Pet food recall claims may soon be paid

April 5, 2011

After a court decision today, claims filed because of the 2007 pet food recall look as if they’re finally going to be paid. From the Veterinary Information Network:

Four years after pet food contaminated by poisonous melamine killed and sickened tens of thousands of cats and dogs in North America, a court opinion issued today may open the door at last to payment of claims by owners of affected pets.

The opinion by Judge Noel Hillman in U.S. District Court in New Jersey was the last piece of court action required to put to rest appeals of a $24-million pet food settlement approved by Hillman in October 2008.

“I am hopeful that we can begin processing claims shortly,” said Lisa Rodriguez, liaison counsel for the multiple class-action suits covered by the settlement.

According to court documents, 24,344 claims were submitted by the Nov. 24, 2008, deadline. Of those, 20,550 have been deemed payable. The average claim is about $1,283. Allowed expenses included medical attention, lost wages, property damage and the price of replacement pets. The settlement covers claims by owners in the United States and Canada.

You’ll find the rest here.

It’s to be noted, too, that VIN posted the news even before PetFoodSettlement.com, the website set up to notify pet owners about the progress of the court case.

View the original article here

Lyme Disease Claims Marley’s Sweet Successor

John Grogan and Gracie

Sad news. Marley’s successor, the sweet and calm Gracie, has died at the far-too-young age of 6. What follows is an excerpt from the blog of John Grogan (author of Marly & Me). It’s just better coming from him.

I’m writing today to tell you that we lost Gracie last week. It’s a long, painful story, but the short version is she died from a rare complication of Lyme disease. We began noticing she wasn’t quite right in the second half of December. Her appetite was a little off, and her usual energy (she could sprint like a leopard) was down. I thought she might have a bladder infection or some other minor malady. Our local vet did a blood test and discovered Lyme disease and put her on a course of antibiotics. But the next day she called back with much more dire news: another test had found high levels of protein in her urine, a sign her kidneys were malfunctioning.

We rushed her to the University of Pennsylvania veterinary hospital, one of the best in the country, where she remained for the better part of a week as she underwent batteries of tests, including a kidney biopsy. It seems her immune system in its attempt to attack the Lyme cells had caused irreversible harm to her kidneys. All the vets were in agreement; there was nothing they could do for her. We brought her home and kept her as comfortable as we could for as long as we could.

On this past Friday, she let us know it was time to let her go. She had stopped eating and drinking, even stopped licking snow, and had grown very weak, just a shadow of the glossy-coated vibrant dog of a few weeks earlier. A vet came to the house so Gracie could end her life in her own home surrounded by the family that loved her. She slipped away peacefully.

With the help of my kind neighbor Neil Wotring, I buried her on the edge of the meadow behind our barn, right beside Marley. Two dogs, so different yet both so great in their own way, and both so dearly cherished members of our family.

Farewell, sweet Gracie, our gentle girl. Your home is now in our hearts.

So sad. You can read more about Gracie (and how different she was from Marley) in Grogan’s complete post. RIP, dear Gracie. At least you finally get to meet Marley…

Canine Lyme disease is rampant in some parts of the country. Tick control and vaccination can help, but they’re not a panacea. Dogsters, what do you do to prevent Lyme disease in your dog?

(Thank you to my friend and colleague, talented writer Sally Deneen, for alerting us to this story. If nothing else, it may help some readers learn more about Lyme Disease, how to try to prevent it, and how to recognize its early signs.)

View the original article here

“Dog Ate My Wallet,” Claims Speeder

A man who had already lost his license because of a drunk driving offense thought of a unique idea when Ontario Provincial Police pulled him over for speeding.  “The dog ate my wallet,” the clever fellow told cops, according to the Toronto Sun.

Well, if you’re a police officer and someone tells you this, what can you do? Ask for an x-ray of the dog’s stomach? No, apparently you ask for name and date of birth, and you run it through the system. (The car belonged to the driver’s mother, so the license plate didn’t send a red alert about the driver.)  Driver Michael Macleod, 22,  proceeded to give the officer the name and birthdate of someone he knew. Ah, what a good friend! The pal he impersonated received the speeding ticket and complained, and the truth came out.

So Macleod’s license has been suspended for another two years. Let’s hope he stays out of the driver’s seat this time, or at least doesn’t try to make his dog seem like an imbecilic iron-stomached glutton again if he gets caught.

(Photo: Nate Christenson Flickr photostream)

View the original article here

Woman Claims Cops Beat Her Over Dog Poop

Anna Stanczyk and her dog, Psotka (Photo: NY Daily News)

This story combines two of your favorite topics, Dogsters: Errant poop, and alleged abuse of police power. Read it and cringe.

A NY woman claims cops beat her badly when she tried to tell them that the dog poop they forced her to clean up was not her dog’s. Ann Stanczyk, a Polish immigrant, says she was walking her terrier, Psotka (Polish for “prankster”), when she was approached by two officers from the 100th Precinct.

“They saw my dog and they said I didn’t clean up,” said Stanczyk told the NY Daily News, as she spoke in halting English and fought back tears. “I said, ‘No, she only pee.’ They, of course, not agree with me and I say, ‘Show me. Where is it?’”

She said the officers found some dog poop nearby.

“Pick it up,” they ordered her, according to the Daily News. “I got scared. I pick up. I said, ‘It’s cold, not belong to my dog.’ When I smiled and said I didn’t do anything, that made them very upset.”

Stanczyk shortly after her encounter with police. (Photo: NY Daily News)

At this point the Queens woman says they handcuffed her and arrested her. They put her in the patrol car, but she says she used her feet to stop the door from closing. This did not please the police, apparently; she claims this is when they started beating her.

“I get scared to death,” she said. “I started to scream, ‘My dog! My dog!’ They punch me in my face. They punch me in my breast. They punch me in my stomach.”

Check out the photo to the right, in case you wondered what she looked like when the incident took place a couple of weeks ago. Her knee apparently still requires physical therapy.

The Daily News reports that a neighbor ran over to take Psotka, and the police left with Stanczyk for the precinct. They charged her with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Earlier this week she filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board. She plans to sue.

“I just doing it to protect other people from police brutality,” Stanczyk told the Daily News. “I don’t want what happened to me happen to anyone else. I want to protect the others. If it can happen to me it can happen to other people.”

The police would not return calls placed by the newspaper, but the Daily News reports that court papers claim Stanczyk “caused a ruckus by yelling at the officers to leave her alone. They also said she locked her hands in front of her to avoid arrest.” (Wow, even if true, does that mean they have the right to beat her to a pulp?)

It looks like with some authorities it’s “scoop the poop, or else.” Or “scoop someone else’s poop, and smile about it, or else.”

I hope that if Stanczyk’s story is true (and somehow this doesn’t seem like the kind of thing people make up, especially with a photo like the one above) she gets justice. But it might be tough against these authorities. I’ll try to keep you posted.

View the original article here

Woman Claims Cops Beat Her Over Dog Poop

Anna Stanczyk and her dog, Psotka (Photo: NY Daily News)

This story combines two of your favorite topics, Dogsters: Errant poop, and alleged abuse of police power. Read it and cringe.

A NY woman claims cops beat her badly when she tried to tell them that the dog poop they forced her to clean up was not her dog’s. Ann Stanczyk, a Polish immigrant, says she was walking her terrier, Psotka (Polish for “prankster”), when she was approached by two officers from the 100th Precinct.

“They saw my dog and they said I didn’t clean up,” said Stanczyk told the NY Daily News, as she spoke in halting English and fought back tears. “I said, ‘No, she only pee.’ They, of course, not agree with me and I say, ‘Show me. Where is it?’”

She said the officers found some dog poop nearby.

“Pick it up,” they ordered her, according to the Daily News. “I got scared. I pick up. I said, ‘It’s cold, not belong to my dog.’ When I smiled and said I didn’t do anything, that made them very upset.”

Stanczyk shortly after her encounter with police. (Photo: NY Daily News)

At this point the Queens woman says they handcuffed her and arrested her. They put her in the patrol car, but she says she used her feet to stop the door from closing. This did not please the police, apparently; she claims this is when they started beating her.

“I get scared to death,” she said. “I started to scream, ‘My dog! My dog!’ They punch me in my face. They punch me in my breast. They punch me in my stomach.”

Check out the photo to the right, in case you wondered what she looked like when the incident took place a couple of weeks ago. Her knee apparently still requires physical therapy.

The Daily News reports that a neighbor ran over to take Psotka, and the police left with Stanczyk for the precinct. They charged her with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Earlier this week she filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board. She plans to sue.

“I just doing it to protect other people from police brutality,” Stanczyk told the Daily News. “I don’t want what happened to me happen to anyone else. I want to protect the others. If it can happen to me it can happen to other people.”

The police would not return calls placed by the newspaper, but the Daily News reports that court papers claim Stanczyk “caused a ruckus by yelling at the officers to leave her alone. They also said she locked her hands in front of her to avoid arrest.” (Wow, even if true, does that mean they have the right to beat her to a pulp?)

It looks like with some authorities it’s “scoop the poop, or else.” Or “scoop someone else’s poop, and smile about it, or else.”

I hope that if Stanczyk’s story is true (and somehow this doesn’t seem like the kind of thing people make up, especially with a photo like the one above) she gets justice. But it might be tough against these authorities. I’ll try to keep you posted.

View the original article here