All the Creatures

If you are over 30 then you would have remembered when rabbits were used to test shampoos and cosmetics. The main experiment they use to do was put the product in an eye dropper and drop the chemical in the eyes of the rabbits and record the results. Did that stop the companies from putting those stinging chemicals in those products, heck no as I can testify that shampoo that gets in your eyes still stings. So what was the purpose of those experiments and tests? All I can think of is to waste money and cause undue suffering on those animals.

Even today animal testing still goes on. I can understand research for cures to diseases but tests for products that are merely cosmetic are ludicrous. Companies  keep coming up with chemicals for products when there are natural chemicals and plants that already have been tested and found to work seem to be just after money and nothing else. Why would a company test a “natural acne remedy” on an animal when the product would only be used on humans? If companies would only use those ingredients in their products that have had a tried and true track record of being safe then testing on animals would end permanently. It just takes common sense, which they seem to lack at the present time.

Some companies actually put on their labels that no animal testing was done in the development of the product but can those lables be trusted? I don’t know. Animal testing is still done in 10% of all consumer products. The graph below show the breakdown of the types of animals used in experiments in 2005 in Europe. A total of 12.1 million animals were used.

All the Creatures

You don’t have to tell a pet owner that having a pet helps reduce stress but did you know that there is proof? According to a study presented at the 2008 meeting of the American Stroke Association, cats in the home reduce the chances of death from cardiovascular disease by 30%. They also found that having a cat was a non-drug alternate to cholesterol treatments. The same study did not find out anything about dogs in the home but that was only due to the fact that there was a lack of dog owners in the study.

All the Creatures

Now that 2010 is under way, you probably have heard of the new laws that affect animals. Most are new zoning laws that limit the number of dogs or cats you can have in your home. Most of those laws were enacted because of the few pet hoarders that were in those locals. Oregon now has a law on the books that limits the number to 50 dogs. I wonder what they had in mind when they came up with that number? My thoughts are that a legitimate dog or cat breeder is not running their operation like a puppy mill but not many people have even seen a well run dog breeding kennel with their show dogs, trainers and handlers. Some kennels even have their own vet, operating room and test lab. Those operations are a far cry from the backyard breeder and puppy mill outfits so why should there even be laws on the books that hinder the good dog breeders? The puppy mills will still be around, only unlicensed and unregulated as usual. The backyard breeder just plain won’t care because they always claim they are not “in the business” to make money, even though they are. The laws seem to only affect the law abiding breeders.

As you might have noticed, that long AdBrite ad is now gone from the left side panel. After 3 months of hosting their odd assortment of video gamer, cars and life insurance rates ads, I gave up on them. I think I earned a big $1.50 from them. I think I only saw one ad for pet items in the entire lot. They were just simply not what you are interested in when you come to this blog. Google ads are in its place.

I have removed the horse poster page since it was not getting many visitors and wondering what I could add to enhance my reader’s experience here on the blog. Maybe a question and answer page or an oddball animal trivia section. I would love you input on that.

I am also going back over the older posts on this blog and closing the ability to post comments to them. I am taking that lesson from many of the more successful bloggers that only allow comments on blog posts 30 days and newer. It stops a lot of spam comments which I am still getting. For some odd reason the blog post about feline acne attracts most of them.

Twitter has been a blast. I do more reading than posting on there - I love to learn. Come on over and join me, I am @allthecreatures. There are lots of other pet and animal loving people there.

All the Creatures