Tuesday, November 28, 2017

FDA Warning: Store-Bought Bone Treats Could Kill Your Dog


The FDA has issued a warning about Store-Bought Bone Treats that can kill your dog.  Please pay attention to this and keep your dog safe and happy.

Just a note on FDA warnings about dog treats:  I missed the FDA's warning about sweet potato chews and the illnesses they caused.  Sure enough, when I gave Rambo sweet potato chews he became deathly ill and the FDA even got involved in his veteranarian care and with the vendor.  Please don't make the same mistake I did!

You can sign up for Dog Food Advisory Alerts by following the link in the last paragraph of this entry.


***FDA DOG FOOD ALERT ADVISORY***

The United States Food and Drug Administration has issued an important  warning regarding store-bought bone treats for dogs.
The associated treats have already caused numerous illnesses and even death in at least 15 dogs.

To learn which products are affected, please visit the following link:


Please be sure to share the news of this important recall event with other pet owners.

Mike Sagman, Editor
The Dog Food Advisor

P.S. Not already on our dog food recall notification list yet? Sign up to get critical dog food recall alerts sent to you by email. There's no cost for this service.

Friday, November 3, 2017

An Open Letter to the dog sitter that cancelled three hours before my dentist appointment

Dear dog sitter [from Rover.com] that cancelled three hours before my dentist appointment,

The first question that came to my mind after your heartless cancellation of our arrangement for you to watch my dog, after the inevitable question of “why,” is why do you advertise as a dog sitter?  Do you understand the implied trust someone comes to you with?  Do you think that my coming to you to watch my dog is just something I did for fun and that I had nothing else important to do?  Do you understand that my seeking someone to watch my dog shows how important that dog is to me as well as how important the time I needed you to watch him is?  Somehow I doubt it.

I came to your home with my dog so you could meet him and ostensibly evaluate both of us before you accepted us as a client.  I understand this and I made the effort.  I was clear that I had a dental appointment the next morning.  Did you think I was just making this up?

The second question that quickly came to mind certainly calls your judgement into question.  If you are capable, just imagine my disbelief that quickly turned into panic when I woke up at 9:21 am to see that you cancelled your commitment only 18 minutes earlier.  After I instantly tried to contact you I received only silence. Then I read the message you sent at 8:06 am:

“Hi Peter- I see you haven't responded through rover yet with your confirmation or payment. If this isn't done by 9am, I'm afraid we won't be able to help today.”

I can only deduce from this that everyone in your kombucha and granola world gets out of bed at the butt crack of dawn.  Meanwhile there are others of us who have different sleeping hours let alone sleep problems that I’m sure you wouldn’t understand.  Why would you set an artificial deadline that you never forewarned me of by sending a message that you could not be sure I received?  Why would you begin to think that I wouldn’t hold up my end of the commitment to not only show up but to be sure you are paid?  Were you not listening to me last night as you sat two feet away from me that I said this was the first time I have used Rover and wasn’t sure how it all worked?  A reasonable person would have taken this into account.  A reasonable person might have even just waited until I showed up to remind me to confirm the appointment through the website so you could be sure you got paid.  You, on the other hand, assumed I was just going to flake on you while I was sleeping and not getting your messages.  That level of ignorance truly boggles my mind.

But wait, it gets worse.  I sent many a scathing letter to Rover’s customer service.  Rest assured they will be reviewing your account,  Your failure cost them money so you now have another little checkmark in the “bad” column.  Since you cancelled your commitment I was unable to leave a written evaluation on your profile so I am left with social media in which I will certainly point out your shortcomings.

While Rover’s customer service valiantly started calling every dog sitter they could find in Portland to find someone to watch  my dog on short notice, I watched the minutes until my dentist appointment dwindle down to the point that I could not make it even if I found someone to watch my service dog.  

Did I fail to mention that I had a an appointment at the dentist to get to?  

Since I am a disabled veteran I get my dental care at the VA hospital.  It takes at least 3 months to get an appointment.  At least.  So you have not only wasted the three months it took me to get this appointment, now I have to wait another three months for the same damn appointment.  I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the tooth that I was to have worked on today will not make it another three months.  Your disregard for honoring your commitment leaves me in an even worse predicament when I will need to go into the dentist on an emergency basis without anyone to watch my dog on short notice.  How do you think that is going to work out for me?  My other option is to go to a civilian dentist and pay the bill out of pocket without insurance.  I live on a fixed income so that really isn’t much of an option.  So I just want to be sure that I say thank you for costing me so much time, pain, anguish and money.  You really did a good job of screwing me over.

Alas, it is not just me that you severely let down.  You know that three month timeline it takes to get a dentist appointment at the VA that I just mentioned?  The fact that I had no choice but to call and cancel my appointment literally at the last minute means that appointment time was wasted.  That open time could have gone to another veteran who is also likely to desperately need the service.  Nope, not on your watch.  You also put me at risk of being denied future dental care because I had to violate the VA’s 24 hour cancellation policy.  What am I supposed to do when someone gives me no choice inside that 24 hour window?  I can tell you the VA doesn’t care why I cancelled my appointment, they just know I cancelled and wasted the valuable time that they provide for veterans and that’s squarely on you.  I should also point out that the only veterans that get dental care at the VA are veterans that are 100% disabled (or service connected dental issues).  The harm you did is not “just” to veterans, it is to those veterans who are the most severely disabled and need the care the most.  Thanks for doing your part to support veterans.

You, my dear, have a huge dose of karma coming your way. And while I don’t make it a habit to wish ill upon others, it’s not beneath me to celebrate should a whole bunch of sorta-awful (but survivable) things become you.  Schadenfreude.  Look it up.

Hexes. Karma. Juju. Whatever you want to call it, it’s coming for you.  It’s been coming since 9:03 am this morning.  It might not strike tomorrow.  It probably won’t rear its ugly head until you least suspect it.  That next toothache that is most assuredly coming your way, even if it's 20 years from now, is going to remind you of how your own lack of patience, compassion and commitment hurt someone else needlessly.

When you start getting puss oozing sores inside your mouth that burn like fire leaving you unable to talk, eat or drink, please think about me.  Think about the pain and anguish you caused to men who sacrificed in service to your country while you deem yourself so important that you let your impatience and lack of judgement get the better of you.  That’s Karma.

You know what they say about karma? The same thing they say about sketchy sitters.

https://www.rover.com/members/kristen-c-loving-care-when-your-not-there/