Posts

The Milk that We Drink

I met a lady the other day who believed that cows and buffaloes have special ability to give milk all year round and dont really need to be pregnant and deliver calves before producing milk! I realized that it may be something most people might believe since we dont usually milk our own animals. I milked my first cow this week and it was tough. After securing the cow and cleaning her udder, while the attendant watched indulgently, I first did the“stripping” of the teats. It is the process of pulling down a cow’s teat (using a normal milking grip) in order to pass any dirt, bacteria, or other debris from the milk ducts.This milk is generally not clean and should not be consumed. Then I began milking by gently clamping each teat between the thumb and first finger, so that the milk squirted in the bucket held between my knees. Then I gently and firmly while maintaining my grip on the base of the teat so that the milk doesn’t flow back up into the udder, continued milking the cow. Our fa...

Baby human and dogs

When people around me realized that I was expecting my first child, they all came to advice me on getting rid of my dogs. Dogs will bite my child, the child will lick dog hair and it will form a ball in it's stomach (!) and many more reasons... I patiently heard each one out and left it at that. My son came along on a cold January day and when I brought him home, I kept the dogs away from him. They clustered around at the restriction gate and did not bark even once! They knew! I gave in and took my son out to them to be sniffed at and accepted in the pack. As my son grew, so did his antics but not even once did they growl at him or try to bite. Some would gently nudge him away if he got too boisterous or just walk away. I think they are more mature than some humans I know. Now I am at a point where I have to protect the dogs and tell my son to not torment them. 

Volunteer for Mission Rabies

https://www.nagpurtoday.in/nmc-to-start-mission-rabies/08310915 Nagpur News: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is now launching “Mission Rabies” on the auspices of Worldwide Veterinary Services and Dog Trust and with cooperation of Vets for Animal and Indian Society for Animal Human Welfare, Nagpur. The Mission aims to vaccinate and free 6000 stray and domestic dogs of deadly rabies. The project will run from September 1 to September 15. The anti-rabies vaccination would be done free of cost. Similarly, for creating mass awareness about the rabies, posters and leaflets containing all information  would be distributed to the citizens. Experts from Government Veterinary College, Nagpur and the Department of Animal Husbandry would guide the students of NMC schools on the symptoms, treatment and prevention of rabies. If the Mission Rabies stands successful, then the next year over 2 lakh stray and domestic dogs would be administered anti-rabies vaccination. The census of an...

RFID Technology in Cows

https://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?7621= After several years of testing a system that combines radio frequency identification and cell phones to record and track the health and nutrition of cows and water buffaloes on Indian farms, Chitale Dairy, in Bhilawadi, has significantly increased its animals' health and productivity. In fact, Chitale reports, since the dairy began utilizing the system, the animals' milk yields have increased and are now three to four times higher than the national average. The reason for this increased yield, the systems' developers say, is that Chitale can now better manage the visits of the service providers it sends to those farms, as well as store a greater amount of resulting information about the visits and the services administered, or the observations made during those visits, such as vaccinations, calf delivery, medications or simply the volume of milk produced by a particular cow. The system was developed by researchers at Bomb...

Animal Testing and Vivisection - 33 facts to consider

1) Less than 2% of human illnesses (1.16%) are ever seen in animals. Over 98% never affect animals. 2) According to the former scientific executive of Huntingdon Life Sciences, animal tests and human results agree "5%-25% of the time." 3) Among the hundreds of techniques available instead of animal experiments, cell culture toxicology methods give accuracy rates of 80-85% 4) 92% of drugs passed by animal tests immediately fail when first tried on humans because they're useless, dangerous or both. 5) The two most common illnesses in the Western world are lung cancer from smoking and heart disease. Neither can be reproduced in lab animals. 6) A 2004 survey of doctors in the UK showed that 83% wanted a independent scientific evaluation of whether animal experiments had relevance to human patients. Less than 1 in 4 (21%) had more confidence in animal tests than in non-animal methods. 7) Rats are 37% effective in identifying what causes cancer to humans -- less use than ...

Dogs and Cats: Doing What Is Best for Them

http://www.petaindia.com/issues/companion-animals/dogs-and-cats.aspx What You Can Do 1. Spay or neuter dogs and cats, including stray animals. Make sure stray animals are taken back to the exact spot where they were found after they recover from surgery. Stray animals who are taken to unfamiliar territory will likely be attacked by animals who have already claimed that territory as their own. They will also not know where to find food or water. 2. Adopt from animal shelters or from the street – never buy from a pet shop. And don't forget about adult animals, who are often overlooked by people who are looking for a puppy or kitten. 3. Work within your community to get mandatory and humane spaying and neutering legislation passed. 4. If someone is planning to breed an animal, speak out against it. 5. Point out neglect. If you see an animal being neglected, talk to his or her guardian, send a letter or contact an animal welfare society. Be persistent! 6. Walk and play daily with your ...

ABC program closed by Nagpur Municipal Corporation

In August 2010, Nagpur Municipal Corporation closed the Animal Birth Control program. Through this program, NMC dog catchers would catch complete/non neutered dogs and bring them to the SPCA clinic for neutering. The dogs were also given an anti-rabies shot. Once the dog came out of sedation, they were dropped off at the localities they were picked up from. NMC in its wisdom decided that it did not see the effectiveness of this program in controlling stray dog population in Nagpur. We have also heard that Nagpur Veterinary College will now undertake the castration surgeries. I am a student of that college and as on date, I have not heard of any such program being implemented.