Tag Archives: Safety

What to do if you witness abuse to an animal ?

In Switzerland, the animal protection law regulates the conditions of detention and the way of taking care of animals, the forbidden practices, the conditions of breeding, the conditions of transport, the coverage and the care to provide, the conditions of experiments on animals and conditions of killing and slaughter. It applies to all vertebrates, and to the other animals under certain conditions.

This law stipulates in the article 4 that
« 1- Every person who takes care of animals owes : a) to take into account at best their needs ; b) to watch their well-being as far as the purpose of their use allows it ;
2- Nobody should in a inequitable way cause pains to animals, troubles or damage, put them in a state of anxiety or strike a blow at their dignity in a different way. It is forbidden to mistreat animals, to neglect them or to overwork them pointlessly.
3- The federal Council forbids the other practices on animals which strike a blow at their dignity.”

So, what to do if you witness abuse to an animal ?

If possible, take photos or make a video.
Note carefully the place, the date, and the hour of your observation.
Indicate the case to the Animal Protection Society of your area or to the cantonal veterinarian in writing if possible. Mention your name, your address, and your phone number. Be factual and describe exactly the facts the witness of which you were without forgetting the following information : what species ? how many animals ? what place (house, pasture, stable, …)? who is the owner (if known) ? are there other witnesses ? If yes, names and addresses of these.

All which can look like an abuse or a carelessness doesn’t establish necessarily a breach of the animal protection legislation. According to cantons, the APS or the cantonal veterinarian will control to estimate the situation and verify that the noticed abuse is really a breach of the legislation.

Have you already witnessed abuse to an animal ? If yes, what did you do ?

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How to ensure the well-being of your girlcat after spaying

ZORRO : I am quite worried this morning : Pixie is going be operated to be spayed. That make me feel nervous to know her alone at the vet : she is so little ! She left with Claire before 7:00 am, and she will back middle of the afternoon.

I don’t think that she’ll be in shape on her return, then to welcome her in the best conditions, I inquired. Here are my advice to watch her well-being from her return :

Unless the vet gives you other indications, you can feed your girlcat the evening following the operation. Don’t worry if she has no appetite this evening.
To encourage your girlcat to eat little, offer her her favorite food, or a little tuna, or a few shrimps which are digestible.
If your cat has to take post-operative medicine, they must be generally given at meal time. Don’t give them if your girlcat refuses to eat, and ask advice from your vet.
Your girlcat should start again eating the next day. Contact your vet if she still ate nothing 24 hours after the operation.
10 to 14 days are needed so that the skin heals, and at least 2 weeks so that the section is closed well : avoid letting go out your girlcat during this period. It’s necessary to avoid any “excessive” activity, and to avoid that the wound is wet or made dirty.
Your girlcat can completely resume her usual indoor routine (moderated activity and moderated game at the beginning).
You have no particular care to do except to verify that the scar remains clean and healthy.
Verify the suture every day ; check that it’s not red, doesn’t ooze or doesn’t wide. If you see one of these signs, make a control at the vet.
If the wound is made dirty by ground or excrements, you can clean it delicately with lukewarm water, slightly salt solution, or solution with very diluted Betadine. Check very attentively, because there is a big risk of infection !
Don’t let your girlcat lick her scar : she risks to infect it with the present bacteria of her mouth, or to pull the threads with her teeth.
Don’t bathe your girlcat before two weeks (from our point of view, it should be forbidden to give a bath to a poor innocent cat, that’s a human’s idea, really !)
If the threads used for the suture are not made to be reduced, it’s necessary to make them remove after 14 days by the vet.
Most of cats don’t seem to be in pain too much ; if your girlcat seems to suffer, your veterinarian can prescribe painkillers. In every case, never give human medicine to your cat !

If your girlcat doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink or drinks too much, doesn’t go to her litter box or makes black dropping, vomits, is depressed, it’s not normal : rush at the vet’s !

I believe that’s all ; now, I cross my paws so that everything goes well for Pixie !

Is Swiss National Day really a party for cats ?

In one week, it will be the Swiss National Day. It takes place every year on August 1st. This remembrance is accompanied with outdoor brunches, with firecrackers firings, with Chinese lanterns processions and with fireworks. We also light a big fire.

We have a hearing clearly more developed than the humans (they are really handicaped, poor people ! Good thing they have thumbs to be superior to us in at least one domain) : not only the backfiring frighten us, but they can even ache for our sensitive ears; sparks can burn us seriously, and the waste of pyrotechnic machines can make us sick if we taste it.

Our friends hedgehogs pay so often one heavy price to this party by burning to death in stakes raised far too early. In the ideal, stakes for the fires of August 1st should be raised only that very day, and the wooden heap should be reorganized before being fired so that the wildlife which nests there can run away somewhere else.

Friends cats of Switzerland, we thus recommend you not to go outside this day. Stay in peace, in a quiet place (under the bed or quite different hiding place, it’s perfect). Ask your domesticated to close windows to damp still the noise, and to turn on the television or the radio to have a familiar and soothing background noise. Make sure of having water and food in plenty, some toys at arrangement to distract you, and wait the most comfortably possible which that spends. Your bean will maybe desire to stay in the peace with you : if it is the case, take advantage to spend a cuddles-evening !