that she senses something, well before he does.

“Every time she paws at me like that I grab my meter and test myself,” Weaver said. “She’s never been wrong.”

But that's not the extent of her training. If a person's blood sugar level falls far enough, they can become unresponsive and require immediate medical help. And that's exactly what happened to Weaver. He had a seizure and collapsed with only Belle nearby to help. So she did exactly as she was trained- she called 911!

Belle was trained to bite down on the number 9 on Weaver's cell phone, which was programmed to call 911. Help arrived and everyone involved agrees that had it not been for Belle's call, Weaver may not have survived.

Belle was the first dog to ever win the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award given for using a cell phone to save a life or help in any emergency.

NBCnews story.

Watch the Boise State football "tee dog" at work. (37 sec)
YouTube

This cat is really good at sneaky bunny pokes. (34 sec)
YouTube

You may also call 1-800-543-TAGS and mention the coupon code; one of our happy, helpful customer service representatives will gladly give you the discount.