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6A Daily News – Saturday, March 17, 2012 healthPets & By Andrea Chang Los Angeles Times (MCT) The next time you're going out of town, you don't have to leave Fido with your slacker brother or at a kennel where the dog might be cooped up in a cage all day. With Internet start-up Dog Vacay, you can drop off your pooch at the home of a fellow dog lover. Hosts watch your pet while you're away and set their own rates (usually $15 to $80 a day). member, and more than 600 hosts have joined in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, co-founder and Chief Executive Hirschhorn said. Hosts share information about themselves, their homes and their experi- ence with animals on the website; they're encour- aged to send photo updates and review the pets they've watched. Owners also leave reviews of hosts after they pick up their dogs. Hirschhorn founded Santa Monica, Calif.-based Dog Vacay with his wife, Karine Nissim, after they had trouble finding a place for their dogs, Rocky and Rambo, to stay. Before launching the site, the cou- ple tested the concept themselves, opening up their Culver City, Calif., home to more than 100 dogs during a nine-month period last year. To ensure safety, the It's free to become a already Aaron MCT photo Aaron Hirschhorn and Karine Nissim started Dog Vacay in their Culver City home after they had trouble finding a place for their dogs Rocky, left, and Rambo, while they were out of town. company calls hosts and checks social media net- works such as Facebook and LinkedIn to verify their identities. Dog Vacay also offers training with an instructional video and has relationships with local 24- hour animal hospitals in case of emergencies. Insur- ance plans are available, and GPS-enabled dog col- lars to track the pets can be rented. "We ask about people's motivations," Hirschhorn said. "If they were truly a bad person who was trying to game the system, we think that comes out pretty quickly." Valerie Steiger, 54, used Dog Vacay last month when she had a two-week vacation to Thailand and needed a place to leave her new puppy, 4-month-old Shih Tzu mix Joey. "I didn't want to kennel him but felt like I didn't have any other choice," the life coach from Santa Clarita, Calif., said. "He would have basically been locked in a cage all day with two five- or 10- minute playtimes by him- self." A few weeks before her trip, she found Dog Vacay online and contact- ed host Danielle Haffner in Tujunga, Calif., who invited Steiger and Joey to her home for a one- hour meet-and-greet. Dur- ing the meeting, Steiger got a tour, checked that the home was securely gated and asked about Haffner's experience with dogs. The process, she activities Finding Fido temporary digs said, sold her on the con- cept. While Steiger was in Thailand, Haffner sent iPhone videos and photos of Joey playing and kept her updated on how the puppy was doing. "He was on vacation while we were on vacation, so it was great," Steiger said. "He got to play with puppies and run around like a nut. In fact, I don't think he wanted to come home." The website is quickly becoming a tool for profes- sional dog sitters to adver- tise their services, and enabling dog lovers who don't have their own pets to spend time with one. "I never found I was in a place with my life where I could take on a dog full- time," said host Lauren Meyer, a 27-year-old pro- duction designer who charges $38 a night for dog-sitting at her 3,000- square-foot home in Silver Lake, Calif. "I was looking for a way to be involved with the animal communi- ty with a no-commitment- type style." Dog Vacay is the latest start-up from Science, a Santa Monica tech incuba- tor founded by former Myspace CEO Mike Jones. Dog Vacay has seven employees and takes a ser- vice fee of 3 percent to 10 percent from each dog-sit- ting transaction. Hosts who have better reviews and are booked more frequently are charged a lower service fee. Hirschhorn said the company planned to quick- ly expand to other cities and would roll out iPhone and Android apps in the next few months. In the future, Dog Vacay might also include other animals. Hirschhorn said he already owns the domain names for PetVa- cay.com and CatVacay.com. "I think it'll be a very natural evolution, but I do know that cat boarding is not such a big issue," he said. "But it's very easy for us to build those into the platform." 2 eggs, hash browns or home fries & toast or bisquit & gravy $649 Served 6:30am-2pm 7 days a week No substitutions ORDERS TO GO 7875 HWY 99E LOS MOLINOS, CA 384-1265 SATURDAY ROUND- UP PERFORMANCE 2:30 PM 1921 ~ 2012 APRIL 20, 21, 22, 2012 NEW START TIME FOR Daily and affordable classes: AHA/HCP or Pro-CPR Daycare EMS Approved Pediatric CPR/First Aid Industrial OSHA Approved CPR/First Aid Public Adult CPR & First Aid Wilderness First Aid Babysitting Safety Youth Water Safety 530-527-4997 80 Gurnsey Ave. - Red Bluff, CA 96080 (Behind Guy Rents) margescpr@juno.com 91ST Cats may purr to your heart's content By William Hageman Chicago Tribune (MCT) We know that pets are beneficial to our health — they can lower a person's blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and provide opportunities for exercise and socialization. In some cases, the source of the benefits is obvious. You walk a dog for two miles, you'll be in better shape. But some of the reported benefits are baffling. A 10-year study at the University of Minnesota Stroke Center found that cat owners were 40 percent less likely to have heart attacks than non-cat owners. Could a cat's purr be the reason? "Cats will purr when they're content, but also they'll purr when they're about to be euthanized. It's thought they purr to communicate with their kittens," says author and animal behavior consultant Steve Dale. "It's thought to be a calming mechanism. "If that's the case ... maybe they calm themselves or other cats, but maybe there's a fallout and there's anoth- er mammal species, us, that's impacted." In another study, conducted at Kean University in New Jersey, subjects watched a "Lassie" movie. Their levels of cortisol — a chemical associated with stress — were checked before and after the film, and showed a decline after the movie. This animal connection, Dale explained, "alters our neurochemistry. Not just the physiology, the blood pressure change, which is significant, but also the neu- rochemistry. The scientists are discovering there really is a difference here." Romeo needs a vet exam By Jeff Kahler, D.V.M. McClatchy Newspapers Today we will discuss the case of "the songless canary." Romeo is a 2-year-old songbird whose cage hangs from a stand in an atrium in Margret's house. The echo provided by the atrium's glass walls sends his song throughout the house. A singing canary is a wonderful gift, and I can imagine the sadness Margret felt when Romeo stopped singing. Actually, according to Margret, Romeo began to sing less frequently about two weeks ago and is to the point now where he does not sing at all. He still appears to be eating, but it is obvious to Margret that he does not have his former zest for life. There are many possible disease processes that could be causing Romeo's decreased auditory performance and gen- eralized decrease in activity. We do not have time to cover them all, but I will share one distinct possibility based on my experience working with both breeding colonies of canaries, as well as individual companion canaries. The key focus is that Romeo has stopped singing. This once-prolific crooner has become silent and that is likely a symptom of a respiratory problem. There are many causes for respiratory problems in canaries, including bacterial and viral infections. The most common cause I have seen is air sac mites. Air sac mites are tiny little bugs from the arachnid group, the same group that contains ticks, spiders and various mange mites we see in dogs, cats and other mammals. These little pests get into the canary's air sacs, part of their considerably complex respiratory system, through the tra- chea, and multiply to the point where they become obstruc- tive to airflow. This obviously compromises the bird's abil- ity to breathe and, as Romeo has demonstrated, results in no singing and decreased activity. Large Ham Steak Breakfast Albertson Training Center Discount equal to the amount of sales tax will be given on all purchases. No discounts on past purchases layaways or special orders placed before this sale. Furniture DEPOT 235 S MAIN ST., RED BLUFF • 527-1657 Monday-Friday 9:00-6:00 HOURS: Saturday 9:00-5:00 • Sunday 11:00-5:00 www.thefurnituredepot.net www.redbluffroundup.com Visit us on facebook (530) 527-1000 1-800-545-3500 Visit us at: FRIDAY FAMILY 4 PACK $30 Served with