Pulse - October 2024 - 15

Cat Lost in Yellowstone Makes It Back to California
UPDATES
A Salinas, California, couple has reunited with
their beloved house cat two months after
losing him in Yellowstone National Park.
The couple, Benny and Susanne Anguiano,
said they have gone on many camping trips
with their cats. But this trip to Yellowstone
ended with one of their cats, named
Rayne Beau ( " Rainbow " ), at the SPCA in
Roseville, California, barely 200 miles away
from their home.
After being startled, Rayne Beau ran off
into the Yellowstone trees. The couple,
worried for his safety, spent every day of
their trip trying to find him.
They laid out his favorite treats and toys
in hopes he would find his way to their
campsite, but by the end of their trip, they
feared they might never see him again.
" We had to leave without him, " Susanne
Anguianon told KSBW TV in Salinas.
Susanne said she remained hopeful she
would see the 2 1/2-year-old cat again. She
saw a sign in the sky as they were leaving
Yellowstone.
" Out of nowhere, these double rainbows
appear, and it just knit it all together for
me, " said Susanne.
Sixty days later, they received a message
from Pet Watch with Rayne Beau's microchip
identification and location.
He was in Roseville at the local SPCA. The
couple said a woman in the area found him
alone in the street, realized he was someone's
pet, and turned him in.
The cat was not in good condition. He'd
lost 40% of his weight, and his foot pads
were dry and cracked.
" He was really depleted, " said Susanne.
" He probably didn't have a lot of energy to
even go further. "
Still, the couple does not know how their
cat, in two months, was able to get from
Yellowstone to Roseville, which is over 800
miles away. They hope to find out if anyone
helped him get back to California.
FDA Warns Against
Feeding 'Answers' Pet Food
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is
cautioning pet owners that samples of two
Answers Pet Food products made by Lystn
LLC tested positive for Salmonella, a third
PULSE
OCTOBER 2024
product tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes
(L. mono), and a fourth product
tested positive for Salmonella and L. mono.
The FDA collected and tested unopened
retail samples of products after receiving
three consumer complaints of illness in
dogs that ate the products.
The affected products are sold frozen in
4-pound (half-gallon) cartons and consist of
certain batches of Answers Pet Food Raw
Beef Detailed Formula for Dogs, Answers
Pet Food Raw Beef Straight Formula for
Dogs, and Answers Pet Food Straight
Chicken Formula for Dogs. Information to
help consumers identify affected batches
of product can be found in the " Product
Information " section of the advisory. These
products should not be fed to pets.
The products are sold online and in retail
locations nationwide.
The FDA recommended that Answers Pet
Food recall these products. To date, the
firm has not initiated an adequate recall of
the affected products.
Bill Would OK Use of
FSA, HSA Funds for vet care
A House bill with bipartisan support
would amend IRS regulations so that pet
and service animal owners could use up
to $1,000 a year from health care flexible
spending accounts or health savings
accounts to pay for veterinary care or pet
health insurance.
The American Veterinary Medical Association,
the Human Animal Bond Research
Institute and insurer MetLife support the
People and Animals Well-being Act.
" Ensuring veterinary care and pet health
insurance are eligible expenses under
health savings and flexible spending
accounts means more affordable care for
pets, greater access to care for service
animals, and an enhanced ability to detect
and prevent zoonotic diseases, " said AVMA
President Sandra Faeh.
New Funding to Fight
Wildlife Rabies Flareups
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) recently approved the release of
nearly $19 million in emergency funding to
address current wildlife rabies outbreaks in
multiple states.
This new funding will also allow USDA's
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) to establish a sufficient stockpile
of oral rabies vaccination baits for future
use and address emerging rabies cases in
several high-risk areas where the virus may
be more likely to spread.
" Wildlife rabies poses significant risks to
domestic animals, such as livestock and
pets, " said Dr. Michael Watson, APHIS
administrator. " By reducing rabies in wildlife
populations, we are safeguarding both
human and animal health and decreasing
the risk of disease spread, which would
jeopardize the success APHIS has achieved
since 1995 in managing rabies. "
Protocols Keep Cats Safe
At High-Volume Clinics
High-volume spay-neuter clinics that follow
established veterinary guidelines do
not compromise animal health or welfare,
says veterinarian Becky Morrow, DVM, MS,
CAWA. Dr. Morrow analyzed scientific
reports and observed high-volume clinics.
She founded Frankie's Friends Cat Rescue
to house chronically ill and unadoptable
cats and opened a low-cost veterinary
clinic and high-volume neutering center.
Veterinarians at these clinics might do as
many as 60 surgeries a day, the AVMA
reported, which raises the question
whether the surgeries sacrifice quality for
the sake of numbers.
Keeping cats in their carriers while awaiting
surgery and using a combination of butorphanol,
dexmedetomidine and ketamine
for intramuscular sedation minimizes stress
on cats at the high-volume clinics, Dr. Morrow
said in a presentation at AVMA Convention
2024.
Trupanion Helps Identify
Emerging Health Threats
Pet health insurer Trupanion has partnered
with the federal government, Boehringer
Ingelheim, and Mars Science and Diagnostics
to launch a surveillance tool called the
Pet and Public Health Early Warning and
Detection System.
" Utilizing data from Trupanion's Vet
Portal technology, active in over 10,000
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Pulse - October 2024

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