Cape Cod Pets

Dachshunds rejoice, "Hot Dog" Day deemed a "howling" success

"Doxie Day"--Hooray!

Isabella and owner Roseanne Smith, the organizer of the day's event. All photos by Judy Keenan.

By Judy Keenan

What do William Randolph Hearst, E.B. White, Jack Ruby, Andy Warhol, Queen Victoria, Donald Rumsfeld and Pablo Picasso have in common? Surprise!  They were all owners of dachshunds.  The popularity of this breed, which is ranked seventh in registrations by the American Kennel Club, crosses all cultural stratas. 

Lump and Picasso.

A popular breed indeed

Affectionately called Doxies, wiener dogs, hot dogs and /or sausage dogs their unique shape has endeared them to artists from Picasso who painted his pet dachshund, Lump (pronounced Loomp which is German for rascal) onto dozens of his canvasses, to American photographer David Douglas Duncan whose photographs of Lump playing with the great artist/icon at Villa La Californie, Picasso’s hillside mansion in Cannes, circa  1957 became a coffee  table book , Picasso and Lump: A Dachshund’s Odyssey,  to Gary Larson who devoted a Far Side cartoon book, Wiener Dog Art, to the breed.

Roseanne & Isabella welcome you to Doxie Day

To celebrate the dachshund, Doxie Day (the second annual) was held at Chapin Beach in Dennis on Saturday September 26th.  Roseanne Smith, the owner of Isabella, a gentle black with brown long haired dachshund and also the owner of Prothesia’s, a charming boutique with great clothes and gifts for people and dogs, on Route 6A in Dennis, has owned dachshunds for collectively eighteen years and originated the first Doxie Day last year. Modeled after a similar event held in New York City’s Washington Square Park where Roseanne and her husband Ken lived previously, over two hundred dogs and their owners participated last year in what was deemed a “howling” success. 

Read the story in its entirety on CapeCodPets.com here.

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Local canine cream of the crop competes at the annual Cranberry Cluster

Over 120 breeds vie for top honors in Falmouth

Linda Flynn judges Spaniels in the ring.

Story and photos by Samantha Pearsall

This past weekend Cape Cod Kennel Club (CCKC) and South Shore Kennel Club (SSKC) collaborated for a 4-day dog show event known as the annual Cranberry Cluster. A total of 1,251 dogs from 128 different breeds, from Newfoundlands to Shih Tzsus, strutted their stuff in the show rings at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds. The show was held Thursday through Sunday from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.

One of the shows’ chairs, Linda Flynn, who is also the Delegate to the American Kennel Club for SSKC, said “Weekends are always busier than the Thursday and Friday shows, however, it is all weather-dependant.” Saturday was a wash out with few spectators, but Sunday’s warm sunshine brought in crowds who were watching the events and shopping for their own pups.

Read the story (with a lot more pictures) at CapeCodPets.com.

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Saying goodbye to Shiva after 17+ years

Our short-haired Oriental Shiva was put down on Sunday
An alpha male who spent his life in the shadow of a showy twin

By Walter & Pat Brooks

At two, Shiva was already seeking warm spots to settle upon. This is our kitchen stove's griddle.

Four years ago he was still clowning around. He allowed our grand children to do anything to him.

As a younger cat, Shiva always jumped on Pat's back whenever she bent over to do housework.

The last photo two days before Shiva died.

We first saw Shiva and his womb-mate Rama in their pen at the Rhode Island Cat Show in 1991. His twin won a dozen ribbons that day in the short-haired Oriental class while beautiful, blue-eyed blond Shiva drew a blank. The judges want gray, green-eyed cats in that category.

He got even with his brother over the next 17 years as he was clearly the alpha male of this handsome duo.

Shiva sent both of us to hospital

Shiva had his moments however.

When Shiva was about three he managed to send both of us to the hospital with cat-inflicted injuries.

Walter had a sinus serious enough to have scheduled an operation to drill a hole through his soft palate to relieve the pain and induce a  drug since all the antibiotics had failed to kill the bacteria.

On the day before his operation, as he carried Shiva outdoors to see the birds, a chipmunk scurried by and spooked Shiva who promptly dug his teeth into Walter hand to get released.

To avoid getting "Cat Scratch Fever", Walter went the hospital where a new antibiotic he had never been given before cured his sinus and made the operation unnecessary.

Patricia was next on his hit list

A short time later Patricia was stroking Shiva on her chest in bed one night, when loud sound from the television spooked him again.

This time Shiva literally flew straight up about two feet and came down, claws extended, on Pat's face.

That scratch sent her to the hospital that night.

Lost in the bog and deaf

Shiva was gorgeous, and a little cross-eyed which only added to his charm.

Shiva was most lovable except for those two occasions, and spent countless hours on Patrica's lap - he was, after all, "her cat", while brunette Rama was Walter's.

He also spent his entire life indoors.

This breed is reknown for great curiosity, the kind that does, in fact, kill cats.

The breeder warned us not to allow him or his bro outdoors as this breed would examine one thing after another until they were far from home and unable to return.

We warned workers who came to our house, but inevitably the day came when Shiva absconded and despite our searching, he was missing for a couple days until Walter found him struggling through the puckerbrush next to the cranberry bogs behind our house apparently on his way home.

We will never know how far he roamed, but he was skinny and the bottom of his paws were raw.

Shiva never got out again, which is very fortunate, because a year ago we realized he was becoming deaf. He would now be defenseless against predators.

For the last six months of his life he was stone deaf and stopped "speaking" almost completely, which only meant we gave him even more love and attention.

The day he died

For the last month Shiva's breathing had become more and more labored, and we had been treating a growth in this left ear for the same period which we were treating with antibiotics.

But by last Sunday he was "open-mouth" breathing, and Pat felt we had to do something fast.

Luckily Cape Cod now has an emergency hospital available after the vets all close and on weekends, and Pat and our eight-year-old granddaughter were able to take him to Care Vet, the Cape's emergency center in Dennis which we found on CapeCodPets.com.

The vets there were extremely helpful, and they made the whole horrible process of deciding when to end your suffering pet's life as tolerable as possible, which turned out to be necessary in this case.

While they waited for the end to come, Pat called me and asked that my eleven-year-old grandson and I dig a grave in sight of our home office window, which we did through tears.

We can only be thankful for the support of these youngsters who grew up every weekend with Shiva.

Shiva has a page with other photos, etc. on CapeCodPets.com.

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eCape, Inc. launches CapeCodPets.com

SOUTH DENNIS, MA -- eCape, Inc., a Cape Cod-based website design and marketing company, recently launched its newest portal website, CapeCodPets.com which it describes as "Cape Cod's online community for pets and their owners."

The site was designed to be a one-stop source of information for pet owners and pet business owners, featuring calendar events, feature and news articles, and a business directory with links to more than 125 pet-related businesses and organizations on the Cape. An important part of the site is the social networking application, which allows users to set up profiles for themselves and for their pets. They can form groups, "friend" others, post reviews of businesses, upload photos, and more.

eCape CEO Julie Brooks states, "For various demographic reasons, the pet business is booming here on the Cape, as it is in many parts of the USA, and it doesn't seem to be affected by the current economic downturn. People are still spending money on their beloved pets, and in particular, their dogs. CapeCodPets.com provides an easy and fun way to connect pet owners with each other and with the amazing number of pet-related businesses here on the Cape."

Organizations and businesses are invited to submit their calendar events online for free by posting their information here.  Business owners can submit their link to the business directory for free by filling in this form.  Site users can subscribe to a weekly email with calendar events and recently posted photos and features. Advertising information is here.

"We are pleased to announce that CapeCodPets.com will be the headline sponsor for Cape Cod's first-ever Pet Expo, which will be held October 11, 2009 at the Southcape Village Marketplace in Mashpee.  Local pet-related businesses are invited to exhibit,"  said Ms. Brooks.

eCape, Inc. is a website design and marketing company which develops websites for local businesses and organizations, in addition to operating the websites CapeCodToday.com, CapeCodTravel.com, WeddingsonCapeCod.com, CapeCodKidz.com, and CapeCodPets.com.

If you have further questions, please contact Julie Brooks at 508-385-0003 x106.

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George the Brave, Gentle Maine Coon

A cat lover who calls himself Cape Cat Man sent us this obit of his Maine coon cat George. George died earlier, but the writer couldn't bring himself to write about it until today. The Editor

Gentle George, Orleans native, dead at 10 from cancer

I am very sorry to report that George the brave, gentle Maine Coon passed away this evening after an heroic battle with urinary issues. He was a rescue cat whose age is estimated at ten years old.

George was rescued by the Animal Rescue League Brewster Shelter in the fall of 2007 and came to my house in November of that year. In the spring of 2008 he developed various urinary problems that escalated over the summer and led to surgery on his bladder in October 2008.

George was a happy, playful Maine Coon. When he "sang" as Coons are prone to do, he had by far the best voice of any of my Maine Coons.

After a very brave recovery, George was very much himself by mid-November. He had a couple of complications from his ordeal which included occasional very painful bladder spasms. Each of these episodes resolved in a couple of days with medication and rest.

This past Wednesday he exhibited some bladder spasm symptoms and we started him on the usual course of medication. George was progressing normally through this episode. He was relatively bright this morning and had eaten well overnight.

When I arrived him this evening, George was collapsed on the floor and breathing with difficulty. I checked on him and visited with him throughout the evening. Despite his condition, he changed locations a couple of times - floor to bed, bed to sofa..etc. He died at 8:45 p.m. We found him at the foot of the stairs, which must have taken a tremendous effort for him to get that far perhaps to be nearer to us at the end.

George was a happy, playful Maine Coon. When he "sang" as Coons are prone to do, he had by far the best voice of any of my Maine Coons. If there was a lap available in the room, George would be in it. He loved human companionship and was the most outgoing of any of the five house cats. He loved to play with toys, especially anything with a rattle or beans inside of it.

The wide sunny windowsills here were George's favorite place to spend the day. If the sun was not out, my bed made the next best place to dream. At night he enjoyed sleeping on the bed with the other cats. If he wanted my attention when I was sleeping I often got one of his big Maine Coon paws in my face (claws retracted). He also liked to wake my by smacking me on the back of the head. George's purr was magnificent, deep and excellent music by which to fall asleep.

George's final year was challenging for all of us. He was very brave and put up a valiant fight to survive.

George is survived by his two giant playmates Tiberius and Misty. There is nothing like the havoc wrought by three large, athletic male cats tearing through the house. Upended lamps, torn screens and many dead mice were left in the wake of the Three Horsemen as they thundered about. George is also survived by Anne whom he adored and Gracie whom he did not. If Grace walked past George he felt that was an invitation to chase her and off they went. The last fun I saw George have was chasing Grace up the stairs as I left for work two mornings before he died.

In the past when one of my cats has died the others seemed relatively indifferent to the body. Not with George! When I brought him out in his bed for the last ride to the crematorium everyone had their moment with him. Tiberius and Anne both nuzzled and pawed gently as if trying to awaken him. Misty crawled into George's bed with him and created a heart-wrenching scene. Grace merely checked to verify he was dead and sauntered away.

George's final year was challenging for all of us. He was very brave and put up a valiant fight to survive. Through all of his ordeal he never once lost his good humor and loving disposition. Even in his final hours he still tried to give head bumps and nose rubs as he clung to the life he loved so much. Though he was only with us for a short time, George touched us all in a special way that will not be soon forgotten.

Farewell to George... George the Gentle, George the Brave, George the Hellraiser and George our beloved friend.

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